Official OOTP 22 initial impressions thread!

[Provolone86]

Hi!

Where can I find (if it is in the game) the batting LOB stat data of the players? I found it useful in the past and it would be great if I could check the LOB of the batters.

Thanks for the reply,
P

[Shake Appeal]

I'm probably at the upper end of OOTP players (CPU: 3700x CPU, GPU: 2070 Super), and I still notice some choppy framerate when the game processes an at-bat in 3D mode. My framerate is usually in the triple-digits, but it will noticeably hitch at 80 for a second when clicking continue. This gets worse over a play session (eventually plummeting to single digits!), unless I restart the game, at which point it goes back to "normal." For what it's worth, OOTP performance over the years has always seemed to degrade if I play the game for a few hours at a stretch.

In general, though, the 3D looks much better this year, and the stadiums are mostly a joy. My biggest nitpick is the low-res old English "D" decal behind home plate at Comerica. And also it would be cool to render some of the distant geometry in stadiums with skylines, instead of using a flat background.

[JoJo]

Starting a historical save with 95 Mets. So far so good!! Lovin' it!

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by Sweed

This is the first year I waited for the Steam version so I am very late to the party. My first impression is WOW

I imported my v21 game where I am right at 54 games into my current season. For this reason I turned off the base coaches and cohesion. I'll turn them on once past the world series.

My game imported in 3 minutes with no issues. Didn't think I would like the tab look from the screenshots but in game I think they look great. Went through all of the skins and find only the dark works with my eyes. The white is usually too bright for my taste and it's the same with 22.

I do go through all settings to keep from being surprised down the road. It's a good thing as league evolution was on by default as were story lines. Everything else seems to have come through as set in 21.

I copied my sound folder from 21 and it all worked without issue, even stadium specific sounds.

The stadiums and player models alone make 22 worth the price. I've made several custom cameras and while playing with my Cubs at Wrigley I saw the broadcast booth has the Harry logo in the window as does the bar across the street It's so nice to go from stadium to stadium and see real skylines.
My first game at Wrigley was at twilight and the view from behind the plate on the first pitch was beautiful.

Between 64 bit and whatever else they did to optimize the game it is blazing fast loading and saving. Could be placebo but I think the screens are a bit crisper in appearance.

I have always managed every inning of every game in my dynasty. OOTP 22 is a huge upgrade over 21 for this style of play.

Thanks Markus, Matt, and everyone at OOTP dev. for a great game.

Thank you for the report, Sweed.
I know that I can depend on your your observations and advice.
Good post.

[highandoutside]

Does anyone play with the "follow ball" option enabled? It worked fine in OOTP21, but it just feels like a bunch of very rough cut scenes on this version.

[Shake Appeal]

Originally Posted by highandoutside

Does anyone play with the "follow ball" option enabled? It worked fine in OOTP21, but it just feels like a bunch of very rough cut scenes on this version.

No, it felt very herky-jerky to me, so I turned it off.

[Art Deco]

Originally Posted by Provolone86

Hi!

Where can I find (if it is in the game) the batting LOB stat data of the players? I found it useful in the past and it would be great if I could check the LOB of the batters.

Thanks for the reply,
P

It seems to have been dropped from box scores with this version, why I have no idea. It would be great to get it back, especially for those of us like me who write recaps of their games.

Generally it's not good form to remove features from a game, unless they're causing some kind of problem.

[Deft]

20 years on and this is the best yet. Thank you, Markus and team.

[Anthony5967]

Absolute diehard of this game but Jacob DeGrom needs a ratings bump. The guy is the best pitcher in baseball and getting tagged every start in my franchise like he’s a three starter. 65-60-65 is fair but when Gerrit Cole’s stuff is higher, that’s a big strange, in my opinion. He’s not striking anybody out either. Real Jacob DeGrom isn’t getting touched up like this.

[Shake Appeal]

Originally Posted by Anthony5967

Absolute diehard of this game but Jacob DeGrom needs a ratings bump. The guy is the best pitcher in baseball and getting tagged every start in my franchise like he’s a three starter. 65-60-65 is fair but when Gerrit Cole’s stuff is higher, that’s a big strange, in my opinion. He’s not striking anybody out either. Real Jacob DeGrom isn’t getting touched up like this.

OOTP is just pretty volatile with this stuff by its nature (as is real-life baseball, though I'd argue less so), but this is also a consequence of using ZiPS, which has some of the lowest 2021 projections for deGrom I've seen—and some of the highest for Cole.

But I agree that deGrom should basically be a Martian in-game. He is right up there with the greatest pitchers of all time.

[luckymann]

A great addition to the OOTP stable.

Love the improved animation, have barely seen any oddities like in previous versions.

Love how it seems the AI is more intuitive in various ways, for example I'm seeing for the first time in my 18-season old main save contending teams aggressively trying to fill holes in their roster down the stretch to help them win, as they do in real life. I may be imagining this, or it may be coincidental. At any rate I like what I am seeing.

I like the idea of the new coaching system but am a bit disappointed in some of the ambiguities inherent to it. EG if coaches are feuding, how do you know why? And is there any way of tracking development through the new system or is it simply reflected in improved ratings? I'd love these sorts of things to be more quantifiable than they seem at this early stage. Then again, these sorts of elements may all reveal themselves as the game progresses, so I'll stay on the fence here.

