MLB '14: The Show

[WSR]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Got a little time in as well. No spring Football tomorrow, so I will play more then.

Haven't played for a couple of versions, but easy getting back into the controls and it is absolutely gorgeous on PS4. Quick count is probably the best idea ever for this series..

I'm glad to hear your take on this. I thought this would be a great feature but some of the reviews slammed it. For me, I don't have 60 minutes for a game, so this is of great interest.

I fondly remember getting through a game of High Heat baseball in about 20 minutes, and that played a great game of baseball as well. So, it can be done properly.

[CraigSca]

Have only played one game so far, and it was, by far, the best experience I've had with the game.

Playing as the O's, beat the Red Sox, 9-7. Played with the accelerated pitch (or one-pitch, or whatever they call it) and knocked out Bucholz in the 4th inning, took a 9-1 lead and watched it slowly slink away until I was able to hold on with the tying runs on base.

The best part, for me, was with the accelerated pitch counts, I was able to draw walks (drew 9 on the day) and my pitching would walk batters as well. Also, I'm not facing starting pitchers who have thrown 45 pitches (42 for strikes) through 7 innings (never seeing the opponents bullpen).

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Couple other things I noticed that are relatively small, but really add to the immersion.

-The crowd is amazing just to watch. People leaning over talking to each other. People getting out of their seat and walking out the tunnels. Haven't seen two fans alike in the same shot yet, though I'm sure it will happen at some point.

-Crowd sound is so much better in this version of the game. In my RTTS career, I was up with two outs in the 9th on the road. Crowd would increase in volume dramatically after each strike and you could actually hear the overall sound build as the count went by. Best part was the finish. 3-2 count and I nailed a single bringing home the tying run. Crowd went nearly silent as I deflated any hopes of an imminent win. It was awesome!

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by WSR

I'm glad to hear your take on this. I thought this would be a great feature but some of the reviews slammed it. For me, I don't have 60 minutes for a game, so this is of great interest.

I fondly remember getting through a game of High Heat baseball in about 20 minutes, and that played a great game of baseball as well. So, it can be done properly.

Well, there is a negative to it I fired it up at 8:30 last night after practice to start my Yankees franchise. Got my sliders and preferences set up in about 15 minutes and played the first 2 games of season opening series against Houston.

In the opener with Sabathia set down the first 9 Astros I faced and led 1-0, then as happens with CC the wheels came off in the 4th and I gave up a 5 spot. Another disaster in the 8th as an error opened the flood gates for 7 more and I lose 13-1.

Second game Soriano strokes a 2 run homer in the 6th to pace a 5-3 win.

So it is not quite 10 o'clock and I figure I can finish the series and be in bed by 10:30. I fall behind 4-1 after 6 innings, get one back in the 7th and tie it at 4 in the 9th when Beltran singles home Jeter. So to extra innings we go and go, and go. In the bottom of the 14th Houston gets a leadoff double, I then strike out the next two and get a fly out to RF to get out of it. I finally manage to scratch out 2 runs in the top of the 15th and take the rubber match 6-4. Only problem is it is now after 11

Great game

[BYU 14]

Dola, Houston has this sidearmed sinkerball pitcher (forget the name) that just chewed me up in extra innings. 8 straight at bats I pounded the ball into the ground, as I was looking more at how well his delivery was done instead of focusing on the pitch.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

FYI for the board members in Europe. The Show for PS4 will be released as a digital download tomorrow (May 14th).

[SackAttack]

So I got this with my PS4 as a grad gift this past weekend. Started a Road to the Show player, and discovered (to my giddy delight) that the "goals" system got eliminated.

I feel like the reward/penalty system still needs a little bit of tweaking, but I think this might be the best iteration of RttS I've seen yet.

One minor nitpick: the draft re-entry. You can earn more points playing one game of RttS than you get for going back to school for an entire year. That seems low (although I would guess the bonus points vary based on 2-year/4-year as well; if you play D1, you get more of a boost than if you just go to a juco).

One thing I can't figure out - does going back to school age your player commensurately, or if you create an 18 year old player, is he going to be 18 no matter what when he finally signs? I ask because I got drafted #3 by the White Sox, went back to a juco for a year, got drafted #1 by the Astros, and the season was still 2014. Does that mean my player is still 18? I can't find that info anywhere, but it would be weird if he artificially aged a year despite it still being the 2014 season.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

-MUCH better load times than the Vita version. My load times and frame rate were a bit slow when I was playing exhibition games while waiting for data to load. Once data was loaded, have had very little if any frame rate issues and the load times are really good.

