Alright boyz here we go again! (TPF download/first impressions thread)

[The_herd]

Roster set for TPF is up at .400.

http://www.400softwarestudios.com/in...howtopic=47168

[General Mike]

Originally posted by Easy Mac
Unlike Buccaneer, I'm just waiting for a demo. I don't feel like buying a game and returning it (sorry FOF2001/2? and TDCB). Give me a 3 day demo to work through it for a few seasons and I think I can get a more accurate picture of whether I'll like it instead of having to listen to the fanboys tell me nothing and the flamers tell me nothing about the game.

Totally Agree. I played the demo of TPBasketball and I liked it, but was waiting for the 1.3 patch to come out because there were a few things I thought it was missing. Now I'm really into the game, and the demo was really helpful.

[Glengoyne]

You know I don't have TPF. I am going to though. Just as soon as it fits in my budget...err...I can slip it into the allowance my wife gives me. I, for one, couldn't care less about the absence of two point conversions and fake kicks. I am hoping this game brings something to the table that FoF just doesn't quite provide for me. That something is immersion. The way the Draft has been described makes these missing elements seem nearly trivial. The (limited?) AI player movement and trade restricitons seem to be more of a problem than two point conversions. I mean how long was professional football played without two point conversions? I can also see that the AI required to implement draft day trades and trading in general is difficult enough to merit it's own patch or possibly even release.

The stats produced are decent, especially in my mind for a first generation engine. The immersion elements seem to be there as well. I think TPF brings a lot to the table, and I certainly don't think it deserves the bashing I have seen here. Mainly because most of the bashing I have seen seems to be people blowing things completely out of proportion.

Anyway, I might feel different in a week or two when I download it, but for now put me in the "I don't give a rats ass about two point conversions" category.

[pjstp20]

Lots of things need work before this game becomes decent. PbP is really choppy. You arent informed of the end of the quarter half, or the two minute warning. Right when the game ends youre taken out of the simulation screen and back to the weekly game screen, before you have a chance to see what happened. You cant simulate a select amount of games, they all must be simmed at the same time. Ball isnt always placed where the PbP says it is.

And the worse. Im down a TD late in the fourth, my opponent goes for a field goal, I block it but theyre offsides and my coach accepts the penalty. They rekick, its good, and the game is out of reach, especially without onside kicks. Who ever was in charge of testing the PbP must have been asleep while they were doing it. This game has been a huge dissapointment so far. Its all style over substance. I like all the graphics but right now the game engine and AI needs at least two more patches before it even resembles realisim. Too bad we have to pick between graphics and accuracy, its the 21st century, why cant we have both?

[NOISE]

Has anyone downloaded/viewed the new mods for TPF (by Mister Bogart, see http://www.400softwarestudios.com/invboard/upload/index.php?showtopic=47305)?

There's a Monday Night Football mod, ESPN College Draft mod, and a Pro Football Hall of Fame mod. Along with the upcoming patch, I might make the plunge to buy. The ability to mod the game is a positivie, the ability to play the game without frustration (or so I've read) is a bigger negative. That's what is holding off my purchase for the time being, especially with no demo.

[MizzouRah]

Originally posted by NOISE
Has anyone downloaded/viewed the new mods for TPF (by Mister Bogart, see http://www.400softwarestudios.com/in...howtopic=47305)?

There's a Monday Night Football mod, ESPN College Draft mod, and a Pro Football Hall of Fame mod. Along with the upcoming patch, I might make the plunge to buy. The ability to mod the game is a positivie, the ability to play the game without frustration (or so I've read) is a bigger negative. That's what is holding off my purchase for the time being, especially with no demo.

Even with neato mods, the College draft one looks good, I have doubts this game will make it to a hard drive near me anytime soon, in fact maybe TPF2 might be better to wait for.

Just reading the forums over there makes me think there are more problems than expected, not to mention the real rosters and the game engine aren't getting along as far as believeable stats go.


Todd

[Cuckoo]

Wasn't there supposed to be a patch out last week? Hey, I'm all for the expansion of the text sim market, but it just seems like they can't do anything when they say they're going to, and the fact that they leave everyone in the dark about it makes it worse in my opinion.

[pjstp20]

Yeah, I'm starting to get pissed about the lack of news on this patch. They said they would give us an ETA in a couple of days a week ago, and there has been absolutly no news since.

[Buccaneer]

Originally posted by pjstp20
Yeah, I'm starting to get pissed about the lack of news on this patch. They said they would give us an ETA in a couple of days a week ago, and there has been absolutly no news since.

What part of 'it will be ready when it's ready' didn't you understand or would you rather have them repeat their mistakes on releasing when the agitated crowd screams loud enough?

[pjstp20]

Ummmmmmmmm. I didnt see anyone say 'it will be ready when its ready'. Plus I didnt say I wanted them to release the patch, I just wanted them to follow up up what they said they would do and give an ETA, or any news, in a couple of days. That was a week ago.