I am a bit snarky that your screen settings don't automatically come across to the new version when importing, meaning you have to do them all again. A small gripe, but a gripe nonetheless. Same goes with some other niggly / cosmetic things such as the screen always returning to the top rather than where it was when you went deeper and the general clumsiness with interfacing outside of the program.

And was really hoping some work had been done on feeder leagues (or at least putting them back to how they were in 20 so they have some autonomy) but realistically wasn't expecting it.

All in all well worth the full price buy.

Thanks to the OOTP team once again!

G

[JayCarr]

I bought MM back in the day, got 2019, 2020, 2021 and now 2022...

I always felt like I should love this game, but for some reason never did... until now.

Man, the number of small tweaks has just added up into one big "wow this is so much easier to use now" for me. Everything loads super quick, things feel easier to find (I know most of the layouts are the same, it just feels easier, maybe because I'm playing more) and the improved 3D view lets me just sit back and watch the games like I had always dreamed I could!

Plus, I know you folks are working on improving the 3D modeling. I'd definitely like:
- More animations (and some tweaks to line them up), especially celebration animations
- Higher polygon models (though not too much, that'd just eat up resources. I think going from PS1 graphics to PS2 would be good though).
- Accurate uniforms

But I will say this: You just nailed the movement of the ball. To me that's the most important thing, does the ball move through the air in a way that is familiar? In a way that helps me know, even before the play completes, if it'll be foul/fair/over the fence or what have you. And I think you all did a great job on that part

So, while there's always room for improvement, I'd give this version a solid 10/10. Keep up the good work!

[AirmenSmith]

I have been waiting for today's patch to really try the game out. I have been just messing around with a Cubs historical play through starting in 1989. Won the WS that year. Now my rotation consists of Maddux, Clemons, and Pedro.

So far today I have just messed around with the new patch and checking out the new features. Going strong fright now with over 2 hours streaming on twitch

[earlweaverbbl]

Hi There, i am brand new to this game. As someone who started with Earl Weaver baseball and misses it greatly i was super excited to find this game. What I am trying to do is to set up a 16 team league of which i control each team. Have a fantasy draft with the best players in history and then i will manage each team and watch each game.
I spent 4 hours trying to do this yesterday and i have no clue how and i'm ready to chalk this up as another disappointment for us simmers who like to customize leagues and watch games.
Please if there is a way to do what i am trying i would really appreciate some help!!!

[Eugene Church]

Originally Posted by earlweaverbbl

Hi There, i am brand new to this game. As someone who started with Earl Weaver baseball and misses it greatly i was super excited to find this game. What I am trying to do is to set up a 16 team league of which i control each team. Have a fantasy draft with the best players in history and then i will manage each team and watch each game.
I spent 4 hours trying to do this yesterday and i have no clue how and i'm ready to chalk this up as another disappointment for us simmers who like to customize leagues and watch games.
Please if there is a way to do what i am trying i would really appreciate some help!!!

earlweaver, you might post this on the OOTP22 Discussions Forum in your own thread... I think you would get much greater response.

[zocrates]

Originally Posted by Lukas Berger

Yeah, but the AI is not the Dodgers (or the Astros). That's their opinion of him, but the AI has its own opinion, which can be completely different, based on all the factors I mentioned.

It's not possible or even remotely realistic to create an AI that somehow mimics the exact specific opinions of each MLB front office and will only trade the guys they would trade for the guys they want to trade for.

A lot of folks think Bauer is super overrated and wouldn't touch him on his current contract, others think he's worth every penny the Dodgers paid. The AI obviously falls more into the 'overrated' camp than it agrees with the Dodgers.

This could probably be solved by implementing what I believe is an actual rule in MLB where recently signed players cannot be traded until after June 15 (unless the player waives that right).

But overall, I don't know if there's any justification for a Bauer for Betances trade. Yes, the AI isn't the Dodgers, but that's a pretty glaring flaw in the game if the AI is THAT far away from the Dodgers, or any other team for that matter.

With that said, I haven't seen any lopsided deals like that on my end, either from the computer or anything I've suggested. Just saying that if the game is allowing the Bauser/Betances deal on the hardest difficulty, there's an issue that should probably be addressed.

[wallewalls]

Saw the Nats trade Kieboom to the Orioles for Maikel Franco. That is one of the all-time bad ones, even if Kieboom's prospect shine may be wearing off. That one is pretty hard to defend. I wouldn't necessarily be mad if the AI traded Kieboom for a rental player, but definitely not for the type of player Franco is.

Thankfully, I play in commish mode and could overturn it.

[robedits]

I didn't trade for them. Was using newest OD rosters in (Steam) version of OOTP 22. I'm Mets GM and MGR, and all trades must go through me. I sim a week, just to see what happens, and all of a sudden I see Cespedes on the Mets (his contract wasn't renewed by Mets in real life, thank goodness), as well as Jay Bruce (who is on the Yankees in real life this year). I never traded for them, so...huh? Also, Peterson is Mets' 4th starter in rotation (as he would have been for me), but after this same week of simming he was demoted to minors. I had set my lineups and rotation before season began, but both were heavily revised by AI after a week had gone by. How and why, I'd like to know.

[Anyone]

One thing that's vastly improved is the pinch hitting logic. If I put in a reliever late in the game to get a platoon advantage on the hitter, it does a very good job of putting in a pinch hitter with a better split against the hand of pitcher I put in, to take the platoon advantage back.

I don't recall that AI working nearly as well before as in this version.

[scott1964]

I like the new coaching model They have a personality now.