Anyone here loking foraward to the spring release of OOTP 2006?

[PSUColonel]

Just wondering how many folks think this one might be a good product.

[MrBug708]

I believe so...

[Lathum]

i think so as well. The last one got us throught the long drive from Texas to NJ

[FBPro]

Yep, I concur as well.

[sovereignstar]

Will there be a manual for this game?

[Young Drachma]

I'll surely check it out. NHL EHM once I got the hang of it, still has my attention in a way that no other text sim has. And I love hockey, but not as much in terms of management as I do baseball.

So that bodes well for this, given that I liked OOTP 6 pretty well.

[Marc Duffy]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar

Will there be a manual for this game?

Yep

[Marc Duffy]

Advert alert :: if you are thinking about buying the game, there is a 10% saving promotion running till the end of Feb on pre-orders.

www.ootpbaseball2006.com/buy.php

[Bee]

Although I've bought several versions of OOTP in the past, it never really impressed me like FM/CM did. I think the upcoming version is the most interested I've been in a baseball game release.

[Marc Vaughan]

Yes

[Ramzavail]

I am about the buy it with the discount, I've been meaning to.

[miked]

Seeing as how Markus never completely finished v6 or 6.5 or 6.51a or whatever, I'll probably wait and see how OOTP:whatever is. There are just so many times I'm willing to give a developer money product unseen when they frequently don't deliver.

[sovereignstar]

Originally Posted by Marc Duffy

Yep

Oh, that's clutch.

[SelzShoes]

This will be the first OOTP product in a long time I will not buy. Not that I think it will be a poor design or game, but because of the horrifically incompetent way the OOTP Board is moderated. That place shows the worst face possible for the company.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by miked

Seeing as how Markus never completely finished v6 or 6.5 or 6.51a or whatever, I'll probably wait and see how OOTP:whatever is. There are just so many times I'm willing to give a developer money product unseen when they frequently don't deliver.

Ditto. I'll wait and read some reviews on here.

[Cuckoo]

Agreed. I've certainly received my money's worth out of OOTP as far as time played and enjoyable experience, but it does still gnaw on me slightly that all things weren't delivered as advertised.

I'd say the odds that I buy it are high, especially since I'm in a OOTP MP league, but I don't see myself putting up the money without seeing the product first this time.

All of that said, I have high hopes. But I'm just a hopeful kind of guy.

[sovereignstar]

Originally Posted by SelzShoes

This will be the first OOTP product in a long time I will not buy. Not that I think it will be a poor design or game, but because of the horrifically incompetent way the OOTP Board is moderated. That place shows the worst face possible for the company.

Could you elaborate some more on that? I check the boards over there like 3 or 4 times a year.

[Marc Duffy]

Originally Posted by SelzShoes

This will be the first OOTP product in a long time I will not buy. Not that I think it will be a poor design or game, but because of the horrifically incompetent way the OOTP Board is moderated. That place shows the worst face possible for the company.

It's a shame you wont give a game a go because of a forum really

[Swaggs]

I'm really hopeful that this will be a great single player game.

[Schmidty]

I just hope we can convert old OOTP online leagues to OOTP 2006. I would hate to have to keep/play OOTP 6.5 forever because a conversion isn't possible. That could spell the death-knell of awesome leagues like the RWBL.

[stevew]

I have zero expectations for this, so if its good, i will be really suprised.

[SelzShoes]

Originally Posted by Marc Duffy

It's a shame you wont give a game a go because of a forum really

Well, like it or not the Mods, especially if they carry Administrator/OOTP Developments under their name are reps of the company. And when that Mod tells you that the only way he can think of to end the harassment you are receiving is for the harassers to get tired of it; and after you leave the boards because you are tired of being harassed, you find out the Mods have given your e-mail (which is not part of your public profile) to the very people you’ve been complaining about so they can continue harassing you—well, it doesn’t speak well of the company.

