Palia Starter Guide

Last Updated: October 8, 2023 10:50 AM /

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Palia Starter Guide - Cover Image Looking at Kilima Village from the Northwest During the Daytime

Our Palia Starter Guide will tell you what you need to know to begin your adventure in Singularity 6's cozy "community sim" MMO.

There's a whole new world to explore in Palia! After awakening in some mysterious ruins, you'll meet some Villagers and learn useful skills such as Fishing and Gardening. You'll even get a House of your very own! Read on to learn more about the basics of Palia!


Palia HUD Explanation

Palia Starter Guide - HUD Explanation Standing in a field in Kilima while Delaila Walks Along a Path

  1. Last Used Skill - The most recent Skill you've gained experience for will show up here. In this case, the HUD shows that I last earned XP for Mining and that it is currently at Level 9.
  2. Character Name - Your full character name is shown here.
  3. Focus Bar - Focus gives you a bonus to earning XP in all Skills. Eating Food will fill up your Focus Bar.
  4. Nearest Stables - This icon on the compass shows you where the nearest Stables are. Stables can be used to fast travel around Kilima and Bahari Bay for a small fee.
  5. Compass - The Compass shows you which direction you're facing, along with any objectives for pinned Quests.
  6. Waypoint - If you set a Waypoint on the Map with middle-click, it will appear on your Compass.
  7. Top-down Compass - A second, top-down Compass makes it clear which direction you're facing.
  8. Visitor Indicator - This icon means that a Villager is currently visiting your Housing Plot, usually to progress a Quest.
  9. Mail Indicator - This icon means that you have Mail at your Housing Plot.
  10. Time - This shows you the current time. Above it is a wheel that shows you whether it is Dawn, Daytime, Dusk, or Night depending on where the arrow is. The time of day is important for Fishing and other activities. Additionally, Villagers have schedules and most will be unavailable at Night unless you have a Key to their house.
  11. Pinned Quests - Any pinned Quests and their current objectives will be shown here. You can see which Quests you currently have active in your Journal; you can access your Journal by pressing "J."
  12. Chat - Chat will be minimized in the bottom-left corner of the screen unless someone types something; then it will pop up.
  13. Active Tool - Your currently-equipped Tool will be shown here, along with its Durability (if applicable) and any other relevant information (such as the amount of ammo as shown in the above screenshot).
  14. Hotbar - Your Hotbar is one row of your Inventory; it has two rows at first and can be upgraded with a larger capacity. You can scroll through each row of your Inventory with the mouse wheel. The dots above the Hotbar show which row of the inventory you're currently viewing.
  15. Social and Player Status - These show notifications for any changes in the Social menu (O) and Player menu (P).

Palia Starter Guide - Running Out of Phoenix Falls

Palia Starter Guide

Our Palia Starter Guide will take you from your first steps in the world all the way up to getting your very own plot of land to call home. Let's get moving!

Creating Your Character

The very first thing you'll do in Palia is create your character. Keep in mind that you'll be unable to change your body type/sex, face, skin color, eye color, or hairstyle once you've locked them in -- make sure that you're absolutely certain that you're happy with your look before confirming it!

You'll also have to choose your character's full name and their nickname. This, too, cannot be changed after you've finished creating your character.

The one thing you can change, however, is your character's clothing. You'll be stuck with what you first pick for a while, so make sure you take something you'll be happy to wear for a few hours. Once you get your Housing Plot, you'll be able to Craft a Wardrobe and change your clothes.

Leaving Phoenix Falls

Now that your character is created, you'll actually enter the world of Palia. Your character appears in a beam of light from a phoenix statue. You'll meet your first two Villagers, Jina and Hekla.

Phoenix Falls is one of two places where you can upgrade your Focus meter by spending Renown. (More on that later!)

You can chat with Jina and Hekla for a short time about what just happened. Once you're done, you'll have to follow a short movement tutorial to make your way out of Phoenix Falls and head out into the overworld.

Find Ashura in Kilima

Now that you're in the overworld, your first major objective will be to find Ashura. Press M to open your Map and look for Ashura's icon in Kilima Vilage. Then, middle-click on Ashura to set a waypoint to him.

