OOTP 8 vs. OOTP 6.5

[RyDogg66]

Hello OOTP (Out of The Park) Baseball fans. I havent played in a few years but was thinking about jumping back into it. I have 6.5 and I was wondering if I should just keep playing that and start a new league with it or if OOTP 8 is worth getting. I mostly import the real rosters and run it that way. If anyone has any suggestions lets here them.

[JonnyLungs]

OOTP 9 should be out sometime soon and it will ship with real rosters.

[RyDogg66]

Any word on when it ships?

[TooLiveBrew]

I think sbrylski could weigh in on this one. I've only known 6.5 (& love it)

[sbrylski]

Thanks for the intro, Connor.

 

Last I heard they just said "ships spring of 2008." Spring is running out, so its gotta be soon.

 

And I haven't forgotten about the All-Brewers League idea, Rydogg. Its still in my back pocket as a potential project.

[And That]

OOTP 8 is miles ahead of the crapfest known as OOTP 7. If you were offered a free download of OOTP 7, it wouldn't be worth your time just to delete it as soon as you got it.

 

To me, OOTP 8 is more or less on par with OOTP 6.5, though it kind of depends where you're coming from. If you've been playing since at least 6.5 (I've had the game since OOTP 2, woot) you're more than likely going to prefer 6.5 to 8. But if your first OOTP was 7 or 8, it might be weird to go back to the old-school feel of 6.5. The functionality and depth of 8 is superior to 6.5, but IMO 6.5 provides the better and "funner" game play. It's sort of like Super Mario 3 vs. Super Mario 1 that way.

 

I checked a few weeks ago and OOTP 9 is being delayed until late May because they cut ties with Sega/SI and had to rebuild the program with 2 guys. I got a pre-sale offer in my email a little bit ago, so it can't be too far away.

[RyDogg66]

Thanks for the intro, Connor.

 

Last I heard they just said "ships spring of 2008." Spring is running out, so its gotta be soon.

 

And I haven't forgotten about the All-Brewers League idea, Rydogg. Its still in my back pocket as a potential project.

1. The All Milwaukee (Brewers/Braves) roster set would be awesome.

2. Also, you mentioned something about that All Time Brewers vs. All Time Yankees post 1970 9 game series sim a while back, anything further with that?

[sbrylski]

Thanks for the intro, Connor.

 

Last I heard they just said "ships spring of 2008." Spring is running out, so its gotta be soon.

 

And I haven't forgotten about the All-Brewers League idea, Rydogg. Its still in my back pocket as a potential project.

1. The All Milwaukee (Brewers/Braves) roster set would be awesome.

2. Also, you mentioned something about that All Time Brewers vs. All Time Yankees post 1970 9 game series sim a while back, anything further with that?

2.) Whoops. The problem was the normalized database wasn't working. I started to upload the guys based on the raw numbers, but forgot to go back to it. I probably won't have time until next week, but I'll still do that for you if you want it.

[RyDogg66]

I think it would be cool to do a 9 game series, but Im not the one that would be putting together the sim. Id be interested in what happened/storylines of the games etc. that is for sure.

[fstorm1]

One of the two leagues I'm in is just about to finish our first year with 8, and although I was very skeptical about the switch from 6.5, I can say it's not bad at all. I think Toby hit it on the head with his analysis. The league that I'm in that still uses 6.5 feels really "old school", or maybe just "old". I like 6.5 alot, but 8 was and is a nice upgrade.

 

And yes, 7 was a ginormous turd. That was one of the reasons for my skepticism.

[Diskono]

I haven't played OOTP since 6 either. Not sure if anyone plays Football Manger, but the current OOTP screenshots look quite a bit of like that. If so, are the games similar now?

[TooLiveBrew]

Just got an email from OOTP Developments:

 

"We are pleased to announce that OOTP 9 will be released on June 18th! As in years past, OOTP 9 will run on both PC and Mac platforms, and will sell at a list price of US $39.99 for customers outside of Europe, and €39.99 in Europe.

 

...

 

"Remember, the pre-order period lasts through 11:59 pm on June 17th, GMT-5 (Eastern), so use this opportunity to save $15 by pre-ordering OOTP 9 right now for a price of US $24.99 or €24.99! If you need a reason to pre-order, read on!

 

...

 

"We have kept these gems under the hat thus far, but now it's time to publicly announce the addition of two great news features:

 

Simple ball animations!

