The Positive Thread: What We Like

Goody · 03-23-2007, 12:22 PM

I decided to make this thread so that we can emphasize the things we like about the game. That way they don't get changed in updates or future versions, inadvertantly or otherwise, while all the gripes are being dealt with. Too often in game development it seems the loudest griping is addressed and the good features end up suffering in the long run, because they aren't mentioned as often as the "problems" are.

I didn't play 2006 very much so things I mention might be things that were in that version too.

I just noticed the "Pause after each play" toggle while simming a game out. I love it! I really like how you can just click that button and it changes the pace of the game. You don't have to do some long string of button pressing to go get a drink. (like spacebar to stop autosim, change pbp setting...etc etc) Or you can just leave the game going if you're just passively "watching" your team play and then come back and notice an interesting game situation is happening...click the autoplay toggle once and research how everyone got on base.

Kelric · 03-23-2007, 12:24 PM

The sortable HTML columns. Love it, love it, love it. Get 100+ years of history on a team results page, sort the win-loss column for the worst and best seasons in franchise history. Go to the page that shows every player ever for the franchise, sort through that.... Great stuff.

Goody · 03-23-2007, 12:25 PM

And facegen is freaking awesome. I love the uniform creation and how the uniform/color creation works. Its kept me interested long enough to learn the more intricate menus. Seems once you learn to use them they are less overwhelming.

The key is to have bookmarks set up so one button click gets you back to somewhere familiar whenever you start exploring and get lost in the interface.

The "on-field" look is excellent. The way the player tabs are layed out on the field with their pictures displayed in an inline graphic.

Gastric ReFlux · 03-23-2007, 12:28 PM

So far from what I've been able to do:

Pbp is much improved over 2006. It reads a lot more like a game.

Me loves the Facegen.

Sim speed is amazing.

Ability to put in our own recaps is a terrific idea.

Assos · 03-23-2007, 12:30 PM

The return of shop my player and I like the meet the demend button.

Exodor · 03-23-2007, 12:31 PM

My personal favorites

-The revamped Free Agency process. The pending offers tab, the increased interaction from the player - the entire process is much more involved and fun than ever before

-Much faster PbP resolution and improved PbP text

-The Player Salaries report is almost worth the price of the upgrade alone

-The new shortcut bar at the bottom of the UI. In 2006 I would create a few shortcuts in every new league - the shortcut bar has all of those and more

-FaceGen is an amazing addition for my fictional league

-The early availability of a 2007 MLB roster set.

OK, maybe that last one is wishful thinking.

AfWapo · 03-23-2007, 12:34 PM

I don't know if this was or wasn't in 2006 because I didn't play it all that much, but I am really liking the front office page with the +'s and -'s and I also really like the player salaries reports with totals at the bottom.

Also really like the ability to label certain players as "untouchable" etc.

darkcloud4579 · 03-23-2007, 01:07 PM

The ease in which we can update so much stuff. From adding a country to expansion.

BigCity · 03-23-2007, 01:10 PM

All of the above (and also what will come below), but most of all, the game is "fun" again.

I can't explain "why" exactly - but probably becasue things work the way you expect them to this time around. That goes a long way toward enjoying the game.

rudel.dietrich · 03-23-2007, 01:15 PM

FJs top 5 list

1. Sim speed
The game blazes now, 96 team universe can sim 100 seasons in just under 3 hours

while generating new faces and writing the almanac)

2. Facegen
Is freaking awesome.
Now we just need logogen

Once they get the bugs worked out and people realize what cards they need to run facegen then this will be an amazing addition to the game.

3. Expansion wizard
Exapansion used to be a giant pain in the ass, now its pretty easy to use the editor.
Powerful, feature rich and easy to use. Those things make FJ happy

4. Realistic development and aging and skill sets
Glad Markus surrounded himself with sabermetric minded people who had the studies and data to get the engine right.
The engine spits out the most realistic stats and careers of any baseball sim.
And you have powerful options to get the game to generate the kind of stats you want.

5. Feeder leagues
These are not perfect (I would like to have them better represent HS and college ball)
But they allow us to watch players accumlate stats and develop and then be ready for drafting.
Very cool and allows people like me who follow single players focus one one player his entire career path.

JinAZ · 03-23-2007, 01:36 PM

I only got to mess with it for a half hour or so before work, but so far:

1. Facegen. I never imagined it could be so good. I currently have it generating players on demand, and it's currently taking about a quarter second whenever I pull up an individual's player card--just enough to barely see the load screen before it disappears. I'm not sure if I'll ever feel the need to have it auto-generate every individual in the league, though I may do so just to see how long it'll take.

