Review of YakyuTsuku Online

http://www.yakyutsuku-online.com

So Sega released YakyuTsuku Online a little over a month ago, and I've been playing since two weeks into it's debut. For those who don't know, YakyuTsuku is shorthand for Pro Yakyu Team Wo Tsukurou!(Let's Make a Pro Baseball Team!), a management simulation game that thrived on the Saturn, Dreamcast, and PS2. The last console release was YakyuTsuku 3, which released in 2005 and got one of the highest yakyu game scores in Famitsu history(up there with the best Pawapuros and PYS3). The Tsukurou series is a popular simulation series in Japan, developed by SmileBit, which has you making not only sports teams, but also schools, businesses, champion race horses, etc. Perfect for all the micro-managers out there.

First things first, this game is heavy in Japanese. It's definitely not an option to play this when you have no Japanese knowledge. You need to know Japanese to understand what you're doing, but it's also recommended so you can chat and mail with other managers for trades and what not.

The way previous YakyuTsuku games worked was like this...

1. You're put in charge of a brand new team in NPB.

2. You choose which of the 12 teams you want to command, then you have to cut players in order to make the very low budget given. This usually means you have to cut four or five key players.

3. You're given a couple million dollars to play with, plus TV rights money. You can use this to sign a couple foreigners before July of your first year.

Now, this is how YakyuTsuku Online works...

1. You supply which is your favorite NPB team.

2. Rosters are handled in a baseball card style system. On one side of the card is a picture of the player, the other side will show attributes, 2006 stats, and current pennant stats. Each player is assigned a cost value. 1 being the lowliest of farm hand youngsters and 10 being top level aces(Kazumi Saitoh) and 5 tool superstars(Kosuke Fukudome). There is also a special "rare" distinction given to some cards. Each team is allowed to use only one rare card, if you can find one. It seems the rares are older future hall of fame types. I've only seen Kiyohara, Furuta, and Sasaoka with the rare tag. Furuta has since become a regular card.

3. You are given a choice of which one of two franchise players you want to build the team around. Since I am a Lotte fan, I was given the choice of Kazuya Fukuuura or Julio Zuleta(both with a cost of 7). Since I named my team the Makuhari Fires, I went with Zuleta.

4. After you choose your franchise player, the game supplies you with a bunch of random cards to start your roster. Most of these guys will be no name players, so in order to win in the initial Rookie Pennant, you'll need to watch your stats carefully. Depending on your level of success, you'll advance from Rookie rank to Beginner to Minor and then Major.

Pennants are just as long as NPB seasons, so the end stats will be pretty realistic. Zuleta had over 60 homers in my first pennant and won the MVP, but that was because nobody else had any aces, since they were all beginners. Now that everyone has aces in their rotation, his numbers have dropped back down to Earth.

In a single day in real life, you will play 12 games. The day starts at 7:30 AM and lasts until midnight. The games are managed by the computer, but you determine your success by who you put in the rotation, bullpen, and what your batting order and bench looks like. Batting order plays a big role, since advancing runners is one of the main themes of the game. You can't just put nothing but sluggers in your batting order, or else you'll find yourself getting 15 hits and maybe a single run. It's a very balanced and challenging system.

You can choose to watch your games "digest" style or just skip to the box score. I like watching the games because it shows me who is messing up the batting order or who isn't cutting it in the bullpen. Sometimes the numbers just aren't enough. If a batter is hitting .220 and is advancing runners and playing great defense, it could be worth more than someone batting .270 but hitting into a ton of double plays.

The games are simmed right on the spot so people can get instant gratification with the results. This is also probably why the computer handles the management and the user doesn't. That way, both parties don't have to be online in order for results to be displayed.

You earn points in games by getting hits, recording outs, striking guys out, making web gems, hitting homers, etc. You also earn extra points for winning, getting a complete game, or shutting out the opposition. These points can be used to buy new players or skills. Skills use a puzzle style system in which each player gets a grid. You put the skill blocks in those grids in order to increase attributes. The more stingy you are with the space provided, the more opportunity you have to increase that player's skill. You'll also have a chance to earn new grid blocks if that player is on the top team for a lot of the season.

Skill blocks can be merged for a small cost, and this is how you can attain super skill blocks that have the power to strengthen multiple areas. The ability to strengthen players is usually what separates the top four pennant teams from the rest of the teams.

Speaking of top four, when you finish a pennant and you're at least #4 in ranking, you'll be entered into a Championship Cup. Think of it like the baseball version of the UEFA Champions League. All the top guys from all the other leagues gather to play and see who is the best for that particular pennant season. The top handful of players will earn big points to spend.

The YakyuTsuku team will host tournaments from time to time in the Exhibition area and the top teams will get a chance to take home a few thousand points for participating. Most of these have a 250 team limit, but the bigger ones will have a 1000 team limit. The sign up date is usually a day before the tournament, and spots fill up pretty fast. Think of it like getting a concert ticket.

Another feature making it into YakyuTsuku from the PS2 version is Team Color. If your team has a specific look to the roster, you'll attain a Team Color. Each team is allowed to use two of these and they will increase attributes. Some of these I've seen have been for an all Japanese pitching staff, fireballers, zigzag batting order(LRLRLR...), etc. These will also greatly strengthen your team.

You can trade players of equal cost with other managers. You can only make two trade offers per day, though. Most trades are meaningless, unless you're really hurting in a specific position or are looking to attain a team color. Everyone is going to hold onto the most effective players.

There is a posting system in which you can make bids for 8 top level players. It seems foolish, though. The best players will go for 15,000 to 20,000 points, which is basically a successful pennant worth of points. For the same price, you can probably get 15-20 players. What's more, you could use that money to turn your current roster into all-stars. Even if you get the player, you have to deal with the cost management, since there is a limit to the total cost of your team. As you progress, that limit increases, though.

You can play against other people between pennant games in Exhibition. You can also bet between 100 to 5000 points in this mode. There's also an option to play against regular NPB teams just to test how your roster does.

Communication is a breeze in this game. There's a chat box on the main screen and different colored text differentiate what the source of conversation is. White represents speech to everyone online, green is for trade offers, yellow is for fans of your favorite team(usually only during actual NPB games), blue is for group chats, purple is for exhibition, and red is private messaging. You can PM anyone by right clicking their name. There's also a message board community, though participation is a bit weak. Buddy lists and mail are also available.

Sound is alright, I guess. I've had the sound turned off since the first week. There's no commentary or anything, so what's the point?

Graphics is probably the #1 weak point for this game. All the players have generic faces and there are less individual player motions than the PS2 game. A lot of guys have generic animations, though Sega has updated Zuleta and Micheal with individual motions that weren't there in the beginning. There is going to be a big update later this month and another one for winter, so we'll see how those go down. I have a feeling my Takeshi Yamasaki is going to be amazing when this month's update goes down.

Maintenance is only two hours a week, always while most people are at work or eating lunch.

Pricing is 980 yen a month, which is around $8.50 US. Downloading of the actual software is free. Price could be lower, since it's not like the graphics are super amazing or the game is ridiculously deep. On the plus side, it's a decent yakyu title in a year that hasn't had much since PYS4. You can sit down at the computer and look forward to results everyday. It's basically an 8 dollar title, because you'll usually be able to tell whether you love it or hate it in that month of time. I'm going to be continuing to play it for at least another month. I want to see what the big update will be like, plus I'm tops in the pennant race right now.

If you're a yakyu nerd and know Japanese, go for it. The community is great and the game really rewards people who put in work with stats.