$$ vs Value - Hopefully Helpful comments

[Jearly]

First Off - I started this Thread to get away from "Taking the Piss" thread - I think it has started to go in the wrong direction - hopefully we can discuss what can help the game.

I purchased the game in the early beta stage -- I at the time did not expect a polished nor bug free game. I did purchase on the valued reputation of the OOTP team and their baseball game from inception until present.

I had and still do have high expectations - But to use part of MRSox17 quote:
"I apologize to you devotees, but this game is awful. The play-by-play is improved, but how much fun is it to just sit and watch a game without a chance to impact anything going on in the game? BORING! In addition, once a game starts, I see no way to exit. What is going on with that???? To top it off, I had a general manager offer me nothing in a trade proposal. -- I had high hopes for this game. I can see a lot of hard work went into it, but a lot more needs to be done to make it worthwhile"

These are my complaints - hopefully they will be addressed in future.
League Simulation: At this point I think the game would be OK in a league format where you enter your decisions - send them off and in a day or two review the results.
Playable Game: At this stage I do not feel its a playable game: It has No FUN Factor. No interaction during game, no advancing to end feature, no viewing of whats going on on Ice - NO ICE!!
Even earliest versions of EHM (Free Version) show the zone movement during play.

$$ vs Value - I am not disappointed that I purchased the game - but until it turns into a game that provides FUN / Stategic / during Game interaction - Then I still am not disappointed that I purchased, but would not do so again after reading reviews.

I would like to see constructive comments on what others think might add some FUN Value.

[sprague]

a good idea to start a new thread with a new name
perhaps will be a new dialogue on it all

[silvam14]

I agree. There are so many small things that are left out so far, after all of this time, I am very surprised. I just hope things that were mentioned such as being able to quick sim to the end of that game (as it is now games are painfully slow even at the fastest speed, and some of my pet peeves like:

- the ability to edit jersey numbers without having to be in control of the team,
- A Load game feature so you don't need to exit the game and re-start every time you add a logo or player pic
- Roster export and import feature

None of the above features should have been left out IMO as they should have easily been able to be brought over from the OOTP code (you would think) or maybe they just don't have the manpower to add these things and squash some of the major bugs that still exist.

Its the smal things like the above that allow a user to feel they have complete control over every facet of the game they like. Instead, we have restrictions on something simple like editing Jersey numbers.

I can see myself eventually becoming a fictional player here because that is my main OOTP game mode, but I really feel that fictional should have been left out of the equation for this release and they should have focused on getting the interface/roster management, and real-life rules/stats/development engine up to snuff as much as possible first.

I realize I am probably making the easy mistake of expecting too much from FHM because of what OOTP has after 14 iterations, but I say why not? what good is the 14 years of fine tuning OOTP if you can't take all the basic interface features and port it to this game?

ahh, sorry. for the rant. I'm not going anywhere and will continue to support this game, just wanted to vent.

[RBLwebguy]

Originally Posted by silvam14

I just hope things that were mentioned such as being able to quick sim to the end of that game (as it is now games are painfully slow even at the fastest speed, and some of my pet peeves like:

- the ability to edit jersey numbers without having to be in control of the team,
- A Load game feature so you don't need to exit the game and re-start every time you add a logo or player pic.

Funny on these three things we think exactly alike!

[lorreporre]

Originally Posted by silvam14

...., but I really feel that fictional should have been left out of the equation for this release and they should have focused on getting the interface/roster management, and real-life rules/stats/development engine up to snuff as much as possible first.

I couldn't agree more with you about that statement, maybe the devs were too overambitious about the first version of the game.
I like you will continue to support the game, as i am from the start of beta, and will hope for the patches to make it more fun to play. But yes i can understand the growing frustration of specially new buyers. Maybe a decision should be taken regarding what to fix first and what to put aside for the time being, i don't know ....

[Bluenoser]

I see a lot of little things and big things still missing. Simple stats, lack of menu's, ability to set bookmarks, etc etc etc. I could go on with more but most everything has already been beaten to death on the forums, so why continue.

I'm close to 60, and my patience for these sort of things (new games) is much better than when I was younger and wanted to dive in. So my opinion is from a different approach than a lot of others here.

#1 for me, even before considering what "kind" of hockey game we'd have, was who was developing it. As soon as I saw "OOTP", I was in for the long haul. I know what this company builds over the long haul, having owned every version of OOTP, so I never hesitated to purchase.

I went in knowing how difficult it is and how long it takes to build a game like this properly. I had no doubt that ver 1 was going to be pretty near the bottom of its potential chart. (By that I mean - this game has unlimited potential, but it has a long way to go) I accepted that and I am neither surprised nor disappointed with ver 1. I think they have a great foundation, and despite its bumps, it is playable. I know there are plenty who can't get it to run, but there are plenty who can too. So I'd say things are moving in the right direction.

Right now, I'm mostly just playing in Commish mode, seeing how the engine runs, what kind of results I can expect in comparison to r/l. There's too much missing for me to jump into GM mode yet, too many things I'd want to be able to do that aren't in the game yet. A lot of that stems from OOTP, yes I'm spoiled rotten by what I can do in that game as a GM . Yet despite my expectations, I enjoy playing in Commish mode, simming a day at a time, pouring over every game log from everyday is fun, and with real training camps starting up this game is helping get me pumped for the season to start.

There's lots this game needs, but there's lots you can do with what you have too.


I respect others rights to complain about the game, after all they spent their money, I just wish they'd do it more constructively. Maybe the game was ready for release, maybe it wasn't - that's a matter of opinion. At the end of the day, I can spend 10 minutes shopping for games on the internet and find plenty that fit the same criteria. I can go to the gaming sites forums and rant about how upset I am and spout off about the game, or I can ask for a refund, or I can do nothing, or - I can go to their site, provide constructive feedback on what's wrong with it and what it needs.

At the end of the day, if I care about the game and want to see it reach it's potential, I'll choose the latter. If I choose any of the first 3, I probably don't care about the game much anyway and should just move on to the next game.


FHM has cut into my OOTP playing time - but that's a good thing.

I hope you all stick around and support FHM, because I promise you one thing for sure - as long as OOTP is developing it, the sky's the limit.

[gekkoguy82]

Early on in development, I was really disappointed when custom leagues weren't part of the original plan for this game. I was among those who clamored for such a feature, and now I somewhat regret that I did. Clearly that was not part of their plan for a reason, and I'm sure that some important portions of the game lost the attention they were due in order to tack on OOTP style custom leagues.

I will love and play this series a great deal over the years to come, but I kind of feel that to some extent us early customers are a bit to blame for the state of the game presently. A lot of feature requests included might have been a bit ambitious for the first go round, and taken away from creating a simple, stable foundation.

Not to take away from what's already here in this version! The groundwork for lots of awesomeness has been laid, and now just needs refinement and support from fans. From the first beta till now, the game has been improved by leaps and bounds. It will not take long before the game realizes it's potential. Both constructive criticism and kudos for the dev team are necessary as the game moves forward from here.

Maybe I'm wrong, and I know there are a ton of opinions on this. Just my two cents.