ESPN Baseball Impressions ...

snate · Post by **snate** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 6:38 pm

sportdan30 wrote:I thought the trade for Cedeno for Delgado and Widger was a steal for the Cards, but my early impression of Cedeno is not good. Not only does he not work the count, he made one of the poorest attempts at diving for a ball I've seen in years. I thought this dude had wheels. He looked slow. I know his defense isn't the best, but even his speed seemed lacking.

LOL!!! The Mets gave the Cardinals $9 million and Cedeno for two guys that the Mets are going to cut and every Met fan is rejoicing. Cedeno is the worst fielding MLB outfielder since Todd Hundley tried to play LF. He has no baseball instincts (running, fielding or hitting) whatsoever. He has gained weight and lost his speed - which was his only asset. He absolutley worthless and getting rid of him was addition by subtraction.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 6:41 pm

ok, here are some more thoughts.

Stealing is FIXED! I tried to steal everytime I got on base and here are the results.

Reggie Sanders 3 ATT 2 successful
Jim Edmonds 1 ATT 0 successful
Albert Pujols 1 ATT out by a mile
Tony Womack 2 ATT 1 successful
Roger Cedeno 1 ATT 1 successful

So as you see the success rate is not near as good and actually seems pretty realistic. Here's the kicker, though. Catcher throws can and will be offline. On one of Sanders steals, I was sure he was out, but the throw pull the 2b to the left of the bag and he was safe. Later, Tony Womack had one that I just knew was going to be safe and the throw pulled the 2b inside of the bag and in the only place he would have gotten him out...really good stuff here.

I saw 4 errors in my last game and they were a beauty to behold. On one of them, I pulled the ball down the third base line and the ball clearly hit the 3rd baseman in the shoulder and bounced into foul ground near the dugout. Later, Tony Womack made a throw to Pujols at first and the ball hit him just below the glove for an error. Womack also made a fielding error at second.

I've seen stuff in two games that I haven't seen in any other game before. It doesn't have the feel or the polish of MVP, but it definitely plays a much more realistic game of baseball. I've seen hit and runs, stolen bases, guys trying to bunt for hits and it seems like the AI always does the right thing for the situation.

I've been walked on four pitches and I've given up walks not trying to. I just saw Pudge do a curtain call after his second homerun against me.

Anyway, has anyone hit a homerun without using the power button? I haven't even come close.

OmflShark · Post by **OmflShark** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 6:42 pm

1)How long does it take to play a game?

2) Is there a fast play mode, or sliders to make the games go quicker?

3) Can you sim part of the game? For example, if you have a big lead in the 6th inning can you then go ahead and sim the rest of the game?

Thanks

snate · Post by **snate** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 6:44 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:
snate wrote:Sinking drive to center. I have Cameron speed bursting in. I dive for the ball when I probably could have caught it on the run. What happens?
Speed bursting? Please tell me you're kidding. They better not have a f*cking speed burst button in a baseball game.

You can turn it off, but I like it. I think that it was done very well. It is done in a sim way - it is limited and different for each player. It makes fielding much more interesting and challenging. You need to get a good "jump" on the ball by quickly pulling the left trigger. It also effects dives and throws. As you can see I overdid it with Cameron. So you need to use it wisely.

snate · Post by **snate** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 6:48 pm

Badgun wrote: Anyway, has anyone hit a homerun without using the power button? I haven't even come close.

I have. But I don't have a power button. I use classic - 1 button.

I hit 0 in my 1st game and 2 HR's in my 2nd game.

snate · Post by **snate** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 6:53 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:
sportdan30 wrote:Can you tell a difference in facing a pitcher rather than a regular player when you're on the mound? Meaning, more times than not will you strike the pitcher out?

4. Pitchers suck in this game at the plate like they should. Of course you will give up the occasional hit to them but in general there's a noticeable difference between pitchers and standard hitters.

I actually aimed inside off the plate to Hampton and Leiter left it over the plate and he took it deep. The funny thing is that that shot pretty much destroyed Leiter's confidence. It had much more effect than when he gave up a shot to Andruw earlier in the game.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:00 pm

Just played one game on all star.
My White Sox lost 5-3 to the Royals.

I left Loaiza in for 1 batter too many.
Can u blame me? With that pen....

Anyway.
I had almost all the goofy stuff turned off. I just wanna play ball.
The game was fun but so was MVP.
Now I play, have fun and wait for you guys to find the bugs and ruin it.

snate · Post by **snate** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:05 pm

GridIron_Assasin wrote:Now I play, have fun and wait for you guys to find the bugs and ruin it.

