FHM 2 Impressions

Cole · 09-28-2015, 01:43 PM

Rather than seeing a bunch of threads pop up with scattered first impressions as people play through, we are going to try to keep everything organized.

If you have some quick posts that are first impressions of the game that aren't a large enough topic to warrant their own post, please put them here!

Please use this for IMPRESSIONS ONLY. Bug reports should go in the bug report thread..

pbbm · 09-28-2015, 02:48 PM

Only played with it for about an hour, but it's great fun so far. I spent some time watching games, did a little custom game playing, and tried to edit some attributes to see what it's like.

To me it's weird that you see height in only inches when editing a player's attributes and not both feet and inches (which is how it's displayed in other screens), but it's nothing you don't get used to after a few minutes.

Game engine seems really great, and I love the way games play out. Simulated four or five games through the fastest sim options, and they turned out nicely without any issues.

In custom game, it would be nice to be able to set a maximum/minimum contract size for a league, or an 'average' contract size so that it forces contracts to vary around a specific range (unless the salary cap and salary floor essentially accomplish this during league creation, I just turned them off to experiment with fictional leagues).

It would also be cool if you could hit a 'randomize' button for players in custom games, instead of editing individual attributes if you're not happy with them.

I had one minor problem where I exited out of my NHL league and couldn't load that game through Continue Game, or manually, but a quick restart of FHM 2 fixed the problem and I haven't experienced it since.

The game's very good though. There's nothing about it that I've seen so far in my brief time with it where I've said "that's dumb" or "why is that a thing?". It does everything I expected it to, and it does it all very well.

Looking forward to many hours with this one.

JeffR · 09-28-2015, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbbm

To me it's weird that you see height in only inches when editing a player's attributes and not both feet and inches (which is how it's displayed in other screens), but it's nothing you don't get used to after a few minutes.

Just a little easier to edit that way, only one field to change instead of two. It makes a difference when you're doing a lot of editing.

Quote:

In custom game, it would be nice to be able to set a maximum/minimum contract size for a league, or an 'average' contract size so that it forces contracts to vary around a specific range (unless the salary cap and salary floor essentially accomplish this during league creation, I just turned them off to experiment with fictional leagues).

The database does have fields like that, but we'd have to do a little thinking before making them editable - the AI uses that kind of data in its decision-making, so odd values in them could have some nasty effects.

Quote:

I had one minor problem where I exited out of my NHL league and couldn't load that game through Continue Game, or manually, but a quick restart of FHM 2 fixed the problem and I haven't experienced it since.

Exited by going back to the start screen? I'll have a look. I think I remember something like that happening a while back in testing, but thought we'd fixed it, and haven't seen it since.

pbbm · 09-28-2015, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeffR

Exited by going back to the start screen? I'll have a look. I think I remember something like that happening a while back in testing, but thought we'd fixed it, and haven't seen it since.

Yeah, but I haven't been able to duplicate the error myself.

ffp7175 · 09-28-2015, 03:03 PM

Can I turnoff fiancés/contracts and just play the game only

pens66 · 09-28-2015, 03:09 PM

Solid first impression. Game runs smooth and it's fun to fiddle around with it. The popups are a nice addition.

The fighting crowd won't be pleased, though. There's no way to recreate the 70s and 80s and the penalty totals are obviously "inflated" by having too many one-on-one fights in certain years to account for the lack of multiplayer fisticuffs.

There's a couple of bugs here and there (can't use keyboard to adjust certain numbers on edit screens or sorting attributes from lowest to highest instead of the other way round in rosters screens), but nothing game breakiing so far. Thank god!

jwr38 · 09-28-2015, 03:25 PM

(ON MAC)

So far it looks good. Overall I like it. Some things like dragging and dropping from anywhere in the line changes screen is very cool. I personally like the layout of this game more than EHM - EA. There feels less clicking. Still not perfect though, I would prefer to have no popup when you send a player up or down.

The finances page is confusing and not that easy to understand in first few views. Personally this page for me is a waste. I can't do much with all the information. To me it doesn't help play the game at all. I would have preferred something like capgeek used to be. Simple, effective and useable in the game.

Clicking on the roster and then the shirt is cool but it does jump (scroll) so you have to scroll down again. That needs fixing.

Simming speed. Not the fastest but I do have everything on. It takes about 10 minutes for me just to reach the preseason.

Trainning - Not sure how yet need to look in the manual. Would be great if the link to the manual was in game .... no just in the load page.

Ok playing more

Hawkguy · 09-28-2015, 04:17 PM

Big question for me... how is it compared to EHM?

Markus Heinsohn · 09-28-2015, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hawkguy

Big question for me... how is it compared to EHM?

Amazing, of course.

harmonica · 09-28-2015, 04:24 PM

I am currently sitting on the fence. I bought FHM and it was complete garbage, but that was two years ago.

I think a lot of people are waiting and willing to take a risk on a game, but only after player reviews come out. Like most, I want to know how well the tactics are working, how player development is over the long run and the trading AI.

