With football season upon us, got the itch to get back to football games...since there isn't a new serious football career games on the horizon (unless FOF8 makes an appearance), I am going back to my season replay games, which I know is not everyone's favorite type of game. Just like earlier this year when I tried Strat Baseball, I am getting the itch to try Strat Football since it will be released this week, tried it about 5 or 6 years ago and was reasonable. Although in season replay games, I find myself playing ActionPC Football and Second and Ten Football more.
Just curious if anybody out there is a regular player of Strat Football and especially over the last 5 or 6 years would like to know if any major improvements worth getting.
And yes I know people will respond wanting a career game or a front page football clone, but there are room for these types of games too:)
My brother just bought it and is awaiting the release. I'll let you know his thoughts once he has it in hand and has given it some playings.
This thread made me go reload Second And Ten.
Well played, sir. Well played. O0
Quote from: GJK on August 16, 2016, 10:01:12 PM
My brother just bought it and is awaiting the release. I'll let you know his thoughts once he has it in hand and has given it some playings.
Thanks...the game is still delayed, but they hope to release sometime this week.
My question is though, in any of these games - do you do much more than just picking a play and reading the scrolling text to see the outcome while playing an actual game?
Quote from: GJK on August 17, 2016, 06:45:24 AM
My question is though, in any of these games - do you do much more than just picking a play and reading the scrolling text to see the outcome while playing an actual game?
That's pretty much it on these "season replay" types. No trading in flesh over multiple seasons as a career GM. :-\
But Grim had this same complaint in his OP. Not enough career type football games out there, and the ones that occasionally get done.. aren't quite done.
I end up playing a game or two in SAT. Then switch over to actual long-term campaigning in OOTP, Football Manager, or (now) Eastside Hockey Manager. American Football is the only major sport that doesn't have a decent Career sim, so we complain about it every year in the hopes someone will actually finish one, or update their ancient core games to something new & full-featured.
I still go back to Front Office Football...... still the only multi-season option. >:(
PE
Quote from: Nefaro on August 17, 2016, 07:31:49 AM
Quote from: GJK on August 17, 2016, 06:45:24 AM
My question is though, in any of these games - do you do much more than just picking a play and reading the scrolling text to see the outcome while playing an actual game?
That's pretty much it on these "season replay" types. No trading in flesh over multiple seasons as a career GM. :-\
But Grim had this same complaint in his OP. Not enough career type football games out there, and the ones that occasionally get done.. aren't quite done.
I end up playing a game or two in SAT. Then switch over to actual long-term campaigning in OOTP, Football Manager, or (now) Eastside Hockey Manager. American Football is the only major sport that doesn't have a decent Career sim, so we complain about it every year in the hopes someone will actually finish one, or update their ancient core games to something new & full-featured.
I don't know, I think that is a bit of over simplification for season replay games. Yes, it does not have any features like career games (i.e. trading, multi year, finances, progression, etc.) have, but these type of games can't be compared......season replay games focus on the individual game management and typically are much stronger in that category that career games. Usually in these games, you have good options to call the plays and impact the games, some more than others. So if your into coaching, these games are actually better in that regards, at least today. Season replay also have pretty strong support for draft leagues and cater to people who love to see their stats.
I completely understand some people don't like season replay games and that's fine, but they are pretty solid for people who enjoy that part of a sports game.
And by the way, Strat Football did release today:)
I was a fan of Statis-Pro Football back when it was a thing. I'm not sure if they ever made a computer version of that. I played in a league at the local hobby store when I was jr. high & high school, and we carried teams over season to season. We'd have a draft for new players a couple weeks after the new card set would come out. I remember having an awesome draft one season that would've turned into a great team in a year or two, and then I traded most of it away in a huge trade that landed me Vinny Testaverde a couple weeks before he went color blind. Tim Brown blew out his knee not long after as well. It was my greatest and worst gaming moments happening in the span of about a week.
Yes, they have computer version of it.
