Some of my thoughts on the current state of Palia

I played in early closed beta and then for a couple months when it first became open beta. I came back a couple weeks ago and have been collecting my thoughts about the game.

Pros

It's FREE!

Very pretty game!

Already quite a lot to do

Most players seem to be kind and very helpful

INSANE party bonuses

NPCs are (almost) all amazing and have great back stories and unique personalities

Cooking mini games are a lot of fun (for a time, lol)

Fishing mini game is also fun (again, for a time)

You can pet (and befriend!!!) the dog!!!

Einar

Decent amount of dev gifts + Twitch stream rewards

Progression feels pretty good

Pretty newbie friendly

You can talk to NPCs and shop regardless of what time it is/where they are (for the most part)

Cons

A lot of players feel entitled to other people's time (IE: Why didn't you call out a tree/grove/palium/rare bug/magic creature?!)

People don't want to party with strangers at all

Can't just buy rugs, toilets, tubs, iceboxes, or paintings late/end game

Cannot quickly cook alone (Perhaps reduced output for an instant cook)

Only 4 requests a day

Build Limit + Builders Blocks limit + Flowers counting towards build limit

Absolutely zero avatar cosmetics for sale with in game currency; very silly for a game that's "endgame" is cosmetic

You have to be SUPER close to your party members for the party bonus; feels like it should be a little more distance than 35m

Only two maps right now =(

There's 24 Hot Pot player slots and only two prize wheels

Things that seem like Cons but are kinda Pros

Not "enough" garden plots. There's enough! It'd be ridiculous having more late/end game

No marketplace. It's a good thing we don't have a user run marketplace... But a marketplace with predetermined prices (such as the price it would be to normally purchase from a store, or twice the sale price) where you can only buy things you can request would be nice

Common Bugs I've experienced

Bugs scuttle off into mountains or underground all the time

Bugs also sometimes just teleport for no reason

Hunting targets also sometimes teleport

Loot falls under ground and is unpickable sometimes

Loot sometimes teleports away from where you killed the mob

Drawing/discarding cards in Hot Pot is... bad

Can't always attach to climbable walls

After eating a food can't use tool without deselecting the food

Cooking menu, once you're in a recipe, is bad if you're cooking with other people

Trouble placing things in the Grand Harvest House

Friends menu bugs out sometimes and forgets people are/aren't your friend

Can't place rugs under items sometimes?

Chat doesn't always scroll to the bottom

Chat randomly changes which channel I'm chatting on sometimes when I change servers or relog

Dialogue sometimes doesn't line up (responses make no sense for what was said)

QOL Ideas/Requests

CLICK to continue at the beginning!

Half block snapping in grid mode that isn't based on other placed items

Quick text would be nice! (IE: Maybe quick text for pinged nodes, for example? Also "thank you" and such. This would be especially nice for Switch users.)

Multiple item purchasing

Right click selling for stacks (+ confirmation or buyback, maybe?)

Quick-swap to last tool

Party loot pickup

Hot Pot queue or priority for people already at a table

Hit escape to leave Modification Bench

Hit escape to leave chat bar

Hit escape to leave Friends window

Alphabetize user lists (friends, server)

Add/invite people with a mouse over of some sort or a "nearby" list in the user lists

Search in cooking/crafting list and collapsible tabs for furniture sets

Ability to split stacks with shift or something (and/or ability to split stacks while in crafting menus)

Make all crafting tabs visible? Seems weird to scroll for a single tab when there's definitely room for all five

Ability to save "builds" on your plot

Ability to pin steps in a recipe for when you're cooking multiplayer since the menu gets weird

Better/custom colors for furniture

Being able to move/place furniture/items by their edges or at least not ONLY their middles

Instead of saying "something is in the way" when I can't place an item maybe tell me or highlight what

Ability to switch which layer you're placing something on

Ability to stack rugs/various items

There's no reason for flowers to take so long to grow; they aren't worth much and you can't do anything other than decorate with them

Invite specific people to your plot when it's closed

Ability to turn off chat filter

Lights should start turned on when placed

Ability to place things like milk or other ingredients

TBH, if I can fast travel at all it doesn't really make sense to not be able to fast travel from my map

Maybe have clay nodes respawn faster

Either move or allow easier click-through of the popups on the bottom right of the screen

edit, Let us see party member's middle click pings

Perhaps give hunting/bug catching party bonuses if you're just doing it close to other players

edit 2 from a friend, a party/community hub! Maybe something in the inn where you can find other people to join?

I did NOT list things that will obviously be addressed as the game is updated. (Such as a relatively small amount of furniture or crops.)

Overall the game is in a much better state than it was before, and feels much more multiplayer friendly, but less solo friendly. I think it's worth playing, after all it's free! And you can get MANY hours of playtime out of it at the moment. If you're not interested in decorating I'm not sure this is the game for you because that's all the "endgame" is right now... Which makes it especially odd that there's such a low build limit--particularly after adding builders blocks!

My ultimate takeaway is it's a good game so far and I can't wait to see where it goes from here. I've sunk an insane amount of hours into it and still want to do more.