MLB The Show 15

[10spro]

I don't play 162 games anymore but what I've done is cut down my season to about half of that and look forward to continue my RTTS mode.

[Aristo]

It's why baseball games generally sell the worst of all the sports games. It's a slow game, where, unless you really understand the nuances, you don't know what you are waiting for. It's why even most baseball game fans can't be patient enough at the plate to force pitch counts into the 100s. Baseball, for me, only works when you are invested on both a macro and micro level.

Knowing that if I can force a high pitch count and get a team into their bullpen, it not only affects this game, but the next two games in the series, it drives up the stakes on every pitch. Every one pitch at-bat is a fail. By the same token, you are forced to show your bad pitches and use your out pitches strategically. Throwing strikes means batters get comfortable and will go off on you. Throwing a lot of balls runs up your own pitch counts.

And all of that is before you even get down to making outs. Get a man on first, and now you take that into consideration while trying to get or avoid a double play. Then you factor in how to shift your fielders based on how you are going pitch, or how you exploit even minor shifts. Make a team think you are going to bunt, and it increases your odds of getting a hit past the corner infielders.

The other area that makes baseball special, but limits its interest to many gamers is that baseball is about series of games, and how you set up your rotations to face other teams rotations. One off games are much less exciting than knowing how this affects the rest of a series. No one wants to just use their best pitcher versus the other teams best pitcher every freaking game. You want use and see different pitches and approaches to hitters. You want to rest some players and get work for prospects. One off games lose that, too.

But most guys end up playing baseball games like they are playing slow pitch softball. That can be fun for awhile, but it is pretty boring over the long haul. Football, basketball, hockey, and soccer can all be enjoyed by casual fans that just want to pick it up and play and not worry about sim results. Hell hockey is more popular as a game than as a TV sport. They work so well as one off games.

As a MP game, baseball really sucks. Not only for all of the reasons I stated, but the timing required to read balls and strikes and hit the ball makes it tough to do online. For as much as people complain about the lack of realism in online games of all those other sports, baseball is by far the least realistic.

And many of baseball's biggest fans, would never even consider playing console baseball, because text-based games are where simulation is. I was square in that group until MLB 2K8. Despite its flaws, it was the first baseball game that actually valued the pitcher/batter matchup in a way that made love video game baseball again. It took them so many games, and changing developers, but 2K12 and 2K13 are flat-out great games of baseball. While franchise mode in terms of building teams over the years was really weak, playing in season mode was awesome for all the reasons I stated. It had a great fatigue system, utilized pitch counts to make you assess your bullpen by availability as well as their strength, and leaned on a ton of stats that were used to force you to mix up pitches, while taking into consideration the strengths, weaknesses, tendencies of hitters. Each hitter was not just rated on their overall aggressiveness, but their real life % were used to to create a % oft times they would swing at strikes or balls based on the count, and on individuals hitters tendencies. Some guys would rarely swing at curve balls. Some swung at splitters all the time.

But all of that comes at a cost. If you drive up pitch counts, you lengthen the game, and create less action per minute as you do it. And how you manage a team over long stretches it was really makes the game work, so longer games and the longest season makes it unlikely anyone actually finishes seasons without simming. And if you are swimming, you've just ruined a ton of what makes baseball great. And a text based game like OOTP is going to be better for that.

[Brando70]

how do you guys manage to play this game for a season? It is a great baseball game, probably the best videogame that portrays the sport correctly, but for me it's hard for me to even get thru one game. And I played on fast pitch last year too.

If you play on fast pitch, it's actually one of the fastest sports game you can play that delivers accurate stats. You probably have to do 10-minute quarters on NBA 2k or Madden to get realistic stats, which takes about an hour of actual gameplay time. Fast pitch usually means you can finish a game of MLB in 30-40 minutes. Granted, the season is longer, but game-to-game it's not an issue.

I also like RTTS for the same reason. I enjoy hitting in The Show more than pitching, so being an outfielder allowed me to hit a lot and still get through three seasons last year.

