I've only got a few games under my belt, but it certainly is good enough to keep going with and finding out if it is a keeper. I simmed a season last night to check out the stats. For the most part they looked realistic.
Three things that struck me as weird:
1. Dan Johnson on the A's led the league in hitting at .355 or so. I think that is a bit much to expect from him, but I guess it's possible.
2. Neither league leader in stolen bases broke 40.
3. No batter in either league broke 100 walks. Brian Giles led the NL with 94, Big Hurt in the AL with 79. Giles was only player in all of baseball to break 80 walks.
All this was at default, straight out of the box, so I'm sure fooling with difficulty levels and sliders can improve the walks and SBs.
Any one else run a season yet with better results. I'll probably run another one tonight to see if that season was a fluke.
Joe
MLB 2006 The Show Demo at EBGames for a Pre-Order
Moderators: Bill_Abner, ScoopBrady
I really like it as well. My favorite baseball games the past two years (ESPN Baseball in 2004 and MVP last year) were a little dull in presentation (although Jon Miller was excellent in ESPN) so I'm really enjoying the presentation and audio in this one.dbdynsty25 wrote:As I play more and more, I'm starting to like it more and more. I still don't think it's better than last years MVP, but it's a damn fine baseball game.
I always thought that the MLB franchise was the most overrated game either here or at the old place. I always read about how you could tell that the MLB team "loved baseball" and I'm sure they do, but I couldn't tell by the lack of walks, rocket arms, poor hit variety, poor roster management, etc. I also thought the comparisons to High Heat, except for the zone hitting model, were also pretty far off base.
However, it really seems like they *got it* this year and started to seriously address the biggest flaws. It's going to take some more playtime and hopefully no ugly bugs pop up, but based on a few days worth of impressions, this game does now seem like High Heat with great graphics and presentation. Even if there are some flaws that come up after further play, I'm can now say that I'm confident this series is headed in the right direction.
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AJColossal
- Starting 5
- Posts: 882
- Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2003 4:00 am
- Location: Chicago
Yeah, it could end up being up there with High Heat and ESPN 2K4 for me. Using the "wide" strike zone was such a revelation.
I'm loving the little details in the presentation. I was playing a game where the fans were booing constantly, and sometimes for no reason. Then I remembered, of course, I was playing in Philly.
Randy Winn goes up over the wall for a catch, misses it, and comes down looking to see if the ball was in his glove. When he realized it wasn't he swatted his glove in disgust. Awesome.
The game was always immersive, but now that they've ironed out the problems in gameplay, it makes it all the more satisfying an experience.
I'm loving the little details in the presentation. I was playing a game where the fans were booing constantly, and sometimes for no reason. Then I remembered, of course, I was playing in Philly.
Randy Winn goes up over the wall for a catch, misses it, and comes down looking to see if the ball was in his glove. When he realized it wasn't he swatted his glove in disgust. Awesome.
The game was always immersive, but now that they've ironed out the problems in gameplay, it makes it all the more satisfying an experience.
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Slumberland
- DSP-Funk All-Star
- Posts: 3574
- Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2003 4:00 am
Yeah, I'm getting a good feeling from this one a couple days in. First of all, strike zone to 'wide' and the pitch count slider maxed is yielding some great results for me. In my last game, Mets vs. Cardinals, I drew three walks in the game and... get this... gave up three walks as well, one of which forced in a run. Maxing the pitch count slider can make it really tough to hit your spots... maybe not so much with your ace, but as you get further down your rotation and even into your bullpen, I'm a believer that it works.
On the whole, I'm still of the opinion that the on-field gameplay in MVP is more dynamic, but the presentation, players reactions and animations in this version are just great. It captures the feel of a broadcast or day at the ballpark much better than MVP ever did.
As for gameplay problems, it hasn't taken me long to get used to pressing L1 on contact to make my players take off, so my baserunning woes are quickly fading. I'm really glad they implemented user controlled slides as well, and there's a nice variety of them. Fielders letting balls go past them remains my biggest concern... I changed my fielding to 'assisted' to see if it helped, and haven't yet seen an infielder let one go, though it may yet happen. Honestly, fielding doesn't feel any more automated on 'assisted' than it does on 'manual', IMO. One did get past my center fielder, but because it was straight on I had a better view of it than when it, say, happens to my left fielder. In the replay, I noticed I was charging the ball and had taken Beltran slightly to the left of the ball's path, and therefore his glove was on the wrong side to scoop up the ball. Now, I'm not letting the game off the hook, he still should have made a stab at it, but perhaps I need to be very careful about how I'm lined up with the ball in order to charge at it. Otherwise, just sit tight and let it come to me. We'll see.
On the whole, I'm still of the opinion that the on-field gameplay in MVP is more dynamic, but the presentation, players reactions and animations in this version are just great. It captures the feel of a broadcast or day at the ballpark much better than MVP ever did.
As for gameplay problems, it hasn't taken me long to get used to pressing L1 on contact to make my players take off, so my baserunning woes are quickly fading. I'm really glad they implemented user controlled slides as well, and there's a nice variety of them. Fielders letting balls go past them remains my biggest concern... I changed my fielding to 'assisted' to see if it helped, and haven't yet seen an infielder let one go, though it may yet happen. Honestly, fielding doesn't feel any more automated on 'assisted' than it does on 'manual', IMO. One did get past my center fielder, but because it was straight on I had a better view of it than when it, say, happens to my left fielder. In the replay, I noticed I was charging the ball and had taken Beltran slightly to the left of the ball's path, and therefore his glove was on the wrong side to scoop up the ball. Now, I'm not letting the game off the hook, he still should have made a stab at it, but perhaps I need to be very careful about how I'm lined up with the ball in order to charge at it. Otherwise, just sit tight and let it come to me. We'll see.
For some reason, when I bat I play on veteran level and when I pitch I play on HOF level. I was just getting too good at pitching, imo. This has seemed to help quite a bit as a mistake pitch now gets crushed. I initially thought levels didn't mean anything as far as the CPU AI goes, but so far it seems to allow them to hit better.. but I need more games to confirm that.
I also agree about the pitch count slider.
The game catches the MLB experience quite well and as usual if you could put the presentation and commentary with MVP's fielding and batter/hitter interface, the game would be just about perfect.
So far it's right up there with HH 2002 for me as far as fun goes.
I also agree about the pitch count slider.
The game catches the MLB experience quite well and as usual if you could put the presentation and commentary with MVP's fielding and batter/hitter interface, the game would be just about perfect.
So far it's right up there with HH 2002 for me as far as fun goes.
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sportdan30
- DSP-Funk All-Star
- Posts: 9111
- Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2003 3:00 am
- Location: St. Louis
Just played another game. Pirates vs. the Cards at Busch. I keep wanting to play at Busch because it's just so cool to see the new ballpark.
Anyways, instead of looking for things to detract me from enjoying the game, I looked for the positives. I teetered with the presentation a little bit. I very much enjoy pitching from the "pitcher" view. It looks a bit funny without the umpire (PSP version), but it feels the best. Gone are my wild pitches!
Also, I changed the batting view to "offset center". This rather surprised me because in other baseball videogames, it just never felt right. However, for whatever reason I pick up the ball much better than any of the other views in the game. Now, a curve looks like a curve and a slider a slider. In addition, I'm having less trouble with the low pitches. I can generally tell if they're a ball or a strike. Further, I'm batting using the D-Pad instead of the analog stick. For me personally, I can move my thumb faster with the pad rather than the stick.
I enjoyed an exciting come from behind win to win in extra innings 5-4.
Anyways, instead of looking for things to detract me from enjoying the game, I looked for the positives. I teetered with the presentation a little bit. I very much enjoy pitching from the "pitcher" view. It looks a bit funny without the umpire (PSP version), but it feels the best. Gone are my wild pitches!
