Alright Boyz, Here We Go!!! Front Office Football 9 Impressions

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by johnnyshaka

First draft in a fictional NFL setup...1.1 is a friggin' kicker.

??

[sovereignstar v2]

Let me help

Here is johnny's kicker

[johnnyshaka]

Thanks! lol

And Denver already have a 67 rated kicker so it definitely wasn't a need.

[nickelback]

I feel like I broke it.

[Bobble]

Since this is an impressions thread, I thought I'd offer mine. Mainly, I'm putting down the things that were bumps in the road.

- Seems like the game is meant to be played from the Manage tab. If so, then that shouldn't be the second-last tab. It should be first. And it should be the default tab. To be honest, I was a little lost until I ended up on that screen.

- It was a pain in the butt to try to do the 53-man inaugural draft by hovering over a player to get his attributes. It also sucked not being able to get any other info like who's taken whom, who was drafted in the last round, etc.

- Overall, this game would benefit greatly from customizeable, always sortable tables. As an example, as I'm looking at the Player Participation table for the last game, I'd like to see and sort it by position and starters.

- I felt kinda blindsided by the fact that I did the inaugural draft with a 4-3 in mind and then found out my D Coordinator was a 3-4 guy. Would be a good idea to present that kind of info to the user more obviously.

- There's no way I can change my team name, eh? I'm stuck with Columbus Texans now. Should probably take some of those "regional" names out of the database (Texans, Yankees, etc.)

- In the gameplanning screen, I ought to be able to hover over a play and have the diagram come up. Right now, I'm so disconnected from my plays that I feel like I have no choice but to let the AI do it. EDIT: I see that it DOES eventually show as a tooltip if I let it hover long enough. Great. I drafted safeties that aren't great blitzers. Which plays do I select so that I have more LB blitzes and less S blitzes? How would I know? EDIT: I see the blitz frequency screen. It's covered there.

- There should probably be a better way to automatically name my saved game then "Universe 2". Feels unfinished.

- I like the QB/WR chemistry (although I don't know why TE is not included). Would like to see the same thing for O-line chemistry, defensive front, and secondary respectively.

- Wouldn't mind a tooltip over the positions to tell me what the game is looking for in each position. Right now, I'm not sure why it's got this guy as a FL versus SE, a DRE v. DLE, etc.

- I wanted to print out the draft. There's no way to do that?

- Players from the initial draft have a "Joined Team" value of 29. A 0 or 1 or 2023 are values I can understand. 29 I don't.

- I thought the little wooden doll on the Medical screen would show where the injury is. A little disappointed that it's static.

- I got caught up on the roster limits. It tried to help my realize that I needed to get down to 53 but didn't pop an error when I didn't meet the position requirements. It just wouldn't let me continue.

- Game Books are cool. I particularly like the Game Flow chart.

- The player screen is clean and efficient.

All the stuff you would expect for a FOF game is there. Seems like a great evolution of the series.

Overall, it's a lot of fun but it feels like the game is fighting me a bit.

[RGVicedo]

Originally Posted by nickelback

I feel like I broke it.

WTF kind of result is this??? the game engine definitely needs tweaking if 9000 yds passing and nearly 100 TDs can be achieved...

[james17]

Is there no way to print out a team roster, game stats?

[mbh12368]

Has anyone else run into a bug where you play a team not in your division twice? I sent in a bug report to support

[jcard]

Originally Posted by RGVicedo

WTF kind of result is this??? the game engine definitely needs tweaking if 9000 yds passing and nearly 100 TDs can be achieved...

Was this a full-time empty backfield offense (TEs and WRs made all 85 skill position starts)?

[thefatcat]

Originally Posted by RGVicedo

WTF kind of result is this??? the game engine definitely needs tweaking if 9000 yds passing and nearly 100 TDs can be achieved...

Thats 38 pts per game as well, how easy was this to do?