Why should I purchase a product from a company that tells me, I’m not as valued a customer as others?

You all should be greatful for a Mods as evenhanded and fair as Skydog.

[Schmidty]

Originally Posted by SelzShoes

Well, like it or not the Mods, especially if they carry Administrator/OOTP Developments under their name are reps of the company. And when that Mod tells you that the only way he can think of to end the harassment you are receiving is for the harassers to get tired of it; and after you leave the boards because you are tired of being harassed, you find out the Mods have given your e-mail (which is not part of your public profile) to the very people you’ve been complaining about so they can continue harassing you—well, it doesn’t speak well of the company.

Why should I purchase a product from a company that tells me, I’m not as valued a customer as others?

You all should be greatful for a Mods as evenhanded and fair as Skydog.

No offense, but having a victim's-mentality (as it appears you have) probably didn't help your case.

[AgustusM]

I am sure I will buy it, but I am skeptical about if it can capture my imagination the way OOTP v3-5 did.

Once we got to v6 I felt the game started to slip a bit and the commitment to fixing issues, fulfilling promises, etc wained quite a bit from the early years when it seemed OOTP was really on top of it.

IMO - OOTP jumped the shark a bit with the .400 merger and subsequent fiasco and has never quite got back to its glory days of versions 3-5.

yes, I still buy it because it is cheap and I want to check it out, but in the old days OOTP was something I played almost every day and now it is a once in awhile thing.

Also I am very concerned that this latest merger might kill the greatest thing that OOTP ever did IMO and that is the ability to change anything, anytime, anywhere. If I am playing a solo league and notice something out of whack at any time it is simple as can be to change it, even mid-game. EA, Grey Dog, Solesemic, and the one SI product I tried (hockey) all either restrict editing, require a third party utility or it is "coming in the next release."

For me in my solo leagues, I like to be in control of the entire universe and OOTP is the only sports text sim that ever got this right in my opinion.

[SelzShoes]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

No offense, but having a victim's-mentality (as it appears you have) probably didn't help your case.

I can see your point and how the post came across--I'll conceed that point to you. But, I don't think I've been to the OOTP board since August and I'm STILL getting e-mails from two of the asshats . . .

Am I a victim--no. I saw a situation I didn't like and left; but my leaving wasn't enough apparently. So, I'll not buy any OOTP/SI product and encourage others to do the same. Will it have an impact? Probably not, but I'll feel better.

[bbor]

Originally Posted by SelzShoes

I can see your point and how the post came across--I'll conceed that point to you. But, I don't think I've been to the OOTP board since August and I'm STILL getting e-mails from two of the asshats . . .

Am I a victim--no. I saw a situation I didn't like and left; but my leaving wasn't enough apparently. So, I'll not buy any OOTP/SI product and encourage others to do the same. Will it have an impact? Probably not, but I'll feel better.

HEHEHEHEHEEH

He said Asshat

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by SelzShoes

I can see your point and how the post came across--I'll conceed that point to you. But, I don't think I've been to the OOTP board since August and I'm STILL getting e-mails from two of the asshats . . .

Am I a victim--no. I saw a situation I didn't like and left; but my leaving wasn't enough apparently. So, I'll not buy any OOTP/SI product and encourage others to do the same. Will it have an impact? Probably not, but I'll feel better.

Dude, what the heck happened that people are e-mailing you about something 5 months ago???

[dervack]

Originally Posted by miked

Seeing as how Markus never completely finished v6 or 6.5 or 6.51a or whatever, I'll probably wait and see how OOTP:whatever is. There are just so many times I'm willing to give a developer money product unseen when they frequently don't deliver.

What he said.

[SelzShoes]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

Dude, what the heck happened that people are e-mailing you about something 5 months ago???