My brother's initial report was very favorable. If he puts it down for long enough, I'll see if I can get some more of his "likes" and "dislikes" about it. I'm still curious to see if it's more than just picking the right play to call at the right time and getting a good dice result or not. He did say that it has a built in league management system so that's a big plus. We also enjoy playing Blood Bowl (my vassal module via pbem) and while it's definitely not NFL football, it's cool to actually play out the actual "plays". It'd be cool to have something like that for pro-football but it would just take forever to play a full game (remember SPI's old mag game "Scrimmage"?).
Quote from: GJK on August 19, 2016, 05:22:50 PM
I'm still curious to see if it's more than just picking the right play to call at the right time and getting a good dice result or not.
Not sure what you mean....the game does allow a full season replay which entails playing out the entire season...while your doing that, you setup team strategy, make roster changes, have injuries, decide lineups, depth charts, etc...during an actual game, you do choose your offensive/defensive play, but there is more than just the play itself....you choose formation type, play call, primary target, and alignment of your players. The game results are largely based on the "player cards" which have each player rated for various things....basically the game's secret sauce in what makes it good in the eyes of the fans.
If your looking for career play type features, then this is not that game....has no trading, multiple years, progression, training camps, etc.
If you were playing with others you could add that on as we did with Statis-Pro football. I imagine Stratomatic sells card sets separately for seasons right? IIRC they used to for baseball at least.
So new set of cards come out, people get the updated cards for their players and then hold a draft for players that are available.
Don't mind me, I keep thinking about the boardgame, not the computer game.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on August 19, 2016, 05:40:42 PM
Quote from: GJK on August 19, 2016, 05:22:50 PM
I'm still curious to see if it's more than just picking the right play to call at the right time and getting a good dice result or not.
Not sure what you mean....the game does allow a full season replay which entails playing out the entire season...while your doing that, you setup team strategy, make roster changes, have injuries, decide lineups, depth charts, etc...during an actual game, you do choose your offensive/defensive play, but there is more than just the play itself....you choose formation type, play call, primary target, and alignment of your players. The game results are largely based on the "player cards" which have each player rated for various things....basically the game's secret sauce in what makes it good in the eyes of the fans.
If your looking for career play type features, then this is not that game....has no trading, multiple years, progression, training camps, etc.
Me? No, I don't care for career play type features. You keep bringing that up as if though you feel that you need to defend this game because it doesn't have that. :)
Good to know that you have some decisions to make during a game. I'm used to NFL Strategy and Pizza Box Football (yes, lightweight games for sure) that present nothing more than "pick a play and roll the dice, get your outcome". Good that there's different personalities and their skills on the teams. So I gather that if you have a star running back, you can gear your play calling decisions towards getting him more touches than you might normally see a HB get. Question on the play selection though - can you make adjustments or is the formation dependent upon the play called? You mentioned being able to change formations and alignments- how does that work in the game?
Quote from: GJK on August 19, 2016, 06:09:56 PM
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on August 19, 2016, 05:40:42 PM
Quote from: GJK on August 19, 2016, 05:22:50 PM
I'm still curious to see if it's more than just picking the right play to call at the right time and getting a good dice result or not.
Not sure what you mean....the game does allow a full season replay which entails playing out the entire season...while your doing that, you setup team strategy, make roster changes, have injuries, decide lineups, depth charts, etc...during an actual game, you do choose your offensive/defensive play, but there is more than just the play itself....you choose formation type, play call, primary target, and alignment of your players. The game results are largely based on the "player cards" which have each player rated for various things....basically the game's secret sauce in what makes it good in the eyes of the fans.
If your looking for career play type features, then this is not that game....has no trading, multiple years, progression, training camps, etc.
Me? No, I don't care for career play type features. You keep bringing that up as if though you feel that you need to defend this game because it doesn't have that. :)
Good to know that you have some decisions to make during a game. I'm used to NFL Strategy and Pizza Box Football (yes, lightweight games for sure) that present nothing more than "pick a play and roll the dice, get your outcome". Good that there's different personalities and their skills on the teams. So I gather that if you have a star running back, you can gear your play calling decisions towards getting him more touches than you might normally see a HB get. Question on the play selection though - can you make adjustments or is the formation dependent upon the play called? You mentioned being able to change formations and alignments- how does that work in the game?
