Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Comments
- a leaderboard like system with fish sizes
- would be nice to be able to craft from fishes, trophies to hang on walls
- a UI where we can see what fish we fished/collected and "???" for uncaught fishes maybe even a reward for fishing all the fishes in the world (I am a completionism and I would like to have a way to track what I did in game in everything
- achievements (hope all professions have achievements and some kind of reward for becoming a master in it, for example a cosmetic related to that profession or something to allow the user to "brag", nothing game changing)
- fishing events where for example an amphibious would be caught instead of a fish and you have to fight it and get a reward(maybe a bigger quantity of fishes or something, you cut his belly and you get the fishes (for those that want logical or lore-ish reasons for getting more fishes)
- if it is possible with the season system, it would be nice in the winter to have frozen lakes where you can make a hole in the ice and fish
- since I am new here I don't know what was discussed about fishing but I truly hope we get actual fish and not ingredients items (like fish oil for example) from fishing
There is a couple of things that Animal Crossing did well with fishing.
In generall that game is relatively minimalistic in scope but their features are designed out very well.
There is 3 components to it:
1. Pre-fishing: You need to run around and scan the environments for the "outline" of a fish in the water. The outline is varying in size and form, which builds anticipation for the player "I may catch this or that fish".
2. Fishing: I like the way you fish in that game. It´s simplistic, requires short burst of focus, yet is relaxing. Probably not the ideal implementation for most mmo players though.
3. Post-fishing: The character presents the fish, sound pops up. It makes it more exciting when you catch something rare and see the 3d model of it, instead of some ui icon in your inventory. It also communicates to other players " Look what i caught here".
Also the plenty variables like season, weather, day time,location and rarity made it a deep system. It would work well with AoC`s weather/season system.
Well being frozen under the ice would kill you by drowning (i suppose they will have this mechanic for those that want to swim under water), which isn't that big of a deal since the lakes would freeze in time slowly (like the weather changes in a period of days, part of the lake can also freeze each day until it is frozen entirely, so its kind of impossible to get trapped unless you afk there for days xD), as for the boats, I don't think we will be able to make boats on smaller lakes that can freeze ? I don't know if they addressed where we can make boats, in open seas or any water.
Honestly if it is possible I would like to see only smaller lakes frozen and the huge ones either semifrozen or not frozen at all, like in real life not all lakes freeze entirely depending on temperature
Also if it is possible it would probably make it easier to code only for smaller lakes/puddles/ponds to freeze i guess ?
Formerly T-Elf
It would make much more sense to me if the resource stealing aspect was restricted to the caravans feature.
I do like to have some kind of minigame when I land a catch. It makes the "burst of focus" part work properly. When a fish takes the bait, I want to have to engage and do something to reel it in. I find BDO does this well, and I came to enjoy both FFXI's new and old systems.
One thing that I don't like as much, is any system where I have to react immediately to the fish catching my hook. I'm cool with fighting to reel it in, because that does provide the 'burst of focus' that I'm looking for, but I'm less interested in systems which place the challenge in a quick reaction test. Such systems change the base experience from "relaxing with occasional bursts of focus" to "always on, and if your focus dips at any point, you might lose your fish". This eliminates the 'relaxing' aspect almost entirely, and puts fishing in a weird position where something I generally do to relax is only possible when I'm in an active, focused mood. The kind of mood where I'd be doing something else. This would basically remove fishing from the game, from my perspective.
Here's an example of a system that I think is done well. I'll also explain some of the depth to that experience as a whole, as well. (If you've got a Lu Shang's Rod, you can skip this part.)
In FFXI, you equip your rod and bait, and cast your line. You wait a bit, and something catches your hook. This can be a monster, an item like a rusty bucket, or a fish, and the game telegraphs what type of thing it is by describing the feeling of the pull on your line. (Item: "You feel something pulling on your line." Fish: "Something caught the hook!" Monster: "Something clamps onto your line ferociously!")
