MLB The Show 16: Talking Game Modes (Roundtable)

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Submitted on: 04/19/2016 by

1. Which mode are you giving the most time to this year thus far?

Chris Sanner: Thus far, Road to the Show is winning my heart. With me also knee deep into GM'ing on OOTP, this offers the absolute best balance for me. The new advancement features, and the ability to realistically play a positional player and be able to see movement through time makes the mode feel new again.

Millennium: I've dabbled in every mode to some extent, but currently Road To The Show and Conquest have my heart. Big Daddy Spoonybarger was just traded from my beloved Orioles to the Phillies, so my life mission has become sticking it to Dan Duquette every chance I get. Once rosters are completed, I still see the majority of my time going into a deep franchise mode.

Ben Vollmer: Without a doubt, franchise mode will be getting 95 percent of my playtime this year. The introduction of several advanced statistics, including the ever popular WAR stat, is enough to keep me busy well into the year. Paired with the new budget tweaks, these elements are certainly going to provide a more thorough and analytical experience.

Jayson Young: Conquest's and Battle Royale's three-inning matches are the best thing to happen to baseball video games since the invention of zone hitting. I love being able to complete a game in 15 to 20 minutes like I could back in baseball's 8-bit and 16-bit eras. And unlike the frustrating Quick Counts option, I don't feel like I'm missing any important action since it's as if the game is starting at a 0-0 score in the seventh inning. I'll still get to hit a full at-bat with everyone in my lineup, and my pitchers will get a chance to throw their full arsenals without being limited by arbitrarily difficult starting counts.

Mike Lowe: Right now, I'm playing mostly Diamond Dynasty Battle Royale. I hope this doesn't skew "the data" that shows more people play these modes than franchise when the truth is that franchise is either busted (carryovers), or folks are waiting for OSFM rosters before playing franchise.

2. Which mode do you see yourself not really playing this seeason?

Chris Sanner: I'm probably going to stick with Road to the Show, though I am also going to try very hard to like Diamond Dynasty this year. I keep saying this is the game and this is the year that a card mode will change my mind -- maybe it will, maybe it won't. We'll see.

Millennium: I'm not playing a ton of the base Diamond Dynasty. I love Battle Royale (With Cheese!) and Conquest due to the ability to play with fantasy squads that I built in short bursts. Playing full 9 innings online almost seems like a chore at this point.

Ben Vollmer: I really need The Show to adopt a similar mode to Ultimate Team because I just can't get into Diamond Dynasty. I will definitely give it a go, as I do every year, but I'm not sure that it will stick. For now, it will remain the mode I play the least.

Jayson Young: I will never spend much time with Road to the Show until it becomes less about and "leveling up" and more about storytelling. The mode focuses on the worst part of role-playing games (grinding for experience points) while completely excluding the best part (telling a compelling story). I wouldn't have spent 40 minutes, let alone 40 hours, playing a game like Chrono Trigger if it was nothing but random battles, and that's exactly what playing Road to the Show feels like: mindless, repetitive action with zero emotional involvement.

Mike Lowe: The only modes I'll play are franchise, online franchise and probably some more Diamond Dynasty. Sometimes a weekly challenge, but until they lock the hitting camera in that mode to something reasonable, it's pointless. I actually like to work on my card collections and missions as well.

3. Thoughts on the new Conquest/Battle Royale modes?

Chris Sanner: I have only played a little bit of both. Conquest seems so expansive and massive. Some people are probably going to throw A LOT of time into that mode to try to conquer the map, I doubt that person is me though. Battle Royale seems interesting, it's the new twist on the card modes with a quick draft and battling through stages -- but again, I just haven't been able to get into those modes just yet. Maybe this is the year...

Millennium: Love both of them. Battle Royale (With Cheese!) allows you to draft and use players you may never get your hands on in base Diamond Dynasty, and it evens the playing field for online matches. Conquest is an entirely new monster that incorporates board game strategy with video game baseball. Those two combined just hit all the right buttons for me.

Ben Vollmer: I'm with Chris. I think the modes will hold a lot of appeal for people who haven't found their "mode" yet, but franchise mode will occupy so much of my time that I don't see myself getting into anything as expansive as Conquest. Battle Royale could be a big winner for me, as I love to draft and play competitively. It will be interesting to see how well both modes play with dedicated fans of the sport.

