OOTP Baseball 22
 

Official launch date is March 26. No details on new features yet, except confirmation that the game has been upgraded to a 64-bit platform. Hopefully this will translate to improved performance for us folks who like to run the entire baseball universe in our simulations.

Announcement:
Out of the Park Baseball 22 - Pre-Order now! - OOTP Developments Forums

Q&A:
OOTP 22 Pre-Order Q&A Thread - OOTP Developments Forums

64 bit might help, but I doubt much else has been done but improve the gambling/card gsme.

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I still enjoy the game and the 64-bit is a nice upgrade. But like GrandDawg said, I think the focus will continue to be on the microtransaction game.

I think this is the year I finally skip. I buy every year to support the developers but I rarely play anymore. Aside from updating the rosters and rules, this game doesn't need an annual release.

This has been a 'take my money on first day of preorder' purchase since OOTP2. I'm going to wait and see what's changed. I'll more than likely purchase but I wouldn't say that 100% at this point until I know what's been improved.

The 3D stuff has kept me satisfied the past few years as I've switched to mostly playing out every game, though I still do a fair amount of long term sims.

I've played Perfect Team but find myself wondering why? I rip open packs and all that but never really follow the progress of my team once I hit a certain point. I may not bother with it anymore.

For the not so tech savvy among us, what does the move to 64-bit mean in a sim game like this?

I think putting the collections together is more fun than simming seasons in PT, but not to the point of paying for packs. I hope they don’t start charging for past seasons for the regular game.

From what I understand, the 64-bit versions utilize the RAM more efficiently, which in turn results in less file swapping. For a program like OOTP, it likely means there will be fewer crashes when the file size gets to be very large. I think the 32-bit version can only utilize 4GB of RAM.

That, and could possibly have better utilization of multiple cores.

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I do not have high hopes for solo versions, but Perfect Team usage has blown up so much. OOTP online would be nice if it meant online leagues could operate from a device rather than the annoyances of FTP, but seems even that's a year away. I don't think I'll buy it unless a league I'm in decides to upgrade, I would not have have upgraded my online league had it continued. Posting a road to release and asking for pre-orders without telling us anything about what's to come is garbage though. It's not Madden, nothing mind blowing about the graphics or that i'll desperately come back to see.

I've been happy with the yearly purchases, but Perfect Team has been a red flag that is quickly becoming realized. We saw it with all the EA titles, after a while you see the other modes largely abandoned for the ultimate team modes. After all, why spend your time working on financial AI for your franchise mode, when you can get players to pay with real money? You can already feel that the development time is shifting in that direction.

I wonder how many years before Markus can leave and enjoy his bank account.

I can only imagine the cartoon this game will become when that happens

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I was thinking about that with Jim, too. When you are a one-man or small operation, you cannot do it forever. It seems like the endgame has to be either fold or sell the property to someone else that you think/hope can carry it forward.

I think it must be tough for folks like them that have 20+ years in a project to keep finding momentum. I'm hopeful that, but not counting on, OOTP and FOF will go in good directions (or at least somewhat enjoyable).

Well I'd say to look at Football Manager to see that's not necessarily the case. The game has continuously improved from year to year (some more than others). It's almost unrecognizable as a "text sim" anymore. Even though they have a real publisher, I don't think they ever had to sell their soul or cash in on real life currency trends.

Not an American sport. International sales boost FM. The sports manager market in the United Staes is just not as financially feasible. Especially when they can make so much more money on crappy money grab games.

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So many of the career problems with OOTP, roster management, financials, etc., have been there for years. I don't know if Markus didn't care to fix them or didn't know how to fix them. When he found the player card gold mine, though, he suddenly had the opportunity for a lot of money. I don't blame him for grabbing it while it was available.

For, Jim, though, the story is a lot different. He's never had the option to cash in since he left EA.

I still don't have a clue what Perfect Team is. I just assumed it was so sort of fantasy team offshoot of the game? Doesn't interest me in the least.

I think it's that thing where you buy a game, but then keep giving the game developer money as long as you play it.

And then giving the game developer even more money to buy the next version of the game because everything you did and paid for in the previous version of the game no longer counts/works.

