Fishing

[Shadsie]

These are some thoughts I've had for a while.

Anyway, as I'm sitting here eating some fresh trout I caught at a nearby creek yesterday, I'm thinking of the hobby I happen to share with Link (at least from OoT onward) and thinking about how it could be handled in future games.

I enjoy the fishing distraction in OoT and TP a great deal. When I was first roving through OoT, I used it as a "break between dungeons" - give the poor boy a rest, haha! I really like how the fishing was handled in TP - you can fish almost anywhere there's water, there's a number of species to catch, and you don't get a hit every time. I liked the feel of it in both games, the tug, the "fight" - Fishing in Zelda games is a good way to spend wintertime when I can't be out doing it for real...


However, I was thinking, perhaps to add just another dimension of skill to this side-game...

Why not have Link learn to fly fish?

I fish all kinds (bait fishing when I don't really want to pay attention/ want to just sit at the creek and read or write. Lure fishing for when I want to be active - caught my lunch today on a lure... ) and I do a little fly fishing, too.

It is a different kind of fishing from the others, from how you cast your line out to a certain finese - you have to send a little tremor into your hands through the pole to try to make your fly imitate a flailing insect, then when you see a fish come up, you gotta set that hook quick!

I can see where it could be too complex for some - particularly for kid-centered titles, but maybe on some of the more teen/adult titles, it can be an option... nothing that's required in winning the game, of course, but, like all the fishing, just a side-thing. Also, it would be good to have the traditional lure and bobber fishing - the fly fishing would just be a new level for Link to test his skills.

*Shrug.*

[Volvox]

Interesting concept. Very interesting concept.

I think its rather a good idea. I think it'd add an extra level of challenge to fishing. I think it'd be kinda fun to fly fish in Zelda - more non-dungeon stuff to do. Very nice idea.

Oh, and he fished in Link's Awakening too. :)

[Zeruda]

I think it'd be a great addition to the games. I've loved fishing in Zelda, even the lesser detailed fishing in Link's Awakening. I'd do it all the time in Ocarina of Time, and I even remember finding the other lure and getting over-excited. In Twilight Princess, I spent about 5 hours fishing, because it was much more fun that continuing with the game. I was hooked (pun obviously intended).

Further development in this sort of side-game would be welcome. As Shadsie mentioned, fly fishing would be great, especially if they were to add different areas of water. You could go fishing in a lake, perhaps on a boat in the ocean, or even in rapids. And, with the Wiimote, I can definitely see it becoming more popular.

[Ver-go-a-go-go]

No, it'd be a waste of time I think. I've always found fishing to be a nuisance in all of the titles that it appeared in, and adding a different style of fishing just seems like a waste of the developers time when they could be working on much more important things. If anything, I'd like the role of fishing to be reduced in future Zelda games. It always annoyed me how you'd have to fish to earn certain items.

[Shadsie]

I've never played with a Wii, but a Wii-Mote is what I had in mind for the fly fishing. I think it would work very well with the up, back, forth motion it takes to let out flyline.

[El Bagu]

I´ve never enjoyed fishing in games (not even in Pokémon) so for me it´s not an idea I adore. I wouldn´t mind it that much though if it was in a sidequest and outside the main plot. But what I really would want in sidequests myself would be an opportunity to display my skills with the sword, sword techniques and the bow. I believe that there should be some "tougher" fights in the sidequest.

[Shadsie]

Well, it would definitely be an optional "pointless distraction" sort of thing. I know a lot of people aren't keen on the fishing, and after a while, even I'll get bored with it and want to go back to the main quest - I just always found it a fun little side-thing.

Then again, I enjoy fishing a great deal in real life, so, of course Zelda fishing is fun for me.

[angelkid]

Hmmmm. I dont like the fishing in the Zelda game, and I absolutely LOATHED it in TP. I really just didnt understand it, no real explanation was offered, and in this game you HAD to do it to progress, I really hope this never happens again. The only game in which I quite enjoyed the fishing was PH, There was just something rewarding about that heart container and I found it a really fun distraction which could be used to waste time. I dont even know what it was I liked about this, I just liked it. However, I despise fishing in real life, this may be why I do not like it in games?

[Durion]

I like fishing in Zelda, Last year while I was on a run through of Zelda I didn't realise that after I completed it I spent about 4 hours fishing trying to get larger fish or even if I was lucky a Hylian Loach.

I think that introducing new forms of fishing into Zelda would be a fun sidequest/distraction to have, It would be a fun thing to do. If they combined this with a larger area for you to fish around in than Twilight Princess, This along with a wider variety of fish and more than one fishing hole it would be Epic.

