What do I win once I tick them all off?

Something about the Blitzball players all being characters you could find in the world, some of whom would otherwise be unremarkable NPCs really burrowed into my brain with FFX. Something about the fact that you’d have relationships with characters in two different contexts where they would often play a wildly different role in each really made the world feel a little bit more alive than normal.

I like it but found the fear of using items you might later need too be exacerbated to an uncomfortable degree by the magic system. I suspect I’d enjoy it more today than when it came out.

It’s because they go hand in hand. I’ve had experience with customer service roles where staff are empowered to solve issues and it requires very very very slightly higher investment in your employees to pull off.