Actually the Perfect Team mode is a fantastic feat in online development. The games play out every 30 minutes or so during the week, and the playoffs happen every weekend. So you can edit your rosters and submit them anytime. You get promoted or demoted to different leagues based on your success.

The bad thing is that your team's results no longer are based on your roster management abilities, and become more about your willingness to spend more money than your opponents. You can buy packs of cards that you open , and you will get random players. Rare players are much harder to get than the entry level ones. Personally, I play games to get away from the "have / have not" thing that is real life.

My son plays a lot of FIFA, and he took $100 that he got for his birthday and dumped it all in packs. He got nothing of value. I was so angry because I worked hard to make that $100 and it was gone and was of little value to him(he sold the cards for some points). It's almost like going to Chuck E Cheese and playing games all day for tickets, and you end up with enough to buy a $0.10 plastic ring or something.

Except at Chuck e Cheese, you have the memories of the experience and maybe you make a friend at the Skeeball lane next door to yours. And a bunch of folks kept jobs making pizza and selling stuff. And the drive in the car and the drive home. With FIFA points, the money is just vaporized and even if you win, it doesn't matter. At all.

:redface:

From what I can tell, the newly released trailer reveals a few more improvements. They’ve improved the 3-D gameplay animations, ballpark construction kit, and remodeled the coaching system.
It’s worth it to me just for the new 64-bit platform, but this could be the last version that I purchase.

I refuse to buy it at release or with pre-order, but I'm sure I'll end up getting it at some point which is why they don't have to change anything dramatic because they're the only real game in town.

I low key enjoy hiring staff (and occasionally dramatically firing people), so I like the sound of the coaching updates. I like finding former players and getting them on staff.

Out of the Park Baseball 22 - The BIG Reveal - Featuring MLB Network's Scott Braun - YouTube

The Big Reveal from OOTP is largely mehtastic. As is, can be played for decades without anymore changes. I was pretty satisfied with the game warts and all back in the OOTP6.5 days, so I'm not getting another copy. 22 might happen, but only on sale.

It looks like they’ve added 1st and 3rd base coaches, a drop down toggle to assign various coaches to different coaches (ie: catchers, base running, etc.), and coaching staff cohesion. You can now hire away coaches from other teams (possibly only promotions to manager, but I’d hope you could hire minor league coaches to the major league staffs, as well). I think those will be fun adds for me, as someone that plays almost solely as a GM (occasionally manage a playoff game here and there).

They seem to be touting the ballpark editor, but that isn’t real immersive in a career sim unless you have to get it funded (I’ve always loved how FOF has done this) and paid for/maintained.

And I have very little interest in Perfect Team.

If the 64 bit upgrade gets good reviews on speed and stability, that plus the coaching staff changes will probably make me buy fairly early.

I always play the hell out of OOTP, but with The Show coming to XSX this year, I'll be splitting my time.

The 64-bit upgrade is a huge deal to me, and probably to anyone who runs the entire baseball universe in their sims. Now I'll be able to comfortably play well over a century without the "out of memory" shutdowns from the 32-bit version.

Exactly. When I’m humming along, I can often get through a season in one session of play. Nothing kills the mood worse than finishing up a draft or getting off to a good start to the season (or, god forbid, hiring staff for the entire system) and then getting that crash. I usually don’t pick it back up for awhile after that.

So far, this is what I can confirm from OOTP on the supposed enhancements made to OOTP22. Of course, until the game is actually released, this can't be verified:

New 3-D versions of every MLB ball park. Additionally, dozens of new items and features have been added to the 3D Ballpark Construction Kit.

Addition of first base and third base coaches, specialists to teach players and prospects specific skills, can hire coaches away from other teams.

Addition of additional team strategy and player options, along with more choice in league trading settings. Improved AI trading that leads to more realistic offers.

In addition to the updated 2021 rosters, the game will have the drastically changed minor league structure, with new team affiliations, leagues, and rules.

It looks like there is some type of coaching staff synergy or cohesion rating bar, too. Unclear what factors it considers, but possibly/likely involves temperaments and styles.

I'd love to see an AI that would trade veterans for prospects in rebuilding seasons. And a scouting and development system that doesn't feel quite as random as it did last version.

