One of the mechanics that sets Palia apart goes by the name of Focus. In most games like Palia, you are allowed to view your Focus within the top left corner. Immediately, it looks like the average energy bar. In fact, this is not quite the case, though.
What Is Focus in Palia?
Focus is a unique game mechanic in Palia that boosts the experience (XP) you earn when leveling up your skills. You can monitor your Focus in the upper left corner of your screen, next to your skill level or player level when you open your inventory. It essentially acts as an XP booster, helping you level up faster.
How to Gain Focus
Focus is gained by consuming food. The amount of Focus you gain depends on what you eat, and this Focus helps increase your XP gains. Every new character starts with a Focus bar that can hold up to 200 Focus points, with a 20% XP bonus when it’s full. However, you can increase both your maximum Focus and the bonus percentage as you progress through the game.
How Focus Affects Experience Gain
When you consume food, your Focus bar fills up. The XP bonus percentage indicates how much extra XP you gain. For example, if you have a 20% Focus bonus and earn 100 XP from crafting an item, you’ll receive an additional 20 XP, totaling 120 XP. However, every point of bonus XP depletes your Focus bar equally. So, if you gained 20 extra XP, your Focus bar reduces by 20 points.
Pro Tip: Make sure to eat regularly to maintain your Focus bar and keep the XP bonus active. It’s easy to forget, but maintaining your Focus is crucial for leveling up faster.
What kind of foods give Focus?
The best foods that give a huge boost to your Focus are cooked meals, vegetable preserves, or jams from garden crops. You can start early in the game by cooking simpler foods; for example, grilled mushrooms, meat, or fish at your campsite.
To know what foods give Focus, you will notice that certain foods have a little pink arrow on the icon in your inventory. These are foods that will grant you Focus. As is generally true for food items, though, grilling or cooking them increases your gain in Focus points from these types of items when compared to raw consumption.
Important Note: Starred-foods, being higher quality, always give more Focus than non-starred foods; cooking meals, therefore, raises your overall gain in Focus.
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Maximizing Focus: Upgrading Focus Bonus and Max Focus
You can raise both your Focus bonus and maximum Focus by visiting two shrines in the game:
Phoenix Shrine (Focus Bonus Upgrade): Complete Gina’s quest for the mysterious object, and she will show you the Phoenix Shrine. Click on it to get a free 5% Focus bonus. You can improve your Focus bonus in return for Renown. The bonus increments all the way up until a maximum of 100%.
Dragon Shrine (Max Focus Upgrade): Once you have activated the Phoenix Shrine, you will receive a letter from Jina to go to the Dragon Shrine. That very first interaction will increase your max Focus to 250 points. You can upgrade that through Renown all the way up to a max of 1,000 points.
Understanding Renown and Its Role in Focus Upgrades
Renown is a currency earned by leveling skills, completing quests, increasing friendship levels with villagers, and fulfilling player requests. You can use Renown to upgrade both your Focus bonus and max Focus at the Phoenix and Dragon Shrines.
Key Tip: The maximum amount of Renown you can have at any time is 1,000. If you hit this cap, any additional Renown earned will be lost, so make sure to spend it regularly.
How to Spend Renown Wisely
The Phoenix and Dragon Shrines are the main areas to spend your Renown, which greatly enhance your Focus stats. You can also use it to buy housing customizations or to extend your housing plot, but in the early game, it is better to invest this in Focus upgrades since this opens up faster skill leveling.
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