I like fishing.

[Swiyss]

I like fishing.

..and sailing.

[Cassielu]

I used to love sailing and fishing, until klei proved over the next five years that they were incapable of designing any ocean content that would fit this Sailing mechanism.

Sailing is just a mediocre designer trying to make a stupid minigame, inadvertently creating a sandbox gameplay with huge expansion potential, and then being squandered by that guy.

[Swiyss]

1 minute ago, Cassielu said:

I used to love sailing and fishing, until klei proved over the next five years that they were incapable of designing any ocean content that would fit this Sailing mechanism.

Sailing is just a mediocre designer trying to make a stupid minigame, inadvertently creating a sandbox gameplay with huge expansion potential, and then being squandered by that guy.

Imagine you going out to the sea to fish IRL. then you keep telling everyone how fishing sucks because we can only get small fish, only close to the shore and we can't even eat them. So you keep yapping about how you didn't get to build the ocean or that you can't breath underwater like a shark and tell everyone that sharks are overpowered and God should nerf them.

Either leave this world (stop playing) or find the beauty in it.

[Yuuko]

That's a tough one...  I'm going to vote yes I like fishing.  We're talking about ocean fishing of course.  I like the concept of picking lures and baits, and the different types of fish, the mini game of some baits being a reel lure type and others being a sit lure type, and reeling / endurance with the fish etc.

The only thing about ocean fishing that sucks is that it just isn't quite rewarding enough to feel good about the results...  But it isn't even about the fish you get...  Like for example light on the ocean is really bad.  When it gets dark if you don't have good lighting you can't really fish.  If a shark comes up, you kinda have to drop the line.  Fish spawns are random so you're just paddling around aimlessly for possibly HOURS to find that one fish you want.  The resources to get baits and lures aren't very plentiful early and you're always at risk of losing your bait and lure if you mess up.  Ocean fishing rods are a bit on the expensive side for early game too.

Same thing with boating.  I really like the interactions, raising and lowering sails and anchor, steering, having to be observant about your surroundings and aware of your speed and possible damage to your boat.  Sailing feels really good to do.  But then again it just doesn't feel rewarding enough.  If I want to get salt, or tree nuts, visit lunar, pearl's, etc I explore a bit to find it first but then I put an empty cookie down near it and just paddle in and out as needed.  I do this because boats are slow and at risk of damage, pirates, sharks, etc  There are many hazards and they are tuned to be a bit more punishing, but there isn't a bit more reward to balance them...

Anyway - I love an excuse to do any of these so I'd welcome changes such as ocean biomes that put certain fish in certain areas and encouraged us to build more fully constructed comfort boats to travel around in rather than seeing fish only randomly so you can't really go after any specific one easily, etc.

There is a mod that gives an archipelago worldgen and I love it.  Turn off caves and wormholes, set player spawn to random locations instead of the main gates, and play multiplayer as you all need to deal with whatever island you spawned on, and boats are the only answer to get out (unless you're a dirty cheater and pick Wortox / Warly lol)

[xDarkSoul18x]

Fishing is severely underrated, but it's hard to change the mind of meatball/pierogi lovers (No shame).

Wobsterbisqe/fishsticks/Surf FTW

[Swiyss]

4 minutes ago, Yuuko said:

That's a tough one...  I'm going to vote yes I like fishing.  We're talking about ocean fishing of course.  I like the concept of picking lures and baits, and the different types of fish, the mini game of some baits beeing a reel lure type and others being a sit lure type, and reeling / endurance with the fish etc.

The only thing about ocean fishing that sucks is that it just isn't quite rewarding enough to feel good about the results...  But it isn't even about the fish you get...  Like for example light on the ocean is really bad.  When it gets dark if you don't have good lighting you can't really fish.  If a shark comes up, you kinda have to drop the line.  The resources to get baits and lures isn't very plentiful early and you're always at risk of losing your bait and lure if you mess up.

Same thing with boating.  I really like the interactions, raising and lowering sails and anchor, steering, having to be observant about your surroundings and aware of your speed and possible damage to your boat.  Sailing feels really good to do.  But then again it just doesn't feel rewarding enough.  If I want to get salt, or tree nuts, visit lunar, pearl's, etc I explore a bit to find it first but then I put an empty cookie down near it and just paddle in and out as needed.  I do this because boats are slow and at risk of damage, pirates, sharks, etc  There are many hazards and they are tuned to be a bit more punishing, but there isn't a bit more reward to balance them...

