I’m waiting days between attempts to catch one fish in Final Fantasy 14 before it disappears for months, so don’t let anyone tell you raids are the ‘hardcore’ challenge

Final Fantasy 14 has sent my unintimidating, run-of-the-mill-looking cat girl on all manner of world-saving missions. She’s squared up with a dying god on the moon, fist fought an alien super weapon, and even confronted the literal embodiment of nihilism at the ends of the universe. My girl has been through a lot, but the MMO is pretty good at making me feel like there’s no challenge I can’t rise to meet.

Well, that is until you give her a fishing rod. For a cat person, my little Warrior of Light absolutely sucks with a rod and tackle box. You would think the hero of the universe could do a little black magic and complete her fishing log, but nah. I haven’t even caught fish that Final Fantasy 14 added over a decade ago. It’s that dire.

So I’m not joking when I say that nothing, and I mean nothing, in Final Fantasy 14 intimidates me in the same ways some of its strictest fishing challenges do. I don’t care how hard the raid is or what new world-destroying evil awaits in the next expansion; the Bobgoblin Bass is enemy number one forever and always.

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As for the title of enemy number two, I’m awarding that to the Purse of Riches.

Like so much of the ultra-rare aquatic life in Final Fantasy 14, both fish are finicky bastards that only nibble on your reel under specific environmental conditions. For the Bobgoblin, you have to wait for the MMO’s weather system to bless an old Heavensward map with a very specific weather pattern. Then it’s all got to happen within a certain in-game time window.

Before Square Enix updated Fish Eyes—an ability that removes time requirements from rare fish in old expansions—you had to wait for the stars to align in a brief five-minute window every few days, weeks, or sometimes even a month. The opportunity could arise at any time, even at 3 am on a Wednesday night, because the fish don’t care if you have to wake up for work in a few hours. Happen to sleep in and miss it? Tough. Your next chance is in another five-minute window a month from now.

This is where I’d put my rare FF14 fish.. if I had one. (Image credit: Square Enix)

Fruity Snacks, one of the MMO’s resident angler experts, has even documented the freshwater terror’s downtime on X, but now there’s another sea creature driving FF14’s bravest players mad. It’s my aforementioned enemy number two, the Purse of Riches. If you don’t catch the elusive guppy by August 1, you’ll have to wait 92 days before you can try (and possibly fail) to catch it during another short window. Then it’s back to waiting.

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Maybe I wouldn’t have even bothered with this particular challenge right now had it not been for a post on X from Mr Happy, who blessedly warned players about the upcoming drought in its availability window, but I’m back on my bullshit (achievement hunting in Final Fantasy 14), and need to make a dent in my long-neglected fishing log.

I’ve explained to my chat several times recently that there is a fish in FFXIV that, if not caught before August 1st, will be completely unavailable for 92 days due to the catch conditions not lining up.They now understand why fishing is hardcore content.May 7, 2026

“Getting a house, fishing and finding enough inventory for hoarding glam,” wrote Happy in a response to another player. “These challenges scare hardcore FFXIV players.”

The PSA was much appreciated, but his follow up is what really rekindled my reluctant interest in the MMO’s most cursed job. Fishing may seem like one of those things snubbed as “casual” for whatever reason, but he’s got the right read of it. I’ve spent weeks and months throwing myself at Ultimate raids, Blue Mage challenges, and the no-death dungeon runs of Criterion Savage, but I’m still too intimidated by these soul-crushing spawn windows to get serious about fishing for more than a day.

I say that, but here I am, writing this just after failing to catch the Purse again, and I’ll be waiting in this same spot for its next spawn window in 11 days. Remind me to bring more than 10 pieces of bait next time. That was more embarrassing than any goofy raid death.