Really good foundation, but frustrating UI and game design mar what could be incredible
I want to love this game, especially with the Orconomics/OOTP vibe this D&D has. I like the stadium upgrades and offseason dungeon runs. But unfortunately, there's a frustrating amount of game design oddities or inefficiencies.
1. It is so easy to go over budget, which then softlocks you from playing the next season. You're limited in the amount of players you can drop, and there's no way to raise funds in the offseason (except for dungeon raids, which cost gold). There should be a way to get a loan or play with some kind of penalty for the next season.
2. There's no way to see player stats when you're setting lineups, just their overall rating. You have to pop back two screens to see their specific stats.
3. Manually playing a game is literally just pushing a Roll d20 button. You can't do any substitutions or any kind of decisions, so there's no point to "managing" the game. I'd like to see something like the TTRPG Deadball for active play, with roll penalties/bonuses for pitcher stamina/morale, or specialty players that can bunt or steal well.
4. You can't manually offer extensions, the players request them. However, it's hard to see the budget for the year (I might've just missed it) and you can't play easily make deals that put you over budget and softlock you.
5. Scouting and drafting is a bit of a crapshoot. You can manually spend to increase scouting accuracy, but there's no real baseline for top prospects. I think a better use of the scouting tower upgrade might be getting better value from later rounds.
6. There's no way to have your relief pitchers become starters or closers and vice versa. There's also no way to have your position players play out of position with a penalty.
I've lost this review about three times, so when I say I reeeeeeally want this game to do well, I genuinely mean it. I know balancing UI and UX while playing a baseball simulation on a phone is not an easy task, so while my rating is currently three stars, I'm rooting super hard for this developer!
1. It is so easy to go over budget, which then softlocks you from playing the next season. You're limited in the amount of players you can drop, and there's no way to raise funds in the offseason (except for dungeon raids, which cost gold). There should be a way to get a loan or play with some kind of penalty for the next season.
2. There's no way to see player stats when you're setting lineups, just their overall rating. You have to pop back two screens to see their specific stats.
3. Manually playing a game is literally just pushing a Roll d20 button. You can't do any substitutions or any kind of decisions, so there's no point to "managing" the game. I'd like to see something like the TTRPG Deadball for active play, with roll penalties/bonuses for pitcher stamina/morale, or specialty players that can bunt or steal well.
4. You can't manually offer extensions, the players request them. However, it's hard to see the budget for the year (I might've just missed it) and you can't play easily make deals that put you over budget and softlock you.
5. Scouting and drafting is a bit of a crapshoot. You can manually spend to increase scouting accuracy, but there's no real baseline for top prospects. I think a better use of the scouting tower upgrade might be getting better value from later rounds.
6. There's no way to have your relief pitchers become starters or closers and vice versa. There's also no way to have your position players play out of position with a penalty.
I've lost this review about three times, so when I say I reeeeeeally want this game to do well, I genuinely mean it. I know balancing UI and UX while playing a baseball simulation on a phone is not an easy task, so while my rating is currently three stars, I'm rooting super hard for this developer!
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Hits where it really counts
Great game, incredibly simple and intuitive and enjoyable. Tons of replayability and hours of content. It mixes D&D fantasy with baseball to create a Franchise fantasy squad. I don’t know jack about Baseball and still played it for hours. The stats, the characters, the items. Drafting, trading, tracking records. It’s just it. This hits the spot ‘spreadsheet’ gamers talk about.
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