Also, I changed the batting view to "offset center". This rather surprised me because in other baseball videogames, it just never felt right. However, for whatever reason I pick up the ball much better than any of the other views in the game. Now, a curve looks like a curve and a slider a slider. In addition, I'm having less trouble with the low pitches. I can generally tell if they're a ball or a strike. Further, I'm batting using the D-Pad instead of the analog stick. For me personally, I can move my thumb faster with the pad rather than the stick.
I enjoyed an exciting come from behind win to win in extra innings 5-4.
Early impressions : played one game and so far really like it. I like how they enhanced the graphics in the game also. Also, like how they brightened everything up.
Presentation is excellent, and the menus are really done well.
Gameplay feels like last years but I am only one game in so I'll have to delve into this more.
Anyway........this series has been THE BEST Baseball Online game the last 2 years. Anyone from this board going to go play online over the weekend with this? I'll be registering on tonight and hope to be online over the next 3 nights. My gamertag will be inuyasha.
added : sportdan, all I've done is play at the new cards stadium. I'm not even a cards fan but the thing looks so beautiful! I checked a few other stadiums out and they look fabulous. I had to do a double take to see if this was my ps2 putting out these great looking graphics.
Presentation is excellent, and the menus are really done well.
Gameplay feels like last years but I am only one game in so I'll have to delve into this more.
Anyway........this series has been THE BEST Baseball Online game the last 2 years. Anyone from this board going to go play online over the weekend with this? I'll be registering on tonight and hope to be online over the next 3 nights. My gamertag will be inuyasha.
added : sportdan, all I've done is play at the new cards stadium. I'm not even a cards fan but the thing looks so beautiful! I checked a few other stadiums out and they look fabulous. I had to do a double take to see if this was my ps2 putting out these great looking graphics.
I'm really loving this game so far. I started a franchise with the Cardinals and I am 6 games into spring training. I am 2-4 and just lost a heartbreaker to the Dodgers as Isringhausen just blew his 2nd consecutive save. Up 1-0 going to the 9th and after I got the first two outs, I couldn't get it over the plate. Put two guys on, one with a walk and then a wild pitch got them to 2nd and 3rd and then Ricky Ledee hit a ground rule double to make it 2-1. Ledee would come in to score as well and then Gagne struck out the side to end it 3-1.
Never before have I seen a game capture the feel and subtle nuances of a Saturday afternoon broadcast like this game. As much as I want to get through the games quicker, I just can't bring myself to hit the X button to skip anything. I have seen so much cool stuff.
My only complaints have already been covered. Balls going by an apparently unaware fielder seems to happen at least once a game, sometimes twice. Baserunning pretty much stinks. I can hit L1 when only one guy is on, but I'm screwed if I have multiple guys on different bases and I need to send one and keep the other one on base.
I'm getting plenty of extra base hits so the rocket arms have definitely been toned down. There is one animation that I am seeing way too often. It's when you hit anything to the 2nd baseman and he seems to catch it and throw it in one motion. It just seems way too fast to be believable.
I'm not patient enough to draw walks, but I have drawn a few and I have given up my share as well. I may mess with the pitch count slider, but in my opinion the game plays very well out of the box. I could only imagine this game with Xbox 360 graphics.
I'll still buy 2k6 for the 360 when it comes out, but in the meantime, I'm going to be hard at work on my franchise with this game. I love it!
Never before have I seen a game capture the feel and subtle nuances of a Saturday afternoon broadcast like this game. As much as I want to get through the games quicker, I just can't bring myself to hit the X button to skip anything. I have seen so much cool stuff.
My only complaints have already been covered. Balls going by an apparently unaware fielder seems to happen at least once a game, sometimes twice. Baserunning pretty much stinks. I can hit L1 when only one guy is on, but I'm screwed if I have multiple guys on different bases and I need to send one and keep the other one on base.
I'm getting plenty of extra base hits so the rocket arms have definitely been toned down. There is one animation that I am seeing way too often. It's when you hit anything to the 2nd baseman and he seems to catch it and throw it in one motion. It just seems way too fast to be believable.
I'm not patient enough to draw walks, but I have drawn a few and I have given up my share as well. I may mess with the pitch count slider, but in my opinion the game plays very well out of the box. I could only imagine this game with Xbox 360 graphics.
