Many JRPGs feature a fishing simulator as one of their minigames. While this isn’t exclusive to Japanese-made games, large bodies of water in explorable terrains often provide players with the opportunity to catch fish. Some fishing minigames are purely for fun, while others are essential for obtaining rare in-game items or powerful weapons.
A recent post on X from Japan that criticized the fishing minigame genre went viral, sparking a discussion among domestic gamers about whether fishing is truly a “necessary” element in immersive open-world games. “I think it’s about time developers stopped forcing fishing into open-world games just for the sake of it. Honestly, there’s nothing enjoyable about it,” the user wrote, receiving agreement from 28,000 fellow gamers.
According to Japanese gamers, several factors distinguish a well-made fishing minigame from a poor one, with the primary factor being whether it’s created as filler content. “I agree, we don’t really need [fishing minigames]. There’s no need to add random content just to make the game longer,” one user commented.
As previously mentioned, a vast world to explore should be equally engaging, so developers need to come up with ways to populate the environment with interactive content to keep players immersed. And since costs can quickly add up when creating these types of games, some users suggest that this is merely a way for developers to utilize the “impressive bodies of water” they painstakingly crafted. “But since developing [fishing] content also increases costs, that makes the developers want you to play it even more, making it mandatory and annoying everyone in return,” they added.
On the flip side, rather than being “stale filler content,” many argue that game developers often fail to make the minigames enjoyable. “It’s fine as long as the fishing is actually fun as a minigame,” one user commented, while another added: “It’s acceptable to have fishing, but I’d prefer it evolved into a full-fledged fishing game. It’s not enjoyable if it just plays like a gacha.”
“If the game includes fishing, I want it to be incredibly detailed. Give me options for bait, gear, species distribution, seasons, and ecology. From freshwater and saltwater fish to legendary boss fish and stories about anglers who lost limbs, I want it all,” another user wrote.
Of course, having a “high degree of freedom” means that you don’t have to engage with fishing minigames if they’re not appealing to you. But what seems to frustrate players the most is when fishing becomes a necessary chore to progress in the game more “smoothly.”
“If it’s not required, I’m fine with it. But I don’t want fishing to be turned into a mandatory side quest for obtaining useful items, advancing the story, or gathering necessary materials, even though it’s just fishing. Please don’t make it like that.”
“The fishing in Skyrim is such a pointless feature. And since you can’t get important items without it, that makes it even more (poop emoji),” one user jokingly remarked. Others cited similar examples, including Genshin Impact’s “fishing weapon” line like the Catch polearm, which you can only obtain by, well, fishing.
As for another reason why fishing minigames are so common, some users theorized that many simple minigames in large open-world titles are used to train interns and new hires.
“Farming and fishing content benefits developers by being easy for young hires and recent graduates to design and implement. So when I saw a certain major action title that had well-developed lifestyle elements but felt lacking in main content, it made me wonder if they’d assigned much of the work to new graduates,” a user noted.
Related articles: