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Fandoth
01-10-2011, 08:40 AM
First off, my gaming experience includes Baseball Mogul (2005 & 2011), Football Mogul (2008 & 2011), Fast Break College Basketball (The newer one), and oddly enough--World of Warcraft. Fact is, I am an experienced gamer. I would like to take a moment to critique certain aspects of this game, Football Mogul 2011.

To start, this game improves vastly upon Football Mogul 2008. The new ability to set offensive play styles (%'s run/pass) is awesome, but I remain unaware of any massive effect it may have (besides negative)...

Other forum member have been correct when they say you should simulate ALL of your games. Playing the games will result in drastically skewed statistics and results. This does not bother me, because I prefer to simulate the games. Furthermore, the ability to design your own playbooks will still result in be able to guide rushes/receptions towards certain players (For example, i made a playbook that utilized 2 HB's and 1 FB, and also made a few more passing plays with RB's as primary recievers). Point is, the Computer AI will utilize your plays in the playbook--at least this seems so (except I have not seen the computer use my Wildcat play).

The AI is AWESOME. By this, I mean that the game felt more realistic. I had to alter injuries slightly, and making money seemed a little too difficult (this could have been my laziness showing through), but overall-based on statistics, **** seemed pretty accurate/realistic.Furthermore, I did a few different fantasy drafts, and ran leagues 20+ years in the future, and overall the difficulty level of Mogul seemed VERY ACCURATE and realistic. The exception to this is that i slightly modified the injury severity/frequency (10-20% less) and increased revenue (+10% more). Overall, winning the Super Bowl was very difficult, and this I feel, is accurate. The histories of teams looked very accurate. Teams went through down years, slumps etc. However, I never saw a small dynasty form at all, except for my own teams and a few computer teams that were consistent playoff teams (Never saw a two/three peat though).

My biggest complaint is echoed by other posts. Why on god's green earth is there never a decent player in the Free Agent pool?? The computer teams resign EVERYONE it seems?? I do not understand it, and dwelling on the subject would only make me dislike the game. The game is very fun, and very good, but this needs to be fixed. As years go on, the free agent list becomes dominated by kickers and punters and **** players no team would sign. There needs to be a small supply of 65-75's I believe, and of course your pricey, but older, more experienced veterans (68-80's). Use caution if you decide to remedy this (and I pray you do, this is a MAJOR flaw in the game). I stress caution because I can speak plainly by saying that once the season begins, the available free agents should be priced so that I can't use a **** ton of (64 ovrl/72 peak)'s as trade fodder to build up cash and/or draft picks. I believe the lack of a realistic and accurate free agent pool is easily the biggest and most alarming flaw within this game, and would be immensely improved if corrected. Furthermore, I believe that this problem is related to the problem that Teams never seem to release any players (I did a 30 year career, and watched players consistently start and end their careers with the same teams.) This part of the game is extremely inaccurate/unrealistic, specially in regards to retro-games.

There must be some kind of bug or I am just unlucky. by this I mean that I have drafted some first round studs, then after the draft is over they become duds (stats literally change). If this is just my dumb luck and stats always change post-draft then I apologize, but if this is a bug, it might be good to give it a fix.

Interceptions do seem slightly skewed, but nothing that drastic. Fumbles seem about right. As well as Tackles, sacks, etc.

I like that Kickers, and all positions had chances to make the Hall of Fame. I did not notice EVERY position, but I did see a Kicker and a few other positions make the hall of fame--positions that I never saw make the hall of fame in FM2008. Furthermore, because statistics seem more accurate, and are based on your playbook, it is increasingly possible to try and "guide" players into the Hall of Fame (Arrelious Benn~! Woot~!) by designing plays with a certain reciever/rusher as the primary recipient. This might be able to be further enhanced by the ability to set the focus of the offensive style (% run vs. % pass).

I would like to know exactly how the computer AI reacts based on these settings. Currently, I still have not found any major strategy, and have remained a "Balanced" team. Occasionally I passed on on teams with ****-poor pass defenses.


Do I enjoy this game? ---yes.

Do I feel I recieved my money's worth? --- If these issues are acknowledged by the developers, and at least an attempt to correct these issues is made, then YES. However, if the boards remain silent or these issues are not diagnosed, then I suggest giving all FM2011 owners a generous discount on the next Baseball/Football mogul product that is realeased. I say this because, despite my joy of the game, there are many aspects of the game that make me wonder why it was released so quickly. The way this game was released with so many flaws, leads me to question my thoughts about this company.

Let me be very clear though. Sportsmogul has produced a VERY GOOD game series in Baseball Mogul. I hope that with wide forum/fan support, that that series continues to thrive (if not grow larger/better).

Football Mogul seems like it just needs to be altered slightly, but the game AI seems to be very accurate/realistic, and the ability to customize settings helps A LOT to try and run accurate/realistic simulations, fantasy leagues.


