So...OOTP 15 - Anyone in?

[KyzBP]

You guys are killing me.  I told my wife I was buying this and she pointed out that I recently bought FM14, Draft Day Sports: College Basketball 3, and Banished.  I tried to explain that this is a Baseball game and is totally different from the above mentioned games AND I hadn't bought a new OOTP since 12.  Sadly it looks like I'll be playing 12 for a while longer.  :'(

First mistake, telling the wife....just do:)

That's how I got the first three games.   ;D

I'm saving the "I'm ill" for something really special.

[DennisS]

Injuries are always my Achilles Heel. 

I swear once one of my best players gets on a hot streak, he ends up with a serious injury and sits out the rest of the season.  >:(

Since I have OOTP14, I'll just play that one for awhile longer.  When 15 goes on sale, I may bite.  I don't expect there to be a big difference between the two versions this year since I nearly always sim the games.  If they ever get it fancied up enough, I'd play them out more often.

You have control over the level of injuries. Personally, I buy games to have fun, and having Adam Wainwright get a CEI (career ending injury) is not fun. I normally dial the injuries waaaay down.

[Nefaro]

Injuries are always my Achilles Heel. 

I swear once one of my best players gets on a hot streak, he ends up with a serious injury and sits out the rest of the season.  >:(

Since I have OOTP14, I'll just play that one for awhile longer.  When 15 goes on sale, I may bite.  I don't expect there to be a big difference between the two versions this year since I nearly always sim the games.  If they ever get it fancied up enough, I'd play them out more often.

You have control over the level of injuries. Personally, I buy games to have fun, and having Adam Wainwright get a CEI (career ending injury) is not fun. I normally dial the injuries waaaay down.

They do seem to happen rather frequently for baseball.  It's not an uncommon problem with some of these sports sims.  I've debated lowering the injury rates in OOTP but I think there are only three or four levels so it has to be lowered in large chunks. 

With FOF, I tend to lower it from 100 to 80 in order to reduce the frequency of the big unjuries, which gets out of hand.  Got sick of seeing someone breaking/hyperextending an arm or leg every game or two.  I know that some people really enjoy juggling injured players on & off the roster after every game but I try to keep them from getting out of hand.  OOTP may not be quite so out of whack (IMO) but it's still too much at default.  I'm just worried that lowering it a notch may overshoot my ideal spot.

[Grim.Reaper]

Some day I will have to show more self control and not review bug threads for new games...just can't help myself:)  Looks like there are 7-pages of posts already listed in the bug thread for OOTP15...issues ranging from things that were already known issues from OOTP14, slowness/lags, incorrect data, scouting reports wrong, system crashes and a variety of other things.  Not sure if they are game stopping (likely not), but does look like some cleanup needed.

I'll probably just mess around for now and get use to the new version, but will wait to get serious until a few patches released....they are already talking about a patch for Monday.

[Cougar_DK]

Patch 1 details:

Hey guys,

we have been very busy going through reported problems and have fixed most of them already. Here is the current changelist for patch #1, which we will release on Monday:

- Fixed missing OSA scouting reports when starting a Standard Game from the main screen (this resulted in messed up top prospects list as well)
- The minimum screen resolution before the game automatically switches to fullscreen mode was reduced to 680 (from 700). Please keep in mind that OOTP 15 was designed for a minimum vertical window reolution of 768 pixels, so for users with screen resolutions of 768 vertical pixels or less and a fixed taksbar (dock on a Mac) we suggest to set your taskbar to auto-hide or run the game in fullscreen mode, otherwise some game screens will have missing info.
- Fixed problems with low overall ratings (stars) when using the new relative rating system
- The game now attempts to automatically import ballpark export data files when creating a new game. These files have to be named properly, i.e. "Fenway Park.prk" and located in the "\ballparks" folder inside the OOTP 15 data folder (i.e. \My Documents\ Out of the Park Developments\OOTP Baseball 15\".
- Fixed visibility of some league setting options, i.e. the position player fatigue and the option to set a fee for players purchased (for independent leagues, league setup financial tab)
- Added the option to unretire uniform numbers
- You can now manually change facial hair for players/coaches/managers even if facial hair is disabled for team or saved game
- Added button to Add-Ons dialog to remove files from the Add-Ons downloads folder
- Fixed various other reported bugs & some rare crashes
- Fixed various issues with the default roster sets

If you are experiencing random crashes (which usually happens because of some sort of system conflict - make sure you update your graphics card driver), please file a support ticket here: OOTP Developments - Kayako eSupport Help Desk Software

Unfortunately, we made a mistake with the minimum system requirements of the Mac. If you run Mac OSX 10.5.8 or earlier, you will not get OOTP 15 to work. You need at least Mac OSX 10.6. Please file a support ticket and ask for a refund if this concerns you.

