Been playing OOTP for 15 or so years. I know that the 3D is flawed and always have a non-moving, no close up angles play by play. It shows the plays from up behind the plate (like you're watchjing from the press box, I suppose) and it's fine for what I do, but I don't make content....My main gripes about OOTP: 1. Playing any kind of multiple seasons--real players or not--you get these fringe players who are signed and then released a few days later...signed and released a few days later, etc etc etc. You look at some low level players history and you see dozens of these transactions every year. The history lines are insane. I used to be more active on the forum and this was a issue 10+ years ago and it still happens all the time. In general AI roster management is odd at times. Quality players being waived for no reason is a commonly seen occurrence. 2. First base fielding. The ability to play 1B in the game is directly tied to how good a infielder you are. In other words if you're a good 3B, SS, 2B you are always a good 1B if you play the position enough. Seems that (like OF) 1B should not be tied to the infield ability (why is arm a major factor for a 1B?) I know the game doesn't know names in replays, but you'll often see high rating SSs (especially) like O'Neill Cruz and Ely De la Cruz mysteriously listed as an elite level 1B a few years into a 2024 sim because...high level INF = awesome 1B in the game. 3. The name sets. This is a grip[e for a small minority of players, I'm sure, but if you want to make a foreign league...or add foreign (non-traditionally baseball countries) into a sim you'll see, for example, German and Russian names which are horrific and emersion-killing. I tweaked the files in the past, but they changed it in OOTP25 and didn't bother to figure out how to modify them. Yeah...look at the Russian and German names--laughable. Also, the trends of names for Caribbean nations should be modernized...Cuba and Venezuela especially should be more nation-specific. And the stock Latin name set seems to be stuck in the past and are fine for the 1960s to 1990s era. You play a modern sim and a few years of AI-generated players shows "old" Latin first names all coming back without the variety and flavor of modern trends in Latin first names.
The first base thing is so annoying especially when you get like 10 years in literally every infielder from today plays first because their overall is boosted by 5-10
After all these years without a 3d engine. I do not even notice that it is in the game. For me it is an unneeded feature. Same with the cards. The settings menus could use some cleaning up however. And yes, I have been playing the game since the beginning.
I agree completely on the messy menus. I too spend way too much time clicking menus that do not show me what I want and often find what I want is in the first place I assumed it would never be....
Isn't this the first year that was produced since Com2Us took over the company? I mean I would think it will get better, but it will probably take some time to revamp the game, if they are inclined to do that.
I think this is actually the 3rd release under Com2Us, but the team of developers is exactly the same, the original owner still oversees it. I think (oddly) they are committed to the same, rushed 'add a couple' features model of AAA sports games. It probably has something to do with the cash cow that is Perfect Team. I don't say this as any huge critique, but they still don't seem to have the resources to make other sorts of business choices.
It's the fourth release under Com2Us and it's exactly as I suspected. Same thing happened to Football Manager when Sega bought out SI: Milk the monopolized market with minimal changes every year.
The problem with things like enhanced 3-D graphics and animation is once you go there your game will constantly be judge by how well it looks. Not saying I don't want the graphics and I would like see more simple things like era specific graphics, catcher gear not modern for every era, or all batter wearing batting helmets. For me the biggest fail by OTTP is that although it has real lineups the day to day roster are random unlike other games in the hobby. OOTP still does a lot, and is close to a great game but still in the very good level for me.
Fun video. OOTP is frustrating, except that it's just better than everything else (in my opinion, as that weirdly needs to be said). I think it's victim of being tied to it's foundations and having to work out from there. If the team were larger, or they had a different schedule, I imagine they'd play with the idea of rewriting some of it, but by god the wars that exist over small changes every year. They always seem to tweak something wrong for the first 2 months. Baseball cards just got turned off by default, which I take as surrender. I see why people like some of the other games if all they care about is single replays (you've talked about that divide), but it's ambitions allow so much more, for so many more people. I thank them for that.
I definitely agree on the 3-D stuff. Missing cut off men, calling guys out at 2nd when they are clearly safe, cut off man gets the ball (for once) and runs back into the outfield! etc... I keep asking myself if there's a better baseball sim game out there. Last year I was disillusioned with the whole baseball sim gaming. So I need ALL the teams included. And a way to set up my specific league. My 2nd best choice is Digital Diamond, but for whatever reason, that game bores the hell out of me. I don't know...
