OOTP Vs Other Management sims

[British Baseballer]

Hi all,

Coming from England where our no 1 national sport is football (or soccer to you lot) I have played a soccer (ok I give into Americanisation! lol) managment game named Championship Manager for years, as well as OOTP. I have to confess I didnt play OOTP 5 but eagerly await OOTP 6

Championship manager, which I am sure the majority of you will not have played seems to offer a hell of a lot more depth than OTTP in terms of 'My personal profile' as the manager.

MY point is that with OOTP, as good as it is I never really feel like 'I' am the manager, it would be nice to see some interaction with players, fans, senior managementetc

I can see that i am struggling to explain what i mean but in a nutshell what i am trying to say is that it would be nice to see ME as the manager of my team with a contract opportunity to be sacked, take other management jobs that become available, as opposed with being 'Player 1' and doing as i please.

Hope this makes some kind of sense!

[Dargone]

I understand what you are saying. I play CM and it is the most in-depth sim I've ever played. Keep in mind that Markus hasn't been at OOTP as long as CM has been around and each year OOTP get better. I believe you will really enjoy version 6 and then you will be like me-How do I find time for OOTP and CM?!?!?

Welcome to the OOTP community by the way. You will find it a lot more friendly towards new players than the CM community. I still pick my posts very carefully over there. That place can be dangerous...

[Hoiles]

Welcome,
I played CM (downloaded from Kazaa, sorry), and I thought it was awesome, though too hard for a soccer novice like myself.

However, there is a manager mode in OOTP5 which shows you the owner's mood, you can get fired, get offers from other teams, even date and have children (well, I don't know if the latter two are really what you need but they're still amusing). Hopefully it's been upgraded, and I suspect it has.

Regardless, I think the biggest thing that OOTP could improve on is the GM-to-player-media interaction. The on-the-field and front office realism provided by OOTP is great, but it could be just that more immersive if you had to deal with players, media, fans, and keep them happy.

[British Baseballer]

Dargone, thanks for the welcome, couldn't agree more about the CM community its very hostile to newbies and veterns of the series a like!! Pretty much as soon as i had finished writing the original post i checked out the new features to OOTP5 and gave myself as kick up the backside for not reading before posting!

Personally I think the jump between OTTP4 (the last game i bought and played at length) and OTTP6 (which like you all I awit will baited breath) seems significant.

The series has many parallels with CM, I wouldnt be surprised if OOTP is bought up by one of the big players in the gaming world pretty soon ( such as CM originally with EDIOS now with SEGA)

I wonder if then OOTP would finally get the global recognition/promotion it deserves, on the other hand it could prove to be its downfall...

[JPWagner]

Welcome aboard BB...as an SMG fanatic, I've played many football sims including SAAP, CM, and TCM and while the OOTP managers mode still does not have the interaction you are looking for, you will still find it a challenge...Markus has already been thinking of a 2D display similar to CM4 for a future incarnation of OOTP so this game will be constantly improving, and it is already a great game!....there is some player/manager interactions now, during contract renewals, free agency ect., and there are emails sent to you by players, expressing their desire to play more, contract extentions, ect, so it's not totally absent....in time there might be more interaction whereby you praise or criticize player more to get them motivated, or keep them performing at a peak level...I have no doubts that this interaction feature especially Owner/GM-Manager (you) will be expanded in the future...for now though, enjoy!

[hit_or_miss54680]

The last one (besides OOTP5) that I played was Extreme Warfare (whatever the last version of it was titled) and I also played Promotion Wars before that because I used to be a wrestling fanatic and those games gave me the chance to be Vince. I never really played anyother games because Baseball is the only sport I really liked. Heck, now I feel like playing Extreme Warfare... Who cares that I don't know a damn thing about wrestling anymore. Wait, wasn't that bought out buy .400 studios? Hmmm...

[jmaness84]

The series has many parallels with CM, I wouldnt be surprised if OOTP is bought up by one of the big players in the gaming world pretty soon ( such as CM originally with EDIOS now with SEGA)

I think I can recall Markus saying he wouldn't sell out unless Microsoft offered him 100 mil? lol In all seriousness would the OOTP community want OOTP to be bought out by a big company? I wouldn't. I played Front Page and it was terrible. No Feedback whatsoever by the developers. I like it the way it is now. We the customers have an impact on what goes into the game.

[jmaness84]

The series has many parallels with CM, I wouldnt be surprised if OOTP is bought up by one of the big players in the gaming world pretty soon ( such as CM originally with EDIOS now with SEGA)

I think I can recall Markus saying he wouldn't sell out unless Microsoft offered him 100 mil? lol In all seriousness would the OOTP community want OOTP to be bought out by a big company? I wouldn't. I played Front Page and it was terrible. No Feedback whatsoever by the developers. I like it the way it is now. We the customers have an impact on what goes into the game.

[jmaness84]

Why did my reply post 2 times? Anyhoo +3

[AJTrenkle]

Its good to see that there can be a connection between soccer and baseball fans. I will never understand the hostility towards soccer harbored by so many in the American media. I never really became interested in the sport until the 98 World Cup and then getting the chance to watch some Champions League games on ESPN while in college, but am now completely hooked. It is just a magnificent sport.

It is also nice to see that Americans and Europeans can get past the stupid things our governments say about one another.

