Alright, I have to say this to get it off my chest.

[shawnofthedead]

Ive been playing OOTPB since the game's inception. Every year around spring I get excitied not just about a new season of baseball but all the fun I am going to have with OOTPB, it was an "event" for me and many other folks I know.

The latest version of the game was released in May after a very long wait. 6.0 and 6.5 were so good I figured this one would really be something to see with such a long time for development.

Its nearly August and this game still doesnt work right. Even if it did nearly all the fun has been sucked out of it. Its impossible to manage a franchise effectively as the game is currently setup. Its hard to tell one player from anothers skillset without going through a lot of work...and forget the minor leagues and foreign scouting..its unmanagable if you dont have 10 hours a day to blow on baseball sims. That seems to be my general expeience and frustration with the new game..its unmanageable. Ive read through "War and Peace" err..I mean the game manual and its just crazy. I dont see how this game is really all that fun. Im not a graphics and action game kind of guy but the interface should at least be somewhat manageable and fun to work with.

Judging by the lack of leagues or custom rosters of real major leaguers available right now it seems a lot of people out there are having a similar experience. Why did this game get released like this after such a long development cycle????

Im pretty disapointed..I think it might be time to look for something else out there after many long years with OOTPB

[JTWood]

Originally Posted by shawnofthedead

Judging by the lack of leagues or custom rosters of real major leaguers available right now it seems a lot of people out there are having a similar experience. Why did this game get released like this after such a long development cycle????

FWIW, I can at least answer this question. Duffy said that it was released because it had to be. That's the polite way of saying that the company had spent a lot of money developing the software, and they needed some revenue to start coming in sooner than later to justify its existence.

I work in publishing, and I've seen many of electronic "portals" go out before they were 100% for exactly the same reason. Such is business.

[The Wolf]

Originally Posted by shawnofthedead

Im pretty disapointed..I think it might be time to look for something else out there after many long years with OOTPB

You are far from alone. Other people, some of them long-time OOTPers, have come to the same conclusion. The fun factor that was so present in 6.51 is just gone for some people in 2006.

Good luck with whatever you do.

[Dr. Walter Doodah]

Fun factor? Was that one of those intangible ratings...like 'clutch performance' and so forth? Yeah, I'm glad those are gone.

[tcblcommish]

All I can say is welcome to the unwanted world of SI.

I still like this game right now even though they concentrated on the wrong things for the release but it is getting harder and harder to want to play and justify the money for the game next season.

[jarmenia]

Originally Posted by shawnofthedead

Ive been playing OOTPB since the game's inception. Every year around spring I get excitied not just about a new season of baseball but all the fun I am going to have with OOTPB, it was an "event" for me and many other folks I know.

The latest version of the game was released in May after a very long wait. 6.0 and 6.5 were so good I figured this one would really be something to see with such a long time for development.

Its nearly August and this game still doesnt work right. Even if it did nearly all the fun has been sucked out of it. Its impossible to manage a franchise effectively as the game is currently setup. Its hard to tell one player from anothers skillset without going through a lot of work...and forget the minor leagues and foreign scouting..its unmanagable if you dont have 10 hours a day to blow on baseball sims. That seems to be my general expeience and frustration with the new game..its unmanageable. Ive read through "War and Peace" err..I mean the game manual and its just crazy. I dont see how this game is really all that fun. Im not a graphics and action game kind of guy but the interface should at least be somewhat manageable and fun to work with.

Judging by the lack of leagues or custom rosters of real major leaguers available right now it seems a lot of people out there are having a similar experience. Why did this game get released like this after such a long development cycle????

Im pretty disapointed..I think it might be time to look for something else out there after many long years with OOTPB

The interface gets easier to use the more you use it. I hated it when I first started but as I learned the flow it has gotten easier. You said the game doesn't work right. What exact problems are you having? Do you have the latest patch? The more specific information you give us the better chance we can help you get through the rough spots. It wasn't until Thursday's patch that I was finally able to start my "for real" league and I have been loving it ever since.

[Kelric]

I play OOTP for two reasons - my one online league and highly developed solo leagues that I probably spend more time on setting up than I do actually playing. OOTP was broken when it came to online leagues until now (supposedly fixed, just starting to test it for the 4OTP) and the game was unplayable to me in it's previous form for solo play. Too many little things were wrong.

It's finally getting to the point where I want to play it. I've already spent about four hours today working on setting up my new solo league and I'm not even close to done. By the time I get it how I want it, OOTP7 might be released.

[Faroo6]

The interface can be cleaned up quickly with bookmarks. They are your friends. Bookmarking screens you view constantly and even using the shortcut keys applied to them can speed up the process of getting around.

[silvam14]

I actually just started my fictional North American Universe today after the past 2 months of setting it up. I have to say that it is such a joy to play!

[Tycobbler]

The game is great for me. After i tweaked it to my liking my historical is running just fine. Finally got the pitchers to log some erious careers after what seemed like a slow 30 year old and out problem.

The interface took a while to get used to, and now i am having a blast with minimal complaints that are easily solved through simple trial and error.

[Kelric]

Originally Posted by Tycobbler

The game is great for me. After i tweaked it to my liking my historical is running just fine. Finally got the pitchers to log some erious careers after what seemed like a slow 30 year old and out problem.

I haven't played yet to run into that problem, but could you tell me how you worked around it?

[pstrickert]

Originally Posted by Tycobbler

The game is great for me. After i tweaked it to my liking my historical is running just fine.

Can you elaborate? What kind of tweaks? What resources (if any) do you rely on?

[Mister Bogart]

Have fun playing whatever else you find....

