------------------------------- Final Fantasy X-2 Blitzball FAQ ------------------------------- Version 1.4 Written by Jack Power Questions, additions, and comments can be directed to JackPower "at" aol "dot" com with "FFX-2" in the subject line. Version history 0.5; 11/19/03 Initial release 0.8; 12/03/03 Significant corrections and additions, new sections, some translations from English version 0.9; 12/07/03 More corrections and additions, new sections, new tips, more translations (including all training commands from English version) 1.0; 12/15/03 Added a few more additions and corrections. Basic guide is complete for all intents and purposes. 1.1; 12/18/03 Added another player-made team, and added more official player names 1.2; 12/27/03 Added more player-made teams, a few minor corrections and clarifications, and more official player names 1.3; 1/13/04 Added more player-made teams and a few clarifications 1.4; 3/28/04 Added a few more FAQ’s and player-made teams. This wil be the second to last update of this document. -------- Contents -------- Basic FAQ Gameplay Matches Play style Formation Training Biorythm Scouting Trading Stats Max stats Mini-maxing Growth pattern Specials Teamwork Version changes Teams Opposing teams Player-made teams Wakka's Tips Special thanks Legal notes Important note: The contents of this guide are based on the Japanese version of FFX-2. I assume no responsibility for changes made in the localized versions. Thanks to helpful readers, most of the names are now their official English names. Please send any further changes to me. Important note 2: PLEASE, read through the entire document beforesending me questions. 95% of the time, it has already been covered in here. Use Crtl+F to find what you’re looking for. Important note 3: I will only update this guide once more, as I honestly haven’t touched FFX-2 in many months. Any player-made teams sent in after that final revision date will not be included. Questions which the guide already covers will not be answered. Please do not send e-mail with excessive html; if I see “ ” one more time, I will murder someone. However, I will answer inquries asking to use or post my guide elsewhere. Thank you for your support. --------- Basic FAQ --------- Q: What is blitzball? A: It's the most popular sport and national pastime of Spira. It resembles a combination of soccer and American football, played underwater in 5 minute periods. It was introduced as the main minigame of FFX, and appears once again in a different form in the sequel. Q: Why write a blitzball FAQ? A: Amazingly, it's the only aspect of the game that has yet to be covered in a FAQ (nor even on popular message boards). Since it's hard to get into, but also worth playing, I decided it needed a FAQ. Besides, blitzball is the best minigame in FFX-2 (though that's not saying much). Q: How is Blitzball different in FFX-2? A: There are a lot of differences. The most obvious one is that you no longer actually have any control once the game is in motion; you simply manage your team, set up formations and play style, cut, recruit, and train your players. It still looks the same, except when it fast-forwards through the "dink and dunk" passes in an overhead radar mode. Also note that games are only 5 minutes long, with no half-time. Q: How do I start a blitzball game? A: Once you are in Story Level 5, go to Luca. A cutscene will ensue and you'll be given the option to play a game of blitzball. You do NOT have to play immediately, however, and can go do the "Yuna's flashback" mission right away. From that point on, you can play blitzball any time by going to the girl at the office at the square in Luca (where the cutscene was) and choosing the first option. Q: Why should I play blitzball? A: First, it's one of the only places to get a Grow Egg/AP Egg, an accessory that grants the wearer 3X AP during battle. There are other rare accessories available as well. Also, even exhibition games are rewarding, as winning one earns you two Megapotions, X-potions, Megaphoenixes, or Ether turbos. These are all powerful healing items that can't be bought anywhere. Lastly, one Japanese player claims on his website that he was able to see the full "happy ending" after beating the final secret team, without getting 100% story completion. I have yet to see proof of this, however, so take it with a grain of salt. Q: Since when can Yuna (and co.) play Blitzball? A: They can't. Just look at their starting stats! Yuna has, however, learned how to hold her breath for long periods of time (see the Eternal Calm video). Q: Are the Al Bhed Psyches still ridiculously overpowered? A: More than ever. Fortunately, if you train your team efficiently you can pass them in raw stats. Q: How can I stop the Psyches (and other teams) from using their special shots every time and getting cheap wins? A: Play in Overhead view. It is widely believed that special shots happen much less, if at all, under this formation, making it a battle of raw stats instead. Thanks to all who sent this tip in. Q: How do I play against the two secret teams? A: For those of you who can’t seem to read the whole FAQ, I’ve decided to put this here as well. To play against the Aurochs, just get an Episode Complete in Besaid, and then watch for a blitzball prize called “right to play the Aurochs” to show up. Win that, and you can play against them. To unlock the other secret team, which is revealed in the “Opposing teams” section (watch for SPOILERS there), you need to play through the game once and get the good ending. Once you get back up to story level 5, look for a similar “right to play” prize in blitzball. Q: Can you get Tidus on your team? A: Actually, yes. See the sections on teams and trading for a hint on how to get this “Ace.” Q: What are "Kamomedan" and "Grow Eggs?" A: "Gullwings" and "AP Eggs." Like I said above, this guide is based off the Japanese version, so just substitute in the localized names where appropriate. Q: Do blitzball stats carry over in a New Game+ ? A: Yes (unlike the Sphere Break coins, for example). Q: Where do the Gullwings go if their contract expires or they’re sent away for training? A: This is already answered elsewhere below, but here it is again. They can be found in Scout Level 2. You will have to reset the list a few times to find them. -------- Gameplay -------- As the player, you are more of a manager than anything else in FFX-2's Blitzball. You do not directly control any of your players. Instead you must handle the following: -Coaching during matches, telling your players how hard to work -Training your players, to increase abilities and set up formations -Scouting for new players, and cutting ones you no longer want Once you enter the blitzball menu, you will see five options: Training Proceed to match Scout System/Tutorial Cancel Training, matches, and scouting are explained in sections below. In the system/tutorial menu, you can read the tutorial text, which I have incorporated into this guide in a clearer form. You can also reset the blitzball data to all the starting values. In the upper right hand of the screen in blitzball mode is a number. This number is your Command Point (CP) total. Command Points are used for training, scouting, and renewing contracts. You earn them by walking around the field and playing blitzball games. How to use CP will be covered in the training and scouting sections. Note that CP has an upper limit, which increases as you win games and raise your Team Level. (Why does everything in FFX-2 have a level assigned to it??) TOURNAMENT PRIZE TRICK: If there is no tournament available, just enter and exit the blitzball menu (all the way out to Luca stadium) a few times. Usually, a tournament will appear every 4 times and cycle out again every four times. Playing matches has the same effect as entering and exiting. Note that the prizes are randomly generated. If you don't see see prizes you want, just keep entering and exiting until something good pops up. Matches ------- There are three types of matches you can play: the Spira league, tournaments, and exhibitions. In terms of structure and potential prizes, they are set up exactly like in FFX. In leagues and tournaments, you can earn a prize if you place first, second, or third, and/or have the highest scoring player on your team. The prizes can be anything from rare accessories, to healing items, to special abilities you can assign to your players, and even matches with legendary teams. You only get a couple of random (but rare) healing items for winning exhibition matches, but they are the best way to earn Command Points (see Training, below). Note that you don't have to play an entire league or tournament at once; you can stop, save, run around Spira, train, scout, and play exhibitions. During the matches themselves, your input is limited. You can change the camera