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Caves of Narshe Forums > General Squenix Gaming > FFX: Blitzball

Posted by: sweetdude 11th March 2011 15:46

Here I would like to hear what YOU have to say about Blitzball. Do you like it? Is it a good game? Did you play it much? Any advice, tactics or players that you like?

I love Blitzball. I think it's one of the most buggy, unrealistic, uninteresting mini-games that FF has to offer. However I used to play this game 'til the cows came home. I'm a fan of almost every sport game I've played, and Blitzball is pretty much the only one that has a healthy injection of RPG stat based things into a sports game. Maybe I just like it for how unique it is. I love going the Besaid Aurochs (no Tidus, get Wakka back into that team!) and training them up into the best team in the league. There really isn't any other sports game that has such a quick progression of stats and a clear levelling up system. It's surprisingly rewarding. Every tackle has a feeling of "yes! more EXP".

Also I'd like to share a couple of nuggets of advice. First of all, getting those good league and tournament prizes is really easy. When the last game is played in a league you get the option to save, do so. Then when you next go into the save sphere the next league will be available. If the prize isn't one you like, just reload the save and the prize will be shuffled. The same goes for tournaments. Save after every league game, and when the tournament appears you can reload until you get the prize you want.

If you've already heard that one how about this... It's possible to not play a single league or tournament match (other than in the story) and make a team out of the Goers, Psyches, or whoever you want. Play an exhibition game against a team you want a player from and play the first half. The time can be brought down easily by running a player with the ball behind the goalkeeper and waiting for the clock to go down. Once the second half starts you can forfeit the game. Now, that game counts as a game for your players and for theirs. So you can work down the games left in a player's contract. Say you want Bickson, just play games against the Goers until he has one game left on his contract (you can see this by speaking to him in Luca). Then save the game. Then the next match to play will be his last, and the Goers will either renew his contract or buy someone else. If they renew his contract, restart the game and play the last one again, if they buy another player, Bickson will be a free agent and you can hire him! I remember fond, silly times where the Besaid Aurochs were made up entirely of Ronsos.

Posted by: Rangers51 11th March 2011 16:01

While I was in the game, I certainly played the snot out of blitzball. As a minigame, it was a great way to pass the time when I needed a break from the storyline, or just a break in general. Once I finished the main story, though, and tried to go back to play blitzball again, I found that it no longer grasped my attention the way it did while I was mid-game.

It really is a lot of fun, especially as you start up the training curve, and I have to agree that the RPG elements of it work pretty well too; it's almost like a low-rent modern FIFA game in that regard, with training and development of players even as you play, with a workable management mode too.

I think it could have been a good game on its own with some additional fleshing out, such as a challenge line that doesn't plateau quite so easily, and more teams and players to work with. Without those things, it's one of the better FF minigames, but it's a shame that it just doesn't really work as well when not considered as part and parcel of FFX.

Posted by: Neal 11th March 2011 17:20

I thought Blitzball was a really great minigame. I recently played through FFX again and went all the way through to get all of Wakka's limits and to fully power-up the World Champion. My only problem after playing 50+ matches is that, because the game is so hilariously easy, it gets incredibly boring after awhile. I can't imagine taking the time to level up a team into the 90s when games 30-50 were so mind-numbing that I almost gave up on the quest altogether.

Posted by: sweetdude 11th March 2011 17:36

Regarding the sentiment that it's too easy, I couldn't agree more. I remember resetting the teams and players after each league finished to make it more interesting. Speaking of which, I understand that sports clubs across the world sign players from abroad or outside the city, with the result that, say, the majority of players in Glasgow Rangers don't come from Glasgow. However with Blitzball I prefer seeing the Guado Glories as Guado. Each race has special traits, e.g. the Guado are faster than other races, and it makes for a more interesting game. What happens after a few leagues and tournaments is that the players are all mixed up, which makes the Ronsos less fun to run away from, and the teams become a lot more generic. Anyway, resets, it's the only way to continue to enjoy the game after a point.

Posted by: Smash Genesis 12th March 2011 14:14

I loved Blitzball. I loved it so much. But I never really played it. Why?

Because I was so busy having fun in the main game, I didn't really play it. Silly, huh?

Posted by: trismegistus 12th March 2011 17:32

Though I don't admit it in mixed company, I actually really, really enjoyed Blitzball. It was probably my favorite part of X, to be honest, there would be times I would deviate from the game for ages to kick around a ball underwater. It still feels like a guilty pleasure, but yeah, Blitzball is great.

Posted by: Kane 12th March 2011 21:53

I actually hate Blitzball and refuse to play it. It bored me. When I needed to take a break from FFX, I played a different game rather than Blitzball. I like the idea (implementing RPG elements into a "sports" mini-game), but it just didn't work for me.

Posted by: ILoveMoombas! 12th March 2011 22:35

I despise Blitzball. When I'm winning I'm bored, when I'm losing I'm annoyed at the RNG for not going my way. I dislike sports in general though, which might be a big part of it. I wish you didn't need to play so many games to get Wakka's stuff, at the very least I would prefer it if the Status Reels were from a tournament instead of a league. I would prefer the Sigil to be from a tournament too, but it at least seems more worthy of being a league prize than the Status reels.
I kinda like the theme music though.