I'll still buy 2k6 for the 360 when it comes out, but in the meantime, I'm going to be hard at work on my franchise with this game. I love it!
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dbdynsty25
- DSP-Funk All-Star
- Posts: 21616
- Joined: Mon Aug 19, 2002 3:00 am
- Location: Thousand Oaks, CA
I had the outfielder bug happen again. It sucks. There is never a good time to give up a stand up triple. The first time it happened I had to move a bit and blamed myself. This time it was hit right to my right fielder and he just flat out failed to catch it or at least knock it down. I had fielding on assisted. Both times it happened with my right fielder.
On the positive side, one of my biggest complaints in this series (and most baseball games in fairness) has been the difficulty of hitting pitches thrown out of the strike zone. Well, that's not a problem now. I had a 10 pitch at bad last night where I fouled off about 4 or 5 pitches that were out of the strike zone...one was VERY low and I just got a piece of it.
On the positive side, one of my biggest complaints in this series (and most baseball games in fairness) has been the difficulty of hitting pitches thrown out of the strike zone. Well, that's not a problem now. I had a 10 pitch at bad last night where I fouled off about 4 or 5 pitches that were out of the strike zone...one was VERY low and I just got a piece of it.
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AJColossal
- Starting 5
- Posts: 882
- Joined: Sun Dec 07, 2003 4:00 am
- Location: Chicago
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Slumberland
- DSP-Funk All-Star
- Posts: 3574
- Joined: Tue Oct 28, 2003 4:00 am
Yes, I have. Eckstein booted a grounder, then beat himself up about it afterward.AJColossal wrote:Anyone seen any errors? After 8 or so games, I've seen one. I even bumped up the error slider a couple notches, but that hasn't done much.
Sad to hear about the outfielder thing, Leebo. I had a couple situations last night that were candidates for it to occur, but I tried to let the CPU handle it since I have it on 'assist' now as well, and it went all right. If that plainly obvious bug turns out to be the downfall of this truly excellent game, that would be a damn dirty shame.
I think someone asked how to change your fielding alignment in this game...I forgot about this, but all you have to do is hit the L2 button to bring up the quick menu and toggle over to defensive alignment. From there, you can adjust the infield depth, infield shift, outfield depth and outfield shift.
This game on the PS3 could be scary good some day.
This game on the PS3 could be scary good some day.
I've played a bunch of exhibition games and last night decided to fire up my season. Skipped spring training and headed strait for opening day.
I'm using the following settings:
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Sliders: none
- Fielding: Manual
- Running: Manual
- Pitching Cam: Catcher
- Hitting Came: Wide
- Guess Pitch: On
The D'backs came into Coors and drilled the Rockies to the tune of 10-1 on opening day. I just could not seem to doing anything on offense and my pitching was horrid. Just a bad game overall.
Game 2 was a little better as I lost 5-2, but still just a lot of mishaps on my part.
Game 3 was extremely fun even though I ended up losing in 10 innings, 6-5. I was up much of the game 5-3 but in the last two innings my seteup man gave up a run in the 8th and then my closer 1 run in the 9th. I had several opportunities to win this game early but fumbling with the controls definitely cost it for me.
Impressions:
I'll tell you this... the game is very fun to me, yet frustrating. I can see an awful lot of potential here and I'm going to tinker with a few things to see if I can fix my issues.
My biggest gripe is the base-running interface. Something that I've got to learn, but damn. If I have a man on 2nd or 3rd and I hit one to the gap (or heck even just a base hit to the outfield) I feel that runner should just automatically take off. I never remember to get him (them) in motion by pressing the L1 button. Now, I haven't tested "automatic running", but I'm going to and IF it works like I'm hoping..it's the easy fix.
I'm hopeing that automatic running has the runner taking off with the hit, but will allow me to use the runner icon and the dpad to send a man from 1st to 3rd or call him back etc. Basically, if I can override automatic running and still have some control over the runner I'm going to go that route.