[ScottVib]

The patch is in beta. This has been posted in a couple of threads in the forums. (Admittedly there has been no headline announcing this) The release date is highly fluid as it is hoped the patch will fix the majority of the remaining issues.

[pjstp20]

Thank you ScottVib thats all I wanted to hear.

[Dutch]

If people don't notice the programming flaws (RTE's and game flow) and the frustration level is reduced to the normal 400 crowd haters, I will purchase the game.

But as long as there are too many people bitching about the game, I'm not touching it.

Let's hope for some good news post v1.2 patch!

[Eaglesfan27]

I'm also hoping for good news post 1.2 patch.

[kingfc22]

Originally posted by Eaglesfan27
I'm also hoping for good news post 1.2 patch.

Me too, I haven't touched the game for more than a week.

[DeftRevisited]

My impressions of TPF after a week of playing:

The game appears to be coded in completely separate packages.
The draft, which appears to be the best part of the game, has a list of team needs, and player types (West Coast RB, Mobile QB, Possession WR,etc...). Neither of these extremely useful evaluators are included in any other part of the game.

Other aspects of the game seem to be at an Alpha testing stage, like the gameplanning which is very buggy and none of the custom features work, in-game coaching has gaps as mentioned before and the graphics for showing depth charts are only available for offense and not defense.

Regardless of these omissions I find the game enjoyable because I play the game for its believable fictional qualities not its raw statistical or technical accuracy compared to the NFL. The challenge for TPF and 400SS faces is the text based sim market is maturing with several multi-generation games already available. So obviously they face a long uphill battle compete on even ground. Unfortunately, if they aren't supported or if they are chased out of the marketplace because of poor initial performances, the successful games become stagnant. I think we all remember the fate of FBPro. That's why I'm keeping my TPF.

[The_herd]

Originally posted by DeftRevisited

The game appears to be coded in completely separate packages.
The draft, which appears to be the best part of the game, has a list of team needs, and player types (West Coast RB, Mobile QB, Possession WR,etc...). Neither of these extremely useful evaluators are included in any other part of the game.

Skydog officially has a colossal ego now.

[DeftRevisited]

Originally posted by The_herd
Skydog officially has a colossal ego now.

I know he was the beta tester for this but its really the most interesting part of the game and I also think he has the same macroscopic approach as I .
How could you have team needs be in the draft and not include them on the trade screen?
Or why would you only have screens in the depth chart and the
trade screen that are sortable by # and that's the only place?

I guess much of this will get worked out but I think these differences show weaknesses in the beta testing method of parsing out specific areas of the game.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by The_herd
Skydog officially has a colossal ego now.

As I said before, I didn't write one line of code, just made a few suggestions to help improve what was already a solid module.


OK, maybe it was a little more than a few, but they get the point....

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by DeftRevisited
I guess much of this will get worked out but I think these differences show weaknesses in the beta testing method of parsing out specific areas of the game.

Yeah, I thought about that. I don't know if you know it, but I was the first person that I know of to publicly suggest this method to .400 (back in the TDCB days). My reasoning came out of my experience as a player (not tester) of OOTP, and as a tester for Puresim. No matter how much you say, "test the whole game," people are going to gravitate towards the areas that interest them. My concern with OOTP was that it felt like it was a game that was tested by guys who were playing out every game, checking play-by-play AI and results, etc., and who weren't looking at big-picture stats at all--things like all those batters with 20 walks, 150 K's, and .350 averages. .400's games are admirable in that they tend to try to "do it all." The problem as I perceived it was that they weren't fully "testing it all." Combine people gravitating toward interest levels with the speed of new releases that I saw in testing PureSim (for the last 2-3 weeks before release we were getting a new beta build every 24-36 hours), and you can see how things could get missed if all bases aren't covered--if I know that I only have 24-36 hours to look at this build, and I'm a volunteer tester with a full-time job and a wife, I'm going to look at what I consider "important" during that limited time.

Get a beta team with all PBPers on it, and they might give GM functions a few glances, but they'll excuse things that a GM-style player would find utterly unacceptable. Similarly, I'll fully admit that if I were forced to look at PBP in beta testing, I'd pass over some stuff that others would find a complete deal-breaker. So, the suggestion was made in an attempt at more "balanced" testing.

[DeftRevisited]

I think it was a good idea because I got what I wanted. But I think there also should be a master beta tester (final checker) who's job it is to check game and interface continuity, fun factor, and what's missing that fell through the cracks.

[Ben E Lou]

Beta Patch 1.2 released

[akw4572]

Originally Posted by SkyDog

Beta Patch 1.2 released

and four pages of bugs already reported in the tech support forum......... when they say "beta", I guess they reall mean it.