Imported my v26 on the day after the World Series into v27. From there I have advanced through the off season to the point of playing out 9 spring training games.
GUI dark skin, though needing some finetuning looks amazing. Ultra wide monitor, with all optional graphics (face-gen, crowd, etc.) set to it's highest setting. Font size set to "standard". Crisp and clear and a nice upgrade over v26's foggy look.
New player models are another big upgrade looking much better on field. The new detail in the jersey textures just pop. Catcher's gear also much improved. Batting helmets with logos and getting rid of the double flap model is a great add. Hopefully the first step in eventually having a box of their own, like caps, so we can build home/away/ and alternates.
On field play is something that will always be a work in progress. V27 is off to a good start that should become great as patches are released. Short pbp and text to speech work very well together as they did in v26. No idea if this is due to default of if it is my v26 settings imported in? Lighting and shadowed crowd are improved. Cameras following the ball have been much improved, but I still see them lose the play from time to time. However instances of this in v27 are maybe two per game, while v26 and before could have two per inning. Player movement in the field is another area that was improved and looks much better.
I see come complaints on ball movement. While there are some quirky ones (and the buggy ones that go through walls etc. that happen in all versions until they are patched) for the most part they are better than v26 IMHO. Grounders, bouncers, and fly balls look good.
The one thing that isn't up to v26 is high fly balls and towering home runs. I've seem complaints about these balls rocket at odd angles and don't look realistic. Too me they come off the bat fine, but the camera doesn't follow the flight like it did in v26. So in v27 a hard hit fly ball leaves the screen and can't be seen. It does look odd and yes from here it appears to rocket almost straight up. In v26 in this high fly ball/home run animation the ball stayed in view as the camera changed angles to follow it. If I watch a replay of one of these types of fly balls in v27, that shows the entire path and never leaves the ball, I see the same realistic flight path I saw in v26. I'd think an adjustment in a patch would fix this issue. While on this issue I think for infield popups the cameras should either pull back a bit more, or adjust it's angle to get a better view of the ball flight. They don't look as bad as the HR animation but they could be improved.
Bunt animation is a lot better, except the bat disappears at the end of it instead of being dropped.
Batter/ pitcher on field widgets reorganized to better use the space to show skills is a win. The expanded batter/pitcher box stat section still needs work. Selectable stats and the order they appear by user is the dream. Currently one can't see, without scrolling, things like "career vs RHP", "vs current P", "career vs RHB" etc. A bigger box as a third option would be a nice add. If not that a scroll bar that would stick.
I'm liking the other widget adjustments they have made. Crisp, clean and less obtrusive on the modern 3d field. Using standard size font there also seems to be less running together of stat columns. However with only a few games played maybe this will change as I get more stats?
The elephant in the room continues to be player movement (sign/release, waiver/dfa, and outright releases). For users that play long term saves this is probably more frustrating than a player like me, who gets in only two to three seasons per version. So far, like v26, I am seeing this as mostly a minor league "filler" player issue. I said last year, I think this comes down to the AI trying to always improve it's minor league team. The problem is it does this by bringing in players that may only be marginally better, or not better at all. For v27 they have limited early season trading to mimic reality. I think they need to do the same for minor league teams in regard to making changes to an opening day roster. To me, once the AI sets it's minor league rosters they should almost be locked with the exception of promoted players coming in and injuries. Don't be looking for a 25/35 A+ level upgrade at 3b if your current 3b is 23/35. I'm sure that is way oversimplifed. Keep in mind in v26 a feature was the AI is going to be more competitive building rosters for it's minor league clubs. v26 is also where the player issue exploded.
My v27 offseason experience after importing my v26 game was about the same as my v26 experience. FA filings, arbitration, winter meetings, and trades worked fine for me. It was easy enough to trade (hard, reputation, slightly favor prospects) away a starting level LF who had run out of options to a team that needed a starting LF. In return I got a minor leaguer on the path to becoming the player I just traded away. I get rid of a guy that would have never passed waivers. I take a chance I can develop the player coming in and have control over him for several seasons to come. Time will tell with more detail but I'm thinking v27 will at least be a marginal improvement over v26. My hope is with lower MLB player movement until June/July and better trade decisions the front office side of the game will be a major improvement. It will be fun running through the season to see how this all works.
Like every version there are issues. Like every version there will be attempts to address those is patches. Some will fix issues, others may fall short. At the end of the day every time I fire up v27 I'm getting my money's worth. Thank you OOTP development team for another great game. Your efforts are appreciated by me.
Do I need to put in the disclaimer that "no game is perfect" before saying I'm really enjoying v27? Okay, no game is perfect.
To that end OOTP still does a poor job with creating draft classes with players that are way overrated. Eleven 80 overall draft players when IRL there wouldn't be one is not "fun". Though "fun" is the reason they are there. They need to get back to realistic draft classes where the hype of a 70 (or almost never 80) overall means something.