 

OOTP uses Retrosheet ball locations to calculate where the ball is hit once put in play. OOTP 9 will allow you to set these exact locations in the ballpark editor so it matches the ballpark image used. Now, when playing a game in broadcast mode, you see where the ball is heading using a simple but effective ball animation! This works at all play-by-play speeds, and even if you selected the short play-by-play mode. When using instant play-by-play, the final destination of the ball is indicated properly. Now you can finally see where that 450-foot home run ended up in the stands!

 

Save & watch game replays!

 

OOTP 9 introduces a feature that is great for solo players and even better for online league participants. The game now allows you to store complete game replays either automatically (using similar setting like box scores, i.e. just human teams, human leagues etc.) or manually. These replay files include the complete play-by-play, ball locations for the animation and sound effects. The replays are shown in a screen similar to the broadcast game screen, so you can re-live all those exciting moments. Storing replays manually works as well, and allows you to share your greatest games with the community. Replay files even include the final box scores, so after watching a game that you got from a friend you can see the final numbers easily.

 

For online leagues the replays are included in the online league files, and we have added a setting to the schedule screen to hide final scores, so you could update your league file, then jump into the schedule screen and watch the simulated games without knowing the result! That's extra excitement added for people who love playing in online leagues."

[TooLiveBrew]

Below is the complete list of major new features for OOTP 9. In addition to these, there are a number of smaller improvements as well, and it would be a little too tedious to list them all!

 

General features

• Built-in 2008 Opening Day rosters
• Revised, more realistic scouting system with less micromanaging, more realistic impact on your team, and written scouting reports on each player you scout
• Past scouting reports are stored, so you can see how your players developed over time. Reports are not erased when you lose your scouting director.
• Suspensions as a result of bench-clearing brawls, along with optional drug-related suspensions
• In-game add-on installer that will allow you to download and automatically install custom add-ons from the community
• Improved personnel contracts using a system similar to player contracts
• Added a streaks section to the league stats screen
• The league standings screen now shows the leagues leaders as well if desired
• Added stats to player list filters
• More news stories
• Improved simulation speed

Customization features

• A revised playoff system, with many more customizable options
• Added the option to assign nations to teams in the league setup
• Player creation utilizes different team nationalities in a league
• Increased the secondary roster size max limit to 70
• Increased the expanded roster size max limit to 70
• Added a 'cannot be fired' option to the manager options
• Added personality ratings to customizeable player lists
• Added "turn into coach" feature for retired players

In-game features

• In-game sound and further improvements to the realism of the play-by-play engine
• Simple ball animation
• Store & watch game replays
• Recoded pitcher endurance system, resulting in much more realistic results when using relievers as starters and vice-versa
• Increased font size of PbP in higher resolutions

Financial system features

• Improved front office system with additional financial detail
• Two new revenue sharing options
• Greatly improved contract AI

Historical features

• Built-in support for Lahman historical database, including neutralized stats for better results
• Built-in ballpark database, utilized automatically when rpogressing through history
• Ability to import pre-1901 seasons
• Added the following league totals modifiers: SP Endurance, RP Endurance, WP, PB, Balks, Double Plays, Sac Flies, Sac Bunts, SB Attempts, SB Success %
• Improved the automatic adjustment of the following league totals modifiers: Hits, 2B, 3B
• Greatly improved the defensive ratings & position calculations
• Improved calculation of pitcher endurance when importing historical leagues
• Added the option to automatically retire players according to history
• Added an option for historical leagues to base actual player ratings on neutralized stats
• Added a historical option called "Base roles/positions on...", which can be either real life stats or AI evaluation. Real life is the default when using recalc, which results in even more realistic stats as players will be used like in real life.
• Added a recalc option called "Double weight of current year", which will do just that when recalc is enabled.
• Improved historical season importing speed

Features for online leagues

• Rankable draft lists
• Replays included in online league file
• Option to hide scores in the schedule screen for increased tension while watching replays
• Players now react within a maximum of 5 days when receiving and offer

Other features

• Improved artificial intelligence across the board
• Improved player development that eliminates those aggravating sudden talent "jumps" or "bumps," resulting in a vast array of realistic career arcs.
• Improved several HTML reports
• Top prospect lists are now either egnerated once a year or dynamically. Players get their ranking added to the player history.
• Ballpark images can be loaded from any folder with select file dialog now
• A customizable backup function that makes it easier than ever to ensure you are getting solid backups of the leagues that are important to you
• Universal binary for Mac users, resulting in huge performance improvement on that platform
• New skin options, giving you three to choose from. Additionally, leagues can now have their own fictional logos, and logo sizes have been increased to take more advantage of our skilled modder community!
• Added "Disliked" as a player popularity value. This will happen for example when a player gets suspended for using drugs.