Just out of curiosity...why all the cursor hate?

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 1:01 am

Hey guys,

Just wondering why so many of you out there hate the cursor batting in baseball video games. I understand the 'getting older, losing reflexes' excuse, I'm there myself.

But I do think, if implemented correctly, it is one of the best ways to get great hit variety that you know stems from how YOU made contact with the pitched ball...whether you were over or under it, and if you got the good part of the bat on the ball.

Zone and timed hitting is fine, but the hit variety is more left up to a random number or perhaps batter stat influence...I kinda like knowing the ball went where it did because of how I hit it...and I think cursor does this the best.

Old games of Home Run King and World Series gave some great results this way...

Cincinnati_Kid · Post by **Cincinnati_Kid** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 1:15 am

but thats it HomeRun King on GC & WSB 98 on Saturn did it right

too my personal playing time n taste no one else has come close

if you cant match those or top them then i rather use zone hitting

Post by **Jared** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 2:39 am

I have problems with it because if you have a target, you're focusing more on hitting the target than on watching the pitch. And it's difficult for me...zone hitting gives me more leeway to not be exactly perfect. But if implemented well, cursor hitting can be good...I just prefer zone.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 3:12 am

A cursor killed my parents.

GROGtheNailer · Post by **GROGtheNailer** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 3:16 am

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 9:05 am

Slumberland wrote:A cursor killed my parents.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 10:08 am

Personally, I think since video baseball's inception, that the batting model for High Heat has always been the best and produced the most realistic results. No hot and cold zones, no strike zone, just the ball coming at you and you trying to make contact. There was a reason why it worked...simplicity.

When I bat in a video baseball game, I find it difficult enough to just make contact with the ball, which is what I'm focusing on the most as I await the pitch. Now when you tell me that not only do I have to swing at the right time, but I have to move this little dot to precisely the right spot in the strike zone to hit the ball, then all bets are off. Yes, it's mostly about reflexes for me, but at the same time I like simplicity and when the best baseball game of all time uses this simple method, then I say why can't the rest?

Last year I played a full 162 game season with WSB 2K3 and used the cursor batting system. I hated it, but WSB was the only game that I could play. I could not even come close to hitting in ASB 2004, High Heat 2004 was just way too bland, and Inside Pitch and MVP were just incomplete games. So I found a way to make the cursor work for me. Instead of moving the little dot to try and hit the ball, I would set the cursor where I thought the ball would go. Mostly I would set it near the biggest of the cold zones and then just try and make contact. I never moved the cursor once I had it set so if the pitch was in the complete opposite area of the strike zone, I missed the pitch. Yes, I struck out a lot, as a matter of fact, I had the top 4 guys in strikeouts on my team, but I got enough hits and won enough games to keep it fun.

This year all the games touted a cursorless batting system. Hallelujah, I thought. So why is ASB 2005's primary batting system still built around the cursor? If you advertise cursorless batting, then dammit take the f***in cursors out of the f***in game.

And so ends my essay on why I hate batting cursors.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 11:21 am

Jared wrote:I have problems with it because if you have a target, you're focusing more on hitting the target than on watching the pitch. And it's difficult for me...zone hitting gives me more leeway to not be exactly perfect. But if implemented well, cursor hitting can be good...I just prefer zone.

Perfectly stated!

Take care,
PK

skidmark · Post by **skidmark** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 2:14 pm

Jared wrote:I have problems with it because if you have a target, you're focusing more on hitting the target than on watching the pitch.

My sentiments exactly... cursor batting is about lining up targets rather than watching the pitch. Makes the pitcher/batter interface feel like top gun rather than baseball.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 2:47 pm

It's all what you get used to. I used to despise cursor batting but it does take skill to become comfortable with it. Too many people give up on it rather quickly. Once you do become comfortable with it, then it becomes second nature. You don't find yourself trying to line up the cursor and the ball...you follow the ball and learn the intricacies of how sensitive you need to move the analog stick.

Taking this post with a grain of salt.....

Dan

tsunami · Post by **tsunami** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 4:42 pm

webdanzer wrote:But I do think, if implemented correctly, it is one of the best ways to get great hit variety that you know stems from how YOU made contact with the pitched ball...whether you were over or under it, and if you got the good part of the bat on the ball.

Zone and timed hitting is fine, but the hit variety is more left up to a random number or perhaps batter stat influence...I kinda like knowing the ball went where it did because of how I hit it...and I think cursor does this the best.

Old games of Home Run King and World Series gave some great results this way...

I couldn't agree more. I hate zone-batting! IMO, zone-batting is a poor man's way of hitting. It's like saying "I can't actually hit the ball, so I'll just swing in the general area and that should be good enough." Cursor batting (when done right) gives me a sense of where I hit the ball and why it came off the bat and went where it did. With zone batting, I have no idea why the ball reacted the way it did or why I may have missed the ball completely.

I've read some of the arguments for zone-batting, but I still don't get it. In real baseball, you don't just swing in a particular area and hit the ball. You have to line the bat up with the ball to make actual contact, and the result is dependent on how accurate you are when you swing.

And what is this about "focusing more on hitting the target than on watching the pitch"? With cursor based hitting you have to watch the pitch just as much. You have to watch the break on the ball and take into account the speed of the pitch. And to top it all off, you have to actually line your bat up with ball to make contact. I don't know...sounds like actual hitting to me. Contact shouldn't magically happen.

And you gave two good examples of cursor batting done right - the WSB series (on Saturn and Genesis) and HRK. I still vote for the Konami japanese baseball games as having the all time best cursor based batting system.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Thu Mar 25, 2004 7:21 pm

Too Old
Too slow
No patience

Its just the way it is.

Digital Sportspage

Just out of curiosity...why all the cursor hate?

Just out of curiosity...why all the cursor hate?

Re: Just out of curiosity...why all the cursor hate?