Post by SongRune on 2022-06-26 15:50:10
To me, fishing is an activity which is mostly relaxing, with occasional sudden bursts of focus. When I go fishing in a game, I'm not looking to be 'always on', and I don't want to be micro-managing my bait once I've cast. I want to get my bait and rod, find a good spot, either on shore or on a boat, cast my line then kick back and enjoy the sunrise while I wait for a fish to show up.
I do like to have some kind of minigame when I land a catch. It makes the "burst of focus" part work properly. When a fish takes the bait, I want to have to engage and do something to reel it in. I find BDO does this well, and I came to enjoy both FFXI's new and old systems.
One thing that I don't like as much, is any system where I have to react immediately to the fish catching my hook. I'm cool with fighting to reel it in, because that does provide the 'burst of focus' that I'm looking for, but I'm less interested in systems which place the challenge in a quick reaction test. Such systems change the base experience from "relaxing with occasional bursts of focus" to "always on, and if your focus dips at any point, you might lose your fish". This eliminates the 'relaxing' aspect almost entirely, and puts fishing in a weird position where something I generally do to relax is only possible when I'm in an active, focused mood. The kind of mood where I'd be doing something else. This would basically remove fishing from the game, from my perspective.
Here's an example of a system that I think is done well. I'll also explain some of the depth to that experience as a whole, as well. (If you've got a Lu Shang's Rod, you can skip this part.)
In FFXI, you equip your rod and bait, and cast your line. You wait a bit, and something catches your hook. This can be a monster, an item like a rusty bucket, or a fish, and the game telegraphs what type of thing it is by describing the feeling of the pull on your line. (Item: "You feel something pulling on your line." Fish: "Something caught the hook!" Monster: "Something clamps onto your line ferociously!")
As soon as you landed your fish, the music changes, there's a "!!" style sound effect, and your game controller, if you use one, vibrates. Thus begins the minigame. Your catch has a stamina bar, and you have to tire it out within about maybe 40-50 seconds. The fish will repeatedly pull your rod left or right, as it tries to escape, and you have to react to this, tugging the line in the opposite direction. If you do this successfully, it will lower the fish's stamina. If you pull in the wrong direction, the fish's stamina recovers by about twice as much. If you miss the cue entirely, nothing much happens (but there's still a time limit, so you can't afford to just ignore it). When you get the fish's stamina down to zero, you just hit Enter (or X on your controller) and you've got yourself a fish (usually).
The amount of stamina you can drain with a success, as well as whether the fish's stamina slowly (or quickly) decays or regenerates on its own varies based on how strong that type of fish is, as well as your fishing level and the quality (or specialization) of your fishing rod. Sometimes the fish is too big for your rod (or you hit enter/X at the wrong time), and your line snaps, losing your fancy lure (if you're not using consumable bait) or even occasionally breaking your rod. But you had the chance to let the fish go if it seemed to be too much for your skill or your gear (or you didn't want to fish up an enemy or a bucket).
If I go after a level 90 fish, with an average rod, and my level 46 fishing skill, I'll never even get started, because the fish will regenerate faster than I can deal with, even if I act perfectly. If I bring the (technically former) best rod in the game, get all my fishing gear together, get a buff from a particular NPC, and do a good job at tiring it out, I can get that fish. Just maybe not every time.
If I go after a level 16 fish (that is one of my preferred foods in that game) with my level 46 fishing skill, I can use my mid-level rod, and no special buffs or gear, and catch that fish every time in about two, maybe three actions. Because it's so far below my skill, opportunities for crits in the 'exhausting your fish' minigame appear relatively frequently, and if I really wanted to, I could probably wait for the fish's stamina to drain on its own.
If you've got a Lu Shang's Rod, skip to here
The amount of effort and focus I have to put in to catch any given fish depends on the species. This is big. Particularly when combined with something else:
The game also has a rich ecosystem. Each area has a different set of fish (sometimes even depending on which body of water you visit). Each fish responds to a different set of baits. Some fish only show up at certain times of day. If I'm looking for a real challenge, I can go to a particular port, grab a particular bait, and aim for that level 90 fish I mentioned earlier. If I'm looking for something more typical, I can hop on a ferry. Depending which bait I pick, I can either tend to find some relatively easy (for my mid-level skill) fish, a combination of some decent and some reasonably challenging ones, or a combination of reasonably challenging ones and a few that I can sometimes catch.
Some days I'll pick the easy fish. Some days I'll pick the harder ones. Some days I'm looking for something specific, and depending how common that is, I'll have to travel to a particular place, and bring a specific bait, or just pick one of my standard baits out of my bag and head to my usual haunts. I can choose what I'm interested in, on any particular day.
This design rewards knowledge, preparation, and skill. It allows players to vary the difficulty of what they are likely to encounter. It lets you fish up an enemy if you're negligent (or bored), and gives you a reason to travel to various regions to find different types of fish. And it does all of this without compromising the "relaxing with bursts of excitement and focus" that make fishing what it is. (Unless that's what you're into that day.)