A lot of people who mention the game missing features is usually referring to the fact it doesn't have career-like features so wasn't real sure what you meant by if there was anything more than picking plays...most times when season replay games are discussed, the discussion turns into it lacking career management so I was thinking you were meaning that, but good to know that you have an open mind to season replay as well:)
The player and team ratings dictate how players should be used and what type of offensive and defensive you should call. If you have a strong RB and a good offensive line, then yes you will see the benefit of a good running game. If you have good receivers and a good QB, you'll be able to have a good passing attack. So absolutely you can play to the strength and weaknesses of each team.
General a sequence for a defensive play goes something like.....
1) Make any substitutions you want (optional)
2) Choose the defensive formation (3-4, 4-4, dime, etc.)
3) Choose a general strategy....key on the run, pass, blitz, etc.
4) You can also key on certain players (a specific RB if you think they'll get the ball)
5) You can move your defensive backfield around to overload a certain zone if you want (i.e. you think a pass going to certain side of field, move a safety up for a running play, etc.)
ActionPC football even provides greater depth of making play choices, sometimes overwhelming you with the options if your not used to it.
Quote from: vyshka on August 19, 2016, 05:53:33 PM
If you were playing with others you could add that on as we did with Statis-Pro football. I imagine Stratomatic sells card sets separately for seasons right? IIRC they used to for baseball at least.
So new set of cards come out, people get the updated cards for their players and then hold a draft for players that are available.
Don't mind me, I keep thinking about the boardgame, not the computer game.
Strat's products are actually along the same lines, whether board or PC game...they have both. You can get updated cards for your board game and with the PC game you buy seasons which are basically just electronic cards.
Cool - thanks for the info. This is actually sounding quite intriguing...I might look at picking up a copy myself. My brother has it as you know and with me and you - who knows, maybe we could get a little league going with any others that pick it up here.
I still haven't picked this version up yet, but likely will over the weekend....we'll see. I also got Madden (early access) and I have to say so far looking very good.
I wish the guys that used to be at Dynamix would get together and do a kickstarter for a Front Page Sports reboot.
Ended up buying this weekend...so far so good....had a great game, although Pitt lost to those Patriots! I was actually winning until they drove down the field in the closing moments of the game.
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi974.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fae230%2FSlyBelle%2FMisc%2Fst1.jpg&hash=873c0837946fa64e189b3cfdc075987ce09dd095)
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Quote from: vyshka on August 19, 2016, 07:31:34 PM
I wish the guys that used to be at Dynamix would get together and do a kickstarter for a Front Page Sports reboot.
It would get my money in an instant. O0
Quote from: Capn Darwin on August 20, 2016, 09:49:04 PM
Quote from: vyshka on August 19, 2016, 07:31:34 PM
I wish the guys that used to be at Dynamix would get together and do a kickstarter for a Front Page Sports reboot.
It would get my money in an instant. O0
It would have been great if they kept up with the series, no telling how evolved it could have been, assuming EA didn't out them out of business just like all other sports titles:)
I also wonder how it would have stood up in the test of time....sure, was a great game back in the 90's, limited competition and PC sport game excitement on the rise, just like there was great wargames from SSI and such. Could it have matched the presentation of Madden, while sill delivering a good simulation? In the end, there just is not enough of us strategy/sim people on the PC who play football games like this....otherwise we would see a lot of competition in this space but we don't and likely will ever....our biggest hope might be the football game OOTP is looking to put out, but I am starting to lose faith that will ever happen with the replacement developer who took over for the original developer who has health issues.
I know this will be met with boos, but the latest Madden this year is pretty impressive after playing early access for a few days. Will some warts likely show up, probably...but seems to be the best version yet where the actual gameplay is pretty solid, stats seem reasonable, commentary is outstanding (will be updated throughout the year with fresh content). Now of course that is on a console and no doubt I really wish they would release on a PC...but gotta take what you can get:)