FBCB v. TDCB

[rexallllsc]

Can someone give me a good rundown? I have TDCB, but it seems like everyone talks about FBCB these days...

[The_herd]

I have both, prefer FBCB. Its has a great, but not flashy, interface. The stats are dead on and recruiting is deep, without being tedious. If you are a college basketball fan in any way, FBCB is a must buy.

There is a 3 day demo for the game that I strongly suggest you try out.

[Eaglesfan27]

FBCB just does so many things so well. It is not as flashy as TDCB, but I've found much more enjoyment out of FBCB. The game engine just feels right, and I really enjoy the PBP much more even though it is not as pretty as TDCB. The flow of a play seems more realistic in the FBCB PBP. I highly recommend you try the 3 day demo.

[Glengoyne]

I have played both. I was hooked on TDCB when I first bought it. That was about this time last year, after all of the release issues. I was blissfully unaware of everything that happened when it came out. I have only played the Demo of FBCB. My computer is still running win 98, and eventhough I selected that as my OS in the game options the sim speed was still dreadfully slow after a day or two of simming. I enjoyed it a lot, but until I upgrade my computer I can't be a buyer.

The thing I think I liked most about FBCB was that I felt like I could actually control some aspects of the game when I coach a game. In TDCB I felt like the sliders did little or nothing. In FBCB you can focus on making one or two or even three of your guys your "key" offensive player. You can also better control your defensive matchups. I really like both games, but after playing the FBCB demo I really can't seem to get back into TDCB. I am not ready to say FBCB is a better game, but that is what I would rather play right now. Maybe it is just because it is a different experience.

All in all I would suggest that you download the FBCB demo, and give it a shot. It really is a great demo. Everyone in the business should provide such a comprehensive demo. It is much better than the FOF approach of saying "We don't accept returns, so try out the demo before buying". Then the demo just doesn't let you play the game in a meaningful way. It was almost enough to keep me from buying. Give it a shot and report your results.

[rexallllsc]

Awesome. Thanks guys...anything else?

[Cringer]

Awesome. Thanks guys...anything else?

San Demas High School Football ROCKS!!!
:p

[tucker342]

Both are solid games but FBCB is quite abit better... for pretty much the reasons stated above:)

[Godzilla Blitz]

Haven't played TDCB but I can't say enough about how much fun FBCB is.

[MrBug708]

Rex. UCLA is stacked in both so that shouldnt be much of a factor

[cincyreds]

I still play TDCB....

Is FBCB that much better??

[Calis]

Yes.

It's one of those things that are hard to explain, but it is.

As people mentioned, you seem to have much more control over how your team plays, the sim engine is much better than TDCB imo. I honestly can't think of anything I liked about TDCB more. For a while I thought the interface was better, but then I realized it's a lot easier and quicker to get to info in FBCB than it is in TDCB.

Not much of an answer, but try the demo. I think it's far and away the better game.

[Neuqua]

This thread is missing one Marmel appearance.

[The_herd]

Not much of an answer, but try the demo. I think it's far and away the better game.

Just want to stress this quickly.

Make sure you coach a few games too, even if its not your thing. I hate coaching games out in just about any text sim, I prefer to get through multipul seasons quickly rather than focus on each one and go slow. However, FBCB makes coaching fun, and as others have said, you can actually see changes in the way your team plays when you play with the options.

Once again, I highly reommend it, IMO it was the best sports sim to come out over the past year.

[Marmel]

This thread is missing one Marmel appearance.


Check.

[sabotai]

Once again, I highly reommend it, IMO it was the best sports sim to come out over the past year.
I basically agree with this statement. FBCB is loads of fun. And I don't even pay attention to basketball, pro or college.

[MizzouRah]

Damn you FOF2k4 and TCY, while FBCB just sits there on my desktop and says, "Take Mizzou to the promise land".


Todd

[Sweed]

Another tdcb owner here that just bought fbcb today after reading all the reports here. I really like tdcb but fbcb blows it away in enjoyability. I just spent the last three hours doing my recruiting and actually enjoyed it, something that I couldn't do in tdcb. I love the way you recruit once a month with monthly budget. Your guys stay on your "call list" instead of having to manually call them each week. With tdcb I had to have paper and pen to keep track of what was going on in recruiting not so with fbcb, just did it all only looking at the screen. Part of the reason it was so easy this season is I only had two scholies to give but even next year when 6 come up it will be much easier than tdcb. In tdcb recruiting was probably the thing I hated doing most, couldn't wait to get my guys signed and have it over with but everything in fbcb's recruiting process is well organised and easy to get to, no more frustration just fun.

The in game coaching gives you almost all the options you could want. The feeling you are in control and not watching is as good or better than any game I have ever played. It takes a little longer to get through a game you're coaching in fbcd but it's worth it. It's because of all the decisions you can make that make a difference in the game. Want to press? Do it. Trap? do it. Pressure the PG, doulbe the C down low and loose on everyone else? Do it.

