The Problem with Palia

Heya friends! I've been reading through all the comments as they come in, and wow! You all have a lot to say! I appreciate all your opinions and have learned a lot more from the comments.

I initially had a very long comment here addressing concerns people have with the devs, with the gameplay and with the shop. Honestly, some very valid points were made on both ends of the discussion and I love a good healthy discussion. Thank you for sharing.

While there are a lot of concerns about the trajectory of the game, the intentions of development team (which has over 150 employees and multimillion dollars in backing), the lack of communication and contradicting statements of some of the dev team, and concerns over conversion rates and coin purchases always leaving you with more than you can spend on items but never enough to get anything else, I'd like to keep in mind that the game at it's core is something that a lot of people put a lot of love and time into.

If you enjoy the game, that's great! That's what games are for! If you enjoy the purchases, that's fine too. I actually do enjoy playing. Though I do know there are faults with the gameplay and how recent changes have caused it to be more of a grinding game than a cozy community building game. As someone who has been with a few "Cozy Game" communities for a very long time, the current way that various different aspects are being handled gives me pause and concern for the future of a game I enjoy and community I would love to be more involved in. A good game I'll play a few times, but a good game with a great COMMUNITY, I'll rave about and stay with for a very long time.

Ya'll are so passionate and I love that. I am not trying to dissuade anyone from playing Palia, I just wanted to share concerns about the future of it and wether of not I want to invest in it. Investment to me is more than money, it's time. I'd like to invest my time in a game that has the healthy, thriving community that lasts, and I hope that this one does.

You absolutely nailed my concerns. I love the game for the most part but the absence of $5(ish) items in the shop gave me pause and seeing the "coin bait" pets - especially at this point in the game's development - genuinely worries me. Great content, great video!

Absolutely right ! They say it's not predatory but yet you walk into the in game tailor, go to see what's available at the register and BAM the premium store opens. It's WAY too expensive. Not to mention that 50% or more of the very first update revolves around pushing over priced content from the premium store. You can't just straight up purchase anything either. You must buy a coin pack which doesn't even out to the cost of the items for sale. Meaning oh you want a $12 outfit you will have to buy a pack of coins for $17. How convenient that you now have a left over amount sitting there but not enough for another item soooo ......... Pets are one of the most wanted items in any game but instead of giving us all a way to earn them in game they chose to lock them behind a paywall. Everyone also wants outfits and accessories but again, no way to earn even a few in game. There is nothing all inclusive and cozy about that. Worse part is, when people tried to voice their opinions about it on the discord a few of their mods made sure to tell us things like " I hate to break it to you but the world isn't all inclusive and doesn't need to be" or " This is what's wrong with your mentality. You think because you're not getting something optional you're being punished etc etc and then ends with If the things they were offering weren't compelling people wouldn't buy it. You're living in a fantasy" Those are exact quotes. How freaking rude is that? I would completely support the game if it was a healthy environment and actually affordable. So put off now that I haven't even logged back in since 😱🤬.

Stuff like this is wild when big AAA games tend to have the most expensive outfits be $15 dollars, with outliers that everyone hates like Overwatch. Especially when Palia, as a relatively unknown game, is trying to build a community that will support it. I can't imagine starting off on such a bad foot.

There was another game that I absolutely adored, Spellbreak. It was super fun, had the makings of one of the best Battle Royale games with a little more love. Every update just added new expensive skins to the shop, and the game died in a few months.

I agree wholeheartedly with this - I fully expected that the pets would either be earned through an NPC quest, or you'd have to find a Palcat in the wild and tame it. To have it just... be there... and not even have a free option, was very disappointing. I don't really care about the clothing, and the one outfit I was interested in, the Chapaa onesies, are not nearly as cute on the model as they are in the promo image, and they don't even have the same colours as in the image! Why would I spend money on that???

The nerfing of foragables in the recent patch makes no sense either. Like yes, it's great that they spread things out a bit more, because some areas were very dense in items while others were completely empty, but the fact that, for instance, the one place that spawned shells & oysters is practically barren now is ridiculous. I've seen multiple people theorize that the devs thought people were getting "end game money" too quickly, but... so what??? Most of the people I've seen with end game money are just spending it on their house! That doesn't effect anyone else! It's a great game, but this patch is NOT good.

Also zomg can they please make it so you have to CHOOSE to climb a wall?! If my character auto-attaches to a wall (and then refuses to let go) one more time...

Thank you for addressing this. I went into the store for the first time just last night and my jaw DROPPED at how expensive a simple cosmetic outfit was. If they wanted to charge $2.50 or even $5 for an outfit with special effects in/on it fine I could maybe deal with that but almost $10? $50??!!! I'm sorry but NO. Nobody should be paying that much. That's Disney levels of greed. You want money? charge for the game which i would be happy to pay a fee for. But locking pets behind paywalls and overpricing outfits? C'mon Palia that's what killed my love of Dreamlight Valley.

