Often, I like to start articles on something unrelated to what I want to talk about, using some connecting point to tie in the theme with what I really want to dig into. A little tale about coffee or a movie genre, something acting as bait to lure you in. This article is about fishing, though, so I thought it would be fun to not do that in a bit of a reversal of the norm. So let’s dive right in as I explore Eorzea’s horrible fishing!

You did not read that wrong, I said horrible. Though, I might be a little unfair in this initial assessment. Why would I think that, though? There are certainly many anglerphiles in the world. In fact, about a year ago, we covered the Fish Fest that has been going on for, I suppose, its third year. I do not have a problem with fishing, nor do I think anyone should, but as someone who has experienced more than one type of fishing, I gotta say, Eorzea just does not do it for me.

That is not to say I never fish. As you can see, I have my shark! For those who are not aware, you get this big fella when you rack up 10,000 points in a single Ocean Fishing run. Admittedly, I did get this exciting mount recently, though to be honest, it was mainly so I could get a boost in my Moogle Tomes for the swell Mameshiba Neckerchief, also pictured above.

That said, I was not new to fishing when I boarded a ship with a gaggle of strangers to attempt to get my little prize. I actually maxed out fisher levels a while ago because I was interested in better beast tribe relations last year. Fishing was my last profession in the gathering trades to master and it was easily my least favorite.

None of the gathering jobs we have available are particularly interesting. Miner and Botanist are functionally identical, and while all three are relatively mindless, only fishing is reliant on you really paying attention for brief moments. When collecting stones or logs for hours on end, one can look away, do something else, or even take a break with ease.

With fishing, however, a little more focus is required as you sit and wait for between a second and over 30, sometimes. If you want to improve your results, there is no surefire way to do so, as even the boosts you can enact are reliant on a bit of luck to fully realize. Then, you watch as a new time whittles away, your line motionless in the water. A minute can be a long time to wait, especially when your attention is honed in on a quick alert as the perk you just risked valuable GP to use slowly becomes meaningless.

It is not all bad, though. If you are TRYING to catch certain fish, surely this can be annoying, but if you do not really care, well, it can be nice to just sit back and push a couple of buttons every once in a while. Though, this method only serves a purpose beyond mindless nothing if you are in desperate need of fishing levels (or sand, you monsters).

Fishing is a game of patience, I am told, so why would I be against all the tedium, all the seemingly unfair outcomes? Are they not just part of the appeal? In a sense, yes. The thrill of the reveal after a tug at the line can be quite something! Still, there is something missing from the Eorzean system that just kills some of the excitement for me.

Imagine you are a kid on Starlight morning. You rush into wherever normal people put their Starlight tree and see a pile of boxes. This is what fishing feels like, in a much more numbed, but still fun way. There can be ways of removing some of the passion, though.

The purpose of presents is to obfuscate the gift within. A present might be a sweater, or it could be a Morpho, you do not know. But, part of the intrigue actually comes from the wonder, something that is enhanced when a guess can be made. If you see a box in a certain shape, well you might expect a variety of things, but based on what you know, you might try to narrow it down in your head. This helps to build anticipation, like seeing a shadow in a horror movie before seeing the monster.

If you take every gift and standardize wrapping, though, the possibilities become endless to the point that guessing no longer has any meaning. It could be anything, so why even bother considering it? The mystery is there, but you have stripped away the puzzle. With nothing to figure out, there is no joy in wonder anymore. When you cast your rod into a blue void it has much the same effect.

This compounds with the briefly touched-on issue of searching for particular marine life. If you do not know what you are going to get, it cannot help feel, at least in part, like you are wasting time. You MIGHT dredge up a giant shark, but you may have just spent 20 seconds staring intently at the water only to pull up some kelp. There is no way to tell before you cast so each time is a commitment to the wait.

Other lands treat this differently. For example, some places allow you to see the fish you are looking for, tweaking the line or using bait to try to entice them to take a nibble over something unwanted.

This might be going too far in another direction, taking out a lot of the mystery and relying more on skill. While skill can be fun, so can mystery, and believe it or not there are happy mediums as well. Some lands have fish that cannot be identified immediately, but at the same time, an angler can spot them and even make some guesses as to what they might catch thanks to shadows of varying shapes and sizes.

Am I going anywhere with this? Can things improve for us? Who knows. Maybe you just read a kelp of an article. I hope that someday, the Eorzean fishing scene can see some changes. I do not hate fishing, but at the same time, like many of the systems we have grown accustomed to, it is just missing some crucial elements that, if implemented, could make the world a more fun place to be in.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree with me? Are you neutral? Are you so upset with what I said you want to turn me into chum and catch something? Write in and tell us! I am always curious to know how others feel about the world, so consider this a little bit of opinion-fishing on my part.