Palia's HUGE Update: Will It Save the Game?

Today we're going over the MAJOR update for Palia and discussing whether or not it's enough to save the game?

Intro: 0:10
Palia & It's Challenges: 0:38
New Feature Changes & Improvements: 2:38
Economy Changes: 5:55
Premium Shop: 9:20
Final Thoughts: 10:10

Interested in donating without YouTube taking 30%, you can check out these two links here to my Ko-fi, Streamlabs and throne wishlist:

[pyroquill]

To make it feel more MMO/community centered It would be super cool if they added a section to the town for a player led farmers market. You get your own stall, bring crops you’ve grown on your home plot, random supplies, and furniture to sell to other players! Maybe even make a haggle option. I really hope the game devs continue working on this game, me and my fiancé have lots of fun playing together and I would be sad to see it go..

[momob]

No Man's Sky was able to turn around their Steam reviews from mostly negative to very positive, but it took YEARS. But they are proof that a game can have a massive turnaround. My biggest issue with Palia is they are relying on grinding and rare drops as a way to retain players, and to me, grinding is a means to an end, not the actual engaging part of the game. The reason why hot pot is so loved is because it's the only co-op activity that is NOT related to grinding and it's just for fun with friends with basic rewards everyone gets with no pressure to win. There needs to be more player interactions not tied to resource gathering, like item trading, more mini-games like hot pot, and group expeditions where a group can have an instanced map where they can work together to gather resources (which is the core gameplay of MMOs, the raids and parties). I think Palia can turn things around, but they have a lot of work to do, and like No Man's Sky, the PR and marketing team has done a disservice to the game with false expectations.

[nineblackgoats]

Honestly I'm happy with the multiplayer aspect as it is, as I would like to keep the ability to play solo as well., and to get to meet people on the fly.
I honestly don't have many complaints about the game, I love it for the most part. The plushies as an incentive for grinding are a great idea, but the ridiculously low drop rate is discouraging enough to cancel it out, unfortunately.

[bridgetnance]

I always think it’s important to remember that this game is still in beta form. I think that when they update the game they are taking players input and trying to make it a better experience. I hope they make it. This is one of my favorite games!

[brittanycaitlin]

My biggest issue as a switch user the chat box is a pain to use and I hate that I have to have someone help cut down flow trees lol

[smallfrypunk]

They will never get a high rate of gamer retention. Their method of keeping us on the server and playing is strictly through grinding. This update was exellent and I'm loving it. However, they offset that by introducing an extremely low rate of drops for plushies.They know we want those plushies and it's like they're punishing us instead of rewarding us. The devs seem to think that making us miserable is the best way to keep us playing. I'll keep playing for awhile longer, but when I leave, I'll never come back.

[maimaisims]

The chat bubble "WHERES KENLIS SANDWICH" I always joke on discord that there's so many problems, people have died, sadness and loneliness.... but the one that drives everyone loopy in looking is KENLIS DARN

[brunoborac]

I think they should let pets be for free, basic ones ofc. And they should allow pets grab loot, when you hunt, catch bugs or mine. Should be amazing for players.

[Bluetangg]

Great video. Thanks. I dropped out months ago. There was so much rancor over the palium drops. I couldn't seem to accomplish much. They opened the new cave adventure and I had so many problems following the quest. The super expensive clothing kept grating on me. I wasn't able to cook the more complex recipes. I remember trying multiple times and asking myself, "Why am I doing this?" I'm just describing the variety of negatives that came together. And the devs seem controlling. Increasing the cost to craft and lowering the rewards. It seemed like they didn't want us to get too much. Like, "hey, don't have too much fun." It does sound like the game may have improved. It amazes me that the devs were surprised by the problems with lowering the fun quotient.

[mallene_cozygaming]

This update brought me back to the game after months (before the Christmas update) I truly enjoy playing right now and thinking they are going in the right direction. Flow wood is so easy to get now, although I think pallium could still use a boost. The premium shop isn’t a concern for me but I would like to see more low cost outfits to balance things out. I also don’t care too much about playing with others but that’s just me. I would rather play solo but do like seeing others around.

