Out of the Park Baseball is Cool

Read it and weep.

I’m in the middle of another World Series here, and out of the blue my star third baseman in an Evan Longoria mold ‘suffers a career ending injury’. I read my e-mail inbox and come to find out that Gabriel Martinez has decided to donate his kidney so his cousin can survive….. and he couldn’t wait until after I had completed another World Series victory.

Here are a couple quotes about the game, the one about the OOTP slapping you around a little bit definitely ringing true here.

“The great thing about sports is that you never really know what’s going to happen. Your ace pitcher could go down just before the playoffs, or a scrub you thought had no chance of making it could blossom into a star. I love this unpredictability and possibility for crushing defeats, as most entertainment today is designed to end with a happy ending. In my opinion, an experience isn’t truly rewarding unless there’s the possibility of failure.”

“I’m a huge fan of deep, complex experiences. Whether movies, books or games I always lean towards the meaty stuff that will keep you occupied for a while. OOTP is great because it scratches that itch while giving me something I can constantly tinker with.”

“The ‘unfairness’ of OOTP really is fairly unique compared with other games. Most big titles these days lead players by hand and make sure nothing bad happens. It’s refreshing to play something which slaps you around a little bit, and without sympathy tells you to get back up for more.”

“I’ve really gotten into the ‘rogue-like’ genre lately, where there’s no saving or loading and death can come at any point – you just explore, experiment and die in horrible ways. Over time you learn the ropes, and those challenges you’ve overcome just make you love the game all the more. OOTP very much has that same kind of feel.”

Now, off to win another cyber World Series and get some sleep.