How come people enjoy Blitzball?

[Bad_Brett]

First off, I'd like to begin with that I love sidequests (Chocobo breeding, Chocobo Hot and Cold, secret dungeons, etc.). I always try to get all secret weapons without using any guide, so my first run of each game usually takes forever to complete. I'd say that I have very good patience with these things.

Secondly, I've played sports management games since I was a kid (Football Manager 3, Premier Manager 93, Championship Manager 2 etc.) I also played a lot of the EA Sports games for hundreds of hours.

Somehow it feels that the game was designed for people like me. So why do I hate it so much?

1. Too easy
I bet the Luca Goers the first time I tried it. I then lost a couple of games against the Al Bhed Psyches, but after about an hour, I won every game with 7-0. Every game. I felt like I was missing something, so I went online to check out some guides. To my big surprise, they only offered advice on which players I should recruit and what abilities I should learn to become a winning team. Huh? I hadn't recruited a single player and still won every game with seven goals. And the only ability I needed to use was the Jecht Shot.

2. Too time consuming
So, I decided that I would complete the current season to get Wakka's Attack Reels. It felt like I was done with the game, since it didn't offer any challenge and was incredibly repeating. But to my big surprise, I found out that I was supposed to play for another 10 hours to get his sigil. I tried for a while... Scored an early goal and then parked in front of my own goalie for the rest of the game. This way I could do something else in the meantime. But it was so incredibly boring.

3. Too simular to the rest of the game
Let's face it - FFX is about one thing: Battles. You travel on a railroad track, fighting a battle for every five steps you take. When the world finally opens up, the big sidequest is monster catching. After that, you fight the special creations for hours. A fun minigame would be appreciated to offer a break from all the linearity, but sadly, blitzball is exactly like fighting a battle. You wait for your turn, make your move, then wait for the AI turn and so on...

4. Poorly designed
2D-gameplay even though the game is supposed to be in 3D. No need for any tactics, just swim near the edge and into the goalie and shoot. After that, you can hide behind your own goalie, because no one will attack you.
The AI is simply horrible and makes stupid decisions all the time.

The UI is also horrible. You can't even save the line-ups.

Recruiting players could be fun, but isn't, because it's completely random: "Nimrook has signed for another 38 games". Tough luck.

***

To me, these four points are really obvious, but yet, many people seem to enjoy it really much. And I'm not trying to prove you wrong, I'm just really; What makes you enjoy the game? Do you actually find it challenging or do you enjoy beating every game with seven goals?

[Lily]

I hate Blitzball, the matches last too long and after the first few I never lose, its just so boring. I never bother scouting other players, I dont see the point, I can win with ease with the line up I start off with, its usually just 10 minutes of passing the ball back and forth til im ready to score, then its ju8st more passing til times up and ive won

If I didnt use Wakka so much, I wouldnt bother, but alas ):

[loaf]

When I first played Blitzball back when FFX came out, I loved it. When I played it again like 8 years later, I learned how easy it is.

Still I enjoyed playing it, but now mostly, I would only get it for Wakka's Sigil.

My only solution to the time consuming is, only start Blitzball when you obtain the Airship so you can recruit Brother. If you make him a MD and use him a lot, he will be so much better you can make games go by very fast. My last file, my brother is like level 76 while the average level for other players and most of my team is 35-45. Playing like that barely lets the AI do anything lol. Which proves why it's to easy. Also yes, the AI is stupid.

I a cool game, needs tweaking. I always thought that if they ever make Blitzball and online game, they would need to remake the entire game-play and mechanics of the game.

[Mindu]

I don't like it, for the reasons Bad Brett gave. The last time I played this game, I only went far enough to get Wakka's Attack Reels, which makes the game significantly easier.

[GypsyElder]

I loved Bitzball, and I still randomly play it when I'm in the mood. It's just addicting I guess.

You have to keep in mind that Blitzball is a mini game in FFX not a game on it's own. Imo for a mini game it's a legit game. After a while yes it get's old, esoecially if you have 300+games^^; but again, it's not meant to serve as an independent game. I can say that I did wish that they make it online or a separate game with more scouting.

The tactic to getting wakka's sigil is to progressively play as you progress through the game. Of course, if you want his sigil at the end of the game and you're level 5...it's gonna take you years to get it.

[Bad_Brett]

You have to keep in mind that Blitzball is a mini game in FFX not a game on it's own. Imo for a mini game it's a legit game. After a while yes it get's old, esoecially if you have 300+games^^; but again, it's not meant to serve as an independent game. I can say that I did wish that they make it online or a separate game with more scouting.

My real problem is that they force you to play a mini-game for 15 hours (that offers no challenge AT ALL after the first hour) to get a very important item. This is the first time (as far as I know) in the series that they've done this. Maybe Chocobo racing in FFVII, but with some luck you could get all the good items withing a couple of hours and it didn't require manual inputs every 10 seconds.

