OOTP 2006 Impressions ...

[dbdynsty25]

Yeah...got it. Just trying to figure out how to load it up. I'll take a look at the guide. Appreciate it Bill.

[James_E]

Geesh. I am totally overwhelmed by this thing. Going to read through some of the manual and game guide and fiddle around with the interface for a bit starting as the Jays in 1991 (using Lahman) I'll wait until the community gets some updated roster sets etc. out, see whats available and then I'll dive in.

[Dave]

Darn, the Mac version isn't out for another week.

I'm expected to be completely overwhelmed by the game but hopefully I can grasp enough of it to get by.

[Diablo25]

I'm gonna be getting the game later on today or tomorrow. I finally will have some time to devote to gaming (school year is over...woohoo). I hope it impresses.

[Leebo33]

In OOTP 2006, you also get the entire world of baseball -- this is where the folks at SI come in. OOTP is now officially the Championship Manager of baseball. Want to play as the GM of a AA team? You can. Just dont be pissed when your clean up hitter is called up. How about a team in Japan? The Dominican Republic? Even Cuba.

That sounds so cool. Can you sign a contract with a A/AA team and eventually work your way up to the majors if you do well? Do you get job offers from other teams?

[Bill_Abner]

In OOTP 2006, you also get the entire world of baseball -- this is where the folks at SI come in. OOTP is now officially the Championship Manager of baseball. Want to play as the GM of a AA team? You can. Just dont be pissed when your clean up hitter is called up. How about a team in Japan? The Dominican Republic? Even Cuba.

That sounds so cool. Can you sign a contract with a A/AA team and eventually work your way up to the majors if you do well? Do you get job offers from other teams?

Not sure, Leebo. I know there is an "Available Job" listing and you CAN get fired (I did my first year..heh)

[MizzouRah]

blah.. I'm sticking with ootp 6.51a and Puresim 2007. I hate the SI games interface and from what I've read ootp is no different now.

No biggie to me, because I love ootp 6.51a and Puresim handles my historical needs.

OOTP 2006 still has waiver issues, no trading blocks, no shop a player, UI is supposedly too hard to navigate and the list goes on. I really hope Markus improves the game via patches, but until then I'll pass.

I do miss the trade block. I think the interface is much more flexible than anything Markus ever did by himself. How does the list go on, though? I've only had the game for a day and a half and I haven't delved too deep but I already see numerous new features and tweaks that were not in OOTP 1-6 from the way salary is handled, new coaching and scouting to offering draft pick compensation for signings.

Granted, if you despise the interface of CM then OOTP isn't for you. No doubt. I personally think it's very efficient but GUIs are a matter of preference.

I hate the interface of EHM.

There are some new things as I've read, but mainly issues that have been ongoing for several versions now are still in the "new code". I guess I'm just frustrated as I've always anticipated a new OOTP release.

I'll keep preaching though, even with some issues, 6.5 has given me lots of fun and playing time.

I'm also not happy a 6.5 league will not transfer the histories over.. that basically means I would have to start over. Oh well, life goes on. I'll continue to read comments.

[Danimal]

Does this version have the ability to play someone online? Which was promised in 6 and to my knowledge never delivered.

[JRod]

The think with the CM interface is the ability to modify it. I don't know if that's included but they have done some really great things with CM skins.

I just could never get into OOTP for whatever reason. Because of all the simming, I always felt disconnected from the baseball world. If you played a ton of games you would never experience the franchise mode of the game.


Bill and others, how you play/sim. Do you sim a week and make changes and month or by season.

[sportdan30]

I miss the days of Microleague Baseball.

[Bill_Abner]

The think with the CM interface is the ability to modify it. I don't know if that's included but they have done some really great things with CM skins.

I just could never get into OOTP for whatever reason. Because of all the simming, I always felt disconnected from the baseball world. If you played a ton of games you would never experience the franchise mode of the game.


Bill and others, how you play/sim. Do you sim a week and make changes and month or by season.

The ability to set filters, bookmarks, etc. makes this GUI vastly superior to the old one IMO. The interface for OOTP 6 was fair at best, I just got so used to it that it became second nature.

I generally play the game online so I'm extremely familiar with my league so disconnect isn't an issue, with me anyway.I rarely manage each game, though.

(No idea about head to head dan)

[Bill_Abner]

I miss the days of Microleague Baseball.

I miss the graphic representation of the game, no doubt. I loved how in Microleague you saw the game unfold, even if the graphics were rather Spartan. The visual connection made a huge difference and I'm waiting for a baseball game to do that again.

[dbdynsty25]

I miss the days of Microleague Baseball.

I miss the graphic representation of the game, no doubt. I loved how in Microleague you saw the game unfold, even if the graphics were rather Spartan. The visual connection made a huge difference and I'm waiting for a baseball game to do that again.

Mogul does it...kinda. LOL...the generic pitcher and batter is GREAT! Yeah right. I'd rather have the nicer OOTP interface than the graphics crap that is BM.

[sportdan30]

Bill,

I threw the line about Microleague Baseball out in hopes someone would point me in the direction of a sim baseball game that compares similarly to it. Without being able to see the game play out on the field leads me to believe I wouldn't have any interest in today's text based sims.

I sure wish MS would resurrect the Microleague Baseball series and bring it to the PC and Mac. Heck, a watered down sim of Microleague Baseball on the 360 might be enjoyable to some.

[MizzouRah]

I miss the days of Microleague Baseball.

I miss the graphic representation of the game, no doubt. I loved how in Microleague you saw the game unfold, even if the graphics were rather Spartan. The visual connection made a huge difference and I'm waiting for a baseball game to do that again.

