Submitted on: 11/09/2010 byCaley Roark
Sometimes a media experience encourages you to seek out other versions of that specific title. For instance, I powered through the J.R.R. Tolkien novels after seeing the first Lord of the Rings movie. A hit single might entice you to buy the whole album. Even a sports video game might turn you on towards the real-life version of that sport.
So, in just about all cases, this is a good sign: your first experience is a positive one, so you seek out more like it. Dynasty League Baseball Online is a perfect example of this phenomenon.
New and Online
Dynasty League Baseball Online is a new online baseball text-sim, currently in beta, that allows you to re-create single games, series and leagues (eventually) featuring your favorite historical teams. Each team’s performance is based on real-life stats, meaning you’ll get a remarkably accurate and realistic experience each time you log on.
Currently, you are able to play single games and three-, five- and seven-game series against the AI. During gameplay, dice rolls are simulated, their results shown on-screen -- a nice touch -- and the ensuing play is calculated and applied to the situation. It is a relatively smooth and straight-forward process, but you’ll probably want to brush up on the rules of Dynasty League Baseball. To help, a .PDF rulebook is available.
If you are familiar with other baseball text-sims, there are a few tweaks that set Dynasty League apart. First, just about every element of the game is factored into the calculations, including weather, stadium and umpires -- in addition to the standard player statistics. These details show the game's tabletop roots, and I like that these are all shown during gameplay. Too many games, in my opinion, gloss over the die rolls and just assume that you only care about play-by-play. Dynasty League does allow you to adjust how much data you’ll see, so if you do only want to see results, that can be arranged.
Throughout the game, player cards, pie charts and outcome percentages help you manage all of that data. Also unique to this game are coaching decisions, including the odds of success and possible outcomes. These help break up the data-driven play and offer moments of pure strategy.
A few other elements help streamline the experience, but ultimately may frustrate some baseball purists. You only get one chance to steal per at-bat; if your runner is held, you’ve missed your opportunity. There’s no option to manage each pitch, and the process of warming up pitchers without them getting too tired seems unintuitive. Again, this game is based on a pre-existing rule set, so these issues are not exclusive to the online game. However, they probably won’t bother most users looking for a quick and accurate baseball simulation.
I Love the '90s...and Baseball Stadiums
Outside of beautiful stadium pictures that serve as a "playmat," this game is not that pretty to look at. Its layout and graphical flair favors the functional, and the whole page sort of screams 1990s. I don’t think this is a huge issue, but don’t expect an EA level of slick polish. To date, the developers have patched some things to help make it a more appealing experience, so it’s safe to assume a certain amount of continued development. Still, I'll restate that I really like the backgrounds, which are large high-quality images of the home team's ballpark.
Live Tourneys
The most interesting way to play, for now, is not against the computer, but against other humans in the tournament setting. These run daily, and feature a single-elimination format. Some elements, like a closable chat window and CPU takeover for dropouts, make this online experience a pleasant one. The only issue I have with playing another person is that the games can take a lot longer because every action requires confirmation. Add in the fact that if you advance, you may need to wait for other games to finish, and you have a multi-hour experience. A fun experience, especially if you are winning, but a long one for sure.
Final Thoughts
At this point, some features have yet to be implemented, such as leagues and playing another individual in a single game. However, new stuff is being added just about every week. There is a large selection of teams, but don’t expect every team from every year to be there. Also, there is a nice "user score" and ranking system that tracks your progress.
So, if you’ve played other baseball text-sims or board games, especially Dynasty League Baseball, you will definitely want to extend your experience with this online version. It’s free while in beta, so there’s nothing to lose.
