EHM The Blue Line

I played a lot and still do play the EHM freeware, I played the demo of the 2007 version of the paid one and thought it was just okay. With the expansion in the NHL and no new updates to EHM (other than rosters) I am thinking about FHM but would like to see how people view it if it's worth it if it's fun and easy to use.
Thanks

Well, I can't really say much yet, because I've only done the lines and tactics of my team, I haven't even played a game yet. I've not had the mood to play, I just bought it because it was on sale and I'd been waiting for it to be on sale. But as far as tactics and lines go, I think it's a bit more user friendly than EHM. In EHM if you want to make, say, a defensive forward, you have to tick and adjust several sliders and boxes in the personal tactics section, where as in FHM all those roles are made ready for you and you can just pick one with a single mouse click. I liked that. I've always just stuck with team tactics, because I find using personal tactics in EHM demands too much micromanagement. In FHM it's more easily accessible.

That is really all I can say so far with the amount I've played the game.

to Juddy2288

to save your time just go to OOTP official twitter and find videos of a guy (one of FHM developers if I'm not mistaken) playing for Maple Leafs. all he's doing, basically, just clicking "continue". that is pretty much all you'll be doing in there.

FHM is OK for a mobile app. but as a "Sport Management game for PC" it's not good at all.

it is a lot easier than EHM in every part. trading for example: you can get almost any player you want for a pair of 3rd round picks, and offload any garbage you don't need for a 4th round pick (literally! even a dead ECHLer can bring you 5th rounder!)

tactical system is basically same as in FHM2. despite "all new!" "choose your tactical system" screen all tactics they offer is combination of TWO! parameters (zone entry: pass/dump, shoot/ pass preference for offense and checking, physicality for defense).

long story short there's a lot of stuff in that game without any real purpose. most of adjustments you do it's a guessing game because feedback is slim to none (there's no 2D engine, it's just a huge dot moving back and forth). only thing that keeps you in touch with on ice process is FHM own game rating system (and to be fair this one is probably the best I've seen in management games especially since they split offensive and defensive ratings). they tried to add advanced stats (Corsi and Fenwick) but last time I played (like 2 or 3 updates ago) it wasn't very useful.

to be honest, for me FHM3 was a massive disappointment!. I spent some time playing FHM2 last summer, so when I heard they releasing FHM3 i thought it would be a new game, i thought they will take at least one step forward. but it's basically FHM2.1 and if you press F3 you'll find old FHM2 tactical screen which actually sums it all up.

so with FHM OOTP took the same path which buried FM. they decide to come knocking on customers wallets every autumn without really making a new product. and basically use their customers as a beta testers. making slight adjustments and 5 updates between october and march and then charge another $20 come next october.

So this is a mobile app as well or are you just comparing it to a mobile app

Juddy2288 wrote:So this is a mobile app as well or are you just comparing it to a mobile app

I don't think Buho was saying either
I think Buho's saying there's videos of FHM being played, and you can find these videos on the OOTP official Twitter


For feedback on FHM there's the Steam reviews http://store.steampowered.com/app/46566 ... views_hash
There's also YouTube https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... +manager+3
and there's the actual OOTP/FHM website http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/f ... php?f=3912

Hi,

My name is Andrew K. - and I work for OOTPD. I only recently started and I saw this post and I feel like I should correct a few things that Buho said.

to save your time just go to OOTP official twitter and find videos of a guy (one of FHM developers if I'm not mistaken) playing for Maple Leafs. all he's doing, basically, just clicking "continue". that is pretty much all you'll be doing in there.

Our Community Manager Adam and the Producer, Jeff - do weekly videos. If you're only looking at the first video, that's not a fair assessment. Each video goes in to a variety of different gameplay elements. You should check out or Twitter/Facebook page or just explore our official YouTube page.

FHM is OK for a mobile app. but as a "Sport Management game for PC" it's not good at all.

it is a lot easier than EHM in every part. trading for example: you can get almost any player you want for a pair of 3rd round picks, and offload any garbage you don't need for a 4th round pick (literally! even a dead ECHLer can bring you 5th rounder!)

Different is not bad. Both EHM and FHM are different games. You can't always trade for what you want, but it is an area we are continuing to work on.

tactical system is basically same as in FHM2. despite "all new!" "choose your tactical system" screen all tactics they offer is combination of TWO! parameters (zone entry: pass/dump, shoot/ pass preference for offense and checking, physicality for defense).