[silverbane]

there is one thing that i miss...swimming. it's one of my fave things to do, and it bugged me no end i couldnt swim in palia. even if you cant swim past certain depths, and past certain ponts (marker buoys ect) it would be good to be able to swim. make that pond in our plot somewhere you could decorate a little maybe (a couple deck chairs, a parasol or a seat...they could sell swimwear, tho please give us a basic swimsuit free that we can just simple recolour lol)

[elizabethnaisbitt]

I played this when it first came out and I loved it, then the grind set in with no rewards. Then I realised it was not an MMO where you get to interact, join guilds etc with other players. I left after about 2 months and haven't been back since, but I would love to try again, so I will continue to watch out for updates etc and see what happens. Tfs

[kazuhaxx]

My biggest issue is the item limit on my plot. I wanted a cluttered look but now my plot is full and i still have many empty rooms to fill..

[luniARTic]

I was one of the people that was lucky to start playing on the late Alpha stage.

While I loved the game and have been following it for years even before release, the marketing team did it bad. The expectations were all over the place, which meant they attracted the wrong type of player base! They simply found the keywords that would attract all frustrated players from the genres of online and casual gaming, promised the world and under delivered.

Now I am not saying the game is bad, on the contrary it is a very fun and promising game! Their problem is that they don't have direction. They have collected such a wide range of different players and they just slapped together popular mechanics without much direction or care for the soul of the game.

Is it a storytelling game? A Stardew Valley clone? Animal Crossing? What is the goal of it?
Normally the mechanics are means to an end goal, they need to be fun and attention grabbing, but they help you reach a goal! That is what the game is lacking.

Because of all that and many more points, the game will not manage to retain players. While everyone wants to mess around and check games, the lack of any substance will eventually make everyone move on.

If they focused on making the end goal a cozy mmo experience (back at the start there was a promise of building neighbourhoods together so that would justify all mechanics and feed a co-op cozy goal) they would be able to get a set player base to stay. For now their strongest base is the Stardew Valley/Animal crossing players that are waiting for the next big cozy title, but once that drops they will have nothing left.

Also as an MMO veteran, it is common knowledge that once a game drops a hello kitty skin, it always means that they go into life support.

I truly wish I'm wrong and they actually find their soul and have a more targeted development, but for now it doesn't look like it will live long enough to get a new land update.

[therealzahyra]

Hi there, 3D animation student here. The Palfox is definitely its own 3D model, not a reskinning of the Palcat. It is however, similarily designed. I feel they went the safe direction and designed something they knew would sell instead of innovating a pet design and making something completely different

[phoenixastra]

Honestly none of these changes matter to me at all. We have plenty of aesthetic things, what we NEED is more content and things to do. There isn't anything to do---it feels liek a game you play, beat, and nothing else bc there is no more content

[kittenpurrito]

I’ve been binging streams of Palia for a couple months now. It’s the main reason I finally bought a computer! I really hope they can turn it around. It’s a gorgeous game!

[offendingcommit]

I'll still be creating Palia content, but I will be diversifying on Twitch and with other games. I feel like the economy calibration was needed badly, but I'd wished it had happened sooner than later. That being said, the next thing they need to overhaul is the premium shop and separate the items. I feel like people purchase items for a single part of a set rather than the set itself. They can keep the items' prices the same, but they need to allow you to earn Palia coins through in-game activities and increate the amount of Palia coins you get with the monetary value being spent. It's very hard for many to justify spending money on cosmetics as awesome as they look when they could invest in a new game instead. Spending $2-3 here and there for parts of an outfit would be ideal while you'd save the most buying the set.

[Donovanhuntercarpenter]

I don't think the game's going anywhere, I love it. I've not noticed any of this hardly. I have seen some complaints, including what's in this video. But for me at least it's easy to look past.

[sezfields]

Palia (in theory) is such a great game. It's original, the character relationships and progressions are engaging, it has a cozy vibe while still being an MMO, could go on. It's genuinely such a unique and wholesome game. However I feel that it's riddled with elements and issues that don't make any sense. While the game can't be criticised too heavily as it is in beta, they're not going to retain players the way the would've planned. Hopefully the final product has a good marketing strategy so that the game can be loved and appreciated when it's been fine-tuned a little more.