MLB '08 news and info

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 7:33 pm

Slumber,

I don't know if it makes any difference but -- I play on HoF, and I'm a relative newcomer to The Show. I didn't get into last year's version.

This year, it's becoming my HH/MVP game. I loved those two games.

Like I said, I play on HoF, and I'm not finding it a bit hokey at all. I had a few games back, where I lost the lead in the 6th and though oh geez here comes the AI. Two innings later, I started an inning playing small ball and then timed a pitch really well to tie the game. In the 9th, I just played small ball again, and got a game winning RBI single to win the game.

Maybe, I've just played so much baseball over the years, I know what to do.

But I do wish the AI had a little more teeth and times. With the Rockies, I've started the season out 5-1.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:20 am

I've finally arrived at some HoF sliders that boost the CPU offense and limit human hitting. Some other tweaks to try and address easy steals, extra base hits and walks, but some of those things aren't really fixable. No biggie... I mainly want to be able to play the game all out and feel like I've earned a win, and I'm pretty much there (though I didn't win a game tonight). I actually had to scale the CPU offense back and boost mine up a bit at one point.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:57 am

Slumber, mind posting your sliders?

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:35 am

I think this bug was already reported, but I saw this last night: man on first, one out, and I hit a two-run homer. When the next batter comes up, the man who was on first was now on second. I got credit for both runners on the home run, and when I drove in the guy from second, he indeed scored.

Not sure what triggered it. I'm about 12 games into my franchise and I haven't seen this before. Hopefully this kind of stuff will get patched.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:51 am

JRod wrote:Slumber, mind posting your sliders?

I'd like to know what you did too, Slumber. Thanks!

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:52 am

Sure! These are listed as adjustments from defaults. You'll notice I work in broad strokes. When I visit OS and see all those +3's and -7's my head spins.

USER

Pitch Command-10
Hit Quality -10
Power -5
Timing Window -10
OF Speed -10
Baserunner Speed -10

CPU

Pitch Control -10
Hit Quality +10
Power +5
Timing Window +10
OF Speed -10
IF Throw Speed +10
Baserunner Speed -10

I've been getting good user walks with these. If you pitch mindlessly, the CPU will punish you. What I've enjoyed about these on both sides of the ball is that you really need to utilize the hot/cold zones (pull them up with 'select'), both when pitching, and when looking for a pitch to hit. This gives you a lot less safe real estate to pitch to, which in tandem with the slight dropoff in pitch command (I say 'slight' because in this game most of the sliders, even when taken to extremes, are quite subtle) leads to user walks.

I played a few games with CPU Power at +10 and human at -10, and they went yard on me repeatedly, while I was batting with a wet noodle. It's at least comforting to know that such conditions can exist within this engine.

OF Speed is tweaked to allow more extra base hits, both CPU and Human. Outfielders in general seemed to gallop too quickly to me, and while this doesn't make an enormous difference, I have seen more doubles as fielders can't close on balls so quickly that aren't hit in their immediate vicinity.

You'd think dropping baserunner speed would counteract the attempt to yield more extra base hits, but I'm not even convinced this slider works. I lowered it to introduce the ever so slight possibility that Jose Reyes might be caught stealing, which still may never happen. This was also partly the reason for CPU IF Throw Speed +10, which is also an attempt to counteract all infield singles I've gotten because the CPU forgets its sense of urgency when throwing over. I dropped the CPU's baserunning out of fairness, and because I need all the help I can get when Moises Alou won't rush a throw to the plate, and because quite sincerely I don't think the slider makes a bit damn difference anyhow.

I may tweak more, as the CPU foul tips might be a little out of hand with the current pitcher/batter dynamic (my pitchers are getting to 100 pitches a tad too early, but I want to play more before making a final judgment), but I'm just happy to get the game into an engaging and challenging state for myself.

And by the way this is with all interfaces set to defaults, with metered pitching. I want the interfaces to be the same offline and on when possible, and I think it all works fine with these sliders. Guess pitch is on, and I need it with these, especially looking for pitches in my hot zones.

fanatic · Post by **fanatic** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:00 am

Just wanted to chime in and say that I'm really digging Sky's sliders as well.

Opening game for my Jays in Yankee stadium and the newly acquired Rolen hits a 2-run shot off Joba in the 8th to win it. Awesome! Nothing like busting out a good Kirk Gibson fist-pump while playing the PS3 to freak out the wife.

GameSeven · Post by **GameSeven** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:06 am

After catching the chorus to "Sweep the Leg" more than a few times and finally inferring they were singing about "The Karate Kid," I had to youtube this and was surprised I'd never heard this song or seen the video. Pretty funny if you grew up in the eighties...