I hope Ashes can live up to that standard.
I do like to have some kind of minigame when I land a catch. It makes the "burst of focus" part work properly. When a fish takes the bait, I want to have to engage and do something to reel it in. I find BDO does this well, and I came to enjoy both FFXI's new and old systems.
One thing that I don't like as much, is any system where I have to react immediately to the fish catching my hook. I'm cool with fighting to reel it in, because that does provide the 'burst of focus' that I'm looking for, but I'm less interested in systems which place the challenge in a quick reaction test. Such systems change the base experience from "relaxing with occasional bursts of focus" to "always on, and if your focus dips at any point, you might lose your fish". This eliminates the 'relaxing' aspect almost entirely, and puts fishing in a weird position where something I generally do to relax is only possible when I'm in an active, focused mood. The kind of mood where I'd be doing something else. This would basically remove fishing from the game, from my perspective.
Here's an example of a system that I think is done well. I'll also explain some of the depth to that experience as a whole, as well. (If you've got a Lu Shang's Rod, you can skip this part.)
In FFXI, you equip your rod and bait, and cast your line. You wait a bit, and something catches your hook. This can be a monster, an item like a rusty bucket, or a fish, and the game telegraphs what type of thing it is by describing the feeling of the pull on your line. (Item: "You feel something pulling on your line." Fish: "Something caught the hook!" Monster: "Something clamps onto your line ferociously!")
As soon as you landed your fish, the music changes, there's a "!!" style sound effect, and your game controller, if you use one, vibrates. Thus begins the minigame. Your catch has a stamina bar, and you have to tire it out within about maybe 40-50 seconds. The fish will repeatedly pull your rod left or right, as it tries to escape, and you have to react to this, tugging the line in the opposite direction. If you do this successfully, it will lower the fish's stamina. If you pull in the wrong direction, the fish's stamina recovers by about twice as much. If you miss the cue entirely, nothing much happens (but there's still a time limit, so you can't afford to just ignore it). When you get the fish's stamina down to zero, you just hit Enter (or X on your controller) and you've got yourself a fish (usually).
The amount of stamina you can drain with a success, as well as whether the fish's stamina slowly (or quickly) decays or regenerates on its own varies based on how strong that type of fish is, as well as your fishing level and the quality (or specialization) of your fishing rod. Sometimes the fish is too big for your rod (or you hit enter/X at the wrong time), and your line snaps, losing your fancy lure (if you're not using consumable bait) or even occasionally breaking your rod. But you had the chance to let the fish go if it seemed to be too much for your skill or your gear (or you didn't want to fish up an enemy or a bucket).
If I go after a level 90 fish, with an average rod, and my level 46 fishing skill, I'll never even get started, because the fish will regenerate faster than I can deal with, even if I act perfectly. If I bring the (technically former) best rod in the game, get all my fishing gear together, get a buff from a particular NPC, and do a good job at tiring it out, I can get that fish. Just maybe not every time.
If I go after a level 16 fish (that is one of my preferred foods in that game) with my level 46 fishing skill, I can use my mid-level rod, and no special buffs or gear, and catch that fish every time in about two, maybe three actions. Because it's so far below my skill, opportunities for crits in the 'exhausting your fish' minigame appear relatively frequently, and if I really wanted to, I could probably wait for the fish's stamina to drain on its own.
If you've got a Lu Shang's Rod, skip to here
The amount of effort and focus I have to put in to catch any given fish depends on the species. This is big. Particularly when combined with something else:
The game also has a rich ecosystem. Each area has a different set of fish (sometimes even depending on which body of water you visit). Each fish responds to a different set of baits. Some fish only show up at certain times of day. If I'm looking for a real challenge, I can go to a particular port, grab a particular bait, and aim for that level 90 fish I mentioned earlier. If I'm looking for something more typical, I can hop on a ferry. Depending which bait I pick, I can either tend to find some relatively easy (for my mid-level skill) fish, a combination of some decent and some reasonably challenging ones, or a combination of reasonably challenging ones and a few that I can sometimes catch.
Some days I'll pick the easy fish. Some days I'll pick the harder ones. Some days I'm looking for something specific, and depending how common that is, I'll have to travel to a particular place, and bring a specific bait, or just pick one of my standard baits out of my bag and head to my usual haunts. I can choose what I'm interested in, on any particular day.
This design rewards knowledge, preparation, and skill. It allows players to vary the difficulty of what they are likely to encounter. It lets you fish up an enemy if you're negligent (or bored), and gives you a reason to travel to various regions to find different types of fish. And it does all of this without compromising the "relaxing with bursts of excitement and focus" that make fishing what it is. (Unless that's what you're into that day.)
I hope Ashes can live up to that standard.