galaril
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Some review points from Bill Abner (Shaun will know who he is)
I agree with much of what he says here. It is food for thought and is fairly objective and constructive critism from his blog:
Just a few notes about PureSim after spending the morning setting up a league and playing a few games:
It's nowhere near as detailed as OOTP. However, for some I think this will be a positive rather than a negative because OOTP 2006 is information overload. (I love the detail but some may find it just too much) I still think that PureSim's newspaper coverage is the best in any sim on the market. Grade A stuff.
I cannot express just how much it adds to managing a game to see that little ball being smacked around the park. What's more dramatic? Reading text or actually seeing a ball travel near the wall and hoping it clears the fence? I'll take the simple graphics, thanks. Not to keep harping on this but once a "text" game adds little men to chase said ball around the park I'll be back in MicroLeague heaven.
This was in Puresim 2005 Gold but there are sound effects...but wow they sound bad. You get a computerized voice that announces each player as he comes to bat but it sounds like the old Wordperfect text reader. I wish that instead of that we got crowd noise and/or a batted ball sound. That voice is sure to give me nightmares.
I noticed a SAC bunt glitch in both games I played this morning. If a failed SAC bunt takes place, the defense turns a double play. I dunno if the game sees a failed bunt as a batter swinging away or what but it doesn't make a whole lotta sense.
In PureSim, unlike OOTP 2006, you can decide if a player tags up, tries to throw out a runner, etc. I love this. OOTP 6.5 did this but both PureSim and OOTP 6.5 don't go far enough. We simply need more information. Simply saying, "Fly ball to RF. Do you a send Smith (speed 65) home against Jones RF (Arm Strength 55.) " Well, I have no friggin' idea if a want to or not. Where is the ball, exactly? Deep RF? Shallow RF? Was Jones retreating when he made the catch or was his momentum taking him toward home? As a manager, I absolutely need to know this kinda thing.
Anyway, after a quick two hour tour this feels a lot like PureSim 2005 Gold but with the nifty animated ball graphics thrown in. The featurelist says a lot under the hood was retooled but as I said, I just started messing with it. Try the demo to see that ball thing I keep yapping about. It's cool.
AND
More Pure Simming
As I continue digging into PureSim I'm ready to make a few more blanket observations:
I enjoy managing the individual games in PS more than I do OOTP and the reason is mainly cosmetic. I like the PS sound effects and animated ball. I also love the fact that when you set the game speed to Very Fast you can zip through a game in 10-15 minutes. OOTP's new forced pitch by pitch mode is uneccessary and drags out games for those that want a true 1-pitch game.
That said, I wish PureSim showed more player info on-screen during a game, stuff like defensive range and arm stregnth should be on the screen at all times (for players in the field).
Just like OOTP, there are things that happen on the field that make no sense, and the obtuse play by play doesn't provide any answers. How does a CF with a weak arm throw out a fast runner tagging up to score on a "deep" fly ball? I guess he slipped. The PbP in all of these text games really need to be as detailed as humanly possible and I think both games fail here. We either need simple real time graphics or better text.
The base simulation engine in PureSim reflects MLB a bit more accurately than OOTP -- at least with fictional leagues. I ran a few test sims based on fantasy drafts and the general statistics looked surprisingly good. A sprinkling of starters with sub 3.00 ERAs, 40 to 50 hitters with .300+ averages, team stats, when compared to real baseball, all looked very beliveable. Sometimes OOTP can suffer a bit here. I know you have all of the modifier tools to tweak it but I like that the base PS stats loked this good. Granted, I dunno how well it holds up after, say, 10 years. (If you want to do your own tests for this stuff I'd check out Baseball Reference to get an idea.)
PureSim has built-in Lahman support. Fire it up and play with the 1975 Reds as easy as pie.
The CPU-CPU trade AI in PS is not QUITE as weird as OOTP but there are still trades that will make you look sideways. Now, the cut-player gaffe is not in PS so guys don't do the sign and cut thing, but some of the trades I think are odd at best. If anyone tells you that PureSim's trade AI is vastly better than OOTP -- they are lying. It's just that the cut player bug in OOTP makes a huge dent in that game.
OOTP has a HUGE advantage in terms of interface. Take or leave the new OOTP look, and I know a lot of you are still getting used to it, but OOTP presents information, particularly player stats, MUCH better than PS. There are a lot of pop up windows and expandable screens in PS and even then, OOTP tracks more stats.
In PS you do get some cool tools, though, like ratings and stats graphs and the Bill James "toy." I still want SOMEONE to include WIN SHARES. Damn it.
There are no scouts or coaches in PS.
One of the biggest beefs in past editions of PS is sim speed. Well, it's still not "fast" unless you do an "Unattended Sim" but that turns over control of all human teams to the CPU, doesn't track game logs, etc. If you do a regular sim, this is still a fairly slow sim game. Faster than before, but slower than OOTP and MUCH slower than Baseball Mogul which still has, by far, the fastest sim engine on the planet. Clay, please redo that game's interface. Please. Mogul has so many cool features but the aging interface is killing that game, man.
There is no front office worries in PS -- no ticket prices, etc. The only money stuff you deal with is player contracts.
PS is also not nearly as deep as OOTP in terms of league and world scope. I still contend that OOTP has more potential if SI can fix its AI issues. But I am having a lot of fun with PureSim and if SI fumbles the patching process I'll have no problem playing it long-term
PureSim Weirdness
As I stated in my earlier post, I like PureSim 2007. The series continues to grow and is clearly headed in the right direction. That said...
I am simming the 2007 season to check long term stats in PureSim, and because of this I turn my team over to the CPU. I notice some interesting stuff as the season comes to a close.
In 2006 I played a 24 year old LFer who I drafted mainly for his future potential. He carried a 50 contact and a 76 power and in 2006 hit .275 and blasted 40 homers for the big league club. A GREAT year -- and at 24 -- wow this guy could turn into a real hammer. Well, his ratings took a slight dip in the off season and he started the 2007 season with a 48 contact and 74 power. I have no issue with this at all. All players shouldn't get better, but I do find it odd that his potential rating was a 70, which is very good. Still, I'm cool with it. The problem? The CPU put him in AAA and there he sat the entire year. This is a guy who at 24 years old hit 40 home runs and the following year he can't make the roster? And his ratings only took a slight hit. Just like OOTP, PureSim's GM AI is not looking at stats at all, and I think that's a mistake. It just doesn't make a lick of sense to me.
Also, I noticed that my starting CF was no longer on the roster. In 2006 before I auto simmed I had a platoon in CF -- two players with very similar attributes but I was playing the L/R splits and each platooned based on who was pitching. It worked well in 2006.
In 2007 CF Barry Nowlin was gone. Now, Nowlin is 28 years old and carries a 70 contact and a 98 eye and an 81 speed. He's a good CF with great plate discipline who can run his ass off. In 2006 he hit .281 with an OBP of .398. What does the new CPU GM do? It cuts him, of course. Doesn't trade him (which would make sense if it didn't want to do the platoon thing) but it outright cuts him. He's then picked up by another team, signed to a one-year deal and starts about 90 games.
Now, if this were OOTP people would be screaming from the rafters. To me, this is equally as messed up as what OOTP does. To outright cut this guy is completely bonkers.
http://sportsgamer.blogspot.com/
< Message edited by galaril -- 6/20/2006 3:19:27 AM >
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