The Fishing Season

Wed, Jul 19, 2023 Year 2, Summer 3

Kev and Jonnie talk about their most and least favourite fishing mini games

Timings

00:00:00: Theme Tune
00:00:30: Intro
00:03:03: What Have We Been Up To
00:12:09: Fishing Mini Games
00:52:14: Ranking
01:02:19: Outro

Links

Article on fishing in games

Contact

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Email Us: https://harvestseason.club/contact/

Transcript

[00:00.000 –> 00:12.000] Music
[00:12.000 –> 00:30.000] Music
[00:30.000 –> 00:39.000] Hello anglers and welcome to, do we still want to call it the harvest season or is it now the fishing season?
[00:39.000 –> 00:43.000] Well I think this is the fishing season of the harvest season.
[00:43.000 –> 00:51.000] Alright we’re harvesting, I mean fish farms are a thing, hatcheries. Hello everyone, I’m Kevin.
[00:51.000 –> 00:53.000] And I’m Johnny.
[00:53.000 –> 00:55.000] Yeah, my co-host Johnny here.
[00:55.000 –> 01:06.000] We are, I guess this is the first, if I understand the order correctly, of a very special, I think it’s going to be a month roughly?
[01:06.000 –> 01:08.000] Yeah, fishing month.
[01:08.000 –> 01:10.000] Fishing month, yeah, it’s a very special month.
[01:10.000 –> 01:22.000] We are taking a break from the usual pottagecore and farming, well, it’s more of like a tangent than something completely different.
[01:22.000 –> 01:31.000] We won’t be covering news, partly because Al will be on vacation during all this time so he won’t be editing.
[01:32.000 –> 01:39.000] But yeah, so this kicks off our month where we talk about fishing!
[01:39.000 –> 01:47.000] Which we’ve always kind of joked about behind the scenes but I don’t know how I wanted to pull the trigger and really do it.
[01:47.000 –> 01:55.000] There’s a lot of fishing in a lot of these cottagecore games and gaming in general as we’ll talk about today.
[01:55.000 –> 01:58.000] So we have lots to say about it.
[01:58.000 –> 02:00.000] Yeah, lots to say about fishing.
[02:00.000 –> 02:10.000] And just a brief reminder before we get into the deep water here, transcripts are available in the show notes and on the website.
[02:10.000 –> 02:18.000] But I’m really excited to get stuck into fishing month. I have opinions about fishing in cottagecore games.
[02:18.000 –> 02:25.000] Yeah, like, oh boy, I mean it’s not just cottagecore, fishing minigames are everywhere.
[02:25.000 –> 02:40.000] Speaking of which, I think we should say that today on this episode we’re specifically going to be discussing fishing minigames and listing some of our favorites and least favorites.
[02:40.000 –> 02:50.000] And I think we’re going to try to determine the harvest season official best fishing minigame of all time.
[02:50.000 –> 02:58.000] We’re not going to try. We will endorse a fishing minigame as the best fishing minigame in cottagecore games.
[02:58.000 –> 03:05.000] Alright. But before that, Gani, what have you been up to?
[03:05.000 –> 03:12.000] Why have I been up to? I have been playing the most anti-cottagecore game possible, I think.
[03:12.000 –> 03:17.000] And I’ve been farming the demons of hell in Diablo 4.
[03:17.000 –> 03:24.000] I love Diablo. I was really into Diablo 3, even when people really hated Diablo 3.
[03:24.000 –> 03:28.000] And I was still really into Diablo 3 when everyone got on board with that game.
[03:28.000 –> 03:38.000] And so I’m really enjoying Diablo 4. It’s just a really good action-adventure, kill-all-the-things-on-the-screen sort of game.
[03:38.000 –> 03:44.000] I’m not super deep into it yet, haven’t had a ton of time, but I am really enjoying it.
[03:44.000 –> 03:50.000] It’s just a good one of those games. If you like one of those games, you probably already know and are probably already playing Diablo 4.
[03:50.000 –> 03:56.000] And if you don’t like those games, it’s not going to make you like this sort of game anymore, but it’s excellent.
[03:56.000 –> 04:01.000] Yeah, that’s cool. I’ve never played a Diablo game, but I hear this one’s good.
[04:01.000 –> 04:03.000] It’s very good.
[04:03.000 –> 04:10.000] Yeah, that’s awesome. They’re good on you. Actually, I’ve never played, so I can’t speak to it.
[04:10.000 –> 04:19.000] But I mean, I think it’s like, what’s on the box is what you get, right? There’s a demon, go kill it.
[04:19.000 –> 04:20.000] Very much.
[04:21.000 –> 04:29.000] Go farm loot, look at gear, be disappointed that it’s, you know, the number isn’t slightly higher than, you know, it’s a number-go-up sort of game, right?
[04:29.000 –> 04:47.000] Yeah. No, I get it. I’ve played, I’m not playing that type of game too much, but surprisingly, well, not surprisingly, my brother Calvin, he’s a big, big Minecraft fan since he was of that generation or whatever.
[04:47.000 –> 04:54.000] So he played Minecraft Legends, which I understand is of the, basically the same genre, just the Minecraft skin.
[04:54.000 –> 04:57.000] So it’s just worse because it’s got the Minecraft skin?
[04:57.000 –> 05:00.000] Well, I mean…
[05:03.000 –> 05:12.000] As a slightly aged gamer, I love, you know, propelling new games that all of the kids are into.
[05:13.000 –> 05:20.000] Yeah, yeah, no, I get you. But yeah, so you just do runs and get loot at the end, right? Is that how it works?
[05:20.000 –> 05:22.000] Yeah, pretty much.
[05:22.000 –> 05:30.000] Yep. All right. Yeah, I get it. No, it’s a satisfying loop. Like you said, it gets a bigger number and go back in to get the bigger number.
[05:30.000 –> 05:32.000] Yeah, but that’s down below. What have you been up to, Kiv?
[05:32.000 –> 05:45.000] Oh, I have been very busy in my personal life, a lot of out-towning, so my gaming time has been limited, and so I’ve been doing a lot of the mobile gaming lately.
[05:45.000 –> 05:56.000] Pokemon Masters is Pokemon Masters, my gotcha game of choice. Still no, they introduced those two people from Legends.
[05:56.000 –> 06:05.000] It was Edmin and Iridia, the two clan leaders. This is the most I’ve spent, like not actual money, but like the in-game currency on pulls and still haven’t pulled one of them.
[06:05.000 –> 06:15.000] But aside from my hopeless gambling addiction, I’ve been playing Marvel Snap, which is, hey, it’s really good. But I mean, like really good right now.
[06:15.000 –> 06:23.000] It’s really fun. I don’t feel oppressed by other decks. You can play kind of whatever you want right now, it feels like, and have fun.
[06:23.000 –> 06:26.000] You definitely can. Have you been playing the Conquest mode?
[06:26.000 –> 06:38.000] Yeah, so they introduced this new mode called Conquest, where basically it’s more than just the best of one, because usually just you play against one player in one game and that’s it.
[06:38.000 –> 06:50.000] But now there’s like this, try to win X number of points in a couple of games. I have played it, I have mixed feelings on it, I think it’s a cool thing they tried.
[06:50.000 –> 07:01.000] But the problem is you get locked into a number of games with the 12 cards you have and you kind of can’t counter anything, right?
[07:01.000 –> 07:08.000] So if you’re up against a deck that just completely crushes you, that’s it. There’s nothing you can do. Just quit as soon as you can.
[07:08.000 –> 07:19.000] You can play better or play a better deck. That’s the counter. I kind of get where you’re coming from, but I think Conquest changes the way that you play Snap quite a bit when you play on ladder and it’s best of one.
[07:19.000 –> 07:28.000] You can be very all in on the strategy of your deck and not build in a lot of that flexibility because you might run into those decks fairly infrequently.
[07:28.000 –> 07:36.000] Whereas a mode like Conquest encourages decks that have a wider variety of counters sort of naturally built into them.
[07:36.000 –> 07:44.000] So I’ve been playing the Good Stuff deck and part of the reason I really like that deck for the format is it has a bunch of counters already in it.
[07:44.000 –> 07:54.000] It has Shang-Chi, it has Enchantress, so it’s got a number of counters sort of already built in which gives it a lot more flexibility to play in Conquest mode.
