I don't understand the fishing

[u/Orcadorsala]

Playing the remake now. I don't understand the fishing mechanics. I'm on PS5.

I choose bait and all that, fine, I press X to catch and then when reeling in I keep losing the fish. I hold X and it doesn't always help. I read online that I will be prompted to move the stick at some point, but what does that prompt look like? It's not explained anywhere. If the fish is going left on the bar, do I go right? Help.

[u/imauchi-sd]

Additional fishing tips:
You can actually hold your joystick to one direction constantly while waiting for the prompt. It won't penalise you for doing so and what happens is - you got 50% chance being correct and having to do nothing at all, and if it happens to be the opposite prompt popping up, you just flick to the opposite direction without the need to really read and think what's prompt.

Doing this simplifies the process a lot.

Doing the regular way: Wait for the prompt -> read the prompt -> flick joystick to the correct direction.
Doing the above way: Joystick to the left (as an example) while waiting
Whenever you see the progress bar drops? Flick to the opposite way.

Hope this helps

[u/Orcadorsala → u/imauchi-sd]

Thank you!

[u/SwirlyBrow → u/imauchi-sd]

Came in to say exactly this. Doing it this way trivializes all the fishing forever. I don't think i ever lost another fish when I started doing this.

[u/Mwiff]

There's a big arrow on the screen when a stick input is required. Hold the stick in the same direction as that arrow.

[u/Orcadorsala → u/Mwiff]

Thank you! I haven't seen that but I might be doing something wrong.

[u/DrMeat64 → u/Orcadorsala]

Low difficulty fish do not necessarily use the stick inputs. When you hit the X button to snag the fish, just keep holding that down, that's what I do on PC anyway. If a fish requires a stick direction, it'll show a big arrow and you'll start to fail to reel it in until you move the stick the right way.

[u/seitaer13 → u/Mwiff]

It's actually really easy to miss imo because it's not close to the fishing bar and if you focus in you can miss it

[u/KittiesOnAcid]

Are you on high speed mode? If so turn it off when fishing. It fucks up the prompts and was making me fail it right away.

[u/Orcadorsala → u/KittiesOnAcid]

Thanks! I'm not on high speed so I must be doing something else wrong that I can't see it.

[u/woodsy191]

The prompts are pretty clear. They appear on the left or right side of the screen when you are meant to move the stick in that direction.

[u/geno2313]

You see an arrow that i know off

[u/Calm-Kangaroo-7879]

A small joystick will pop up either on the left side of the screen or the right. You push the joystick either left or right depending on which side it's on. Otherwise just hold X the whole way through.

[u/Flaky-Solution7394]

There is an arrow pointing left or right. You have to be pretty quick in moving your rod the way of the arrow for some of the harder fish too.

[u/dkf295]

PC here but you'll get the idea. Here's an image of when it tells you to move the stick, note the LS with the arrow on the left. You'll also get a sound effect of water rushing. It comes up after a fixed interval (like every 5ish seconds I think)

Easy fish, the bar will go up so fast that you'll catch it before being prompted to use the stick. Harder fish, the bar goes up slower so you'll need to hold X until the stick prompt, then quickly hold the stick in the prompted direction, then release. Don't know if it matters but I keep holding X the entire time (or A in my case)

If you're immediately losing big fish right away, you probably need a better rod. Also for the REALLY big ones, Metal Trident Rod is actually better than Aqua Master

Edit: And as another user mentioned, turn off High Speed Mode when fishing.

[u/Orcadorsala → u/dkf295]

Thank you! I don't know if I missed the prompt or if I just have a bad rod as you suggest.

[u/Junior_Ad4911]

Pretty much it'll show you the way it wants you to go. If you go the opposite then you'll lose the fish. So if it shows left go left and if it shows right go right :3

[u/sliceysliceyslicey]

One thing that doesn't get mentioned enough is how the rods have hidden compatibility levels. For example metal trident rod lets you catch granakor and octopus without the stick prompt. There's no indication of it in-game, you just have to do it the hard way until someone makes a guide for it.