style before the match. You can rotate the camera with the key pad or analog stick. You can zoom in and out with the Square button. If you press Triangle during play (press it a few times to be sure), and after the next point is scored, you can change your team formation and play style. You can also change how hard your team is trying. On the top of the screen during matches is a bar called the "adrenaline gauge." Pressing R1 will add stars to it (up to 10), and pressing L1 will take away stars. The more stars in this gauge, the higher the chance of your players performing "critical" moves which have double the effectiveness of normal moves. However, the more stars, the faster your players will get tired. Too much fatigue is dangerous for a player, and may lead to them getting injured. For league and tournament matches you are not involved in, the game shows them in super-fast forward in overhead map style. After a game, if a player's contract is up, a window will appear. Choose Yes to re-sign that player for a certain amount of CP, or No to let them go. Released characters from the original Kamomedan team can be found again in the first Scout Level, but you may have to cycle through quite a few times to find them. Play style ---------- You can set your play style either during training or before or during a match, so I'll detail it here instead of in the Training section. Next to your players' raw abilities, this is the deciding factor in games. The play styles are as follows: -Center Breakthrough: Thread through the center and break through the opposing defense. Good if you have characters in the middle with good endurance and attack. -R-Side Attack: Dribble around the right side to get past defenders. Good if the other team has weak defense on the right, or if you have strong offense on that side. -L-Side Attack: Dribble around the left side to get past defenders. Good if the other team has weak defense on the left, or if you have strong offense on that side. -Post Play: Stretch your centers forward, get the ball up there and look for chances to shoot. Works good in theory, but sometimes the offense will pass the ball around and never shoot. -Short Pass: Make quick, direct passes until getting a chance to shoot. This is actually better if you made a goal and just need to keep the ball away from the other team. -Long feed: Make long passes from the defense to the forwards. Very risky if the opposition has good blockers, but very rewarding if you have strong passers and some luck. To set play style, simply select the option from the training or pre-game menu and choose one of the six above options. I strongly recommend trying out different styles before you use them in an important game. Formation --------- Like play style, you can set your formation either during training or before or during a match. It goes hand in hand with play style; you can't change one without considering the other. Basically, the formations determine where the seven players are positioned on your team. (The eighth player, the goalkeeper, obviously never moves.) These are listed in the format defenders-centers-forwards. They are as follows: 4-2-1 4-1-2 3-3-1 3-2-2 3-1-3 2-4-1 2-3-2 2-2-3 To change formation, simply select the option from the training or pre-game menu and select one of the formations. After that, you can move the cursor around to any of your players, including those in reserve, and swap them around by pressing the confirm button (Circle for Japanese PS2 users) for the ones you want to change. Training -------- Training mode is actually where you will spend the bulk of your time in the blitzball minigame. It's the only way to increase the stats of your players, as they do not level up as they did in FFX's version of the game. When you get to the training screen, you will see your team members' names in their assigned formation, as well as your CP in the upper right, and four commands in the lower left: Formation Play style Proceed with training OK Formation and play style are explained above, so let's move on to the training process itself. Move the cursor up to any of the players and press the conform button. A list of 12 options will come up. These are the training options. The type of practice your player does will determine how his or her stats increase or decrease. (See below for an explanation of stats.) Even if you have the Japanese version and can't read it, the training options are all numbered for your convenience. 1: Downtime. FTG down 2: Iron man. END up, BLK down 3: Sandbagging. ATK up, CAT down 4: Passing. PAS up, END down 5: Shooting. SHT up, REC down 6: Blocking. BLK up, RNG down 7: Goalkeeping. CAT up, PASS down 8: Recieving. REC up, SHT down 9: Throwing. RNG up, ATK down 10: Pep talk. Chance of MOR increasing to max 11: Counseling. Improves biorythm (see below) 12: Teamwork. Improves teamwork with selected partner 13: Scrimmage. Raises some stats randomly, with no decreases. FTG greatly increases. Unlockable as a tournament prize. 14. Hot Springs. Lowers FTG greatly. Unlockable as a tournament prize. 15. Defender. Raises BLK, CAT, and END; lowers PAS and SHT. Unlockable as a tournament prize. 16. Midfielder. Raises PAS, BLK, RNG, and REC; lowers CAT and END. Unlockable as a tournament prize. 17. Forward. Raises END and SHT; lowers ATK and PAS. Unlockable as a tournament prize. After selecting one of the options, select the amount of CP you want to put into the training session (0 to 9). The more you spend, the more of a chance the affected stat will increase (or decrease in the case of resting). This seems to be based on a 1:8 ratio for everything except RNG and REC, which have a 1:1 ratio. In other words, if you spend 8 points on ATK, you will always increase it by one. Spending 4 on ATK twice also seems to do the trick. Spending 9 points on REC will always increase REC by 9. However, more points will also make your player get tired and accumulate fatigue. If you don't want a player to do anything, just set them to Rest and spend 0 points on it. Once you have decided what kind of practice each of your players will do, hit "proceed with training" and watch the results. Increases will be displayed in light blue, and decreases in dark blue. Biorythm -------- There is a trick to training. The numbers in blue to the left of the characters stats are his or her "biorhythm." Those represent how many points you can spend increasing the stat without gaining fatigue. For example, if Paine has a blue 7 to the left of her SHT, you can spend up to 7 CP on shoot practice without worrying about her getting tired. If you spend 9 points, she will gain 2 points of fatigue (9-7=2). Don't worry too much about fatigue; while injuries occur randomly at high FTG or after many training sessions from gaining even small amounts of FTG, injuries are easily fixed (see below). What you really need to worry about is stats decreasing on you. Biorythm comes in to play again here. Each kind of training increases one stat at the cost of another. You could make use of a growth pattern and max each stat except SHT and REC one at a time (see below), or you could play the numbers. The biorhythm number is also how much of that stat that could be lost during training. For example, if Paine's REC biorhythm is at 4, she will lose 4 points for REC every time she does shoot practice (as it increases SHT and decreases REC). If it was at zero, she could do shoot practice as much as you wanted and never lose anything. In other words, wait until the REC biorythm is low before you train for SHT, and vice versa. Note that for the stats REC and RNG, you will gain or lose numbers on a 1 to 1 basis. Spending 9 points on receiving practice will get you 9 points on the actual stat, for example. However, the other stats are based on a ratio of about 1 to 8. If you did receiving practice and your player had a SHT biorhythm of 8, you would only lose a single point of SHT. Beware of using Counseling on characters, especially those who are training in SHT and REC. Because this increases some or all of their biorythm numbers, you may end up in a position where any stat you increase will cost you points in something else. In a nutshell: -Wait until BLK biorythm is down to do iron man (#2, END up) -Wait until CAT biorythm is down to do sandbagging (#3, ATK up) -Wait until END biorythm is down to do passing (#4, PAS up) -Wait until REC biorythm is down to do shooting (#5, SHT up) -Wait until RNG biorythm is down to do blocking (#6, BLK up) -Wait until PAS biorythm is down to do goalkeeping (#7, CAT up) -Wait until SHT biorythm is down to do receiving (#8, REC up) -Wait until ATK biorythm is down to do blocking (#9, RNG up) Once you get the Scrimmage command, which shows up as a "new training option" prize in tournaments, you can increase lots of stats at once for a comparitively cheap price and without the risk of other stats decreasing. This is an absolute must for building up Lucil and Yuyui. However, using Scrimmage can increase a character's fatigue very fast-- sometimes 20-50 points per training. As one might expect, and overall high biorythm is best when using Scrimmage, so use counseling at 9CP right before it for best results, and you'll gain very little fatigue instead. Otherwise you'll need to do a lot of resting if you don't want injured players. If a player is injured, which can even happen during the most mundane of training* if their FTG level is high, you will only have two options for him or her. The first is Downtime, which you probably won't need unless they were injured during a game (often by a critical tackle), and the second is Special Treatment (a.k.a. Intensive Care in the English version). If successful, the player's OUT count will decrease by 1 and he or she will be back to normal. (*I once saw Rikku get injured during Counseling. 