I admittedly have never finished a season in franchise because of the time commitment, but I almost always play to the All-Star break in a franchise season.

[Aristo]

I assume fast pitch means generated pitch counts? Yuck. Let's lose working the count, guessing pitches because of how you worked the count, running a hit and run when you get a count where you expect a fastball, or a straight set when you expect a curveball. Might as well make it 3-2 and just have one pitch K's, BB's, or balls put in play. And pitch underhand with a nice arc.

Hell, one of the reasons I migrated from Strat-o-matic and APBA text sims to Diamond Mind was the addition of pitch-by-pitch. If all you want is stats without the gameplay, why not just play a text based sim.

[Brando70]

I assume fast pitch means generated pitch counts? Yuck. Let's lose working the count, guessing pitches because of how you worked the count, running a hit and run when you get a count where you expect a fastball, or a straight set when you expect a curveball. Might as well make it 3-2 and just have one pitch K's, BB's, or balls put in play. And pitch underhand with a nice arc.

Hell, one of the reasons I migrated from Strat-o-matic and APBA text sims to Diamond Mind was the addition of pitch-by-pitch. If all you want is stats without the gameplay, why not just play a text based sim.

No, fast pitch turns off a lot of the cutscenes and things like the catcher throwing the ball back to the pitcher. It's all presentation stuff. Quick counts are the generated counts.

[Aristo]

I assume fast pitch means generated pitch counts? Yuck. Let's lose working the count, guessing pitches because of how you worked the count, running a hit and run when you get a count where you expect a fastball, or a straight set when you expect a curveball. Might as well make it 3-2 and just have one pitch K's, BB's, or balls put in play. And pitch underhand with a nice arc.

Hell, one of the reasons I migrated from Strat-o-matic and APBA text sims to Diamond Mind was the addition of pitch-by-pitch. If all you want is stats without the gameplay, why not just play a text based sim.

No, fast pitch turns off a lot of the cutscenes and things like the catcher throwing the ball back to the pitcher. It's all presentation stuff. Quick counts are the generated counts.

That makes sense. I would do the same in 2K. It's also how online games run. I lost an online game yesterday 8-7, and it was probably 40 minutes, tops. Pitch counts were way down, which is a big factor. I threw 90 pitches, and my opponent just 57. I drew just one walk, which was to the pitcher of all things.

Of course, 2K was ugly enough that the only reason you leave the extras on was for the stat overlays, and to get commentary that reflected the past X number of days. While I would play a lot of franchise, I would mostly get to around all-Star Break, too. Mostly, I played a lot of MLB Today games, which got games with current rosters, lineups, and commentary that reflected real life. If I played a game the day after a player hit a home run, it would be mentioned during his at bat. The problem with MLB today was that despite having statistics for what happened in every game, they did not apply that to fatigue and pitch counts. It would have been nice if you needed to rest a guy, or play with a short bullpen and a fifth starter sometimes.

But sports gamers are mostly big babies. That would kept them from using certain players. It's the same reason EA took home ice advantage for line changes out of their game. Gamers whined about it.

[Brando70]

I think The Show also tweaked the fast play (not fast pitch, I had it wrong) mode so that some of those overlays happen in that mode. That was the downside of using it, especially because you wouldn't get stats when batters stepped up to the plate.

[Diablo25]

The boys are streaming again. Player ratings, lesser know features being covered.

http://www.twitch.tv/sonysandiegostudio/mobile

[Diablo25]

Very much looking forward to Monday night. Can't wait to play this.

[bkrich83]

Just picked up my copy. Installing it now,

[sportdan30]

Have any quick thoughts?

Looking forward to Tuesday!

[Diablo25]

Have any quick thoughts?

Looking forward to Tuesday!

A few guys have been streaming on Twitch all weekend if you want to give it a look.

[bkrich83]

Have any quick thoughts?

Looking forward to Tuesday!

I posted this over at OS a little bit ago.

Only played one full game so far. Just some random thoughts.