This will let you track Ashura's location in real-time on the Compass at the top of your screen, making it super-easy to find Ashura at the Tavern.

Speak with Ashura and he'll tell you that, sadly, there is no space at the Inn. Fortunately, he knows of a Housing Plot that's available.

Ashura is the NPC for the Foraging Skill. He'll give you a Makeshift Axe and send you on your way.

Heading Home

A waypoint will pop up on your Compass pointing the way to your Housing Plot. Housing Plots are instanced, meaning everyone has their own unique plot of land behind a loading screen.

Head into the Housing Plot and you'll meet Hodari, the NPC for the Mining Skill. Hodari gives you a Makeshift Pick and tells you that your Housing Plot is almost ready. Unfortunately, there's still quite a mess to clean up.

Cleaning Up Your Housing Plot

You'll be given an objective to "Clear some debris from the plot." You'll have to use your Makeshift Axe to bust up the scraps of lumber that you see within the fence; cutting down trees or breaking rocks does not count toward this objective. You'll also have to pick up the Resources that drop to progress the objective.

You will be unable to leave your Housing PLot until you're finished with these tasks, so go ahead and get it over with.

Once you've completed this objective, I recommend that you follow it up by clearing out all of the trees and rocks that you can. There are a couple of trees that you won't be able to cut down because your Makeshift Axe is too weak, but you'll be able to clear out almost everything.

Next, place a Worktable somewhere on your Housing Plot. Don't worry too much about where you place it; you can always pick it up and move it later.

With your Worktable placed, you can now Craft a Makeshift Tent and a Wooden Storage Bin. Craft both of these items. Then, place the Makeshift Tent and the Wooden Storage Bin within your Housing Plot.

Your First Mail

You're getting settled in, and one more little slice of civilization is coming your way: Mail. Auni will deliver your very first piece of mail.

Open up your Mailbox and you'll get a Makeshift Fishing Rod, a Makeshift Bow, and 20 Makeshift Arrows. Auni will then give you 20 Standard Smoke Bombs. These items are used for Fishing, Hunting, and Bug Catching, respectively.

Other people in the town will periodically send Mail to you. You can tell when you have Mail when you see the Mail icon next to the clock at the top right of the screen.

Many Quests are started by reading a letter. You'll also often get items from NPCs. Make sure to check your Mail regularly!

Palia Starter Guide - Placing 4 Sernuk Meat in the Shipping Bin at Dusk
The Shipping Bin is the main way you'll earn money.

The Shipping Bin

Auni will also give you Butter. You can place the Butter in your Shipping Bin to make some Gold, so go ahead and do that.

The Shipping Bin will empty out twice a day at 15 minutes past the hour and 45 minutes past the hour in real-time, or 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM in Palian time. You won't actually get the Gold until you return to your Housing Plot.

After you've finished checking your Mail and filled up the Shipping Bin, you'll finally be able to leave your Housing Plot.

Walk through the wooden gates and you'll return to Kilima. Take note that there will be a loading screen here and you may have to wait in a queue for a short time.

Learning How to Garden and Cook

It's time to visit some Villagers in town to learn some more basic Skills. Keep in mind that Villagers all have schedules; you won't be able to talk with them in their homes in the middle of the night.

If it's late at night when you leave your Housing Plot, you should either spend some time cleaning up your Housing Plot or foraging for Resources in Kilima or Bahari Bay. You have to wait for daytime, so you may as well be productive!

One of the two people you'll have to talk to is Badruu, the local Gardener. You can find him at his farm in Leafhopper Hills to the west of town.

Palia Starter Guide - Talking with Badruu and Listening to His Terrible Puns
Badruu is the local Gardening expert and he absolutely loves wordplay. It's quite PUNishing.

Ask Badruu to help teach you Gardening, then Chat with him to increase your Friendship slightly. Badruu says that he'll meet you at your Housing Plot, so we'll have to visit him later.

The other of the two people you need to talk to is Reth; Reth can be found in the Tavern in Kilima Village. Speak with Reth and he'll tell you that you need to Craft a Campfire to learn Cooking. Then, Chat with Reth again to increase your Friendship slightly.

