Version 2007 : Community Concerns for Focus

[enuttage]

endgame,

Here is my very, very limited contribution. From a previous thread you were also involved with:

Originally Posted by enuttage

I've been playing again, and I'm starting to identify some of the things that make me crazy.

They've probably been identified by others, and I'll eventually search and find out, but the bottom line is that it is absolutely interface-driven.

Just a couple of things I've found tonight.

1. When I click on a boxscore from the schedule page and then click on a player in the boxscore, and then hit the 'back' button, it takes me back to the schedule page instead of the boxscore.

2. When I want to find out how many blown saves my closer has or what his save percentage is, I have to click on his name, then click on his pitching stats, and THEN click on expanded pitching stats. Maddening. This is an extra step from the previous game and I'm not sure what benefit it yields.

Those are just two of the many that I 'felt' but had yet to identify up to this point. There are many more that make things very hard to navigate, and that have nothing to do with a 'dumbing down' or increase in complexity of the game.

They are bad UI design decisions. At least compared to the previous version.

And really, this is ALL that is making me not like this game. It is terribly cumbersome in UI. I'm sure there are fatal AI issues, but I can't even get through a full season before I find these because of the interface.

Now...it's entirely possible I'm missing out on some sort of shortcuts for this sort of thing. If so, I'd love to hear what they are.

It's been a month or so since I've visited these forums. I visit much less frequently now. However, I'm back here reading again, so obviously I still hold out some hope that I might enjoy the new game.

The quoted area above, along with similar interface faux pas, are my main area I would like to see concentration on. It's the first layer of the onion of 2006 that is not as clean and well-done as 6.5 was.

Layers beyond that, I haven't made it to.

So...that's it. If you'd like any further input from me, I'd be happy to pm it to you and perhaps start working with the game again.

Meanwhile, I'll once again bow out, as I suspect I'll likely be verbally disemboweled (or told to go play another game that better fits my wits) within this thread for voicing an opinion about an area of the game I believe needs work, for which others feel no work is needed (yourself included, I believe - though not the disembowelment part).

Take it back to the powers-that-be if you so choose. And if not, no big deal.

Cheers,

-E

[Caporegime]

Originally Posted by enuttage

endgame,

Here is my very, very limited contribution. From a previous thread you were also involved with:



It's been a month or so since I've visited these forums. I visit much less frequently now. However, I'm back here reading again, so obviously I still hold out some hope that I might enjoy the new game.

The quoted area above, along with similar interface faux pas, are my main area I would like to see concentration on. It's the first layer of the onion of 2006 that is not as clean and well-done as 6.5 was.

Layers beyond that, I haven't made it to.

So...that's it. If you'd like any further input from me, I'd be happy to pm it to you and perhaps start working with the game again.

Meanwhile, I'll once again bow out, as I suspect I'll likely be verbally disemboweled (or told to go play another game that better fits my wits) within this thread for voicing an opinion about an area of the game I believe needs work, for which others feel no work is needed (yourself included, I believe - though not the disembowelment part).

Take it back to the powers-that-be if you so choose. And if not, no big deal.

Cheers,

-E

Have things around here really degenerated to that point? I hope not, because you’ve made some excellent points about the game’s interface that should, at the very least, be discussed civilly.

[ForemanFan]

Originally Posted by toxicavenger74

But they won't meet. The more effort that goes into non-stats etc issues, the more we are getting away from a stats based game. There are limited resources to work on these platforms. So much so that if effort is going in one direction, it is going away from something else. Animation, stats will not proceed positively in parallel. Unless, there is a huge team and then cost go up and everything will have to go through a committee decision instead of a few people deciding on what is best who have similar mind in thinking.

I may sound like a jerk for what I said earlier but it regardless it is true. So, many times I wished for 2K sports to have deeper stats, deeper everything to the point where I moved on to OOTP and have never regretted it. Your baseball knowledge and gaming sound great and your experience and input is valuable. I agree with your points in theory but having been on the design side I know OOTP would suffer if anything but interface, stats etc wasn't a priority.

You didn't come off as a jerk when you said that, I was just busting your balls, Toxy.

I'm all for getting everything right with the current incarnation of OOTPBB before anything else is tried; I'm just saying that if that were to take place and then incorporate graphics, sound etc., it would be the perfect game. I know that this is probably waaaaay to early to be a reality, but I'd like to see it happen someday.

You may saaaay I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. . . .

[ForemanFan]

Also, I'd prefer it if it came in that order. Madden, for instance, started off almost strictly as a graphics/gameplay type and has begun to incorporate the statistical aspect of it all, albeit fairly slowly. I think the way to go is to make a game seamless as a sim and then begin to include a graphical representation within it. If that's the case, Out of the Park Baseball would seem like the ideal program with which to do it.

[ajsas01]

My very humble is that as long as OOTP continues to improve and enhance the simulation aspect of the game, adding some visuals could only help, as long as there is still a less visual option for those who wouldn't like seeing the game or whatever.

It's pretty hard to please everyone though, that's for sure.

[mikev]

One thing that I think is missing is the occasional deviation from ratings and talents, i.e. a scrub coming out of nowhere to have a career season. It seems like talents and ratings are pretty strictly followed, and there isn't a whole lot of swaying from that, so it's pretty easy to guesstimate how a player is going to shape up throughout the season.

