Some Thoughts on the Game

mikevoxcap · 04-30-2016, 03:45 PM

I picked up the new version of OOTP on the first day and was very excited to play it as I remember it being fun years back. Perhaps its just me getting older, but I can't help but say that as of today, I've officially decided to uninstall the game and don't want to play it again. First, I've found manager mode to be ridiculous. I tried "playing" the games, which after 100 games resulted in a team BA of .200 and a staff ERA of 10+. I've tried all kinds of strategies, but I just keep getting crushed. I spent a lot of time trying to get better at this, but I've given up and don't have 24 hours a day to invest in figuring it out. Next, I tried GM mode. This went well for the most part. Then with two months left in the season and a first place lead, I suddenly started losing just about every player I had to an injury. At one point, 5 of my regular stating position players were 2+ weeks on the DL and my top two starters were out with 6 month injuries. So fine, I slugged through it. Then, first day of the off-season, the game trades away my best SS for a minor league catcher. I didn't initiate the trade and I have no way to go back. Since the most recent changes to the game, I've found trades to be nearly impossible to pull off, so I'm not going through the trouble of trying to somehow do a trade back. As soon as I saw this happen, I lost it. Finally, this game is just TOO complex. I'm looking to have fun, but this game feels like work. I have work for that. This is just the major stuff. There are SO many other minor issues with this game that I wonder how it got QA'd. Half the time, a basic feature like sorting does not work. It's really hard to do things in certain windows of the game without being able to sort by position or name. Next, the resolution. Every time I load the game, it loads in 99% of the window size. Then I click to continue the game, it loads and every mouse-click is off by a few pixels. So I have to minimize and maximize the game. I'd continue on, but I've typed enough. All this said, I think the game has great intentions and I'm sure some people will love it. I just don't.

The Game · 04-30-2016, 06:30 PM

OOTP is not an open the box, pop it in and then play type of game. I started on OOTP 6.5 and hated it. Came back to it after trying the OOTP 10 demo for 2 days and bought OOTP 11. I can do more on OOTP then I could ever do on any console game. It took me months to get the hang of certain features of OOTP.
It baffles me that people dont win in OOTP. I tend to put trades on hard & heavily favor prospects so i dont take advantage of the AI in trades. I won with the 2012 Pirates after acquiring Alex Rodriguez & Ervin Sanatana.
I tend to stick to my custom leagues.
Injuries are frustrating no matter the league and we have all suffered through them.

kq76 · 04-30-2016, 07:53 PM

I'm going to try my best to answer each point.

1) terrible BA and ERA - I can honestly say I've never experienced this over a season nor ever heard of it, not even close. I suppose it could be small sample size, of course, screwed up settings of some sort, or something else.

2) injuries - Injuries are a part of the game and by default are lower than they are IRL. Sometimes, like IRL, you just get hit really hard by them in a short period of time. If you don't want so many, you can set them even lower. Game menu > game settings > players and facegen > injury frequency

3) uninitiated trade - sounds like you must have some setting set to make trades for you. From the manager menu, if you select "team control settings" you'll be taken to a page where there's a "initiate / react to trades" setting. You should select your name for that. I haven't seen this happen when this is set this way, but if it is for you then you should upload for your dat files so OOTP can look at them. (if you want info on how to upload them we can tell you).

4) no way to go back - you can use the auto-save, you can backup your game inside the game, you can backup your league folder outside the game. It's like most games: if you want really care about your game world, then save, save, save. Most people need to get burnt bad at least once before they learn though, myself included.

5) trades are too hard - most people reportedly find the opposite, but, like injuries, you can change it. Game menu > game settings > AI settings > trading difficulty

Finally) OOTP is just too complex - it's unfortunate, but with any game this detailed, it's often difficult to get into. There are some game franchises that I used to love, but I just can't play anymore because there's just too much to take in. Heck, I've been a consistent OOTP user for about 14 years now and there are parts of the game that are too much for me to bother getting into much depth. Fortunately, many people don't have much problem getting into OOTP and it's also one of those games where you don't have to go into too much depth if you don't want to. Don't want to play out your games? You don't have to. Don't want to micro-GM? You don't have to do that either. Unlike a lot of games, it's really all up to the user how far down the rabbit hole they want to go.

Could the game be made easier to learn? Of course! And since it's easiest to give constructive feedback when you're new to something, you're the perfect candidate to recommend ways to make it better. I for one think the manual could be a lot better and the help function should be a lot better. What are your suggestions?

6) sorting issues - what platform (PC, mac, linux?) are you using and what exact sorts are you trying?

7) window 99% of screen - actually, I get this too and it is a little annoying, but it's never bothered me enough to report it. I just then manually max the window. You could report it on the bugs board. Or you could try different resolution settings. File menu > settings > window size. EDIT: If you don't have to have it windowed, you can select full screen from the display mode option which is right above window size.

8) mouse clicks off by pixels - I think I've experienced this from time to time, probably when I didn't yet maximize the window. Again, you could report it on the bugs board.

stl jason · 04-30-2016, 09:05 PM

best way to play "out of the box" without having to do a deep dive into all the settings/etc is to just be the commissioner and not control any team. Let the pc handle all the mundane details and just watch games or fast sim a week/month at a time to rack up stats. Pick out a team/player(s) to follow and watch their careers.