We'll take care of Gardening and Cooking when we get back to our Housing Plot. For now, let's take care of some more Quests while we're in Kilima!

Picking Up Bug Catching

Auni is the young kid who runs around delivering Mail. He's also a Bug Catching enthusiast. Talk with Auni and select "I got your letter" to begin the "Bug Catching 101" Quest. Then, Chat with Auni to increase your Friendship.

As with these other Skill Quests, we'll take care of it later; for now, we're just going to collect all of the Quests we can.

Hunting with Hassian

Another stop we'll have to make is Hassian, the Villager who specializes in Hunting. As you might expect, Hassian wanders the world, traveling between Bahari Bay and Kilima.

Track down Hassian and talk with him to follow up with the Mail he sent you. He'll give you the "Hunting 101" Quest. Chat with him to increase your Friendship.

The Friendly Fishing Robot

Next up is Einar, a giant robot-like creature who is rather fond of Fishing.

In addition to educating you about Fishing, Einar also likes to receive special pebbles that you can find in the world.

The Missing House and Finding Furniture

Our final stop in town is Kenli, the mayor of Kilima Village. You're going to want to talk to him about getting a proper House.

Unfortunately, Kenli is a bit absent-minded and he can't quite figure out where the paperwork he needs is. Instead, he sends you to talk to Tish.

Tish tells you that you should improve your Housing Plot with some Furniture. She gives you Recipes for several pieces of Furniture from the Log Cabin set.

We still have Jina's Quest "Mysterious Object" to tackle, but let's worry about that one for later -- we still need to figure out the basics! For now, return to your Housing Plot.

Growing with Gardening

Now we have to tackle Gardening, Cooking, and Crafting your first Furniture. Let's start with Gardening.

Since we've already asked Badruu about Gardening, he'll be waiting for us at our Housing Plot. Talk to him and he'll give you a Makeshift Hoe and 2 Garden Plots.

Place the Garden Plots within the fences area of your Housing Plot. Then, switch to the Hoe and till at least 1 square of Soil.

Return to Badruu and he'll give you a Makeshift Watering Can, 4 Onion Seeds, and 4 Carrot Seeds. Till at least 8 squares of soil with your Makeshift Hoe and plant all of the Seeds.

Then, switch to your Makeshift Watering Can. Fill it up in the pool of water in front of your house. Water all of your Crops.

It will take a few in-game days for all of your Crops to grow, so we can't complete the Gardening 101 Quest just yet. For now, let's move on to Cooking.

Campfire Cooking

Now that we're back home, let's take care of learning the basics of Cooking. Go to your Worktable and Craft a Campfire; you'll need the following:

  • 5 Sapwood
  • 16 Stone
  • 2 Flint
  • 10 Plant Fiber

These are all materials that you'll be able to gather at your Housing Plot. Sapwood and Plant Fiber can be acquired from small bushes, and you can get Stone and Flint from small rocks.

Once you've Crafted and placed the Campfire, you'll be instructed to find 3 Mushrooms. You can find Mountain Morel in your Housing Plot, Kilima, and Bahari Bay.

Collect 3 Mountain Morels, then go back to your Campfire.

Cook the 3 Mountain Morels to make Grilled Mushroom. Then, eat the Grilled Mushroom by selecting it on your Hotbar and using right-click. This will give you 50 Focus.

Palia Starter Guide - Offering Renown to the Phoenix Statue to Increase the Focus Bonus

The Power of Focus

Eating the Grilled Mushroom gives you "Focus." Focus is like a boost that applies to your XP gain across the eight core Skills. You can permanently increase your maximum Focus by communing with the Dragon Shrine in the northeast of Kilima, and you can permanently increase the XP gain bonus by communing with the Phoenix Shrine where you first entered the world.

You can increase Focus by eating Food. Focus is reduced every time you complete an action that would gain you XP. You should always try to have your Focus bar filled so that you can maximize your XP gain!

We'll need to spend 50 Focus to complete the Cooking 101 Quest, but let's move on to the next step for now.

