A stupid question from a FOOL
 

Hi, I'm in the FOOL OOTP baseball league, but I found that through the OOTP forums.

So here it comes: I have downloaded the FOF demo, and I find it quite baffling, much more so than I did OOTP.

The fundamental question is: IS FOF worth it? I realize this is a stupid question on a forum devoted to what appears to be a fairly active, bordering on fanatical, league for the game.

Let me expand a bit:

-Does the full version do a better job of easing one in, and/or making more sense generally? I have trouble finding menus, even ones I have visited a lot. There doesn't strike me as an intuitive flow to the interface.

-Is single player a worthwhile experience? I don't have time to commit to a multiplayer schedule right now. Within tolerable limits, is the AI fairly challenging? Does the game used contrived ways, or do you the user have to impose them, to get the AI to be competitive?

-Is there perhaps player created content which functions as a tutorial if the full version "out of the box" doesn't do so?

-Compared to OOTP, I found Head Coach 09 (the demo at least) to be pretty dry toast. Is FOF more "exciting"?

I'm not trolling. I'm sincerely interested in a decent football sim, and have heard this is The One. I'm wondering if this is one of those cases, where the demo actually does the vendor a disservice rather than a service, in committing the final sale.

TIA, Tim

The interface takes some getting used to, but after some time you'll come to appreciate it. There is a beginner's guide (found here) that can serve as a good tutorial or walkthrough for those first few seasons of play and the game's broader concepts. I'd probably recommend playing a few seasons of the game to get a feel for the progression of things and the decisions you'll be making as well though. After attempting to get by on intuition for a bit, take a look at the guide, as well as the help file by clicking the '?' button in the toolbar. The help file is actually a good resource for information, and you'll likely see topics you were beginning to wonder about as you peruse the list of entries.

At that point, you'll have a pretty good grasp of the game, and you'll probably be enjoying yourself in a single player career. You'll hear some of us bemoan the weaknesses of the AI from time to time, but I truly believe that the SP experience is challenging and interesting. You may run into the occasional flaw that should not be exploited (don't swap 1sts with a team you know will be bad at the beginning of the year), but otherwise, the experience should remain relatively difficult until you've spent a good many hours with the game. Enjoy, and search this forum and the many strategy and Q&A threads, we're still learning new things every day.

"on a forum devoted to what appears to be a fairly active, bordering on fanatical, league for the game."

There's a house league, but this forum isn't devoted to it. In fact, I'm not sure this forum is even devoted to the game FOF.

This is the single game (in all its versions) which has given me the most hours and the most enjoyment. I hope you feel the same way...

Thanks for the feedback people. You have probably earned a commission the next time I have "discretionary dollars".

Head Coach dry toast? What's the matter wit you? :)

FOF is an excellent sim, probably my favorite text sim of all time.