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/uFlQNtL8F9s&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:15 am

Slumberland wrote:Sure! These are listed as adjustments from defaults. You'll notice I work in broad strokes. When I visit OS and see all those +3's and -7's my head spins.

Heh heh. I know what you mean. I wonder about the +3 to injury sliders when the game has only been out for a short while...

Anyway, I'm going to give these a shot. I've actually been getting a good amount of extra-base hits recently, though, simply by using guess pitch more and the power swing. Do you use the power swing, Slumber? I also get thrown out enough while stealing, but that may be because I don't have a Reyes on my team!

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:19 am

Power swing? Do I ever! This is mostly about the difference between being able to get a double off a ball hit in the shallow gap with a speedy runner as opposed to having to hit it deep in the gap, even to the wall, in order to have a chance without the outfielder scooping it up post-haste.

That's good to know about your base stealers... these sliders might be slightly Met-centric in that regard. But I'd be curious to know your thoughts about the pitcher/batter duel specifically. That's mostly what I was working on.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:21 am

GameSeven wrote:After catching the chorus to "Sweep the Leg" more than a few times and finally inferring they were singing about "The Karate Kid," I had to youtube this and was surprised I'd never heard this song or seen the video. Pretty funny if you grew up in the eighties...

Great song! I'm surprised you hadn't heard of it before, though!

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:22 am

Slumberland wrote:But I'd be curious to know your thoughts about the pitcher/batter duel specifically. That's mostly what I was working on.

Will do. Your success there was what I was most hoping to swipe from you anyway.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:48 am

I've started using the guess location feature more. I found that it doesn't unbalance the game for me, and it helps me get more realistic at-bats because I am more selective.

I also had much better success in drawing walks last night after I lowered pitch command to -10 and raised the counts to +8. I managed three walks, including a couple back-to-backs, and could have drawn a couple more if I hadn't chased on full counts. Still having trouble with pitching walks myself. I get good counts but it seems like most of my 3-ball pitches end up in the zone unless I move the stick so far I know I'm going to throw a ball. I'm going to try reducing the ump consistency and seeing if it makes some of those borderline calls more likely to be balls.

Leadfoot5 · Post by **Leadfoot5** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:32 pm

GameSeven wrote:After catching the chorus to "Sweep the Leg" more than a few times and finally inferring they were singing about "The Karate Kid," I had to youtube this and was surprised I'd never heard this song or seen the video. Pretty funny if you grew up in the eighties...

Awesome, and I just caught that movie on TV again this past weekend. Great stuff!! Thanks G7!

RallyMonkey · Post by **RallyMonkey** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:29 pm

Well we always talk about sample size so now being 9 games into using SkyAllStars slider set i just wanted to pass on my results for anyone interested. I'm playing with the Red Sox, classic pitching, no aids on. For the first 7 games i used Guess Pitch-New. For the 8th and 9th games i used Guess Pitch-No Feedback. The number in ( ) to the right of the errors column is extra base hits per team.

Game 1
Tigers 14 13 1 ( 8 )
Red Sox 7 22 1 (4)

Game 2
Tigers 10 12 2 (6)
Red Sox 5 11 0 (2)

Game 3
Tigers 8 14 0 (7)
Red Sox 1 8 1 (0)

Game 4
Yankees 2 5 1 (3)
Red Sox 3 9 1 (2)

Game 5
Yankees 6 9 0 (3)
Red Sox 10 19 0 (3)

Game 6
Yankees 0 2 0 (1)
Red Sox 10 12 0 (4)

Game 7
Red Sox 7 12 0 (2)
Indians 0 2 0 (1)

Game 8
Red Sox 3 8 0 (2)
Indians 4 10 0 (3)

Game 9
Red Sox 2 7 1 (2)
Yankees 6 9 1 (6)

Game 9 was with Beckett on the mound who had been pretty dominant during the season to that point. He struck out 10 still, but a Lugo error followed by a single and then Matsui hit a bomb off the right field foul poll in the 7th spelled disaster.

Anyway, just great variety. As long as the Tigers don't come to town again i'll be fine. Ouch.

Note: I also played a game on HOF using Pared's HOF slider tweaks and found the game on AS with these sliders to play better, for my taste anyway.

Nozzleman_216 · Post by **Nozzleman_216** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:36 pm

Ok, so I tried a game with guess pitch on with no feedback. What exactly does this do? I am assuming this will not show you the area the ball is going (which imo is broken somewhat as balls way out of the zone still register if its close to zone you chose) or make a noise if you guessed the pitch type correctly. So what' the point in guessing? Not sure I see the idea of using this.

