FISHING!!!
I'll admit, at first I was a bit hesitant. I thought, why you gotta be all up in my water fish? With your shadows up in my face and ruining the water surface and what not? To speak plainly, I thought of the fish shadows as a bit of an eye sore. I enjoyed having the pristine water surface and I LOVED running through it. Because I'm a bad ass like that, that's why. Then I gave fishing a try.
I LOVES IT!! I never used my energy much before and it really is a nice addition. It adds yet another side thing to do in Wizard101, on top of crafting, pet raising, gardening and home customization. But what can you DO with the fish? Especially one you want all the world to see? HAVE NO FEAR, you can display them in the appropriately sized aquarium for your humble abode! Those can be bought in the crown store or found. Found where? IN TREASURE CHESTS!!! They can give you all sorts of goodies, normally three at a time. It's gold, an item and a reagent.
There are a few small things that get on my nerves, like how many times the fish makes the lure bob before it decides to bite and how slow the interval between bobs can be, but those things are negligible. Or dekois and cudas getting caught first when you want something better. But I think that helps give an even better sense of accomplishment once you've snagged something awesome! I still hate you dekoi. I can respect that. If you want to fish for goodies, you better be prepared to wait and to be attentive. That's not to say that it's overwhelmingly painful and slow, but it can rub the impatient the wrong way. Triple curse you, Dekoi!
 |
| The proper graphic should be them set on fire! |
I really enjoy the lure graphics. Currently, I'm on the Minor Lure spells, and I'm a bit disappointed that both the lesser and minor lures don't see to have any graphical difference.
Lesser fire Lure
Minor fire Lure
I enjoy the feeling of things being improved through visuals, so we'll see if the next tier of lures look a bit stronger. Aside from that, the lures are stunning. I was already very in love with the seven magic school system that Wizard101 uses, and seeing yet another interpretation of that makes me very happy, even if it is in a small addition. Plus this is just a nice addition in general. I'd have to say my favorite lures would have to be frost (because I'm ice school), but I also super love myth (I'm a sucker for anything with deep blue) and I'm endlessly in love with what happens when a storm lure snags a fish.
Frost Lure
Myth Lure
Storm Lure Catching Something.
I really enjoy the graphics in the fishing system overall though. All of the lures just look fantastic! Nothing feels clunky and the graphics are very seamless. But you know what else I love? Fish descriptions!! They can be cute, funny, or just plain awesome. The best part is the puns!! Here are some of my favorite so far.
I'm having a halibut of a time fishing for the puns alone. Maybe that's not the best fish pun ever. Something that strikes me as uber fascinating is how smart Wizard101 can be. I mean seriously, Sharkspeare? That is too cool!! And that reference to his work. Much wow. I remember that from middle school. Annnd I feel old.
There are still tons of fish that I want to see. There were even some I wanted to recatch for screenies, like the Dragon Eel, but those silly little dekoi I wish a pox upon ALL their unborn babies keep getting in the way. Give the fishing a try, and if you aren't playing already, then hop on in and give it a nibble!
Although fishing bores me in life, games always seem to provide an upside to the sport. While I have yet to play Wizard 101, Dark Cloud 2 offered a fishing contest that my brother and I grew obsessed at winning. Harvest Moon provided numerous options for fishing, but I mainly sold the largest fish I caught for a nice chunk of change or fed them to the wild dogs to befriend them. Does Wizard 101 offer additional outlets for fishing? If not, is there a specific fishing-while-not-finishing-the-main-story-line opportunity you would most like to see included?
ReplyDeleteI have limited experience with fishing as a side thing in games. Two of the one's I've played, and actually thoroughly enjoyed, were Okami and Ocarina of Time. I agree that real fishing can be boring but boy do the games really hone in on the excitement. I remember being totally addicted to fishing of Ocarina of Time. I haven't played it in awhile though. I really need to get it in SOME form.
DeleteAs for Wizard101, it's really just a thing to do on the side for now. It's something fun to do that just adds to the overall other things to do in the game. It doesn't necessarily require any main story line action, but it does have it's own little quest arcs to get farther which allow you access to better spells for you to use. Those quests may ask you to go to another world, which WOULD require you to get farther in the mainline game. For instance, the first quest guy only asks you for stuff in one world but after you finish with him, he gives you a contact in another world. Does that make sense?
It's pretty fluff right now. You can use the fish to decorate your house by putting them in aquariums and showing them off with pride. Aside from that, and treasure, it doesn't appear to do much else in game. Do I wish that I could? Heck yeah! It'd be fun if it opened the doors for extra opportunities, such as unique furniture that can be grabbed through fishing other than finding aquariums in chests, or even unlocking a secret area after you've caught a certain amount of something. New battle spell even? Who knows. There'd be plenty of things to branch into and I wouldn't be awfully surprised if they did at some point. I definitely think a new spell would be really cool. Something like, catch X number of Y type of fish and you get a quest to fight BOSS who has a chance to drop Z card.
I hope I answered your question! I recommend Wizard101. Check out my post on it not just being for kids. At first it can be incredibly discouraging compared to other MMOs for older audiences, but it grows on you fast. Thanks for your comment :D