ConcernedApe regrets making Stardew Valley's fishing minigame "too hard" when you start out, but still thinks it's good overall: "I know it's controversial"

Stardew Valley is a very chill way to spend some time if you like the idea of leaving the bustling city and settling into life on a wee farm. The fishing, though? That's a different ball game. Eric 'ConcernedApe' Barone is well aware, too, saying that he knows it's "controversial" but still thinks "it's fun."

"I like fishing minigames and I like Stardew Valley's fishing minigame," he tells PC Gamer. "I know it's controversial – a lot of people hate it, but I think it's fun."

So why the hate? It depends on who you ask, but it ranges from how fiddly it is to get to grips with initially to how much of a pain it is to collect all of 'em legendary fish.

"My regret with the Stardew Valley fishing minigame is that I think it starts out too hard," Barone reflects. "I think there should have been a better curve, so it starts out easy and then it gets a little harder because you're catching more difficult fish.

"But the way I did it, you start out with this tiny little bar, and it's like, 'Ah, I should have started with the bar a little bit bigger. ' But I still think the fishing game is good overall."

If you're looking for a way forward, though, Barone has a tip – and it only costs 25 gold.

"I know a lot of people really hate it, so I tried to mitigate it a little bit by adding the training rod, which a lot of people don't know about," he shares. "You can buy it for like [25] gold at Willy's shop, and it makes the fishing a lot easier. Although you can only catch fish below a certain tier and quality. But it's good for training. You can level up, and then when you switch to the regular rod, your bar will be a lot bigger."

You'll need to keep that tip in your back pocket for now, as Eric Barone is "committed to not working on Stardew Valley until I'm done with Haunted Chocolatier." Thankfully, he'll "never say" he's completely done with his magnum opus.

Stardew Valley creator Eric Barone "started off having no ambitions" for the farming RPG's success, and he was afraid even Harvest Moon fans "would probably hate it."