I personally will not be trusting reviews from non hardcore hockey sim sources. So if you have the game and put some time in to it, please post your opinions here as I would love to read them.

JeffR · 09-28-2015, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harmonica

I am currently sitting on the fence. I bought FHM and it was complete garbage, but that was two years ago.

I think a lot of people are waiting and willing to take a risk on a game, but only after player reviews come out. Like most, I want to know how well the tactics are working, how player development is over the long run and the trading AI.

I personally will not be trusting reviews from non hardcore hockey sim sources. So if you have the game and put some time in to it, please post your opinions here as I would love to read them.

Perfectly fine. But we brought a number of people onto the test team who were also very critical of the first version, and they've become pretty enthusiastic after a few months of beta testing.

harmonica · 09-28-2015, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeffR

Perfectly fine. But we brought a number of people onto the test team who were also very critical of the first version, and they've become pretty enthusiastic after a few months of beta testing.

Thanks for the quick reply Jeff. I have been following the enthusiasm from the testers and it definitely has made me more excited for the game.

I honestly look forward to reading good reviews and hope you guys have a successful game on your hands, as this would only be a good thing for me and anyone else who has been waiting for a good hockey manager game.

Bruins86 · 09-28-2015, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harmonica

I am currently sitting on the fence. I bought FHM and it was complete garbage, but that was two years ago.

I think a lot of people are waiting and willing to take a risk on a game, but only after player reviews come out. Like most, I want to know how well the tactics are working, how player development is over the long run and the trading AI.

I personally will not be trusting reviews from non hardcore hockey sim sources. So if you have the game and put some time in to it, please post your opinions here as I would love to read them.

For what its worth I have played NHL sims since I first discovered Freeware EHM around 2000. I'm not going to say this is the best one or anything cause I have only played it for about an hr or so, but what I can say is it is a vast improvement over FHM14 and so far I am enjoying it

Bruins86 · 09-28-2015, 04:47 PM

oops lol wrong thread

Walsh06 · 09-28-2015, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ffp7175

Can I turnoff fiancés/contracts and just play the game only

Only if she says no. Otherwise you are stuck with her

Malte Schwarz · 09-28-2015, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ffp7175

Can I turnoff fiancés/contracts and just play the game only

No, that's not possible.

Bruins86 · 09-28-2015, 07:23 PM

The pop up when hovering over players names is delayed and can get a little annoying, I do like the feature though.

Duranium · 09-28-2015, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by harmonica

Thanks for the quick reply Jeff. I have been following the enthusiasm from the testers and it definitely has made me more excited for the game.

I honestly look forward to reading good reviews and hope you guys have a successful game on your hands, as this would only be a good thing for me and anyone else who has been waiting for a good hockey manager game.

I may be a bit biased as a beta-slave

for FHM2, but i can tell you that this game is really a huuuge improvement over FHM14.
I ran umpteen decade long games during the beta phase and stats, stability and gameplay really exceeded my expectations. When stats anomalies or issues popped up, they were usually improved/ironed out with the following build and as mentioned in another thread the trade AI seems like a pain in the ass to perfect coding-wise, but it´s miles ahead in realism compared to FHM14.
I´d recommend the game in a heartbeat but read some pro reviews first to be on the safe side.

ike121212 · 09-28-2015, 08:18 PM

I'm enjoying things overall. Hoping this is viewed as constructive, and some things can be taken from OOTP.

Relative Ratings- Please take this option. A bad skater is a 13, a strong skater is a 17. There's not much in between to differentiate. I love having this option in OOTP.

Views + Color- Might seem small, but the difference here is massive. I can't see what I'd like on one screen, and everything just blends together. OOTP's presentation of basic screens is much better.

Draft Lottery- I didn't notice this in the game.

Draft- Is there no view of potential, other than the star based overall rating? Right now, I'm looking at 15 players with the same Star potential. When I drill down to individual scouting reports, they all just say "has the potential to become an outstanding player" and most say "the strongest part of his game is his playmaking ability". The stats views don't show stats. The ratings screens don't include overall ratings and re-sort (so that you goalies at the top). The whole experience is frustrating.

Top Prospect (team home screen and league report)- another great thing to steal from OOTP

Stats- There should be a 1-click way to get to my teams stats. If there is, I haven't found it. Also, really need to be able to edit these views and print.

krownroyal83 · 09-28-2015, 08:22 PM

Edit: Deleted comment and put in the correct thread.

09-28-2015, 01:43 PM	#1
Cole Hall Of Famer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Fredericton, New Brunswick Posts: 2,685	FHM 2 Impressions Rather than seeing a bunch of threads pop up with scattered first impressions as people play through, we are going to try to keep everything organized. If you have some quick posts that are first impressions of the game that aren't a large enough topic to warrant their own post, please put them here! Please use this for IMPRESSIONS ONLY. Bug reports should go in the bug report thread.. Last edited by Cole; 09-28-2015 at 02:32 PM.

09-28-2015, 08:22 PM	#20
krownroyal83 All Star Reserve Join Date: Feb 2015 Posts: 905	Edit: Deleted comment and put in the correct thread. Last edited by krownroyal83; 09-28-2015 at 08:25 PM.

