With Blitzball when is it best to start focusing on it?

[balkroth]

Just got the mini game to open up but wondering should I play more of the main story/side quests to get other players? Or can I focus on it now to get the benefits?

As always thanks in advance.

[Boshiken]

Wakka Celestrial Weapon is the most important

at the End you can decide to play another 500 hours or more
to get all Abilities for all Players - and infinite Blitzball Team Level

also there are some Guides to play hours - to get invincible before Boss fights
to grind Items early in Blitzball for Sphere Grid and Abilities also build in Weapons

[Hinnyuu]

It depends on how you want to do it. Better players open up for recruitment as you progress, so you can't really build an optimal team until later in the game because you won't be able to get everyone. The arguably cheesiest player in particular won't open up until you've boarded the airship, which is about the last third of the story or so.

That being said, the first overdrive prize you can get is Attack Reels, and that is a MASSIVELY powerful ability. If you want to blast full throttle, you can grab that pretty much right away and not bother with the rest until the end of the game.

The most important reward is Wakka's ultimate weapon, which requires you to have unlocked all the overdrives first. You can do that at the end of the game in one go, or you can chip away at it as you go - however you please. Waiting until you have an optimized team is the most efficient, but it's not like Blitzball is super hard or you can't do it without the literal best team. You can just recruit as you go and play casually here and there, if you like. And it'll all work towards the end goal, since you need to get all the overdrives on the way anyway and can't skip ahead.

[balkroth]

Originally posted by Hinnyuu:

It depends on how you want to do it. Better players open up for recruitment as you progress, so you can't really build an optimal team until later in the game because you won't be able to get everyone. The arguably cheesiest player in particular won't open up until you've boarded the airship, which is about the last third of the story or so.

That being said, the first overdrive prize you can get is Attack Reels, and that is a MASSIVELY powerful ability. If you want to blast full throttle, you can grab that pretty much right away and not bother with the rest until the end of the game.

The most important reward is Wakka's ultimate weapon, which requires you to have unlocked all the overdrives first. You can do that at the end of the game in one go, or you can chip away at it as you go - however you please. Waiting until you have an optimized team is the most efficient, but it's not like Blitzball is super hard or you can't do it without the literal best team. You can just recruit as you go and play casually here and there, if you like. And it'll all work towards the end goal, since you need to get all the overdrives on the way anyway and can't skip ahead.

The first game for the story took me 6-7 tries, I'm still pretty feckin clueless playing lol.

[Hinnyuu]

Originally posted by balkroth:

The first game for the story took me 6-7 tries, I'm still pretty feckin clueless playing lol.

The first BB match is different, because you're kind of SUPPOSED to lose - this is the worst team in Spira history, remember? Expert players will still win it fairly easily and as you can attest, even less experienced players can win it with a bit of reloading. But that match is not representative of BB once you get to customize your team.

With an optimized team and strategy, BB is an absolute joke. Not only will you probably never lose, but it's not hard to never even have a single goal scored against you pretty much ever. But even for a more casual approach, simply replacing the poor Aurochs players with competent recruits will massively increase your win rate.

[balkroth]

Another newbie blitzball question. When it comes to learning skills if a skill isn't highlighted blue is it worth selecting it? Or is there a benefit to not trying to learn one?

[Hinnyuu]

Originally posted by balkroth:

Another newbie blitzball question. When it comes to learning skills if a skill isn't highlighted blue is it worth selecting it? Or is there a benefit to not trying to learn one?

If it's not highlighted you can't learn it. So don't bother.

[solidap]

Probably best to do a little bit at a time as you progress the story. Wakka only unlocks new Overdrives through Blitzaball. So if you don't progress there you'll spend the majority of the game just with Elemental Wheels.

Another thing is that due to the linear nature of the first 3/4s of the game, you can miss recruiting a few good players along the way. They're not permanently missable but if you do miss them the first time it could take you a while before you're able to go back and get them.

[Hinnyuu]

Originally posted by solidap:

Another thing is that due to the linear nature of the first 3/4s of the game, you can miss recruiting a few good players along the way. They're not permanently missable but if you do miss them the first time it could take you a while before you're able to go back and get them.

There is in fact one player that is permanently missable (Duren), though while a fine player he is not a super incredible unique one so it may not matter to most people.

There are some parts during the story where you can't backtrack and go back to recruit players unless you progress the story further, but then again there's also parts during the story where you can't play BB at all, too ;)