That's the end of the tutorial, so let's talk about the monsters so far.
#014
Candevil, the "pastel horned devil"
Candevils possess the peculiar ability to generate sugary sweets from their bodies, which can be used as gifts or ballistic projectiles. Some find this quite charming, whereas others argue that it's actually very weird and gross.Bucking the trend of having the first monsters available be the first in the Pokedex, Candevil rolls in at #014 and Bansheep at #019.
Candevil's stats give it a generalist spread, which makes sense given its role as a starter. Wouldn't want to have any glaring weaknesses before the player can explore and round out their party with other monsters, right?
Candevil starts with a unique passive, "Sugar Rush", that increases its Speed proportional to how many HP it's lost. Outspeeding the enemy means hitting first, potentially KOing the attacker before it can do any more damage. Candevil's unique attack is Bon Bon Blast, a ranged typeless attack that costs 3 AP and has 70 attack power. It might debuff the target's evasion when it hits.
The inspiration: The very first monster I'm talking about, because it shows up early and comes before the others in the index, is one I didn't even get in the game. But "candy imp" is already a pretty good idea, right? We're one entry in and already we've seen a better monster concept than anything that showed up in Palworld.
The remaster: At five stars, the player is given a prompt: would they rather explore the
Alchemy side of progression, or go the way of
Machinery?
#019
Bansheep, the "moody floating sheep"
The eerie moans of the wild Bansheep at night have led many to believe they are restless undead spirits, but this is untrue: they are very much alive, they just like to have a bit of a whine. Who doesn't?Looking at its stat spread, Bansheep just seems... well, just plain better than Candevil. All its stats are just a little bit higher than Candevil's, but in this case that's because of when I took the screen captures. Bansheep's stat chart is coming from the end of the tutorial, where it has three stars under its belt. Candevil's screenshot is from right after the Traffikrab fight at the very beginning of the game, so it has only one star. At their base, Bansheep and Candevil are exactly the same except they swap Melee Defense and Ranged Defense between them, with a difference of 100 and 105 between them. It's not a big deal.
Bansheep starts with a unique passive, "Shear Luck", increasing its evasion based on how many HP it's lost. Obviously if the guy's on low HP it doesn't want to get hit any more and KOed, right? Bansheep's unique attack is Battering Ram, which like Bon Bon Blast costs 3 AP and has 70 attack power, but in contrast it's a melee hit and debuffs the target's accuracy. I feel like Shear Luck and Battering Ram synergize a little better than Sugar Rush and Bon Bon Blast, but also I just like Bansheep's aesthetic better than Candevil's.
The inspiration: It's pure speculation, but I'd say the name came first and the idea followed. Banshee are Irish spirits, the Irish have raised their fair share of sheep throughout history I guess, and you can throw the two into a portmanteau name that rolls off the tongue pretty well. But hey, while we're on the subject of earlygame sheep monsters, which is the more interesting design idea: "floating, keening ghost" or "round"?
The remaster: Bansheep also has a branching path for its progression. Once it gets as big and strong as it can, it'll shift its ghostly form. Should it
Return to the Earth or
Ascend to Heaven?
#024
Sirenade, the "winged beast with a microphone tail"
Sirenades are particuarly loud creatures, and can amplify their own singing voices through their microphone tails and wings. They don't seem to have much awareness as to whether or not their singing is too loud for those around them.Sirenade is Kayleigh's signature monster. Whenever Kayleigh transforms into Sirenade, the transformation gets a 10% boost to all its stats.
Sirenade joins up right alongside either Bansheep or Candevil, but a look at its stat spread shows that it's not a generalist like they are. Sirenade is weak and fragile in melee, with a definite bias toward Ranged Attack and Ranged Defense.
The inspiration: "Siren" and "Serenade" combine together well enough I figured I should look up whether they come from the same etymological root. Nope! "Siren" has Greek roots and "Serenade", from "serene", is Latin. Anyway, "karaoke bat" is the sort of off-the-wall monster design that really appeals to me. Give me the oddball designs, that's the good stuff.
The remaster: Sirenade changes form when it reaches five stars, but always turns into the same thing. If I leave out "The Remaster" from a monster's entry, it either doesn't remaster or offers no choice.
#026
Dandylion, the "big flowery lion"
Dandylions are loyal, defensive guardians. They're typically found standing at the entrances to important caves in the grassy plains of New Wirral. If you find one with no cave nearby, it may be a hint that something is hidden!The very first grass-type Pokemon is Bulbasaur, geared toward defensive stats that let it hang back and knock out opponents with damage-over-time effects like Toxic and Leech Seed. But the grass-type in Pokemon
suuucks, with far too many weaknesses to make a defensive mon work all that well. Palworld has tanky grass-types like Mammorest and Wumpo Botan, with only one elemental weakness to make them actually survivable in combat, but no status moves to speak of. Dandylion is the best of both worlds: if I can keep it away from fire and air attacks, it's magnificently tanky. With a few more stars it will be able to put enemies to sleep, absorb their HP, and put up elemental walls to avoid damage.
The inspiration: Dandelion-the-flower comes from "dent de leon", since somebody looked at the spiky leaves and decided they looked like lions' teeth. In this case the flower has actual lions' teeth, on account of being a
wu lion-dog sort of creature. Y'know, like Arcanine, but as a plant. The big dandelion poof afro and red-and-green markings help differentiate Dandylion from plain ol' regular "animal but with leaves growing out" design so prevalent for grass-type monsters.
#030
Dominoth, the "big moth". Can't argue with that.
Dominoths see themselves as defenders of peace, and spend their days patrolling the skies of woodland areas. The only thing that can distract them from their noble duties are bright lights, such as lamps.Thanks to Kamen Rider, bugs and superheroes go hand in hand in Japanese media. Hey, wait a second! Bytten Studios is British! Well, here's a masked moth superhero anyway.
The Inspiration:
plus
The remaster: Dominoth has a branching remaster, but what it transforms into depends on whether it reaches five stars during the day or at night. If I end up using it, I'll be taking whatever I get.
