Ben E Lou
12-07-2006, 03:06 AM
http://www.gamenikki.com/g3/reviews/indie/Display.php?id=13&page=1
"I've always been just the slightest bit schizophrenic about my gaming habits. That's not precisely the right word, but it's good enough. Basically what it boils down to is that the games I've enjoyed on PC over the years are very different from those I've played and loved on home consoles and portable gaming systems.
While the reasons for that are numerous, I think the most honest answer is the simplest one: the experiences I seek on PC are fundamentally different than what I can find elsewhere. I'm not talking about the old keyboard-versus-controller argument. I'm talking about, say, radically different styles of roleplay - saving the world in Final Fantasy versus being the man behind the curtain for my favorite baseball team. Or football team.
It was football, in fact, that sucked me in to those sort of computer games. I had previously played Clay Dreslough's Baseball Mogul, but it wasn't until the seminal Front Office Football that I found myself truly absorbed in the world of sports roleplay, as it were. I lost more hours of sleep than I care to count to the first and second games, and the series escalated to a whole new level in 2004 with the introduction of online multiplayer.
FOF 2004 was initially - and erroneously - considered by many to be sort of a multiplayer patch to its predecessor, and one might, should one not look too closely, make the same mistake with FOF 2007. My word choice there is deliberate. But we'll get into that.
Upon choosing a new game for the first time, veterans of the series will note that most of the initial setup options are the same. There are a couple of changes, however, and both of those seem inspired by the multiplayer side of the game. The first thing you're asked to do is choose an eight-character league identifier for the new career in question.
In FOF 2004, this was only necessary upon setting up a profile for an online league (or starting the league proper). Single-player careers had the option of selecting a custom file name when saving the game for the first time. Not so this time around; I suspect this was done mostly to allow the game to distinguish more easily between the different saves that might be on your machine at any given time.
The second option you'll see upon starting a new game in FOF 2007 is the option to set an equal economic playing field. Again, it feels like this was in response to the fact that in FOF 2004, starting a new league used the initial league setup of an offline league, meaning that GMs whose team ID's corresponded with particular single-player teams would have an identical stadium setup, etc, which influences early financials and the subsequent profile of the team.
The level economic field option is, of course, an excellent addition for multiplayer, but it's also useful for those who choose to go the "empty cupboard" route, and combine a level economic playing field with an initial dispersal draft for all 30 teams. Inspired by the online game, perhaps, but no less useful to those who fly solo.The multiplayer-inspired changes don't stop there, either. Once you've got your game rolling, a click of the 'team roster' option brings you to a player list. Clicking on any given player will bring up the player information screen, which has seen something of a facelift. Most noticeably, the allotted logo space is significantly larger this time around, presumably to better show off the artwork of the talented artists who have lent their craft to the sundry FOF online leagues.
There are a number of new buttons along the top of the player card as well. While some, such as "Void Ctrct (Contract)" are pretty clearly for use with online multiplayer, others represent innovation in both realms. The ability to indicate whether a player is to be used in special teams situations, for example, allows both online and offline GMs to limit the exposure of specific players to additional injury risk. The ability to set a player's offseason training regimen, as well as to send a 2nd-year player to "La Ligue Etrangere Solecismique" for summer development also has a benefit in both online and offline play.
Finally, there's the "Interview" button. Again, I suspect the introduction of pre-draft interviews to the rookie draft process is intended to both return some uncertainty to the online mix, as well as to help more casual online players with certain aspects of roster-building. The interview introduces some scout error to the assessment of a particular player, which may serve to improve or reduce your view of that player's true skill. You'll also get an idea of whether the player is considered to be underrated, about as scouted, or overrated.
In addition, interviewing a player will give the GM an idea of whether the player represents an affinity (if player chemistry is enabled) or a conflict risk with the current positional leaders. Speaking as one who occasionally brainfarts on the whole affinity/conflict setup in my FOF 2004 online leagues, that's a nice safety net.
Continuing with the "online improvements" thread, the "New Name" button, previously used to rename a player wholesale, now allows for player nicknames. Naturally, this is also useful for building immersion in a single-player universe, but the upshot here is that online GMs now have an 18-character nickname limit to play with without imposing upon the commissioner to change the player's entire name - although changing a player's first and last name is still restricted to comissioner use (presumably to prevent folks from renaming a young star to confuse people who might try to sign him away).
