I just read Bill Harris’ lengthy discussion about OOTPB 2006. He makes some good points, but comparing OOTPB 2006 in its first (well, not even first yet since it doesn’t quite work) iteration to Football Manager really isn’t a fair comparison. FM has been around a long, long time. It is one of the longest developed text sims in the history of text sims. Heck Eastside Hockey Manager isn’t nearly as good as Football Manager for the same reasons, if we’re keeping score.
Even with that longevity, Football Manager only recently added its 2D match engine. Eastside Hockey Manager doesn’t have this fully functional yet.
Look, there are plenty of people out there like my brother who like Budweiser and Coors Light. It’s their beer, they swear by it, and don’t want to taste anything else. In fact, anything else actually tastes bad or “bitter” to them. Others, like myself, would rather drink water than ever again be forced to drink a Budweiser or Coors Light. The beer we drink is an acquired taste. There will always be folks like me that prefer a nice porter in a tulip glass and there will be people perfectly happy drinking Coors from a “cold sealed” can.
Out of the Park Baseball 2006 is the first badly tasting batch of what could be a fine porter. It doesn’t aspire to be an easy drinking Budweiser. Lots of people out there want it watered down or brewed as something else, but that’s not happening. It is what it is.
But yea, a walkthrough would be nice for the game…
I think a lot of it is to do with the nature of the sports.
FM – I’m 5 hours into a new career with Genoa and am halfway through the season.
EHM – Similar time and number of games with Colorado, except I am now only 20% of the way through the regular season.
OOTP – not started a proper franchise yet, but this will take me longer as I am not by any means as knowledgeable about the sport.
So, I’m left with the choice of simming some games (which I dislike, because I make constant adjustments in FM) or a season lasting about as long as the real thing.
The other issue for me concerns the structure of the sports
On the last day of the FM season, at least 10 of the 18 teams will be in contention for something, be it promotion or relegation. With any luck I’ll be up to Serie B.
Now because there is no promotion and relegation, a mediocre or poor season results in being out of contention halfway through the season, but no risk of anything other than the sack.
Or is it just me ?
Certainly, knowledge of the sport helps. But the three games are at different levels as far as rerfinement goes. So even if you’re a baseball expert, it’s actually easier to play FM if you know a little bit about soccer, something that Bill Harris does a good job describing.
Chris
I agree, but I also wonder whether I’d have the same issues even if the other 2 games were at the same level of polishedness (?!) as FM – because of the issues about the structure of the leagues that they represent.
Anyway, enough of this – time to get Il Grifoni back to the big time of Serie B
I’m not so sure. Baseball league structures with multiple levels of minor leagues, winter leagues, foreign leagues, US high schools, and US colleges actually looks quite a bit like soccer. The methods of transaction are different, but the global scope of the game is very similar. Some nations contribute more to the Major Leagues than others, but the multiple feeder systems are similar. So I am not so sure that there is a huge difference in global structure except maybe in terms of size since soccer is a very world wide sport and baseball may be more of a regional sport.
Chris, I’m thinking that the difference, at least for me, is the movement between parts of the same structure. If I’m managing, say, Kansas City and I’m 39-70, then what am I playing for during the rest of the season ? If, however, I could actually be relegated to AAA, then that does put a whole new level of energy into it.
So, what I’m saying overall is that from my perspective, management games for hockey and baseball (and to a lesser extent the NFL, though the season is much shorter) suffer from the start because, IMHO, the real-life seasons are too long and the penalty for failure isn’t severe enough. The number of leagues in both sports isn’t the problem – the lack of movement between them is. Wouldn’t it be good if you could take the Toledo Mud Hens or whatever into MLB, by finishing as AAA champions or whatever ? The franchise system precludes that, of course.
Interestign point. I think if you’re KC, you are developing youngsters at the Major League level (see the real life Florida Marlins), trying to shore up you financial base, and focusing on finding good minor league talent for your famr system. You are trying to start the pipeline that will flesh out your contending major league team five or six years in the future. The joy (or pain in some cases) you get is in the player development reports from the various levels of yoru organization. The joy that I get from a baseball management game is developing that pipeline and figuring out ways to stay in contention even when I am not drafting very high in the amateur draft.