The MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV and the cult mini-game Blitzball. It has the makings of an endless story.
Apparently, journalists and many fans are into Final Fantasy X (2001). Its mini-game “Blitzball” enjoys cult status, and the FF14 head Naoki Yoshida is often asked about it or brings the topic up himself: This Blitzball would fit perfectly into your Final Fantasy MMORPG.
Underwater Football with Unique Traits
Blitzball is a kind of underwater football, except that you can also poison opponents. Blitzball is a mini-game and a central plot point of the PlayStation 2 game Final Fantasy X.
Yoshida has been thinking since at least May 2015 about how to incorporate this Blitzball into his MMORPG. It would fit excellently with the other mini-games in the Gold Saucer: Triple Triad (from Final Fantasy VIII) is already in the MMORPG. Now, in a conversation with Kotaku, Yoshida describes his Blitzball dilemma on the sidelines of E3.
Yoshida Likes the Idea That You Can Coach Your Blitzball Team Yourself – Probably Better from an MMORPG Perspective
According to Yoshida, there are two possibilities for Blitzball to bring it to Final Fantasy XIV.
- On one hand, it could be implemented as much as possible like in Final Fantasy X in the MMORPG, as a sport game, exactly what the fans expect. However, Yoshida fears that the appeal of the newness might wear off quickly. As an element in an MMORPG, players might try it once and then never touch it again.
- In the second idea, Blitzball wouldn’t really exist as a sport, but the player would become a Blitzball manager, having their own teams that they own and shape. This sounds much more interesting to Yoshida as an MMORPG element. You could recruit NPCs, expand your team, famous NPCs could become part of the team – similar systems already exist with squads in Final Fantasy XIV, and WoW has that with follower missions. But of course, such a Blitzball wouldn’t be the Blitzball that fans demand.
According to Yoshida, the team still hasn’t decided how Blitzball will return to Final Fantasy XIV. Once they know, they’ll announce it officially.
Today, a lot is happening in Final Fantasy XIV – the new expansion Stormblood has launched and is causing issues:
Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood – Stop and Go at the Launch of the Expansion