Anyway - I love an excuse to do any of these so I'd welcome changes such as ocean biomes that put certain fish in certain areas and encouraged us to build more fully constructed comfort boats to travel around in rather than seeing fish only randomly so you can't really go after any specific one easily, etc.

There is a mod that gives an archipelago worldgen and I love it.  Turn off caves and wormholes, set player spawn to random locations instead of the main gates, and play multiplayer as you all need to deal with whatever island you spawned on, and boats are the only answer to get out (unless you're a dirty cheater and pick Wortox / Warly lol)

I always opt to fish for pearl's quests. Indeed it sucks when a shark eats all my fish or when my mouse doubleclicks and I lose the bait, but if that didn't happen then how am I supposed to feel rewarded when I ACTUALLY avoid these things? The rewards come from simply having knowledge, that is exactly most of your complains on other mechanics in the game.

Knowing what each bait does and how great they are, or knowing which fish its going to pop up only by looking at its shadow is already rewarding for those who have this knowledge.

Now let us say that fishing the seasonal fishes had a dish with insane powers like 6 minutes of +20 planar damage. Or that having a certain fish on an aquarium in your base heats you up to 90° or cools you down to -10°. Or even a spiky fish that lets you craft an alternative to the bramble husk. Maybe a deep sea bass could be used to attract hordes of depth worms in the caves. Heavy fishes helping you move statues giving you strong recipes for special dishes idk.

If all of that existed, then people would not only go out of their way to fish, but also not care picking wolfgang, warly, wurt or winona. That's why current fishing is great, it is very balanced and simply fun.

.. and wormwood.

[Ohan]

Fishing is whatever until u want sunfish and spend days paddling from one side of a stretch of swell or whatever ocean to the other just waiting for them to spawn. Only ofcourse to then also get a rockjaw spawn that kills one or two sunfish before u can aggro it. And after basically a mini boss fight u can finally catch ur fish but theyve swam away by now so u have to catch up. By the time u do dusk has turned to night so u have to switch ur lures and then finally start fishing. But wait ur below 99%  sanity so u have to scare away wavey jones 3 times before u can start fishing. Okay phew, finally caught a sunfish. Now its day so u have to switch lures again and then u hear HARR HARR in the distance. 
 

and all of this for a thermal stone side-grade… 

[Swiyss]

2 minutes ago, Ohan said:

Fishing is whatever until u want sunfish and spend days paddling from one side of a stretch of swell or whatever ocean to the other just waiting for them to spawn. Only ofcourse to then also get a rockjaw spawn that kills one or two sunfish before u can aggro it. And after basically a mini boss fight u can finally catch ur fish but theyve swam away by now so u have to catch up. By the time u do dusk has turned to night so u have to switch ur lures and then finally start fishing. But wait ur below 99%  sanity so u have to scare away wavey jones 3 times before u can start fishing. Okay phew, finally caught a sunfish. Now its day so u have to switch lures again and then u hear HARR HARR in the distance. 
 

and all of this for a thermal stone side-grade… 

Omg that is so funny man.

The devs are crazy lol. They love seeing you suffer. I remember when they kept buffing hounds just to piss off people who would avoid this mechanic. Freaking love this game.

[ButterStuffed]

If isolated, the concept and implementation of sailing is really cool.

It would be a neat game by itself if the cooperative sailing aspect was expanded on, in addition to other objectives being added. However, sailing as it is implemented right now doesn't mesh well with DST (IMO). It feels like a minigame that was tacked onto the side of DST with only a handful of interconnected parts to make it relevant. It doesn't help that properly setting up a boat has a steep initial cost with heavier consequences than dying and reviving when mistakes are made. For myself and presumably many others, sailing is missing something.. Several somethings to make it genuinely fun to do. But of course that is just my opinion.

Fishing I think is very neat, but setting up for and learning to fish are poorly incorporated into the game.

For how good DST is at subtly teaching players the basics of the game, it's jarring how hard it is to learn how to fish. The learning curve and time investment is needlessly steep and discourages most players from exploring it further. Nobody I've played with has ever had a legitimate understanding of how it works and most guides I see fail to showcase the easiest ways to use a fishing rod. If the fishing early game was smoothed out a lot more I think it wouldn't have such a terrible reputation in the community.

[Valase]

44 minutes ago, xDarkSoul18x said:

Fishing is severely underrated, but it's hard to change the mind of meatball/pierogi lovers (No shame).