I too tried Pared's HOF sliders and will continue a few more games with them. Liked what I saw the first game I played though.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:49 pm

SEMINOLE wrote:Ok, so I tried a game with guess pitch on with no feedback. What exactly does this do? I am assuming this will not show you the area the ball is going (which imo is broken somewhat as balls way out of the zone still register if its close to zone you chose) or make a noise if you guessed the pitch type correctly. So what' the point in guessing? Not sure I see the idea of using this.

You still get the bonuses to contact and/or power for guessing correctly, but you just don't know you guessed correctly before the pitch comes in.

And yes, the guess pitch will now still register a correct guess even if the ball is a ball out of the zone you guessed. You just still have to use your judgement on whether or not to swing. This isn't broken; it's an intended change from the old system (which you can still opt to use) which let you know whether or not you should bother swinging or not before the pitch even came in.

I actually think the new system is an improvement.

RallyMonkey · Post by **RallyMonkey** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 2:51 pm

Ok, so I tried a game with guess pitch on with no feedback. What exactly does this do?

Actually Sem Guess Pitch with no Feedback is as close as you are going to get to really being in the box. Should you guess correct you are not notified but you are rewarded if you did guess, are correct, and make a good swing. The problem with feedback on is that it's not indicative of real life. If a batter is in the box and thinks high and outside, the catcher doesn't lean in and tell him if he's correct (i.e. the flashing red triangle) BEFORE the pitch is thrown. Instead once the pitch leaves the hand, you recognize the up and out fastball, which you predicted, and you make your swing with the reward being you guessed correctly. Make sense?

And a note on that is i typically will only guess in favorable counts. I don't make a guess every pitch.

My problem with feedback on is that even when you're wrong, you're right. What i mean by that is if you guess a fastball outside and get nothing, you know it's something else, probably a breaker, somewhere else. Sure there are three other zones, but just by guessing incorrectly you were right. I don't like that at all.

Hope this helps.

btmmayor · Post by **btmmayor** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:08 pm

Rally, thats the type of CPU offensive variety I would love to see. Time to give those sliders a try (slightly tweaked for my sorry Pirates).

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:29 pm

Pared has some sliders now as well:

All values listed are either + (right) or - (left) 10 from default.

CPU

Hit Quality -8
Power +2
Fielding Reaction Time -4
Timing Window +10
Foul Tip Percentage -2
Ground Ball Error Freq +1

Player 1

Hit Quality -8
Power +2
Fielder Speed -2
Timing Window +5
Foul Tip Percentage -2
Ground Ball Error Freq +1

(Forgot to add these):
Pitch Count +1
Wind +4 or +5
HOF Difficulty

Leadfoot5 · Post by **Leadfoot5** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:40 pm

RallyMonkey wrote: My problem with feedback on is that even when you're wrong, you're right. What i mean by that is if you guess a fastball outside and get nothing, you know it's something else, probably a breaker, somewhere else. Sure there are three other zones, but just by guessing incorrectly you were right. I don't like that at all.

Another nice tweak to the system the developers talked about over on OS to counter this exact situation is that your ability to make good contact when guessing wrong is lowered. I love the fact that they added this additional risk/reward to the feature. So in your example, you may now know to look for a breaking pitch in a different zone, but your ability to do anything good with the pitch is lowered.

That's why I never guess pitch with 2 strikes, I don't want to risk penalizing myself for guessing wrong.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:43 pm

Leadfoot5 wrote:
That's why I never guess pitch with 2 strikes, I don't want to risk penalizing myself for guessing wrong.

Agreed. Never guess unless you are prepared to take a strike. I think in a dozen or so games of play I got *one* hit while swinging for a pitch that I had guessed incorrectly.

You are far better off taking when you guess wrong.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:44 pm

Leadfoot5 wrote: That's why I never guess pitch with 2 strikes, I don't want to risk penalizing myself for guessing wrong.

I do the same thing. In favorable counts, I'll guess location and pitch. Nothing feels better than guessing right and smashing it out of the park.

fanatic · Post by **fanatic** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:46 pm

Agreed rally...feedback on is far too much of a crutch. The whole guess pitch thing is pretty realistic, but the point of "guessing" is that you have to react in 1/10th of a second to see if your guess was right. If you know the outcome before the pitch is even delivered, the whole essence of hitting has been thrown out the window. I'm sure the development team has done as good of a job with it as possible (as Leadfoot mentions), but I just don't see the point of it. I've been playing with guess pitch off, but I think that the no feedback options might be something to try.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 3:51 pm

I tried Pared's... they still seemed really easy.