There’s one aspect of the Palworld vs. Pokemon debate we don’t talk about enough: team size. Nintendo’s classic monster-catching game allows you to field six Pokemon at a time. Palworld restricts your team size to five. It turns out that subtracting one fuzzy friend from the roster can have a big impact on your strategy. Palworld lacks PvP at the moment, and with a less refined gym system than Pokemon, team compositions matter less. The closer the game gets to 1.0, however, the more the difference will matter. So how much does Palworld‘s reduced team size change things? Should Pocketpair consider adding a spot?
Team Size in Palworld
I need one Pal to fly, one Pal to ride on land, and one high-DPS friend to melt my enemies. You want a crafting Pal? Fourth slot is gone. How about one that specializes in capturing other Pals? Goodbye, fifth slot. There are nine elements, so if I’m running monotypes, half the elements go uncovered thanks to the smaller team size in Palworld. I’m glad I don’t have access to all 137 Pals at once because it forces me to make strategic choices, but five? Yeah, there are more than 1,000 Pokemon and 18 elements in Nintendo’s series, but the larger team size makes me feel more covered, not less.
There’s an argument that Pocketpair chose five as the magic number not to avoid copying Pokemon but because the player acts as the sixth teammate. It’s been a while since I watched the show, but I’m pretty sure Ash never earned a Gym Badge at the loud end of a pump-action shotgun. Managing Pal cooldowns and my own attacks is enough to keep me busy, so it’s not like we need a sixth Pal for combat rhythm. I love the active role that Palworld has players take in battle, but I can’t help but feel a bit restricted by the five-Pal limit. The tactician in me can’t justify holding space for Depresso, but my heart won’t let him go.
Teams and PvP
In Palworld‘s defense, the smaller team size puts great weight on your choices. PvE gameplay doesn’t showcase the difference well, but once Pocketpair adds PvP we’ll have a better idea of how smaller team sizes affect strategy. I’m worried that fewer slots will mean a stale meta, but it’s too early to say, considering PvP doesn’t even exist yet. Honestly, min-maxing DPS and covering elemental weaknesses aren’t even why I care about team size in Palworld. Between Depresso, Daedream, Foxparks, Mozzarina, Quivern, and Swee, I have too many cuddly friends. Don’t make me choose.
Palworld is available for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in early access.