Wobsterbisqe/fishsticks/Surf FTW

I love fishing, but my mains are just "what if we don't".

Wormwood only cares about hunger, and Wickerbottom is just a blink away from making a fish farm.

I still fish for the fun of it. But I'm never needing fish.

[ADM]

As a fisherman I can say fishing doesn't need to be crazy fun to be enjoyed. Just sitting there and having something nibble the line can make your day, as long you know how to occupy yourself between catches. In perspective I think DST is fairly similar but faster as games impose, the fishing is cool but filling the sailing journey could get better with more content.

[ALCRD]

I like Ocean fishing

Ocean sailing not so much especially not after i played Shipwrecked. 

I greatly prefer the simplistic boat mechanics from SW than the awkward Boat Circles in DST

[Yuuko]

1 hour ago, Swiyss said:

I always opt to fish for pearl's quests. Indeed it sucks when a shark eats all my fish or when my mouse doubleclicks and I lose the bait, but if that didn't happen then how am I supposed to feel rewarded when I ACTUALLY avoid these things? The rewards come from simply having knowledge, that is exactly most of your complains on other mechanics in the game.

Knowing what each bait does and how great they are, or knowing which fish its going to pop up only by looking at its shadow is already rewarding for those who have this knowledge.

I think you misunderstand.  @Ohan gets it.

I'm not saying we need fish to be better, I even specifically called that out - what I'm saying is the risk to reward is out of wack.

Because fish spawns are random your time between fishing is largely spent paddling or sailing back and forth.  Then its sharks or nars, then its dusk, then its fish swimming away, then its wavey, then pirates etc etc...  All for chasing something that would be niche useful even if you just used console commands to give it to you...

Compare this to rushing the ruins.  You're exploring, looking for key indicators of where you're at and where you can go.  First its finding the muddy area, then lichen, monkeys, then finally the ruins entrance.  After you enter the ruins you need to check for what set pieces you're near.  Did you find the full station?  Ancient guardian?  Statues?  And the journey involves escalating hazards.  First its pretty easy.  Spiders, bunnymen, and bats aren't much to worry about and the light bulb area is really safe but then you get to lichen and there are slurpers and sometimes depth worms.  Then monkeys - a bit annoying - but what is the nm cycle?  Ah, shadow monkeys!  Terrifying, and now shadows are spawning everywhere.  Make it to a safe spot, maybe even farm some fuel, get into the ruins.  You've got rooks you want to dodge around, got to be mindful of the range and aggo of hard hitting bishops, and how much gear did you bring?  Is that nm cycle again?

And at the end of all of that you're escaping with star callers, magi, con / decon set, thul crowns, possibly even a lazy explorer.

Then there is boating - where you boat around aimlessly hoping for a random fish spawn and possibly deal with a random hazard that might spawn or not regardless of anything else going on...

tbh I think the hazards of the ocean aren't bad, but the tools we're given to interact with them are and the rewards of the ocean fall flat.  It needs to be more equivalent to ruins rushing.  You should be risking a journey into these hazards to escape with something worth going in there for, and a few fish isn't it lol.

[Swiyss]

24 minutes ago, Yuuko said:

what I'm saying is the risk to reward is out of wack

Like everything in the game besides surviving indefinitely by eating berries, carrots, butterfly wings and planting seeds.

I mean if you wanna compare ocean content with cave content, then you have to take in consideration that the rewards for finding pearl, doing her quests (literally a bunch of things), killing crab king and etc.. are ALL the surface rift content, enlightened crown, infinite lamp light etc..

Sure it is not necessary to fish for pearl quests. My take was on ocean sailing and exploring. Fishing in this game is somewhat like farming, sure you can get 4 vegetables that don't really do much to us but warly and wurt. Well.. fishing does benefit wurt more then anyone else. However as I previously said before, if Warly could craft insane recipes with different fish, then it would be a great thing to do later in the game.

[MondayNight]

"I don't have a strong opinion"/blank vote/indifference towards fishing?

Personally I don't like or dislike this activity, occasionally I employ it when necessary (sailing/decorating/etc) but am indifferent towards it in general. Is not good or bad imo, it just... is. Can you sustain your character at sea/oceanic travel via fishing, or even on shore? Yes, but is niche. Obviously there are quicker/more passive-production sources and with that comes higher efficiency.