LOL. Post of the year!

btmmayor · Post by **btmmayor** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:05 pm

One thing I've got to know: Does the field size actually feel like a Major League ball park this year? In last years version the fields felt like you were playing baseball on a softball field. I also didn't like the fact that the pitchers looked like they were way too close to the batter. From Badgun's impressions this looks to be the same.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:07 pm

I'm playing with the contact and power swings and have hit several homeruns with a regular swing.

Gridiron,
Are you the Gridiron Assassin who used to call up the Score in Chicago? Just curious.

pigpen81 · Post by **pigpen81** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:08 pm

guys check it out

go to your profile

there are batting stats for every pitch type, in every zone

so you can see where you are successfull and what pitches etc.

for instance, after one game I am hitting .500 on FB's down and in to LH's

great stuff for you "Ted Williams zones of success" stat freaks

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:11 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:
Brando70 wrote:Ah, crap, there goes another $50! So much for resisting the urge -- I'm going to stop by the store tonight and grab this if it's in.

Seriously, though, thanks to everyone for taking time out to leave impressions.
Brando,
More good news. This urge will only cost you $40. That's 20% off of your normal urge.

Scoop, spoken like a good copywriter! Now I'm really sold.

Seriously, though, seems like Sega did the unthinkable and (gasp!) focused on gameplay improvements instead of improved texture modeling of players' nutsacks.

snate · Post by **snate** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:14 pm

btmmayor wrote:One thing I've got to know: Does the field size actually feel like a Major League ball park this year? In last years version the fields felt like you were playing baseball on a softball field.

Fixed. The new fielding camera and player scaling seems to make the field appear bigger.

I also didn't like the fact that the pitchers looked like they were way too close to the batter. From Badgun's impressions this looks to be the same

Fixed. The new low wide batting angle makes the pitcher appear further away.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:14 pm

ScoopBrady wrote:I'm playing with the contact and power swings and have hit several homeruns with a regular swing.

Gridiron,
Are you the Gridiron Assassin who used to call up the Score in Chicago? Just curious.

Nope...but I did like the monicker...so I stole it.
Thought it worked for the site.

pigpen81 · Post by **pigpen81** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:14 pm

have you guys noticed that when the pitcher walk from the mound to the dugout they walk like neanderthals.....funny stuff.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:19 pm

GridIron_Assasin wrote:
ScoopBrady wrote:I'm playing with the contact and power swings and have hit several homeruns with a regular swing.

Gridiron,
Are you the Gridiron Assassin who used to call up the Score in Chicago? Just curious.

Nope...but I did like the monicker...so I stole it.
Thought it worked for the site.

LMAO, I always wondered about that too.

bkrich83 · Post by **bkrich83** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:23 pm

Well I have only played one game, but DAMN this game looks like it could be all the things that I was hoping WSB was goinng to be last year.

Customization is unreal, and it played a great game of baseball. Still only played one game though. Gave up an upper deck shot to Mike Sweeney when Wells hung a curve. There looks to be definite collision detection on HR balls.

My only complaints so far are the player models are still kind of goofy, and that on fly balls to the outfield the camera angles seem a bit low. But if in a week or so those are my only complaints, then I Am set, as they really don't affect the gameplay too much.

snate · Post by **snate** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:45 pm

Since I have only been gushing about the game I thought I would give some negatives - all of them are artistic:

There is player scaling but there is not enough variety in body types.

Faces are average at best. There are not enough real ones again.

Batting stances still kinda suck. The incessant rocking and neck wrench are still there.

The movement and depiction of pitches could be improved. It is really tough to pick up the breaking stuff.

The swing animation could be better but the transition when the ball is hit is much better this year so it appears much more fliud. The ball doesn't apppear to "bend" like it did last year.

So far I have no gameplay complaints. I don't think I have ever said that about any baseball game after playing a few games.

RallyMonkey · Post by **RallyMonkey** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:49 pm

[size=

9]The movement and depiction of pitches could be improved. It is really tough to pick up the breaking stuff

[/size]

Really snate? I found that to be improved. Granted, i still swing a balls, but i have found myself picking up breaking balls easier than before. Of course that could be the cold medicine too.

Also, i'm sending you a PM about sliders, don't want to clutter up the board if no one else cares.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 7:56 pm

Mike Hampton tore his bicep throwing a pitch in my season opener. Ha!

Walks! How refreshing. Playing on All-Star default, Hampton's replacement actually walked a run home. My Mets still lost though. Glavine was pure 2003-edition. I did manage to finally strike out a couple batters, which I was unable to do in my first couple of games.

Seeing some great, varied stuff in the field. And how about those strike zones? They seem just right to me.

I don't quite understand the reviewers who are calling this a glorified roster update. It feels very different under the hood.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:01 pm

snate wrote:
btmmayor wrote:One thing I've got to know: Does the field size actually feel like a Major League ball park this year? In last years version the fields felt like you were playing baseball on a softball field.
Fixed. The new fielding camera and player scaling seems to make the field appear bigger.