Alright, apart from these issues, this release was brilliant and people really love the game. We are very proud!

Cheers,
Markus

[Grim.Reaper]

That's a decent list of updates for the first patch....so two ways people will look at that.

1)  Great Service!  - Unbelievable that they already have a patch ready to go on Monday!

OR

2)  How could those items be missed in all the testing and be noticed within the first day of playing the game?

There is quite a bit of reporting of other issues and roster items not specifically listed, but that is pretty typical every year.  I guess to be fair, Friday's release was only to the pre order customers and the official release is not until Monday anyway so the patched version is what most customers will see as a starting point.

[sandman2575]

Have to say I've gone back to OOTP14 for the time being.  I don't regret buying 15 at all, but it is definitely going to be some time before everything gets ironed out.  Plus, I prefer 14's overall aesthetic -- 15 is a little too "iOS" for my liking. 

Hate to miss out on the new features, but I'd rather play a great, polished game (ootp14) than one that's still kind of a work in progress.

[Grim.Reaper]

Have to say I've gone back to OOTP14 for the time being.  I don't regret buying 15 at all, but it is definitely going to be some time before everything gets ironed out.  Plus, I prefer 14's overall aesthetic -- 15 is a little too "iOS" for my liking. 

Hate to miss out on the new features, but I'd rather play a great, polished game (ootp14) than one that's still kind of a work in progress.

This is why I kick myself each year for not waiting until the all-star break when it is usually half price and a bunch of patches have already been released....I always get sucked up into the pre order hype....I vow not to do that next year especially since the pre order discount seems smaller nowadays (just $5)  :)  Let's see if I hold to that promise next year.

[JudgeDredd]

The good money is on no.

You're worse than I am - and I've got a reputation!  ;D

[Nefaro]

I may actually pick up Baseball Mogul 2015 sometime in the next couple months.  Depending on whether all the issues from last years' edition has been addressed.  From reports I've read on the forum, some of the big ones were. 

My only reason to hold back is knowing that last year's was left needing those updates so I don't want to buy one that will be caught in the same position, despite their offering a big discount to those who purchased the previous one.

While OOTP is the king for it's thoroughness, I still think the Baseball Mogul series has it's advantages in ease & quickness of play.  Some of the OOTP interface tends to drive me nuts like when having to change a bunch of tabs on every player for specific contract, personality, improvement info, etc along with the huge amounts of different Team & League screens.  I can move seasons along much quicker in BM so that's a plus.  As long as the sim engine and AI is passable.

[Grim.Reaper]

The good money is on no.

You're worse than I am - and I've got a reputation!  ;D

Yep...I wouldn't even bet on myself:)  I have improved this year from previous years so baby steps....

[Grim.Reaper]

Interesting, released on steam which is good so people have choices....but......already on sale for basically the same price as a pre-order customer???????  Sure, pre-orders received an extra $1 off, but hardly seems worth pre-ordering any more...although people did get a few days early.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/272670/

[Nefaro]

The UI looks a bit different in this version, but I'm not really sure if they improved it's ease of use much in the videos I've seen. 

Seems like you must still click forward and back even on one specific subject constantly.  The 'Back' hotkey has been a huge click-saver in past editions and it still looks like that will be getting a steady workout if I pick this up.

[JudgeDredd]

The UI looks a bit different in this version, but I'm not really sure if they improved it's ease of use much in the videos I've seen. 

Seems like you must still click forward and back even on one specific subject constantly.  The 'Back' hotkey has been a huge click-saver in past editions and it still looks like that will be getting a steady workout if I pick this up.

I was just going to add "Thank god for the back button" - it has helped me try to get back where I was (my lack of understanding of the interface and lack of familiarity - not the game's fault)

[Nefaro]

The UI looks a bit different in this version, but I'm not really sure if they improved it's ease of use much in the videos I've seen. 

Seems like you must still click forward and back even on one specific subject constantly.  The 'Back' hotkey has been a huge click-saver in past editions and it still looks like that will be getting a steady workout if I pick this up.

I was just going to add "Thank god for the back button" - it has helped me try to get back where I was (my lack of understanding of the interface and lack of familiarity - not the game's fault)

Navigating their interface is my biggest complaint.  Too many clicks to get to stuff.  Definitely gotta use the hotkey for going back, at the least.  Their hockey game doesn't even have hotkeys, nor the Rt-click to exit player info window last I checked, and that's why I've not bothered with it even though it has much less windows & tabs to 'dig down' into.

To their credit, they DO have customizable 'favorites' pages which you can bind to the function hotkeys.  However, as with many of the others, you'll have to dig down further once you get there and constantly use the Back button/key.  I'm sure this can't be avoided to some extent due to the sheer amount of information to display but I think some of it could be organized a bit more efficiently to cut down on the Forward-Back-Forward-Forward-Back.  This new interface only looks different - not really any better.