Jayson Young: The board game and fantasy draft are two great concepts that need to become options in online franchise mode next year. I fear that I'll be done with Conquest mode in a week or two since there's no reason to continue playing after capturing all 30 strongholds. And whenever Battle Royale is working (I'm still getting lots of "challenge failed" errors), it forces you to face so many trolls and try-hards that the mode is always going to be inconsistently fun.

Mike Lowe: I really enjoy Battle Royale a lot, and have enjoyed the team building and strategy. I haven't touched Conquest mode outside of maybe five minutes, by which point I thought it was...not very fun.

MLB The Show 16 Videos

Member Comments

# 1 Eh-Red @ 04/19/16 02:49 PM

Couldn't disagree more with Jayson Young on the RTTS comments. The last thing they need to do is add all that fluff to that mode. I buy baseball games to play baseball.

# 2 WhiteBunny @ 04/19/16 03:14 PM

Quote:

Jayson Young:

Quote:


	I will never spend much time with Road to the Show until it becomes less about and "leveling up" and more about storytelling. The mode focuses on the worst part of role-playing games (grinding for experience points) while completely excluding the best part (telling a compelling story). I wouldn't have spent 40 minutes, let alone 40 hours, playing a game like Chrono Trigger if it was nothing but random battles, and that's exactly what playing Road to the Show feels like: mindless, repetitive action with zero emotional involvement.

An RPG game is a story driven experience. This is a sim sport game, you build your own story playing game after game. There's no need of narrative or script and i don't want to play a fictional character with an established background. Maybe that's a good idea for a tutorial mode, in which through the story of Joe Random you learn the basics of baseball. What RTTS mode desperately needs is more immersion and more relationship with your teammates. Those are key features to build a story in a sport game. It's not only about you, it's about you and who is around you. Who they like, who they dislike, what they think about you, about your performance, who is more friendly, who's not, etc... .
A sort of relationship system, something like the new morale one.

# 3 R9NALD9 @ 04/20/16 02:26 AM

Couldn't disagree more with Jayson Young on Rtts. I've stopped playing NBA 2k's my player mode since they started with the super cheesy story telling. It's stupid and in the end it makes everyone and every single career basically the same. I love Rtts as it is now, you can really create your own story. The last thing I need some generic voice and annoying generic family added to my Rtts player...it really kills all the joy imo

# 4 Stolm @ 04/20/16 04:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhiteBunny


	An RPG game is a story driven experience. This is a sim sport game, you build your own story playing game after game. There's no need of narrative or script and i don't want to play a fictional character with an established background. Maybe that's a good idea for a tutorial mode, in which through the story of Joe Random you learn the basics of baseball. What RTTS mode desperately needs is more immersion and more relationship with your teammates. Those are key features to build a story in a sport game. It's not only about you, it's about you and who is around you. Who they like, who they dislike, what they think about you, about your performance, who is more friendly, who's not, etc... . A sort of relationship system, something like the new morale one.

Yep, totally agree.

I listed a few ideas a couple years back, involving a sort of team morale and chemistry system with players on your team.

And instead of all the gimmicky arcade additions, how about they restore and improve signs from the 3rd base coach. Baserunning is a complete borefest now that we have free reign to run and screw up as much as we want. That is not realistic at all. A huge blow to immersion upon its removal.

# 5 TattooedEvil @ 04/20/16 05:36 AM

I dont really touch RTTS other then maybe doing the showcase cuz I am all about franchise but that story stuff that I see on NBA 2K is horrible IMO. Let's face it, MLB fans for the most part are about 95% less flashy then the NBA and NFL fans. The celebrating after every little thing a player does well in the NBA and NFL is so tired....and while I'm all for Harper carrying the flag to let players show personality and not take 97 in the ear hole next time up, I fear the day we see celebrations after every single fly ball caught by the flashy new CF (or whoever). I get there are plenty of ppl that love story modes in this stuff but any hardcore baseball fan would say lets just get to work, play some ball and get my player paid! If that story stuff ever makes its way into MLBTS u can pretty much write off any upgrades to anything else for that years game.