The variety of faces, realism of faces, facial hair, etc, is awesome. I'm going to start working up uniforms tonight for my custom solo league. Already have logos set to go.

2. Historical replay features. The player recalc, expansion wizards, etc, are fantastic. Overall tweaks to the league creation wizard, including especially things like a pop-up lahman directory locator screen, make this feel much more polished. The wizard also makes things more intuitive--I don't feel like I need to experiment with every setting just to figure out what it does this time around.

I didn't hate v.2006, but I didn't particularly like it either. I saw its potential in its depth, but ultimately didn't find it to be much fun to play. I never even finished a full season of managing, whereas I'd done years upon years in versions 5-6.5. Thus far, the game is looking like it has a lot more potential to be fun. Looking forward to getting home so that I can play. -j

james17 · 03-23-2007, 01:38 PM

1. Strategic One-pitch mode.

2. Facegen

3. Shop Player

cbbl · 03-23-2007, 02:02 PM

Without hardly getting into the game yet:

(from a solo fictional player)

1. Automatic selection and update of league financials and strategies
2. The true option of turning on or off each element of financials, including the whole system
3. The ability to expand
4. The ability to change a heck of a lot more after game creation than in prior versions -- divisions, teams, add minors, subtract minors, fold team, expand leagues, etc.
5. The addition of caps and uniform color changes
6. FaceGen

I could go on and on and on I bet if I had more time with it! So far, there is not one single thing I've seen that isn't better than last version, and so far nothing yet frustrates me. This version appears to have nearly everything I needed to play the game my way.

The only issue I might see, which I'm researching, is getting historically accurate names. But that's another thread as this is the POSITIVE thread!

cbbl

battists · 03-23-2007, 02:08 PM

You know, logogen almost made it in.

If we could get a huge pile of logos matching the team nicknames in the team_nicknames.txt file, the game could automatically assign a good logo for every team that gets created.

Problem is, it's hard to find those logos without risking copyright issues.

Community project, anyone??

Big Koolaid · 03-23-2007, 02:08 PM

It sims really, really fast. That's what I like.

DreamTeams · 03-23-2007, 02:11 PM

Top 3...

1) FaceGen (all it's aspects)

2) Feeder leagues (I've yet to use it, but love the concept.)

3) Sortable HTM

bccardon · 03-23-2007, 02:26 PM

I just downloaded the demo

and I just played my first game. GREAT JOB on the game. I will buy the game soon.

Exodor · 03-23-2007, 02:38 PM

One teeny little change from 2006 - the new font in the broadcast screen when playing out games.

A huge improvement over the "Scoreboard" font in 2006.

ifspuds · 03-23-2007, 03:39 PM

For me, the navigation feels much smoother. One set of forward and back buttons is a major help.

The play-by-play is so much tighter.

FaceGen, put simply, rocks beyond measure.

I love the manager home page.

League creation is a snap using the wizard. Got right into a test league without wondering if there were 18 different things I missed that would wreck my league after one season.

My only complaint? I wish I had more time to play.

Eric · 03-24-2007, 11:24 PM

A couple of things...
1. It's nice having the team vs team report. It's good to see who owns whom.

2. Some of the news articles are fun. I don't know if this was in last year's version, but I saw an off-field injury report where somebody was stun by a bee and is out 1-2 weeks due to anaphylatic shock.

3. It's cool to sort be able to sort on 'morale'.

4. The manager home page is a one-stop shopping cockpit.

03-23-2007, 12:22 PM	#1
Goody Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: South Korea Posts: 3,530	The Positive Thread: What We Like I decided to make this thread so that we can emphasize the things we like about the game. That way they don't get changed in updates or future versions, inadvertantly or otherwise, while all the gripes are being dealt with. Too often in game development it seems the loudest griping is addressed and the good features end up suffering in the long run, because they aren't mentioned as often as the "problems" are. I didn't play 2006 very much so things I mention might be things that were in that version too. I just noticed the "Pause after each play" toggle while simming a game out. I love it! I really like how you can just click that button and it changes the pace of the game. You don't have to do some long string of button pressing to go get a drink. (like spacebar to stop autosim, change pbp setting...etc etc) Or you can just leave the game going if you're just passively "watching" your team play and then come back and notice an interesting game situation is happening...click the autoplay toggle once and research how everyone got on base. __________________ In the past: Laseron Baseball Association creator. Present: I am Rezulm on PT and OOTP Discord. Future: I wish it was the past.