OOTP made a huge mistake by removing leagues and claiming it was for legal reasons. Also, the excuse I saw on their forums for the issue of players being out when they're clearly safe is that the animations don't reflect the logic and that we should just disregard the animations. LMAO
The game may work for some, but I'm not much impressed. The hidden game engine with all the subjective background general manager and owner modes makes me a bit concerned on how it gets the results. Never liked games with to many letter ratings and etc., with no real probability notation, but this is more of a subjective categorical game. Yes, all baseball sims have some forms of subjectivity, fielding for example, but remains to have a lot of objective background support. I see OOTP being subjective moreso than objective with harder data support.
It could be argued that one thing holding OOTP back is the community itself. It's a super hardcore, underground micro-community of baseball junkies who prioritize realism over enjoyment. They give praise to OOTP in areas that haven't been tweaked, improved, or implemented in years, either because they don't perceive it to be an issue, or it's not relevant to their experience. They applaud the game for being "realistic" -- ironic considering how unrealistic much of the game behaves -- overlooking the point that it's a game, and games are supposed to be fun first, and realistic second. OOTP's biggest flaw, at its core, is that it's designed to make the player "think", but it won't do anything to make the player "feel", and that's a problem -- to me at least. I could go on for paragraphs about what does or doesn't work, but I'll stick to a few things. Firstly, the 3D In-Game experience, regardless of how much you spend time on it, should be one of the biggest selling points of the game. Tragically, it is not aesthetically pleasing at all. In fact, it's hideous. The animations are sloppy; The text often won't align with what's happening on the field i.e. an outfielder making a play on a ball on the warning track that is "very shallow". It also pisses me off that they changed the uniform template before last season. The devs really ought to consider contracting out to some artists who specialize in 3D modeling. You can find them relatively cheap on the market and it wouldn't take much to improve what we have now. Doesn't have to look "realistic" either; just make the art nice to look at. The sound design in-game is also absolute shit, with music (that sucks) and SFX coming in at random, and nonsensical points, and with varied amplification. Franchise mode is also pretty bare-bones and the financial model is overly simplified. One ticket price for the whole ballpark, and I can't even negotiate a local TV contract? What about promotions and giveaways? Sponsors? What about rivalries and teams with large fanbases coming to town? I should see all of these things reflected in attendance on a game-by-game basis, in a way that's meaningful to me, the player - the way it was in MVP 2005. And, on top of wins and losses, I should be graded on the "Fan Experience" at my stadium - you know, all of the things a real-life GM would have to worry about. There's none of that in OOTP, which is a game designed to put you in a virtual front office. Also, who is in my broadcast booth? You mean to tell me OOTP can't find a way to feature. or perhaps even just honor legends like Vin Scully or Bob Uecker? Jon Miller or Tom Hamilton? (DOWN GOES ANDERSON!) I should see someone's face and name next to the play-by-play text instead of just a png microphone. I should be able to sign on-air talent and receive an email telling me that my ratings are expected to increase by 8% or something along those lines. Perhaps my biggest issue with OOTP is that you the player, whether as a GM or Manager (or both) never do anything to actually interact with the players on your roster, or have any sort of relationship with them the way you would with NPCs in a typical RPG. For example, If morale is shit, there's nothing you can do to reach out to a guy to see what specifically YOU can do to help HIM. And no one will ever email you with suggestions on improving the clubhouse, complete with options on how to do that. No one will offer any insight into what's going on in the players' lives outside the ballpark. The only time you ever hear from a player is to tell you he A.) wants a contract extension, or B.) requests a trade. There are practically no human-like qualities to players in the game; They really are treated like spreadsheets. The priority of OOTP seems to be too much on the database itself, and not on what you can do with the players in that database, like you touched on. Sorry for the long comment. I've just spent a ton of time with this game over the years and its flaws stick out to me...
I agree with you 100%. Regarding the lack of player interaction - in my mind, that's what really makes Football Manager stand out. Football Manager is an RPG when you get down to it; it's only got a sports theme as a sort of wrapper. OOTP feels too much like a sports sim.
@@baseballreplayjournal That's a good way to put it: It's quite literally a sim with no arcade qualities, and they seem to design the game for players who don't have a proprietary database to run simulations over and over in computer programs, like real-life front offices. Basically so you can feel like a programmer without being a programmer.
You stick to your text mode, and let others express their own desires for the game. I'm getting tired of the elitism ongst OOTP veterans who poo poo anything graphical.
Been playing OOTP for 15 or so years. I know that the 3D is flawed and always have a non-moving, no close up angles play by play. It shows the plays from up behind the plate (like you're watchjing from the press box, I suppose) and it's fine for what I do, but I don't make content....My main gripes about OOTP:
1. Playing any kind of multiple seasons--real players or not--you get these fringe players who are signed and then released a few days later...signed and released a few days later, etc etc etc. You look at some low level players history and you see dozens of these transactions every year. The history lines are insane. I used to be more active on the forum and this was a issue 10+ years ago and it still happens all the time. In general AI roster management is odd at times. Quality players being waived for no reason is a commonly seen occurrence.
