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After revealing that he is officially leaving Stardew Valley alone to focus entirely on his upcoming game Haunted Chocolatier, Stardew Valley creator Eric ‘ConcernedApe’ Barone admits that the cosy farming game’s fishing activity may actually be “too hard”.
In the years since Stardew’s initial release, many fans have complained, screamed and probably even cried while attempting to fish in the game. In fact, there’s a mod called Skip Fishing Minigame which has almost 2.5 million downloads on Nexus Mods alone, so you can tell how upset some fans get.
Why Stardew Valley fishing is so hard
In a recent chat with PCG, Barone commented on the admittedly “controversial” minigame. While many players’ eyeballs may pop out of their head in the midst of a cartoon-like rage, Barone just thinks it’s fun as it is.
“I like fishing minigames, and I like Stardew Valley’s fishing minigame,” the Stardew Valley creator explained. “I know it’s controversial, a lot of people hate it, but I think it’s fun.”
Barone explained that he regrets starting the minigame as hard as it is. While many games have an easy introduction to a new mechanic, Stardew’s starts off hard and the player gets better. If the creator was to re-do the mechanic—which he could after he finishes his new game—he would make the players’ first time fishing more relaxing.
“My regret with the Stardew Valley fishing minigame is that I think it starts out too hard,” Barone said. “I think there should have been a better curve, so it starts out easy and then it gets a little harder. Because you’re catching more difficult fish. But the way I did it, you start out with this tiny little bar, and it’s like, ‘Ah, I should have started with the bar a little bit bigger. ‘ But I still think the fishing game is good overall.”
Barone also explained that the overly hard fishing minigame is the reason the game has the training rod item that players can buy. However, this item is actually not common knowledge for the game’s millions-upon-millions of players.
“I know a lot of people really hate it, so I tried to mitigate it a little bit by adding the training rod, which a lot of people don’t know about,” the Stardew Valley creator said. “You can buy it for like five gold at Willy’s shop, and it makes the fishing a lot easier. Although you can only catch fish below a certain tier and quality. But it’s good for training. You can level up, and then when you switch to the regular rod, your bar will be a lot bigger.”
Stardew Valley’s fishing minigame brings my partner a lot of joy, even if it drives me loco, so for that I’m happy it exists. Thank you, ConcernedApe for bringing a smile to her face.
About the Author
Stardew Valley
- Platform(s): Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PS Vita, Xbox One
- Genre(s): Indie, RPG, Simulation
