Reviewing Monsters: Palworld, Part 3

Part 3 of my review of Palworld monsters. At this point I kinda lost a bit of steam, because, well... there honestly really isn't a lot for me to say, and most of the monsters that I find interesting to talk about fell in the first two parts -- the ones that derivated from Pokemon rather neatly, or he individually interesting designs. There are still enough monsters and enough for me to talk about to have me finish the Palworld bestiary, but I honestly wished that the designers did a bit more to try and make these creatures have their own 'vibe', you know? 

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#071: Vanwyrm

• Aerial Marauder | Marauder of the Frozen Skies
• Type: Fire/Dark (normal) | Ice (cryst)

It's like... Vanwyrm here is just a generic badass cool bird. And there's really nothing wrong with that, if the Paldeck doesn't have like four or five of these already. From the name, Vanwyrm is meant to be a 'wyrm' or a dragon of some sort, but other than the head, it doesn't really look like a dragon. Just another generic fantasy giant bird-of-doom. Two variations exist, the Fire/Dark regular Vanwyrm and the ice-type Vanwyrm Cryst, but all the deck talks about is how their bones are used for flutes. 

#072: Bushi

• Vagrant Warrior
• Type: Fire

Okay, a generic ronin person. I mean... this isn't Pokemon, there isn't any rule against having the humanoid Pals be a bit more elaborate, all Digimon-like, but Bushi isn't even a particularly pleasant-looking humanoid monster. The ronin hat, the cape and the katana are all right, if a bit tacky, but I'm not a fan of the flesh-coloured face or the giant... clonky... flare-up legs.

There is some neat lore that wouldn't feel out of place in a D&D game or something. Bushi's body dies and turns into swords upon death, and only another Bushi can wield this blade. Any other that tries to do so will be driven mad. Okay.

#073: Beakon

• Wings of Thunder
• Type: Electric

It sure is a thunder bird. I... I really don't have much to say here. It really does me appreciate the amount of effort that they put into Zapdos, Moltres and Articuno to differentiate them from each other. You could've coloured Beakon brown and I wouldn't think it's any more 'lightning' than, say, Vanwyrm or Nitewing. 

#074: Ragnahawk

• Wings of Inferno
• Type: Fire

And Ragnahawk is a fire bird. Neat-o. Colour him yellow, and I'd believe with that head that it's the lightning bird! The Paldeck itself at least lampshades this, noting that many people have confused the Beakon and Ragnahawk species as being related. 

#075: Katress

• Phantasmal Feline
• Type: Dark

It's a witch cat, standing on two legs and having a cloak. They will apparently go around in the overworld and stand in witch circles, which is neat. I otherwise don't have much to say here, it's a witch cat-person, which isn't the most innovative monster concept out there but one that's a bit all right. 

#076: Wixen

• Fire Licked Furball
• Type: Fire

Apparently, Wixens have a conflict with Katresses, but these guys harness the 'power of light'. The deck mentions how Katresses eat food raw, while Wixens eat food well-done. It sure is a fire-fox witch, and... I'm really trying to say how this thing isn't ripping off Braixen and Delphox, but maybe if you could pick among any of the animals to turn into a fire witch, you don't pick the same animal that Pokemon picked? It's not like foxes are particularly "fire-witch"-y. 

I do think that Wixen's design is a bit messier compared to Katress. There's maybe one or two too many detailings in his design that I felt could've been removed to streamline it out a bit. 

#077: Verdash

• Gale of the Forest
• Type: Grass

Okay, grass Cinderace. No, seriously, this literally is just Cinderace with some details stripped down and some plant leaves grafted to it. Wixen at least just borrowed the concept while making a whole new model and design. Verdash just feels like someone was told to draw Cinderace from memory, and then they painted it green. I uniroinically think that Verdash has the better colour scheme, but I have gone on record on really disliking Cinderace. Knockoff Cinderace isn't going to score any better in my books. 

The lore is that Verdash dashes across the land, and where it runs, plants grow. It is also allergic to herbicide, refusing to run there. 

#078: Vaelet

• Voice of the Violets
• Type: Grass

Oh, okay, something a bit more interesting. Vaelet is a humanoid fairy with a mostly-black body, a pretty neat leaf helmet, and a massive wing-cape made out of flower petals. You could squint and call it a Celebi ripoff, which... I think unlike many other obvious blatant ones, this one is pretty safe. Pretty cool-looking, a rather knight-like design. The little blurb he has also delivers a rather interesting backstory -- Vaelet was a spirit of the flowers from the garden of a war-torn castle.

