So I have enough time in-game now to give my impressions.
There has been a lot of smoke blown up the developer's asses in this thread, and also a lot of people harping on one small aspect of the game and they blow it out so that the entire game is bad.
This 'review' will come down somewhere in the middle.
I will say that I do feel genuine sympathy for some Mac uses. I am in no way trying to diminish your issues with the game.
It seems the issue can be fixed by updating your OS, but that is no an option for everyone.
Anyways, on to my review.
So where do I stand overall in terms of this release? Probably somewhere in the middle.
I have been here since late OOTP 5. I got that version right before the release of OOTP 6 and have been playing ever since.
I have seen the good and the bad. Thankfully it has been much more good than bad.
This is the best baseball simulation on the market, and IMO the 2nd best sports simulation in the genre behind Football Manager.
However, the baseball simulation is pretty weak and has been for decades.
Diamond Mind is still around but is an expensive product best at season replay. It has no GM functions and is a replay sim. And that is it.
OOTP can do 90% of what Diamond Mind can do 80% as accurate and has 10000% of the content for a fraction of the price.
Editors note, I completely made up those percentages.
Since about OOTP 18 or so, the franchise has badly stagnated.
That is not the case for everyone, we all want different things out of the game.
And that is one of the reasons OOTP is so hard to develop. It means a lot of things to a wide variety of people.
Some people import a long-running universe and play that all year long. Many others go for an MLB quick start every version. Some others spend dozens of hours creating complex fictional worlds.
Still, others play historical only. And over the last few versions, we have those that play only the newish Perfect Team mode.
So while this review is going to come off as overall negative, I am not blind to how hard it is to develop this series. It is impossible to please everyone's playstyle since the game is so customizable and so complex and there are so many different ways to play.
But overall, the entire series has gotten pretty stale in the last several years. When I play a sports simulation, the #1 thing I look for is 'does it make me feel like I am a real GM/head coach?'
OOTP used to. Back when the entire industry was more basic and more limited.
But time and technology have marched onwards. We have so much more computational power now than back when I began playing version 5/6.
The game in many ways has kept up. But in others, it still feels like what I was playing back when they moved to what I think is still the current engine from OOTP 7.
Finances are perhaps my #1 area I want to see improved, but in OOTP they are still so basic.
Ask any GM no matter the sport what their #1 area of stress is and close to 100% of them will answer finances or money.
Money is truly what fuels professional sports. In OOTP it still feels like an afterthought.
Only two numbers in OOTP really matter. Your current payroll and the max your owner gives you.
Your current on-hand cash, your revenue, and certain other numbers simply do not matter.
Why try and increase revenue when it does not matter? Your owner sets your budget and that is the end of the story,
And there is nothing to spend your money on besides players, some staff and your development budget.
You cannot upgrade your training facilities, we are still very limited in what staff we can hire, you cannot invest in data analytics staff or facilities.
You cannot invest in your team's medical staff or medical equipment.
Trying to cut costs and increase your revenue is quite meaningless.
And we are still very limited on what staff we can hire. Why in 22 versions can I not hire a team doctor? CFO? Medical staff? Data analytics people and staff to work in that area of my team?
So with that general overview out of the way, let us look at version 22.
As usual, there was a long list of features but really only two of them are what I would consider meaningful. You can agree or disagree and that is fine.
But the rest of what is in the game is either tweaks or fixes or at best minor features.
The two main selling points were the expanded coaching system and improved 3-D. Let us look at coaching first.
It is a step in the right direction and much needed, but still pretty lackluster.
We get to hire 1st and 3rd base coaches, coaches now have some chemistry with one another. They have some anomalous effect on player development. And that is about it.
With all the staff I would like to see in the game, it will take until about OOTP 38 before we reach that point
And with coach chemistry, can anyone really understand it? It is pretty opaque as to why certain coaches get along and others do not.
And it is still opaque as to what sort of effect coaching has on player development.
The other big feature is 3-D stadiums and improved graphics when actually watching a game. I will admit this is one impressive feature.
The stadiums and players look good, the animations and ball physics get better and better. Much improvement has been made here.
But this is just one new feature, and it impacts a small group of the people I mentioned above.
I have nothing against 3-D. But for me it is simply a matter of free time.
I really enjoy the 3-D matches in Football Manager. But in that game, even in the busiest of leagues with cup matches and friendlies, I may top out at 50 matches a year. Usually closer to 40.
In OOTP with the nature of baseball, I would have to watch at minimum 120 games. Most of my leagues use a schedule that is closer to 140-162 games.
Then add in playoffs.
I simply not have time to watch that many games with my work life and family obligations.
So while I can appreciate the 3-D upgrades. They no not do anything for my style of play.
So in conclusion, what is my opinion on this release and who is it for?
Overall, I am somewhere in the middle. Out of the box, the game is pretty bug-free for most people. The new stuff (what little there is) works as advertised.
I don't mind paying the release price for this version when I skipped version 21 and got version 19 and 20 for $10 USD in the off-season.
But I do find myself having a growing sense of apathy about this game and this franchise. Is it different than version 18? Sure, but if something happened to where I had to go back and play version 18 (or version 16 or 17 for that matter) could I carry on?
Easily, there is not a single thing I could point to that I could do without.
The core game while still excellent is still much the same.
I think a large part of the issue is that Markus and Andreas simply do not have the same youthful energy anymore.
Markus went to being a relatively new programmer in his early 20s to a successful one and whatever age he is now.
Markus himself told us that Andreas has cashed out and is looking to retire a few years.
We see this in every field of life and especially in athletics and the arts.
When your no longer young and hungry you become older and burnt out and complacent.
And that is the best way I can describe this series right now.
An aged veteran playing out the last few seasons before retirement.
Still great, can still turn it out a few times a season. But no longer wows you.
Or an older band, you still buy their new music. It's still good. But you get the feeling they ran out of ideas about 3 albums ago. Their live shows are not what they used to be. Still enjoyable, but just not the same flair or energy. They play their new songs but most people just scream out to play the hits.
So who is this version 22 for exactly?
Mostly the die-hards who invest thousands of hours into every new version.
Or those who play out every game or most every game. They will get a lot out of this.
For everyone else, skip this version or wait until a deep discount. IMO, there is just not enough here to justify asking cost.
Personally, I am going to turn into an every third version buyer of the game until I see more improvements that are personally meaningful to me.
And that sums up my feelings on the new game and my the franchise as a whole.
I hope I did not sound overly critical, I do in fact still enjoy the game.
But I had to get my thoughts down in writing one way or another.
I will also be sharing a much condensed version of this review on Steam.