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Fishing is a minigame in the Dark Cloud series. Both Toan and Maximilian were able to use a fishing rod and bait to catch fish from various bodies of water. Dark Chronicle also introduced the lure rod, which used lures, and allowed caught fish to be sold for Gilda, cooked on the Cooking Stove to make food that restores hit points, or raised in an aquarium.

History[]

Dark Cloud[]

In Dark Cloud, fishing could only be done at the first five villages, and only served as a side activity to collect Fishing Points. These could be used to buy various recovery items, attachments, gemstones and a few weapons from the FP Exchange. Toan first acquired the fishing rod from Alnet in Norune Village, after an event.

Dark Chronicle[]

Fishing returns as a more prominent mechanic and minigame in Dark Chronicle. Fishing can be done in many locations throughout the world, and is used to unlock medals on several dungeons. Maximilian first receives a fishing rod and some mimis from one of the missing firbits at Fish Monster Swamp in Chapter 2, in trade for Grape Juice. He then used the rod and a Poison Apple to capture the 'Holy One', a King Mardan who lived in the swamp and had entranced the firbits. The King Mardan then restored the firbits, in trade for a priscleen so he could use it to clean his body.

In Chapter 3, the Fishing Contest becomes available, which is where Max could test his caught fish to see who caught the largest. In Chapter 4, after beating "Return of the Serpent", Palm Brinks also began to host the Finny Frenzy event, in which Max could race his fish against others.

Later on, Maximilian received an Electric Worm from Osmond, which he had to feed to a fish to turn it into an electrified fish (in fact a glowing yellow Bon). He used it to free Shingala from her mind control in the Cave of Ancient Murals in Ocean's Roar Cave. Max had to invent and build an aquarium prior to being able to take the Electric Worm from Osmond, as only then he could use it to feed a fish.

Mechanics[]

Dark Cloud[]

Item FP
Antidote Drink, Holy Water, Soap 5
Mighty Healing 15
Attachments[a] 50
Gemstones[b] 100
Tsukikage 1100
Fairy's Ring 1300
Matador, Scorpion 1400
Blessing Gun 1500
Magical Hammer 1800
Mardan Eins 2500

In Dark Cloud, unlike its successor, you can see the fish underwater. The number of fish is always four, but you can't see which fish hides in the pond until you catch it. You can see the size of the fish instead, so if you are trying to catch the Baron Garayan, you can enter and exit the minigame until you see a big one. Once the fish takes the bait and the float goes underwater, you can simply press the X button to catch it.

Dark Chronicle[]

Stat Rod Effect
Fish Lure
Flight 12 14 Casting distance
Strength 4 7 Chance of catching bigger fish
Resilience 6 3 Rate of tension change
Grip 1 1 Frequency of getting a bite
Luck 2 1 Chance of catching good fish

There are two types of fishing; bait fishing uses the Fishing Rod, whereas lure fishing uses the Lure Rod. Bait fishing is largely a matter of bait selection and patience. If a particular bait can be used to catch something in the area you are fishing in, you will eventually get a nibble, even if it takes a very long time. However, you can get a nibble faster by increasing Grip or by twitching the left analog stick to either side if you've waited a significant amount of time (more than 15 seconds) without getting a nibble (this is faster than Grip 100).

Lure fishing is more complicated, but Lures are reusable, unlike Bait. Similar to Bait fishing, each Lure can catch different fish, although there is much less variety in Lure selection compared to the amount of Bait available. Each time you cast the Lure Rod, the game rolls which fish you will get, with a significant chance of the game deciding you will not get a fish at all; unlike Bait fishing, waiting long enough will not cause this roll to reset itself. Instead, you will simply have to reel in and recast to get another chance at catching a fish. Despite the game implying that there are patterns of movement specific to each lure, this is untrue. Instead, the optimal way to use the Lure Rod is to rapidly twiddle the left analog stick back and forth ten times in rapid succession, wait two seconds, then repeat. If no fish is caught after five or six repetitions, reel in and recast.

Reeling in a fish[]

Once you get a nibble, pulling back on the left analog stick transitions to the "reeling in" stage of fishing. Pressing X reels in the hooked fish, but increases the tension meter; how fast the meter rises depends on the size of the fish, the rod's Resilience stat, and what direction the left analog stick is being pulled, if any. Holding the left analog stick back after hooking a fish will increase the speed at which it is reeled in, but will also increase tension. The longer you spend reeling the fish in, the higher the minimum tension value will rise.

Occasionally, a left or right arrow will appear around the hooked fish; twitching the left analog stick in the direction indicated by the arrow will greatly relieve tension. Twitching the stick in the opposite direction will increase tension greatly but will wear out the fish, and fish are caught when their stamina meter (the bar under the distance) depletes, not when they reach a certain distance. To reel in a small fish very quickly, twitch the left analog stick left and right repeatedly while holding X. Whether or not you can reel in a big fish is determined by your rod's Resilience and your ability to control the tension.

Rod statistics[]

The two rods each have their own statistics, which can be increased by spending Fishing Points. 100 FP can be spent to raise a stat by 1 point. Flight increases casting distance. Strength increases the size of the fish you can potentially catch. A higher Resilience reduces tension faster. Tension reduction is constant, so this effectively slows down the rise in tension. Grip reduces the chance of rolling no fish. On the lure rod, rolling no fish means you will not get a fish until you recast, but with the bait rod, it will roll again after a timer runs down, so Grip effectively decreases the average time before you get a bite with the bait rod. Luck determines the species and size of fish you get, but it rolls within very limited parameters.

Fish options are not only determined by Strength, they are determined by the location of the body of water, the time of day, whether or not it's raining, and where you drop your hook.

Notes[]

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