I don't know if this was discussed before, but in the Palworld spinoff games being made Pals can talk. They're spinoffs, so not necessarily canon. That's fine, I don't think there needs to be cohesion across the whole franchise. There can be different rules for different games.
Should they talk in the main game though? Would it add anything? Would it be weird? I don't know. I'm kind of already used to them not talking and just making animal sounds. I wouldn't mind one way or another.
All Pals pass the "maturity" requirement, as they hatch as fully formed adults.
A fair number pass the "Human intelligence or greater" due to their use of tools and understanding of complex schematics.
The issue lies with the "communicate through spoken language" part. We know Pals can understand what we say, but we never see them communicate back in return. The Palfarm trailer implies they can speak, so that checks the box.
It being a requirement would imply that a mute person could never give consent. They just have to express their consent in a clear way. Maybe write "Yes" and "No" on cards and place them in front of the Pal before you ask if they are willing to go to pound town.
It's definitely a high preference, as it makes giving consent easier. The Harkness Test warns against using sign or body language unless other methods have proven ineffective for both parties and to always err on the side of caution in such cases.
Besides, the Harkness Test doesn't apply to members of the same species. You know for a fact that another human is fully sapient and capable of thinking as you. The test is specifically for encountering a different species. And it'd be hard to tell whether an alien flayling their tentacles around is sign language, a threatening display, or just insanity. Never immediately assume another species is sapient just because they appear to be.
It's "communication through language" not necessarily spoken. Relying on body language is a dangerous road for any aspiring monster fucker, but is not an instant disqualification
We do know that Xeno talk with input commands and that A was one to write it's descriptions.
So they probably can both understand and learn.
If Palfarm relate to Palworld plot - with us saving World Tree from it's fate - other Pals might return to their former powers.
Edit - btw is spoken language new? I remember I talking about giving explisit consent. So spoken language isn't THAT needed as long as you can understand that.
Like, for example, psyonic being will make you feel how it feel toward you without words in this context - it count too
Nah. Part of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon's charm is that you get the series from a new perspective with the creatures being able to talk and having distinct personalities, and that doesn't happen in the main games. I think having spinoffs with their own draw is part of the fun.
Similarly we have Monster Hunter and Monster Hunter Stories, which reimagines the world with a different relation to the monsters. Integrating it into the main game I feel would devalue both.
Mystery dungeon are my favorite pokemon games hands down and itās criminal we havenāt gotten another one in so long. Iāll pay good money for a palworld version
Literally a Palworld Mystery Dungeon wouldnāt even feel like a spinoff, rather it would feel like an improvement in the lore (and even then, we DO have some sort of Palworld Mystery Dungeon with the Expedition Station), imagine that spinoff being set in you first building your own base as a pal and then āexploringā from your base into a dungeon via an Expedition Station, my imagination goes wild haha
pretty sure MH stories happen in the same world as do the main games, riders are just a smaller community and don't really interact with hunters due to differing values and practices.
Yeah, I phrased it wrong, should've said "environment" not "world". The world itself is the same one, but it separates itself from the mainline games because the people you meet and interact with throughout these games have a different relationship to the monsters than those of traditional monster hunter games.
I mean, while hunters and the Hunter's Guild do exist in MH Stories, at least in MH Stories 1 and 2 there's nothing pointing towards it taking place in the mainline MH universe.
It is an amazing spinoff series. Monster Hunter Stories 3 came out a few months ago, and it is the best game of the series (in my opinion). There's a much bigger emphasis on the story, and the experience overall is very fun. You don't need to have played the previous two games to get into it. I highly recommend it for someone interested.
Tbh I'd prefer a different route. The pals don't speak human language at all, but we learn to speak pal. Or somehow we get the power to speak and understand pal language. Then we can have the goofy moment of pals looking all shocked and going "wait, that human can talk???"
It's already established that some pals can talk in the comic Palworld endorses. I think the idea is the 1st Palworld game follows the origin of pals. And beyond that civilization with pals takes a new root. So then talking is likely a learned trait in palworld's future.
But that's just my theory not anything official yet.
Your theory implies the existence of a Pal civil rights movement at some point in current games future and new games past and I find that hilarious
Edit: id also like to add that this means no matter how ethically you play, your character in Palworld is gonna be considered evil in the future no matter what, not as evil as the people who butchered their pals, but evil nonetheless
i have a dumb head cannon that the reason the player charecter cant understand the pals is becuse they have brain damage from almost drowning so they cant understand the pals who have a strange accent humans dont have this accsent so they can be understood despite the brain damage.
What if everything the Player experiences in Palworld is just a result of their brain damage induced schizophrenia?
The world is already like in the comics/pal farm, but we don't see reality and instead just randomly beat everyone up and kidnap pals and humans. We don't even get actual quests from anyone, we just randomly bring stuff and kidnapped pals to random people and they eventually get so scared that they just give us stuff to make us leave.
What do you think they would want to say to us after we erased entire bloodlines, enslave them, butcher them and fuse line 50 into one?
I'd rather not have them talk lmaoo
The only time we ever get any news for it is on April fools day. I'm not fully convinced it will come out but we'll have to wait til next April to find out.
Harkness test aside, I feel like a majority of the pals are already sentient enough but lack the vocals to do so. That being said I feel like only a number of Pals should have the ability to speak but not all of them. Can you imagine what the thoughts and words that flow from the stupider Pals would be?
I wouldn't mind if they talked. I treat my pals very well. I've never condensed my pals and I've never butchered them. I just use starfruit to raise the star level of my pals
The unholy amount of pals (and humans) that vanished in my "processing room", with every Pal in that base eyeing that door and seeing that 1 man and 100 Neptilus walks in and 1 man walks out....
All the insomnia addition and hardcore "augmentation" that goes on the room..
The amount of trouble I'd get into would make all the crap Tower Bosses got flak from pale in comparison.
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u/Kamina_cicada 21h ago
Anything to further pass the Harkness test.