I think I finally understand(Endgame stuff)

[Star Sage]

One of my odd feelings towards this game was a lack of reward as it got nearer the end, especially with the Godzilla DLC, which is free, but felt empty at the end, but replaying it, I actually think I get why.

For Godzilla, I think they should have had you fight Ebirha with the sub, THEN given you the Kaiju collection quest, THEN after getting all of them had the fight with Godzilla and the lobster. The boss fight would have been the final reward, with victory netting you a nice trophy in the form of the Godzilla statue for Bancho's.

As it is framed now, it feels like the reward for getting all the figures is...some text, cool roars, and the statue. Not terrible, but in a game that otherwise has gameplay rewards for just about every activity, it feels somewhat lacking in comparison when all you get is something to look at.

This came to me on the replay mostly because, as I finished Marinca(Gold Cards all the way), I realized it ends with just getting the hat...but at the same time, I was satisfied with it. Why? Because the real prize was that awesome boss fight, and that's enough of a reward for going out of your way to collect everything.

That, BTW, is why completing everything can leave you a little empty. Because, other than Marinca and maybe GYAO! the last quest you'll finish is...Fishmon. This quest takes 10 weeks to finish(for most players longer than the game itself takes), and unlocks late in the game(you have to take a lot of photos to unlock it, so it CAN unlock early, but realistically most won't get it until the endgame).

This one has the unique fish, but they're not quite bosses, and they go down a bit too easily for them to feel like a reward in and of themselves. Worse, the 'prize' for them is money. About a night's worth from the Sushi Bar, less if you've got the Branch working full tilt and some good dishes. Meaning that reward is literally an empty feeling.

I feel like, instead of the one time money, it should either be a regular influx each week, a weak reward but a constant one so it feels like it's always there, OR it should have given you some new gameplay advantage.

Easiest there would have been to repurpose the Fishmon Radar to work on normal fix. Bring up the fishdex while underwater, scroll to a fish you're looking for, and it then be guided to it if its in the spawn table, or be told its not here so you can focus on other things. It would make it easier when hunting for stuff to max out weapons, or just specific fish for dish enhancements, which would be a big help for the kind of person that wants to do EVERYTHING in a game.

Of course, if they wanted to go all out on it, they could have finished the monster catcher game, and allowed us to 'equip' the captured Fishmon for some OP gameplay benefits(again, this will likely be the last sidequest, so making them super powerful would not have a huge impact on the game until near the end). One slot, 9 choices, make them suitably impressive, like auto collecting rubbish, auto crab gain from rocks, faster swim speed, or a teleport between some specific points in the map, and you'd have a great endgame reward.

These are just my thoughts, mind, but replaying(really wish there were a New Game+ mode too, but that's a totally different topic), this came to me, and I figured I'd at least get it out there.