I tried Palia these last few days and it is great with a really nice wholesome community! Already had some fun cooking and flow tree parties.
At least for now, there is no furniture behind a paywall. You get your own plot and can decorate and furnish it and it looks great. This is rare in free to play games. I hope they keep it that way...
The only stuff behind microtransactions as of today are a handful of costumes. With hefty prices, though. At least for the European market. One costume costs 20 to 35 Euro, if I remember correctly.
There are a lot of players already, the Discord alone had some 70k people yesterday evening. 0o