In my opinion, they might as well say: "Fight 10,000 battles and you'll get a sigil. In my opinion, games should be fun and challenging, not test how much sparetime you have.

They could have solved the problem in many ways, without actually changing the gameplay. They could have reduced the number of games and made it almost impossible to win without recruiting new players and setting up a proper strategy. They could have included bonus items if you won with a certain amount of goals. Just something to keep it interesting.

[Andromeda]

It's been a while since I've played FFX and done the Sigil work, but isn't it just a prize for winning the tournament? I think you have play a few seasons, but I don't recall it being a long time to get.

However, if you play any RPG you already know if you want the best items or to be the strongest it is as you say "proof of how much time you have to waste". It is just the nature of RPGs. You can beat the game without it and complete all of the content in the game with it, but you do it because it is the best item. You want to have it. And thus we're willing to devote the time to doing it.

While a bit of a bad example since it is looking back at FFX the same game you're questioning, but all of the Sigils require the completion of some repetitive and often times boring tasks. Lulu's requires you to dodge 200 lightning strikes, Tidus requires you to get 0 seconds in chocobo racing.

Additionally, though the same franchise, it is nothing new. FFIX if you want the best stuff in the game you're going to have to do Chocobo Hot and Cold along with gaining stronger chocobos, without which you won't have some of the best items available to you. FFVII requires you to either do a lengthy side quest or tons of breeding and racing to acquire the chocobo you need to reach the KOTR summon, the strongest summon in the game.

The Disgaea series is notorious for making you waste tons of hours on leveling, item world diving, re-incarnating, stealing and leveling again to get perfect items and characters.

If you want the best stuff in White Knight Chronicles you will need to spend a minimum of 400-500 hours playing the game online or maybe 300 hours if you play the exact same quest 1000 times to get the highest rank just to have access to make the best equipment for which you still need to farm for them which often have at least one item that is a 1% drop.

These are just examples too. Do I support or endorse this sort of method of grinding? Eh, yes and no. The work to reach the end goal is a pain in the neck and not fun, but the results make the work feel like an achievement. And to some degree as meaningless as it is, you feel that you've achieved something that maybe only another 1% of the player population actually felt like putting the time into doing.

In the end, it really is just our choice to play. If it is too much work we can just say no and go to a different game. But the bait at the end tends to make the pain worth it or that is at least how we justify it to ourselves.

As for the direct subject matter. I found Blitzball annoying and not fun the first time I played it. When I did the 100% run later was not really looking forward to playing Blitzball. However, once I started playing it for real and got down to the game. It was surprisingly enjoyable and I liked it. As others stated, it is a mini-game and surprisingly complex and deep one considering how much effort often goes into other mini-games. It actually has some substance to it, unlike dodging lightning bolts. Sure it is pretty shallow and the Ronso are pathetic and the Al Bhed are ridiculous, but for a mini-game it is fun.

It is pretty interesting to watch how the game curves on challenge though. Once you know the ins and outs of the game and start recruiting others. You will make a pretty steep increase on winning and for a while nothing will challenge you. If you keep playing though, teams to recruits others and trade players the teams start leveling and changing. Then the challenge goes back up, you'll still more than likely win, but it won't be one sided. This being if you actually play the game rather than exploiting and gaming the system. I actually played it and when you do that it is actually fun, rather than looking at it as necessary path to the end goal. Plus if you actually play the game time goes back faster than just killing time.

Though I will admit that I did make sure to steal all of the best goalies, even if I had no plans to field them. But that was just tactics and strategy outside of the game. I think the best game I had was against the Ronso where I won 14-0 scoring 7 goals in each half. The Ronso are a pretty bad team early on because of how slow they are in the water. So it is really easy to out swim them.

Have you played the revised Blitzball in FFX-2? It is quite a bit different and more like being a manager. It is possible for them to be injured and I think be out for games. Since it wasn't required and it wasn't the original Blitzball made better I never really played much of it.

[Bad_Brett]

FFIX if you want the best stuff in the game you're going to have to do Chocobo Hot and Cold along with gaining stronger chocobos, without which you won't have some of the best items available to you.

Chocobo Hot and Cold is the opposite of Blitzball...

- It's a real time game, so you get a break from the turn based battles
- You maybe have to play for 15 minute to get 2-3 good prizes
- You can only find a limited amount of chocographs on each disc
- It brings extra exciment to the actual game and it becomes much more fun to explore the world map
- After a while, you get new chocobos that allow you to reach new locations and more treasures
- And finally, those who want to play the game for 20 hours straight, can still get cool items such as Robe of the Lords early.

FFVII requires you to either do a lengthy side quest or tons of breeding and racing to acquire the chocobo you need to reach the KOTR summon, the strongest summon in the game.

The most time consuming aspect here is to figure out how you should do things. If you've done it before, you can get a gold chocobo within a few hours.

