MVP Impressions

[jLp vAkEr0]

What's with the comments about only been able to hit hr's in hitters hot zones?
I'm trying this game tonight.

[James_E]

Also have the PC version. When I am up at bat, I hold down the #8 button on my Logitech. Directional pad over to Manager options and select Warm Up Pitchers.

Sorry I can't be more help, I can just tell you it works for me.

Thank you. I will try this tonight I hope.

[jLp vAkEr0]

BTW, how would this baby run on my:

P4 2.6(800mhz)
512mb ddr(400mhz)
Radeon 9200

I may wanna try playing it on the PC.

[Slumberland]

What's with the comments about only been able to hit hr's in hitters hot zones?
I'm trying this game tonight.

This isn't a probem I've had... I think the comments are mainly alluding to the fact that it's weird that a pitch up and in is the prime pitch to jump on in MVP, as opposed to a pitch right down the middle.

For what it's worth, I'm having the most luck with pitches down and in. I had a two homerun game with Doug Man-Cave-Itch last night that I can't stop thinking about. Both pitches were down and in.

Love the fatigue and little injuries in this game, as it forces me to really think about the lineups I'm putting out there. Piazza needs a lot of rest, that old fart.

[pk500]

Anyone expecting MLB 2006 to be great will likely be disappointed because 989 sports has NEVER EVER produced a decent sports game. It has NEVER happened and it is foolish to expect anything more than a turd. It is 989 afterall.....remember Gameday 2001 and all the disasters that followed? I do not think it has changed and probably never will.


As disppointing as MLB 2K5 is it will probably be much better than MLB 2006.

This is such a laughable statement that, like Slumber, I don't know where to begin.

I haven't owned a PS2 since 2002, so I can't comment on recent 989 efforts. But MLB was a decent game back in the late 90s for the PSX, especially the year Ripken was on the cover.

And Gameday 98 blew away Madden 98, as it was the first NFL game to offer polygon player models and icon passing.

And don't forget Supercross Circuit, 989's motocross game for the PSX. It's still arguably the best motocross/supercross game for any console, as it had licensed indoor and outdoor AMA tracks with ruts that developed in the track and a great clutch function.

989 may not be a colossus and has developed its share of turds, but your blanket statement was ridiculous.

Take care,
PK

[James_E]

BTW, how would this baby run on my:

P4 2.6(800mhz)
512mb ddr(400mhz)
Radeon 9200

I may wanna try playing it on the PC.

It will run fine and look incredible. You *might* get the stuttering on throws across the infield (I do) but it is not a very big deal. Other than that the game is SMOOTH.

(Some people with 9200 cards but fast CPUs (like yours) are saying they DON'T get the stuttering problem at all.. so maybe you'll luck out.)

But the stuttering is not bad enough to steer you away from the PC version IMHO.

See you on EASO. I'm "srjamese" on there.

[Brando70]

Skipping the ever-so-crappy Glendon Rusch doesn't exactly amount to a game killer for me. I'm cool with that.

It's by no means a game killer, I just thought it was odd. He's rated pretty well and his scouting report is good. I was just left wondering why they had him listed to start, then Guzman takes the mound.

I wish you could see other team's injuries, suspensions, etc..


Todd

Todd, you can. Go to the Around the League section from the main dynasty menu and you can see suspensions, injuries, signings, etc. for each team, including minors.

[MizzouRah]

Skipping the ever-so-crappy Glendon Rusch doesn't exactly amount to a game killer for me. I'm cool with that.

It's by no means a game killer, I just thought it was odd. He's rated pretty well and his scouting report is good. I was just left wondering why they had him listed to start, then Guzman takes the mound.

I wish you could see other team's injuries, suspensions, etc..


Todd

Todd, you can. Go to the Around the League section from the main dynasty menu and you can see suspensions, injuries, signings, etc. for each team, including minors.

Ahh.. found that, thanks. Now if you could only check out a team's rotation.

Todd

[Brando70]

Todd, I think if you check out the Scouting Report before a scheduled game, you can see their rotation if you scroll left-to-right with the d-pad. I think the SP are listed in 1-5 order.

James, regarding warming up pitchers, it's a little goofy. If you pause a game, you have to either go into the batter sub or defensive sub area -- if you go to the pen, you'll just see the empty pen. If you use the quick manage button from the game (white on XBox, not sure on PC), I think you will find a warm up pitchers option in one of those menus.

I am really enjoying the game so far. I started a Cubs dynasty, and in my first home game against Milwaukee, the Brewers walked 7 guys, inlcuding a bases-loaded walk. I was using the 4 cam for a bit, but I switched back to the 1 hitter's eye cam. It's harder to judge the speed of pitches, but I'm having an easier time judging balls and strikes.