03-23-2007, 12:25 PM	#3
Goody Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: South Korea Posts: 3,530	And facegen is freaking awesome. I love the uniform creation and how the uniform/color creation works. Its kept me interested long enough to learn the more intricate menus. Seems once you learn to use them they are less overwhelming. The key is to have bookmarks set up so one button click gets you back to somewhere familiar whenever you start exploring and get lost in the interface. The "on-field" look is excellent. The way the player tabs are layed out on the field with their pictures displayed in an inline graphic. __________________ In the past: Laseron Baseball Association creator. Present: I am Rezulm on PT and OOTP Discord. Future: I wish it was the past. Last edited by Goody; 03-23-2007 at 12:28 PM.

03-23-2007, 01:07 PM	#8
darkcloud4579 Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 8,712	The ease in which we can update so much stuff. From adding a country to expansion. __________________ ------ My Mods OOTP Advanced Stats & DFS Suite Managerial Strategy Pack Competitive Balance Tax Calculator Major League Women's Baseball (OOTP24) quickstart Indian Premier League \| 300+ years of baseball quickstart \| Expatriate League quickstart \| Off-Field Injuries Update \| Women's Name File for OOTP \| ---- Dynasty classics: Centurion comes to OOTP5 \| DC Moneyball Dynasty (2004)

03-23-2007, 02:08 PM	#15
Big Koolaid Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 29	It sims really, really fast. That's what I like. __________________ DRINK! DRINK MY NECTAR!!!

03-23-2007, 02:11 PM	#16
DreamTeams Hall Of Famer Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 2,522	Top 3... 1) FaceGen (all it's aspects) 2) Feeder leagues (I've yet to use it, but love the concept.) 3) Sortable HTM __________________ Last edited by DreamTeams; 03-23-2007 at 02:12 PM.

03-23-2007, 12:24 PM	#2
Kelric Hall Of Famer Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Greater Boston Area Posts: 3,992	The sortable HTML columns. Love it, love it, love it. Get 100+ years of history on a team results page, sort the win-loss column for the worst and best seasons in franchise history. Go to the page that shows every player ever for the franchise, sort through that.... Great stuff.

03-23-2007, 12:28 PM	#4
Gastric ReFlux Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Member #3409 Posts: 8,350	So far from what I've been able to do: Pbp is much improved over 2006. It reads a lot more like a game. Me loves the Facegen. Sim speed is amazing. Ability to put in our own recaps is a terrific idea.

03-23-2007, 12:30 PM	#5
Assos All Star Starter Join Date: May 2004 Location: Just on the fair side of the foul pole! Posts: 1,768	The return of shop my player and I like the meet the demend button.

03-23-2007, 12:31 PM	#6
Exodor Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 481	My personal favorites -The revamped Free Agency process. The pending offers tab, the increased interaction from the player - the entire process is much more involved and fun than ever before -Much faster PbP resolution and improved PbP text -The Player Salaries report is almost worth the price of the upgrade alone -The new shortcut bar at the bottom of the UI. In 2006 I would create a few shortcuts in every new league - the shortcut bar has all of those and more -FaceGen is an amazing addition for my fictional league -The early availability of a 2007 MLB roster set. OK, maybe that last one is wishful thinking.

03-23-2007, 12:34 PM	#7
AfWapo Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 42	I don't know if this was or wasn't in 2006 because I didn't play it all that much, but I am really liking the front office page with the +'s and -'s and I also really like the player salaries reports with totals at the bottom. Also really like the ability to label certain players as "untouchable" etc.

03-23-2007, 01:10 PM	#9
BigCity All Star Starter Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: South Shore, Great Lakes Posts: 1,386	All of the above (and also what will come below), but most of all, the game is "fun" again. I can't explain "why" exactly - but probably becasue things work the way you expect them to this time around. That goes a long way toward enjoying the game.