This is precisely why I am incredibly wary of "free to play" games. And, honestly? I would much rather pay for a complete game up front than to be nickel and dimed (or in this case, ten'ed and twentied) to death for every feature the devs consider to be 'cosmetic.'
As it stands, this killed any interest I might have had in trying Palia.

It's not JUST the price of the cosmetics (although I admit they are definitely a bit high), it's also having to buy more than one set of coins to make those purchases. Set pricing with region based cash and ditch the coins, or if you MUST keep the coins, set them in groups that line up with the costs in the shop. Setting things up so that you always have left over coins and nothing to do with them is absolutely predatory. Its like paying with cash and getting your change back all in pennies. Feels bad man.

I think Palia has a solid foundation and has a huge amount of potential. Up to the devs whether it fails or succeeds from here I think unless the game majorly flops on launch.

I am going to be so sad, if this issue brings down Palia. Playing the beta helped me relax during a stressful time and I really love it and want to see where this world will take us.
But when I saw those prices in the store, it was alarming to say the least. The prices are simply predatory. They are too much and the added "bonuses" uneven the amount of currency you get. So you end up with leftovers and of course you are not being able to buy anything with those.
Then I was excited to read about the new update bringing in pets. A lot of people asked about that and it seemed like the devs are listening to the community. The cats looked adorable and I looked forward to get my own. Aha. The next minute I hear, that you can only get a pet if you pay a certain amount of money for something in the shop. No quest to get one for free. No choice. Give us your money if you want this new stuff!
I am not surprised that people are furious about this. I am too. This game is so charming and I want to stay in this world. But there is a line.

On the surface the game is fun but after you've played for awhile you start to realize how shallow of a game it is. Their honestly just really isn't anything to do and let's be real this isn't a mmo. Theirs literally nothing to do together besides mine the same rock or fish the same spot.

I felt like they made a sad mistake by misunderstanding how important and special pets are to gamers. We feel quite emotional about them. I recall experiencing mild grief when my Spino on Ark SE that I had since 2016 died to a game bug. Turning our first experience with Palia Pets into a zero-effort for those who can pay, vs absolutely unatainable by those who cannot at that moment pay - created a sad and empty relationship with my experience of pets in general. Everyone either has a pet or does not - it's like a splash of social status doused all over the game with some so clearly being of "high" class because they own the top tier pet skins. How miserable! We don't want to share our uniqueness this way. I thought it was sad.

I felt the same from the first time I played the closed beta and saw the shop. I almost bought 50$ if the shop didn’t have problems at the time with transaction. Then I thought about it and got to the conclusion that Palia is not for me because I knew it wouldn’t be the last 50$ spent on the game so I used the same money to buy Fae Farm 😂
Edit:also on my opinion 25 people per server can not be called an MMO

Yeah I see this game being completely forgettable in 6 months since they only care about exploiting their community. They're not even open to criticism in their discord. People who bring it up are warned or banned under the blanket of "we want cozy vibes here" nonsense. Basically "praise us and don't question our greedy and predatory business practices".

Really respect you not wanting to stream this until they get their act together, great video. Hope Palia devs figure this necessity for balance out.

Thanks for speaking up, I must say you have spoken my concerns. I was VERY disappointed when I saw pets are only available behind a paywall.. I was like yay they listened to us about adding pets and this is what we get??? I was willing to buy the outfits at first glance, but the prices stopped my wallet from being bankrupt 😂

Seriously, it can't be understated that this WILL kill the game if nothing changes. The mindset is overly focused on money now.
It's in open beta and they have shown so far that most of their development time since launch has been spent making paid outfits and pets instead of building the fundamental game into being great enough to warrant spending money in valid areas.

If the pets were a quest reward with paid skins, you could even then add gameplay features to them! Which lets face it, if you wanna have a pet cat in a game, you wanna be able to interact with it a bit!

I honestly feel like the intermediate currency is also predatory, and providing cover for the ridiculous prices on what is basically just a palette swap. It is a very well known practice to make the differences between item prices and the bundled amounts of "coins" you buy mis-matched, encouraging you to buy more than you will use. And once you have the coins, it's psychologically easier to make that ridiculous purchase in the premium store. Honestly I don't even mind paying $15 for the outfits, because it just feels like a substitution for a subscription fee. But I absolutely understand people who don't feel like the price is worth the item you're buying, and the "palia coins" REALLY rub me the wrong way.

You nailed it with this video. I was going to buy from the cash shop but the prices are egregious. They are overpriced and the coin system they have in play is garbage. They are ensuring you always have "left over" coins making you feel like you're wasting money by leaving coins behind. I went into the game thinking "Sure, I'll drop some cash to help this Dev. Team out and pick up a few cosmetic items." Then I seen the cash shop coins system and prices for everything and I now I'm thinking: "Nope, not giving these shady, greedy, got'cha game bastards a dime." As it sits now, I'm already at the point where I log in to tend to crops, maybe mine a little and log off. Putting the pets behind a paywall has basically killed my drive to keep playing as I can see this happening with every new "feature" in the future. It is a damn shame.