[07:54.000 –> 08:04.000] Yeah, that makes sense. I know Good Stuff is, well, a good stuff, but I haven’t gotten to it yet because I’ve been having fun with other dumb decks.
[08:04.000 –> 08:15.000] There’s spiders across the Spider-Verse movies out, so they’re doing a lot of Spider-Man people in the game right now and I’m playing a deck with a lot of Spider-Man people.
[08:15.000 –> 08:21.000] Silk is cool! If you don’t know Comics, look up Silk from the comics because she’s cool.
[08:22.000 –> 08:24.000] I don’t know Silk, but I’m a big fan of the cat.
[08:24.000 –> 08:31.000] She’s really cool. She’s like the Chinese-American version of Peter Parker.
[08:31.000 –> 08:39.000] Anyways, so that’s Marvel Snap. Other than that, I’ve been playing Octopath Traveler, just that classic Square Enix Final Fantasy…
[08:39.000 –> 08:48.000] Basically, Final Fantasy, archetypal, good JRPG with the turn-based and classes.
[08:48.000 –> 08:53.000] It’s a game I can turn on and grind and turn my brain off and enjoy.
[08:53.000 –> 08:56.000] But yeah, that’s all I’ve been up to.
[08:56.000 –> 09:03.000] How far into Octopath Traveler are you? It was one of those games that I tried when it first came out and it kind of just didn’t quite grab me.
[09:03.000 –> 09:06.000] But I didn’t get that far into it either.
[09:07.000 –> 09:10.000] Actually, that’s a great question.
[09:10.000 –> 09:19.000] There are eight characters, hence the Octo in the name, and they each have their own little story line.
[09:19.000 –> 09:22.000] There’s chapters to each story.
[09:22.000 –> 09:30.000] Basically, the way the game structures it, you do chapter one of every one, then do chapter two of every one, chapter three.
[09:30.000 –> 09:37.000] And then chapter four is the final level, and I have reached the chapter four for basically everyone.
[09:37.000 –> 09:46.000] So I’m at the quote-unquote endgame, so I’m finding the final towns, the final parts of the map, and it’s…
[09:46.000 –> 09:48.000] I mean, I still really enjoy it.
[09:48.000 –> 09:53.000] It’s somewhat challenging, at least a lot of the bosses and the fights are.
[09:54.000 –> 10:00.000] A lot of them are kind of endurance tests and structuring your party well.
[10:00.000 –> 10:12.000] I mean, if you like that type of battle system, because that’s really what it amounts to, a really incredible, well-polished battle system, you’ll enjoy Octopath.
[10:12.000 –> 10:21.000] But I hear that sequel, Octopath 2, actually improves a lot of the weak areas of the first game, so much that it probably invalidates the first game.
[10:21.000 –> 10:25.000] So if you haven’t played Octopath, just play Octopath 2. You won’t be missing anything.
[10:25.000 –> 10:35.000] Cool. Yeah, I think I got through some of the first act with most of the characters and kind of bounced off about them.
[10:35.000 –> 10:39.000] But I think it’s one of those things with these JRPGs is that they are…
[10:39.000 –> 10:50.000] It’s one of the genres that I feel is most sort of holding on to the nostalgia feel, particularly around grinds and some of the strategy in a way that I think is really good.
[10:50.000 –> 11:00.000] It sort of differentiates the genre from some of the more modern RPGs in a way that I really like, but it also makes these games a real time suck, right?
[11:00.000 –> 11:11.000] Yeah, well, yes and no, because on the one hand, a lot of the battles are grindy and like a boss battle can easily take you 20, 30 minutes.
[11:11.000 –> 11:24.000] I’ll say 20, 30 might be a bit long, but either way. But the kicker is, since you’re just going through and beating all these random encounters, you don’t feel like you have to invest a lot of time, right?
[11:24.000 –> 11:34.000] Like, okay, I’m just going to play this for 10 minutes and just try to go through this area. Just go through a few battles, level up some guys.
[11:34.000 –> 11:45.000] It’s not super plot driven, so you won’t feel like, oh, I don’t remember what I’m doing or whatever. You can just kind of jump in and play for a little bit every day.
[11:45.000 –> 11:50.000] But I mean, I say that, but I have like 80 hours in the game, so it is a big time suck.
[11:50.000 –> 11:54.000] Nice.
[11:54.000 –> 12:04.000] But I don’t hear that from anyone. You’re all playing Tears of the Kingdom. But so, yeah, that’s what I’ve been up to mobile gaming, Octopath.
[12:04.000 –> 12:19.000] Now, like I said, we’re not earlier. We’re not doing any news. So let’s dive right on in to these fish infested waters and talk about fishing.
[12:19.000 –> 12:30.000] And I thought I thought a good place to start would be a little bit of the history of fishing minigames, and I don’t know too much about it.
[12:30.000 –> 12:45.000] But one of the things that I came across when I was doing some research for this episode is that, you know, a lot of the desire and the impetus for fishing minigames came out of Japan because it’s such a strong element of the, you know, Japanese economy and culture.
[12:45.000 –> 12:57.000] Obviously, being an island nation, fishing is a huge component of their way of life, which is just something that I’d never really considered before, but makes total sense when you read it.
[12:57.000 –> 13:12.000] Yeah. Yeah, of course. Like, me too. I never thought about it, but yeah, of course. Yeah, so much of their culture, what they eat, all around the sea and fishing and all that good stuff.
[13:13.000 –> 13:22.000] Yeah, we’ll definitely be dropping the link in the show notes for this article from the Washington Post. It’s definitely worth a read. We’ll be referencing it.
[13:23.000 –> 13:39.000] But yeah, that history. Like, I’m going to be paraphrasing slash taking out of context quotes from this article, but fishing has been pretty prevalent in gaming.
[13:39.000 –> 13:55.000] From, let’s see here, it says like the first one is in 77, a tech space adventure based on fishing. Three years later, so that would be what, like 1980? We got a fishing derby game from Activision.
[13:55.000 –> 14:04.000] That’s really old. That’s older than like most genres, which is pretty crazy to think about, at least in terms of gaming, right?
[14:04.000 –> 14:26.000] Yeah, it’s pretty wild. It’s just a, you know, a much longer history than I guess I would have assumed, but it does make sense because it’s a, you know, at the basics of it is a relatively simple mechanic, which probably explains why it still persists as a mini game in so many games today, right? Because it’s potentially relatively simple to implement.
[14:26.000 –> 14:51.000] Yep. Yeah, definitely. That’s something this article that goes on to talk about for sure. Because like, again, just going off this article, Zelda was apparently the first fishing mini game? Link’s Awakening, I didn’t realize that, but again, of course, a Japanese game makes a lot of sense that the developers did there.
[14:51.000 –> 15:01.000] But like, I just think about the history of fishing mini or, you know, my own personal history and like, wow, like, yeah, it’s always kind of been there.
[15:01.000 –> 15:13.000] I would be surprised to hear someone, well, I guess it kind of depends on what kind of games you play, right? Because if you don’t play racing games, you’re not playing fishing mini games.
[15:13.000 –> 15:34.000] But if you’re a fan of this show, or maybe someone who enjoys gaming on perhaps a wider scale, you know, I mean, not just a casual phone gamer, I’m sure people played, you know, multi hour games, they’ve had some experience with fishing games, or mini games.
[15:34.000 –> 15:40.000] And it’s just really fascinating to think about the wide, wide history.
[15:41.000 –> 15:51.000] And it wasn’t until I started thinking about this episode that I really considered the range of games that, you know, fishing is in, because it’s obviously super prevalent in Cottagecore games.
[15:51.000 –> 15:57.000] But equally, it’s in, you know, it’s in games like Hades, right? It’s in roguelikes now.
[15:57.000 –> 15:58.000] Monster Hunter.
[15:59.000 –> 16:08.000] Yeah, Monster Hunter, you’ve got your big open world games like Red Dead Redemption and Final Fantasy 16? 15?
[16:08.000 –> 16:15.000] I think all of them, Final Fantasy, insert whatever, you’ll find fishing of some kind.
[16:15.000 –> 16:21.000] Oh, yeah, but one of the more recent ones that had such a good fishing mini game that they did a whole spin off game based on it.
[16:21.000 –> 16:36.000] Yeah, 15. So, yeah, 15, like that, the star, protagonist Noctis, voiced by Ray Chase, who viewer listeners may or may not know from another episode.