I also didn't like the fact that the pitchers looked like they were way too close to the batter. From Badgun's impressions this looks to be the same
Fixed. The new low wide batting angle makes the pitcher appear further away.

I gotta try that. It just felt too close at default.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:10 pm

Slumberland wrote:Mike Hampton tore his bicep throwing a pitch in my season opener. Ha!

Walks! How refreshing. Playing on All-Star default, Hampton's replacement actually walked a run home. My Mets still lost though. Glavine was pure 2003-edition. I did manage to finally strike out a couple batters, which I was unable to do in my first couple of games.

Seeing some great, varied stuff in the field. And how about those strike zones? They seem just right to me.

I don't quite understand the reviewers who are calling this a glorified roster update. It feels very different under the hood.

Yeah, isn't it neat to actually see walks and steals and hit and runs? Almost forgot what they looked like after playing MVP for so long.

One thing for sure, and pk this is for you, if you're not patient in this game you will get destroyed. I'm such a free swinger and it works fine for me with MVP, but in ESPN it's all different. It seems like the pitcher will continue to throw it out of the zone as long as you swing at it out of the zone. So basically, swinging at everything will get you 16ks like I got against Jamie Moyer.

Another thing I noticed in one of my games I guess it was about the 6th inning with Woody Williams...Hudler said, "He's well over 50 pitches now so let's see if it affects his control". The very next pitch, I was setting up out of the zone with a changeup and it went right down the middle and Pudge grooved it for a 3 run dinger. I can only imagine when the slider guys get ahold of this how good it's going to get.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:13 pm

Badgun wrote:[One thing for sure, and pk this is for you, if you're not patient in this game you will get destroyed. I'm such a free swinger and it works fine for me with MVP, but in ESPN it's all different. It seems like the pitcher will continue to throw it out of the zone as long as you swing at it out of the zone. So basically, swinging at everything will get you 16ks like I got against Jamie Moyer.

Yep

2 games and Frank Thomas has 5 Ks

AJColossal · Post by **AJColossal** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:19 pm

Agree with all the good stuff being said. As far as first impressions go, this is a fantastically sound representation of REAL baseball. Admittedly it's still a little early, but don't forget we a have a whole motherload of sliders and settings to pour over as well.

This game is further proof that most game reviewers don't know what the hell they're talking about....

Cincinnati_Kid · Post by **Cincinnati_Kid** » Wed Apr 07, 2004 8:29 pm

been playing since about 5:30

now i was one of the ones from the get go this year was very excited for MLB and very pleased with how the game played....it had a undeniable fun factor that for me ASB,MVP simply didnt posess

and rosters aside i was enjoying it for what it was and was at ease with myelf over the fact that high heat for what it was worth at least on this genration of systems was DEAD

and that WSB was never going too be what i had hoped for since i got my last ounce of gameplay out of WSB 98.....

i believed in none of the hype on any of the games this year...only based my favortism for the MLB 2005 release on the fact it was the most enjoyable experince i had last year and it looked much improved where as nothing else too me looked really all that much different

i still planned to try them all as i had no true prejudice i simply had personal opinions and was like most looking for that game

thanks too the pk method i have made back any and all my money if not came out on top since feb using ebay too sell off titles instead of buy at eb then trade into eb

today i reciieved a very pleasant suprise when i fired up ESPN BASEBALL maybe it was my low expectations for once or maybe its my pleasure in finding that this game (at least so far) seems too meld my 2 favorite baseball series so well (hh,wsb) but after several years of disapointment due too my expectations of segas baseball products ....im finding this game too be possibly the Baseball Gaming Experince i have been waiting for

and the bonus is i havent even tried it on XBL yet

and we know thats AUTOMATIC REPLAY VALUE GALORE as long as the offline game holds up its end

now lets just see if thing hold up......

so far my personal highlights

walks n steals
a great user profile records section something i have wanted since VR Baseball
jim miller......YES!!
player scale in comparison to the field size
clunky crappy missle comand target style cursor finally gone !!!
zone hitting is really really well done from what i can tell so far
did i say zone hitting.......it makes all the difference in the world

low lights

player faces.....well zombies do seem to be the in thing these day
player tag animations.....ugh...im not out.....no wait did he tag anyone...yuck
no JOE MORGAN

no HOMERUN KING styled homerun presentation....man i loved all the eye candy in that game during homeruns
minor league teams

but then again the trade off is i can hit left handed homeruns

.........................

question anyone ??...has anyone seen any players actually suffer an injury on the field.....like players did in the old saturn wsb games...i loved that...i sure hope those gun shots from the grassynole styled injuries arent in here somewhere