2. First base fielding. The ability to play 1B in the game is directly tied to how good a infielder you are. In other words if you're a good 3B, SS, 2B you are always a good 1B if you play the position enough. Seems that (like OF) 1B should not be tied to the infield ability (why is arm a major factor for a 1B?) I know the game doesn't know names in replays, but you'll often see high rating SSs (especially) like O'Neill Cruz and Ely De la Cruz mysteriously listed as an elite level 1B a few years into a 2024 sim because...high level INF = awesome 1B in the game.
3. The name sets. This is a grip[e for a small minority of players, I'm sure, but if you want to make a foreign league...or add foreign (non-traditionally baseball countries) into a sim you'll see, for example, German and Russian names which are horrific and emersion-killing. I tweaked the files in the past, but they changed it in OOTP25 and didn't bother to figure out how to modify them. Yeah...look at the Russian and German names--laughable. Also, the trends of names for Caribbean nations should be modernized...Cuba and Venezuela especially should be more nation-specific. And the stock Latin name set seems to be stuck in the past and are fine for the 1960s to 1990s era. You play a modern sim and a few years of AI-generated players shows "old" Latin first names all coming back without the variety and flavor of modern trends in Latin first names.
The first base thing is so annoying especially when you get like 10 years in literally every infielder from today plays first because their overall is boosted by 5-10
How did you get the old stadiums in the game?? Thanks for any help you could offer
After all these years without a 3d engine. I do not even notice that it is in the game. For me it is an unneeded feature. Same with the cards. The settings menus could use some cleaning up however. And yes, I have been playing the game since the beginning.
You don't speak for others.
I agree completely on the messy menus. I too spend way too much time clicking menus that do not show me what I want and often find what I want is in the first place I assumed it would never be....
Isn't this the first year that was produced since Com2Us took over the company? I mean I would think it will get better, but it will probably take some time to revamp the game, if they are inclined to do that.
I think this is actually the 3rd release under Com2Us, but the team of developers is exactly the same, the original owner still oversees it. I think (oddly) they are committed to the same, rushed 'add a couple' features model of AAA sports games. It probably has something to do with the cash cow that is Perfect Team. I don't say this as any huge critique, but they still don't seem to have the resources to make other sorts of business choices.
It's the fourth release under Com2Us and it's exactly as I suspected. Same thing happened to Football Manager when Sega bought out SI: Milk the monopolized market with minimal changes every year.
What I hate about the highlights is it will skip runs scored in a game. 3 runs scored between highlights. Every run scored should be a highlight.
I agree with you, ootp 25 is an excellent game, but it could be better
The problem with things like enhanced 3-D graphics and animation is once you go there your game will constantly be judge by how well it looks. Not saying I don't want the graphics and I would like see more simple things like era specific graphics, catcher gear not modern for every era, or all batter wearing batting helmets. For me the biggest fail by OTTP is that although it has real lineups the day to day roster are random unlike other games in the hobby. OOTP still does a lot, and is close to a great game but still in the very good level for me.
Thanks for the video. I agree with most of the items. Thanks for taking it easy on the quality of the historic stadiums. 😂
Fun video. OOTP is frustrating, except that it's just better than everything else (in my opinion, as that weirdly needs to be said). I think it's victim of being tied to it's foundations and having to work out from there. If the team were larger, or they had a different schedule, I imagine they'd play with the idea of rewriting some of it, but by god the wars that exist over small changes every year. They always seem to tweak something wrong for the first 2 months. Baseball cards just got turned off by default, which I take as surrender. I see why people like some of the other games if all they care about is single replays (you've talked about that divide), but it's ambitions allow so much more, for so many more people. I thank them for that.
I definitely agree on the 3-D stuff. Missing cut off men, calling guys out at 2nd when they are clearly safe, cut off man gets the ball (for once) and runs back into the outfield! etc...
I keep asking myself if there's a better baseball sim game out there. Last year I was disillusioned with the whole baseball sim gaming. So I need ALL the teams included. And a way to set up my specific league. My 2nd best choice is Digital Diamond, but for whatever reason, that game bores the hell out of me. I don't know...
OOTP made a huge mistake by removing leagues and claiming it was for legal reasons. Also, the excuse I saw on their forums for the issue of players being out when they're clearly safe is that the animations don't reflect the logic and that we should just disregard the animations. LMAO
The game has WAY to many options........I want to play as-is replays showing the stats from that year and the stats of the replay, that is all......