Breeding chocobos brings a lot of excitement to the game, since it allows you to reach new locations. But most importantly:

If you don't want to do it, you can still get most of the items:

- Ancient Forest? Kill Ultima Weapon!
- KoTR? Kill Ruby or Emerald Weapon!
- Chaos? Get the Submarine!
- Magic Counter? Go to the Northern Cave!

The problem with Blitzball, is that there is no way to speed things up. There is now way around it. You have to play like crazy.

As others stated, it is a mini-game and surprisingly complex and deep one considering how much effort often goes into other mini-games.

I enjoy complex mini-games, but the problem is that the game is easy even without using skills or recruiting new players.

Have you played the revised Blitzball in FFX-2? It is quite a bit different and more like being a manager. It is possible for them to be injured and I think be out for games. Since it wasn't required and it wasn't the original Blitzball made better I never really played much of it.

I actually find it far more interesting. A game lasts for a couple of seconds and it allows me to focus more on the strategy than watching animations.

[Rising Star]

Blitzball was alright some days I Wanted to play other days I didn't
Not a big fan of sidequests but then again is anyone

[Michael Swayne]

I liked Blitzball. It was a good way to let loose and have some fun after having fought about 50 battles. I would always play one game of Blitzball at every Save Sphere (Tournament or League games, never Exhibition matches).

I liked the Leveling system they used, and how I was able to customize players with abilities.

I didn't like how the Al Bhed Psyches were the only real competition though. I could swim circles around the other teams (literally) and still win. And how some of the prizes were not worth getting. Sometimes, the second or third place prizes were better than the first place prize. So, I would intentionally lose specific games in order to get the prize I wanted.

[tetsu346]

Blitzball was hard for me in the beginning when i was younger but later on its so easy and in my opinion a little too easy. But all in all b litzball is fun except when u drain all the fun out of it by playing for hours

[Rising Star]

It Wasn't the worst Side quest though A.K.A Lighting bolt quest
Now that was a pain

[Red Mage]

I did it just to get Wakka's limint breaks.

[Michael-H]

I actually in my second playthrough got addicted to blitzball, I won everything useing the jecht shot

[Nidogod]

Yeah, it's definitely way too easy, you have to play far too much of it, and the randomizing of stat numbers during encounters makes it one big game of luck.

Fortunately, it's not hard to score a goal, get the ball back and run it behind your goal, and go do something else while everyone flounders in circles until the game's over. If you plan it right you can get Wakka's sigil in a day - just make sure you fought enough battles in the game first or it won't appear.

[Nas Lost]

ya, i kinda hope they tweak blitzball for the remake of X. make it online too maybe

[markandrewkinzett]

Original game I like it but I will say at times it can become slightly tedious and annoying. But overall i say yes.

[Rising Star]

Was it Easy ?

Well At the start no when you went against teams like Luca and Al bhed
you would most likely get thrashed with the current state of your stats at the beginning well I Did anyways.
But with time and patience it got easier well it should have anyways

[greenapple968]

I don't like Blitzball due to how easy it is. I play it in order to obtain the Jupitar Sigil and Wakka's Overdrives but then I stop.

The guy who won 50001 Blitzball games and uploaded it onto youtube must've had a fun 8500 hours.

[TheLastAdventAuron]

I personally love teh game ^^ it's fun and if you can't beat a boss or got sick of having to run around and train then you can play Blitz and you can let your worries go and think about other things, and sides you can have a good laugh with the Ronso's by scoring one goal then keeping the ball by swimming around with Brother (fastest I have ever recruited EVER) and it's fun to "piss them off" because they will NEVER EVER!!!!! EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRR catch him ^^ basically it gives you good items and it gives you a good laugh ^^

[squall69]

i didnt like blitzball but after reading some of the comments perhaps i should give it another go

[NeoAquarius12]

What is great about blitzball is that it makes the characters more relatable. It provides a connection between your characters and the rest of Spira. I mean, it could be faster, but as a true FFX completionist, I battlds through the time consuming games and had fun in doing it. Once you get Nimrook on your team, you're unbeatable anyway.

They sped it up in FFX-2, and I think that version was much less appealing.

[+ Revenant +]

No, I never got into Blitzball. It seemed way too hard and tedious. I usually just play the one required game and that's it. I've played FFX about ten times and only beaten the Goers once. It's a memory I will cherish, but there's no way I'm playing a whole season of underwater soccer.

[Sheechiibii]

I love Blitzball. he first time I played X I never really got into it but that last time I played I tried to learn the rules and play properly and I love it. It's really very good, it's not that easy, it gets easy if you manage to level yourself up without levelling up your opponents but in general your team does start out bad and you've got to know how to play or just have good luck to win. I never bothered with picking up different players - I liked that your team was bad and you could build them up over time, I never swapped players at all.

Xx..xX