rumorsmatrix_

Week one of Blaugust is rumbling along -- there are more posts than certainly I can keep up with, and that's a good thing -- and week one is supposed to be "Getting to Know You" week, which I haven't massively stuck to. So today I'm going to talk a little about one of my great gaming passions -- and frustrations.

Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever i find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet... I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.

Herman Melville, Moby-Dick or, The Whale

I love a fishing mini game. Or even a not-so-mini game. I fish in World of Warcraft, in Final Fantasy XIV, in Black Desert, in Animal Crossing, Stardew Valley, in Minecraft. I played Dredge non-stop until I'd devoured every little bit of content available. I love fishing.

Given how most fishing games are semi-idle at best -- idle/incremental games being another genre I love, but that will have to be a post for another time -- I find it endlessly frustrating how difficult they are to enjoy on mobile. If ever there was a genre suited to playing in front of the TV, in a zen-like state of semi-attention, you'd think fishing would be it.

Final Fantasy XIV has what I consider the best side-content fishing in any MMO, given that fishing is its own entire class, with quests, a storyline, and very solid mechanics, going way beyond the usual cast-wait-reel of most mini games. You can play FFXIV on the Steam Deck, so it mostly works for some sofa-based angling. But while I like FFXIV, it's a big MMO, and I only have the brain space for one MMO at a time, and currently it's World of Warcraft. I'll go back, one day.

My main gripe is how terrible mobile fishing games are. Every single one of them is either so simplistic you might as well not be playing anything at all, fishing-themed but not really about fishing, or absolutely stuffed to the gills (see, see) with predatory cash-shop purchases trying to hook a spending whale (eyyy).

After trying what feels like several hundred of them over the years, I've recently settled on Fishing Clash as the best of a bad bunch. There are pop-ups and rewards and limited time events and special offers and every other possible anti-pattern in existence, but the actual fishing is fun, as is unlocking and levelling up all of the different fish to catch in a variety of locations. The secret, as with most mobile games, is to approach it with an iron will and steadfast resolve to never get the credit card out. Disable notifications, ignore the limited time event, realise that you don't need to spend £4.99 on a new turbo-mega-DLC-only reel, and just fish.

My progress is probably horribly stunted, but I'm not competing with anyone, so does it really matter? I'll probably never catch the rarest of leviathans with my free-to-play equipment, but... isn't having a white whale part of the appeal of fishing? It's probably best if you don't catch it. Never did Ahab any good.