Posted by: sweetdude 13th March 2011 01:11

Quote (ILoveMoombas! @ 12th March 2011 23:35)

I forgot about that. I don't bother with the Status Reels anyway, at the late endgame, when I'm fighting the Dark Aeons and Penance, there's no point in anything that doesn't hit multiple times for 99,999. Attack Reels mean Wakka is the best character in the game, hands down. In short, Blitzball prizes are even more useless.

(well actually that's a bit harsh, there are some good stat spheres to win early in the game)

And yeah the music is surprisingly good. It doesn't get repetitive and each time a game starts there's that feeling of wanting to get right in there! Unlike the FFIX and FFVIII cards music. The Blitzball menu music is good too.

Posted by: ILoveMoombas! 13th March 2011 18:05

Quote (sweetdude @ 13th March 2011 01:11)

Yeah, I don't use the Status Reels either, I just have an obsessive need to collect all the Overdrives.

Also, from what I remember, you can't get Wakka's Sigil until you've won all the Reels first.
Sadly I have the NA version of FFX, so no Dark Aeons or Penance for me.

Personally, I adore the TT theme and it never gets old for me. I didn't care much for the TM theme though. Although, I didn't care much for TM to begin with (much like Blitzball, the randomness of the stats annoys me).
And yeah, I like the Blitzball menu music as well. X has a great soundtrack overall in my opinion, Otherworld was the only song I didn't care for.

Posted by: vividesu 20th March 2011 04:06

ABSOLUTELY HATE.
I had not played once all game except when mandatory early on.

Posted by: Death Penalty 21st March 2011 18:00

Quote (Rangers51 @ 11th March 2011 12:01)

That's interesting, as I didn't start playing Blitzball until after I first had gotten to the big battle with Sin. I was still able to enjoy it a lot, and I played it quite a bit while doing other various sidequesty stuff. I suppose that it probably would have been more fun to play it while playing through the main story, but I was way too captivated to not keep pushing ahead with the plot

Posted by: DragonKnight Zero 24th June 2022 03:44

Despite me disliking several aspects of Blitzball, I still found myself getting into it while playing all the games for Wakka's Jupiter Sigil. I even cared enough about building up my players' Tech selection to not use Data Reset even though not doing so required playing through two more Leagues.

And I do enjoy chatting about Blitzball. Theorycrafting teams and players, which players one enjoys using throughout the game, strategies and field stories, it's fun. Actually playing the game, ha not so much.

I have a lot of words to type out about trying to put together a team and was willing to start a new topic for Blitzball discussion. But searching turned up this one which suits what I was going to do.

Last time I played through the game, I couldn't quite settle on a consistent team. Ropp as a defender was a given. As was Nimrook but I never got him since I chose not to savescum to have the Pscyhes let him go. So Miyu was my goalie the whole time. If I had been going for higher levels, I would have gotten desperate for a replacement as Miyu's CA growth really lags at higher levels but she's one of the best when the league is still under Lv 30.

For forwards, I rotated between Tidus and Wakka with Vilucha coming in after she'd played for other teams and was let go. Wakka's rather meh but this time I used him anyways so he could get some training since trying to introduce him late and getting him to learn anything while underleveled is nearly impossible. Datto saw some use early but I let his contract expire without renewing. I like Shammi too but it wasn't working out this time as I had no luck in picking up her Key Techs.

Brother is a natural pick for midfielder. To even out EXP gain, I also made use of Berrik, another monster of a midfielder at lower levels. Kiyuri ended up pulling her weight too after having spent some time with another team so I didn't have to raise her from scratch. Linna was on my radar for later (she's so-so from scratch until she levels enough to use Nap Shot 3 with Golden Arm) but the Al Bhed hired and kept her.

I kept trying various players for the second defender and never found someone I was totally satisfied with. Besides the initial Aurochs, I also had play time with Kulukan, Graev, and Judda. Even used Nuvy Ronso but only for one game. One guide spoke highly of Kulukan but her low EN felt like a liability to me. Good AT and BL but if she steals the ball, that low EN makes it fairly likely she'll lose it the next encounter. And with opposing players right there... The Goer's initial midfielder is OK as a defender too but not a long term prospect with little stat growth at higher levels. Used him to fill in for a while; he did OK. Judda has the defender stats I like to see the only weak spot being a complete lack of pass Techs. It's enough that I can't quite see her as a permanent spot on my Blitz team.

Got Jecht Shot 2 on this file. And Auroch's Spirit. Wouldn't normally feel inclined to bother but Tidus had all the prerequisites by the time I ground out the Jupiter Sigil. And a Tournament doesn't take that long to complete so played it out. Seeing Gamble in the prize list drew me onwards to finish another League (a Key Tech for Miyu) and Wakka learned his last Key Tech in the duration. So did one last Tournament for Auroch's Spirit and after a 64 game career, I have both character unique Techs. Not something I'll seek to achieve again but satisfying.