QuestForTori

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@QuestForTori

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Victoria Rose | Bi trans girl | Game/UX Designer | Creator of Secret Little Haven | Your local otherkin cartoon snep kitty :3

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QuestForTori
@QuestForTori

Is it just me or does Palworld's "Pokémon with forced factory labor and guns" feel deeply crass and cruel?

It's the same vibe I get from shows like Magical Girl Raising Project where someone takes something cute and wholesome (And maybe even gasp! feminine) and make it violent and depressing because they think that's an inherent improvement. If you do that, you damn well better have a good narrative point you're trying to make.

Who knows, maybe this game does - it's not out yet. But nothing I've seen about it implies even a hint of self reflection. As it stands for me, this game is an insult to all of my sensibilities.

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in reply to @QuestForTori's post:

caiquesassis
@caiquesassis

I always looked at Palworld's premise as leaning on something intentionally absurd not for edgyness or trying to be serious, but quite the opposite - as a parody, as a game that leans on dark humour to sell its premise. I think much of the interest in the game lies exactly in the fact that it's so diametrically opposite to anything Nintendo would ever allow or do with the series. So yeah, it's definitely something that seems like it leans on dark humour by pairing "incompatible" things.

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QuestForTori
@QuestForTori

I dunno, they’ve been playing it pretty straight in all the previews thus far if they do intend it to be a parody. (“Satire requires a clarity of purpose,” etc.) It feels more to me like they really are just mashing two genres together because they like them individually, or they feel Pokémon should be more violent. Even if the appeal IS to fill a void left by Nintendo, I feel like it’s still worth asking whether this particular game is something worth being at all. There’s a lot of ground left to expose in the monster raising genre, but… this doesn’t feel like a concept worth exploring, at least to me.

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caiquesassis
@caiquesassis

Hmmm, that is something to take into consideration, indeed. I haven't been following the game and its previews at all, so if they're being serious with it, perhaps the devs have a different idea in mind than what I was thinking they were going for (a parody, as I mentioned). And yeah, I do understand what you mean about "is this worth making?", since it's basically a fucked up concept (animal abuse etc).

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DogLadyHeather
@DogLadyHeather

i usually find these ideas to be little more than a silly joke (Pokemon But Violent has been a gag since the 90s) but by the time you stretch that to a full game... idk, that's a novelty hook. it's the only thing Palworld's working with as a selling point and that's just not interesting enough of a subversion to get invested. it's a shallow premise. i cant really see further than the surface absurdity and actually want to play it.

like i can get a giggle out of some dumb fanart doing this, no idea what the interest is beyond that.

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prof-badvibes
@prof-badvibes

I might agree with you if I saw screenshots of not-pokemon holding guns and working on assembly lines out of context but I really don't get that vibe at all from the tone of the trailers and videos the dev studio has put out. It doesn't read as the game screaming "WHAT IF POKEMON WAS FUCKED UP" to me, moreso that it's just a part of the setting they've come up with.

I will criticize the game on the basis of not having a strong aesthetic identity though. The monster designs make liberal use of pokemon design tropes, if they aren't just riffing on existing pokemon, and there's not anything to indicate that they put much effort into making the world around them distinctive either. The fact that it seems like the monsters just instantly love the player despite being shot at and bombed before being caught isn't great either.

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