Last weekend sawFinal Fantasy 14players and rampant fish enthusiasts unite in Eorzea to celebrate FishFest. Created by The Eorzean Museum Network and helmed byFruity Snacks, the festival had plenty of other big names from within the FF14 community contributing their own aquatic-themed fun to make the weekend even more memorable. With fish panels, educational venues, dance shows, competitions, and scavenger hunts, there was no need to be an avid fisherman to take part.
Different venues and events took place across multiple worlds in the North American Data Center, but the main base of operations could be found in the Eorzean Aquarium on Malboro. It was incredible to see how many players turned up in full force, with bodies cramming the residential area pathways outside and many disconnecting from the game simply by trying to enter the full-to-bursting aquarium.
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“FishFest’s response was definitely more than we expected,” Fruity tells me. “Folks were super excited about everything, and overall we’re considering it a huge success. Everything went about as smoothly as we expected. Outside a few bumps to address because of the number of people who showed up, and a bit of last-second things that needed to be written.”
The impressive turnout proved that the time and effort that went into planning the festival was well worth it. “FishFest has technically been in ‘planning’ for ten months, but we started the earliest discussions as a group in June/July, and then most of the work has been done since October/November,” Fruity explains. “The original idea for FishFest started when I wanted to do a big global event to encourage as many people across the game to just go fishing for a day. I had to get talked out of it being aglobalevent and settle on just NA, though in the end. It wasn’t until after LunarCon when the ‘FishCon when’ joke started going around I really doubled down on the idea.”.”
The event was organised so well that despite the large gathering of players amidst different locations, it never felt overwhelming or out of control. All the staff wore matching bright turquoise wetsuits, so you knew exactly who to go to for help. Reminders about different events and venues were shared in chat regularly, and Party Finder was used to bring everyone together for different tasks.
This sense of community spirit and infectious enthusiasm was one of the weekend’s highlights, palpable enough to leave many with a lasting impression. “My favorite part of FishFest was just the energy that everyone — guests, and volunteers — brought to the weekend,” Fruity says. “It was way more hype than I expected and I loved it.”
While the first Fishing Train was getting underway, something my alt was unprepared for level-wise unfortunately, I got stuck into Ocean Fishing. I’ve only done it once before but thoroughly enjoyed it, so I was keen to do it again with some experienced fishers on hand. The staff dished out bait and consumables for anyone who needed them and gave instructions throughout to teach everyone which bait was best for each area and certain fish types.
Given the number of players crowding the aquarium, each event’s turnout was unsurprisingly large. The Fishing Train had 30-40 players taking part, with most using aquatic-themed mounts to create an awesome flock of Fishermen travelling across each zone. The first Ocean Fishing voyage had over six boats in total, all full to the brim with both newbies (like myself) as well as Fishing veterans. On the Sunday, the Fishing train was even busier, reaching 90 players!
I spent much of the weekend soaking up the vibes of FishFest and exploring different venues. The Ocean Conservation House on Coeurl offered a nice hangout spot with an educational background, whileChiliFarmer’sKaren’s Diner offered a hilarious experience you can’t find anywhere else. The staff had honed their craft (and jabs) rather well, but my time there was made even better by Fruity attempting to give them a taste of their own medicine by continually moving tables to frustrate them. However, the staff were well equipped to deal with his shenanigans, which made watching the whole thing unfold even more enjoyable.
There were also two fantastic panels over the weekend.Tyo’to Tayuun’sOcean Fishing (Savage), which was well-timed as I followed up on my own Ocean Fishing exploits to listen in, and Innis’a Bvalvah’sA Realm Reshelled, which brought us even more mollusc lore breakdowns. I recommend checking both of them out if you can find the time.
Another fantastic highlight of FishFest wereEsprit’sdance shows, which were suitably water-themed with pirates, sea shanties, your favourite aquatic Disney songs, and more. Even their Cytube was suitably shark-themed for the occasion. The pirate-themed set design was stunning, with guests entering to find themselves trapped in a pirate vault before going to find their seats. There were hilarious Spongebob references complete with matching glamours, and a Splatoon number with Callie and Marie that featured Shenpai in one of the lead roles.
The troupe went all out in their performances, every number having incredible attention to detail. The costumes, dances, emotes, and special effects used were perfectly paired with songs, with water effects bubbling off from the side of the stage, paint emotes being used for Calamari Inkatation 3mix, and Shiny from Moana featuring a lot of suitably glowy weapon skills. I can also never get over the fact one of the members of Esprit is Goro Majima in both name and appearance. You can catch up on theiramazing FishFest numbers on YouTube.
Fruity and the Eorzean Museum Network are hard at work planning for the future with FishFest 2024 already confirmed, and the team will be using feedback from guests to refine the overall experience for next year. There are also plenty of other events to look forward to, with Fruity promising that many plans are well underway.
“As for Aquarium and EMN plans, we somehow found ourselves with another year’s worth of plans already, so please look forward to that,” Fruity says. “We’re discussing an EU-only event, and the one year anniversary event for the Aquarium in May. EMN’s first network-wide event has been decided, we’re just settling on dates and such for it. So despite not intending to be already planned out, we already have a rough idea of what 2024 will look like.
“Beyond that, I want to thank everyone again for their energy and support of FishFest 2023. It blew us out of the water, pun 100 percent intended, and we hope to continue to provide even more of the community with events for the next year!”
If you want to check out what you missed at FishFest, be sure tovisit the official website. You can also find out more about the Eorzean Museum Network and their future plans over ontheir website, jointheir Discord, or check outtheirTwitter.