Having a guy rated with 5s and 6s (out of 10) come out of nowhere to hit 20 homers and put up an .850 OPS once in his career would be kinda neat to see, sprinkled in with his average .240/5/40 season with a .690 OPS.

[Kemp]

My biggest wish for OOTP 2007 is that someone will explain Player Development Modifiers and League Equivalencies!!! A detailed explanation so that we can customize our leagues.

[Tribe Fan 24]

Originally Posted by THEOVELS

The last video game (sega) I had, Mark McGuire had over 100 home runs. (I never checked my fingers for steroids back then).

roffle

[Tribe Fan 24]

BTW.....very dumb question here.

I do not have v2006 and I want v2007. Is there an ETA concerning when it may be released. Spring 07.....late summer......fall 07?

Just wondering....

Kevin

[Curtis]

Supposedly in time for opening day.

[darkenigma510]

Originally Posted by Kemp

My biggest wish for OOTP 2007 is that someone will explain Player Development Modifiers and League Equivalencies!!! A detailed explanation so that we can customize our leagues.

Seconded

[topsixrows]

Its the basics that annoy me. One of the biggest annoyances is the News. There is not even a story talking about who won the championship. Major trades aren't reported. I have on a few occasions been in the opening week of a new season and the newest story was from last July about someguy hitting 3 HRs. The season is not very easy to follow. Bring back the "Last 10" to the standings. The game may need a little more "Americanization." By that I mean Americans are obsessed with numbers, winning, individual record performances, and $$$. How many clicks does it take to get to the Team individual records? I don't think Europeans are as interested in these things. The reporting of individual statistics are not as important to soccer fans. What baseball fan doesn't pick up a news paper and browse the stat leaders, box scores, update on home run chases and standings? There is a historical relationship between the news and baseball that OOTP 2006 doesn't seem to get and with the HTML and new interface it is conspicuos by its absence.

[enuttage]

Originally Posted by topsixrows

There is a historical relationship between the news and baseball that OOTP 2006 doesn't seem to get and with the HTML and new interface it is conspicuos by its absence.

This is another 'intangible' for me as well. European and American preferences aside (for me, since I can't speak to the former), I'd like to see a return to as few clicks as possible to get to 'fun' statistical information like leaders, records, individual performances, etc.

[ctorg]

Originally Posted by topsixrows

Its the basics that annoy me. One of the biggest annoyances is the News. There is not even a story talking about who won the championship. Major trades aren't reported. I have on a few occasions been in the opening week of a new season and the newest story was from last July about someguy hitting 3 HRs. The season is not very easy to follow. Bring back the "Last 10" to the standings. The game may need a little more "Americanization." By that I mean Americans are obsessed with numbers, winning, individual record performances, and $$$. How many clicks does it take to get to the Team individual records? I don't think Europeans are as interested in these things. The reporting of individual statistics are not as important to soccer fans. What baseball fan doesn't pick up a news paper and browse the stat leaders, box scores, update on home run chases and standings? There is a historical relationship between the news and baseball that OOTP 2006 doesn't seem to get and with the HTML and new interface it is conspicuos by its absence.

I agree. The News has long been a huge weak point for OOTP. I expected it to improve much more than it did in 2006. In particular, it has very few and somewhat inappropriate news triggers. A guy pitching a shutout is not a huge news story. A big star being traded or injured is. A guy hitting 3 homers in a game is somewhat significant, but not nearly as much as the outcome of a world series game (I believe every single postseason game should generate a story, regardless of the outcome).

Imagine if Barry Bonds got released by the Giants, or someone claimed Manny Ramirez off waivers. It would be a huge story, but it wouldn't show up in OOTP. If they hit 3 homers it would.

Baseball Mogul, of all games, had world series game news stories and player trade stories eight years ago, but OOTP still doesn't have them. I love that the news stories are now editable, but the triggers still don't exist to make good ones.

[ctorg]

And one thing I still miss from earlier versions is the league leaders on the sides of the screen.

If nothing else, I would like the screen that shows up when a sim is in progress - the one with the standings, news stories, and league leaders - to be accessible when you're not simming. That would be my default screen.

[Tribe Fan 24]

Originally Posted by Curtis

Supposedly in time for opening day.

Thanks Curtis!!

[enuttage]

Originally Posted by ctorg

And one thing I still miss from earlier versions is the league leaders on the sides of the screen.

If nothing else, I would like the screen that shows up when a sim is in progress - the one with the standings, news stories, and league leaders - to be accessible when you're not simming. That would be my default screen.

"

[MadMax58]

Originally Posted by ctorg

And one thing I still miss from earlier versions is the league leaders on the sides of the screen.

If nothing else, I would like the screen that shows up when a sim is in progress - the one with the standings, news stories, and league leaders - to be accessible when you're not simming. That would be my default screen.

Absolutely...it's actually bugged me for a while that the "temporary" screen is so much better laid out than any other screen in the game.

[Curtis]

Interesting. I wonder if that's a Windows thing. When I sim the page doesn't change from what it was when I hit 'Play Day', and the page you're describing doesn't sound familiar at all. Maybe Mac versions don't have it.

[darkenigma510]

A lot of the problems were typical SI user interface problems. FM and EHM aren't much better. That being said, I think its clear from many of the comments since last year's release, quicker access to key information (and better layout on the info pages) seems to be a recurring theme.