- Bogey

[Sweed]

Got to say I'm having a blast playing it too with my imported 6.5 league. The game is now solid and I am getting realistic numbers and the ingame is feeling like ootp, a good thing

I'm still working on getting a routine going, mostly on how often to check my minors and oranizing my scouting. But I am getting there

It's been said by others but with this as a base I'm really looking forward to v2007.

[StyxNCa]

At first, the interface had me staring at the screen like a deer in headlights, but now I zip from one screen to the next as if I was born playing this version.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by JTWood

FWIW, I can at least answer this question. Duffy said that it was released because it had to be. That's the polite way of saying that the company had spent a lot of money developing the software, and they needed some revenue to start coming in sooner than later to justify its existence.

It is worth remembering that there were many posts in April constantly asking, "Where's the game? Where's the game?" because it had not been released in the late March/early April timeframe that earlier version had been released in. And the question was usually followed by comments wondering why it was taking so long.

[Giants44]

I spent the previous 5 years as a self-admitted fanboy of Markus and OOTP.

I spent most of the last year disgruntled with OOTP and SI

now I am starting to work my way back to fanboy. I still have my issues, but many have been contained - I actually LOVE the new interface and that was one of my original biggest complaints and I have stopped playing 6.5 altogether and I only play 2006 now.

Having said all that there are still 1,000 things I would change/improve about OOTP but it has pretty much always been that way and I hope to see some of these things implemented in the future.

Now, I am not saying YOU should enjoy the game - in fact my single biggest complaint about the OOTP community these days is how many times I have seen one individual tell another individual that they SHOULD like the game. Opinions vary, some like the new game, some don't. Perhaps with time you will like it as it matures, perhaps you will never play it again.

[Tycobbler]

After i started my historical i noticed in the forums that pitchers; starting pitchers, were tanking at age 30 with the pitching aging set at 1.000 when i created the league. After simming 1 season i found that you then reduce your pitching aging, and every new pitcher that comes through the database every subsequent year will be affetced by the change, the current one's.... well you'll have to do a bit of editing if you want them to last a bit longer. I set mine to .500 and have seen pitchers stay as starters until their mid to late 30's, a couple even 40. That was my work around for the much maligned SP's tanking problem that has appeared on these boards here and there.

Props to Tigerfan for an great idea on setting the player creation modifiers to .100 and check the create and maintain hidden players box. Now the fictional entrants will not infiltrate my major leagues and mess with what i hope to accomplish here; real players only at the ML level. Only 1 minors level AAA btw. I wish you could add more levels as you go but alas you can't.

I am following Bruces' Baseball Chronology to a "T", lots of moves for teams until you hit the roaring twenties then things begin to cruise along. Also editing the stadium settings as they acually happened (year) wise to get a good feel for accuracy. You're going to have to toy with Ruth though as he comes in as a pitcher if you want him to produce as a slugger. I am using lahmans53 for my database btw and i like it. Ruth hit 722 homeruns over a stellar 22 year career incl. 4 shutouts 1915-1918, then the next 18 years as a hitter. Ty Cobb played 24 years, and put up some impressive numbers as well so the hitting age i left at 1.000 (default). Pitchers you say? Well some of the one's that came into the game post my aging change were the recipients of good fortune. Ed Walsh came in 1929, he's now 33 and has 190 wins pitching for a poor Whitesox club. In fact 18 of the 32 starters (4 mn rotation) are over the age of 32. The .500 maybe in fact too low as a few pitchers have exceeded their RL actuality, but as well all know the game know's ratings and not names so i'm good with that.

Financial coefficient at .050 makes for 800K superstars, which is working with an avg. attendence now (1939) of 33,000 spectators. Trading "low" injuries "low" scouts on, and rosters set at 25 , expanded 30, 40 man @ 40 with NO free agency until Curt Flood says so somewhere in the 1960's i believe.

In 1936 unlike RL (1914-1915) i turned my minors to the Federal League, and i'll prolly leave it at that for a while to try something new and see if it works out. So now my majors have NO minor league affiliate; you have to edit that yourself if you wanna try that, and i cut the newly formed Federal League to 8 teams from the 16 that were AAA so it acts as it's seperate entity now.

So far so good. 722 homers is alltime best, and i'm happy. Ed Delahanty was huge. 16 years in the bigs RL, lasted 25 for me (ratings peeps) managed over 4500 hits. Jimmie Foxx has 435 homers (534 actual) but he's just 30 so he should get there. I could go on about the stats, but the main point is i got the SP's right thankfully !

[Marc Duffy]

Originally Posted by Giants44

I spent the previous 5 years as a self-admitted fanboy of Markus and OOTP.

I spent most of the last year disgruntled with OOTP and SI

now I am starting to work my way back to fanboy. I still have my issues, but many have been contained - I actually LOVE the new interface and that was one of my original biggest complaints and I have stopped playing 6.5 altogether and I only play 2006 now.

Having said all that there are still 1,000 things I would change/improve about OOTP but it has pretty much always been that way and I hope to see some of these things implemented in the future.

Now, I am not saying YOU should enjoy the game - in fact my single biggest complaint about the OOTP community these days is how many times I have seen one individual tell another individual that they SHOULD like the game. Opinions vary, some like the new game, some don't. Perhaps with time you will like it as it matures, perhaps you will never play it again.

I think even for us, there are things we'd change in the game, but then we're never happy with the work we've done and always stive to make the game and the experience more enjoyable.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Giants44

Having said all that there are still 1,000 things I would change/improve about OOTP but it has pretty much always been that way and I hope to see some of these things implemented in the future.

Well, in a way, this is good. If the game was feature-rich to the point that there wasn't anything left to add or improve upon, then Markus would be out of a job.