My 2nd beef with the game is too many triiples given up due to outfielders not getting balls I think that they should get. Too often I'll charge a ball in an attempt to come up firing only to have the ball go right on by to the wall.
Speaking of the wall... hard hit balls that do get to the wall tend to die there. They don't really bounce off or roll along the wall. Unless it hits the wall in the air, the ball just seems to hit it and die. Not too big of an issue, but just something I noticed.
One other thing that has happened just once and I hope it is an isolated incident is the following scenario. Men on 2nd and 3rd, 1 out and a shot to DEEP center field. I pressed the button to throw to the cutoff man, but there was nobody out there to cut the ball off. I ended up throwing a rainbow to the pitchers mound and both men scored. Just terrible baseball logic there.
I absolutely love all the menu's and what-not. Browsing stats is very intuitive and a pleasure to look at.
AT first I didin't really know how I felt about "guess pitch" but I'm starting to dig it quite a bit. I do, howver, need to grow more patience at the plate.
The game is definitely a keeper. It looks friggin fantastic on my 46 inch WSHDTV, and it has that, just one more game before shutting it down effect on me. If I can figure out a way to get past these few frustrating gripes that I mentioned I'll be in baseball heaven.
I'm using the following settings:
- Difficulty: Veteran
- Sliders: none
- Fielding: Manual
- Running: Manual
- Pitching Cam: Catcher
- Hitting Came: Wide
- Guess Pitch: On
The D'backs came into Coors and drilled the Rockies to the tune of 10-1 on opening day. I just could not seem to doing anything on offense and my pitching was horrid. Just a bad game overall.
Game 2 was a little better as I lost 5-2, but still just a lot of mishaps on my part.
Game 3 was extremely fun even though I ended up losing in 10 innings, 6-5. I was up much of the game 5-3 but in the last two innings my seteup man gave up a run in the 8th and then my closer 1 run in the 9th. I had several opportunities to win this game early but fumbling with the controls definitely cost it for me.
Impressions:
I'll tell you this... the game is very fun to me, yet frustrating. I can see an awful lot of potential here and I'm going to tinker with a few things to see if I can fix my issues.
My biggest gripe is the base-running interface. Something that I've got to learn, but damn. If I have a man on 2nd or 3rd and I hit one to the gap (or heck even just a base hit to the outfield) I feel that runner should just automatically take off. I never remember to get him (them) in motion by pressing the L1 button. Now, I haven't tested "automatic running", but I'm going to and IF it works like I'm hoping..it's the easy fix.
I'm hopeing that automatic running has the runner taking off with the hit, but will allow me to use the runner icon and the dpad to send a man from 1st to 3rd or call him back etc. Basically, if I can override automatic running and still have some control over the runner I'm going to go that route.
My 2nd beef with the game is too many triiples given up due to outfielders not getting balls I think that they should get. Too often I'll charge a ball in an attempt to come up firing only to have the ball go right on by to the wall.
Speaking of the wall... hard hit balls that do get to the wall tend to die there. They don't really bounce off or roll along the wall. Unless it hits the wall in the air, the ball just seems to hit it and die. Not too big of an issue, but just something I noticed.
One other thing that has happened just once and I hope it is an isolated incident is the following scenario. Men on 2nd and 3rd, 1 out and a shot to DEEP center field. I pressed the button to throw to the cutoff man, but there was nobody out there to cut the ball off. I ended up throwing a rainbow to the pitchers mound and both men scored. Just terrible baseball logic there.
I absolutely love all the menu's and what-not. Browsing stats is very intuitive and a pleasure to look at.
AT first I didin't really know how I felt about "guess pitch" but I'm starting to dig it quite a bit. I do, howver, need to grow more patience at the plate.
The game is definitely a keeper. It looks friggin fantastic on my 46 inch WSHDTV, and it has that, just one more game before shutting it down effect on me. If I can figure out a way to get past these few frustrating gripes that I mentioned I'll be in baseball heaven.
I love how each menu item shows you whats inside that menu, very intuitive.