0_0) By the way, make sure that you're not accidentally training players when you don't want to. Not only is this a waste of CP, but you might end up lowering their stats because of the way each practice works (one stat up, one stat down). Keep idle players on Downtime using 0CP. Scouting -------- When you enter the scouting menu, you'll see some different options: Scout Release Cancel Choose the scout option to look for players. Scouting has five different levels, which will be displayed here once they're available. Your scouting ability will increase as you win games, allowing you to find better players to recruit. To scout for players, go to the main blitzball menu and choose the Scout option. At first, the game will charge you 10 CP to even look at any of the players from a new scout level. Once you have done this, some of the players from the appropriate scout level (see below for a comprehensive list) will appear randomly. If you want to sign one of them, highlight him or her and press the confirm button. The game will display his/her cost and ask for confirmation again. If you don't see anyone you are interested in, select the second to last option. The game will charge you 10 CP again, but will randomly display a different set of players. I recommend scouting for temporary players during the beginning, because the cost to hire one is much lower than the cost to raise one of your starting character's stats higher then the new recruit. However, some members of the default Kamomedan team are worth keeping; see the Mini-maxing section for more suggestions. Trading ------- Besides scouting, there is also trading. In order to trade, you will need to win the tournament prize called "Trading Privileges" which lets you swap one of your players for another player from any team. (Note that in order to trade with the two secret teams, you will need to beat them in a game first.) There's a good incentive to keep a cheap, weaker player on your team-- give them to a much stronger team for a better player and level the field. However, keep in mind that traded players will only stay with you for 10 games, and then they will return to their original teams. CLARIFICATION: You can re-sign them for another 10 games (often at a very high CP cost) once their contract is up. However, if you send them away for any other reason, including special training, they go right back to their original team. Any changes you make to the stats of traded players will carry over when they return to their original teams. Devlyn Brown suggests using trading to boost the stats of the Kilika Beasts so they actually have a chance in the tournaments. Personally, I'd do the opposite. Borrow a few shooters from the Al Bhed, and then just abuse the Biorythm system, spending 0 CP to train their REC until their SHT is at zero. Then repeat by spending 0 CP on their SHT until their REC is at zero. And so on with their other stats if you're feeling particularly cruel. In a matter of minutes you will have completely neutered a member of the Psyches. ----- Stats ----- There are a lot of stats for each player in Blitzball. When viewing a player's stats in Training Mode, the main thing to consider is that one ones on the left column (END, ATK, PAS, SHT, BLK, CAT, RNG, REC) can be increased (or decreased) through practice. END: Endurance. How well the player can resist tackles. ATK: Attack. How powerful a player's tackles are. PAS: Passing. How accurate a player's passes are. SHT: Shooting. How well the player can shoot goals. BLK: Blocking. How well the player can tip or intercept passes. CAT: Catching. How well the player can block goal attempts. RNG: Range. How far the player can shoot or pass the ball. REC: Receiving. How good the player is at catching passes. SPD: Speed. How fast the player swims. RCH: Reach. How far away the player can attack the ballholder. OUT: Down time. How many games a player has to miss (if injured). CNT: Contract. How many more games the player is signed on for. GIL: Gil cost. How many CP it costs to sign this player. MOR: Morale. How often the player can execute special moves, if available. FTG: Fatigue. How tired the player is. Fatigue carries over between games and training, and increases the chances of injury. Max stats --------- Here are the maximum stats for your starting team and all the players available for scouting. Use this to determine the potential of a player and decide if you want him or her on your team. Note: I have left out certain stats, such as MOR (as it is fluid between each game) and GIL (as it is constant and obvious). The two stars t the end represent special moves that the players might have. The stars are yellow and green in the game, respectively, and are listed beside a player's name. An "n" means they don't have a move, while a "y" means they do. A couple of characters have two specials; get them if you can. Kamomedan (cost 3) NAME END ATK PAS SHT BLK CAT RNG REC SPD RCH ** Yuna 41 28 84 42 73 65 119 154 30 50 nn Rikku 43 22 78 45 82 34 89 190 35 65 nn Paine 48 20 30 92 20 10 130 135 30 50 nn Buddy 38 61 63 32 40 10 120 105 30 65 nn Shinra 44 20 11 5 42 79 72 26 33 70 nn Brother 45 12 43 51 21 10 115 200 40 60 nn Biggs 33 10 71 42 21 10 88 95 30 60 nn Wedge 33 57 60 20 40 10 95 82 30 60 nn Scout Lv1 (cost 10) NAME END ATK PAS SHT BLK CAT RNG REC SPD RCH ** Sulla 39 30 10 13 30 57 80 72 30 60 nn Ukyo 61 16 26 31 28 11 78 132 30 55 nn Shu 62 37 39 45 19 16 102 112 30 60 yn Nida 41 40 58 27 56 57 75 105 30 60 nn Hildy 40 21 38 53 42 51 89 113 30 60 nn Balkei 33 74 60 20 53 17 73 99 30 60 nn Ropp 28 40 26 19 56 26 81 78 30 60 nn Scout Lv2 (cost 15) NAME END ATK PAS SHT BLK CAT RNG REC SPD RCH ** Nhadala 26 26 71 17 30 28 120 155 30 60 nn Mep 54 55 55 75 54 29 98 115 30 60 yn Zalitz 52 42 56 28 72 39 91 150 38 60 nn Svanda 26 19 72 11 26 71 111 132 35 70 nn Naida 75 20 56 54 42 28 118 130 30 60 nn Durren 51 31 53 37 79 39 120 154 30 60 nn Jumal 44 94 11 6 60 57 100 70 30 60 nn Scout Lv3 (cost 20) NAME END ATK PAS SHT BLK CAT RNG REC SPD RCH ** Neffe 73 56 51 73 41 31 120 156 30 60 nn Shaami 53 39 29 72 31 19 125 171 30 60 ny Zev R. 31 64 39 42 68 56 92 175 30 60 nn Yuma G. 39 21 37 5 73 40 115 114 30 60 nn Kiyuri 55 95 42 20 21 16 110 136 30 60 nn Hy Alai 38 75 40 16 30 30 130 110 38 60 nn Mifurey 31 28 26 16 18 73 70 192 30 60 yn Scout Lv4 (cost 30) NAME END ATK PAS SHT BLK CAT RNG REC SPD RCH ** Miyu 54 41 41 83 39 38 110 210 30 60 yy Tatts 55 42 39 92 96 41 121 188 30 60 yn Rin 53 27 52 73 52 27 135 152 30 60 nn Cahan 38 51 76 30 74 28 132 200 30 60 nn Forbe 22 31 51 3 93 72 104 168 30 60 nn Atta 28 56 93 29 40 10 110 174 30 60 nn Kwinn 3 4 5 4 2 94 95 23 30 60 ny Scout MAX (cost 40) NAME END ATK PAS SHT BLK CAT RNG REC SPD RCH ** Yuyui 99 99 99 99 99 99 255 255 30 60 nn Auborine 2 4 4 99 2 6 11 11 60 60 nn Lucil 77 77 77 77 77 77 177 177 30 77 yy Maroda 41 27 92 19 29 40 105 158 30 60 nn Isaaru 92 10 96 12 96 10 22 210 30 60 nn Barthello42 20 18 94 31 92 71 90 30 60 ny Dona 52 52 51 54 52 54 84 84 28 60 nn Mini-maxing ----------- Unlike in FFX, where you could keep all the original team members and still have a solid winning combination, managing the Kamomedan requires a bit of savvy and ruthlessness to the members. You WILL have to cut and trade if you ever want to win a league. Mini-maxing is a old RPG term that means minimizing your weak points and maximizing your strengths. Because training a player up to his or her maximum potential takes a very long time, you need to plan ahead, think of what kind of team you want, and waste as few CP as possible on players and stats you won't need. Let's start with the obvious weak links, the Star Wars guys. Although Biggs and Wedge were absolute monsters in the first incarnation of blitzball, they start at rock bottom now and have mediocre maximum stats. Kick them off as soon as you can recruit anyone better. (Even at Scout Level 1, anyone