[16:36.000 –> 16:47.000] He was, he loved fishing. There was an in game quote, he’s the Prince of Lucius, which is like the fictional country, but he’s the king of fishing.
[16:47.000 –> 16:56.000] And yeah, they did a whole VR spin off game for it. Yeah, that was really fun. Yeah, 15, lots of fishing there.
[16:56.000 –> 17:05.000] So Kiv, before we dive into the mechanics of fishing, I have a question. In general, would you say you are a fan of fishing mini games?
[17:05.000 –> 17:08.000] I’ll say yes. Yes. What about you, Johnny?
[17:08.000 –> 17:16.000] I’m going to say no. And the reason I say no is kind of on the basis of that conversation that we’ve just had. Fishing is everywhere.
[17:16.000 –> 17:25.000] It’s too much fishing. It’s, to me, it feels a little bit played out. And it’s one of those things, particularly in the context of cottagecore games.
[17:25.000 –> 17:32.000] Now, when I see fishing, I kind of just start to roll my eyes a little bit and like, can we can we try something else?
[17:32.000 –> 17:44.000] You know, maybe, you know, not to go too better, but I feel like fishing has maybe jumped the shark a little bit in terms of being a mechanic in cottagecore games,
[17:44.000 –> 17:59.000] where it’s one of those things that has become such a staple of the genre that I worry that a lot of devs now are including fishing in their game without really thinking about what does this add to the game?
[17:59.000 –> 18:11.000] Does it add anything meaningful? And, you know, there are some games that absolutely do add some things that are, you know, does add something meaningful or something that makes sense.
[18:11.000 –> 18:19.000] But there’s equally a number of games where I just look at it and go, but why? What is this really adding to your world other than the world happened to have water?
[18:19.000 –> 18:22.000] And so you logically thought, well, let’s put fishing in.
[18:22.000 –> 18:35.000] Yep. I totally agree with you. But before I dive into more into that, because there’s some interesting thoughts in the article about that, here’s another counter question for you.
[18:35.000 –> 18:39.000] Have you fished in real life? Do you enjoy fishing in real life if you have?
[18:39.000 –> 18:46.000] I have fished in real life. I live in New Zealand, which is an island nation, so fishing is also pretty big here.
[18:46.000 –> 19:00.000] Personally, though, I’m not really into fishing that much. I like going on fishing trips where other people can fish and I can sit on the other end of the boat and read a book.
[19:00.000 –> 19:09.000] I much prefer to be on the cooking end. I’m really happy if other people want to go on a fish. I will take the fish and happily cook it up.
[19:09.000 –> 19:10.000] Yeah, that’s a good start.
[19:10.000 –> 19:22.000] But the actual act of fishing is I’m not super into. The one caveat and the one sort of fishing I would like to try and haven’t tried yet is river angling.
[19:22.000 –> 19:27.000] You know, where you get in the big waders and stand in the river with the fly fishing rod and do some proper fly fishing.
[19:27.000 –> 19:31.000] I think that that might be a sort of fishing that I could get into.
[19:31.000 –> 19:34.000] Jump up and slap you in the face. Yeah, good times.
[19:37.000 –> 19:48.000] OK, see, this is interesting because I grew up by the coast here in the United States in California.
[19:48.000 –> 19:59.000] I didn’t fish myself that much, but my uncle was a big fisher and my dad liked to go to the beach, so I spent a lot of time by the beach.
[19:59.000 –> 20:11.000] There’s a fishing pier I have fond fond memories of. And just generally speaking, I like the ocean and waters in general and the critters inside it.
[20:11.000 –> 20:16.000] Just today I went on a jog and I was just admiring like this huge fish I saw in this pond.
[20:16.000 –> 20:33.000] But yeah, that’s interesting. I wonder how those, you know, or just in general, I’d mention the correlation of people’s personal histories and their appreciation of fishing minigames, or distaste for them.
[20:33.000 –> 20:49.000] But going back to the game part of it. OK, so yes, I fully agree with you that I think too many cottage quarters are putting fishing in.
[20:49.000 –> 21:02.000] But it’s interesting to think why, from a developer standpoint, because this article talks about it. And I’ll let you speak about it, Jonna, since you read it a bit more.
[21:02.000 –> 21:09.000] Yeah, I think in the article that’s being referenced there’s a few quotes from the Spiritfarer Creative Director.
[21:09.000 –> 21:11.000] I like that guy.
[21:11.000 –> 21:18.000] Nicholas Guiran. It’s probably a horrible butchering of the pronunciation.
[21:18.000 –> 21:24.000] But he kind of talks about fishing games being a nice chore, which is a really interesting point, right?
[21:25.000 –> 21:37.000] Because I think that makes total sense in the context of, you know, a big sort of action adventure game like Final Fantasy or Red Dead Redemption, or even in the context of Hades, right?
[21:37.000 –> 21:42.000] Where fishing is like this nice little mental break from whatever it is that you’re doing.
[21:42.000 –> 21:49.000] But it’s really interesting in the context of a cottage core game where the whole game is kind of nice chores.
[21:49.000 –> 21:50.000] Right?
[21:50.000 –> 22:00.000] So I think in the context of cottage core games, it seems to be a little bit more of a, A, maybe there’s just an expectation or a default setting that we include fishing.
[22:00.000 –> 22:16.000] But also one of the things that’s referenced or that Nicholas references is the fact that maybe it’s a little bit of sort of the creative competition between developers or game designers to show this is our take on fishing and the fishing mechanic.
[22:16.000 –> 22:21.000] And here’s our attempt at doing it really, really well, which I think is interesting.
[22:21.000 –> 22:31.000] And maybe we can start to segue this a little bit into talking to some of the mechanics, because I think Spiritfarer is one of the games that does fishing pretty well in my estimation.
[22:31.000 –> 22:44.000] I think the way the rod breaking sort of mechanic works, you know, where you’ve got the stress testing, it’s the right balance of feeling enough like a mini game, but not being excessively difficult.
[22:44.000 –> 22:50.000] And Spiritfarer would be a really weird game to not have fishing, given that the entire game takes place on a boat.
[22:50.000 –> 22:51.000] It would, right?
[22:54.000 –> 22:57.000] Yeah, no, excuse me, I totally agree.
[22:58.000 –> 23:13.000] It’s really interesting to peel back why I enjoy fishing minigames and looking at these thoughts from developers on why they’re put in.
[23:13.000 –> 23:16.000] Because like you said, again, it’s a nice chore, right?
[23:16.000 –> 23:18.000] And like I said, I like fish.
[23:18.000 –> 23:25.000] So for instance, Animal Crossing, I like fishing because I like finding all the sea creatures and putting them in the museum.
[23:26.000 –> 23:41.000] But like the actual mechanics, because that’s the other component, the actual gameplay, quote unquote, for the fishing, has to be enjoyable or whatever, right?
[23:42.000 –> 23:52.000] And there’s some that like, so I think about, I’m going to bring up Roots of Pacha, which I’ve talked about at length and played recently at length.
[23:52.000 –> 23:57.000] The fishing there maybe doesn’t add too much overall.
[23:58.000 –> 24:14.000] Again, it feels kind of like just a staple, but the gameplay, quote unquote, part of it is so, I find it so refreshing that I really enjoy that minigame just because of the gameplay part of it.
[24:14.000 –> 24:16.000] Again, at least in the spectrum.
[24:16.000 –> 24:20.000] So maybe, what is the Roots of Pacha fishing minigame?
[24:20.000 –> 24:30.000] Okay, so what it does is it brings up like this circular pool, like you’re looking down at the fish and see their shadows, right?
[24:30.000 –> 24:41.000] And you’re kind of, with your cursor, you’re following the fish and a little meter builds up and then you push the button when it’s at the appropriate length.
[24:41.000 –> 24:44.000] But the fish will like start to notice you and you have to back off.
[24:44.000 –> 24:51.000] And essentially it’s trying to emulate like a type of spear fishing because this is, you know, Stone Age, they don’t have fishing rods.
[24:51.000 –> 24:58.000] So it’s like that you’re following the fish in the water and waiting for the right moment to catch it or strike at it or whatever.
[24:58.000 –> 25:04.000] And I found that so novel because it’s not just a timing thing.
[25:04.000 –> 25:13.000] It’s a movement based thing, both in terms of like you’re moving your cursor and like how they’re presenting it.
[25:13.000 –> 25:20.000] And you just, it’s not just your everyday fishing rod timing based minigame.