All I know is at one point I said OT regulars need to follow the forum rules outside of OT--and that set a group of OTers off. Check over my post at OOTP--Seth70Liz76 was my screenname there--I don't think there is anything more than that. Heck, 90-95% of my post came in the dynasty forum. If anyone knows of anything else, I'd love to know.

[MizzouRah]

It's probably me, but I really don't care for SI's game interface. EHM is so darn confusing for me to navigate around and figure out what needs to be done. I loved OOTP's interface.

Like I said, I'm sure it's me, but if OOTP is that hard to navigate, I doubt I'll get it for the first time since v2.

I do think it would be neat to find talent in a different league somewhere in the world though and sign them to your team.

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by SelzShoes

You all should be greatful for a Mods as evenhanded and fair as Skydog.

how does THIS slip by without comment?

[FBPro]

Originally Posted by SelzShoes

Well, like it or not the Mods, especially if they carry Administrator/OOTP Developments under their name are reps of the company. And when that Mod tells you that the only way he can think of to end the harassment you are receiving is for the harassers to get tired of it; and after you leave the boards because you are tired of being harassed, you find out the Mods have given your e-mail (which is not part of your public profile) to the very people you’ve been complaining about so they can continue harassing you—well, it doesn’t speak well of the company.

Why should I purchase a product from a company that tells me, I’m not as valued a customer as others?

You all should be greatful for a Mods as evenhanded and fair as Skydog.

Geez, and you know for a fact that your email addy was passed on so that the harassing could continue? ? ? I can think of a bunch of senarios where your email could be passed on to "the enemy" without the people doing it even knowing why or even possibly under the impression that they are doing good.

Hate that you have had this experience but hope I never mod a board where you're a member........

[sovereignstar]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

how does THIS slip by without comment?

I dunno. Someone get banned?

[Draft Dodger]

to be fair to SelzShoes (and SkyDog too, I guess) - the moderation over there does have some pretty significant issues with consistency at times.

not that that would stop me from buying the game, of course. ymmv.

[Icy]

I preordered it the first day it was announced, not for the discount but because i don't mind to expend money supporting products/companies that i like, in fact i have bought all the text sims in the market in the past years, even for sports that i don't follow.

I think SIgames is the reference in text sims, specially because the role playing and players personalities. CM Italia in like 1995 was my first text sim experience. I have played all their games since then, and it was at SI boards where i discovered FOFC boards and FOF/TCY a few years ago. I feel like i'm in debt with them regarding my gamming experience. OOTP 6 is also an awesome game imho, i enjoy it a lot both playing solo and in the online DKBL that i co-commish so i have double reason to wait excited for it. What if it ends being a crap game? well i would have lost some €, it's not that i won't be able to feed my familly because that, i have bought really crap games in the past anyway, but i tend to trust developers that surprissed me once, it can always happen again.

About their boards, well i haven't ever had any problem or been banned at any board, every board has stupids and nice guys, i just read what i want and ignore what i don't, but i don't find that board that bad. I use it to find info about ootp and i get it, that is what i wanted, to enjoy chatting i have FOFC, with it's own nice guys, weird characters and assholes too.

Btw, just made a search for CM Italia to be sure about the release date, it looked too far from now, i have been playing text sims for over 12 years and i'm just 30. I found this about the CM/FM series, nice historical info.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Championship_Manager

[Galaril]

Nope. This franchise jumped the shark with the addition of leagues from Madagascar or wherever.

[Marc Duffy]

Originally Posted by AgustusM

Also I am very concerned that this latest merger might kill the greatest thing that OOTP ever did IMO and that is the ability to change anything, anytime, anywhere. If I am playing a solo league and notice something out of whack at any time it is simple as can be to change it, even mid-game. EA, Grey Dog, Solesemic, and the one SI product I tried (hockey) all either restrict editing, require a third party utility or it is "coming in the next release."

For me in my solo leagues, I like to be in control of the entire universe and OOTP is the only sports text sim that ever got this right in my opinion.

That continues with this version.

