The seething over PalWorld is funny, though it is still derivative slop. It's literally chasing trends like every other piece of shit in the industry.
Just because this indie game is an "underdog" doesn't mean I will treat it as some special experience. The infatuation with "underdogs" is what got society in this whole mess in the first place, and I'm not going to let the underdog mentality cloud my judgement here.
It's like Hogwarts Legacy in that just because the usual bitches are screeching about it, doesn't mean I'm instantly going to buy it, especially when the game is clearly desperate in trying to appeal to the SJWs. It's all dumb shit that I needs to die a horrible death.
The dev outright admitted to everything you said. Heck one of the reasons they added guns was "Americans like this kind of shit." Its entirely a passion project of some random schmuck just throwing all the things he likes in a game and then a few more that other people do just to make it sell more.
The industry is better just for having a game that shits all over Ark this hard and presents as an alternative to that shitpile of disappointment. I can appreciate it on that alone despite having no desire to ever play it.
Honestly, the story behind the game's creation and the ragtag group of wierdos he recruited is way better than the game ever could be, even if it is good.
Like how the creature designer is just some woman using drawings from her notebook over her entire life, but got rejected from every job (including Palworld) until they gave her a shot.
Or that the employee behind the "Body Type A/B" was just some literal teen who they worked around his school schedule and just put that in because "foreigners like making Silly and Ugly things."
I don't know how much of it is actually true, but it certainly explains why the game might be resonating with people. It has actual soul in it, even while being derivative.
Keep in mind, trend chasing exists because its games that people want.
Trend chasing is honestly fine, if you actually produce something of good quality, and frankly Palworld is surprisingly good quality all things considered.
I think the comparison to BG3 is unfair to Palworld. Palworld is honest about what it is: a survival game with pokemon mechanics where your "pokemon" support you both in combat and everyday things. It gives you a large sandbox world to mess around with, a wide variety of "pokemon" to fight and tame, and the tools with which to do that. It isn't trying to do more than that, doesn't claim to be trying to do more than that, and frankly it doesn't have to! All this while asking for a modest 30$.
BG3 claims that it is this grand overarching immersive world full of glorious storytelling. To put it bluntly, it fails at this, and does so in the worst way possible. Its story is trite and forgettable, as are its characters. Years from now BG3 will be nothing more than a footnote, at best. People won't remember what it was about, they wont remember any characters from it at all. Perhaps the only thing that might stand the test of time is its soundtrack (which I personally thought was mediocre at best, especially as game music, but people seem to like it a lot, so this may just be down to taste in my case).
On top of this it blatantly insults the previous games, reusing the original characters from BG1/2 in the worst possible way. Its downright disgusting what they did to Sarevok and the rest. This is without even getting into the rampant degeneracy which only becomes more and more extreme as you get deeper into the game. All this while asking for a premium 60$ price tag.
The seething over PalWorld is funny, though it is still derivative slop. It's literally chasing trends like every other piece of shit in the industry. Just because this indie game is an "underdog" doesn't mean I will treat it as some special experience. The infatuation with "underdogs" is what got society in this whole mess in the first place, and I'm not going to let the underdog mentality cloud my judgement here.
It's like Hogwarts Legacy in that just because the usual bitches are screeching about it, doesn't mean I'm instantly going to buy it, especially when the game is clearly desperate in trying to appeal to the SJWs. It's all dumb shit that I needs to die a horrible death.
The dev outright admitted to everything you said. Heck one of the reasons they added guns was "Americans like this kind of shit." Its entirely a passion project of some random schmuck just throwing all the things he likes in a game and then a few more that other people do just to make it sell more.
The industry is better just for having a game that shits all over Ark this hard and presents as an alternative to that shitpile of disappointment. I can appreciate it on that alone despite having no desire to ever play it.
Honestly, the story behind the game's creation and the ragtag group of wierdos he recruited is way better than the game ever could be, even if it is good.
Like how the creature designer is just some woman using drawings from her notebook over her entire life, but got rejected from every job (including Palworld) until they gave her a shot.
Or that the employee behind the "Body Type A/B" was just some literal teen who they worked around his school schedule and just put that in because "foreigners like making Silly and Ugly things."
I don't know how much of it is actually true, but it certainly explains why the game might be resonating with people. It has actual soul in it, even while being derivative.
Keep in mind, trend chasing exists because its games that people want.
Trend chasing is honestly fine, if you actually produce something of good quality, and frankly Palworld is surprisingly good quality all things considered.
I think the comparison to BG3 is unfair to Palworld. Palworld is honest about what it is: a survival game with pokemon mechanics where your "pokemon" support you both in combat and everyday things. It gives you a large sandbox world to mess around with, a wide variety of "pokemon" to fight and tame, and the tools with which to do that. It isn't trying to do more than that, doesn't claim to be trying to do more than that, and frankly it doesn't have to! All this while asking for a modest 30$.
BG3 claims that it is this grand overarching immersive world full of glorious storytelling. To put it bluntly, it fails at this, and does so in the worst way possible. Its story is trite and forgettable, as are its characters. Years from now BG3 will be nothing more than a footnote, at best. People won't remember what it was about, they wont remember any characters from it at all. Perhaps the only thing that might stand the test of time is its soundtrack (which I personally thought was mediocre at best, especially as game music, but people seem to like it a lot, so this may just be down to taste in my case).
On top of this it blatantly insults the previous games, reusing the original characters from BG1/2 in the worst possible way. Its downright disgusting what they did to Sarevok and the rest. This is without even getting into the rampant degeneracy which only becomes more and more extreme as you get deeper into the game. All this while asking for a premium 60$ price tag.
Just like Hogwarts Legacy, it's a well done and fun game.