On the origin of Blitzball...

[Goldenboko]

"Let's make it have something to do with the war," suggested Bobby Zane. "Like a blitzkrieg or something."
"Blitzkreig," repeated Finny doubtfully.
"We could figure out some kind of blitzkrieg baseball," I said.
"We'll call it blitzkrieg ball," said Bobby.
"Or just blitzball," reflected Finny. "Yes, blitzball."

If you didn't know, or where to lazy to read the originally bespoken by, that was a quote taken from A Separate Peace on page 37. Let's look at some more similarities shall we?

"now that we've got you surrounded, one of us will knock you down."

Sound familiar? In case you haven't made the connection yet, in FFX's blitzball, the characters surround and smack the character with the ball until he drops it... Time for more connections...

"You don't use your arms when you knock the carrier down."

Same goes for FFX, if you notice the only thing they do to try and get the ball is smack into the guy real hard.

So, am I the only one who thinks whoever designed FFX's blitzball was a huge fan of the book A Separate Peace, or, is my crazy half-witted crackpot theory about to get a few supporters?

Note: All that have posted so far fail, and I'm not talking light fail, I'm talking complete and utter fail. This thread was suppose to get a joke (I mean come one, the title even makes fun of Darwin), and no one gave us one funny remark. My faith in EoFF has been shaken, shaken I say!

[Tavrobel]

Or they were Japanese people trying to combine football, basketball, soccer, rugby, and underwater interaction?

[Goldenboko]

Or they were Japanese people trying to combine football, basketball, soccer, rugby, and underwater interaction?

Too bad the underwater part didn't make any difference in gameplay :rolleyes2

[demondude]

Coincidence I think.

[Little Blue]

And here's me thinking someone had come up with some crazy theory of how people in Spira a long, long time ago had first thought up Blitzball...

[Mo-Nercy]

Same goes for FFX, if you notice the only thing they do to try and get the ball is smack into the guy real hard.

So, am I the only one who thinks whoever designed FFX's blitzball was a huge fan of the book A Separate Peace, or, is my crazy half-witted crackpot theory about to get a few supporters?

Well, Wither Tackle 1, 2 and 3 are pretty much wind-up punches.

I think it's a coincidence.

[Renmiri]

Right before FFX there was this very popular soccer (football) based series in Japan called Captain Tsubasa. Some think Square decided to cash in on it and added the water because part of FFX design was to have a lot of water play.

[cally777]

Too bad the underwater part didn't make any difference in gameplay :rolleyes2

Yeah, like the whole 3rd dimension has disappeared! OTOH, if too realistic, the game would be very slow or impossible eg water resistance, holding yr breath.

I think maybe the idea of an underwater game is meant to tie in with a general water theme: a lot of Spira you see is coastal, Sin comes from the water, Tidus has a water sword etc.

[crazybayman]

Or they were Japanese people trying to combine football, basketball, soccer, rugby, and underwater interaction?

I'd say more like water-polo, except played under water, with kicking to "shoot" instead of throwing.

Some water polo linkage:
Water polo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Splash

And from what I understand, water polo can get somewhat rough.

[Namelessfengir]

i always thought it was a mix of rugby and water polo and soccer

[~Death~Stalker~910]

yeah its like soccer an rugby underwater...but how do they get the ball 2 stay under?

[Renmiri]

The water is infused with pyreflies, i.e. magic

[Tavrobel]

It is also possible that the material of which they make the Blitzballs is not porous, which means no air can get in or out. If there is no air inside, then the ball will not float, depending on the density of the Blitzball material.