What Vaelet actually does is 'Purification of Gaia', which has Vaelet purify the earth -- which includes Ground-types, which drop extra loot if Vaelet is in the party. 

#079: Sibelyx

• Pallid Lady
• Type: Ice

Another fairy-like monster, though not one that's a bit more 'basic'. On the surface Sibelyx is some kind of an icy slender humanoid with a huge hat, but unlike the cat witch or Vaelet, Sibelyx's anatomy is a bit more interesting. It's got two giant, flat wing-like hands, and its body is scrunched up in ways that makes you think of a cartoon ghost. Throw in the crisscross lines all over her body and the large antennae on the hat, and Sibelyx looks pretty neat.

The Paldeck doesn't offer us much in terms of what she is, only that she likes the rain and will shelter smaller Pals under it. What she is, however, is a moth! Sibelyx borrows from "Bombyx", the scientific name of silkmoths. And its ability is "Silk Maker", assisting in the creation of high quality cloth material.

I do like this design. Conceptually it does rib off of Frosmoth as an ice moth monster, but they do a couple of rather interesting thing here that make me do appreciate this more than most of the things on this page.

#080: Elphidran

• Gentle Sky Dragon | Beast of the Tides
• Type: Dragon (normal) | Water (aqua)

It sure is a cute dinosaur fairy-dragon. Does Pokemon have a proper fairy dragon? I know there has been a couple of fan-made ones running around, but Elphidran is a pretty neat, whimsical 'fairy dragon'. I like that it's got butterfly wings, and that its body is so ridiculously non-aerodynamic but it can fly nonetheless. 

Regular Elphidran is just so nice and pure that it doesn't have the good common sense to distinguish good from evil, allowing evil people to take advantage of it. Elphidran Aqua takes this otherwise generic 'holy beast' description and flips it over its head, noting that "it harbours no ill will in any of its actions, and is indifferent even after killing someone". Kinda deliciously dark! I do like the colourations of both Elphidran variants, both being rather simple but very pleasant colour combinations. 

#081: Kelpsea

• Child of the Deep | Child of the Molten Depths
• Type: Water (normal) | Fire (ignis)

It sure is a seal-dinosaur? People note that Kelpsea seems to be based on the cut Pokemon Kurusu, which... is it plagiarism if you're plagiarising their rejected work? Kelpsea isn't the most exciting creature, just like Kurusu, being this ambiguous mixture of seal and horse features and... not really doing much with it. The idea is that Kelpseas are influenced by the waters that they are born into, with those that are born in polluted waters being 'delinquents' while Kelpsea Ignis are born in hot waters and have a passionate personality. 

Not much to say here, I almost wish we had a 'mud' or a 'polluted waters' Kelpsea just to stretch out the variants.

#082: Azurobe

• Lady of the Lake
• Type: Water/Dragon 

Y'know, Pokemon definitely doesn't have a monopoly on 'graceful blue marine monsters with lady accessories stapled on', but it's really hard to look at Azurobe here and not see Milotic in those 'ears' and Primarina in the hair. It's got a bunch of ribbons around its body, and... it's not quite as bad as Grass Cinderace up above, but it's still kind of distracting. It's kind of a shame that this one had to be a bit obvious in its 'inspiration', when Palworld has otherwise perfectly fine sea serpents. (If you couldn't guess, Azurobe is another one that could be mounted). Even if they wanted to make a 'lady-like' version, they could've done a bit more to make it be distinct. 

Apparently, Azurobe's ribbons turn black when in contact with impure water, causing it to get overhunted by humans. And this causes Azurobe to now be super hostile to humans. Okay. 

#083: Cryolinx

• Predator of Snowy Peaks
• Type: Ice

Ah! This one is freaky, in all the best ways! Cryolinx is ostensibly a snowy lynx monster, with a cat-like head and some cat-like features, but its body layout is so bizarrely exaggerated with super-long arms that hunch over like an arch, terminating in massive claws. The general shape of Cryolinx just looks so weird, like one of the deformed shapes that a Tom & Jerry or Bugs Bunny cartoon would take. It makes Cryolinx actually look a fair bit more menacing than he probably deserves to be. 

