Excellect systematic and deep research on this game genres, with thoughtful summary. What needs to dive deeper is what actually makes 'fun' in fishing. Some people just enjoy the moment of reward. Some people prefer the silence and peaceful ambient of fishing. Some people choose to focus on fishing techniques just like real-life practice, challenge the nature. The variaty of intersts on this event eventally develop different categories. For me, finishing is equal to gambling, its a fortune game. What balatro did is change the pure gambling into the 'cheated' gambling(through jokers, planet etc). It is totally ok to make unfairness for players. They will have a feel of controling the game. Maybe this can be applied in fishing game as well? Just a intersting attempt.
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Yeah! This is a really interesting take on the player experience of trying to catch rare fish, and I totally agree. Randomness plays a huge role in these games and should be preserved when moving to 2D spatial rather than having fish always in certain area, etc.
This way players who are more familiar with the game and fish spawn location/patterns would be able to use this knowledge to their advantage to increase their odds of finding a fish they want