If you’re playing a JRPG, there is a very big chance that one of the minigames featured will be a straightforward fishing simulator. Though this is not limited at all to games made in Japan, explorable terrains tend to feature large bodies of water, and what better way to make use of them than to give the player the opportunity to catch some fish? And while some of the fishing minigames are simply recreational, others may be crucial for acquiring rare and powerful in-game items or weapons.
A recent X post in Japan criticizing the minigame genre went viral, leading domestic gamers to discuss whether fishing is really a “necessary” element in immersive open-world games. “I think it’s high time developers stopped trying to shove fishing into open world games just for the sake of it. To be honest, nothing about it is fun,” the user wrote, garnering agreement from 28 thousand fellow gamers.
According to Japanese gamers, there are multiple factors that separate a good fishing minigame from a mediocre one, the biggest one being whether they’re made as filler content in the first place. “Same, we really don’t need [fishing minigames], there’s no need to add random content just to increase the game’s volume,” one user commented.
Like previously mentioned, having a vast world to explore, one will expect that it is equally engaging, so devs need to think up ways to “fill up” the land with various interactable content to keep players immersed. And considering how it’s super easy for costs to pile up when making these kinds of games, some users suggest that this is just a way for developers to make full use of the “cool bodies of water” they painstakingly made. “But since developing [fishing] content also drives up the costs, that makes the developers want you to play it even more, making it mandatory, and annoying everyone in return,” they comment.
On the other hand, rather than being “cliched filler content,” many argue that game developers often just fail to make the minigames fun. “It’s fine only if the fishing is actually enjoyable as a minigame,” one user commented, with another one adding: “It’s okay to have fishing, but I’d rather it evolved into a full-fledged fishing game. It’s not fun if it just plays like a gacha.”
“If the game lets you fish, then I want it to go into crazy detail. Give me the bait options, gear, species distribution, seasons, and ecology. From freshwater and saltwater fish to legendary boss fishes and stories about fishermen who got their arms bitten off, I want it all,” another user commented.
Of course, a “high level of freedom” means that you don’t even have to get near fishing minigames if they’re not your cup of tea. But what seems to frustrate players the most is when fishing becomes an obstacle you need to overcome in order to play the game more “comfortably.”
“If it’s not mandatory, I don’t mind. But I don’t want fishing to be turned into an actual side quest for getting useful items, progressing the story, or collecting necessary materials even though it’s just fish. Please don’t ever make it like that.”
“The fishing in Skyrim is such an empty feature. And since you can’t get important items without it, that makes it even more (poop emoji),” one user jokingly commented. Others brought up similar examples, including Genshin Impact’s “fishing weapon” line like the Catch polearm, which you can only get by, well, fishing.
As for another reason why fishing minigames are so prominent, some users theorized that many of the simple minigames in bigger open world titles are used to train interns and new hires on.
“Farming and fishing content benefits the developers in terms of being easy for young hires and fresh-out-of-college workers to define and implement. So when I saw a certain major action title that had well-developed lifestyle aspects but felt weak when it came to main content, it made me wonder if they’d assigned a lot of the work to new graduates,” a user commented.
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