@ANoobis
Literally everyone I know who enjoys video gaming as a hobby is hopping on Palworld, my steam friends list pops up mentions of it constantly.
They just can’t stand it because it doesn’t pander to their sensibilities, it knows what it wants to be and commits. Not to mention it’s similar to Baldur’s Gate 3 in that it’s a (at best) AA Studio game with more content and respect for it’s players then everything the entire “AAA Industry” has released since Borderlands and Destiny made it clear to everyone that it was okay to make shit games now, because people are stupid enough to buy into it.
The frustrating thing about this is that Palworld deserves some serious criticism about it’s game design: Pals that are supposedly over twenty levels lower then you can still somehow double-tap you, the amount of grinding the same three dungeons for components like coal and sulfur is tedium incarnate, and the equipment degradation system decided that TES IV Oblivion was just being far too nice with it’s own system and aspired to reach the peak of obnoxiousness.
But no, instead of getting a discussion about things that actually do need to be rebalanced to make the game more fun, instead the discourse is about dumb shit like:
“UUUUGH, THIS GAME PREMOTES ANIMAL ABUSE!” (Abusing/Neglected the Pals in your base punishes you by making your experience three times more tedious then it already is.)
“NYEEEEEEAH, THIS GAME INVOLVES SLAVERY!” (Because remember: giving your ’mons a place to sleep, eat, play and relax is wrong if you demand a bit of work from them to keep their home running smoothly. You should do more that Nintendo wholesomeness with them, like make them violently maul each other cockfighting.
“THE DESIGNS WHERE AI GENERATED!” (That has never been proven, it is only suggested by screeching morons on Twatter-sorry I mean ECKSSSSSS)
“THE DESIGNS WHERE STOLEN FROM POKEMON!” (…and? Your point? Look I’m gonna be honest, if anyone fucking deserves to just have their IPs fucking stolen and used by devs who are actually inspired to innovate on the base concept, it’s Nintendo. Bar the occasional and very rare game like Paper Mario or Breath of the Wild their IPs have been stagnating for decades, with Pokémon being the most blatant example. I am totally okay with people just making their own Legally-Distinct-Pokémon game now. with Blackjack. And Femboy Hooters. In fact you know what? Screw the game (and the Backjack)!)