I would please like some feedback based on what I have said from the developers AND users. That would be greatly appreciated. I hope that my comments and input are taken with the knowledge that I love this company, wish it luck, and only want their products to do well, and company to grow.

It is my belief that if the forums become more alive, then issues/bugs/etc. in this game could be fixed/worked out/ acknowledged for future game modifications. Good forum communities in games like these will only improve and increase the Sportsmogul games (which is what we, as gamers, desire).


?My basic Football Mogul wishlist?

Pro Bowl game recap/box score and/or rosters
MVP and position award voting
Fixes to acknowledged bugs and issues
Continued improvement of AI (with caution not to **** it up~!)
Better interface (why cant we borrow from the strengths of baseball mogul?)
Increased customization of anything and everything
Fix the NFL Career/season/game records, many are incomplete-2008 was decently thorough and accurate i thought)
communicate with customers/improved forum community for FOOTBALL




Thank you,


Daniel A.K.A. Fandoth

LaStarza61
01-11-2011, 01:49 AM
Thanks for the nice write-up. However, your wish for the forums to "become more alive" will never happen as long as the game's developer continues to completely ignore it himself.

Fandoth
01-11-2011, 05:15 AM
I agree.

I really wish I would have noticed this before purchasing. Really a downer considering the following and development that has been put into the Baseball Mogul Series. I dont know what to think. Many of the suggestions/issues seem like they would only require one major patch, that is what is truly mind-boggling.

The game was discounted compared to normal, but I did not know I was purchasing a game with so many obvious flaws. Such a tragedy for such a fun game.

LaStarza61
01-12-2011, 03:08 AM
I agree.

I really wish I would have noticed this before purchasing. Really a downer considering the following and development that has been put into the Baseball Mogul Series. I dont know what to think. Many of the suggestions/issues seem like they would only require one major patch, that is what is truly mind-boggling.

The game was discounted compared to normal, but I did not know I was purchasing a game with so many obvious flaws. Such a tragedy for such a fun game.

Exactly! I sometimes wonder if Clay realizes the potential of this game if he would only support it. Really the only other thing out there of this genre for professional football is Front Office Football. I know that several of the posts I've made in this forum probably come across as negative, but it's only because I want so badly for Football Mogul to be great. Otherwise I would have abandoned this forum all together a long time ago.

kellys11
01-12-2011, 07:37 PM
Clay makes all his money on Baseball mogul, Football mogal is a pass time activity for them, They won't put in extra money or time....same thing happened to baseball mogul on-line (which was based upon BM2007 and is by far way better than BM!!! but it didn't make the money so they didn't grow it now it's sold to a company who hasn't put much extra effort in either....at least it's free....and is still pretty fun!!!)

Fandoth
01-16-2011, 07:18 PM
Also, There is a new competitor in the Football department. Out of loyalty to this company I do not wish to give a different company a plug (I am still fully in love with Baseball Mogul). I do not expect a patch-fix for Football Mogul 2011 on any of the critical issues that have been addressed. However, at the very least, I hope the issues are tackled before another release is sold.

In the meantime, I started a Fantasy series starting in 2002 (when league first looked how it does today). I applied a few league settings to try and balance some of the game issues involving revenue, injuries, etc. All players were fictional. MY storyline? In 2002, the NFL inducted two Canadian teams, a team from Hawaii, and a team from Las Vegas. Since free agency and transactions are screwed up like "whoa", my story is that contract agreements were structured so that players, more often than not, remain on one or two teams their entire career if they are a 75+ (which appears to be the norm, barring a few exceptions each season). Still, even doing all of this I was extremely limited. I was only able to add one extra team to the playoffs, and I was unable to increase the game schedule to 18 games.

Once again, for those STILL PLAYING, I fully encourage you always have a custom playbook for your team (offense at least). This will ensure your star players are utilized. For example, I love using three runningbacks. So I designed my own run plays that utilize various formations, setups and RB's. This can give a young RB a chance to gain playing team behind "Adrian Peterson". You can also make your best TE/WR/RB your primary recieve rin more of your pass plays to ensure more yardage.

I have yet to try it, but have read that using a decent blocking, but good running RB, in the place of a FB can also increase offensive output. I do not know if this is true. However, in theory, this seems like a good idea. However, I tend to find some pretty dominant and skilled FB's. /shrug

I think I enjoy running these weird fantasy sims, but it is disappointing that my game has been reduced to this because of lack of development and support.

Keep in touch guys.

Regardless of the problems. Future problems and game support can't improve without a dominant & loyal fan following. Hence why BM2011 continues to improve, and there is a wide variety of mods available, etc.


Has this company thought about joining forces with another competitor company out there? This would increase resources, revenues, fans, etc. /shrug


just some more thoughts....



Danny aka Fandoth

(Duh~! I played WoW)

kellys11
01-19-2011, 01:27 AM
Any hints about whats new????