At this point, rather than repeat myself, I think you can pretty well assume that anything I'm going to touch on, unless I say otherwise, has a profound multiplayer impact. They work just fine in single-player, but they have a much greater immersive impact for those playing online.
Oh, lest I forget: Solevision. Basically, you now have the ability to simulate the week's games (or have them simulated, if you're in an online league), watch your game unfold, and switch to any of the other games being played at the same time to see what's going on in action around the league, if your team is involved in a yawner. Think of it like TiVo for FOF. This might be the single coolest addition to the game, but I'm not going to spend much time on it here, because it really is as straightforward as it sounds, and it's something better experienced than explained.
That said, in ascending order, we come to my three favorite changes to Front Office Football 2007.
Number one, FOF 2007 now sports much greater flexibility with respect to player use and the depth chart. The traditional offensive depth chart is still more or less the same, except that you'll notice that the "playing time" menus have disappeared. That's because "Starters' Playing Time" is now a screen unto itself, and rather than use the previous 1-10 methodology, the game now pursues a split method. Quarterback playing time still follows the traditional method; the higher the rating, the less likely the team is to make a switch.
The rest of the positions, however, now have a percentage chance for the starter to participate in a play. This is particularly useful if you have a talented young player at a given position who isn't necessarily ready to take on a heavy load of playing time. Now, you can establish a general workload for the starter, rather than set the PT rating low and hope that the computer manages to meet your expectations in that realm.
Moving up to number two, the defensive depth charts are a thing of beauty. Where FOF 2004 let you set nickel and dime coverage for defensive backs, FOF 2007 gives you control of who the primary playmakers are in a basic defense, on the goal line, and in the nickel and dime setups - for all 11 players on the field.
Finally, perhaps my favorite change to FOF 2007 is the drastic face lift given to the game plan screens. On offense, your Basic Gameplan lets you set an expectation for the run, the short pass and the long pass by down and by the yards-to-go situation. The Offensive Adjustments game plan screen, on the other hand, is significantly more complex. You're given score and field position settings, as well as the ability to establish when to go to a no-huddle offense. Each setting here is a modifier based on your basic gameplan expectations. Let's say you'd ordinarly run 30% of the time on 2nd and long. In your Adjustments gameplan, though, you tell the computer to increase your run expectation by 50% if you're up by three touchdowns at midfield. Okay, great - your run expectation is now around 45%.
If the math confuses you, don't worry - here's the short and skinny: the new gameplan settings give you much greater control over your offense and a greater ability to dictate the pace of the game. I particularly like that the score settings are in general, as that allows for more specific control over when to go to a specific offense or defense. In FOF 2004, while you had the ability to set a score trigger that would implement defensive changes, that trigger was static - If you led by 14 at any time, say, your gameplan might be significantly different regardless of time remaining or field position. I'm really, really fond of being able to tell my team specifically WHEN I want them to pass or run the ball with a variety of lead sizes.
There are other new things under the hood as well. Player abilities have undergone some changes since the first iteration of FOF, so you'll see far fewer ratings standouts than in versions past. Retirements have been recalculated, so you won't necessarily see somebody in the secondary hanging on for a 15 or 16 year career, or a running back sticking around for 13 seasons.
Of course, it does seem like the changes to playing time might be impacting the underlying statistical engine to a degree as well - at least in single player. For example, on a purely anecdotal basis, 16 players in the NFL had more than 1000 yards rushing last season, but five of them had greater than 1500 yards. In a given season of FOF 2007, what I'm seeing is that more players reach that 1000 yard landmark, but that fewer players push into that 1500-1800 yard territory. I suspect that what's happening there is that running backs are sharing the load more frequently in FOF than they do in the NFL, and that that's largely related to changes in how playing time works.
Is that a problem? No, not necessarily. Will it require an adjustment in the way we perceive players while playing the game? Quite possibly, but really, that feels true of the entire game. There are cruder ways I could put it, but I think the time-honored axiom of the old dog and new tricks is probably the most suitable here: FOF 2007 is like that favored family pe, the one you've had for around ten years, who suddenly learns a host of new tricks, and revels in showing them off.