is an improvement.) Buddy is useless except for his ATK, and there are much better players out there, so either give him the boot or have him sit on the sidelines as a backup. Brother is useful if built up because of his speed, but his starting stats suck so bad you may just want to have him warm the bench until you have gobs of CP to spare. The first thing you should do in training is spend as much CP as you can spare to max out Shinra's CAT. It maxes out at 79, and once it gets that high, it will be rare for anyone to score on you, no matter how bad the rest of your team is. The next step is up to you. Usually I improve Paine's SHT, so you can get some points reliably. The next step could be boosting Rikku's BLK and Yuna's PAS, as well other things to round out your defense. It all depends on what kind of team you want. Keep in mind that aside from YuRiPa and Shinra, you will probably not find anyone worth a permanent spot on your team until you achieve Scout Level 4. Feel free to scout for temporary help, but don't spend too many points on them unless you seriously intend on keeping them. One last thing to keep in mind is not to waste CP on stats you don't need. No one except for the goalie needs CAT, for example. In fact, goalies only need CAT, PAS, and RNG. Forwards do not need a lot of PAS or BLK, and defenders do not need SHT. Centers should have a bit of everything (except CAT). Growth pattern -------------- Sent in by William A. Perrotto III, here's a good growrth pattern for methodically maxing out all your player's stats. Note that this method will waste a lot of CP since most of your stats will end up going down (often to zero) before going back up. It's much simpler than waiting for favorable biorythms, however. "Since Non-Goalies do not really need catch that I have seen, I might be wrong but with a team of 0 catch capable non-goalies I kick some serious tail so I assume it's a no brainer." [Editor's note: Correct, Catch is useless for non-goalies. Have no fear in lowering it to zero.] 4. [+Pas / -End] 2. [+End / -Blk] 6. [+Blk / -Rng] 9. [+Rng / -Atk] 3. [+Atk / -Cat] End with max main stats but 0 catch. "Since Goalies do not really need strength, like above my goalies have 0 strength but I have seen no adverse effects from it but my goalies can stop nigh everything that passes their way:" [Editor's note: The only things that matter for goalies are CAT, PAS, and RNG. The first is for blocking shots, and the other two are for getting the ball to your players. END and BLK are not needed whatsoever.] 7. [+Cat / -Pas] 4. [+Pas / -End] 2. [+End / -Blk] 6. [+Blk / -Rng] 9. [+Rng / -Atk] End with max main stats but 0 attack "Only Shoot and Receive are left to tweak after the above but with their direct influence on each other they are left to the player to pick and choose their values." [Editor's note: For tweaking SHT and REC, read the part about biorythms in the Training section of this FAQ.] Specials -------- There are a few oddball abilities in blitzball that I've decided to lump together under the heading "specials." A sparse few characters come with special abilities, represented by stars next to their name. Most or perhaps all of them are special shooting abilities that make them much more valuable (and also fun to watch) than other players. If you have one of these players, keep his or her MOR high for important games so the special move will occur more often. The one you will see most frequently is the corckscrew shot. The player will do a jumping spin move and release the ball at high speed. These seem to connect more often than normal shots, but other than that I can't say for sure what it does. The other common special is the volley shot. Similar to the volley shot in FFX's blitzball, if the ball is passed (or fumbled) towards the player at the right angle, the player will immediately shoot it at the goal. There are a couple of variations of this, including the overhead volley shot which looks pretty damn cool. FYI- All of the forwards on the Al Bhed Pysches team have one or both of these specials. Did I mention I hate them? Fortunately, you can enhance your otherwise ordinary team members by winning special moves and better stats through training. Once you assign a special training prize to your player, he or she will leave the team (for secret training I suppose) and you will have to go re-sign them in the Scout menu. Here are the special moves I've seen so far: -Besaid Waterfall Shot. This gives the player a gold star and the ability to do volley shots. -Killika Stairs training. This apparently gives the player a greenish star and the ability to do the corckscrew shot. There are also special abilities that you can win which raise the upper limit of a player's stats. These are called "Intensive Training." For example, if you win the CAT intensive training and give it to Shinra, you will be able to raise his CAT attribute to 99 rather than just 79. There are intensive training prizes available for every stat, though some are harder to come across than others. Note: Special shots seem to happen much less (if at all) when playing in Overhead view mode. This may actually be used to your advantage, forcing the game into a battle of raw stats and denying special-heavy teams (i.e. the Psyches) their greatest strength. Teamwork -------- Teamwork is a kind of ambiguous thing. Supposedly, players who are paired up with teamwork will work together more efficiently. For example, a defender with a high teamwork rating with a forward seems more likely to pass to that forward, and more likely to connect with passes even if PAS and REC are on the low side. More importantly, forwards who are teamed up are more likely to do special tricks like volley shots. Teamwork levels can go up to 100, though how much benefit such a high level gives is anyone's guess. No one ever loses fatigue from Teamwork training, so it's something to spend extra CP on once you have maxed out your players. Version changes --------------- Apparently, there were some changes made in the US version, possibly including some stats for the players. It’s no big deal, however. The major things are the name changes (most already corrected in the stats chart, but I prefer Tatts as Tatsu because Tatsu means dragon, and dragons are bad-ass. Uh, yeah. Also, he looks like a member of the Dragon Clan from the game Legend of the Five Rings...) ----- Teams ----- This section will cover the different teams you can face, as well as strategies to beat them, and player-made teams. Note that there is a SPOILER a bit further, so you may want to skip over this section unless you’ve finished the game or have heard from someone else what the other secret team is. Opposing teams -------------- Kamomedan: A.k.a. Gullwings. This is your team. You start off weak, and any team will be a challenge at first. Luca Goers: The Goers are back and stronger than ever. They have well above average stats in all categories, and tend to do volley shots and other tricks a lot. Kilika Beasts: The Chicago Cubs of blitzball. Their stats are so pathetic that even your starting team is a good match for them. Al Bhed Psyches: I hate the Psyches. They are hugely overpowered, and most if not all of their forwards have special shots. Good luck even getting the ball to their side of the field. Ronso Fangs: A fairly difficult team to beat unless you metagame against them. They all have very high endurance and good attack, so you need to flank them with quick moves and passing. Guado Glories: A step up from the Beasts, but still easily beaten. They have an excellent passing game, but if you have good blockers and characters with high attack, they're no problem. Besaid Aurochs: Yes, the legendary Aurochs are in the game. All of their stats are above average, and they have some very strong offense in Wakka and Beclem. You’ll need to get an Episode Complete in Besaid to enable them, and then win the right to face them in a tournament. If you beat them, you earn the right to trade with them. Zanarkand Abes: Since apparently everyone knows already, I’ve lifted the spoiler on this team. According to most sources, you must complete the game once with the “good ending” and in your second time through, the right to face them will appear as a prize. And like the Aurochs, if you beat them, you earn the right to trade with them. Player-made teams ----------------- Send in your best or most interesting team setup, and I'll post it here with due credit. My current team: (updated with new formation) "Gulls of Prey" 2-2-3 Formation Play style: varies Tatsu Miyu Paine Yuyui Lucil Yuna Rikku Shinra (Brother and Zeb Ronso on the bench) This team seems pretty well balanced, with a very effective offense. As my players' stats are maxed (after 60 or so games... whew...) nearly any play style works well with them. I changed to 2-2-3 