They posted this list

OOTP 22 Changes
- All new updated 3D Ballparks for all 30 MLB teams
- Ballpark Construction Kit
* Ability to change fence and foul pole configurations, with elements shifting around them
* New stadium elements available to use
- Added new coaches: 1B coach and 3B coach
* New attribute to coaching staff: cohesion. Some coaches will work better together than others,
and will need to hire coaches that work well together to get most of your staff
* Added ability to hire coaches away from other teams for a promotion (ie. can hire a bench
coach to be your new manager)
* Expanded coaching teach_defense rating to teach C/IF/OF. Those plus teach_running now
handled between Bench Coach and 1B/3B Coach. 1B/3B coaches also have an in-game running rating that can impact plays
- All new updated historical ratings for fielding, for every player in history
- New in-game Camera Mode: Dynamic Action Cameras, where the action camera will change
angles during the play
*Ability to set select which cameras can be used as action cameras for the dynamic camera mode
- Added option for higher seed to start the first round of the playoffs ahead by one or more games
- Added ability for regions to include cities. Improved editing of regions in-game (on the World Page)
- Added regional draft option
*Teams can be assigned to draft from specific regions, and there can be one or more rounds at the start of the draft where teams must select from those regions
- Adjusted independent FA to only appear in off-season
- Players in international complex will not gain pro service time from as young an age (starts age
18)
- In older historical setups where SP allowed in relief, AI more likely to assign secondary roles
- Rebalanced league player salaries
- Added new trade frequency settings for "Almost Never" and "Constantly"
- Added new settings available for leagues with Foreigner restrictions
* Individual Salary cap and contract length limits may be set
* Option to restrict trading of foreigners
- Updated AI for handling foreigners in leagues with limits
- Adjusted experience gain, fatigue calculations
- Updated Gate Share calculations, new league setting to decide where season tickets count
towards gate share. More visibility in team accounting page.
- Added standings history graph as widget option (also displays standings through relegations in
Pro/Rel league setups)
- Updated trading AI, new finer grain difficulty and preference scales. Leagues with trading frequency set to “Almost Never” will also almost never trade star players, limited mostly to smaller roster moves if they do any trades
- MLB 2021 draftees will have the “Redshirt” option so that draft year and HS/CO status should match better
- Fixed some stability issues resuming games in progress
- Updated Scouting Task List, scouting frequency
- Adjusted and Balanced in-game influence of range, player defense impact
- Adjusted and Balanced platoon split issues.
- Adjusted SB rates
- Adjusted position training logic
- Adjusted in-game AI logic for PH, LOOGY
- New player strategy settings for better individual pinch-hit controls
- Split team strategy settings by leading/trailing
- Improved AI in finding depth chart subs as backups from other positions
- If allowing SP in relief, use them if relief roles set higher in priority chain
- Windows 64 bit
- full support for the new Apple M1 CPU
- In-game 3D:
* Added ability to have cameras dynamically change during the play
* Adjusted general timing of throws and relays
- New player stats: Shutdowns and Meltdowns
- Many new player streaks tracked
- Many New achievements (more streaks, new Diamond-level achievements, achievements for
milestones)

This was confirmed

I am a sucker, and I bit. Had some trouble getting it going, but it was a me not them situation. Started a save with every league and just letting it run. I already noticed at least one minor contract mess up, but nothing spectacular. It is running at a good clip, and the things that normally slowed it down (new leagues starting, new draft classes, etc) seem to be moving through well.

First year simulation, the Mets lead the NL East the whole season quite handily until September. a 10 game lead shrunk to them ending in 2nd with a .500 record as the Phillies win the league by 2 games. The Braves at one point was 15 games under .500, went a crazy run and ended the season just two games below .500. Needless to say, the NL east had the worst division in the league. The Brewers beat the Yankees in the World Series.

I have to wait until the steam release (having it on steam and auto updates etcetera is just worth way more then the three day window for me)

Agreed, but got the itch. Next season, Braves win it all. That first sim season, Acuna got hurt the first week of the season and was out the entire year. Having him back was a big difference.