[tzach]

Originally Posted by RGVicedo

WTF kind of result is this??? the game engine definitely needs tweaking if 9000 yds passing and nearly 100 TDs can be achieved...

that means 200 TDs is possible

[thefatcat]

Originally Posted by tzach

that means 200 TDs is possible

I wonder if Jim will just rename the patching department "the Zach Zone" !


On a serious note i'll wait for a patch to fix this unrealism !

[RGVicedo]

Originally Posted by tzach

that means 200 TDs is possible

The real life Arena Football league record of 142 TDs can now be surpassed in FOF9 via the use of an extreme passing playbook/gameplan...

[fortheglory]

A lot of the UI complaints can probably be directed at OOTP Developments as well.

[garion333]

Originally Posted by tzach

that means 200 TDs is possible

[garion333]

I simmed as far as the game would let me and have been poking around at things.

*One thing I did notice was that Defensive players had some whack PD%:

Link to image: https://i.imgur.com/HWxB7Cv.png

*One confusing bit regarding the UI is during Staff Hire phase. When I don't need to hire a coach the correct thing to do is sim one day forward. Also, after you hire a coach you still need to hit the sim one day button. The game doesn't tell you this, however. Perhaps this info should be added to the bottom of the screen (where it's already telling you whether you must hire someone or not) or a button to "Skip" up near the "Hire X Coordinator" button. I'm sure the Manual mentions something about this, but I can't access it atm since Solecismic.com is currently down.

[johnnyshaka]

Originally Posted by johnnyshaka

First draft in a fictional NFL setup...1.1 is a friggin' kicker.

Same draft...same team took a punter at 2.3!

[johnnyshaka]

Originally Posted by johnnyshaka

Same draft...same team took a punter at 2.3!

And then they took a Long Snapper at 3.3!

[garion333]

Originally Posted by johnnyshaka

And then they took a Long Snapper at 3.3!

Quit drafting Special Teams, Johnny. Sheesh.

[NawlinsFan]

Originally Posted by garion333

Quit drafting Special Teams, Johnny. Sheesh.

He has always been "special"!

[garion333]

I'm growing more and more accustomed to hovering over parts to get the popups.

However, why is the popup directly on top of the mouse pointer? In the Draft I can't go from Bars to Interview to Combine Assessment without having to move away from the current popup. That's inefficient, but the fact the popups block out the current player's info is odd. When looking at the Combine Assessment popup I can't see that player's SPD, TYD and SOL. Even when I go full screen the pop up is still blocking SPD and TYD.

When looking at a player's bars it covers Speed. So you can't see all of a player's combines while looking at his bars.


One other gripe: Can't get to Trade screen from a Player's card. "Trade this Player" button would be a nice add to the Actions.

Okay, glad I didn't hit Submit before I realized this:

Link to image: https://i.imgur.com/HFFZgml.jpeg

Why in the world are we seeing the League Scout's view during a Draft? What is the point of having Scouting bars on your coaches if all you can see during the draft is the League Scout's view?

I already felt like not being able to see a player's card during the draft a strange omission, but to then have the League Scout be the view ... ?

[Izulde]

I see font talk.

Georgia 11 point font is my default answer to any font questions.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by garion333

Why in the world are we seeing the League Scout's view during a Draft? What is the point of having Scouting bars on your coaches if all you can see during the draft is the League Scout's view?

I already felt like not being able to see a player's card during the draft a strange omission, but to then have the League Scout be the view ... ?

Do you think that's actually the league scout view, or just an incorrect item in the display? (My best guess is the latter.)

[Ben E Lou]

Positive note on the interface: I am REALLY liking scrolling through my roter on the "Contract" section of the player cards for renegotiations/cuts at FA1:1 (or whatever date that is now.)

[Ben E Lou]

Negative note on the interface: now that long snappers don't top out at 22/22 like in FOF8, they dominate the top of the FA listings. Need a way to filter on "All Non-Punters/Kickers/Long Snappers" so that the top 10-15 players in the overall search don't show those positions.

[rkmsuf]

roster vs late free agents. really miss multiple windows.