The game may work for some, but I'm not much impressed. The hidden game engine with all the subjective background general manager and owner modes makes me a bit concerned on how it gets the results. Never liked games with to many letter ratings and etc., with no real probability notation, but this is more of a subjective categorical game. Yes, all baseball sims have some forms of subjectivity, fielding for example, but remains to have a lot of objective background support. I see OOTP being subjective moreso than objective with harder data support.
It could be argued that one thing holding OOTP back is the community itself. It's a super hardcore, underground micro-community of baseball junkies who prioritize realism over enjoyment. They give praise to OOTP in areas that haven't been tweaked, improved, or implemented in years, either because they don't perceive it to be an issue, or it's not relevant to their experience. They applaud the game for being "realistic" -- ironic considering how unrealistic much of the game behaves -- overlooking the point that it's a game, and games are supposed to be fun first, and realistic second. OOTP's biggest flaw, at its core, is that it's designed to make the player "think", but it won't do anything to make the player "feel", and that's a problem -- to me at least.
I could go on for paragraphs about what does or doesn't work, but I'll stick to a few things. Firstly, the 3D In-Game experience, regardless of how much you spend time on it, should be one of the biggest selling points of the game. Tragically, it is not aesthetically pleasing at all. In fact, it's hideous. The animations are sloppy; The text often won't align with what's happening on the field i.e. an outfielder making a play on a ball on the warning track that is "very shallow". It also pisses me off that they changed the uniform template before last season. The devs really ought to consider contracting out to some artists who specialize in 3D modeling. You can find them relatively cheap on the market and it wouldn't take much to improve what we have now. Doesn't have to look "realistic" either; just make the art nice to look at. The sound design in-game is also absolute shit, with music (that sucks) and SFX coming in at random, and nonsensical points, and with varied amplification.
Franchise mode is also pretty bare-bones and the financial model is overly simplified. One ticket price for the whole ballpark, and I can't even negotiate a local TV contract? What about promotions and giveaways? Sponsors? What about rivalries and teams with large fanbases coming to town? I should see all of these things reflected in attendance on a game-by-game basis, in a way that's meaningful to me, the player - the way it was in MVP 2005. And, on top of wins and losses, I should be graded on the "Fan Experience" at my stadium - you know, all of the things a real-life GM would have to worry about. There's none of that in OOTP, which is a game designed to put you in a virtual front office.
Also, who is in my broadcast booth? You mean to tell me OOTP can't find a way to feature. or perhaps even just honor legends like Vin Scully or Bob Uecker? Jon Miller or Tom Hamilton? (DOWN GOES ANDERSON!) I should see someone's face and name next to the play-by-play text instead of just a png microphone. I should be able to sign on-air talent and receive an email telling me that my ratings are expected to increase by 8% or something along those lines.
Perhaps my biggest issue with OOTP is that you the player, whether as a GM or Manager (or both) never do anything to actually interact with the players on your roster, or have any sort of relationship with them the way you would with NPCs in a typical RPG. For example, If morale is shit, there's nothing you can do to reach out to a guy to see what specifically YOU can do to help HIM. And no one will ever email you with suggestions on improving the clubhouse, complete with options on how to do that. No one will offer any insight into what's going on in the players' lives outside the ballpark. The only time you ever hear from a player is to tell you he A.) wants a contract extension, or B.) requests a trade. There are practically no human-like qualities to players in the game; They really are treated like spreadsheets. The priority of OOTP seems to be too much on the database itself, and not on what you can do with the players in that database, like you touched on.
Sorry for the long comment. I've just spent a ton of time with this game over the years and its flaws stick out to me...
I agree with you 100%.
Regarding the lack of player interaction - in my mind, that's what really makes Football Manager stand out. Football Manager is an RPG when you get down to it; it's only got a sports theme as a sort of wrapper. OOTP feels too much like a sports sim.
@@baseballreplayjournal That's a good way to put it: It's quite literally a sim with no arcade qualities, and they seem to design the game for players who don't have a proprietary database to run simulations over and over in computer programs, like real-life front offices. Basically so you can feel like a programmer without being a programmer.
If you are buying OOTP for the 3D, you are buying the wrong game, maybe MLB the Show is more up your alley..
I strongly disagree with this. OOTP's 3D mode is one of the chief features that differentiates it from other baseball sims.
You stick to your text mode, and let others express their own desires for the game. I'm getting tired of the elitism ongst OOTP veterans who poo poo anything graphical.