Yes, you can play with those two parameters in Global Tactics, but there is a much deeper Tactics system which is completely new. You can change styles, ranging from anything from 16 different offensive types from Dump and Chase, Shero System, Cycling, Firewagon Hockey (etc), and 19 defensive tactics, including Counterattack, 1-3-1, Half-Ice Overload, Collapsing on the Net, and many more. Tactics also affect roles that players play, which can range all over the place. You want Gretzky to be in front of the net all the time, as dumb as that seems? You can set him to do that! You want Brett Hull to fire the puck at the net whenever he can, you can get him to do that too!

I started a Path to Glory as the GM of the Jets, and while managing the day to day was interesting, I didn't want to do that anymore, so I hired a coach. Your decisions do matter. The tactics are interesting, and who you hire as a coach and if you hire one makes a difference.

long story short there's a lot of stuff in that game without any real purpose. most of adjustments you do it's a guessing game because feedback is slim to none (there's no 2D engine, it's just a huge dot moving back and forth). only thing that keeps you in touch with on ice process is FHM own game rating system (and to be fair this one is probably the best I've seen in management games especially since they split offensive and defensive ratings). they tried to add advanced stats (Corsi and Fenwick) but last time I played (like 2 or 3 updates ago) it wasn't very useful.

to be honest, for me FHM3 was a massive disappointment!. I spent some time playing FHM2 last summer, so when I heard they releasing FHM3 i thought it would be a new game, i thought they will take at least one step forward. but it's basically FHM2.1 and if you press F3 you'll find old FHM2 tactical screen which actually sums it all up.

so with FHM OOTP took the same path which buried FM. they decide to come knocking on customers wallets every autumn without really making a new product. and basically use their customers as a beta testers. making slight adjustments and 5 updates between october and march and then charge another $20 come next october.

Since the release of FHM3, we've had 5 fairly large updates and we're constantly listening to our community as to what direction we are taking the product. We do extensive testing on our game, but it is impossible for us to launch a complete and perfect product. No game company does that anymore. There are always adjustments to be made. We are continuing to grow our product and testing and building new ideas all the time to create a superior product. We've said since the beginning this will be a yearly product, so that's not new. But we at FHM are committed to the product. It's why we went out and got the NHL license. We're committed to growing the product and hope you enjoy the product now and in the future.

I heartily encourage you to pick up a copy of this game, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

to Andrew K.

writing my post I had no intentions to give any "bad publicity" to your company or products. so I'm sorry if you found any part of it inappropriate or misleading. it's just an opinion.

btw speaking of 5 updates. are you aware about a weird 1point difference in some players attributes? all attributes in players profile 1 point smaller than in edit screen (commissioner mode). and it cost them at least 0.5star in rating. which, for example, result in Antti Raanta been demoted to AHL. and that bug is in there since FHM2, for same players (I remember at least four).

No problems here, and we're happy you enjoyed FHM2, and are continuing to try and make FHM3 as awesome as we can. I don't find you being inappropriate at all, and having an opinion about the grame is great in and of itself, as it means you've being playing the game .
Also, I asked one of our developers about that difference in ratings, and this is what he told me.

The edit screen shows the players' actual ratings, without any scouting
bias, where looking at them in any other place in the game will include
some level of scouting error, which will vary by player and scouting
level. That means the scouts will perceive some attributes being a
point (or more) different, in either direction, from what their true
level is, and that's what will be displayed in the game everywhere
except within the editor.

Basically, I gather that the idea is that your scouts matter, and unless you are editing them, it is like you are the actual GM, relying on information from your scouts. The better your scouts, the better the info, but it also includes some biases, as it would if the scout were human. I think it creates an interesting dynamic in regards to how much trust you place in your scouts.

Andrew K. wrote: The edit screen shows the players' actual ratings, without any scouting

it has nothing to do with scouting. all four players with that bug were on my team.
that is why it's so annoying. you never really can tell which set of attributes is right. star ratings look like it relying on what you can see in attributes screen (-1 set). but OFF.DEF.PHY.MEN ratings in small pop-up window all look rather OK.

that's why I'm certain it's a bug. go check Raanta, Zucarello, Jooris and Sebastian Repo. first two from NYR, Jooris was on CGY roster in FHM2 and Repo is a 20yo winger from Finland. so I assume such players just randomly spread across DB. I'm surprised your developers never ran into any of those.

and "scouting effect" you mentioned it's just +1 to all attributes before player is properly scouted or acquired. once he's on your roster it's back to normal. so fishing for a player with anything less than "A" you just know there can be an unpleasant surprise when you get him.

This might be a misunderstanding: in FHM you don´t see the real ratings for your own players, you still see the A-scouted ratings for them (nobody knows the real talent level of any player but with your own players it is of course easier to judge).

Should you still see strange patterns let me know, there always might be a bug somewhere.