[Zman714]

I enjoy the new game. And lots of good suggestions already in this thread. But like others wish some of the screens and options from 8 carried over. Like all the unnecessary clicks to see overall and statistics and years remaining under contract and the new trade hq is a nightmare unless I’m missing something how is one to trade up in the draft? What if I want to trade down 3 spots? I have to shop a pick and hope the team that’s 3 spots down wants to trade? I don’t understand why the old trade interface didn’t cross over as a lot of the information displayed in 9 is very very similar to past versions. Call me old fashioned but I enjoyed single player in 8 and trying to trade and maneuver players and picks around with house rules and I feel like in its current state in 9 I’m being forced to leave trading up to a dice roll of of what the ai wants to take advantage of me 😆. Again maybe I’ve missed something and this is possible then by all means correct me. Hopefully some of all the requests made on the boards get addressed by Jim as I think this could be an amazing game that sucks hundreds of hours of my life away like 7 and 8 have done for me.

[dave1927p]

The lack of a years remaining / salary expiration information with the overall/potential in one screen is a deal breaker for me. Pains me to say, but I can’t play until this is added. I’ll have to stick with 8 for now unless there’s another screen that works, but that level of clicks is too much for me.

Wish the draft history had more stats listed also. I’d like to see the awards in one screen too opposed to the new drop down list option.

When clicking on the draft info on a player card it takes you to the college alumni list. This should take you to the draft history of that year like in 8

[MIJB#19]

The new Trade HQ has some positives and negatives.
I like that teams will do a suggestion what it will require to acquire their pick. Lesson learned: you have to know in advance what pick or player you want to acquire through a different screen.

An awkward one with that screen when trading draft picks: when you ask for a team with a pick in the 1st a spot lower what it takes, they will demand your pick 1 spot higher and want some lower rounders as well. For example, a move down from 1.9 to 1.10, will cost you additional picks, it doesn't get you additional picks. I've seen it happen with other 1st round picks as well when I asked the other team about their 1st and I happened to have the pick right ahead of them.


My biggest complaints with the interface is the No/Yes buttons on the screen where you make an offer to an FA, they're intuitively flipped around and the No button will also give you the 'already offered a contract' feedback, despite that it didn't get saved. As it is now, I try to make sure there is no reason to even click the No button.

I really liked that FA's that you attempt to lowball on will tell you to wait another day to make a new offer.



The game breaker to me right now is that cohesion works backwards: keeping players around now lowers cohesion (and overall team performance in the process), while keeping as few players as possible skyrockets it (and the performance). The good news: it seems this got added yesterday to the known issues.

[jzicc]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

The game breaker to me right now is that cohesion works backwards: keeping players around now lowers cohesion (and overall team performance in the process), while keeping as few players as possible skyrockets it (and the performance).

I'll pay extra to keep it that way ;0)

[garion333]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Do you think that's actually the league scout view, or just an incorrect item in the display? (My best guess is the latter.)

I'm not sure, which is the issue. I sold my soul for coaches with high Scouting, only to have guys coming out lower than I saw them. Not like they're coming out like a different player, just well below what I was seeing with incredibly high Scouting on all my coaches.

I may be overly influenced by my recent draft where I took two WRs in the 1st and then they came out not quite what I expected. The top WR looked uber studly but came out 54/368. That 54 is great, but the 68 was a bit of a letdown. Perhaps I am simply not aware of what is static anymore on WRs so I can't look at this player and know he'll boom. We shall see.

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Positive note on the interface: I am REALLY liking scrolling through my roter on the "Contract" section of the player cards for renegotiations/cuts at FA1:1 (or whatever date that is now.)

Agreed. It's nice to go through them without having to open a new window every time. If Jim sneaks the "Years Left" back on the standard Roster screen I think I'll be good with how this version does contracts.

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Negative note on the interface: now that long snappers don't top out at 22/22 like in FOF8, they dominate the top of the FA listings. Need a way to filter on "All Non-Punters/Kickers/Long Snappers" so that the top 10-15 players in the overall search don't show those positions.

Also agreed. Seems like a relatively simple add.

