Nice Day For Fishing Review
What do NPCs do when there are no adventurers around to accept quests, buy and sell their wares, and well, adventure? No one could answer this age-old question…until now.
Developed by FusionPlay, Nice Day For Fishing is inspired by the Epic NPC Man series from Viva La Dirt League.
Players take on the role of Baelin, Honeywood’s NPC fisherman turned adventurer, as you “Battle fish with precision timing and magic spells, upgrade your abilities, defeat evil, and rebuild Honeywood (Steam).”
To get this out of the way right away, you are about to embark on the mother of all fetch quests. In fact, the entire game is fetch quest after fetch quest, but if you have an ounce of humor in your body, the entirety of the situation will be greatly appreciated. Unlike other RPGs, you do not have to kill 1000 boars or collect the droppings of 500 bears or chop down a billion trees. As the title implies, everything is accomplished through fishing. EVERYTHING. Do you need something crafted by the Blacksmith? Fish it up. The Blacksmith needs his hammer to craft what you fished up? Fish it up. The Blacksmith needs his hammer to craft what you fished up? Fish it up. Yes, those last two sentences are a repeat of the previous two. No, I did not do that by mistake. You see the pattern here, right?
But fishing is usually a side quest or profession. How could you have an entire game based around fishing? Well…watch this:
This ain’t your grandfather’s fishing mini-game. No more casting a line and clicking at the right moment to catch your fish. You do decide when to cast a line, but when it hits the water, it is a different ballgame. To start with, you control the depth (gear-dependent) of the line. Early on, you can only move the line up and down. Additionally, the fish at the beginning of the game are not picky eaters and will grab onto the bait you have (garlic - weird but it is pretty valuable in Honeywood or so they so). Once you do get a fish on the line, prepare for a fight. Baelin can attack by pressing X (on PlayStation) - I am not entirely sure how he’s hitting the fish, but just go with it. When the fish fights back, though, all attacks must stop or you take massive damage. Instead, you can block and parry the attacks until it is your turn to attack. The fish turns the opposite way it was hooked when it is going to attack, plus there is a clear audio cue and text on screen alerts you to stop. As you progress further into the story, Baelin gains access to magic spells that can be used in combat. These spells are governed by a Stamina gauge that will slowly replenish over time, depending on your stats and equipped gear, or if consumables are used. There are no “builds” per se, but the gear you do wear can dictate priorities in combat. For example, one of Baelin’s spells is “Rage,” which increases the damage done. Now, this should be cast no matter what but what follows it would be determined by a few factors. If the gear equipped is high in Strength, it would be ideal to cast Rage during your attack phase and not the blocking phase to maximize the number of times you can strike the fish. Some gear will specifically enhance spells. Spells can be cast without a fear of retaliation, so in this case, you want to just unload all your spells first, and then focus on attacking and blocking until they come off cooldown. It may seem like a lot, but the entire system is straightforward. Sorry, theorycrafters, your work is not needed on this one. There is no dying in combat, though in Nice Day For Fishing. If Baelin’s health reaches zero, the line snaps on the fish, and you are free to try again. Consumables used are lost, but health and stamina are back to full. Health and stamina are fully restored after every fight.
By the time you reach the end of the game, you will have unlocked 3 different zones to fish in, each of which contains 4 levels. Like other RPGs, experience is gained through combat, and Baelin will have plenty of fights to pick with 60 different fish in-game. Of course, not all fish have the same dietary restrictions, so you will have to learn what each likes amongst the 5 or so baits in your arsenal. Luckily, the game will tell you the type of bait a fish takes if you pass it by with your line and it does not bite.
It’s about time a NPC addressed the fact that they know about buttons on the controller!
The deeper down you fish, the higher the experience earned, but this also means tougher fights. You may think that because this is an RPG, there would be some element of grinding levels, and you would be wrong. Nice Day For Fishing does a fantastic job of progression gating the difficulty. If you can reach a fish, you probably can catch the fine. Sure, some finesse may be needed, but it can be done. Could you grind a few levels to get ahead of things? Sure, but unless you are going for 100% and that Platinum trophy, it is not necessary.
As is traditional with Festivus, we will now have the airing of grievances (in this case, suggestions for improvements). First, though, an observation of sorts. I have seen online (mainly on Steam), complaints of the lack of fast travel and here are my thoughts: 1) the game makes several jokes of fast travel throughout the story; and 2) it takes 94 seconds to reach one end of the game world to the other end of the game world (yes, I used a stopwatch for this). So, you know, just stop.
It is as if the complaints come from someone who could not stop to read the text
Anyway, on to my only critique/suggestion. At some point in the story, you begin a long quest to catch every fish in the game. Upon completing any of the levels within the zones, you receive a reward. Returning to the quest giver will grant a reward. This becomes tedious, but not because of the lack of fast travel. You should have to return to receive your reward, but there is no reason that you cannot track your progress from anywhere in the game, especially since you have to fish in all 3 zones to complete the quest. You can change gear from the pause menu and see quest locations on the map, so why not be able to access this journal? Fish you have not caught appear in the journal as outlines, but unless you screenshot each missing one, it is a pain to remember what is needed. Additionally, the journal shows the type of bait that fish you have caught and this would be helpful information to have at a glance. Nothing beats reaching the bottom level of a zone only to realize you have the wrong bait equipped, so you recast the line only to have it intercepted on the way down by a fish you were not looking to catch. I mean, experience is experience, but it is still annoying. As always, this is not game-breaking and hopefully something that can be added to provide a quality of life improvement.
That is quite the collection Baelin
Viva La Dirt League fans are in for a real treat here. Not only is Nice Day For Fishing an incredibly enjoyable RPG, but all the tongue-in-cheek humor about various video game tropes from their skits is all right here, every step of the way. If you are not a fan of VLDL, what is wrong with you (kidding! maybe)? While it is not a requirement to watch before playing, it does not hurt. A sense of humor should be required to play this, though. Either way, this is a must-play title (also, super relaxing if that is something you need right now). It is available to play on all consoles and PC.
I mean, he’s not wrong