As soon as you landed your fish, the music changes, there's a "!!" style sound effect, and your game controller, if you use one, vibrates. Thus begins the minigame. Your catch has a stamina bar, and you have to tire it out within about maybe 40-50 seconds. The fish will repeatedly pull your rod left or right, as it tries to escape, and you have to react to this, tugging the line in the opposite direction. If you do this successfully, it will lower the fish's stamina. If you pull in the wrong direction, the fish's stamina recovers by about twice as much. If you miss the cue entirely, nothing much happens (but there's still a time limit, so you can't afford to just ignore it). When you get the fish's stamina down to zero, you just hit Enter (or X on your controller) and you've got yourself a fish (usually).
The amount of stamina you can drain with a success, as well as whether the fish's stamina slowly (or quickly) decays or regenerates on its own varies based on how strong that type of fish is, as well as your fishing level and the quality (or specialization) of your fishing rod. Sometimes the fish is too big for your rod (or you hit enter/X at the wrong time), and your line snaps, losing your fancy lure (if you're not using consumable bait) or even occasionally breaking your rod. But you had the chance to let the fish go if it seemed to be too much for your skill or your gear (or you didn't want to fish up an enemy or a bucket).
If I go after a level 90 fish, with an average rod, and my level 46 fishing skill, I'll never even get started, because the fish will regenerate faster than I can deal with, even if I act perfectly. If I bring the (technically former) best rod in the game, get all my fishing gear together, get a buff from a particular NPC, and do a good job at tiring it out, I can get that fish. Just maybe not every time.
If I go after a level 16 fish (that is one of my preferred foods in that game) with my level 46 fishing skill, I can use my mid-level rod, and no special buffs or gear, and catch that fish every time in about two, maybe three actions. Because it's so far below my skill, opportunities for crits in the 'exhausting your fish' minigame appear relatively frequently, and if I really wanted to, I could probably wait for the fish's stamina to drain on its own.
If you've got a Lu Shang's Rod, skip to here
The amount of effort and focus I have to put in to catch any given fish depends on the species. This is big. Particularly when combined with something else:
The game also has a rich ecosystem. Each area has a different set of fish (sometimes even depending on which body of water you visit). Each fish responds to a different set of baits. Some fish only show up at certain times of day. If I'm looking for a real challenge, I can go to a particular port, grab a particular bait, and aim for that level 90 fish I mentioned earlier. If I'm looking for something more typical, I can hop on a ferry. Depending which bait I pick, I can either tend to find some relatively easy (for my mid-level skill) fish, a combination of some decent and some reasonably challenging ones, or a combination of reasonably challenging ones and a few that I can sometimes catch.
Some days I'll pick the easy fish. Some days I'll pick the harder ones. Some days I'm looking for something specific, and depending how common that is, I'll have to travel to a particular place, and bring a specific bait, or just pick one of my standard baits out of my bag and head to my usual haunts. I can choose what I'm interested in, on any particular day.
This design rewards knowledge, preparation, and skill. It allows players to vary the difficulty of what they are likely to encounter. It lets you fish up an enemy if you're negligent (or bored), and gives you a reason to travel to various regions to find different types of fish. And it does all of this without compromising the "relaxing with bursts of excitement and focus" that make fishing what it is. (Unless that's what you're into that day.)
I hope Ashes can live up to that standard.
The ideal situation would be
- fishing is made a reasonably complicated & fun minigame
- only players who enjoy fishing plays that mini game.
- other players can just buy fishes off them at reasonable price.
The worst case scenario is
- fishing is made a complicated mini game.
- various crafting receipes demand a shit ton of fish. High demand + limited supply (coz fishing's hard) = skyrocketed price.
- players who don't enjoy fishing at all are forced to choose between tedious fishing grinds or buying expensive fish.
Fisherman of adequate level pulls a kraken out of the lake.
Miner of adequate level breaks through a wall revealing a dungeon.
And so on.