formation in order to get as many shooters near the goal as possible and abuse the volley shot. (Thanks to a little training, Paine now has 96 END, 255 REC, and the overhead volley.) Note that this setup requires NO TRADING and very little intensive training, so that it’s a good bet for anyone who doesn’t feel like spending the rest of their natural lives on this game. I have Yuyui and Lucil as centers, because with extremely high stats on everything, they are best as "jacks of all trades." (Or is that "jills of all trades?") I already have a devestating offense, so these two make a good offensive/defensive swing combination. Yuna and Rikku provide cover and can flank the opposing team and make deep passes to my forwards. Shinra has the CAT special training, and 99 CAT. This will probably be my permanent team, unless I am able to get a trade and pick up Wakka (for old times sake). ----- Devlyn Brown's team: "Amy's Vengeance" [formerly Seraphim’s Vengeance] Playing Style: The default 4-2-1 Center Attack. I figure since it only takes one person to score (and Yuyui always scores), I might as well have everyone else as close to my own goal as possible to get the 7-0 shutout. Formation: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 1. Yuyui (Scout Level MAX) - Her max stats go up to 99/255, so she doesn't require "intensive training." I did send her off for the Kilika Stairway and Besaid Waterfall Training to get the Yellow and Redish/Green Stars (special shots). As a forward, she quite often catches opponent's passes or tackles them, and follows it up with a goal. 2. & 3. Lucil (S.L. MAX) and Miyu (S.L. 4) - They are the only players you can scout that originally have both special shots. So naturally, they should belong as the centers (which act like back up forwards). I put them both through intensive training - SHT, END, ATK, REC. This raises their max SHT, etc, mostly to 99/255 (unless if their original max was below 50, i.e., Miyu's original max ATK = 41). 4. & 5. Tatts (S.L. 4) and Mep (S.L. 2) - Both of their original max stats are well-rounded and close to 50, so after intensive training-ATK, END, etc., they are pretty powerful. 6. & 7. Yuna and Rikku - I suppose I kept them because I felt kind of guilty cutting most of the other team members. They weren't as bad as say Biggs or Wedge. After intensive training, they become much more efficient at defending. 8. Kwinn (S.L. 4) - I use Kwinn because he has the highest natural max for CAT (94!), and I haven't come across an Intensive Training - CAT. As soon as I do, I will hire Svanda (S.L. 2) and give her the Intensive Training. She has the highest PAS, 72, out of the players you can scout with a CAT of at least 50 (which will double to 99). I keep everyone's cooperation points at 100 with everyone else. This tends to increase volleys (which usually always make a goal assuming your players have 99 shot). Before every game, I raise everyone's Morale to 99 (nothing else to do with 3000 CP a game). I try not to ever use the "critical gauge" (so I never have to use "Downtime/Hotsprings") so I can keep everyone's practice command set for "Pep talk" with 9 command points, and just hit practice once or twice in between each game. ----- Kaji's team: "Mercy Killers" Team Formation: 2-2-3 Play Style: Post Play Neffe Shaami Mep Nida Zalitz Ropp Jumal Mifurey FW- Neffe: Neffe doesn't have any skills like Shu, but his SHT is remarkably high. Mep: If Mep gets to shoot a fumbled ball or a ball thrown at his direction, he might do an overhead volley. And his SHT is high. Shaami: I love her Corkskrew Shot and her high SHT. MF- Nida and Zalitz: The new combination that gives to the FW. Zalitz had hight stats than Wedge. DF- Ropp and Jumal: The backup for Nida and Zalitz. Jumal replaced Rikku with his high stats. Goalie- Mifurey: I have never seen anyone with a high CAT of 29. [Editor's note: Kwinn from Scout level 4 starts with even higher, and has a much better max stat...] Death Kitty’s team: "Youth League" Formation: 2-2-3 Lucil Miyu Paine Yuna Rikku Durren Yuyui Kwinn (or Dona) Strategy: Post Play Basically, this team contains members of the Youth League...or at least those with sprites that resemble Youth League Members. I can generally beat out any team 7 to nothing, even the Psyches...though they DO sometimes score once or twice on me. Durren isn't normally that great, but with an Intensive Training--ATK, he's a good defender. And since Yuyui doesn't have any special shots, I put her as a defender too. Paine has a Corkscrew shot that she learned from a Kilika something-or-other training lesson, and the main strategy my players use is passing the ball to her so that she can score. Every now and then Miyu or Lucil score instead, but that's the least of my worries. If you want to substitue Dona for Kwinn, make sure to max out her Catch with an intensive training session first...like I did. Yuna and Rikku I use for intercepting passes made by the opposing team. Their ATK stats are too low for them to really be defensemen in my opinion...but with the ability to intercept and great passing stats, their perfect as midfieldmen...er...women. ----- Tom LeValley’s team: “Sub-Max Wings” Formation: 3-1-3 Paine Neffe Mep Tatts Yuna/Rikku Balkei Zalitz Shinra I switched from a 1-3-3 formation when I got in a game against the Al Bhed that lasted well over 20 minutes, due to Paine's Injury. (No one would shoot) I like having people up the middle, in case of long shots. Zalitz has grabbed more than a few opening game shots. ReLiC's Team Formation: 3-1-3 Center Attack *=Overhead Volley !=Corkscrew Shot Paine*! Blappa*! Abes Ace*! Tatts* Lakkam! Sazam Lucil*! Svanda Paine: Has Corkscrew Shot and Overhead Volley with END and REC training. I only use her because i had put many special trainings and abilities into her and couldn't let her go. After the above trainings she becomes a great shooter. Abes Ace: Hell he doesn't need anything else. Bow fools! Star Player of the Zanarkand Abes is mine! Blappa: Has RNG training. This guy improved a lot from FFX. He's so annoying, i just had to have him on my team. Tatts: PAS training. Makes and excellent midfielder b/c of his high BLK and PAS. Surprisingly, he will sometimes score from midfield when the opponent lets their guard down. Lakkam: BLK and REC training. Legendary defender for the Al Bhed Psyches. She's even better in this game. I can't tell you how many times i wanted to injure her, but now she's mine! Sazam: BLK and RNG training. Mad high attack and with the proper training, no one will ever get past her. Lucil: ATK and END training. She's awesome with (1)77 in all stats and 77 RCH making her an ideal defender. Svanda: CAT training. I use her because she has 99 CAT, high PAS, and doesn't cost much to hire. NOTE: I don't like Yuyui. Her stats reminds me too much of Orlandu (the god-like character in FFT who took all the fun out of everything). ----- Nick C’s team: Hokuten (Bonus points if you recognize the name) [Editor’s note: It means “Northern Sky” and is a reference to FFT, among other things.] Formation: 2-2-3 Play Style: Post Play (WIP!) 1. Paine 2. Brother 3.Yuna 4. Buddy 5. Miyu 6.Rikku 7. Wakka 8. Shinra (Lucil on bench, gaining stats) Alright. This is my team, it's currently under construction. Paine, with her godly 92 shot is in one of the front positions just waiting to score. Yuna's shot is good enough to get her the top scorer award most of the time, but generous as she is, she tends to set Paine and Brother up for volleys, which they claim and score with. Brother's shot is decent enough to keep him in front, but he's mostly there to get the ball quick off of possessions thanks to his speed. Buddy and Miyu are my centers, mostly to keep the ball moving forward, although Miyu has scored a few with her corkscrew shot. Buddy will be replaced with Lucil later (I just can't use Yuyui, it just feels like cheating... Kinda like using Jecht Shot 2 from my goal in FFX.) Rikku's 82 BLK and 78 PAS keep her as one of my defense players, although she doesn't get too many balls from attacking. That's alright, because with her BLK she doesn't need to. Wakka's mostly back there only because I wanted him, but there's no room for him in the front lineup of my team, although I may switch him with Brother for a few games to see what comes of it. One of the reasons he's in the back is because I needed someone with the END to hold on to the ball long enough to get it to the middle players. Shinra is my goalie after taking on the Intensive Training: CAT. Well, that's my team! Current Beasts called game record: 1:30:26. Alright. Now my "review" of the formation 2-2-3. Formation 2-2-3, also known appreciatively by me as the "They can't block 3 guys at once, can they?" formation is made for getting volley chances and keeping as many players near the opposing goal as possible. With the