[garion333]

Originally Posted by jzicc

I'll pay extra to keep it that way ;0)

I bet you liked 2nd Edition AD&D. :P


Me too.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I bought FOF1 in Fall 1998. I've been playing it for 25 years. I'll be 55 next month. At this point, I should have already known that I'm getting old, but FOF9 just confirmed that for me.


How did FOF confirm that, you ask???


Because, for the first time in my life, I increased the font size of a game from the default, and WOW, it made a gigantic difference. 14-point Arial ftw. #OldManVibes

That so far has been the biggest help to even begin to let me play the game. Good font and setting.

[IlliniCub]

I honestly think this will be far and above my favorite FOF, it's just not yet. Some huge steps were made towards the FOF that I've always wanted just a few tweaks, rough edges, and quality of life improvements are needed in my opinion.

[EagleFan]

Hate to say it but very disappointed with this game. The UI is ugly and VERY unintuitive. The results seem okay but that doesn't matter when I can't even navigate to see what I want to see easily. Bring back the spreadsheet UI, that was very easy to manage. I don't want it to look like an app on an ipad, that takes all immersion away for me.

[thaynes888]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I bought FOF1 in Fall 1998. I've been playing it for 25 years. I'll be 55 next month. At this point, I should have already known that I'm getting old, but FOF9 just confirmed that for me.


How did FOF confirm that, you ask???


Because, for the first time in my life, I increased the font size of a game from the default, and WOW, it made a gigantic difference. 14-point Arial ftw. #OldManVibes

LOL! Me too!

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by IlliniCub

I honestly think this will be far and above my favorite FOF, it's just not yet. Some huge steps were made towards the FOF that I've always wanted just a few tweaks, rough edges, and quality of life improvements are needed in my opinion.

Same. I have a QB with 67 good decisions, 72 read defense, and 86 speed. I absolutely LOVE being able to do a lot of RPO and some pure option runs with a guy like that. (And it worked well.)

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by jzicc

I'll pay extra to keep it that way ;0)

The result of this counterintuitive cohesion was that I traded most of my players away for a crapload of picks, had enough cap room to sign most of the top FAs (from the other teams) and pick many top rookies. "Cohesion" became topnotch and the team went to the bowl game.

I mean, in 3 seasons time, we went from 13-3 juggernaut upset in the playoffs in season 1, to 1-15 in season 2 due to being the only team that kept more than 15 players, to in season 3 bowl losers by adopting that roster building strategy. It was a fun way to learn how the Trade HQ screen works.

I didn't mind all that much, because, you know, besides cohesion, trading is also my thing.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

Do you think that's actually the league scout view, or just an incorrect item in the display? (My best guess is the latter.)

Follow-up on this: the amateur draft doesn't have this detail in the documentation, but the 53-round initial draft does:

Originally Posted by Help File

If you hold your mouse over the icons in each player entry, you can see more information about each player. Holding your mouse over an “r” icon reveals a pop-up with your scout's impression of that player's attributes. Holding your mouse over a “c” icon reveals a pop-up with a player's original scouting combine results.
There are no player cards available during an allocation draft.

I mean, this all sounds *exactly* like the amateur draft screen. The 53-man draft screen also says "league scout" when you mouse-over. I'm strongly leaning toward it simply being incorrectly displayed for this one.

[jcard]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

The result of this counterintuitive cohesion was that I traded most of my players away for a crapload of picks, had enough cap room to sign most of the top FAs (from the other teams) and pick many top rookies. "Cohesion" became topnotch and the team went to the bowl game.

I mean, in 3 seasons time, we went from 13-3 juggernaut upset in the playoffs in season 1, to 1-15 in season 2 due to being the only team that kept more than 15 players, to in season 3 bowl losers by adopting that roster building strategy. It was a fun way to learn how the Trade HQ screen works.

I didn't mind all that much, because, you know, besides cohesion, trading is also my thing.

Whether operating logically or counterintuitively, that is an absurdly disproportionate role for cohesion. If people like that as a game mechanic, fair enough. As a simulation element, however, it is pure sports talk radio nonsense.