Mogul does it...kinda. LOL...the generic pitcher and batter is GREAT! Yeah right. I'd rather have the nicer OOTP interface than the graphics crap that is BM.

How dare you mention BM in a baseball game thread.

[MizzouRah]

Bill,

Didn't you import a league into 2006? If so, doesn't it suck that all of your league's history is now gone?

[Bill_Abner]

Bill,

Didn't you import a league into 2006? If so, doesn't it suck that all of your league's history is now gone?

All of it isnt gone. I still have:

Career batting/pitching leaders
AL/NL League and single season and single game leaders
Hall of Fame inductees
Every retired player stat from 2002 to 2022
Every AL/NL MVP, Gold Glove and Cy Young winner

The only thing that I can see off hand that is missing is the World Series winners and individual team record histories, which sucks, but I do have a good bit of league history still there and I still have OOTP 6.5's history so I can easily add that to a league webpage and keep it updated as needed.

[Brando70]

For anyone who hasn't played OOTP before, do you think the game will be overwhelming? The only text sim I've played previously was Front Office Football, which I loved. I'm certainly willing to deal with a learning curve, but I don't want to have to read 300 pages of instructions just to learn how to run the Cubs into the ground

[dbdynsty25]

For anyone who hasn't played OOTP before, do you think the game will be overwhelming? The only text sim I've played previously was Front Office Football, which I loved. I'm certainly willing to deal with a learning curve, but I don't want to have to read 300 pages of instructions just to learn how to run the Cubs into the ground

I haven't played it before. It's certainly large in scope...but it's fairly easy to pick up. I don't think you'd have a problem running the cubs into the ground without reading the 300 page manual. I've only used the manuals a few times for specific things...I did screw up a couple leagues starting them before I knew what was going on, so that is one thing you should read about before doing.

[Bill_Abner]

For anyone who hasn't played OOTP before, do you think the game will be overwhelming? The only text sim I've played previously was Front Office Football, which I loved. I'm certainly willing to deal with a learning curve, but I don't want to have to read 300 pages of instructions just to learn how to run the Cubs into the ground

No, no. I'd say it could potentially be too much too quick if you're sports gaming experience was strictly big budget sports games like Madden. If you were able to navigate through FoF you'll be fine.

[davet010]

I'm gonna have to go through the step by step bit I think, certainly before I play with any of the sharks on here....

"yeah Dave that's right, the higher the ERA, the better the pitcher - I'll let you have him for that Pujols guy and a 1st rounder"

[MizzouRah]

Bill,

Didn't you import a league into 2006? If so, doesn't it suck that all of your league's history is now gone?

All of it isnt gone. I still have:

Career batting/pitching leaders
AL/NL League and single season and single game leaders
Hall of Fame inductees
Every retired player stat from 2002 to 2022
Every AL/NL MVP, Gold Glove and Cy Young winner

The only thing that I can see off hand that is missing is the World Series winners and individual team record histories, which sucks, but I do have a good bit of league history still there and I still have OOTP 6.5's history so I can easily add that to a league webpage and keep it updated as needed.

Thanks for the information, as I was a tad unclear what transferred over and what didn't.

I assume when you click on one of your players in the almanac all of his career stats are gone?

..and quit messing around with ootp when you could be telling us how EA's Head Coach is.

[Bill_Abner]

Bill,

Didn't you import a league into 2006? If so, doesn't it suck that all of your league's history is now gone?

All of it isnt gone. I still have:

Career batting/pitching leaders
AL/NL League and single season and single game leaders
Hall of Fame inductees
Every retired player stat from 2002 to 2022
Every AL/NL MVP, Gold Glove and Cy Young winner

The only thing that I can see off hand that is missing is the World Series winners and individual team record histories, which sucks, but I do have a good bit of league history still there and I still have OOTP 6.5's history so I can easily add that to a league webpage and keep it updated as needed.

Thanks for the information, as I was a tad unclear what transferred over and what didn't.

I assume when you click on one of your players in the almanac all of his career stats are gone?

..and quit messing around with ootp when you could be telling us how EA's Head Coach is.

Nope. Career stats are there in full. I dont have post season stats but every stat for every player in the history of the league is there from what I can see.

I cant get the damn NFL game to work. It says I need DirectX 9.0c, which I have. *grumble betas grumble*

[MizzouRah]

All of it isnt gone. I still have:

Career batting/pitching leaders
AL/NL League and single season and single game leaders
Hall of Fame inductees
Every retired player stat from 2002 to 2022
Every AL/NL MVP, Gold Glove and Cy Young winner

The only thing that I can see off hand that is missing is the World Series winners and individual team record histories, which sucks, but I do have a good bit of league history still there and I still have OOTP 6.5's history so I can easily add that to a league webpage and keep it updated as needed.

Thanks for the information, as I was a tad unclear what transferred over and what didn't.

I assume when you click on one of your players in the almanac all of his career stats are gone?

..and quit messing around with ootp when you could be telling us how EA's Head Coach is.

Nope. Career stats are there in full. I dont have post season stats but every stat for every player in the history of the league is there from what I can see.

I cant get the damn NFL game to work. It says I need DirectX 9.0c, which I have. *grumble betas grumble*

So when you look at a player's history via the almanac, it shows all his career stats? Maybe I mis-read what transfers over from an import?

Sucks about NFL Head Coach, hopefully you'll find a workaround.

[jcalvert]

Not trying to pimp - rarely if ever do that these days. Chris has been posting some good stuff about the new game on our blog that some of you may find interesting reading.