09-28-2015, 02:48 PM	#2
pbbm Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Dec 2013 Posts: 42	Only played with it for about an hour, but it's great fun so far. I spent some time watching games, did a little custom game playing, and tried to edit some attributes to see what it's like. To me it's weird that you see height in only inches when editing a player's attributes and not both feet and inches (which is how it's displayed in other screens), but it's nothing you don't get used to after a few minutes. Game engine seems really great, and I love the way games play out. Simulated four or five games through the fastest sim options, and they turned out nicely without any issues. In custom game, it would be nice to be able to set a maximum/minimum contract size for a league, or an 'average' contract size so that it forces contracts to vary around a specific range (unless the salary cap and salary floor essentially accomplish this during league creation, I just turned them off to experiment with fictional leagues). It would also be cool if you could hit a 'randomize' button for players in custom games, instead of editing individual attributes if you're not happy with them. I had one minor problem where I exited out of my NHL league and couldn't load that game through Continue Game, or manually, but a quick restart of FHM 2 fixed the problem and I haven't experienced it since. The game's very good though. There's nothing about it that I've seen so far in my brief time with it where I've said "that's dumb" or "why is that a thing?". It does everything I expected it to, and it does it all very well. Looking forward to many hours with this one.

09-28-2015, 03:03 PM	#5
ffp7175 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 79	Can I turnoff fiancés/contracts and just play the game only

09-28-2015, 03:09 PM	#6
pens66 Major Leagues Join Date: May 2012 Location: Germany Posts: 390	Solid first impression. Game runs smooth and it's fun to fiddle around with it. The popups are a nice addition. The fighting crowd won't be pleased, though. There's no way to recreate the 70s and 80s and the penalty totals are obviously "inflated" by having too many one-on-one fights in certain years to account for the lack of multiplayer fisticuffs. There's a couple of bugs here and there (can't use keyboard to adjust certain numbers on edit screens or sorting attributes from lowest to highest instead of the other way round in rosters screens), but nothing game breakiing so far. Thank god!

09-28-2015, 03:25 PM	#7
jwr38 Minors (Single A) Join Date: Sep 2015 Posts: 65	(ON MAC) So far it looks good. Overall I like it. Some things like dragging and dropping from anywhere in the line changes screen is very cool. I personally like the layout of this game more than EHM - EA. There feels less clicking. Still not perfect though, I would prefer to have no popup when you send a player up or down. The finances page is confusing and not that easy to understand in first few views. Personally this page for me is a waste. I can't do much with all the information. To me it doesn't help play the game at all. I would have preferred something like capgeek used to be. Simple, effective and useable in the game. Clicking on the roster and then the shirt is cool but it does jump (scroll) so you have to scroll down again. That needs fixing. Simming speed. Not the fastest but I do have everything on. It takes about 10 minutes for me just to reach the preseason. Trainning - Not sure how yet need to look in the manual. Would be great if the link to the manual was in game .... no just in the load page. Ok playing more

09-28-2015, 04:17 PM	#8
Hawkguy Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Jun 2013 Posts: 25	Big question for me... how is it compared to EHM?

09-28-2015, 04:24 PM	#10
harmonica Bat Boy Join Date: Sep 2015 Posts: 6	I am currently sitting on the fence. I bought FHM and it was complete garbage, but that was two years ago. I think a lot of people are waiting and willing to take a risk on a game, but only after player reviews come out. Like most, I want to know how well the tactics are working, how player development is over the long run and the trading AI. I personally will not be trusting reviews from non hardcore hockey sim sources. So if you have the game and put some time in to it, please post your opinions here as I would love to read them.

09-28-2015, 04:47 PM	#14
Bruins86 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 133	oops lol wrong thread

09-28-2015, 07:23 PM	#17
Bruins86 Minors (Double A) Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 133	The pop up when hovering over players names is delayed and can get a little annoying, I do like the feature though.

09-28-2015, 08:18 PM	#19
ike121212 All Star Reserve Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 938	I'm enjoying things overall. Hoping this is viewed as constructive, and some things can be taken from OOTP. Relative Ratings- Please take this option. A bad skater is a 13, a strong skater is a 17. There's not much in between to differentiate. I love having this option in OOTP. Views + Color- Might seem small, but the difference here is massive. I can't see what I'd like on one screen, and everything just blends together. OOTP's presentation of basic screens is much better. Draft Lottery- I didn't notice this in the game. Draft- Is there no view of potential, other than the star based overall rating? Right now, I'm looking at 15 players with the same Star potential. When I drill down to individual scouting reports, they all just say "has the potential to become an outstanding player" and most say "the strongest part of his game is his playmaking ability". The stats views don't show stats. The ratings screens don't include overall ratings and re-sort (so that you goalies at the top). The whole experience is frustrating. Top Prospect (team home screen and league report)- another great thing to steal from OOTP Stats- There should be a 1-click way to get to my teams stats. If there is, I haven't found it. Also, really need to be able to edit these views and print.