OOTP Baseball 2006 will be as customizable as every other OOTP release and in doing so it's not comparable with anything else SI has to offer currently

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Marc Duffy

Advert alert :: if you are thinking about buying the game, there is a 10% saving promotion running till the end of Feb on pre-orders.

www.ootpbaseball2006.com/buy.php

For what it's worth, the last pre-order came just as my bills for Christmas gifts were mounting up. In other words, I didn't have the money to ante up at 20% off.

10% off now just feels kinda like a slap in the face, truthfully. "Here's a discount that may not be well-timed for everybody, now here's a discount for the rest of you because while we value you as customers, we don't value you quite as much as the people who COULD give us their money a month ago as opposed to now."

I would've preordered at 20% off had it been when I had the money. At 10%, I'm just inclined to sit back and wait for a general consensus about the game to roll in before.

FWIW, I feel that way about sliding discounts in general, not just where SI and this game are involved.

[yabanci]

I hadn't been, but after playing FM2006 I am now looking forward to the new OOTP.

I thought OOTP4 was good, relative to what was out there at the time (Baseball Mogul). But from there I don't think Markus was up to the task of really advancing the game. He kept adding new things that never quite worked and never fixed the problems and general sloppiness of the game.

FM is very professional software and I'm hoping the professionalism and attention to detail will rub off on Markus. Then again, I don't know how much the SI guys are involved in developing the game. If it's just Markus' outfit being sold through SI, then I fully expect another disappointment.

In any event, I don't trust them enough to preorder the game. I'll wait to see the reviews and try the demo.

[astrosfan64]

Originally Posted by Bee

Although I've bought several versions of OOTP in the past, it never really impressed me like FM/CM did. I think the upcoming version is the most interested I've been in a baseball game release.

Agreed 100%

[astrosfan64]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

It's probably me, but I really don't care for SI's game interface. EHM is so darn confusing for me to navigate around and figure out what needs to be done. I loved OOTP's interface.

Like I said, I'm sure it's me, but if OOTP is that hard to navigate, I doubt I'll get it for the first time since v2.

I do think it would be neat to find talent in a different league somewhere in the world though and sign them to your team.

It is you . I love the SI Games interface. Well I love the football manager interface. Best interface out of any text based sim. At least in my opinion. EHM interface isn't so great though.

[lighthousekeeper]

My hope:
...is that as a result of the merger, the best aspects of both SI and the prior OOTP series are combined. The best aspects of SI are:

1. they are one of the few text sims that aren't a 1 man operation, so they can achieve great depth (as exhibited by personality modeling, 1 million leagues modeled, etc...) and a solid engine that you have confidence has been thoroughly tested by paid employees.
2. because they have a global fan base, they have learned to genericize or make configurable certain elements of the game so as to allow the game to realistically mimic the variety of leagues throughout the world.

The best aspects of OOTP are:
1. As mentioned previously, the game is open and editable.
2. Great stat-keeping, both through the Almanac and Cato exports. You can have a 100 year old league and have stats available for any major leaguer that ever played.
3. Ability to sim 1 day or 1 year relatively painlessly
4. Markus (imho) while maybe not satisfying all baseball purists, has been able to capture that certain something that makes playing the game fun
5. multiplayer league support (and if one person whines "where's h2h", i swear to god...!)

So the result would be a game that is being advertised, that builds on the current OOTP, but expands to allow for global leagues and has an underlying engine that you can confidence in has been thoroughly tested

My fear:

..is that as a result of the merger, OOTP takes on some of the worst aspects of SI/FM.