04-30-2016, 03:45 PM	#1
mikevoxcap Bat Boy Join Date: Mar 2016 Posts: 4	Some Thoughts on the Game I picked up the new version of OOTP on the first day and was very excited to play it as I remember it being fun years back. Perhaps its just me getting older, but I can't help but say that as of today, I've officially decided to uninstall the game and don't want to play it again. First, I've found manager mode to be ridiculous. I tried "playing" the games, which after 100 games resulted in a team BA of .200 and a staff ERA of 10+. I've tried all kinds of strategies, but I just keep getting crushed. I spent a lot of time trying to get better at this, but I've given up and don't have 24 hours a day to invest in figuring it out. Next, I tried GM mode. This went well for the most part. Then with two months left in the season and a first place lead, I suddenly started losing just about every player I had to an injury. At one point, 5 of my regular stating position players were 2+ weeks on the DL and my top two starters were out with 6 month injuries. So fine, I slugged through it. Then, first day of the off-season, the game trades away my best SS for a minor league catcher. I didn't initiate the trade and I have no way to go back. Since the most recent changes to the game, I've found trades to be nearly impossible to pull off, so I'm not going through the trouble of trying to somehow do a trade back. As soon as I saw this happen, I lost it. Finally, this game is just TOO complex. I'm looking to have fun, but this game feels like work. I have work for that. This is just the major stuff. There are SO many other minor issues with this game that I wonder how it got QA'd. Half the time, a basic feature like sorting does not work. It's really hard to do things in certain windows of the game without being able to sort by position or name. Next, the resolution. Every time I load the game, it loads in 99% of the window size. Then I click to continue the game, it loads and every mouse-click is off by a few pixels. So I have to minimize and maximize the game. I'd continue on, but I've typed enough. All this said, I think the game has great intentions and I'm sure some people will love it. I just don't.

04-30-2016, 06:30 PM	#2
The Game Hall Of Famer Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Inside The Game Posts: 30,937	OOTP is not an open the box, pop it in and then play type of game. I started on OOTP 6.5 and hated it. Came back to it after trying the OOTP 10 demo for 2 days and bought OOTP 11. I can do more on OOTP then I could ever do on any console game. It took me months to get the hang of certain features of OOTP. It baffles me that people dont win in OOTP. I tend to put trades on hard & heavily favor prospects so i dont take advantage of the AI in trades. I won with the 2012 Pirates after acquiring Alex Rodriguez & Ervin Sanatana. I tend to stick to my custom leagues. Injuries are frustrating no matter the league and we have all suffered through them. __________________ Go today don't wait for tomorrow It isn't promised, all the time you get borrowed Don't live your life for other people Don't bottle your emotions till they crack and fill a couple just sorrows Take your mind and refocus go get a paper write your goals out Throw your middle fingers to all your haters "Stay Strong"

04-30-2016, 07:53 PM	#3
kq76 Global Moderator Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 11,791	I'm going to try my best to answer each point. 1) terrible BA and ERA - I can honestly say I've never experienced this over a season nor ever heard of it, not even close. I suppose it could be small sample size, of course, screwed up settings of some sort, or something else. 2) injuries - Injuries are a part of the game and by default are lower than they are IRL. Sometimes, like IRL, you just get hit really hard by them in a short period of time. If you don't want so many, you can set them even lower. Game menu > game settings > players and facegen > injury frequency 3) uninitiated trade - sounds like you must have some setting set to make trades for you. From the manager menu, if you select "team control settings" you'll be taken to a page where there's a "initiate / react to trades" setting. You should select your name for that. I haven't seen this happen when this is set this way, but if it is for you then you should upload for your dat files so OOTP can look at them. (if you want info on how to upload them we can tell you). 4) no way to go back - you can use the auto-save, you can backup your game inside the game, you can backup your league folder outside the game. It's like most games: if you want really care about your game world, then save, save, save. Most people need to get burnt bad at least once before they learn though, myself included. 5) trades are too hard - most people reportedly find the opposite, but, like injuries, you can change it. Game menu > game settings > AI settings > trading difficulty Finally) OOTP is just too complex - it's unfortunate, but with any game this detailed, it's often difficult to get into. There are some game franchises that I used to love, but I just can't play anymore because there's just too much to take in. Heck, I've been a consistent OOTP user for about 14 years now and there are parts of the game that are too much for me to bother getting into much depth. Fortunately, many people don't have much problem getting into OOTP and it's also one of those games where you don't have to go into too much depth if you don't want to. Don't want to play out your games? You don't have to. Don't want to micro-GM? You don't have to do that either. Unlike a lot of games, it's really all up to the user how far down the rabbit hole they want to go. Could the game be made easier to learn? Of course! And since it's easiest to give constructive feedback when you're new to something, you're the perfect candidate to recommend ways to make it better. I for one think the manual could be a lot better and the help function should be a lot better. What are your suggestions? 6) sorting issues - what platform (PC, mac, linux?) are you using and what exact sorts are you trying? 7) window 99% of screen - actually, I get this too and it is a little annoying, but it's never bothered me enough to report it. I just then manually max the window. You could report it on the bugs board. Or you could try different resolution settings. File menu > settings > window size. EDIT: If you don't have to have it windowed, you can select full screen from the display mode option which is right above window size. 8) mouse clicks off by pixels - I think I've experienced this from time to time, probably when I didn't yet maximize the window. Again, you could report it on the bugs board. __________________ My OOTP Wishlist \| My FAQ List OOTP Wiki \| Your Recommended Team Nicknames, By City (A Crowdsourced Project) Last edited by kq76; 04-30-2016 at 10:41 PM. Reason: added

04-30-2016, 09:05 PM	#4
stl jason Hall Of Famer Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 10,112	best way to play "out of the box" without having to do a deep dive into all the settings/etc is to just be the commissioner and not control any team. Let the pc handle all the mundane details and just watch games or fast sim a week/month at a time to rack up stats. Pick out a team/player(s) to follow and watch their careers.