Heck, They could even make it so that you could fish on Lake Hylia on a certain day each week to enter a fishing competition. It would be quite fun but unlikely as this would take up Nintendo's needed time and they know that the fans want them to spend this time on the Plot, Backstories, Graphics, Characters and their appearances.....etc.

[Qwerty0805]

I like the fishing in Twilight Princes and Phantom hourglass, but remember Legend of Zelda is not primarily a fishing game.

[Durion]

I like the fishing in Twilight Princes and Phantom hourglass, but remember Legend of Zelda is not primarily a fishing game.

and?....It doesn't mean Zelda can't put in some more fishing and a few other things in, Never stopped them putting in Archery Ranges and a few other mini games. I don't see why Zelda not being a Fishing game has anything to do with it.

[Qwerty0805]

I mean that you can't expect huge fishing features like fishing holes everywere, with more than a couple ways to fish.

[Zeruda]

I mean that you can't expect huge fishing features like fishing holes everywere, with more than a couple ways to fish.

Wouldn't matter. There's always Lake Hylia and perhaps even an ocean. Any body of water could serve to be a fishing area as well as something that is of importance to the game's story. All they'd have to do is take an already-made body of water and add fish. Maybe a dock. If I remember correctly, OoT was originally going to have a dock at Lake Hylia, but it was removed in the final version. In TP, we were able to take a boat out on the water and fish, so it's likely to happen again. And, since they are putting more effort into designing terrain, they might add different areas of water- pehaps streams or small rivers that connect separate bodies of water (like Zora's Domain and Lake Hylia). These types of areas could provide different types of fishing AND different types of fish.

I think it'd be a very easy thing to implement, and as long as it was optional, it'd be a great way to take a break between dungeons. :)

[Y2K3]

Like some people have said, I don't like the fishing - and really hated how how had to do it in TP to progress- so I'm not a fan of this idea. However, I realize that the game wasn't made just for me and my opinion. For you people that enjoy the fishing, perhaps it would be nice, though I still don't think there should be several way to fish. Just like 2 or 3 and leave it at that.
So, basically, as long as it wasn't a manditory thing, I don't have a problem with it, and perhaps it woul dbe kind of cool.

[Durion]

I mean that you can't expect huge fishing features like fishing holes everywere, with more than a couple ways to fish.

I don't think I can expect it either but all Nintendo has to do is add a few bodies or water and a place to fish from. Not that hard for a company as skilled as Nintendo.

[Greatwizrobe]

I'd definitely like to see this implemented in a future console game. Perhaps as a new level of fishing. In fact, I think fishing should be less of a distraction, and more of a side-quest in the future Zelda titles. Let's say you're bait fishing, catch quite a few fish, and pretty much master the concept and skill. The fishing guide could offer an advancement to lure fishing, and later on, fly-fishing. TP offered a more innovative style of fishing, while OOT sported the rewards of a piece of heart, and the every so useful Gold Scale. Implementation of both of these characteristics (innovation of difficulty and skill, and rewards to boot) would definitely result in a fun sidequest for all of us.

[Shnappy]

I spent many hours fishing in both games. They're definitely a good "break between dungeons". After spending a long time playing through and finishing a lengthy and difficult trip in the Water Temple, fishing was a good way to just relax and do a sidequest for a while. It may have not been an accessible feature outside of the Fishing Game, and it may not have had all the different species, but it was still really fun.

TP was a great expansion to the fishing feature compared to OoT. The fact that you had the ability to fish anywhere and catch many different species and weights of fishes was really nice. I actually think you had to fish at certain points in the game, if I remember correctly. I could totally see a TP-style fishing spin-off, similar to "Link's Crossbow Training".

PH was actually a slight disappointment fishing-wise, from the small portion of fishing I've done in that game. I guess I don't have the patience to enjoy it. I was supposed to get some weird kind of fish, but time after time, it would just be, You caught a SkippyJack! Oh look, a SkippyJack! Congratulations! You caught... another SkippyJack! I had fished successfully around 20 times, and all I saw was SkippyJacks, so I kind of just quit doing it. I will say, though, that the fishing itself, the controls for fishing, were actually pretty fun at first.

Would I like to see it in future Zelda? Yeah, sure, why not? It was a great feature in these games, and should definitely be included in the future Zeldas. Also, like I mentioned above, it would be cool to have a spin-off game based entirely on Zelda fishing. Hopefully, if they do include it later, it will get even better.

[kukuruza]

I too read it also to me it was pleasant.Though I not the fan, but was interesting enough