As for under the hood, I am left wondering. This is at default settings, so it might change with minor tweaks. The Braves have gone "Win Now!", and it seems the trade AI is willing to give prospects for MLB ready players, but...
Braves traded their number one pitching prospect along with two other decent prospects for Javier Baez. That's a good player, but wasn't like head and shoulders about the current SS, who was still there as well. Baez was also at the end of his contract, they gave him a 5 year, $93,000,000 extension. I would say the contract probably isn't off, and the guy he was replacing was about to be a free agent. I wonder if they wouldn't have been better off standing pat.

They had also traded 2 hot catching prospects for ok players, while the current catcher is pretty mediocre.

Overall, not seeing anything terribly crazy.

I ended up biting the bullet after swearing I wouldn't, mostly because I wanted to migrate one of my slower leagues to the new version from OOTP21. I want the old minors structure, so I'll keep importing a world template from that version though.

Very quick impressions:

Currently simming a hist-fictional league (from 1903-1933) and played out one game of a 2021 to test out the 3d engine.

A) Game does seem faster and less HD intensive with the swap to 64-bit on simming long time frames.

B)Still not sold on the 3D engine, it drives me crazy when the game artificially delays the action to fit the outcome (for example, infield single where the ball was hit at normal speed to the shortstop, who held on to it for four seconds, only to throw it to the first baseman AFTER the runner has crossed first). Also, for a game that added first and third base coaches as a significant thing, you think they'd show up on the field

C) Stats look fine. We still need automatic team evolution-stadium wise.

Hall of Fame from 1903-33

Only 3 batters have made it so far (all OF), Compared to 11 Pitchers. (including the 7 highest vote-getters by %, including two players with 98.5/98.6%, then one with 97.0% and a fourth just at 90%). Career leader in hits has 3105.

20 team league started another 30 year sim at 1:03 PM Eastern (1933-1963) Finished at 2:32 pm while doing things in background :)

I always seem to frown on a game's ability to import old leagues in that there wasn't enough changed for it to make a difference. In FOF at least we had to send the MP stuff to Jim and he'd have to sprinkle some Solecismic magic on it to make it work but with OOTP... no problem, we didn't change much anyway.

That's the No. 1 area where I'll give OOTP credit, I've been able to dredge out 8 or 9 year old OOTP files that I wanted to play because I had players in them and while you have to import year by year to get to the modern one...it's still cool that it works. FM doesn't do that and most other games don't let you continue your saves.

So yeah, credit where credit is due.

Glad I’m not the only one who has always been bothered by B. I know it’s a text sim and the action is going to be determined by a predetermined outcome, but the 3D has never given the illusion that the action is real and it kills immersion for me.

It definitely runs faster. I don't care for the 3d games at all. I am someone who loves visualization in general, but I would rather not have action than have that. It looks like I am watching a game while really drunk without my glasses.

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The 3D graphics are not a huge deal to me. I partially play out my games, usually the first inning, them sim to the 5th. If it's a blowout either way, I'll sim to the end, otherwise I'll watch the rest of the game. I've found that this keeps the game more immersive for me (instead of just simming the games), and I get a better feel for my team.

From my limited observation so far in my test league, it looks like the AI trade logic has been improved again, and on the highest setting it's virtually impossible to fleece the AI. The AI teams are also doing a better job of protecting their Rule 5 players with high potential, instead of protecting mediocre AAA players with higher current ratings.

The 64-bit platform is definitely faster, and I have yet to see any of the dreaded "out of memory" issues that plagued the 32-bit version in my large leagues.

I do pretty close to the same thing for the same reason. I will probably test out the 2d version, because I just the 3d version so ugly it takes me out of the game instead.

Time to take the Colorado Rockies challenge.

Even if you don't like the Perfect Team part of OOTP (especially competing with people who pay more), you might like Perfect Draft. Basically, each round you are presented with a selection of cards to select onto your team. The early rounds are great cards through to the late rounds are weak. All free to play. You draft, you set up your team, and then see how you do in the tourney. I'm getting a real kick out of it and, aside from RNG on what cards you choose from, everyone is in the same boat.

I've been enjoying Perfect Draft. Pick your players in 20 minutes and see how you do versus others. Do you go pitching heavy? Hitting? Defense? Some balance? Do you worry about your bench at all? Do you take that great pitcher now and pass up on a great hitter hoping you can make up for it with a very good hitter later?

Lots to think about and execute on.