BASERUNNING - when running with the lead player, say his icon is a circle, hit the corresponding button on your controller and then hit the D-pad where you want the runner to end up. I don't know, but baserunning is 2nd nature to me now once you learn the controls. If my guy is on 2nd and a ball is hit into the outfield, I hit L1, then the button that corresponds to him and then the D-pad down and he'll go home - then I can move on to looking at my other runner(s).
BASERUNNING - when running with the lead player, say his icon is a circle, hit the corresponding button on your controller and then hit the D-pad where you want the runner to end up. I don't know, but baserunning is 2nd nature to me now once you learn the controls. If my guy is on 2nd and a ball is hit into the outfield, I hit L1, then the button that corresponds to him and then the D-pad down and he'll go home - then I can move on to looking at my other runner(s).
I know how to do it, it's just giving me fits. I just don't ever remember to get the runners going in motion because my muscle memory tells me it should be automatic.
If I have a man on 3rd and hit one to the outfield, I shouldn't have to tell the man to go home.
My theory is that it's common sense and he should just go. Now, if I hit a deep fly to the outfield, I'm used to tagging him up and then sending him home on the catch, but the no doubter base hits I just wish the lead runners would go on their own.
If I have a man on 3rd and hit one to the outfield, I shouldn't have to tell the man to go home.
My theory is that it's common sense and he should just go. Now, if I hit a deep fly to the outfield, I'm used to tagging him up and then sending him home on the catch, but the no doubter base hits I just wish the lead runners would go on their own.
The baserunning will take some time to get use to. I think i've somewhat got use to it by my 5th game.
I have to say pitching in this game is very realistic and very fun. They got the ball physics on certain types of pitches perfectly. It's better than last years mvp since mvp was too pinpoint in its pitching.
Game is really fun to play. It does FEEL like baseball. I thought I would not like the pace of the game, but it's not that bad. To hurry things up, just a tap of the X button moves things along.
If someone can give a comparison on how this is on psp that would be great. I'd love to play this game on ps2 but it's hard finding time to sit in front of the tv. Is the game just as good overall on psp?
I have to say pitching in this game is very realistic and very fun. They got the ball physics on certain types of pitches perfectly. It's better than last years mvp since mvp was too pinpoint in its pitching.
Game is really fun to play. It does FEEL like baseball. I thought I would not like the pace of the game, but it's not that bad. To hurry things up, just a tap of the X button moves things along.
If someone can give a comparison on how this is on psp that would be great. I'd love to play this game on ps2 but it's hard finding time to sit in front of the tv. Is the game just as good overall on psp?
Well, I tried the automatic baserunning and unfortunately it gives you NO control at all.
The manual baserunning won't be an issue once I force myself to remember to move my runners in scoring position on base hits. I'm mostly effected by not getting runners to score from 2nd due to me remembering so late to get them going.
Once I get the baserunning down I'll be golden. Really am loving the game and it's going to have a lot of legs.
The manual baserunning won't be an issue once I force myself to remember to move my runners in scoring position on base hits. I'm mostly effected by not getting runners to score from 2nd due to me remembering so late to get them going.
Once I get the baserunning down I'll be golden. Really am loving the game and it's going to have a lot of legs.
how are you doing your dives, with the analog or R2 button? I just discovered the moves with the analog stick, another nice feature.Boom wrote:I'm starting to get the "user" dives down too. Made a very nice diving catch in the gap out in right-center. Didn't think I had a chance at it, but Hawp came up with it.
Also robbed a homer with Holiday out in left climbing the wall.
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drbaseball
- Mario Mendoza
- Posts: 91
- Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2005 3:00 am
Confused about hitting
I'm confused about hitting.
I know I use the analog stick to guess the location before the pitch. However, do I need to continue to use the analog stick while swinging at the pitch.
In other words, if I get the "locked" symbol, do I just press to swing...or do I also need to push the stick toward the lock symbol?
I know I use the analog stick to guess the location before the pitch. However, do I need to continue to use the analog stick while swinging at the pitch.
In other words, if I get the "locked" symbol, do I just press to swing...or do I also need to push the stick toward the lock symbol?