[25:20.000 –> 25:27.000] And it fits with the theme of the Stone Age so well, like, yeah, that’s how those Stone Age people probably fish to survive.
[25:28.000 –> 25:34.000] You know, they can’t go to the store to buy dinner or whatever, so they have to fish to get their food.
[25:34.000 –> 25:40.000] So even though, like, I don’t remember a single fish in that game because they gave them all weird names,
[25:40.000 –> 25:48.000] I still really enjoy that minigame just because it fit the game so well and the little gameplay of it was so different.
[25:48.000 –> 25:50.000] Yeah, that sounds really good and it sounds really novel.
[25:50.000 –> 25:56.000] And I think that’s, you know, when I think about what I want from fishing minigames and cottagecore games, that sounds like exactly it.
[25:56.000 –> 26:00.000] You know, it makes sense in the world and the context that’s being set.
[26:00.000 –> 26:04.000] It’s a very novel approach.
[26:04.000 –> 26:11.000] And you sort of touched on it briefly, but a lot of the fishing minigames are sort of these timing based minigames.
[26:11.000 –> 26:17.000] And they’re sort of the range of, and probably what I would put more down, the simple end of the spectrum.
[26:17.000 –> 26:22.000] And this is often for me the category where it feels like it’s sort of the most tacked on.
[26:22.000 –> 26:30.000] And, you know, one of the games that I’ll sort of use as a reference point is Disney Dreamlight Valley, where fishing is in that game.
[26:30.000 –> 26:34.000] And it’s a very simple, you know, timing based thing.
[26:34.000 –> 26:43.000] You know, the only times I fail are when I, you know, start checking my phone in the middle of the fishing minigame or get like briefly distracted.
[26:43.000 –> 26:47.000] But it’s a very generous sort of timing based minigame.
[26:47.000 –> 26:56.000] But overall fishing doesn’t add a huge amount to that game other than it’s, you know, you need to go and fish certain things up for quests.
[26:56.000 –> 27:05.000] But it’s more these things exist, you know, the quests and the reason to interact with fishing exist because fishing exists.
[27:05.000 –> 27:12.000] It doesn’t feel like fishing is this crucially important part of what’s happening in Disney Dreamlight Valley,
[27:12.000 –> 27:19.000] which is all about interacting with characters and, you know, Disney characters in a cottagecore setting.
[27:19.000 –> 27:25.000] And the other game that you reference right at the start of the conversation, which has a timing element, is Animal Crossing.
[27:25.000 –> 27:32.000] And what I like about Animal Crossing fishing is the collection aspect of it.
[27:32.000 –> 27:37.000] But the fishing minigame itself is just unbelievably tedious.
[27:37.000 –> 27:47.000] You know, the combination of needing to get the direction exactly right with the sort of just boring wait to press a version of it.
[27:47.000 –> 27:53.000] I don’t think the fishing minigame in Animal Crossing is particularly good or interesting.
[27:54.000 –> 28:02.000] Yeah. Yeah. I agree with you on paper. It’s definitely just the slot machine, no fishing game.
[28:02.000 –> 28:07.000] But I still like it, though, because the collection, like you said.
[28:07.000 –> 28:13.000] OK, but I want to go back to one step here to the Disney Dreamlight Valley.
[28:13.000 –> 28:18.000] I got two comments on that. First, what you said there reminds me of Wildflowers.
[28:18.000 –> 28:22.000] Hey, Kevin mentioning Fowlflowers. Reset the clock.
[28:22.000 –> 28:29.000] I don’t think the fishing there adds a lot because it’s just pretty much like what you described.
[28:29.000 –> 28:36.000] Very generous timing and you fish up your average nothing special fish.
[28:36.000 –> 28:43.000] And what’s disappointing is that there’s these magical areas in Wildflowers, right?
[28:43.000 –> 28:48.000] Because there’s witchcraft and the magical forest area.
[28:48.000 –> 28:54.000] But there’s only one type of magical fish, which I found to be very disappointing.
[28:54.000 –> 28:58.000] Possibly one of the biggest disappointments in the game.
[28:58.000 –> 29:07.000] You know, I think they really missed an opportunity to add a bunch of magical fish to do all sorts of potions and whatnot.
[29:07.000 –> 29:11.000] So, yeah, no, I definitely understand what you’re saying there.
[29:11.000 –> 29:15.000] But the second comment I have for Disney Dreamlight Valley, and here’s the important.
[29:15.000 –> 29:22.000] This is what makes or breaks it for me. Can you fish up Flounder as in the character, not the type of fish?
[29:22.000 –> 29:28.000] You couldn’t last time I played and I’m pretty sure I’m pretty sure they’re not going to let you fish up Flounder.
[29:28.000 –> 29:34.000] I failed! That’s the point!
[29:34.000 –> 29:40.000] I want to call up Nemo, darn it!
[29:40.000 –> 29:44.000] I don’t know that that’s going to be happening in the game.
[29:44.000 –> 29:49.000] What’s the point?
[29:49.000 –> 29:54.000] So what about the slightly more involved fishing mechanics?
[29:54.000 –> 30:01.000] I’m thinking of Stardew Valley as sort of the quintessential example of a slightly more in-depth mini-game.
[30:01.000 –> 30:08.000] Where you’re having to keep the fish in the green zone in order to reel it in.
[30:09.000 –> 30:18.000] I like those on paper. I think the Stardew team or Concerned Ape or whoever said,
[30:18.000 –> 30:24.000] okay, everyone knows that Animal Crossing fishing is like, let’s make it a little more interesting.
[30:24.000 –> 30:31.000] And I think that’s a good idea. I don’t think Stardew specifically does it well.
[30:31.000 –> 30:37.000] But Spiritfarer I think is a good example of that, right?
[30:37.000 –> 30:42.000] Where the fish is tugging on it. There’s essentially a green zone, you don’t see the bar.
[30:42.000 –> 30:47.000] But there’s a green zone and it tells you when the fish is going to break the line or whatever.
[30:47.000 –> 30:51.000] So I do appreciate some of those.
[30:51.000 –> 30:55.000] I think because this is kind of the middle of the spectrum, right?
[30:55.000 –> 31:00.000] It’s not just one button push fishing and it’s not the full fishing simulator.
[31:00.000 –> 31:06.000] This I think is the most mixed bag of quality.
[31:06.000 –> 31:09.000] Or at least for me personally, how I enjoy them.
[31:09.000 –> 31:14.000] On paper I do like the idea of trying to make the fishing more interesting.
[31:14.000 –> 31:18.000] Again, Roots of Patch I think really knocks it out of the park.
[31:18.000 –> 31:21.000] Spiritfarer I really enjoyed.
[31:21.000 –> 31:25.000] But there are some that aren’t great like Stardew. What about you?
[31:25.000 –> 31:31.000] I could not agree more. I think Stardew Valley fishing is just an abomination.
[31:31.000 –> 31:34.000] It’s so bad. It’s not fun.
[31:34.000 –> 31:43.000] And I think one of the worst things about it is it’s the sort of fishing minigames that A kind of gets easier over time.
[31:43.000 –> 31:49.000] And in order to balance it there are some fish that are really easy to catch and they’re kind of boring.
[31:49.000 –> 31:52.000] And then the hard fish kind of just bounce around all over the space.
[31:52.000 –> 31:55.000] And it’s just like it’s so frustrating to try and catch it.
[31:55.000 –> 32:06.000] It’s like once you catch the fish for whether it’s for the full collection log or for the community center and you finally get that one fish.
[32:06.000 –> 32:10.000] My instinctive response is thank God I don’t have to do that again.
[32:10.000 –> 32:12.000] Oh gosh yes.
[32:12.000 –> 32:18.000] If that’s how as a player you are responding to a game mechanic, that’s a sign that that is a bad game mechanic, right?
[32:18.000 –> 32:27.000] If you’re like wow thankfully I’ve done that and now I never have to do that thing again, it’s a sign that it’s not great.
[32:27.000 –> 32:32.000] And yes I really don’t enjoy the fishing in Stardew Valley.
[32:32.000 –> 32:36.000] I enjoyed it in Spiritfarer for me that was sort of the right level.
[32:36.000 –> 32:41.000] It was necessary to progress some elements of the story.
[32:41.000 –> 32:49.000] But like you said the reeling in mechanic you know it’s kind of got that green zone effect but it happens in a much more natural way.
