That… isn’t actually their tagline (old folks know that it was EverQuest’s), but it seems like what this social MMO is going for. An idyllic world where you can relax with friends. The trailer shows players building their own homes and communities, but is that all there is?
Because I enjoy tedious tasks for little reward, I found myself idly listing every MMORPG I could find on Steam last night. People called out all the MMOs I’d missed when I did the Google Trends experiment the other day, and I kept thinking of more, afterward. I’d missed Runescape!? I literally watch Runescape videos every day. I’m pretty sure that the Old School Runescape streamers are being punished in some sort of televised Hell, and I just want to make sure they’re okay and try to give them some hope for the future.
There were hundreds of MMOs on the Steam list, and I could easily think of a few dozen more that weren’t available on Steam, but should be on that list.
While adding those other MMOs (such easily forgettable ones as World of Warcraft), I reminded myself of Palia.
Palia is the first game from Singularity 6, a studio comprised of devs from Riot and Blizzard. Their motto: “Forging alternate worlds that deepen players’ lives”.
They write in their mission statement that they never felt, growing up, like the games they played separated them from the community and friendships, but that the games connected them “to a vast network of gamers and part of real, vibrant communities where we felt like we could truly be ourselves. Where we felt like we belonged. During those times we developed relationships with people we’d never meet, yet many of those relationships would stand the test of time.”
What is Palia?
Palia is a social MMO, with little (or perhaps no) emphasis on combat. Players build homes and become part of neighborhoods (Palia’s version of guilds), and can group up with other players to explore, fish, hunt game, catch bugs, farm and such.
NPCs will each have richly developed personalities and will keep the neighborhood bustling while the players involve themselves in the lore of the world.
With hints of vanished technology, and its long-armed robots, Palia’s setting has been compared many times to Studio Ghibli’s movie “Laputa: Castle in the Sky”. In the movie, a tyrannical nation of advanced tech people lived in a floating city and raided the nations below, keeping them relatively primitive. Now, the sky people are just myths, the world below is forging their own path, when a mysterious girl floats down from the sky and she and the boy who finds her rediscover the true past of their world.
In Palia, signs of the old world are everwhere, in old ruins and strange technologies — not the least of which are the robots.
Players will build their homes and communities while the larger plot of the game unfolds in the background. I don’t know for sure, but I would be surprised if players, through exploration or other development, weren’t the force driving the plot forward.
I’m sure we all remember when Istaria (then named Horizons) (and, oh crap, there’s another MMO for the list that I just this second remembered). Ahem. I’m sure we all remember when Istaria tried this same thing a few decades ago. The community would come together to build cities and such to move the game forward — and it was truly a really wonderful thing. But, Istaria never turned out to have much of an influence in games. Players really just loved killing stuff back then.
We are a kindler, gentler people now
Okay, I doubt we are any kinder, as a whole, than we were twenty years ago. But in that time, The Sims happened. Stardew Valley happened. Animal Crossing happened. Worlds where making friends and building communities were not only key, but generally the entire focus. And those games are very popular.
Will the S6 devs be able to make their gameplay compelling enough for people to choose to log in each day and form the kind of bonds that last a lifetime?
It hasn’t really managed to keep people interested in Valheim, once all the bosses are dead. With no challenges to overcome, most of the people I know will just seek out games that do offer them.
What challenges will Palia players have to overcome? That’s the really important question, and the one I most want answered.
Competitive Play in Palia
PvP will not be an option in Palia, but they are looking for opportunities to create a sense of competition in a friendly way. The devs write: “…we do believe that there are some competitive play opportunities that can make sense in our world, in large part because they’re the kind of light hearted competitive experiences we expect to find amongst family or close friends. A Sunday afternoon card game can be cozy. Racing on the beach can still feel like vacation.”
The Solo Alone Together approach?
Solo play is definitely a playstyle that Palia supports, but there will be community activities. “Our goal with Palia is for it to be fun solo and even better together. As such, we think it’s critically important to always have meaningful things you can do in the game when playing solo, whether it’s because you’re waiting for friends to come online or it’s your preferred way to enjoy the game. That being said, there will also be activities that either require or are significantly more manageable when done with others.”
Final Thoughts (for now)
I’ve been culling these responses from the Palia discord. There’s quite a lot of questions from the community about the core gameplay loop, and the devs have been careful to emphasize the relaxing nature of the game. Helping the various NPCs with their issues will apparently go beyond looking for people with exclamation marks over their heads and then presenting them with the three boar tusks they require for some reason.
I’m intrigued by the concept, but it’s not like community building games aren’t already a “thing”. Minecraft, Roblox and so on are present in that space and offer a wide variety of gameplay — building if you like, combat if desired…
The world is gorgeous. It has the same low poly vibe as World of Warcraft (not surprising, considering the team), with characters that are more realistic and less caricatures than WoW provides. The bits of past civilizations scattered around makes me want to know more. Will that be enough to keep me logging in each day? I have no idea. I am thinking that interior decorating and farming will not be quite enough to keep my gaming group engaged, but we’ll undoubtedly see what else they have to offer as the game opens up a little more.
If “Big Game Hunting” means fighting monsters from the past, then I AM TOTALLY THERE FOR IT.
“I’m pretty sure that the Old School Runescape streamers are being punished in some sort of televised Hell, and I just want to make sure they’re okay and try to give them some hope for the future.”
You made me spit my coffee. Thanks for the belly laugh!
My BF loves watching those guys, but I emphasize for them. They have to play the same ancient MMO every day and try to find ways to make it entertaining, PLUS they have to hawk absolutely gawdawful gear and other games. And I’m like — this is their life now. This is their life. YouTube and Twitch have ripped apart their living souls for clicks.
Interesting concept, at least. I wonder if this group was the counterbalance of those Blizzard alumni that formed Carbine and developed the hyper endgame Raod/PvP focus of WildStar.
I wonder if the name is related to:
Palliate = to ease symptoms without curing the underlying disease. Cf. palliative care.
I just asked on their discord. They said they were just going for something that sounded warm and comforting, that wasn’t copyrighted. Also, it’s pronounced “PAY-lee-ah”, for what it’s worth.
That image is gorgeous! I don’t know how I feel about a non-combat MMO (I like PVE—I like some danger to my world) but as a fan of non-combat single player games, I’m intrigued.
Have you seen their intro video? I meant to add it to the post, but forgot. It’s really pretty. But I can’t see, yet, how my character would fit into the world. With so little to go on, it could be anything, but we all know that it eventually comes down to, hoe plot x twenty times to grow a bean plant or whatever. I don’t yet know what the pull will be, but I assume they will have some way of measuring your progress.
Anyway, here’s the intro video… it’s pretty cool.
I read about Palia a while back and thought it sounded interesting but these days I’m not following in-development mmorpgs until there’s a publicly available playable build. The lead-time is so ludicrously long it’s just pointless paying attention until there’s an early access or buy-in alpha at the very least. Even from there you could be looking at another three to five years before you can actually play a real game.
It looks good in theory, though,
That said, I should probably say I did sign up for the testing process a while back. I’d actually forgotten I’d even done it until you reminded me it existed. I certainly haven’t been invited to test anything yet!
I like keeping an eye on people at least trying something different. If I see another MMO where you play one of (Warrior, Mage, Priest) and you gain levels by grinding hedgehogs until whatever… I mean why would someone choose a new MMO like that when there are hundreds of others doing the same thing? Just go play WoW or something.