three shooters, you've almost always got someone open near the goal to shoot. With the 2 in the middle, you've got some great players who can play offense or defense, and usually are used to move the ball between the zones. Often, the front players will pass back to them to manuever into better position. Using 2 defenders can sometimes lead to scoring opportunities, so high BLK stats are recommended, as well as a good goalie. However, once you've gotten the ball into opposing territory, you're almost guaranteed a goal. This formation works very well with the Post Play style, as the middle players will pass to the center, who will set up the two wings for overhead volleys, either allowing a volley or an easy way to set up a shot after they've claimed the ball. Center Attack works OK, but the challenge with CA is to get the ball past the halfway point or your players will just pass the ball around. ----- AresKaminari’s team: "Dischord and Chaos" Formation: 2-3-2 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 1. Paine (Max-stats, except for Cat..duh). I generally like to keep main characters on my team, just because I'd feel bad. Paine's a great forward, 92 shot, just needs a little intensive endurance and she'll be set. 2. Miyu (soon to be "Star Player"). Great round stats, has both special shots. As much as it's cool to have special shots, you really don't need them. Corkscrew shot is probably the best, since I don't miss my shots anyway...so overhead volley doesn't help me much. 3.Wakka. He's a good player, but not high enough shot to be a forward, but he can hold onto that ball for his dear life with 70+ endurance. Mostly there for emotional attachment..^^; 4.Yuyui. As much as people like to stick this goddess of blitz as a forward, I like her as a mid-fielder, so she does a bit of everything. 5.Rikku. What can I say, she's a main character. She's a decent mid-fielder. And if you add in Intensive Shot Training...She'll have 90 shot. 6.Lucil. She has both shots...big deal. I just wanted somebody solid in the back to hold down the fort. I wasn't about to let Yuyui sit back here and waste away. 7.Cahan = higher atk version of Yuna...so if I always keep all my main characters..where's Yunie? 8.Yuna...she's a goalie! With the elusive Intensive Training - Cat, She goes from 65 to 99 cat. With higher pass than even Svanda (Devlyn's choice): 72 to 84. Yunie also has a higher range. Betcha you didn't think Yuna would be a good goalie huh? Now get the teamwork stats high up, this team will volley and pass like crazy. Rikku loves to do this upper-left corner volley to Paine right in front of the goal..never seen it intercepted. I love it because anybody of the five (MFs or Fs) can just volley to another. I've seen Paine to Miyu, Rikku to Wakka across the whole sphere, Yuyui to Paine from half-court straight up..it's nuts. Oh and just to help, if you're attempting to duplicate this team, it helps to have your teamwork stats highest with somebody with high shot (like Paine) until everybody's maxed. ----- Razorice0007's Team: “Razorice0007's Unbeatable Team” Formation: 2-3-2 Play Style: Post Play or Long Feed 1. 2. Bench: 9. 3. 4. 5. 10. 6. 7. 11. 8. Forwards: [1. Paine] (Original Gullwings, or Komodean, Team) - I put her in Besaid Waterfall training, and Kilika Stairway training, but didn't see the need for intensive..... I like her max 92 SHT, her high, or kinda high, END, and the fact that she only cost 3 cmd pts. [2. Tatts] (Scout Level 4) - yes, I'm an idiot, I wasted a training on him and put him through both trainings.... blah. Anyway, I didnt bother with the intensive training.... His 92 SHT was good enough plus he is a well balanced midfielder, but he has his low spots which are made up by SHT and END, plus, all my spots were filled up anyway... Midfielders: [3. Yuyui] (scout Level 5, or Max) - 99/255 everything!!!!!!!!!!! Why have him on just Defence or just Offence when he is good at all??? Yes I put him in Besaid Training (BT) and Kilika Training (KT) because midfielders do make shots and Volleys every now and then... [4.Lucil] (Scout Level 5) - yes you guessed it, 77/177 max stats and both skills already learned is what I like as a midfield, even stats are really good... [5. Mep] - He's my center midfield and doesn't really shoot so i figgured volley shot is all he really needs if he does shoot. he has 50's in all and 78 SHT so He wold be a good forward but I like him as a Midfielder. Defenders: [6. Rikku] (Original Team) Well first of all, I wanted to keep the "Saviours of Spira" together and her stats make for a good Defender. I use her for her PAS and her BLK which are both high.....END is not really a Defender factor but is always needed.......and you always have her 3 gil contract ^_^ [7. Jummal] (Scout Level 2) Short and simple, his godly ATK and his BLK is really good too. See? Simple. Goalkeeper: [8. Yuna (omg!)] (Original Team) first of all, I'm used Intense Training on her CAT to boost it up to 99, so she has the best CAT a goaly can have.... some people say Kwinn is best and other ppl say boost up Svanda, Yuna has best PAS/RNG with CAT over 50, so she, after Intense Training, is clearly the best aside from Yuyui. My team is fairly well balenced, especially the Midfielders. The Forwards have max stats wit SHT at 92 each..... The Mids are very well balenced, the Defenders are a team because one has PAS and one has BLK, but both have about the same BLK and END. The Goalkeeper, I already explained, 99 CAT, high PAS and high RNG. And lastly, the bench. [9. Kwinn] (Scout Level 4) has good CATand is my back up Goal Keeper, [10. Zev Ronso] (Scout Level 3) is a back up Defender and last, and least, [12. Biggs] (Original Team) Short and sweet, when Second or Third is better than First. (My Want-To-Lose Goalkeeper) ----- Pai Johnson’s team: “Divine Intervention” formation: 3-1-3 playstyle: varies shuu shammi paine rikku lucil tatts dona yuyui w/some teamwork they make awesome offense and almost impentrable defense. w/the exception of maybe al bhed pysches, aurochs and posssibly the abes. the formentioned teams will not get trounced however at the very least u shouldnt lose ----- JustinDB47’s team: “Player Haters” Formation: 3-1-3 Play style: Post Play Pro's: I havent lost with this team since I got them were I wanted, I went 8-0-2 (tied with the Al Bhed and Luca) in my last league play, never lost a tournement except when I went for the Aurochs) And with the right use of the Adrenelin gauge I can 7-0 Kilika, Guago, and Ronso, and Luca (sometimes) Cons: My players are very position oriented, and a weak bench, injuries cost games against luca or Al Bhed. Shaami Tatts Auborine Hy Alai Kiyuri Jumal Durren Mifurey Shaami- Max Shot, high REC and END Tatts- High SHT and BLK Auborine- Max SHT, working on other stats Hy Alai- Max PAS and RNG, high ATK, 30+ Teamwork with everyone Kiyuri- Max ATK, high END PAS RNG and REC Jumal- Max ATK, High END PAS RNG BLK Durren- Max PAS and BLK, high RNG Mifurey- Max CAT, OK PAS and RNG Bench Yuna- Ok pass, 20+ teamwork with everyone, comes in for Hy Alai Rikku- High BLK, Ok PAS, comes in for DF Injurys Paine- OK SHT and REC, used when Auborine cant take the hits Dona- Ok in EVERY stat, used to cover Injurys, 10+ Teamwork with everyone ----- UltimaWeapon747's Team: "The All-Spiran Rejects" Formation: 2-2-3 Play Style: Post Play Abes Ace Paine Yuna Kiyuri Rikku Lucil Yuyui Zev Ronso *Above is my usual team (I tend to subsitute players every now and then) *All players have natural maxed out stats, and all have gone through the necessary Intensive Training sessions so that they can be used in any position (only Zev Ronso, Yuna, Lucil, Yuyui, Tatts, and Miyu can be used properly as goalies though.) *All players have Overhead Volley and Corkscrew Shot, so they're able to make goals *Using Adrenaline ISN'T NECESSARY when using any of the players. Just raise each starting player's Morale to 99 and they'll do fine. And they'll still play well without high Morale. 1. Abes Ace: He's always there to back up Yuna when she can't make the goal. When playing in Default/Visual mode, Yuna will set him up for Overhead Volleys. 2. Yuna: She's my main girl. She's used to do everything, acting as a shooter, defender, or attacker when she's used as a center forward. So she makes a great CF. She's usually taking most of the shots in Overhead Mode, but usually setting up Abes Ace and Paine in Default/Visual mode. 3. Paine: She's always there to back up Yuna when she can't make the goal. When playing in Default/Visual mode, Yuna will set her up for Overhead Volleys. 4. Kiyuri: She's my main attacker. She works well with Abes Ace, Yuna, Paine, and Rikku because she passes to them the most. 5. Rikku: She's my main midfielder. She will steal the ball once in a while, and intercept many of the incoming shots/passes. Kiyuri, Lucil, and Yuyui are there to back her up when she doesn't intercept or steal. 