Fun with Furniture

Next, we're going to build those three pieces of Furniture for Tish's Quest "Spiffy It Up." Here's what we'll make:

  • Log Cabin Dining Chair (15 Sapwood)
  • Log Cabin Dining Table (35 Sapwood)
  • Log Cabin Wardrobe (45 Sapwood)

You'll need a total of 95 Sapwood to make all of these. If you don't have enough, you should be able to get plenty of Sapwood on your Housing Plot. The 50 Focus you've built up will level you up faster, too!

When you Craft the first piece of Furniture, you'll note that a special menu will pop up:

Palia Starter Guide - Choosing to Learn 1 of 3 Possible Furniture Recipes

This is one of the many ways that you can unlock new Furniture. Select whatever looks cool for now.

Craft all three items, then place them in your Makeshift Tent.

The table and chair are purple decorative, but the Log Cabin Wardrobe has a function -- you can use it to change your clothes. Use it anytime you'd like to change up your look.

The Long Road to a House

Crafting and placing the Furniture will cause Kenli to come visit you. Speak with him and he'll have you sign some forms for a proper House.

Kenli will give you a Harvest House, but you won't find it on your Hotbar. Instead, you will find it in the Housing Menu. Press H to open it up.

The Housing Menu lets you easily move anything within your Housing Plot. You can also pick up Buildings (such as your Makeshift Tent) and move them while preserving the placement of their contents. Handy!

Place the Harvest House down somewhere on your Housing Plot for now. When you do, you'll find that you need the following items:

  • 100 Sapwood Plank
  • 35 Stone Brick

These are special items that you can only Craft by building special Crafting Machines, and you won't get access to those until you've advanced the Foraging and Mining Skills to Level 3.

Tish will come by and visit you, giving you the Quests "Plank by Plank" and "Brick by Brick." These Quests will serve as a reminder to get these new Crafting stations.

Welcome Home

By now, you have access to all of the Makeshift Tools and the beginnings of every Skill Quest, some of which you've already made progress in.

Going forward, you're going to want to focus on gathering materials and advancing each of the Skills to Level 2 at the minimum. We're going to need a lot of stuff to Build our first House!

Of course, we'll also need Gold to buy the things we need to make our little Housing Plot better. You'll also want to get your first Glider, explore some of the deeper mysteries in Palia, and maybe even give some Gifts to the Villagers!

There's a whole new world to explore and you've only just gotten started! For now, make sure to check out our other guides below to learn more about the world of Palia!
 

Palia Starter Guide - F.A.Q. Jina Thinking About Something

Palia F.A.Q.


What is Palia?

Palia is an MMO "community sim" where players take on the role of humans awakening in a fantasy world after an unknown cataclysm. Players can gather materials, make friends, and build their own House.

Is Palia Multiplayer?

Yes, Palia is multiplayer. It is an always-online MMO.

Is Palia an MMO?

Palia is defined as an MMO by its developer Singularity 6. Not all players are in the same server at the same time, though.

Where is the Palia Save File?

As an online-only game, the Palia Save File is not accessible by players.

How Many Players Can Be in a Palia Server?

A maximum of 25 players can be in a Palia server according to the game's Nintendo eShop page.

Is Palia Free-to-Play?

Yes, Palia is a free-to-play game.

Is Palia Pay-To-Win?

No, Palia is not pay-to-win. All of the microtransactions are cosmetic only.

Is There Fall Damage in Palia?

No, there is no fall damage in Palia.

Can You Swim in Palia?

No, you cannot swim in Palia as of Version 0.165.4.

How Can I Increase my Storage in Palia?

You can increase your storage in Palia by building up to 8 Wooden Storage Bins on each of your Housing Plots. You can further increase this storage by upgrading to a higher tier of Storage Bin at the Furniture Store.


Thanks for reading our Palia Starter Guide. Make sure to check out our other guides below!

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


A photograph of TechRaptor Senior Writer Robert N. Adams.
| Senior Writer

One of my earliest memories is playing Super Mario Bros. on the Nintendo Entertainment System. I've had a controller in my hand since I was 4 and I… More about Robert N

More Info About This Game
Learn more about Palia
Game Page Palia
Platforms
PC, Nintendo Switch
Release Date
August 10, 2023 (Calendar)
Genre
MMORPG, Survival
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