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.
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Originally Posted by Andromeda
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