-Graphics have improved for sure. Colors really seem to pop this year. Game play feels silky smooth pretty much the whole game. I don't have the numbers but the framerate seems better and more consistent.

-I love the directional hitting where you use the left stick to adjust your vision and look for pitches in certain zones. Really adds to the pitcher vs. batter matchup

- Quick Counts seem to be better balanced this year.

-Fielding seems to be much improved.. This maybe the first year I use manual fielding in about 5 years.

-Camera angles seem to be tweaked this year, but for the better.

-Am I imaginig things or is there no post game highlight reel anymore?

-Maybe it's the more consistent framerate, or maybe it's my imagination, but it seems a little easier to square up on fastballs this year.

-To me pitching is a little bit tougher this year. This along with the new defensive system, give the CPU offense a little more punch imo, that's a good thing for sure.

I'll play more tonight once basketball is over.


A few pics from my own little spring training Mets vs. Padres.

[Sudz]

Nice pics.

Any feedback on RTTS?

[bkrich83]

Nice pics.

Any feedback on RTTS?

Haven't played rtts yet. Will play tonight.

[TCrouch]

I'm gonna miss Kemp

He killed my brother's Giants more times than I could count in '14. Thanks for salt in the wound, Brian.

[Brando70]

Wow, those pics are amazing.

[bkrich83]

I'm gonna miss Kemp

He killed my brother's Giants more times than I could count in '14. Thanks for salt in the wound, Brian.

Yeah it will be nice to see him not killing the Pads for once.

[bkrich83]

Wow, those pics are amazing.

The graphics are amazing. Major upgrade in the lighting and overall feel on the stadiums.

I

[sportdan30]

Thanks for the impressions! And the visuals do look beautiful.

There are so many subtle improvements that this game is going to be firmly planted in my PS4 for weeks to come.

+ improved pitch counts for quick play
+ faster loading times so we can get to the game faster
+ a ton new fielding animations
+ not every player runs to first like Pete Rose (Ortiz, Pujols, Molina, etc. will pull up on grounders)
+ more user control over fielding
+ improved lighting, and realistic day to night transitioning.
+ more realistic pitch movement
+ a strategic addition to batting that will make it feel more realistic
+ each stadium has their unique shade and pattern of grass (small detail, but cool as heck!)

[dbdynsty25]

I'm gonna miss Kemp

He killed my brother's Giants more times than I could count in '14. Thanks for salt in the wound, Brian.

Yeah it will be nice to see him not killing the Pads for once.

Until he tears his hammy again and is getting his 25 mil sitting on the trainers table.

[TCrouch]

I'm gonna miss Kemp

He killed my brother's Giants more times than I could count in '14. Thanks for salt in the wound, Brian.

Yeah it will be nice to see him not killing the Pads for once.

Until he tears his hammy again and is getting his 25 mil sitting on the trainers table.

Low blow.

[tjung0831]

My Preload is done......it did the initial 4gb download, then the update file, and now it just finished the 36gb download. Still can't play until 11pm CST though. Really looking forward to this one! Game is looking beautiful!

[sportdan30]

My Preload is done......it did the initial 4gb download, then the update file, and now it just finished the 36gb download. Still can't play until 11pm CST though. Really looking forward to this one! Game is looking beautiful!

Where o' where were you able to get this game early?

[bkrich83]

Thanks for the impressions! And the visuals do look beautiful.

There are so many subtle improvements that this game is going to be firmly planted in my PS4 for weeks to come.

+ improved pitch counts for quick play
+ faster loading times so we can get to the game faster
+ a ton new fielding animations
+ not every player runs to first like Pete Rose (Ortiz, Pujols, Molina, etc. will pull up on grounders)
+ more user control over fielding
+ improved lighting, and realistic day to night transitioning.
+ more realistic pitch movement
+ a strategic addition to batting that will make it feel more realistic
+ each stadium has their unique shade and pattern of grass (small detail, but cool as heck!)

The improved pitch counts, load times, fielding and pith movement are apparent right away imo.

Really enjoy the game. Bummed they killed the postgame highlight reel however.