Help Spread OOTP Greatness

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by The_Savage_1

My recollection of one of the Hardballs (3?) was that there was some arbitrary number of HR (around 8-10?) that a batter had to have hit the previous year otherwise they were incapable of hitting a HR in simulations (it was possible in actual game play though).

Originally Posted by Tigers13

I remember this. It was 8. I also remember buying a version of the game that had the stats of the players only through July, so a lot of players were less than 8. I spent a lot of time updating the players stats through the end of the season just so it would sim better. I also spent some time making my own historic rosters. Good times.

I remember a different flaw in one of them: Due to the constraints of animation, it was impossible to hit a triple. Not noticed in individual games, but when compiling a season's stats, it stood out glaringly.

I remember tolerating that flaw because I loved the game regardless.

Little did I know, though, the high bar that would be set by OOTPB in two ways:

1) It would never be tolerated that the animation would ever determine play results. In OOTPB, play results, and stats, are sovereign. The animation comes second. We saw that when the developers were tuning up the current animation; it did not always match the play result but the confidence in the basic functioning of the game was never in question. The animation was secondary and would catch up.

2) That flaw never got fixed. Were there even patches in those CD-ROM days? I'm not even sure anymore. In any event, a major flaw like that would not be tolerated by OOTPD either. I cannot stress this strongly enough, that the level of community involvement, designer responsiveness, and technical support here is superb. So much so that I have made myself look like a fool expecting these things elsewhere.

[jimmysthebestcop]

My first baseball game was MicroLeague Baseball

[Westheim]

So, what's worse? The flash of existential crisis when your ace goes down to Tommy John in April or when your civ has a mediocre golden age and slides into a dark age and the map turns almost pitch black all of a sudden?

[Beatles Eternally]

I'm for spreading the love. I have a YouTube channel largely devoted to "broadcasting" baseball sims. The three I stream most are OOTP, Action PC Baseball, and Baseball for Windows Broadcast Blast. The thing is, there are quite a few folks who would rather pay FULL price every year for the execrable Strat PC Baseball fiasco than come to the true faith that is OOTP.

You may wonder why I stream the other two games when I just got done sniping about Strat. Here's the thing:

OOTP gives us all of professional baseball except for AAGPL in a package that is almost perfect and really, the price is a steal. Baseball for Windows allows me to import any season I wish or set up all kinds of cool "universes" and have Ernie Harwell call the game. Action PC Baseball is a fine product and Dave has a lot of sales. Additionally, unlike Strat, I don't have to buy the newest edition of Action PC to replay the newest season.

But, OOTP eclipses them all for me. I'm replaying the 1949 World Series and hoping the Dodgers will win their first Series six years ahead of time. They are up 2 games to 1 on the Bombers.

OOTP is very wise to expand to Steam because they can attract new blood. I talk to people on an almost weekly basis who have discovered OOTP. I can't remember the last time I talked to a new Strat player.

While Strat players have to beg and grovel and spend a fortune AND grapple with a byzantine interface, I can create virtually ANY baseball scenario I can imagine on OOTP!

I wrote a longish review of OOTP20 and will do so again for 21. Let's get the word out to the infidels!!!