It's going to take some getting used to, but I really, really like these new tricks."
"I've always been just the slightest bit schizophrenic about my gaming habits. That's not precisely the right word, but it's good enough. Basically what it boils down to is that the games I've enjoyed on PC over the years are very different from those I've played and loved on home consoles and portable gaming systems.
While the reasons for that are numerous, I think the most honest answer is the simplest one: the experiences I seek on PC are fundamentally different than what I can find elsewhere. I'm not talking about the old keyboard-versus-controller argument. I'm talking about, say, radically different styles of roleplay - saving the world in Final Fantasy versus being the man behind the curtain for my favorite baseball team. Or football team.
It was football, in fact, that sucked me in to those sort of computer games. I had previously played Clay Dreslough's Baseball Mogul, but it wasn't until the seminal Front Office Football that I found myself truly absorbed in the world of sports roleplay, as it were. I lost more hours of sleep than I care to count to the first and second games, and the series escalated to a whole new level in 2004 with the introduction of online multiplayer.
FOF 2004 was initially - and erroneously - considered by many to be sort of a multiplayer patch to its predecessor, and one might, should one not look too closely, make the same mistake with FOF 2007. My word choice there is deliberate. But we'll get into that.
Upon choosing a new game for the first time, veterans of the series will note that most of the initial setup options are the same. There are a couple of changes, however, and both of those seem inspired by the multiplayer side of the game. The first thing you're asked to do is choose an eight-character league identifier for the new career in question.
In FOF 2004, this was only necessary upon setting up a profile for an online league (or starting the league proper). Single-player careers had the option of selecting a custom file name when saving the game for the first time. Not so this time around; I suspect this was done mostly to allow the game to distinguish more easily between the different saves that might be on your machine at any given time.
The second option you'll see upon starting a new game in FOF 2007 is the option to set an equal economic playing field. Again, it feels like this was in response to the fact that in FOF 2004, starting a new league used the initial league setup of an offline league, meaning that GMs whose team ID's corresponded with particular single-player teams would have an identical stadium setup, etc, which influences early financials and the subsequent profile of the team.
The level economic field option is, of course, an excellent addition for multiplayer, but it's also useful for those who choose to go the "empty cupboard" route, and combine a level economic playing field with an initial dispersal draft for all 30 teams. Inspired by the online game, perhaps, but no less useful to those who fly solo.The multiplayer-inspired changes don't stop there, either. Once you've got your game rolling, a click of the 'team roster' option brings you to a player list. Clicking on any given player will bring up the player information screen, which has seen something of a facelift. Most noticeably, the allotted logo space is significantly larger this time around, presumably to better show off the artwork of the talented artists who have lent their craft to the sundry FOF online leagues.
There are a number of new buttons along the top of the player card as well. While some, such as "Void Ctrct (Contract)" are pretty clearly for use with online multiplayer, others represent innovation in both realms. The ability to indicate whether a player is to be used in special teams situations, for example, allows both online and offline GMs to limit the exposure of specific players to additional injury risk. The ability to set a player's offseason training regimen, as well as to send a 2nd-year player to "La Ligue Etrangere Solecismique" for summer development also has a benefit in both online and offline play.
Finally, there's the "Interview" button. Again, I suspect the introduction of pre-draft interviews to the rookie draft process is intended to both return some uncertainty to the online mix, as well as to help more casual online players with certain aspects of roster-building. The interview introduces some scout error to the assessment of a particular player, which may serve to improve or reduce your view of that player's true skill. You'll also get an idea of whether the player is considered to be underrated, about as scouted, or overrated.
In addition, interviewing a player will give the GM an idea of whether the player represents an affinity (if player chemistry is enabled) or a conflict risk with the current positional leaders. Speaking as one who occasionally brainfarts on the whole affinity/conflict setup in my FOF 2004 online leagues, that's a nice safety net.
Continuing with the "online improvements" thread, the "New Name" button, previously used to rename a player wholesale, now allows for player nicknames. Naturally, this is also useful for building immersion in a single-player universe, but the upshot here is that online GMs now have an 18-character nickname limit to play with without imposing upon the commissioner to change the player's entire name - although changing a player's first and last name is still restricted to comissioner use (presumably to prevent folks from renaming a young star to confuse people who might try to sign him away).
