Very Excited. Palia

DigDuggy · March 24

Palia comes to steam tomorrow. Very excited to play it. I've heard good things about it and if it's true, this will be a nice relaxing interlude.

Scot · March 24

And it looks like a real launch not an EA, good to see.

Dibdabs · March 26

I played for a bit via Epic, and it is soooo sloooow and boring. Not an iota of excitement to be had.

Wargfoot · March 26

Palia is for carebears, children, and farm animals. (1)

Notes
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1: I'm kidding, I don't care what people enjoy. I tried it but cannot abide instanced housing.

Akulas · March 27

Wargfoot said:

Palia is for carebears, children, and farm animals. (1)

Notes
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1: I'm kidding, I don't care what people enjoy. I tried it but cannot abide instanced housing.

It is except in a good way

The_Korrigan · March 27

Too "childish" for me, but to each his own.

olepi · March 27

No combat in the game, right? Can you make a good game without any combat?

MadBomber13 · March 27

olepi said:

No combat in the game, right? Can you make a good game without any combat?

Short answer: Yes

[Deleted User] · March 27

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MMOExposed · March 27

what is this game and how is it a MMO? Does it play well on PC gaming Handhelds

MMOExposed · March 27

olepi said:

No combat in the game, right? Can you make a good game without any combat?

Animal Crossing 2020

Edit: no actually Animal Crossing has combat as well when you think about it

Wargfoot · March 27

olepi said:

No combat in the game, right? Can you make a good game without any combat?

Some people took the pacifist route in LOTRO.
They did the no kill hobbit quests and crafted up to max level (when the level cap was 50).

Kilrain · March 27

It’s very unfortunate that “it’s finally coming to steam” is a barrier that people impose on themselves.

olepi · March 28

Wargfoot said:

olepi said:

No combat in the game, right? Can you make a good game without any combat?

Some people took the pacifist route in LOTRO.
They did the no kill hobbit quests and crafted up to max level (when the level cap was 50).

Now imagine that is all LoTRO has to offer, how many people would be playing it? Not enough to keep it running I bet.

madazz · March 28

olepi said:

No combat in the game, right? Can you make a good game without any combat?

Serious question? Like first that came to mind was SimCity and The Sims. There are many more that aren't my cup of tea like Animal Crossing, Disco Elysium, Journey, Firewatch, A Short Hike. There are tons more too.

I should give Disco Elysium one more chance. I just get so bored of that one. What I really wish for was a new and proper SimCity. Not that abomination EA released years ago.

Wargfoot · March 28

olepi said:

Wargfoot said:

olepi said:

No combat in the game, right? Can you make a good game without any combat?

Some people took the pacifist route in LOTRO.
They did the no kill hobbit quests and crafted up to max level (when the level cap was 50).

Now imagine that is all LoTRO has to offer, how many people would be playing it? Not enough to keep it running I bet.

LOTRO wasn't designed to be played that way.
A game that focuses on that design may do well.

Scot · March 28

tzervo said:

MadBomber13 said:

olepi said:

No combat in the game, right? Can you make a good game without any combat?

Short answer: Yes

Longer answer: a Tale in the Desert, One Hour One Life, if we talk about MMOs. Niche but good games. I am sure there will be others too.

Edit: as well as, of course, the numerous successful single player titles like Stardew Valley and Spiritfarer.

Palia not my thing either but it will have its social sim fans for sure. It looks well made and can be expanded upon

You certainly can but it is not easy to do, we often see reviews talking about a lack of content. If you have no combat you need to replace it with something good and a lot of it.

Wordsworth · March 28

If you have a steam deck, I would play it that way. I don't believe I would have put much time at all into Palia if it wasn't satisfying to play on the switch with my fam as we hang on the couch.

[Deleted User] · March 29

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Scot · March 29

tzervo said:

Indeed, one recent example that did not do this very well (if I judge from public reception) was Book of Travels, even though it was hyped pre-launch and its art style is unique and beautiful.

I just disagree with the "no combat? Is bad" knee-jerk reaction. There are many successful titles already out there.

I started gaming with text adventures, you don't need combat, I think that speaks to the simplification of gaming over the years and the modern demand of gamers that they should not have to read anything about a game before playing it.

But in styles of games where combat is more usual there has to be something to fill the gap. My only beef here is that gaming journalists always laud anything that says it does not need combat. They are painting a picture that combat is a bad thing and anything with guns, that's anathema! Now, they don't specifically say that, they tend to tell us "how refreshing this is" and the like. It is the adulterated praise they give games without combat that paints that picture.

Book of Travels is in fact possibly the best (worst?) example of this in recent years, they heaped untold praise on it, without being sure a solid game was there. When fans of that genre ended up saying it needed a ton of work before it launches, you know it is bare bones.

Ok hopefully that's my rant for the day over.

KnightFalz · March 29

olepi said:

No combat in the game, right? Can you make a good game without any combat?

Some of the play has a bit of action to it, hunting for example. There are some exploration elements, and some housing customization. It is suitable for those seeking casual and relaxed play that can have cooperative elements.

Those that want such may find it good.

Theocritus · March 29

"I should give Disco Elysium one more chance. I just get so bored of that one."

I bought it on sale not too long ago...On paper it looks like it has everything you would want in a game, but it just doesnt play out that way...At least it didnt for me....I thought it was extremely boring.

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PlanetEarthlings · March 29

Anyone know what platform is being used to develop Palia?

Scot · March 30

tzervo said:
1) I started playing games with Atari Pal and Commodore 64 (iirc back in 1984 or 1985). There were both complex/hard and simple/easy games back then as there are now. I do not agree that games became simpler over time. Even now, and even in MMOs, you get games of equal complexity. See Prosperous Universe for example. EVE is more complex and punishing than most if not all older games. Reading is not the only factor for complexity. You still have hard adventure/puzzle games made, hard platformers like Hollow Knight, complex 4x games etc. If you want to be competent, the skill, knowledge and smart micro and macro decision-making required even in very popular games like LoL or Dota is immeasurable. Sure, you also have very popular simple games like Fall Guys and Candy Crush Saga, like you had Tetris and Pacman and Arkanoid back then.

2) I am not sure if they laud these games because they do not have combat, or because they do something different than the majority. If it is the second, I would tend to agree with their enthusiasm. The comments I remember reading were not "combat bad" but "no combat refreshing". I am glad we had lots of different concepts tried post-WoW-clone era in MMOs, even if they had varying success. I enjoyed my time a lot playing more niche MMOs like Foxhole, One Hour One Life, Screeps, Naval Action or average popularity games like Albion and Elite:Dangerous, which did things differently than the regular themeparks. I love GW2 but I do not want to keep playing reskinned GW2 all my life.

I do feel over time games have been dumbed down and made ever simpler, just two examples. When Halo the full series came onto Steam I played every one, each new iteration was easier than the past and years did not separate playing each one I saw this over the space of 6 months. Same for Assassins Creed though admittedly I am stretching my memory over years there.

Sure there were easier games when we began gaming and there are more difficult games today, but we have an industry that makes the next game in a series easier than the last, there can be only one direction of travel here.

Oh take no notice about my rant in regards why journalists see no-combat as so good, I really don't know why and assumed it was an Americanism as they have gun issues. You could be right, maybe they do it because it is new, but the absence of something is not innovation, putting in a new gaming system is. Rather than laud the no combat, how about focusing in on what the new system are, that's why BoT failed to meet expectations.

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