Slightly Disappointed
 

So I've played a half a season or so in game, and I've simmed considerably with some historical stuff, and I gotta say, my overall impression of the game this year is "Meh." I've been playing OOTP since 2002, and really, with the exception of the OOTP 6 (I believe?) debacle, if you were going to draw a graph of annual improvement to the game, it would have an overwhelming upward trend. This year though, for the first time in a while, I feel like we are flattening out.

I'm all for new game modes, but it feels like the game is almost "all in" on Perfect Team, something that personally I never even plan to start up. Then again, I also don't play "The Chel" or the FIFA online modes that also rely on card packs so...

The 3D changes are fantastic, but I'd like more control over 3D game speed. You need to set PbP to "VERY FAST" to get it to keep up with the play on the field, and games just generally feel like they take considerably longer than even OOTP19. It'd be nice to be able to increase or decrease the 3D speed to fit the user's needs.

Scouting still feels like a largely useless venture. Baseball teams have a large scouting team. How about giving us a similar option? Let us sign scouts.. create a more effective "fog of war" and allow us to scout up players with some level of importance. Give me scouting summaries.. Players to watch... make the off the field stuff a little more involved.

Player happiness and relationships need to be better addressed too. Establish favorite staff.. Favorite players... if I want to sign a big name free agent, maybe I bring in the backup catcher who is his good friend to try and help entice him to come to my team. Really, the only way to address off the field issues is by dealing with them ON the field. Morale goes beyond the diamond. Along with that, I havent played much Manager Only, but its mainly because of the lack of interaction with the GM. I should be able to have input to tell my GM that I want a better 2B, or ask him to call up a minor leaguer or send a guy down. I just want interaction.

The lineup management has taken a step back too. I'd rather be able to look at my depth chart, complete with starters, with a blank roster and slot people in. I can no longer do that. If I set my depth starters, the game slots them in. If I clear the lineup, the depth chart assignments disappear as well. There are separate selections still to "Clear Depth Chart" and "Clear Lineup" but the "Clear Lineup" still effectively clears the starters from the depth chart.

These are all things that I feel could have taken a leap forward over the last couple of years, but here we are.

Its not all negative though. I like what the 3D animation has become despite the lack of speed control. We've gone from a 2D game to a Microleague baseball "pawn" style to now something that honestly rivals FM in on the field graphics, and I really like that. Fantastic job.

And Spray Charts!! FINALLY! SPRAY CHARTS! I love them. They are beautiful. Maybe pitch selection will be next? Maybe I missed it this year.. not sure.

Anyway, I will continue to support this project from the OOTP folks, as I have for the last 17 years. But as long time buyer of the product, I just wanted to share my thoughts. If PT is the direction they want to go, well, that's the company's decision. It'd just be a shame to see the rest of us left behind.

I'm passing this year for these reasons too. As someone who will never touch PT, and doesn't have any interest in 3D, I don't see a feature worth spending money this year.

The manual still shows pictures with limited ability to filter (for example, can't filter by FIP, or even injury proneness). Didn't sound like the staff search was sortable by a coaches preference for youth vs veterans, or by their relationship to your team. Why do we need to click each staff member 6 times to access this information??

Feeders were admittedly not touched. And I don't see evidence that the league wide aging curve, which was off by 2 full years in OOTP19, was fixed.

Maybe in OOTP21.

Thanks for your candor. You've certainly highlighted a few areas that can be enhanced and provide more- have we overused the term? -immersion. It provides a nice sketch of where potential exists for visual impact and personal interaction. Good goals.

The 'meh' in my personal experience is often driven when I hit creative plateaus or, more often, slight declines. The inner narrative that assists bringing small things to life. As you said, morale goes beyond the diamond. Sometimes our own goes a bit beyond the game, too. When it fails to generate the kinds of interaction and mental play we've been accustomed to experiencing, it can understandably feel flat. When we're participating more at arm's length, the game can only reach out just short of that distance. We need it, I need it at least, to stretch and reach for me with more of an intention.

You've collected a group of worthy areas that have plenty of room to demonstrate that as they're developed. And I hope they will be a focus going forward, but part of the experience beyond 'meh' will be because they're old familiars made suddenly a lot better or presented in a novel or captivating way, the way new features do, and we've had plenty of them and some, admittedly, haven't directly impacted me or my play. On the other hand, my play has been enhanced- and quite wonderfully, too -but with determined attention to details less visual and less obvious. That doesn't make them any less new, just less noticed, but still with impact.

All in all, you've really said great game, love it, love a lot of the recent changes and additions, and here's my wishlist for growth in the next version or two. I think that's worthy comment. :thumbup1: One of the reasons I was prodded to respond was my fear your title might be misunderstood or given too much weight. Slightly is a good word, especially when followed with a clear indication of your ambitions for the game.

I haven't played yet so I probably don't count but just from the feature list, there isn't much that I feel I will benefit from as well. I would like to see improvements to areas no involved with PT and 3D.

For me improvements towards coaching, scouting, and expansion would be something I would like. As I only sim games and not manage them as you can tell.