At this point, rather than repeat myself, I think you can pretty well assume that anything I'm going to touch on, unless I say otherwise, has a profound multiplayer impact. They work just fine in single-player, but they have a much greater immersive impact for those playing online.
Oh, lest I forget: Solevision. Basically, you now have the ability to simulate the week's games (or have them simulated, if you're in an online league), watch your game unfold, and switch to any of the other games being played at the same time to see what's going on in action around the league, if your team is involved in a yawner. Think of it like TiVo for FOF. This might be the single coolest addition to the game, but I'm not going to spend much time on it here, because it really is as straightforward as it sounds, and it's something better experienced than explained.
That said, in ascending order, we come to my three favorite changes to Front Office Football 2007.
Number one, FOF 2007 now sports much greater flexibility with respect to player use and the depth chart. The traditional offensive depth chart is still more or less the same, except that you'll notice that the "playing time" menus have disappeared. That's because "Starters' Playing Time" is now a screen unto itself, and rather than use the previous 1-10 methodology, the game now pursues a split method. Quarterback playing time still follows the traditional method; the higher the rating, the less likely the team is to make a switch.
The rest of the positions, however, now have a percentage chance for the starter to participate in a play. This is particularly useful if you have a talented young player at a given position who isn't necessarily ready to take on a heavy load of playing time. Now, you can establish a general workload for the starter, rather than set the PT rating low and hope that the computer manages to meet your expectations in that realm.
Moving up to number two, the defensive depth charts are a thing of beauty. Where FOF 2004 let you set nickel and dime coverage for defensive backs, FOF 2007 gives you control of who the primary playmakers are in a basic defense, on the goal line, and in the nickel and dime setups - for all 11 players on the field.
Finally, perhaps my favorite change to FOF 2007 is the drastic face lift given to the game plan screens. On offense, your Basic Gameplan lets you set an expectation for the run, the short pass and the long pass by down and by the yards-to-go situation. The Offensive Adjustments game plan screen, on the other hand, is significantly more complex. You're given score and field position settings, as well as the ability to establish when to go to a no-huddle offense. Each setting here is a modifier based on your basic gameplan expectations. Let's say you'd ordinarly run 30% of the time on 2nd and long. In your Adjustments gameplan, though, you tell the computer to increase your run expectation by 50% if you're up by three touchdowns at midfield. Okay, great - your run expectation is now around 45%.
If the math confuses you, don't worry - here's the short and skinny: the new gameplan settings give you much greater control over your offense and a greater ability to dictate the pace of the game. I particularly like that the score settings are in general, as that allows for more specific control over when to go to a specific offense or defense. In FOF 2004, while you had the ability to set a score trigger that would implement defensive changes, that trigger was static - If you led by 14 at any time, say, your gameplan might be significantly different regardless of time remaining or field position. I'm really, really fond of being able to tell my team specifically WHEN I want them to pass or run the ball with a variety of lead sizes.
There are other new things under the hood as well. Player abilities have undergone some changes since the first iteration of FOF, so you'll see far fewer ratings standouts than in versions past. Retirements have been recalculated, so you won't necessarily see somebody in the secondary hanging on for a 15 or 16 year career, or a running back sticking around for 13 seasons.
Of course, it does seem like the changes to playing time might be impacting the underlying statistical engine to a degree as well - at least in single player. For example, on a purely anecdotal basis, 16 players in the NFL had more than 1000 yards rushing last season, but five of them had greater than 1500 yards. In a given season of FOF 2007, what I'm seeing is that more players reach that 1000 yard landmark, but that fewer players push into that 1500-1800 yard territory. I suspect that what's happening there is that running backs are sharing the load more frequently in FOF than they do in the NFL, and that that's largely related to changes in how playing time works.
Is that a problem? No, not necessarily. Will it require an adjustment in the way we perceive players while playing the game? Quite possibly, but really, that feels true of the entire game. There are cruder ways I could put it, but I think the time-honored axiom of the old dog and new tricks is probably the most suitable here: FOF 2007 is like that favored family pe, the one you've had for around ten years, who suddenly learns a host of new tricks, and revels in showing them off.
It's going to take some getting used to, but I really, really like these new tricks."