[32:49.000 –> 32:51.000] A way that’s much more integrated with the world.
[32:51.000 –> 33:00.000] It’s not a pop-up that happens on screen like so many fishing minigames are where it’s you know some weird pop-up and then keep a thing in a thing style mechanic.
[33:00.000 –> 33:09.000] So for me that’s a pretty great example of a fishing minigame that I think really works.
[33:09.000 –> 33:13.000] And it’s not something you have to do all of the time either.
[33:13.000 –> 33:19.000] You can do it if you want but it’s not like a necessary thing to really progress too much in the game.
[33:19.000 –> 33:22.000] Yeah yeah no I agree for sure.
[33:22.000 –> 33:31.000] And I guess there aren’t many examples but there’s the far end of the spectrum like Spiritfarer on steroids.
[33:31.000 –> 33:38.000] Have you ever played like any serious fishing simulators or more in-depth fishing minigames?
[33:38.000 –> 33:45.000] Not in the cottagecore genre but the one I always think of is the fishing minigame in Red Dead Redemption 2.
[33:45.000 –> 33:50.000] So that’s one where you’re sort of actively pulling your rod you know against the fish.
[33:50.000 –> 33:56.000] You’ve got to reel in at certain times, let go at certain times kind of like the Spiritfarer one.
[33:56.000 –> 34:03.000] So it’s kind of that next step up and it’s probably not at the far end of the you know full fishing simulator.
[34:03.000 –> 34:10.000] But it’s incorporating you know multiple mechanics where you’re reeling, you’re pulling the rod in a certain direction.
[34:10.000 –> 34:14.000] You can do a hard yank and all sorts of things.
[34:14.000 –> 34:17.000] I haven’t seen it in a cottagecore game.
[34:17.000 –> 34:28.000] I’m not sure that I would want to see it in a cottagecore game unless it was a sort of very specifically fishing based cottagecore game.
[34:28.000 –> 34:32.000] I was about to say that that’s what we I’m surprised we haven’t really gotten that yet.
[34:32.000 –> 34:39.000] It feels like we’re overdue for a very fishing based cottagecore game.
[34:39.000 –> 34:42.000] Yeah let’s I want to see that.
[34:42.000 –> 34:51.000] But I mean I haven’t played Red Dead but I have played Sonic Frontiers and hey Sega they made Sega Bass Pro Fishing.
[34:51.000 –> 34:55.000] So guess what they can make a darn good fishing minigame with Big the Cat.
[34:55.000 –> 34:57.000] They actually made him cool in that game.
[34:57.000 –> 35:04.000] I will reference Big the Cat in every single one of these fishing episodes.
[35:04.000 –> 35:06.000] I will not be stopped.
[35:06.000 –> 35:14.000] Okay so but I think that more or less covers the gamut of the you know kinds of fishing games.
[35:14.000 –> 35:18.000] So let’s see here what.
[35:18.000 –> 35:20.000] Well let’s talk about the reward system right.
[35:20.000 –> 35:26.000] So what do you actually get out of fishing because this is where I think this is one of those things.
[35:26.000 –> 35:40.000] It’s slightly different from the mechanics and one of the things that I found referenced in a few places that I found really interesting is there was a bit of comparison drawn between fishing minigames and loot boxes.
[35:40.000 –> 35:49.000] The idea being that you know often in fishing minigames like part of it is like what fish am I actually getting out and you don’t know until you complete the activity.
[35:49.000 –> 35:57.000] And that sort of triggering the same spot in your brain that’s like well I’m looking for the rare fish or the big fish or whatever it is.
[35:57.000 –> 36:06.000] And when that was mentioned like it made sense to me primarily in the context of a game like Animal Crossing right where you’re going around hunting for those big fish spots.
[36:06.000 –> 36:12.000] And then you know you go and reel in maybe it’s the shark spot and you reel in the sunfish and you’re annoyed because you’re really after the great white or whatever it is.
[36:12.000 –> 36:23.000] Like I was like ah like maybe that is the thing about fishing minigames and why they’re kind of you know quite good is because they do have that loot boxy element in every other aspect of a cottagecore game.
[36:23.000 –> 36:35.000] You pretty much know what you’re getting out but fishing is that sort of blind box element of randomness that can be brought in a really easy way in a way that makes sense in the world.
[36:35.000 –> 36:51.000] Yeah yeah um yeah no it’s man seeing that comparison to loot boxes or the Pavlovian button you know like oh that was rough to hear because I totally see it now.
[36:51.000 –> 37:00.000] I enjoy Animal Crossing but it’s the fishing it’s totally just that just a slot machine I just like pushing the button to get the cool thing.
[37:01.000 –> 37:14.000] And you’re probably going through the same thing I went through like when I first heard that comparison I just had a real moment of like oh my god the way I have responded to fishing in Animal Crossing is kind of like someone that keeps losing on the slot machine right.
[37:14.000 –> 37:27.000] You’re trying to fish up that one fish before the season ends and you’re just like actively running around really angry and you know like kind of frustrated at this cute cozy game because you’re not getting that one fish it’s just like I feel really really attacked.
[37:27.000 –> 37:34.000] Yep yep I’m tagged in this post and I don’t like it.
[37:36.000 –> 37:49.000] But that said though like but the fish are so cool the reward’s so nice right pulling up your first shark or filling up that museum I love it I love it I love sea creatures so.
[37:50.000 –> 38:02.000] No it is it is great and it’s one of the things about Animal Crossing and it’s why ultimately the fishing still works is you know there’s fishing in terms of the mechanic and what you get when you feel you know when you pull it out.
[38:02.000 –> 38:12.000] But then there’s also the so what do you actually get out of the fish right what do they mean in the context of the rest of the game because it’s not just fishing is a thing that you do and then it’s done.
[38:12.000 –> 38:29.000] Like he said with Animal Crossing I love filling up the museum and walking around and seeing all of the fish in there and outside of that fish are a relatively good money maker so I that’s why I really like the ultimately on balance I think fishing in Animal Crossing is okay.
[38:29.000 –> 38:42.000] Versus something like Stardew Valley where it’s like yeah you need the fish to complete some community bundles and to complete some stuff and they kind of used a little bit in cooking but cooking isn’t like some majorly essential thing to do in Stardew Valley.
[38:42.000 –> 38:50.000] And outside of that it’s kind of terrible right it’s a terrible money maker it doesn’t really help you achieve anything else.
[38:50.000 –> 39:01.000] It’s kind of just feels like tacked on in this way that’s kind of needed from a content perspective but it feels very disjointed from everything else that happens in Stardew Valley.
[39:01.000 –> 39:30.000] Absolutely which again yeah I guess which feeds into why I’m not fond of the Stardew fishing for that exact reason right yeah like I can’t think of a reason aside from the filling out the collection like you said and thank God I never have to do it again I aside from that I don’t can’t remember like enjoying fishing particularly at Stardew at all or catching anything like I don’t remember any exciting moments for me.
[39:31.000 –> 39:36.000] But yeah no and like I said again I’m going to bring it Roots of Pacha.
[39:36.000 –> 39:53.000] It’s interesting because the rewards it’s a good money maker so that’s why I do it kind of like Animal Crossing and Roots of Pacha but I don’t care about the creatures at all which is so interesting to me that it doesn’t deliver like Animal Crossing but I still enjoy it because of the mechanics.
[39:53.000 –> 40:07.000] It’s fascinating to think about all these different aspects of these little mini games that can be adjusted you know they’re kind of like I like the reward but not the mechanic or vice versa and whatnot and how they all come together.
[40:08.000 –> 40:19.000] And that’s such a fascinating point because how many fish do you think you now know about because of Animal Crossing so many slight.
[40:20.000 –> 40:25.000] Nobody on Earth knew what notion sunfish was before Animal Crossing.
[40:26.000 –> 40:27.000] Right.
[40:30.000 –> 40:36.000] And even little things right like the puns you know everybody loves to like mock the puns a little bit but the amount of like you know.
[40:37.000 –> 40:39.000] The game likes to mock the puns.
[40:39.000 –> 40:40.000] Right.
[40:41.000 –> 40:56.000] But it’s such a great way of like you know I’m never going to like forget the sea bass or maybe more of a C plus like it’s just so good and it sticks in your mind and it’s funny I’ve been getting a little bit into Cryptocrosswords the last few months.