I couldn't do shit as far as 'actual' play while data was loading. Couldn't even do a HR derby. It was so lulztastic. I could create a franchise and do some of the back-end stuff, but RttS gameplay? No. HR derby? No. exhibition? Nope. Kept getting a message about the necessary data not finished installing yet.

I finally left it alone for an hour and a half and when I came back I was able to play. By comparison, inFamous, with half the data requirement, was ready to go in like 5 or 10 minutes. It was so bizarre and I have no idea why one loaded so much faster than the other. The only point of difference is that I set up MLB 14 in my parents' hotel room after getting the PS4, and I set up inFamous on my own home network. I wonder if the internet connectivity part of it - difference in speed of network, etc - might have come into play.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

I couldn't do shit as far as 'actual' play while data was loading. Couldn't even do a HR derby. It was so lulztastic. I could create a franchise and do some of the back-end stuff, but RttS gameplay? No. HR derby? No. exhibition? Nope. Kept getting a message about the necessary data not finished installing yet.

I finally left it alone for an hour and a half and when I came back I was able to play. By comparison, inFamous, with half the data requirement, was ready to go in like 5 or 10 minutes. It was so bizarre and I have no idea why one loaded so much faster than the other. The only point of difference is that I set up MLB 14 in my parents' hotel room after getting the PS4, and I set up inFamous on my own home network. I wonder if the internet connectivity part of it - difference in speed of network, etc - might have come into play.

Agreed. The initial install time was insane. Took me over an hour of waiting before I could play anything on the game.

[Terps]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

So I got this with my PS4 as a grad gift this past weekend. Started a Road to the Show player, and discovered (to my giddy delight) that the "goals" system got eliminated.

I feel like the reward/penalty system still needs a little bit of tweaking, but I think this might be the best iteration of RttS I've seen yet.

One minor nitpick: the draft re-entry. You can earn more points playing one game of RttS than you get for going back to school for an entire year. That seems low (although I would guess the bonus points vary based on 2-year/4-year as well; if you play D1, you get more of a boost than if you just go to a juco).

One thing I can't figure out - does going back to school age your player commensurately, or if you create an 18 year old player, is he going to be 18 no matter what when he finally signs? I ask because I got drafted #3 by the White Sox, went back to a juco for a year, got drafted #1 by the Astros, and the season was still 2014. Does that mean my player is still 18? I can't find that info anywhere, but it would be weird if he artificially aged a year despite it still being the 2014 season.

They age, but the year stays the same.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Terps

They age, but the year stays the same.

That's goofy. Between that and the low point total for going back to school, I'm thinking I'd be better off starting over and just accepting where I'm drafted.

The year staying the same means that the organizational depth chart for whoever drafts me doesn't change, but I have less time in my career to make up the difference.

[Izulde]

The goals going away is fantastic yeah and it's just a phenomenal playing game. The one thing that irritates me is the commentary being so repetitive after only a few games.

[Sun Tzu]

I've been playing with the commentary off completely dating back to the 2007 version. IMO it makes for a more immersive "on-field" experience anyway, especially if you're playing RTTS.

[korme]

What is a more fun experience for RTTS? Pitcher or Hitter?

[korme]

Also if you're a hitter, you're going to always end up being a Miguel Cabrera triple crown threat, right? Like, I couldn't try to have a career being Rickey Henderson esque or anything without handicapping myself.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by korme

Also if you're a hitter, you're going to always end up being a Miguel Cabrera triple crown threat, right? Like, I couldn't try to have a career being Rickey Henderson esque or anything without handicapping myself.

You probably could in this year's game, since the "goals" system got eliminated. I like hitting homers, though.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by korme

What is a more fun experience for RTTS? Pitcher or Hitter?

I personally enjoy pitching better just because I struggle at times with the hitting once I reach the major leagues. If I do hitter, I tend to try to do base stealer just because it's a bit easier to rack up a lot of points on baserunning to aid your other categories.

[SackAttack]

Running into an issue today where the game refuses to recognize my input when I try to turn the double play in RttS. Just eats the ball after the force. I know it's not an issue with the controller because the power swing works fine.

Between that, the occasional "yeah, you don't get to position your fielder before the pitch" freeze, and the ground rule double where I got sent back to first, I'm a little grumpy at this game today.

[SackAttack]

The double play issue is solved. Don't multitask when starting up MLB. If it goes into demo mode, it will change your settings for both hitting and fielding even if you cancel straight out of that.

Oops.

