Unlike the version of blitzball featured in FINAL FANTASY X, the blitzball
featured in this game is geared toward coaching. You won’t have control of your
players during a game, so preparing your team is even more essential if you want
to achieve victory.
The game has a tutorial program for learning the basic rules (and you’ll most
likely have to view it repeatedly, given all the changes in this version of
blitzball), so here are a few tips on how to get ahead in the early going.
Scouting
Even in the early going, the players you start with probably aren’t going to do
much for you in the way of winning. One way to even the odds is to scout for
better players. The players to watch out for in Scout level one are a little boy
named Sulla and an Al Bhed named Ropp. Sulla will give you an edge at the goalie
position with his high catch stat, and Ropp is a born defender.
In higher scouting levels, you may come across players with a yellow or red star
next to their names. RECRUIT THEM. The star indicates that they’ve learned a
specialized skill that will aid you in scoring more goals.
Training
During the Training phase, it’s up to you where you want to allocate your points
for increasing the stats of your players. The only constructive advice we can
offer is this: Don’t allocate any less than 9 points to increasing a player’s
stat. For every stat you increase you run the risk of another stat decreasing.
Allocating 9 points significantly decreases the chances of that happening.
Exhibition
Even if you do heed the advice we’ve just given, odds are good that you’ll get
schooled if you go right into playing league games. Play a lot of exhibition
games to gain points that you can use for more training and scouting. We
recommend taking on the Kilika Beasts. They’re the only team of the bunch that
are roughly on par with your own at this point.
Trading
After winning certain tournaments, you’ll be given the option to trade with
other teams. This is a dream come true, since every trade is guaranteed and
you’ll be able to cherry-pick the best players from any roster. We highly
recommend raiding the Al Bhed Psyches, as they are the best team around.
There are also a couple of hidden teams that will join in the fun during the New
Game +. The Besaid Aurochs become available if you’ve completed the Gunner’s
Gauntlet a certain amount of times, and the Zanarkand Abes are available after
getting the "Good" ending.