Right now, as far as on-the-field action goes, I have only three complaints:

1) It is still rather hard to walk players. I am using Pared's sliders from OS, which has the meter at -25 and User pitching at -50, and I still only walk a couple per game. I pitch around quite a bit, too.

2) CPU still swings at too many first-pitch balls. I've turned down the swing slider a bit, and it hasn't helped that much. Wish they had the sliders Sega have. Part of it is that I think you have to really move the stick to make sure you're out of the strike zone (more than 3/4 of the way).

3) I am homerless in my first four dynasty games. I've hit a couple in exhibition, and have gotten a couple to the warning track in my season, but no dingers. I chalk this up to user error first, but I may bump up the power slider.

Other than that, I think this game is almost perfect. The CPU offense is varied and smart. Defensively, they are tough without being superhuman. This is the first game in this 2005-2006 cycle that I'm just dying to keep playing -- sitting at work thinking about it, don't want to do anything else right now, etc. Unless some really bad bug rears its head, I think I'm hooked for the season.

[webdanzer]

Has anyone taken this for a spin online yet?

Is it anything more than pitches low and/or away, and are people generating offense on such?

I'd like to try myself tonight, if anyone is on late. (Like after midnight eastern or so) I have a hockey game I have to play first...

[GTHobbes]

Anyone expecting MLB 2006 to be great will likely be disappointed because 989 sports has NEVER EVER produced a decent sports game. It has NEVER happened and it is foolish to expect anything more than a turd. It is 989 afterall.....remember Gameday 2001 and all the disasters that followed? I do not think it has changed and probably never will.


As disppointing as MLB 2K5 is it will probably be much better than MLB 2006.

I don't know you TRI, but this may be the most least informed post I've seen this year.

[Brando70]

Anyone expecting MLB 2006 to be great will likely be disappointed because 989 sports has NEVER EVER produced a decent sports game. It has NEVER happened and it is foolish to expect anything more than a turd. It is 989 afterall.....remember Gameday 2001 and all the disasters that followed? I do not think it has changed and probably never will.


As disppointing as MLB 2K5 is it will probably be much better than MLB 2006.

I don't know you TRI, but this may be the most least informed post I've seen this year.

I agree. 989's track record has certainly been spotty, but the first few years of the GameDay series were outstanding and highly innovative. The MLB series was also pretty good early on and has gotten better recently. I think you may see a 989 resurgence on the PS3.

[HouOilers]

[quote="webdanzer"]Has anyone taken this for a spin online yet?

Is it anything more than pitches low and/or away, and are people generating offense on such?

quote]


I've played it online and have had a good time. I only play 9 inning games unranked so my opponents have been fair. I wouldn't play the 5 inning ranked since you'll get some iffy opponents.

[HouOilers]

I can't hit worth a lick in AllStar mode still. After 15 games, Berkman has zero homeruns and is batting .208.

I went to try Pro mode, and hitting is a little bit easier, I scored 4 runs instead of the usual 1 I score on allstar. Problem with Pro mode is that pitching is too easy since the cpu batters swing at anything.

I am trying to find a medium where I can hit well like in pro, but also be challenged by the cpu offense like on allstar. Anyone using some sliders that come close to what I am trying to find?

[HipE]

Has anybody read anything about how the PSP version of MVP 2005 is supposed to compare to the Xbox version?

[Danimal]

Can anyone tell me what the hell Rank Positional Players does under the Roster Masnagement screen.

It basically shows me a list of all my players by position in my whole system and I can rank them. But I don't understand how this is useful in anyway.

If someone knows if this actually does anything can you let me know.

[Zeppo]

Has anyone taken this for a spin online yet?

Is it anything more than pitches low and/or away, and are people generating offense on such?

I'd like to try myself tonight, if anyone is on late. (Like after midnight eastern or so) I have a hockey game I have to play first...

I've played a handful of games online, but not enough to have any idea of trends or game-breakers or any of that. I have real trouble hitting on All-Star, but my theory is to stick with it and I will get there (rather than go down to Pro with it's too-easy pitching).

There is a touch of lag/latency that makes you have to hit the button a little earlier than you are used to, but IMHO it is very consistent. One thing I like about this pitching system is that it really does take an inning or two to 'settle down' and start to really nail that accuracy zone.

There are a couple very annoying, 'fair play' style settings that drive me nuts, however. One is that if you throw to first too many times in a row, you will be warned that you are taking too long to pitch and will be penalized next time. What that penalty is, I have no idea.

The other highly annoying thing is that you apparently can only go to the pause menu and/or the white button menu 3 times per half inning. This can result in you being unable to make a pitching move right when you really need to. I am getting used to this; once aware of it, I have been getting pitchers up in the bullpen while at bat, so that I won't be wasting white button presses getting guys up. But this is a real pain in the ass. It really smacks of the 'fair play' type stuff in Madden, but in MVP you can't turn it off, which I think is just plain stupid.