6. Lucil / 7. Yuyui: The two of them act as my strongwall. They're incredible defenders who can get the job done. Lucil works a bit better though, as she has a higher defensive reach and she intercepts more of the passes/shots than Yuyui. 8. Zev Ronso: With the necessary Intensive Training, he makes a great goalie. He's my main goalie Substitutes: 9. Tatts: Along with Miyu, he's my main substitute attacker, defender, midfielder, and goalie. Used more as a forward though. 10. Miyu: Along with Tatts, she's my main substitute attacker, defender, midfielder, and goalie. Used more as a forward though. 11. Wakka: He's mainly focused as a forward. He makes an excellent shooter now, with his Intensive Training for SHT and RNG, and uses Corkscrew Shot. 12. Brother: Man, get the ball to him, and he makes another excellent shooter. Brother's high speed gets him closer to the goal than the other forwards, so it makes it easier for him to shoot Side notes *I don't use Adrenaline when playing (unless I wanna lay the smackdown on the opposing players). I just raise everyone's Morale to 99, and it's good enough for me. I can go for a 7-0 shutout with any team except for the Zanarkand Abes. The Abes are still an excellent team even with high stats. *I used Scrimage A LOT to max everyone's (except for Barthello's and Shinra's) stats. Didn't matter if it greatly raised their Fatigue, since I had Hot Springs. *I score a lot easier when playing in Overhead Mode, since the main focus in that mode is stats. ----- Ian Chisholm’s team (no name given) Formation: 3-1-3 Abes Ace Wakka Beclem Yuna Isaaru Maroda Ropp Mifurey As you can see I have the Ace of the Abes, Tidus or Abes Ace, and not 100%, you just need the good ending even the online guide of http://square-enix-usa.com/seui/index.htm agrees. ----- Angie Wall’s team “Spira Ultimates” Formation: 2-3-3 ....Ace.....Bicksen. ...Lucil....Yuiyu .......Pretus Sazum...........Larkam .........Yuna everyone has both special shots and every needed intensive training to bring their stats up as far as possible, except for catch. only Yunie's got that. she's got all the int trn. now there could be some substitutions (Berrik for Yuna, a number of players for Ace) this is a killer team. plus i couldn't bring myself to split up Ace and Yuna. Goers are in shambles w/ level 1 players in place of Pretus and Bicksen, and a goalie of 0. same w/ Psches. Nimrook has 0 catch and Judda has every stat at 0, except reach and speed of course. and Blappa will forever grace my bench. this took longer to do than 1 1/2 games! estimate 60 hours. ----- Jenova Lee's team "Jecht Disciples" 3-1-3 Formation Play Style: Post-Play (If Tied or Winning) Center Attack or Short Pass (If Losing) Blappa Miyu Shaami (Yuna or Mep) Lucil Lakkam Yuyui Kwinn All my players are maxed out except for my second-string players they are at minimal levels. This way I can get any place in league or tournaments as needed. LF- Blappa- Gotta love the trade feature. High endurance, High Shot, Above Average Pass. Range and Rec are adequate. Main thing is it weakens the Al Bhed and levels the playing field. Bonus is he also has both special shots CF- Shaami- She is my leading scorer. Quick passes from Yuna or Mep to Shaami almost always gets a score. For 20 CP you can't go wrong. RF- Miyu- Second leading scorer and first one on my squad to have 100 teamwork/cooperation for everyone including replacement players. High Shot and Rec mixed with mid-level Endurance, Attack and Pass. She's even got both special shots. MF- Yuna (If winning)- High Pass and descent Range. I had to keep her in the mix just because I believe any team should have at least one original Gullwing. MF- Mep (If Losing and trying to come back)- Middle of the line all the way, but not bad. Mep got special training to get both shots and got intensive training for Rec and Range. LDF- Lucil- Above Average on every stat. 2nd in command of Youth League how could you not want her. CDF- Yuyui- Maxed in every sense of the word. In my opinion this position is as important if not more than goaltender. If you block the shot then Catch has nothing to do with anything. She's also the play starter in my formation. RDF- Lakkam- Another trade to weaken those Al Bhed Scum. High Attack, Mid- Level Pass and Block. GL- Kwinn- High Catch, but pathetic if I hadn't used intensive training on Pass, Range, and Catch. I wanted a kid but I hate Shinra because of the way he used to beat me at Sphere Break. He is also the reason I didn't get 100% my first way through. This kept me from The Zanarkand Abes for the first game. All my players are maxed out except for Ropp, Balkei, and Shu. These are the players I use when I wanna lose for certain obvious reasons. My philosophy on Blitz is Great Defense plus above average offense, plus one good mid-fielder equals getting 7-0 on every team, multiple times. On one Spira League season, I got the maximum 70 goals with the Gullwings. 52 of these were scored by Shaami. I forgot to mention that teamwork is important to me as well so all my players are at 100 cooperation with every other player. Before I start match I lower Fatigue and raise Morale. I haven't strayed to much from my formula, but I will play different styles and formations if i wanna lose. The only challenge left is to see how fast I can get to seven. On one occasion against the Kilika Beasts I did it in 1:58 seconds. ----- KANEC326’s team “THE 241 LAY OUT” Formation: 3-2-2 Play Style: all caps, apparently... ABES ACE-(WORKING ON STATS) MIYU-(MAX STATS) LUCIL-(MAX STATS) BUDDY-(MAX STATS) DONA-(MAX STATS) CAHHAN-(MAX STATS) TATTS-(MAX STATS) YUNA-(99 CAT) BARTHELLO-(WORKING ON STATS) ZONDI RONSO-(WORKING ON STATS) ISAARU-(WORKING ON STATS) MARODA-(WORKING ON STATS) ----- Brett’s team “Winged Victory” Formation: 3-3-1(a), 3-1-3(b) Play Style: Center Attack(a), Post Play (b) Yuyui Bench: Miyu Tatts (or Tatsu :)) Mep Lucil Shaami Zev R. Zalitz Paine Rikku Yuna Yuyui: Simply amazing. 100 Teamwork with everyone, so he's volleyin' all over the place. With Kilika Stairway and Besaid Waterfall training, he's always the top scorer. Miyu: Intensive SHT. Kinda greedy, taking that shot when he can. Always makes it, though. Tatts: Great blocking as well as great shot. Lucil: With all those lucky sevens, you know she's bound to succeed. Intensive SHT and REC. (Anyone else think she looks better in the water than in person?) Zev Ronso: This big boy has Intensive ATK, so you better move outta the way, foo. Zalitz: A decent defender with low cost. Rikku: Couldn't let her go, but her BLK and PAS are both pretty darn good. A sexy swimmer, if you ask me. YUNA!: As seen in a few other teams, the big Y-U-N-A is seated permanently at goalie with her Intensive CAT. Plus, she looks good. Mep and Shaami: Good backups in case someone else gets hurt, each with a different special shot. Paine: Couldn't let her go either, but she's just not up to par with the others. She's got Waterfall training, just in case she makes a grand entrance. Note: Using no adrenaline guage whatsoever, this team can 7-0 every opponent, with the exception of sometimes the Psyches (usually around 6-0) and the Aurochs (5 or 6-0). Haven't gotten those Abes yet, but they'll just wait for me. ----- Lionus Prime’s team “The Anti-Psyche Regime” Formation: 2-2-3 Players: Brother Wakka Paine Lucil Yuyui Yuna Rikku Shinra All their stats are maxxed out, and paine has been intensely trained on REC. Yeah, I know, you're all thinking 'Brother?!' but hey, he's my favourite character! He sort of reminds me of me... ^^; and as soon as Intensive Training - SHT comes up as a prize, his shot'll be 99, and his END's pretty good too, he's at least on a par with Paine as a forward after the intense SHT training! I've built up 100 teamwork between certain pairs: Rikku<=>Yuyui Yuna<=>Lucil Lucil<=>Brother Yuyui<=>Wakka Paine<=>Wakka, Brother I do this to take advantage of the left side/right side tactics. The 100 trust/cooperation between each flank means that when i'm on left side tactics, i's less likely someone'll randomly pass it accross their defence to set up a volley on the right (as would happen with max coorperation all round) and have the ball intercepted. Once it's past their defence to Wakka or Brother, however, they can set a volley up to Paine bang in front of the goal when the defence come running... err, swimming after the guy with the ball. I've been experimenting and this is the best team i've found to take on the Psyches. Since setting this up, i've never failed to beat them! I can 7 - 0 the Beasts 100% of the time, Fangs 100%, Glories kind of irritate me... all their passing means I hardly ever score quickly enough to 7-0 them, the Goers about 60%, and when I don't it's always 5 or 6 nil and on one legendary occasion I 7 - 0'd the Psyches! I kid you not, it is NOT impossible! You just need to injure Blappa during the first minute of the game and then have another series of flukes... ^^; The formation and positions are pretty darn fine, too. With a 77 attack midfielder one side and a 99 attack midfielder the other, if an opponent manages to get the ball past my forwards, they're not getting much further, and with 77 and 99 block, they needn't think they're pulling off a long pass through the middle! Another strength is that the midfielders can get off a decent shot themselves if there's no forward open to give the ball to - as a matter of fact, Lucil is my top scorer where she is, but when I tried her up front, her goals became less frequent and my defence got weaker, so I put her back! One drawback is against the Glories... 