03-23-2007, 01:15 PM	#10
rudel.dietrich Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Zürich, Switzerland Posts: 8,608	FJs top 5 list 1. Sim speed The game blazes now, 96 team universe can sim 100 seasons in just under 3 hours while generating new faces and writing the almanac) 2. Facegen Is freaking awesome. Now we just need logogen Once they get the bugs worked out and people realize what cards they need to run facegen then this will be an amazing addition to the game. 3. Expansion wizard Exapansion used to be a giant pain in the ass, now its pretty easy to use the editor. Powerful, feature rich and easy to use. Those things make FJ happy 4. Realistic development and aging and skill sets Glad Markus surrounded himself with sabermetric minded people who had the studies and data to get the engine right. The engine spits out the most realistic stats and careers of any baseball sim. And you have powerful options to get the game to generate the kind of stats you want. 5. Feeder leagues These are not perfect (I would like to have them better represent HS and college ball) But they allow us to watch players accumlate stats and develop and then be ready for drafting. Very cool and allows people like me who follow single players focus one one player his entire career path.

03-23-2007, 01:36 PM	#11
JinAZ Minors (Single A) Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 95	I only got to mess with it for a half hour or so before work, but so far: 1. Facegen. I never imagined it could be so good. I currently have it generating players on demand, and it's currently taking about a quarter second whenever I pull up an individual's player card--just enough to barely see the load screen before it disappears. I'm not sure if I'll ever feel the need to have it auto-generate every individual in the league, though I may do so just to see how long it'll take. The variety of faces, realism of faces, facial hair, etc, is awesome. I'm going to start working up uniforms tonight for my custom solo league. Already have logos set to go. 2. Historical replay features. The player recalc, expansion wizards, etc, are fantastic. Overall tweaks to the league creation wizard, including especially things like a pop-up lahman directory locator screen, make this feel much more polished. The wizard also makes things more intuitive--I don't feel like I need to experiment with every setting just to figure out what it does this time around. I didn't hate v.2006, but I didn't particularly like it either. I saw its potential in its depth, but ultimately didn't find it to be much fun to play. I never even finished a full season of managing, whereas I'd done years upon years in versions 5-6.5. Thus far, the game is looking like it has a lot more potential to be fun. Looking forward to getting home so that I can play. -j

03-23-2007, 01:38 PM	#12
james17 All Star Starter Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,305	1. Strategic One-pitch mode. 2. Facegen 3. Shop Player

03-23-2007, 02:02 PM	#13
cbbl All Star Starter Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Massachusetts Posts: 1,179	Without hardly getting into the game yet: (from a solo fictional player) 1. Automatic selection and update of league financials and strategies 2. The true option of turning on or off each element of financials, including the whole system 3. The ability to expand 4. The ability to change a heck of a lot more after game creation than in prior versions -- divisions, teams, add minors, subtract minors, fold team, expand leagues, etc. 5. The addition of caps and uniform color changes 6. FaceGen I could go on and on and on I bet if I had more time with it! So far, there is not one single thing I've seen that isn't better than last version, and so far nothing yet frustrates me. This version appears to have nearly everything I needed to play the game my way. The only issue I might see, which I'm researching, is getting historically accurate names. But that's another thread as this is the POSITIVE thread! cbbl

03-23-2007, 02:08 PM	#14
battists Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 18,506	You know, logogen almost made it in. If we could get a huge pile of logos matching the team nicknames in the team_nicknames.txt file, the game could automatically assign a good logo for every team that gets created. Problem is, it's hard to find those logos without risking copyright issues. Community project, anyone??

03-23-2007, 02:26 PM	#17
bccardon Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 27	thoughts I just downloaded the demo and I just played my first game. GREAT JOB on the game. I will buy the game soon.

03-23-2007, 02:38 PM	#18
Exodor Major Leagues Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 481	One teeny little change from 2006 - the new font in the broadcast screen when playing out games. A huge improvement over the "Scoreboard" font in 2006.

03-23-2007, 03:39 PM	#19
ifspuds Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Spokane WA Posts: 2,117	For me, the navigation feels much smoother. One set of forward and back buttons is a major help. The play-by-play is so much tighter. FaceGen, put simply, rocks beyond measure. I love the manager home page. League creation is a snap using the wizard. Got right into a test league without wondering if there were 18 different things I missed that would wreck my league after one season. My only complaint? I wish I had more time to play. __________________ Jeff Watson Former dynasty writer and online league player, now mostly retired

03-24-2007, 11:24 PM	#20
Eric All Star Starter Join Date: May 2002 Location: Folsom, CA Posts: 1,234	A couple of things... 1. It's nice having the team vs team report. It's good to see who owns whom. 2. Some of the news articles are fun. I don't know if this was in last year's version, but I saw an off-field injury report where somebody was stun by a bee and is out 1-2 weeks due to anaphylatic shock. 3. It's cool to sort be able to sort on 'morale'. 4. The manager home page is a one-stop shopping cockpit.