 | A few years ago someone passed me in Gridania on the way between the Aetherite and the GC headquarters there. She had a title. “Lady of far waters”. This title sparked me to go on a journey. A journey that would turn Lady Orivye from an ickle fish egg to a full fledged fisher. It took months of learning but I eventually succeeded. 45 big fish caught in Shadowbringers zones. It was long and hard. I was never gonna do that again! Ever! Never Again …. It was early May. Orivye was hanging out with some friends in Limsa. One of them, a self proclaimed “adventure plate connoisseur”, was checking plates of people at the plaza. When all of a sudden she asks me “why are you never changing your adventure plate?”. I dunno? Because I like it? This was not the case. Because for a “Lady of far waters” the plate remarkably does not feature ANY water. But water featuring framers kits don't exist, right? They do. In fact there are 3. The newly added deep blue one. One from island sanctuary. And 1 from fishing. And that one requires … oh no. I said “never again”! … One of them requires all big fish from ARR, HW and StB … Noooooooooooo! I looked it up. 204 fish. All of them were old fish meaning they weren't balanced towards the newer skills. Maybe this would be ok. Maybe this could go fast. I was going to try. And on May the fourth, star wars day, I hooked my very first fish. 3 a day. 5 a day. Something even 10 a day or more. I don't remember what my best day was. But this wasn't like my time in Shadowbringers. I caught new fish every day. And I had a strategy. Going for ones with lower availability first if they were available. Always arriving early and always checking the hole and forming a strategy. I was at ‘100 fish caught’ in no time. And at that point, I had barely touched the pool of fish that had high availability. My spirits were high. I was going to do this. But I knew, this speed wasn't going to last. Because when the easy ones are gone, what remains are fish that you need to do over and over and over again. And it drains your will to continue. I know I got lucky. Armor fish, Endoceras, Helicoprion, Kuno, Shonisaurus, Nepto, Problematicus, and the Unconditional all in 1 window. Opabinia and Drepanapsis in 2. Charbinet, Xenacanthus, Raimdellopterus, Namitaro all in under 5 windows. And then there was The Ruby Dragon. One of the most notorious fish. It is feared. People spend months chasing it. And I did not expect to catch it on that Friday evening. At this point I only had 4 fish left. I had managed to hook Duskfish and Helmsman's Hand in the days before. Only legendary fish were left now. My previous 3 attempts for Ruby Dragon were unsuccessful. But now I had a friend with me cheering me on. One of the Ku’ers was taking a long time to bite. Exceptionally long. And then … !!! HOOK! Orivye stands up from her stool. I must have miscalculated. It's just another Ku’er. Of course it is. I can cast it again and continue the chain. It’s … The Ruby Dragon?! Yes it was. After only 4 windows. I. Got. Lucky!! Suddenly my prediction of this taking months seemed unfounded. It SHOULD take months! But with only 3 fish left to go and Ruby Dragon in my possession, it was almost over. It was the end of May. Warden of the seven hues, Sea Butterfly and most notoriously, Stethacanthus … When I started this challenge 5 weeks ago, Stethacanthus stood out to me. Something inside me said “this is going to be your new Lancet”. You see, when I first started big fishing and was just out to get the Shadowbringers big fish I got very stuck on the very last fish. And I went through insane lengths in an attempt to catch it. Staying online for 17 hours straight for example because for once there were 2 windows in the same day. It was a bad time. This fish, was Lancet Fish. the Legendary of the Tempest. And Stethacanthus kinda had the same energy. Requiring 2 very rare fish. Being in the final zone of its expansion. Intuition just long enough to cover its window. But I prepared. I watched a Fruity Snacks guide on how best to prep and catch it. And very early on I attempted to go for it. First window I got … sculptor, double-hooked so, I got intuition? “Really? Huh? Guess you’re not gonna be my new Lancet after all then. This is easier than expected” … I should not have thought that. It knew! And it did not like my attitude! 