But I will support ootp because in the end it is the best game out there and in sure there are AI improvements done that will benefit simmers out there.

Two things to note though. One is that OOTP is notorious for giving us new features after the games release. Two is that always make sure to enable the option to send info back to OOTP. This should show them what the most popular features are in the game.

Oh also I would love to have online leagues hosted like PT. I have never done one before because it seems like a hassle due to updates and downloading everything. I would easily get invested in it if it was made easier.

Last year, as I recall the big patch was to introduce PT... Hey, if they had a patch that included upgrades to the more traditional features, I would be the first in line to thank them to taking the initiative.

I began your OP irritated with your title and feeling defensive, I finished it thinking I couldn't agree more. It is a great game, and I buy it every year, and there are some nice changes this year, but it is definitely time to invest heavily in the areas you outlined. There is so much left untouched from year to year that tons of people are hoping for, but it seems that the developers don't seem to believe this is the case.

This echoes the post I made earlier today. This is the best version of the game they have released but that’s always going to be the case unless they removed features. Or there was a game breaking bug. This is definitely the least excited I’ve been for a new release. Of course my long running league will continue its evolution through history....but it’s disappointing to know I have to wait another full year to get excited for something new.

Guys, i believe that the development team WILL resolve those issues that you described, but they need $$ to hire more people that will help in the further development of those areas. This is why they are focusing on PT so much. You have to give them time. They only have a few years with the MLB license, which opened up the doors to more fans, and now with PT, it gives them more income to work on more features. OOTP is a business, first of all, and in order to continue to grow and improve, they need to focus on the area which brings them more $$. I believe with this company's track record, they will continue to improve the main game further, but we all just have to give them time, and just enjoy the game as it is.

I've bought every year since 8, and this is the first time I've ever entered into the game and not been immediately impressed with what's there and what improved.

It feels very much the same as last year so far, and one thing that I think was touted as a huge feature (being able to start at any point in the year) doesn't feel very useful and more of a "since we have this thing we do with PT, we may as well use it elsewhere".

Which worries me. Worried, and a little disappointed is how I'd describe myself at the moment; at the same time, however, it's still the great game you remember from last year's version.

This is almost word-for-word the type of thing that folk were writing about MLBtS when Diamond Dynasty came along.

Two very different companies, games, and etc, but the human brain looks for patterns.

Was it me, or was the promotion for this year's version very quiet?

FWIW, though, 7 was the debacle of which you're thinking, not 6. It was the first version with the new engine, at the time as part of the SI partnership.The growing pains were significant.

YES! I always got mixed up between 6 and 7 because of 6.5. Thank you for the correction.

OOTP2006 was the debacle, not 7. 2006 was the first iteration of the new engine up from OOTP 6.5.

Disappointed
 

I agree with Alpine. I couldn't make up my mind to buy or not to buy. Twenty really didn't excite me (didn't see much different then 19), but decided at the last minute to buy anyway to help them out. Hopefully they will start spending more time upgrading the game from a player perspective. I have zero interest in PT! Maybe we should all wait with great expectations for FOF9.

I would love to see a side by side comparison of the new features compared to last year's game.

The way I play the game I haven't noticed anything new. I don't really dig deep into the game like a lot do because the game is time consuming enough.

Hopefully the money I spent on this years game will go towards the development of a pro basketball game.

I still think this(OOTP20) is the best sports game available but not everyone play's the game the same way.

This.

We are still a very small team, and OOTP is so massive, it is impossible to have improvements / new features for all the different types of OOTP users. This year we focused on the LIVE services, 3D animations, AI, new strategy options, PT and made tweaks to almost every area of the game to have a better experience overall.

And, of course, as every year we will add more stuff via free updates. :)

Anyway, I'll close this now because this thread has the potential to turn into something ugly. ;)

EDIT: Re-opened :)

Are we allowed to be disappointed?
 

Someone makes a well thought out, interesting post saying they were a tad disappointed in the new game. Other users responded that they either agreed, or disagreed, in a very constructive way.

You guys locked the post after 15 messages...

So basically, if you want to have an opinion on here, it has to be the right one!!

I've played OOTP for a long time, i've purchased OOTP, FHM, but stuff like that has me questioning whether i want to give OOTP my money anymore. I think that was a terrible decision.

I thought the same thing TBH. I have purchased OOTP for the past 8 years and love what the team has done and appreciate all of their work. In regards to the post you are talking about, I agree that is was well thought out. It concerns me that posts that seem to have any criticism are being locked or deleted. I almost feel like it's being censored in a sense. There weren't people even arguing within the thread either....

I dont think anyone said your opinion doesnt count and I dont think the thread was locked because of a negative response. It was locked because it could had easily turned into a very negative post and that is all.


Was the post thought out and well written, I 100% agree, do I agree with what said, not everything. I have been reading this forum for quite a number of years and in my opinion this is a pretty fair forum that gives a lot of room for people to love the game, share their opinion, and in this case say they are disappointed.

Do threads get locked because the could easily be turned into a positive post? Lock it when it gets negative. As it stands it looks like a way to limit discussion about the disappointment of the game.