# 6 WhiteBunny @ 04/20/16 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stolm


	Yep, totally agree. I listed a few ideas a couple years back, involving a sort of team morale and chemistry system with players on your team. And instead of all the gimmicky arcade additions

Morale system is already in, they need to add more options in RTTS mode to create the wonderful micro-universe of a clubhouse. In a baseball team there are veterans, rookies, etnic groups and so on. I hope they give up with arcade features like showtime and perks, it doesn't add nothing to RTTS. More immersion is an incredible boost in a rpg-like mode. Your life in the clubhouse, in the dugout.

# 7 chuckm1961 @ 04/20/16 03:11 PM

Arguably, at least for me, RTTS can never be something I would enjoy. Baseball is a Team Sport, at the end of the day, and RTTS can't help but focus on Me and My Greatness. Thus losing the essence of what baseball is about.

A mode that somehow integrated the individual and team glory in an immersive way ... I have no idea how that would look.

# 8 Pythons80 @ 04/20/16 07:48 PM

No love for Season mode, what gives?

# 9 bxphenom7 @ 04/20/16 08:34 PM

I'm really enjoying RTTS simply because the gameplay and the look of the game is addicting. Everything looks realistic from variety of hits to a strong most of the animation.

Side-notes: When importing my MLB 15 player, it switched up my city of birth and it doesn't look possible, hope that can get fixed. I'd just like my New York instead of Michigan lol
Also something weird happening with my guy's OVR when the yankees changed my position. I dropped 2 OVR points but in roster areas the OVR is as if I never did so I'm seeing 2 different OVR for my player depending on the screen I'm at.

# 10 Battman @ 04/21/16 09:32 AM

Played a few games Battle Royal. Connection was really good. But in three games I played against trolls: One just did not start pitching. After around 5 minutes I left the game: Lost game. On two occasions I equaled the score in the bottom of the third with no outs. And then - out of a sudden - the formerly perfect connection was lost. Instead of getting at least a draw I lost the games. This really ruins the experience.

# 11 cheechoo98 @ 04/26/16 05:58 PM

I'm loving the Conquest mode and 3 inning games - I'm currently going through my second run through it. Battle Royale is fun becasue of the rosters, but then i realised it's 1500 stubbs to join all the time,, and i'd much rather spend the coin on players in the market than an admision fee. Great stuff this year form SDS

# 12 KBLover @ 04/26/16 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhiteBunny


	An RPG game is a story driven experience. This is a sim sport game, you build your own story playing game after game. There's no need of narrative or script and i don't want to play a fictional character with an established background. Maybe that's a good idea for a tutorial mode, in which through the story of Joe Random you learn the basics of baseball. What RTTS mode desperately needs is more immersion and more relationship with your teammates. Those are key features to build a story in a sport game. It's not only about you, it's about you and who is around you. Who they like, who they dislike, what they think about you, about your performance, who is more friendly, who's not, etc... . A sort of relationship system, something like the new morale one.

And what's ironic about that...is that's the story he's talking about not having.

RTTS is like a pen and paper RPG...you make a character and the "adventures" he has playing through the baseball season, his streaks, slumps, injuries, etc., and throw in better interactions like you mention...THAT is the story.

I mean not ALL RPGs are like jRPGs like Chrono Trigger.

# 13 Stolm @ 04/26/16 09:47 PM

I'm trying, but I can't get into RTTS this year.

Too many issues.

Can't play the game the way I want to anymore.

# 14 WhiteBunny @ 04/27/16 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KBLover


	And what's ironic about that...is that's the story he's talking about not having. RTTS is like a pen and paper RPG...you make a character and the "adventures" he has playing through the baseball season, his streaks, slumps, injuries, etc., and throw in better interactions like you mention...THAT is the story. I mean not ALL RPGs are like jRPGs like Chrono Trigger.

Yep. You can also bump immersion with simple generic cutscenes and better view of the game while you're not playing ( if they don't remove at all the watch game option ). For example, both NBA 2K and NHL have great cameras from the bench. And you can skip between bench camera and the default ones. In The Show it seems like you're watching the game from "deck".
So i'm with you. It's an rpg mode which needs more stats and immersion/atmosphere features to represent your life in the clubhouse. Not a classic story, but a better way to create your own story which is, like you said, streaks, slumps, injuries, records, etc... .

# 15 OtherMoon2 @ 05/16/17 12:43 PM

The Online Franchise is an absolute joke, especially when you compare it to other Online Franchise modes in other sports games. It is clear that Sony SD Studio is more concerned with money earned from Diamond Dynasty, versus creating a complete game.

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