2-2-3 is easy to pass around once you're past the line of strikers because of how central it is, but Shinra's more than capable to deal with the shots they do manage to get off, and then he gives it to Rikku or Yuna and two passes and a goal generally tend to follow. Every league I 10 - 0 - 0 with these guys, but there is one other problem... Having 3 strikers and 2 shot-happy midfielders makes it kind of hard to have one solid scorer, and it kind of blows your chances of getting a 'top scorer' prize in tournaments! ----- Joe de Casanove's team: "The Spira Dominators" Playing Style: 2-3-3 Post Play (although I usually use Post Play I tend to vary it to suit my situation) Formation- Tatts Miyu Atta Dona Kiyuri Jumal Zev Ronso Yuna Bench- Yuyui Lucil Forward- I use 2 because I love vollys and it seems that more are carried out if you use two forwards. Tatts: I did Kilika Stairway on him so he has both specials (he starts of with vollys anyway). He and Miyu are constantly performing vollys (I try to keep my teams teamwork at 100 with everyone). He can withstand most defender's tackle attempts. Also with a BLK of 96 he occasionally blocks a pass out from a keeper and scores. Miyu: she (or he im not 100% sure) already has both specials and with intensive SHT training a SHT of 99. Shes a supurb forward with endurance high enough to withstand most defenders. Midfield- I feel with midfield that any more that 2 is unecessary. With 2 I have enough to tackle the other team from the middle or recieve from the defense and pass on to the forwards. Atta: Her PAS is extremly high and she can tackle most players. Thats all I really need her for. Dona: Shes good all round and she tends to do alot of swimming around the whole sphere I've noticed (defending, shooting and midfielding) so I put her in the middle, then she can get to the front or the back easily or just stay put and pass to the attackers. Defense- I use 3 defenders because it's not too much nor too little. The left and the right protect their sides or close in on the center forward and tackle them while the middle just blocks anything that comes his way or tackles if a forward comes near. Kiyuri: Very high ATK, although his BLK is poor. I don't really need him to block anything though because Yuna is 99 CAT (Intensive Training) and Zev Ronso is right in front of her with 99 BLK (Intesive Training). Jumal: Also has very high ATK and his BLK isn't half bad. Zev Ronso: With a good ATK and 99 BLK with intensive training he's unstoppable (or should I say he makes the unstopable stoppable?) What more is there to say? Goalkeeper- Yuna: With (and I'll say it 1 more time) intensive training her CAT is 99 and her PAS is 84 so she is by far the best passer out of the best keepers... is that makes sense :-\ Bench- I don't like to use Yuyui and Lucil too much because they are just too darn good, so since they are good all rounders I leave them on the bench in case of injury. ------------ Wakka's tips ------------ "E komo mai! Dis hea da 'Wakka's Tips' section. I give you plenny hints from da no ka'oi kanaka blitza! What you mean, I talk funny? Ho, you like beef, haole?" On the Besaid Aurochs: "Brah, you like play da Aurochs or somethin'? I gotta take care of my new keiki, so my team not gonna enter da Spira League right away. First, you gotta see da event when I name her. You know, get 'Episode Complete.' Den you gotta win 'Right to play da Aurochs' from a tourney or whatevers. It always stay da second place prize, so you betta lose once. Teach you some humility, ya?" On the other secret team: "No can play dis team first time through. You gotta get da good ending first, and den start one 'New Game +' before dey show up. Den you jus' win da kine 'Right to Play' prize for 'em." On enhancing your team: "When you start blitzball, you team kinda shetty. No stay good like dat, brah. Jus' play plenny games against da Kilika Beasts. Get choke CP and start training. In da mean time, no worries if you hire some rookies." Scout Level 1 picks: "Not too much good here, but hey, dey cheap. I recommend Shu for one forward, 'cuz he get one special move. Balkei stay pretty good on defense." Scout Level 2 picks: "Get Zalitz if you need one good blocker. Pretty fast too, dat guy. Mepp get one special and pretty good stats too." Scout Level 3 picks: "Da big blue guy Zev Ronzo, he stay one solid defender. Kiyuri get better ATK, but junk for BLK." Scout Level 4 picks: "Ho, lots of ono picks here. Miyuu get good SHT and two special moves. Not bad, ya? Tatts get super-high SHT, super-high BLK, and a special. And if you need one betta goalie, Kwinn probably da best in da game." Scout Level MAX picks: "Kinda weird, dese guys. Yuyui start at all 1's fo' stats, but can get everything to 99. Lucil like dat too, but she start wit' 7's and two specials. Auborine start wit' 99 SHT and mad speed, but hard to use, dat guy." On fatigue: "No good if you push your players too hard, ya? Give 'em time to hang loose after every time they get tired." On the ATK stat: "Except for da goalie, everybody on da team should hit da sandbag. Some guy take da ball from you, whoeva it is, you jus' bust 'em in da mouth an' take it right back, das' why." On blockers: "Even with CAT 99, sometimes a goalie can mess up and miss a shot. Put any kine guys wit' high BLK in front on defense. Lotta times if da other team shoots, dey can grab da ball outta da air-- uh, water." On the adrenaline gauge: "No need push your team too hard if dey got da ball, unless you down and need a score. If da odda team got it, crank it up a couple stars. Maybe you can get one critical tackle!" On how to do volley shots: "So you wanna do volley shots, ya? OK, four tings you gotta keep in mind-- Formation, Play Style, Teamwork and Morale. For get one volley, da passer gotta be in front of or to da side of da shooter. No can do volleys from behind, brah. So use one formation wit 3 forwards, so dey can toss the ball around between 'em. As fo' style, Post Play is the best if you want volley shots. Next is Teamwork. If all your forwards get high Teamwork with each other, they set each other up way more. Das' probably da biggest key. One last ting is Morale. More Morale means more chance to get one special shot, including volleys. Give your players Pep Talk to boost it before da big game." -------------- Special Thanks -------------- -Jonakon for confirming that you don't actually have to play a game of blitzball to initiate the mission in Luca -Angelcient for telling me about Scrimmage before I had gotten it -Tallguy077 for informing me that blitzball stats do carry over in a New Game + -William A. Perrotto III for the player growth patterns -HurleySurf4333 for finding the "Trade Privileges" prize -F.I. Remeeus for a good tip about resting -Devlyn Brown for telling me about Hot Springs, Defender, Midfielder, and Forward, providing details on special shots, and an interesting use for trading -Nick C. for providing the English version training option names -Robert Ursem for telling me the additional requirement for the Aurochs to appear- the Story Level 5 event in Besaid. -Jade Kenni for Shu's max PAS in the US version -Craig Colquhoun for more changes in the US version -GeneralRamuh for the correction on max Teamwork (100, not 99) -YRP Nova for some more name translations -Tom LeValley for more name translations -AresKaminari for reminding me that you can re-sign traded players -Brad Lapalme for some name corrections -Jeffrey Park for the tip about overhead mode affecting special shots -The following people for their teams: Devlyn Brown, Nick C., Kaji, Death Kitty, Tom LeValley, ReLiC, Ares Kaminari, Pai Johnson, JustinDB47, UltimaWeapon747, Ian Chisholm, Angie Wall, Jenova Lee, KANEC326, Brett, Lionus Prime, Joe de Casanove ---------- Legal Info ---------- This document is copyright 2003 by Jack Power. It is not to be used for profit in any way. If you wish to reference part of it in your own guide, please ask. Final Fantasy X, FFX-2, blitzball, and all related characters are property of Square-Enix.