The worst aspects of FM series are:
1. Horrible history/stat tracking/reordbook keeping in FM. This has been defended as "a soccer thing, you wouldn't understand", and I hope that's just it. But I don't want to lose 1 iota of almanacing or stat browsing capabilities in OOTP.
2. Closed/inflexible system. Maybe I don't fully understand the capabilities of the FM series, but I just don't think FM is as open as OOTP when it comes to being able to dissect the datafile structure and create 3rd party exporters (ala Cato). And some things seem "locked down" once a FM league has started.
3. Can't just sim 1 year in FM. Sure FM is extremely engrossing and you'd feel like you're letting your team down if you do this, but it doesn't seem like you can just click one button and then come back in an hour to see how the season went.
4. Multiplayer in FM?


(Please don't take this as an FM bash - I love the game [having purchases 3 versions over the years] and it is wonderful for what it does.) I'm optimistic that the next ootp will be as advertised and be what I am hoping for and that my fears are unfounded.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by lighthousekeeper

4. Multiplayer in FM?


(Please don't take this as an FM bash - I love the game [having purchases 3 versions over the years] and it is wonderful for what it does.) I'm optimistic that the next ootp will be as advertised and be what I am hoping for and that my fears are unfounded.

I agree with most of your post, but MP in FM is great IMO. It is the only text sim that I know of where H2H play actually works. I had a great time playing against Axxon in a career about a year ago.

[lighthousekeeper]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I agree with most of your post, but MP in FM is great IMO. It is the only text sim that I know of where H2H play actually works. I had a great time playing against Axxon in a career about a year ago.

ok sorry then - that was just my ignorance about mp in fm. i had just made the assumption since i didn't notice many fm leagues around (not that I looked).

[cody8200]

I pre-ordered the day it was announced. I can't wait!

[Deattribution]

Not a purchase for me, ITP was the worse support I've ever received for any game I've purchased (online).

OOTP5 was fun, but OOTP6 was kind of like - it was really going to be good but..... Though, really, I promise, 6.5 makes it something special... oh wait... well really, this time, I mean it, buy OOTP2006 (or whatever it's called)..

No thanks

[Buccaneer]

OOTP5 is fun, but OOTP6 was kind of like - but didn't grab hold...and 2006 will be too much like a FM game. I do hope it sells well and it is highly acclaimed.

[Marc Duffy]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

OOTP5 is fun, but OOTP6 was kind of like - but didn't grab hold...and 2006 will be too much like a FM game. I do hope it sells well and it is highly acclaimed.

At least try the demo and decide then?

[Drake]

I've purchased each OOTP edition since v2, and I just pre-ordered last night. I have my own criticisms of OOTP in general, but honestly, I keep buying because it is, in my opinion, the premier career baseball simulation on the market. Puresim has never grabbed me, and I just never felt immersed in the Baseball Mogul series. YMMV, of course, but until something better comes along, I'll keep buying.

My only hope is that the new engine coding does something to fix a dev system that seems completely and utterly random -- but I can even live with that given that I tend to sim a year at a time. It could be that OOTP appeals to me because of the *way* I play it rather than what it is as a complete product, but in any event, I'm excited about what the SI acquisition means for this title.

[riz]

Originally Posted by lighthousekeeper

My hope:
3. Can't just sim 1 year in FM. Sure FM is extremely engrossing and you'd feel like you're letting your team down if you do this, but it doesn't seem like you can just click one button and then come back in an hour to see how the season went.

You can actually. Just like in NHL EHM, you can leave the control of your team to your assistant manager (that is, if you are controlling a team at all) and leave the game on holiday with a selected date to come back. Then one click at "Go on Vacation" and you can leave the game ticking away. Depending on the number of leagues you have setup in the game and your system specs, time to run a full year varies (I'm just setting up a quick test with just NHL on my testbox for the afternoon) but I'm fairly sure that with a decent system and a limited amount of leagues, an hour for one season can be achieved. Sure enough, it'll never be something like "one click to sim a season in 30 seconds" because of the depth and detail involved, but as a concept the functionality is there.

This is how we run most of our soak tests btw. Currently my long term soak test on 2.1.3 patch is kicking in year 2205 as it has been running on holiday for some time now.