[40:56.000 –> 41:12.000] And one of the things that’s weird about Cryptocrosswords is the random areas of knowledge that it really relies on and there’s those times where you know there’s a clue about fish and I would say that most of the time I get it it’s because I’ve played Animal Crossing and I know that weird fish because of that game.
[41:12.000 –> 41:27.000] Yeah it’s it’s amazing the impact Animal Crossing has had on our generation’s like knowledge of sea creatures.
[41:28.000 –> 41:52.000] But and which in itself is a reward like I not only do I like to like I get again biased here because I actually enjoyed sea creatures in real life but like when you go to the museum they have little plaques you can read and you learn stuff about sea creatures and you know the different animals insects and whatnot and I find that fascinating.
[41:53.000 –> 41:54.000] Yeah.
[41:54.000 –> 42:08.000] For such a simple mechanically simple minigame they give you a lot of rewards from that which is why I think Animal Crossing fishing has still remained pretty popular I would say overall.
[42:08.000 –> 42:09.000] Agree.
[42:09.000 –> 42:28.000] The other thing that you do with fish right is cooking obviously and cooking is present in a lot of cottagecore games and it’s honestly something that I don’t engage too much with as a mechanic because I think it I think cooking in general struggles from again having a clear purpose back to anything else.
[42:28.000 –> 42:51.000] Not to sort of you know spread too much Spiritfarer love as has been the the want of the show for many years but I think one of the smart things about that game is cooking was not about what your character got out of it but actually something for the other characters that inhabited the world and so it made a lot of sense in that respect and is by far and away the cottagecore game that I have done the most cooking in.
[42:52.000 –> 43:17.000] And it’s always one of those interesting things in relation to fishing because often you know you catch so many different varieties of fish but when it comes to cooking it’s often like we’ll just throw in a fish of whatever and the dish will come out right and so you might have all of this complexity about different fish types that you’re catching but ultimately it’s kind of like well and then out the other end it’s just you know a fish doesn’t really matter just catch whatever and put in whatever.
[43:18.000 –> 43:37.000] And I think it’s a really hard balance to strike I don’t know what the right answer should be in terms of making cooking or doing something with the fish as interesting but I don’t I can’t think of too many games where outside of donating to a museum where I’ve had a really strong connection to what I do with the fish post catching it.
[43:38.000 –> 43:59.000] Yeah gosh cooking’s a whole topic on its own for sure because I like cooking in real life as you said cooking up the fish is I love seafood I love eating fish again growing up on the coast but yeah that is hard to emulate isn’t it.
[44:00.000 –> 44:13.000] Again I think it’s just something you really have to focus on we need more cooking cottage core games as a side tangent we could use that but no I think I pretty much agree with all your points.
[44:13.000 –> 44:21.000] Well I think that’s I don’t know that I have too much else to say about the sort of fishing or fishing mini games generally do you have anything else?
[44:21.000 –> 44:30.000] No I don’t think so either so are we ready to dive in and make Crown a winner?
[44:30.000 –> 44:31.000] And a loser.
[44:31.000 –> 44:35.000] I wonder who that will be?
[44:35.000 –> 44:41.000] I thought it might be more of a debate but based on the conversation we’ve just had I think we might be on the same page.
[44:41.000 –> 44:49.000] Alright let’s start with the negative what fishing mini games do you hate, dislike, etc?
[44:49.000 –> 45:09.000] Look I already have one nominee for this category and it’s Stardew Valley I think the fishing is so bad it’s I never want to do it I always get forced into doing it I don’t think there is anything particularly redeemable about fishing in that entire game.
[45:10.000 –> 45:29.000] I just hate it and I think it’s the it’s for me it’s the worst aspect right because the game mechanic itself is too in depth to kind of you know like I don’t like the fishing in Disney Dreamlight Valley that much but it’s so easy it’s you know not really that that offensive to me.
[45:29.000 –> 45:55.000] Whereas in Stardew it’s like you have to dedicate days in game days to just fishing in order to progress things like it’s this thing you have to do it takes so much time it’s so complicated it’s frustrating to start and then when you’re done you never want to do it again and I don’t think the things that you do with the fish in any way interesting enough to warrant it.
[45:55.000 –> 46:00.000] So for me it’s like it’s like the loser in all categories that we just spoke about.
[46:25.000 –> 46:35.000] It’s a general gaming no no for me like make your tutorial or game mechanics clear whatever and then when I finally figured out and it still sucked you know.
[46:37.000 –> 46:49.000] Yeah, which is the worst right because like sometimes things can be complicated or poorly explained because it can be hard to explain things sometimes and you’re like oh that’s fun but when you work it out and you’re like wow it still sucks when I know what I’m supposed to do.
[46:49.000 –> 47:06.000] Yep, yep, yep, yep. So yeah I think okay so I think it’s clear that is a THS worst minigame fishing minigame. Do you have any other ones you’re not fond of though?
[47:06.000 –> 47:19.000] I mean it’s not one that I want to call out specifically but I think anything that just sort of falls into the category of press A get a fish and it’s kind of just tacked on.
[47:20.000 –> 47:39.000] You know I just I think with game mechanics right I want things to be really well edited everything to have a clear purpose and so it’s just anything where it’s sort of tacked on and not really super clear why it’s in the game.
[47:39.000 –> 47:56.000] I think don’t just put fishing in games because fishing is in all of the other games right. So my sort of second runner up you know my least favorite is Stardew Valley and my second runner up is every other game that has you know without clear intent put fishing into their game.
[47:57.000 –> 48:21.000] Yeah that’s that’s a wide that’s definitely a wide spectrum. I’m gonna give a nominee I agree with you for sure there I can’t like I think they’re so bad I can’t even remember one right now that like I know they’re out there I’ve experienced them but they’re just so forgettable right like I can’t even think of one that.
[48:22.000 –> 48:41.000] Exactly right there’s there you know in every game like chances are if you’re thinking about why haven’t they mentioned X games you know fishing mechanic it probably falls into the category that we’ve just talked about because they don’t stick in your mind but if I went back and fired up that game and started playing it be like oh that’s right not doing that.
[48:41.000 –> 48:55.000] Yeah yeah I will give another honorable dishonorable mention I guess to Monster Hunter. I forget have you played Monster Hunter Johnny I don’t think you have but.
[48:56.000 –> 48:57.000] No not really.
[48:57.000 –> 49:06.000] Okay so I love the Monster Hunter games and fishing is really weird because.
[49:07.000 –> 49:21.000] It should be better and I don’t mean like you know like just generally you want every bad thing to be better but so much of Monster Hunter is gathering materials to craft stuff that’s a big part of the loop right and so you think.
[49:21.000 –> 49:37.000] Fishing would be a good Avenue to explore that but their fishing memory minigame I don’t even remember what it’s like is that’s how infrequently you have to do it I think it’s just like an a type Animal Crossing esque type game.
[49:37.000 –> 49:56.000] I don’t even remember they it’s so weird because in a game focused on gathering materials for crafting they kind of stomped out fishing even though it’s there you don’t really have to ever do it and it’s not particularly fun you don’t have any reason or want to do it.
[49:56.000 –> 50:09.000] Which is just just just awful like the total opposite of what I think the what it should be trying to accomplish so.
[50:09.000 –> 50:23.000] And it sounds like a real missed opportunity because in the context of Monster Hunter right like fishing sounds like a thing where you could put some cool monsters that maybe you need to fish up to get them to appear in the spine.
[50:23.000 –> 50:29.000] How much I haven’t played Monster Hunter but it feels like there’s a natural synergy there right.
[50:29.000 –> 50:34.000] Hold on okay this is a little tangent.
[50:34.000 –> 50:48.000] So, Monster Hunter 3, or 3 is twice they called it, was the first one to come out to the West and, or at least the first numbered one I think I could be wrong. Well it’s the first one I played it was on the Wii.
[50:48.000 –> 50:52.000] One of the earliest ones to come out to the West for sure.
[50:52.000 –> 51:04.000] Now the one of the gimmick I don’t call gimmicks or what one of the things angles they were going for is that they introduced underwater monsters in that game.
[51:04.000 –> 51:14.000] Now, it’s notoriously hated the underwater fights in the series. I am not one of those people I really enjoyed the underwater fights but that’s a whole nother discussion.
[51:14.000 –> 51:24.000] But, what you described actually happened in 3. There was this big fish called a goble it was like a monster angler fish basically.