[dangarion]

There are a lot of guys around here that are big baseball and soccer fans and that play CM. I know of atleast 3-4 guys in the RWBL that play CM.

[sonicky]

Cm is the game i play most here i am still using the 01/02 season since i hate the new engines but i still love it alot

[Hammer755]

Welcome to the club. I think you'll find a lot more people here who are huge CM fans then you would think. I personally have never played it, but still understand that it is the pinnacle that all other sports text-sims strive toward. I'm not a big hockey fan either, but am much more so than soccer and may give the new SIGames EHM game a try when it is released.

As for what would happen should another company buy OOTP, the SEGA/EIDOS deal with CM hasn't seemed to effect Marc Vaughn's interaction with the gaming community. Not only does he listen to feedback from CM and other soccer forums, but he also pops in both here and FOFC (forum for FOF, one of the premier American football sims) frequently.

Hopefully Markus and the OOTPD crew could enjoy the best of both worlds. They have toiled over this game for 6 versions, I wouldn't mind seeing them hit a big payday.

[mh2365]

Originally posted by jmaness84
Why did my reply post 2 times? Anyhoo +3

Because the girl in your avatar is too freaking hot to be posted only once in a row

[jkstewart1]

I'm with sonicky - CM 01/02 was and is fantastic! I lost 10 months of my life to that game. I am interested in checking out the current CM version and the 2D game representation. See what's happening off the ball.

John

[EagleFan]

I've never been ablt to get into the single player part of OOTP like I could with games like BBPro, but it's solid. I want to think that this version will help me get a little more involved in the game.

CM is a game that I want to love, it looks like it has everything that a sports sim fan would want. My total lack of understanding soccer tactics keeps me from playing that game at an addictive level.

FBCB (Fast Break College Basketball) is the best basketball sim out there if you're interested in that sport. It keeps getting better because the developer really knows how to connect with his fan base and provide them what they want (it's not flashy, but extremely user friendly and deep). Another nice feature is that you can draft your players into the pros if you have his pro game (which is good but I have never gotten foully into it like the college version).

I like the FOF (Front Office Football) games for "American" football. Both the college version (though recruitnig can get to be a little tedious and could drive you away from teh game if you're not a die hard fan) and the pro version aver fery nice. The latest pro version is the best pro football sim that you'll find at this point. What's even nicer is that you can draft your college players if you have both games.

Extreme Warfare is the best of the wrestling sims, from what I have heard. I have played an earlier version and can see it's appeal for wrestling fans. Since it's more of a federation sim and you have to control every aspect like the 'story lines' and who wins, it may have limited appeal if you're looking for actually simming matches.

TBCB (Title Bout Championship Boxing) is the best of the bosxing sims but it has no career mode right now. The sim engine is great though. It depends on what you are looking for in a bosing game as it's currently more of a niche product (historical simulation) until a career mode is added.

Eastside Hockey Manager is the best of the hocky sims, much like CM. The only problem with it's current version is that it's dreadfully slow. I can't wait to see th retail version coming out from SIGames.


To compare:
Online managerment, OOTP ranks right up there with the best.

GM simming: OOTP is close to FOF and CM

In Game Simming: OOTP is okay, but FBCB offers the best of this world.

Realism: OOTP does a very nice job with having tweakable reaults and the results seem to be okay. The problem had always been more in player development than in the sim engine, it seemed.

Atmosphere: OOTP is okay, but CM takes this hands down.

GM AI: This is a tough call in most games. CM has an edge in this.

Game AI: Can be a little iffy at times but no sports sim really nals this. CM, EHM, FBCB and TDCB seem to handle this the best.

Inteface: OOTP is solid and the recent redesignes have added a lot with everything being clickable. If you want eye candy, CM and 400SS games are among the leaders. If you want functionality and option groupings that seem to make sense, CM and FBCB are at the top. On the far opposite, avoid Faceoff Hockey like the plague if you want a game with an interface that makes sense.


Sorry about the rambling, I hope this helps a little with your question.

[Mds7361]

Originally posted by jmaness84
I think I can recall Markus saying he wouldn't sell out unless Microsoft offered him 100 mil? lol In all seriousness would the OOTP community want OOTP to be bought out by a big company? I wouldn't. I played Front Page and it was terrible. No Feedback whatsoever by the developers. I like it the way it is now. We the customers have an impact on what goes into the game.

I agree I like that the developers actually listen to suggestions on what to put into the game

[British Baseballer]

It is also nice to see that Americans and Europeans can get past the stupid things our governments say about one another

Lol, the day i am considered or told i am European will be the day i get my tickets for immigration to the moon. Please its a very touchy subject with us Brits!



Its nice to see tha CM is so popular in the US, it would be great if we could intergrate the 2 d engine into OOTP and to be fair i dont see any reason why not.

It would be great if the Markus and Mark over at CM could brainstorm a few ideas, we would either end up with the best managment sim ever or a game where you had to kick a giant ball and run round the bases!

[andy m]

i am british, but i consider myself more european than british.

i agree that CM is the best sports sim ever though. OOTP doesn't come close in single player mode. multiplayer is another story mind you.

[Rubilario]

I always get divorced and have a hard time having kids. Go figure.

Oh, this pertains to the game, not real life. Been married 18 years with 2 kids in real life.