[johnnyshaka]

Seeing some wonky profit numbers and it appears to be due to very large negative jersey sales numbers for a handful of teams. We're talking north of $150M in the red while the rest of the league has $100M or more in jersey sales. Oddly enough, looking at the top jersey sales report it shows several of those teams have players at the top of the list. Anybody else seeing something similar?

[james17]

One big disappointment for me is the lack of the ability to print anything. Shoot we used to be able to print rosters with contract views or player ratings and box scores and play logs. Not anymore unless I'm missing something.

[Fidatelo]

Where are you guys seeing this cohesion thing? Is it a value displayed on a screen somewhere? I know QB's have Chemistry with WR's but is there a score for the whole team somewhere?


I've just finished my first off-season after winning the Bowl and retained like 40 players so I'm a bit saddened to read that I might be on the way to a terrible year because of that

[johnnyshaka]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

Where are you guys seeing this cohesion thing? Is it a value displayed on a screen somewhere? I know QB's have Chemistry with WR's but is there a score for the whole team somewhere?


I've just finished my first off-season after winning the Bowl and retained like 40 players so I'm a bit saddened to read that I might be on the way to a terrible year because of that

League -> Reports and Info -> Team Cohesion Report

[molson]

Are we sure the cohesion thing isn't a bug? Having to get rid of players to improve a cohesion rating sounds awful. Part of the fun for this game for me has always been building a team you get vested in.

What are the prospects for this game being fun generally once some of the bugs are fixed? I don't do any playcalling or coaching, I always enjoyed buildings teams, creating my team identity over the years, making a run, blowing it up, building against, etc. Will that be more of a slog/work than prior versions?

[sovereignstar v2]

There is some note in the known bugs post about checking cohesion

[Fidatelo]

Originally Posted by johnnyshaka

League -> Reports and Info -> Team Cohesion Report

Thanks!


My team is a 96 and 3rd overall, despite being the team with the lowest number of free agents signed. So maybe this isn't as clear cut as "retaining players is lowering cohesion"? Or am I misunderstanding the value?

[Olsson]

Here's my thoughts so far..

Positives:

UI - I really like the UI and the immersion it brings to the table. Small things like being able to see the top receivers while checking the standings. Great.

Trade HQ - I've traded more players in FOF9 than I have in approx 1000 hours of plying FOF8. I understand this will divide the players, but I like it.

Stats - The stats simply aligns better to the modern nfl.

Negatives:

Low retention on AI teams - It kills the immersion when you play a team two years in a row and the only player they have left on offense from year 1 is the QB.

Cohesion - Something just seems off here.

Contracts - I need a view with both Cur/Fut and end of contract. Wether it's adding EOC to the basic view or Cur/Fut to contracts doesn't matter to me.

The negative things have already been acknowledged by Jim and I'm looking forward to the first patch.

Overall:

I have no doubt in my mind that this game will become the best in the series. But we are not there yet.

[EagleFan]

Originally Posted by Olsson

Here's my thoughts so far..

Positives:

UI - I really like the UI and the immersion it brings to the table. Small things like being able to see the top receivers while checking the standings. Great.

I respectfully disagree. The UI is awful and kills any immersion for me. It's like I was playing a discount game on an iPad or phone. I say was because I already refunded the product and don't plan on returning. I'll stick with 8.

[NawlinsFan]

Originally Posted by EagleFan

I respectfully disagree. The UI is awful and kills any immersion for me. It's like I was playing a discount game on an iPad or phone. I say was because I already refunded the product and don't plan on returning. I'll stick with 8.

The blessing is we can each have our own opinion. I do disagree with yours as I see this as evolutionary, not revolutionary. This is the first rendition of what I pray is a fruitful future. One that will allow Jim to incorporate tweaks, consolidate and steamline pages and displays all while deepening and enhancing the game play, both current and legacy replay.

Sorry that it drives you away and hope your don't give up on it and will return in the future.