I like the little lampshade on their design ideas, where Cryolinx's long arms allows it to scale up mountains very easily... but it can't get down with the stubby legs. Is this monstrous snow-yeti cat-man monster ultimately a 'cat gets stuck on a tree' joke?

#084: Blazehowl

• Crimson Goliath | Inferno Goliath
• Type: Fire (normal) | Dark (noct)

Okay, a design that's a bit more 'generic fantasy', though I'm not complaining all that much. Blazehowl is a monstrous demonic lion, with a fire mane, some fiery wings, demonic goat-horns and a completely jet-black body. Blazehowl comes in regular fire and hellfire version, and it's apparently based not on a Pokemon, but on a Monster Hunter creature, Teostra. I don't know enough about Monster Hunter to really comment, though that sure is a franchsie that I should do a 'reviewing monsters' for at some point. 

Blazehowl's pretty all right for what it is. The dex entries talk about how both versions like raw meat, but its flames often cause the meat to become unfortunately well-done, which is the nastiest of all steak meat. 

#085: Relaxaurus

• Gluttonous Dragon | Gluttonous Thunder Dragon
• Type: Dragon/Water (normal) | Electric (lux)

Relaxaurus here kind of reminds me of the Goodra-looking plant dinosaur before, but it looks a fair bit more unique. I absolutely love the dot eyes and the derpy mouth, the chubby limbs, and the newt-like markings on its body. Relaxaurus (and its electric counterpart, that has a lightning mohawk) looks just so pleasant and adorable. 

...which, of course, is a complete subversion because Relaxaurus is actually quite ferocious, and "perceives everything in its sight as prey and will stop at nothing to devour it". It's a nice little gag, though I kind of wished that they had put a bit more effort in explaining the biology or story behind why Relaxaurus acts the way it does. One thing that's absolutely fun is that just like many Pals in the game, Relaxaurus can be a mount... but mounting it also has your player instantly equip it with racks of fucking homing missile launchers. It's such an unexpected feature to give to this guy. I can't hate him. 

#086: Broncherry

• Winds of Spring | Waves of Summer
• Type: Grass (normal) | Water (aqua)

Okay, so a more elaborate Meganium. Didn't we already have a Meganium-coloured dinosaur before? I honestly wished they had cut that out, and have Relaxaurus be the main bipedal theropod and Broncherry be the plant dinosaur. Broncherry's scent transforms depending on whether it's 'paired' or not, and it comes in two variations. The regular one is a Grass-type that steals Meganium's colour scheme, and the Aqua version is a nice blue-and-yellow colouration. 

I don't have much to say, it sure is a dinosaur with plants on it. Pretty neatly drawn, but not exactly the most novel thing in the genre. 

#087: Petallia

• Lady of the Garden
• Type: Grass

She sure is a grass-themed lady. Petallia is just... a straight-up humanoid figure. I guess she's part-plant, and that's the whole point that separates her from being a human you toss a ball to capture? Petallia's life cycle is described in the deck, where upon death Petallias turn into a massive plant, and once every ten years a flower from this plant creates a new Petallia. 

A pal that transforms into a massive plant when at the end of its life. Once every ten years, a beautiful flower blooms and a new Petallia is born. Not much to say, otherwise. 

#088: Reptyro

• Magma-Born Juggernaut | Ice-Breaking Juggernaut
• Type: Fire/Ground (normal) | Ice (cryst)

A four-legged dinosaurian lava monster, Reptyro is pretty pleasant-looking for a lava-themed quadrupedal dinosaur-dragon creature. I really don't have a whole ton to say about it, it sure is a tortoise-triceratops-dragon thing on fire! The deck does note that both versions will cause a 'vapor explosion' if water is thrown at it, but in a game that weaponizes its monsters, no such mechanic actually is doable with Reptyro. 

#089: Kingpaca

• Supreme Fluff Commander | Azure Fluff Commander
• Type: Neutral (normal) | Ice (cryst)

The 'boss' of the Melpaca we saw much earlier, this one is a fun meme-y one, where Kingpaca is the king of the alpacas, with a comically fat body, a comically large floof, a little crown atop that face and even a crystal blue variant. It attacks by jumping out and bodyslamming the enemy like a giant press. 

