How?

[joleine taylor]

I was just wondering if any one can enlighten me. awahen wakka throws hi ball at an enemy when the attack misses how does the ball return to him if it hasent hit anything. surly it need to hit somthing so that his ball will return to him.

[Yoko]

Well if it didn't he'd be chasing after it like a lunatic. Not very 'warrior' like, don't you think?

Think of it like a boomerang. A round boomerang. It would need to come back to him regardless if it hit or not. If you really want to get into physics, Rinoa's Pinwheel shouldn't have been able to return to her either. It wasn't in that traditional 'boomerang shape'. It was also round, but flat for speed.

[smurphy]

I have never trusted Final Fantasy for consistency in physics. I mean a flying continent in VI and XII for christs sake.

Though if you want some sort of scientific answer I would suggest that with a stupidly high amount of backspin the ball could theoretically return without hitting anything but only by going through an arc trajectory. Or maybe he places magnets in the ball and has other stupidly powerful magnets embedded in his hands. Though I find the question of how he does that pales in comparison to questions like how do they make things spontaneously combust, or construct ice from air, or turn air into water or even make lightning hit the target of their choice.

[Yoko]

Oh, the power of magic and a wild imagination. How I love thee. They are all magical beings. Almost anything is possible. Where would this world be without a bit of creativity and imagination?

It's fantasy. Need I say more?

[Kurt Zisa]

I just think its easier for the game programmers (or whatever) to make the ball come flying back at him instead of making him run up and collect the ball. Having the ball return to him is better then having the ball just reappear in his hands again i guess. That would be kinda lame

[loaf]

Wakka is actually a star pitcher for the New York Yankees. His breaking ball is so bad ass it comes back.

[seanb]

Well how does it even come back after it hits an enemy? Surely enemies such as flans are too absorbent and gooey to bounce a ball back...
I imagined the 'miss' of Wakka's ball to be kind of an imprecise hit that doesn't deal enough damage. But I suppose that's what fantasy is all about.

How come the blitzball doesn't float to the top during matches? ... but in a certain cut-scene we see a ball floating on the water in Kilika... ooh naughty square-enix... tu tut tut

[loaf]

Well sean I do believe we never actually see a Blitzball stationary underwater in the game; maybe in a blitzball game, but, at the start of a Blitzoff the ball is moving.

[seanb]

Just because it's not stationary doesn't mean it won't rise.

I'm beginning to think should I be using my time for better things than wondering about the buoyancy characteristics of a fictional sports apparatus...

I'l not send an angry letter to Tetsuya just yet.

[Polk]

holy shit you guys

Things are unrealistic in a Final Fantasy game.

EDIT: And I always kind of figured the ball had a shit load of backspin and it bounced off the ground when he missed.

[Halie]

the ball had a shit load of backspin and it bounced off the ground when he missed.

What he said. I always thought it just hit the ground instead, and with the amount of force put into it, it just bounces back. Maybe the ball is compelled to him, kind of like the keyblades in Kingdom Hearts.

[01habbo]

It's Fantasy = It's magic

But seriously, sometimes you just need to take things like it is, the battle would never work if the ball did not come back to him, game mechanics are just a seperate thing to the story.