Still, i have really enjoyed the games I've played online. I like palying the CPU more than in a football game, but it's just not the same. I've had great fun and great games online, if not so much great hitting. But I think it will come.

[thejake]

Can anyone tell me what the hell Rank Positional Players does under the Roster Masnagement screen.

It basically shows me a list of all my players by position in my whole system and I can rank them. But I don't understand how this is useful in anyway.

If someone knows if this actually does anything can you let me know.

I believe the rankings become a factor when you let the cpu optimize rosters. I haven't really messed with it though. What I use it for is to see how my players at each position are ranked overall. It helps me determine who I put in AAA, AA, and A. For instance, if I have a 24 year old short stop who is the second best SS in my organization and he is in single A, I will probably move him to AAA right off the bat because of his age and talent.

[hellbent]

BTW, how would this baby run on my:

P4 2.6(800mhz)
512mb ddr(400mhz)
Radeon 9200

I may wanna try playing it on the PC.

Javi,

You should probably give it a try. It runs perfectly on my rig at 1024x768x32 (P4 3.2Ghz, 512 RAM, GeForce 5300 PCX), and my current video card is a real dog. It runs Madden 05 like a slideshow unless you turn the settings WAY down, but I haven't had any problems with MVP 05.

I played the PS2 version in Best Buy the other day to compare, and the PC control is just as tight as the console version.

Also - If the game is programmed anything like last years' version, having the latest sound card drivers will help your performance too, believe it or not. MVP 04 chugged for me on my old PC last year until I upgraded the sound drivers - don't know if anyone has had that problem this year.

[GROGtheNailer]

I've played 4 games so far and really like this game a lot so far, no one is more suprised than me let me tell you. As a group we should be looking at what works and what doesnt for sliders.

The ball stutter, is there a fix for that? The game plays very well regarding fps but wondering if there is a fix for the ball stutter throwing from 3rd to 1st for example.

Some of the grass textures also seem a little...psycadelic (sp). There is a whole lot to like in this game.

[NoJoke]

I've played 4 games so far and really like this game a lot so far, no one is more suprised than me let me tell you. As a group we should be looking at what works and what doesnt for sliders.

The ball stutter, is there a fix for that? The game plays very well regarding fps but wondering if there is a fix for the ball stutter throwing from 3rd to 1st for example.

Some of the grass textures also seem a little...psycadelic (sp). There is a whole lot to like in this game.

Grog-

I think they released a patch last year that fixed the stutter problem. I would hope they would do the same this year, that is if the don't abandon the game due to the lack of license (i.e. no reason to generate good faith with customers).

the grass ban be fixed somewhat if you turn anti-aliasing and the other thing "AF" up on your video card. It still is a little trippy, but is much better.

Joe

[dbdynsty25]

I think they released a patch last year that fixed the stutter problem.

They claim they did, but they didn't. Think about it? If they knew it was a problem and they fixed it, don't you think they would have addressed it in version 2005?

I tried the patch last year and it was still choppy as hell.

[Slumberland]

On another note, it blows my MIND that the difference between the conglomerate scores of MVP 2005 and MLB 2K5 at gamerankings.com is one sixth of a percentage point. When I release Slumberland MLB 2K6 next year, which is a series of crayon drawings depicting non-licensed players you can tape to your TV, done on paper guaranteed to give you paper cuts, I expect nothing lower than a 65% general rating from the sports gaming media.

[dbdynsty25]

On another note, it blows my MIND that the difference between the conglomerate scores of MVP 2005 and MLB 2K5 at gamerankings.com is one sixth of a percentage point.

It just goes to show you that there are a lot of people who value presentation and style. 2k5 has that in droves...it just doesn't play a very good game of baseball.

[JRod]

1) It is still rather hard to walk players. I am using Pared's sliders from OS, which has the meter at -25 and User pitching at -50, and I still only walk a couple per game. I pitch around quite a bit, too.

2) CPU still swings at too many first-pitch balls. I've turned down the swing slider a bit, and it hasn't helped that much. Wish they had the sliders Sega have. Part of it is that I think you have to really move the stick to make sure you're out of the strike zone (more than 3/4 of the way).

Brando you are going about walks the wrong way. This isn't like High Heat where is you are going to walk there's nothing you can do about it. If you throw 7 BBs a game that's not realistic. I walk anywhere from 0 to 5 walks a game depending on my pitching and pitcher. With someone like Schilling, I can throw heat to even the best hitter's and not get punished. So if the count is 3-2 I can throw a strike. With someone like Tim Wakefield if you don't nibble around guys like Pujols, Rodriguez, etc. you are going to get rocked.

You are nibbling for walks. I use Pared sliders and they are great. Don't worry even nibbling can get rocked. If you don't hit the green you can get hit or throw a ill timed walks.

2) You need to adjust the slider. Take a look at Pared's over at OS they are fantastic.