[APC]

Dumb question from someone who has never played RttS mode: If you're a hitter, do you play an entire game in the field? Or does the game skip every play that doesn't end up with a defensive play in or near your zone?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by APC

Dumb question from someone who has never played RttS mode: If you're a hitter, do you play an entire game in the field? Or does the game skip every play that doesn't end up with a defensive play in or near your zone?

You can do every play you're involved in or you can also skip the routine plays and only do the 'key plays'. Either way, it skips the plays you aren't involved in.

[SackAttack]

Aw, that was cute. RttS, I'm on first after a single. Wild pitch by the opposing pitcher, I try to take second. Everything goes well until I'm two steps away, still pushing right on the analog stick, and the game decides a little Texas two-step is in order. My runner goes full-stop, takes a step towards first, back towards second, back towards first, and does that long enough for the catcher to run out with the ball and tag me.

[korme]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

You can do every play you're involved in or you can also skip the routine plays and only do the 'key plays'. Either way, it skips the plays you aren't involved in.

Or you can skip defensive plays entirely, which I do. I also skip if I'm not a lead runner on base.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by korme

Or you can skip defensive plays entirely, which I do. I also skip if I'm not a lead runner on base.

If you can, you want to do as much as possible. The more things you do, the quicker you get more points and the quicker you can build up your player. When you have a slump, those 4-5 opportunities in the field can get you 30-40 points a game.

[korme]

I'm aware. I just don't have the patience for it. Hell, I spent $10 just to get my guy decent in the very beginning.

[SackAttack]

My guy is hanging out at a "B" potential. I'm curious if that will ever go up after the rookie showcase, when I went from a "C" to a "B." He is just now crossing into the 70s overall though. He blew through AA and AAA and made it to the Show a few weeks before the All-Star Game.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

My guy is hanging out at a "B" potential. I'm curious if that will ever go up after the rookie showcase, when I went from a "C" to a "B." He is just now crossing into the 70s overall though. He blew through AA and AAA and made it to the Show a few weeks before the All-Star Game.

I had this same thing happen and then I ran into a brick wall in the majors. Was frustrating, but it happens. If I had to do it again, I'd add to fielding early on since I was on a AL team. Really hurt when I got to the majors and was put in as a DH. When you struggle at the plate, no way to get into the field and get some points.

[SackAttack]

I'm raking at the plate, so I'm not worried about defense (edit: I'm not worried about having my defensive opportunities taken away because another 2B is hitting better). My worry is what's going to happen when I hit a point where all the points I'm earning are going into maintenance rather than growth. I'm getting close to that point on contact, for example. I'm in the mid-60s, but going up a point in contact vs R is going to cost me probably a week's worth of points.

[APC]

What settings does everyone use to hit? I've always been a timing-only guy, but this year timing-only seems a bit...off. Too many 87 mph fastballs down the middle that I time right, but pop up because my hitting circle was way low.

I know that's a good way to ensure ratings play a role in how you hit, but it's getting frustrating.

I've always gotten frustrated using zone hitting, but might give it a try to see if I like it better in this version.

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by APC

What settings does everyone use to hit? I've always been a timing-only guy, but this year timing-only seems a bit...off. Too many 87 mph fastballs down the middle that I time right, but pop up because my hitting circle was way low.

I know that's a good way to ensure ratings play a role in how you hit, but it's getting frustrating.

I've always gotten frustrated using zone hitting, but might give it a try to see if I like it better in this version.

I am still using timing, just can't play any other way, what settings and sliders are you using?

I am playing on All-Star and bumped contact and timing up, put foul frequency at 2 and solid contact and power at 4 and am getting a pretty good experience.

[Mike Lowe]

The game does a much better job now when using zone hitting as it takes into account the player vs player ratings to determine how "ballish" a pitch outside of the zone will be, and so on.

Zone hitting gives me the best mix of simulation, but also allowing me to have my own personal influence.

I see the argument for timing, but why bother playing then? All you're doing is hitting a button...

[APC]

I gave zone hitting a try and I'm definitely making better contact. However, it seems like 90 percent of my hits go to right field. And if I'm not hitting it hard to right, I'm bouncing out to the third baseman.

[Galaril]

I may go with 2014 MLB for PS 4 instead of mlb 2015 since it can be had for $20 and am not sure 2015 has enough improvements to warrant the upgrade to 2015 for another $40. Does 2014 have any deal breaker issues. I would likely use the quick counts alot in franchise play of games so so some mention this may have issues with too many 1-1 counts? I don't do online play so online issues I read about are no concern for me.