Hey Duders,

Here is the latest Baby Deep Look! My usual Deep Look videos focus in on a cool gameplay mechanic or story element from a game I have played the heck out of, in the hopes that I can share what makes that mechanic so cool. This Baby Deep Look is just as deep as a normal video, but I focus on a mechanic or ability that is so small that the video is much shorter than usual. I aim to keep Baby Deep Looks around 5 minutes long. These videos should be small little observational nuggets that hopefully give you some useful insight into a game's design that you might not have noticed otherwise.

In this Baby Deep Look I show off some of the sports culture contained in Final Fantasy X. Unlike most fantasy JRPGs Final Fantasy X stars a person with a fairly normal real-world profession: professional athlete. As such the developers of Final Fantasy X went to great length to create a believable sports culture around the sport of blitzball. Come see why Jecht is the Michael Jordan of Final Fantasy X.

Jecht is the best.

@corevi: Tiger man da bes

@corevi: When I recorded that video I finally noticed the Zanarkand Abes logo on everything. The HD re-release is so much prettier than the regular version it was pretty staggering. I assume that extends to Jecht's giant, dumb chest tattoo.

Blitzball! Nice job dude, very insightful. +1 for Space Jam.

Blitzball is easily one of the best fake video game sports around. I really wish it was a real sport.

I really enjoyed playing Blitzball in this game. After the first story-required game where the odds are stacked heavily against you it becomes really fun and rewarding to level up your players and acquire new ones. It was great to turn the team from joke they are in the beginning to one of the best in the league. I think you're right that this helped flesh out the world of Spira and make you care more about saving it.

@nasar7: Yeah the first game is much easier if you get the Jecht Shot. You need to score while Tidus is in and then hold on and play strong D when Wakka comes in in the second half. Another fun fact is that the Kilica Beasts and the Besaid Aurochs actually become the best players in the game when you get to the late game of blitzball. The best teams and players almost completely flip as players level up. Keepa, the Besaid goalie, is actually the best shooter in the game if you get him to level 100.

Totally agree man. Kinda funny who would thought Final Fantasy would give you more authentic feel of living the life of an Athlete/Gm than most of your typical Sports Sims (NBA Live/Madden) do?

I enjoyed the video. I can't think of any other games offhand that create a sports culture like X does. My only critique would be to talk more assertively. I loved playing Blitz. I even went so far as to create a spreadsheet with player stats per level and when to most optimally use them(ex: I used Miyu as my starter goalie until I had Wedge at 60).

@adamt85: Thanks for the feedback. I'll try to step my energy up a little more next time.

I used Miyu as my goalie as well and I had the game guide so I was pretty good about hiring the right players for the right point in the game. It was always pretty funny how Besaid Auroch players would get poached towards the end of the game for me. Keepa was getting those big-buck contracts from rival teams to come smoke me. The only thing that Blitzball could have done better for me was ability acquisition. I wish you assign players to development training or something to have them learn new abilities rather than the kinda random "mark a player and learn abilities when they're used" system.

@slag: When I was recording this video I realized that Tidus is pretty much the only main FF protagonist that I know of with a recognizable real world job. Most FF protagonists are mercenary swordsmen, D&D classes turned professions (thief mostly), or jobless adventurers. Some side characters might have more recognizable jobs, but the main protagonists usually have no responsibilities beyond combat and general adventuring. I love how sports culture is incorporated into the game's central themes so strongly, rather than just as a throw away side-quest or event. FFX's version of sports culture gets even more interesting when you think about how it interweaves with the game's religion (I've got some more coming on that front in the near future).

Man I fucking played so much Blitzball. Brother was my go-to. I remember at the time just wishing and hoping they would release a Blitzball game on its own.

Ah what dreams mine youth hath wrought...

@geraltitude: Bother was ridiculous once he leveled all the way up. It turns out that having a character who has maximum speed is really good in a game that's like soccer. He was never the best shooter or passer, but he could outswim all of the defenders so he didn't need to be great. Unobstructed shots are the best shots. He also was pretty good at chasing down people on D.

A stand-alone blitzball game might be far-fetched, but I kinda wanted to play real-life blitzball when I first saw it. Little did my young mind know that that game is impossible for a whole lot of reasons. Though I wonder if it could work if the players wore scuba tanks and the ball had neutral buoyancy. The could even be a big, glass sphere pool...

I barely touched it but I'm guessing somewhere there's a FF message board debate about whether Tidus is a better player than Jecht, even though its impossible to compare players from different eras.

@shindig: Well Jecht played in the dead-ball era so his stats are artificially depressed. No to mention the unbanning of illegal defense in the year 500.

@dudeglove: I never knew that the Besaid Aurochs form up like Voltron if you use them for long enough. Does that ability work with Wakka or Titus as the last player?

Tidus also did some time traveling which completely screws the record books.

@dudeglove: Ok I'll have to check that out. That move sounds dope. I guess the Luca Goers don't have the same level of spirit. That's why they didn't win the Maester's Cup.

@shindig: Yeah the nutrition and workout programs he had in Zanarkand gave him an unfair advantage over the Spiran players he faced with the Aurochs. The real question I have is how will his time travel will effect his legacy as a blitzballer? Will he ever be able to come back from missing that sphere shot in crunch time during Sin's total destruction of Zanarkand?

@brightside: Thanks! I was not sure how to fit Space Jam into the video, but I knew it had to be done.

Brother is the best.

Not bad.

You know you are right, hadn't thought about that. Maybe Laguna would be the next closest? Wasn't he a journalist (sort of)?

yeah Yuna and Jecht both had that Cult of Celebrity thing going for both of them too. Given how today's world has really gone full throttle Kardashian crazy into that kind of thing, might be a neat concept for Square to revisist sometime.

Oh, Christ. They're the Beckhams.

@slag: Yeah Laguna is a travel journalist and you can read all of his travel articles at your computer on the Garden. You unlock new articles by finding issues of Timber Maniacs. Laguna's stuff is more of an actual journal rather than a series of reports. So I'm not sure that the real world job aspect comes through so well.

Selphie also keeps a live journal/blog that you can read on your computer. FF8 was ahead of its time on that stuff. Though it was terrible at letting you know that those elements exist.