[51:24.000 –> 51:41.000] And you could use the fishing mechanic to fish it out of the water before you actually started fighting it, and it would flop out and it would, you know you pull it out and fly out and start flopping around and basically be stunned for a few minutes if you did it correctly, and letting you get in free hits,
[51:41.000 –> 51:53.000] which in my opinion is one of the most fun little dumb mechanic things they ever did in the series. And they do a lot of other dumb stuff like that but I just have really really fond memories of that.
[51:53.000 –> 52:02.000] But no I agree I wish they would do more stuff like that because there are plenty of fish like enemies in that they just don’t want you to fish them for whatever reason.
[52:02.000 –> 52:14.000] But yeah, big big missed opportunity so shame on you Monster Hunter. But other than that, are there any other dishonorable mentions you want to mention?
[52:14.000 –> 52:18.000] No I think we can go to the, let’s talk about some winners.
[52:18.000 –> 52:21.000] Yeah, the winners. Okay.
[52:21.000 –> 52:29.000] Um, okay. I don’t even know where to start. Okay roots of Pacha is a good one for all the reasons I explained.
[52:29.000 –> 52:40.000] I’ve highly for. I mean this is in general for roots of Pacha like it’s a stardew clone very heavily but are really well done stardew clone.
[52:40.000 –> 52:46.000] And that goes for the fishing. Well, first of all, it’s not stardew fishing so that’s already win right.
[52:46.000 –> 52:55.000] But it, like I described, it fits the game, the mechanic is a little different from normal.
[52:55.000 –> 53:06.000] It felt like a real breath of fresh air in this cottage core space that we’re in so props to you roots of Pacha for your spear fishing mini game. Very, very enjoyable.
[53:06.000 –> 53:20.000] I think that is interesting to me because when I came into this conversation, I was fully expecting Spiritfarer to be, you know, the game I was thinking about most and I absolutely think Spiritfarer should be part of the conversation for best fishing.
[53:20.000 –> 53:34.000] Best fishing mini game, but through the course of this conversation I’ve really talked to myself around on Animal Crossing, like I was maybe thinking about Animal Crossing as a contender for worse but I actually I’m now thinking it’s a strong contender for best.
[53:34.000 –> 53:47.000] And it’s not because the mechanics right the mechanics are what they are I think they’re flawed, but for everything else that’s around the fishing mini game, the, the breath of fish, the learning the museum.
[53:47.000 –> 53:53.000] You know the fact that it’s a decent moneymaker. I think this is a strong contender for best fishing mini game.
[53:53.000 –> 54:07.000] It has, it even has the, the fishing tourneys right like events to encourage fishing with that mechanic which when you think about not a lot of other games, not even cottage core just games in general don’t do.
[54:07.000 –> 54:11.000] They don’t put a spotlight on fishing like that.
[54:11.000 –> 54:18.000] And it’s just you know, every now and then, which is, you know, it doesn’t overdo it doesn’t overstay its welcome.
[54:18.000 –> 54:24.000] And, and I think there is an important note here.
[54:24.000 –> 54:32.000] I think this is part I mean I’m agreeing with you fully Animal Crossing is on my list of winners for sure.
[54:32.000 –> 54:53.000] I think it’s important to note that it’s again we discussed how fishing games go back but in terms of fishing mini games. I think Animal Crossing was a very early entry, at least one that became very iconic right they can easily easily recognizable.
[54:53.000 –> 55:14.000] Like, yes, Zelda had fishing before but when you hear fishing mini game I think the vast majority of people who play video games will think Animal Crossing is their first thought, because it has such a long history and really I think influence on the, on the idea of a fishing mini game.
[55:14.000 –> 55:29.000] And, but yeah, no, like you said though, through that long history they’ve really, really honed it and made it wonderful. New Horizons, which I’ve had many many problems with and discussed at length even on this show.
[55:29.000 –> 55:43.000] The fishing in the museum I think are excellent. And they even introduced a little diving which is, you know, fishing without a rod but a fun little flavor change to where you go swimming out instead of just standing by the river.
[55:43.000 –> 55:46.000] So good on you Animal Crossing.
[55:46.000 –> 56:04.000] And to pick up on my second nominee I think Spiritfarer. For me it’s the perfect combination of the mechanics work really well strong integration with the game, a good use for fish outside of, you know, the fishing with cooking and you know, cooking being relevant for the guests staying on the boat and
[56:04.000 –> 56:20.000] absolutely different, different food. For me it’s probably the most complete implementation of a fishing, a fishing mini game I think for me it personally had sort of all of the things that I’m, I’m looking for.
[56:20.000 –> 56:33.000] Absolutely. I fully agree. One minor detail that I think is, adds a lot which actually Spiritfarer is very good at is through the animations right?
[56:33.000 –> 56:40.000] Stella does the, you know, the fishing, you feel the weight of the fish because she’s leaning in or leaning back or whatever.
[56:40.000 –> 56:47.000] Yep. And it’s just one of those things about that game in general. Spiritfarer’s animations are top notch across the board and they nail it with fishing.
[56:47.000 –> 56:52.000] Absolutely. So definite major, major props for that.
[56:52.000 –> 56:55.000] So Kev, I have an idea. I have an idea.
[56:55.000 –> 56:56.000] Okay.
[56:56.000 –> 57:08.000] Here’s what I’m thinking. I’m thinking best fishing mini game goes to Spiritfarer. However, we have the most innovative fishing award, which I think is definitely a Roots of Pacha.
[57:08.000 –> 57:13.000] I was watching some videos in the background of that fishing and that looks really cool. I really want to try that.
[57:13.000 –> 57:14.000] Right. Yes. Try it.
[57:14.000 –> 57:21.000] And then most, most informative fishing mini game award goes to Animal Crossing. How do we feel about that?
[57:21.000 –> 57:35.000] I, I want to give Animal Crossing the best overall. I think this is clearly a bias thing as someone who’s played Animal Crossing for 20 years or whatever.
[57:35.000 –> 57:45.000] I keep coming back to it for a reason, right? Like Spiritfarer, like I agree. Everything about it, as you said, it’s, it’s done well.
[57:45.000 –> 57:55.000] Every part of it is really polished and done well and enjoyable. And yes, Animal Crossing is the Pavlov button. It’s a slot machine.
[57:55.000 –> 57:58.000] But there’s…
[57:58.000 –> 57:59.000] It’s a really good slot machine.
[57:59.000 –> 58:02.000] It’s a really good slot machine, right?
[58:02.000 –> 58:04.000] Yeah. Yeah.
[58:04.000 –> 58:17.000] There is a reason that mechanic has remained pretty much unchanged for 20 years and still enjoyable. I still…
[58:17.000 –> 58:34.000] I think I’m with you. I think I’m with you. As much as I love the Spiritfarer implementation, it’s just not going to stick the same way that the Animal Crossing fishing mini game.
[58:34.000 –> 58:39.000] Yeah, no, I think you’re right. I think, I think we do have to give the best fishing mini game award to Animal Crossing.
[58:39.000 –> 58:42.000] Well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen.
[58:42.000 –> 58:53.000] Um, king of fish… I was trying to think of prince of something, but whatever. King of fishing mini games goes to Animal Crossing.
[58:53.000 –> 58:59.000] And I am shocked, like coming into this conversation, I was fully expecting to be putting that near the, near the bottom.
[58:59.000 –> 59:05.000] And somehow we’ve come out with it being the best. And I’m not mad about it. I’m not mad about it.
[59:06.000 –> 59:17.000] That’s because I’m here. I was ready to fight for that. Um, yeah, no, it’s like, it’s, it’s hard to be objective.
[59:17.000 –> 59:21.000] I mean, right, because it’s, it’s, I mean, it’s not objective. This is all cool.
[59:21.000 –> 59:26.000] Well, it might be hard for you to be objective, but my views are always objective.
[59:26.000 –> 59:31.000] So we’ve said Animal Crossing is the best fishing mini game. That is objectively true.
[59:31.000 –> 59:36.000] It is now a fact. We can, we can put it on Wikipedia or wherever facts are based these days.
[59:36.000 –> 59:47.000] Yup. It’s in the books, folks. Um, yeah, no. Um, yeah. Um, I think, yeah, without a doubt, it goes to Animal Crossing.
[59:47.000 –> 59:57.000] Um, I’m going to give some other honorable mentions. They definitely weren’t near the top, but, um, Pokemon actually, like, it’s, you don’t think about it.