I appreciate the dedication to the joke and the ridiculousness, even if I thought they could've gone a bit further in making the design look sillier. 

#090: Mammorest

• King of the Forest | Frozen King
• Type: Grass (normal) | Ice (cryst)

One of the larger Pals that you are likely to run into early on in your journey is Mammorest here, who is a giant, monstrous elephant with an appropriately mean-looking expression, giant stone spikes, some shackles-looking rocks around his legs, and the entirety of his dorsal side covered with leaves. He's a pretty suitable 'boss' for a forest area, honestly, being a monstrous ornery elephant monster that stomps around. I actually appreciate them a fair bit. 

An icy mammoth version also exists, Mammorest Cryst, with the white covering still being some sort of icy plants. Both are pretty pleasant monsters. I don't mind them. 

#091: Wumpo

• Guardian of the Snowy Mountain | Guardian of the Grassy Fields
• Type: Ice (normal) | Grass (botan)

It sure is an adorable monster that wouldn't look quite out of place in a show like Moomin or a Ghibli production or something, being a big round ball of fur with a face that's entirely black with two cute eyes. But it's also got rather nasty-looking claws, selling the idea that this critter could probably fuck someone's day up if bothered enough. You can also ride Wumpo around, which, again, backs up my whole complaint of having so many repetitive ridable mounts that double up on appearance when you've got wacky options like Wumpo or Sweepa. Wumpo Botan is a grass-themed version, and I like that he's got a little flower on his head. 

It's not entirely immediately obvious that that isn't quite Wumpo's real face, but rather an approximation of its true face similar to a Pokemon like Tangela or Tangrowth (the latter also shares a 'caveman' aesthethic with Wumpo) but because this is the Pokemon world and the humans in this world are inhumane, unethical bastards, they actually did get Wumpos and try to shave off all its hair to see what's beneath. There's only hair underneath, though, with nothing at the core, meaning that Wumpo is a monster made entirely out of hair. 

#092: Warsect

• Unyielding Colossus
• Type: Grass/Ground

Okay, that's cool. You know I'm going to like this one. Can't really go wrong with a cool bug monster, and Warsect even looks different enough from Heracross and Pinsir! Warsect's clearly got horns patterned after the Hercules beetle, and I like how chunky and almost robotic his arms look. Look at those cylindrical forearms and giant claws. The black-and-gold colour scheme isn't the most creative, but it does look cool, combined with Warsect's almost knight-like face. 

I don't think I've spoken enough about the fact that this game is less of a 'mon-vs-mon' game but a first-person-shooter, so these monsters actually do have weak spots and whatnot. For Warsect, the only critical point are the eyes that peer out of its heavily armoured body. 

#093: Fenglope

• Drifting Cloud
• Type: Neutral

Y'know, I can't deny that I've complained since forever that Cobalion looks extremely rigid and unnatural and plasticky. Fenglope is basically a ripoff of Cobalion, taking literally his colour scheme, almost his entire design and even his pose, and just tossing it through an East Asian palette to make it look like it's a mythical beast from Chinese or Japanese myths. 

And... and I must say that I actually do like Fenglope more than Cobalion, probably the only time in this whole game that I would say I like a Pal more than its Pokemon inspiration. Sorry, Cobalion. 

#094: Felbat

• Gloom-Shrouded Bloodsucker
• Type: Dark

It sure is a vampire fellow. Felbat does have a slightly more non-conventional humanoid design, which I always appreciate. There's no apparent arm other than the cloak-wings, and its head is just a mass of whipped-cream-looking hair with an angry face with a black horn peeking from underneath. I wouldn't think this guy would look out of place as an enemy in like a Kingdom Hearts game or something. 

Attacking from the shadows, this Pal traps its prey within its cloak-like wings. It's probably best not to know what happens within them, or why the inside of its wings are stained red.

#095: Quivern

• Wings of White
• Type: Dragon

And we close this part off with a feathery, angelic dragon. It sure is a friendly-looking dragon guy with feathery wings and feathery ears and feathers all around its body. I really shouldn't sound so sarcastic, honestly -- it's not a bad concept to put in a monster game, and it even fits a niche in not really looking like any of the dragons in this game. 

I appreciate the deck entry, too, which notes that Quivern has accidentally crushed and "sent to heaven" trainers that sleep next to it. It's a hilariously morbid dad joke on its angelic appearance. I like it.