Another cool thing. I set my team to double the opposing SF both inside and outside as he was killing me. He goes to the bench for a rest so of course I go to the strat screen to take off the double team since I don't want to double the sub. Guess what, didn't have to do it the sub wasn't being doubled. The hot SF comes back in the game so I go to the strat screen just to check on the defense and he's still being doubled. I don't think I've ever seen this feature in a game I've played. In any other game if you hit double the PF then the PF will always be doubled no matter who comes in to play the position but not so in fbcb. It's attention to detail like this that makes this a great game.

If you like college basketball or sports sims in general this one is a no brainer, you just can't go wrong. Along with ootp this game will be giving me hours of enjoyment and will be dollar for dollar the best purchase I may make all year.

[MJ4H]

Have to agree with everything above. Only tried the TDCB demo and I didn't really like it. I have never been as addicted to a text sim as I am FBCB, in all honesty. I have even begun a dynasty detailing my adventures as the Head Hog (shameless plug) over in the dynasty section.

Highly recommended game. Haven't heard a bad review yet, either.

[ice4277]

Another cool thing. I set my team to double the opposing SF both inside and outside as he was killing me. He goes to the bench for a rest so of course I go to the strat screen to take off the double team since I don't want to double the sub. Guess what, didn't have to do it the sub wasn't being doubled. The hot SF comes back in the game so I go to the strat screen just to check on the defense and he's still being doubled. I don't think I've ever seen this feature in a game I've played. In any other game if you hit double the PF then the PF will always be doubled no matter who comes in to play the position but not so in fbcb. It's attention to detail like this that makes this a great game.


Oooh. Hearing things like this really makes me want to buy the game, but I've got four or five I want to get through first before devoting time to another text sim.

[Sweed]

Oooh. Hearing things like this really makes me want to buy the game, but I've got four or five I want to get through first before devoting time to another text sim.

If you don't think you have time to play do yourself a favor and DO NOT d'load the demo :) I also thought I wouldn't have time to play this game but just wanted to look at the demo after reading all the good things here. My intention then was to get the game at a later time when I felt I would have time to play it, WRONG :rolleyes: Once you see how good this game is you will make time to play it. While no game is perfect very few get things right the way this game does, a pure pleasure to play.

[corbes]

Yeh.

My computer can't run FBCB. (Win 98 or Win ME is a no-no.) I downloaded the FBCB demo anyway. Played 1 month as High Point. Utterly, totally, exquisitely addicted to the game in less than three days.

Computer still can't run FBCB. I'm getting a new laptop this fall, but I have to wait until then for a variety of reasons. I actually went to Circuit City to look at desktop prices to see if I could buy a cheap CPU just to play FBCB.

So, do yourself a favor. Don't download the demo. ;)

[Peregrine]

Another point to mention is that the guy who wrote FBCB, HeavyReign, is a FOFC poster and will pretty much respond immediately to any question or concern or new content idea you have. That's a pretty sweet deal and rare these days.

Can't wait to get off work and see if I can seal the deal with my Western Carolina season and actually win my conference title. :)

[SunDancer]

What is the site of FBCB. Will their be a new version coming out? Are tv and exposure taken into consideration? Can you see who offered scholarships? How deep is recruiting?

[rjolley]

What is the site of FBCB. Will their be a new version coming out? Are tv and exposure taken into consideration? Can you see who offered scholarships? How deep is recruiting?
The site is here (http://www.fbbgames.com/fbcb/). If you want the companion pro game, it's here (http://www.sportplanet.com/fbb/). The latest version of the college game is 1.0.7.

You can see who offered scholarships.

I'll leave the others to others. :)

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

How about stat tracking?
Does it get pretty deep .....I mean as deep as FOF and is there a HOF in the game ?

[sabotai]

No Hall of Fame, and I wouldn't say stat tracking is AS deep as FOF, but it's definatly very good.

[Peregrine]

What is the site of FBCB. Will their be a new version coming out? Are tv and exposure taken into consideration? Can you see who offered scholarships? How deep is recruiting?

No TV or media is taken into account. Recruiting is pretty simple but deep in terms of having to work within the budget your school provides, etc. Recruits are scouted from one to five stars and once you spend money to evaluate them with your scout you can see estimates of their abilities in all the skills that the game tracks. You see their high school, hometown, GPA/SAT scores, whether they are a juco player or in high school, who their top 5 schools are and which of them has offered scholarships, whether they've won state awards (all-state, Mr. Basketball, All-American, etc) and their overall rankings in their position and region.

You can have them visit your campus (this helps to adjust their interest in your school ranking, from very low to very high) have the head coach or assistant visit them, and track them in your call list of up to 20 players.

Does it get pretty deep .....I mean as deep as FOF and is there a HOF in the game ?

It's fairly deep though it doesn't do nearly as much in terms of career stat tracking as FOF. You can see your school's records in terms of player/team points, rebounds, etc per game or season, but the game doesn't store "player cards" of players who have left college, so there's no real comparison of the Career Statistics of FOF. In season though it does a good job, you can keep track of who the top scorers are, follow dominant conference players (it's good to know who you have to double team!) and it shows how your schools season performance ranks in a variety of categories compared to all teams in the country.

I recommend checking out a dynasty like Godzilla Blitz's, it has a lot of printouts from the game that will give you a good idea of what it looks like.

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?t=17364&highlight=FBCB