4 bites! That’s what I got. 4 slips, and then the window ended. And then … I wouldn’t see another sculptor for weeks! Pearl eyes, just pearl eyes, only pearl eyes, nothing but pearl eyes. I DEMAND A PEARL EYE SPECIFIC SLAP! Omg this was so infuriating. I kept the pearl-eyes for a bit. After a while I had caught 300 of them since the last time I cleaned my inventory. And the last time I did I probably got rid of another 100. All of that, and Not. A. Single. Sculptor. Since! Oh Stethacanthus HATED me for thinking it was easy. It WAS my new Lancet. I was corrected. Stethacanthus. It deserves respect! Pride month started, so I had a goal. I would catch Warden of the seven Hues. It’s the rainbow fish. The fish that most resembles pride. It would be symbolic to catch it. So I started to just camp out in Yanxia. Window after window after window. Always prepping for the next window even if intuition just expired. I got a pocket full of hues, I just needed the Warden. And then, on a beautifully rainy day, it appeared at the end of my rod. And it was the most gorgeous fish I ever saw. (Except for Ealid Skaan …) “Remember your tools”. It's the thing I said when I finished the Shadowbringers big fish. And I did not listen to my own advice. I was watching another Fruity video. He was going for Sea Butterfly. This one was still on my list. And I saw him use Modest Lure to catch it? And suddenly it clicked. I had forgotten something! When I first went for Sea Butterfly I learned that, by getting scorpion fish last, slapping it and then using modest lure I could increase my chance of it biting by a lot! Only, I forgot the modest lure step after that first attempt! With this “new” method I caught it 2 windows later! And with that, just 1 left. Stethacanthus. And in the spirit of “remembering your tools” it was time to change strategies. At this point I was done waiting. So I looked at Stethacanthus again. It actually has a window every hour. Every Eorzean day between 4pm and 6pm. It is limited by the availability of Sculptor. Sculptor, however, is not a legendary fish! This means that it can be caught using Fish Eyes. So instead of a 5 or 11 minute window, with fish eyes, you can have 22 minute windows for Sculptor. Sure, it’s GP (and cordial) intensive but it’s doable. And with Spareful Hand you can prep 2 or 3 Rock Saltfish mooches and then use all of them during the 60 seconds of Fish Eyes. And with Collectors Glove active, it didn’t matter when you caught the Sculptors. You could delay the activation of intuition for as long as you needed. As long as you didn’t accidentally close the collect window. Which happened twice … It was last night at 10:30pm, and I caught Sculptor. Double hooked. But the Stethacanthus window had just passed. So I waited. I minimised my game. I did not want to accidentally close the window in the hour that I needed to wait. I was scared. Scared I would mess up again. The memories of last time were still fresh. I had taken a screenshot of the collect window and that accidentally triggered it to close. Which made me furious! I was so done hunting for Sculptors and having that happen made it so much worse. Paranoia creeped in. And I would not. Lose. Another. Sculptor! 3:45pm ET, I clicked “no”. Intuition activated! I had been in this spot for a while so I quickly moved over 30 yalms and activated Patience II. Hook! Not a Rock Saltfish. Hook again! Not a Rock Saltfish. Hook! Got one! swimbaited! Hook! Second one! Swimbaited. Buff ran out. Cast. Slip! Cast! Slip! … oh no … 1 minute left on Intuition. Activate Makeshift Bait. 55 seconds. Cast. Hook! Rock Saltfish. 40 seconds! Cast! … Hook! It’s not slipping! It’s a pearl-eye isn’t it … IT’S NOT! STETHACANTHUS! I GOT IT!! I’M DONE! 6 weeks. That’s what it took. I am sure this is unusually short for the achievement. I am sorry for those that take months or years to catch some of these fish. But I’m happy to be free. I’m done with Big Fishing. Never Again Never Ever Again … See you all when I do this for Endwalker and Dawntrial … submitted by /u/blazingciary [link] [comments] |
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