[Jakepeng99]

The main niche i like about fishing is permantly storeable food.

 

Bundling wraps exist though.

[Captain_Rage]

Love it!

[Mike23Ua]

I kinda wanted fishing to be a little bit more engaging then it ended up being in DST.

Like it’s a cool thing to have, the animations are nice and whatever but- when it comes to actual Fishing mechanics I expected something similar to fishing in StarDew Valley or Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising.

Its something you do just to have something to do though.. cause that surely isn’t a method of survival.

[goatt]

I don't like sailing, period.

[Evelo]

7 hours ago, Swiyss said:

I like fishing.

..and sailing.

Same.
It is so janky that it enjoyable, Sailing at least. Fishing is just simple and I like it.

[GenomeSquirrel]

I’m surprised people like this, seems worse than pond fishing in every capacity, like going through a bee boxes worth of effort for a pond fish that is can sometimes do bizarre yet redundant things.

[Evelo]

11 hours ago, xDarkSoul18x said:

Wobsterbisqe/fishsticks/Surf FTW

Wobster Bisque is absolutely insane. Super easy to make and amazing healing.

[arubaro]

4 hours ago, GenomeSquirrel said:

I’m surprised people like this, seems worse than pond fishing in every capacity, like going through a bee boxes worth of effort for a pond fish that is can sometimes do bizarre yet redundant things.

The minigame is fun. I wish the reward was bigger and interrupting it not as punishing but the act of fishing is fun

Sadly i obtain big fishes from nets to give them to shakboi, if wasnt because that i would fish way more 

[ALCRD]

8 hours ago, GenomeSquirrel said:

I’m surprised people like this, seems worse than pond fishing in every capacity, like going through a bee boxes worth of effort for a pond fish that is can sometimes do bizarre yet redundant things.

Worse how?

Ocean fishing rod has infinite durability unlike the handful of uses pond fishing rod has. Decent bobber and bait that catch majority of fish and have infinite uses are fairly easy to find without even needing to go sailing for them.

Fish schools spawn close to shore too and fairly often so you don't have to sail far or at all.

Minigame itself is pretty amusing and not really hard to master.

And you can store Ocean fish indefinitely.

It's only high effort if you are looking for specific rare seasonal fish.

[DegenerateFurry]

I voted yes, but I'm a little conflicted. I like the core of what fishing and sailing are, but I feel like both need changes.

With ocean fishing, heavy fish should give more fish meat when murdered (2-3 extra). That alone would make fishing substantially more worthwhile and more people would do it and used fish-based crock pot dishes. It'd still be harder to get than meat (which it should be since fish dishes are really good) - there's still no easy solution like frog or pig farming, but it'd be more worth my time in a world, so that it's actually a viable way to get food rather than just something I do for fun. I'd also like a little more variety in the types of fish we can find and I'd like to see different drops from new types.

As for sailing, the main problems I have with it are three things: sea stacks, how unresponsive sail controls are, and Wavy Jones. I always just end up using an oar to get around instead of sails because I simply can't turn fast enough to avoid all the rocky crap floating in the ocean if I've got a sail. Even with a mod that lets me zoom out further, it's a real pain to get around them otherwise. Playing as Maxwell makes this less of a problem since his goons can remove sea stacks for you, which lets you gradually make the ocean more hospitable to boats, but I like sailing as other characters too and I'd like a solution that doesn't involve killing Crab King for a Strident Trident blueprint. Less random sea stacks in the ocean would be a nice one. Just making boats turn better (I know they already did this, it's just not enough) would be a different solution.

Wavy Jones is the absolute worst sanity mechanic in this entire franchise. It appears at way too high a sanity threshold for everything it does to your boat, and unlike the normal hands that appear to put out fires, you can't just chase it away and be done with it; it keeps coming back until daytime. It should straight-up not be able to remove boat patches if we can't get rid of it. Attempting to put out a fire pit/boat light below 75% sanity would be fine, but the stuff where it messes with your boat equipment (sail, anchor, rudder, etc) shouldn't happen until much lower thresholds. Alternatively, keep it as-is and just allow us to chase it away permanently like with night hands (so it can't spawn again until a new light source is made). 

...oh, actually, there's another problem with the ocean content: Crab King. The dude just needs a full rework to suck less. Wouldn't it be nice if he wasn't a boss fight we had to cheese by spamming freezes? He should also be wet all the time because he's in the ocean. Yes, Warly is one of my mains, how can you tell?