Fishing (Final Fantasy XV)

Fishing is a minigame in Final Fantasy XV where the player can gather food ingredients for cooking at camp sites and prize fish that cannot be eaten. The player can catch fish of all sizes in bodies of water, using various different rods and lures. Upon catching new fish, the party can unlock new recipes. Fishing is an optional past time, but some quests require one to fish.

Mechanics
The fishing game minigame uses button prompts the player must input while reeling in a fish. The fish that appear yellow on the radar are the ones that can be cooked at camp. Quitting fishing and restarting has the fish respawn, so the player can keep trying for the specific fish they want. Sometimes the fish makes splashes on the surface of the water to tip the player to an especially good spot to cast their line.

To start fishing, the player must find a fishing spot in a body of water. They become marked on the map after discovered, and the player can also learn about them beforehand from tipsters and from fishing magazines found lying around in the world. Some fishing spots have signs that say what kind of fish can be caught there, although these tend to not be fully comprehensive. Fishing at different times of day may yield different fish.

When the player begins to fish, Noctis summons a rod to his hand. Entering the menu at this point lets the player choose their fishing equipment.

The player uses the action button to cast the line and the right shoulder button to reel the line. To get the fish to bite one must use a lure, and specific lures work for specific fish; if the player uses an unoptimal lure, the fish will simply ignore it. When the lure is near a fish a red bar appears to the top of the screen and a sound cue will play, same as for initiating a battle on the field. The fish pulling on the line wears it down and if it snaps and the fish gets away, the player will lose their lure. The line wear is depicted as a numerical value, and the player should replace their line from the equipment menu when it wears thin.

The player must follow the button prompts that appear on-screen to reel in the fish. It is best to reel when there is no tension on the line, and when there is tension to push the analog stick to the direction the screen prompts. At times fish jump out of the water with a button prompt to follow.

There is a record of what kinds of fish have been caught. It is possible to catch fish up to one meter in length.

Fishing is Noctis's leisure skill and the player can level up his fishing skill via fishing; the fishing experience is added when resting at camp or at lodgings, the same as for EXP.