[59:57.000 –> 59:59.000] Boo. Worst.
[59:59.000 –> 01:00:01.000] Worst.
[01:00:01.000 –> 01:00:08.000] Worst. That should have been one of my nominees for worst. Pokemon fishing is so boring. Sorry.
[01:00:08.000 –> 01:00:11.000] Keep going with your love for it.
[01:00:11.000 –> 01:00:24.000] I’m torn because I agree with you. When I think of the fishing, like, I don’t, I’m not necessarily looking forward to it, but I like fishing up a new Pokemon or fighting the Pokemon that you fish up.
[01:00:24.000 –> 01:00:31.000] I think that’s a novel idea. I don’t think Pokemon has the best implementation. I’ll agree with you.
[01:00:31.000 –> 01:00:37.000] Um, well, I guess like a lot of things in Pokemon, right, they really need to update that.
[01:00:37.000 –> 01:00:45.000] But it’s something that is worth thinking about. Not a lot of other games do that. Um, I wish they did.
[01:00:45.000 –> 01:00:58.000] Um, there’s more that could, should be done with it. Um, you know, actually, again, this might be going further into the, you know, proper fishing simulation, but just not just pulling it up.
[01:00:58.000 –> 01:01:05.000] Doing something with your fish is, or, you know, having to fight a little more than just with the run is an interesting thought.
[01:01:05.000 –> 01:01:14.000] Um, and there’s been better fishing than others. The one in XY wasn’t that bad. The ones in the others, not as great, though.
[01:01:14.000 –> 01:01:21.000] Um, but, uh, like I said earlier, another honorable mention, as I mentioned earlier, Sonic Frontiers.
[01:01:22.000 –> 01:01:38.000] Um, as much of a joke as Big the Cat is in that series and outside that series, somehow they made me look forward to seeing Big the Cat because the fishing was fun and it actually had a purpose.
[01:01:38.000 –> 01:01:51.000] Uh, the more you fished up, basically Big would give you this currency that let you skip other, not just a skip, but it would give you currency you could spend to clear objectives instead of doing levels.
[01:01:51.000 –> 01:02:03.000] It was an alternate way to clear some objectives, which I think is a really interesting idea in a Sonic game. Um, so yeah. Um, shout out to Sonic Frontiers.
[01:02:03.000 –> 01:02:07.000] Um, are there any others you want to mention off the top of your head?
[01:02:07.000 –> 01:02:18.000] I had one and it totally walked out of my brain. So I feel like that might be a sign that we need to, we need to call it. Uh, there’s a lot of fishing mini games that we’ve covered.
[01:02:18.000 –> 01:02:32.000] Yep. All right. There’s a lot more for sure. Um, send us, send us some comments, folks. Let us know what your, some of your favorite fishing or mini games or memories or, or even fish, right?
[01:02:32.000 –> 01:02:38.000] Like, I mean, it’s hard to beat the ocean sun fish and Animal Crossing, but if there’s another fish you enjoy in a game, let us know.
[01:02:38.000 –> 01:02:46.000] Let us know, um, uh, if you agree with our list as well, you know, do you agree that Animal Crossing is the best fishing mini game and that Stardew Valley is the worst?
[01:02:46.000 –> 01:02:51.000] I mean, we said it’s objective, so it’s not really agreeing. It’s just, you know, you know, we’re right.
[01:02:51.000 –> 01:02:54.000] Yeah. We want to know which, if any of our listeners are out there are wrong.
[01:02:56.000 –> 01:03:09.000] All right. And you can let us know on Twitter at THSPOD, or you can let Al specifically know at TheScottBot, let him know personally, he wasn’t part of this discussion at all, but, but blame him anyways.
[01:03:09.000 –> 01:03:14.000] He’s, his, his name’s on the, as the host overall, the creator, whatever.
[01:03:14.000 –> 01:03:16.000] He is responsible for everything that we say.
[01:03:16.000 –> 01:03:27.000] He really is. You can also find him at Mastodon.Scott. I, I still haven’t touched Mastodon. That’s, it still feels like Twitter at home, but I could be wrong.
[01:03:27.000 –> 01:03:41.000] Um, uh, but aside from that, you can also leave more feedback at harvestseason.club where you should also be able to find the, uh, links to stuff.
[01:03:41.000 –> 01:03:48.000] Well, we didn’t talk about that much, but at least that article we’ve been referencing, um, uh, you can find other episodes.
[01:03:48.000 –> 01:03:55.000] Of course you can find, uh, well, I’m trying to think here. You can provide feedback there. I think I said that.
[01:03:55.000 –> 01:04:07.000] Um, you can also go to patreon.com slash THSPOD where you can, uh, give Al money to, uh, gain access to cool stuff.
[01:04:07.000 –> 01:04:12.000] Well, first of all, you support the show, which in itself is, we greatly, greatly appreciate.
[01:04:12.000 –> 01:04:20.000] But in exchange, you will get some cool stuff like access to our Slack where you can, you can leave feedback and bother Al personally.
[01:04:20.000 –> 01:04:25.000] Um, that Slack is growing and growing and I love it. I laugh so much in there.
[01:04:25.000 –> 01:04:38.000] Um, and you can also get access to the greenhouse, the premium Patreon exclusive podcast about things that aren’t Cottagecore or whatever.
[01:04:38.000 –> 01:04:42.000] Um, there’s a whole bunch of stuff. I don’t know when this is coming out.
[01:04:42.000 –> 01:04:50.000] Uh, I’m pulling the curtain back, a Nintendo Direct just aired, so there will be a greenhouse on that at some point, because boy, that was a good Direct.
[01:04:50.000 –> 01:04:59.000] Um, uh, but anyways, so yeah, find us on Twitter, on harvestseason.club, on Patreon.
[01:04:59.000 –> 01:05:05.000] Um, uh, what about you, Johnny? Anywhere you want people to find you or are you just going to keep hiding in the Slack?
[01:05:05.000 –> 01:05:11.000] I’m going to keep hiding. You got to pay to talk to me. Gotta join the Slack.
[01:05:11.000 –> 01:05:21.000] There you go. Um, you can find me, Kevin, at Koopa Prez on Twitter where I mostly retweet other funnier people or interesting things.
[01:05:21.000 –> 01:05:32.000] Um, or you can go to my actually now active, again, art Twitter, um, what is it, at Spriter Squared where I do a lot of pixel art things.
[01:05:32.000 –> 01:05:41.000] I am, full disclosure, I’ve recently become unemployed due to not my own fault. I didn’t get fired. It was a layoff.
[01:05:41.000 –> 01:05:46.000] Um, so I have had more time to do art. Um, so you can go look at that.
[01:05:46.000 –> 01:05:54.000] Um, but other than that, thank you, listeners, for braving these new waters, uncharted waters with us.
[01:05:55.000 –> 01:05:56.000] Um, thank you, Johnny.
[01:05:56.000 –> 01:06:07.000] And stay tuned, stay tuned for the rest of the month because there’s a whole bunch more fishing content coming, including a look at Dredge, which is an excellent, excellent fishing based game.
[01:06:07.000 –> 01:06:14.000] Yeah, yeah. I haven’t played it yet, but boy, do I know about it. It’s excellent.
[01:06:14.000 –> 01:06:22.000] Boy, if you, if you didn’t like the cozy fishing, tune into Dredge so you can hear about the abominations that we fish up there.
[01:06:22.000 –> 01:06:25.000] Um, yeah, good times.
[01:06:25.000 –> 01:06:31.000] But until next time, dear listeners, have a good haul.
[01:06:31.000 –> 01:06:34.000] Yeah, it’s not as long. We’ll work on it.
[01:06:36.000 –> 01:06:37.000] Take care.
[01:06:38.000 –> 01:06:46.000] The Harvest Season is created by Al McKinley with support from our patrons, including our pro farmers, Kevin, Stuart and Alisa.
[01:06:46.000 –> 01:06:50.000] Our art is done by Micah the Brave and our music is done by Nick Burgess.
[01:06:50.000 –> 01:06:58.000] Feel free to visit our website, harvestseason.club for show notes and links to things we discussed in this episode.
[01:06:58.000 –> 01:07:11.000] I also have no idea what Big the Cat even is. I just don’t know anything about Sonic.
[01:07:11.000 –> 01:07:19.000] So you’re like talking about Big the Cat and I’m like, I don’t, I don’t even know how to respond to this.