MLB 11 The Show Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here

[phant030]

Quote: Originally Posted by Golds

I totally agree with you on the complex part of it. I forgot to add the comment that my suggestion isn't based on me actually trying the two stick method (which from your insight, sounds like they did). I haven't played the demo enough to make accusations about the analog, but it does seem that the CPU decides where your bat will be in a high-low respect. Say I time it good, hit the right side of the zone which is where the ball was pitched, what determines the actual vertical level the bat will swing? What determines if the bat will get on top of the ball, under the ball, or a solid squared up sweet spot contact?

I would assume the players ratings would come into play. More here bc the user has less control of bat placement.

[jestep123]

Loving it so far. I was unimpressed by the Cards/Cubs gameplay earlier this week but this is awesome.

Atmosphere: The crowd looks fantastic. I just dont see the problem behind the plate. For a crowd they look great. Trying to line up the analog pitching with the bases loaded and the crowd going nuts is a challege. You really have to think about your pitches. I find myself throwing more fastballs in that situation because I am affraid I will mess up an an offspeed pitch.

Pitching : This is the best part of the game for me. I used to have MVP 07 so I was familar with Rock N Fire. I am not saying it is easy, I just came in with experience. The ball moves according to whether you hit or miss your target on the meter. Fantastic.

Hitting: In the two games I have played, I have had two hits, both by left handers, both down the first base line. To me this means I need to wait if I want to use the whole field. I know that alot of folks are already wanting to go back to the old hitting scheme. I would say get the full game in your hands and go into BP. Pitch recognition is the absolute key in this mode. You have got to stay back and be patient. If you cant do that, you wont be sucessful. I cant do it, Ive struck out 17 times in 2 games BUT..the last three outs of the last game were all hard hit balls and one was to the warning track so I may be getting there.

The tips I would give for hitting are : stay back and hit the ball where it is pitched. I mean take it for what you will because I have two hits but I know what my weaknesses are.

Fielding: I am yet to fully understand what gets me the green meter but I love the controls. My first throw was a ball in the dirt, after than an error and after that a slick looking 5-4-3 to end an inning. Just stick with it. One thing that is happening to me is that for plays in the field, I am remembering to use the analog stick but for ancillary things like hitting the cutoff man and throwing a guy out on a steal, I am forgeting the analog. I can see that costing me but I love the fact that if you chose analog, that is what you have. There is no overiding inside the play, if that makes sense?

Commentary: So far this has been kind of a mixed bag for me. We'll start with the positives. There does at least seem to be threaded commentary in the game this year where Matt will toss to one of his booth mates for a drop in ("Dynamite drop in Monty, Hes not the best color man in the business for noting folks" -Harry Doyle). I also love how Matt talks about Torreabla starting his career with the Giants and so on. There was an AB with Freddy Sanchez where Matt talked about some of his accomplishments during the AB, which, I may be wrong but I think is new. I thought they only used to do that during the walkup. If we can hear this commentary in advanced years of Franchise it will be spot on, if not that is dissapointing.

Speaking of dissapointment, EK is definently smoother than Rex Hudler but one thing I am tired of already here. Anybody else notice that everytime EK makes a comment by himself in the game it is laced with an akward chuckle? Not everything is funny or weird, just say what you have to say already. What is worse is that when he delivers the same lines Rex used to with the only difference being aforementioned akward chuckle.

I metioned the threaded commentary which is great but it seems like that commentary occurs at the same momment in the game everytime. Like the one about SF's big 4 leading them to the WS. This wouldnt be uncommon for the Show, an example last year is how Matt always talked about the temp after the second pitch of the game but only if an out wasnt recorded on the pitch (if this happened the temp audio was skipped).

Overall great package and folks who are saying it isnt that different might want to at least look this one up as a rental because it really is different. Analog controls are where it is at. I am commited to them, I will sink or swim with them.

[Golds]

Quote: Originally Posted by phant030

I would assume the players ratings would come into play. More hear bc the user has less control of bat placement.

Yeah I would assume that's what the batting system uses, but if that's the case, then wouldn't analog batting just be a glorified timing swing system? You have to get the right stick to push up in the general correct direction the ball will be, but ultimately the player ratings determine the actual contact. Wouldn't that make button batting closer to total control of how the bat hits the ball?

[Jdurg]

Played the demo last night and had a blast with it. Even though it's a very old build of this game (December of 2010), you can already see the great things that the retail version will provide. Analog controls are incredibly challenging to get used to, but for some reason it makes failure seem less frustrating. lol. Played a game where I had a tie game going into the bottom of the 9th and went to throw a curveball on an 0-2 pitch. I screwed up the timing and knew that I just threw a hanger. Game over. Yet, it felt so good.

For those who are making their final judgement on a demo build of a game from December of 2010 which was only designed to showcase the analog controls and nothing else, it's your loss. Feel free to not purchase this game, but please do the rest of us a favor and don't poison every single thread in these forums with whines and complaints. The rest of us will be spending a ton of time enjoying the new game and all the new features.

[nymets94]

i liked the improved player models, can any1 list some improved player models that are right on this year?

[Gagnon39]

To say that hitting for me is hard would be quite the understatement. I just played a game where I switchted back and forth between the two teams in order to concentrate only on batting. The game went a full nine innings (again, with me only batting). The final, as you might guess was 1-0. I finally managed a scrifice fly in the top of the ninth with Texas.

Here's the most frustrating thing and I'm sure its just because I'm not very good.

I struck out a grand total of 28 times. 16 Times with San Francisco and 12 times with Texas.

Although I still like analog hitting right now the main problem I'm finding with it is that, at least to me, the PCI seems to have a mind of its own from time to time. I started concentrating on where I was pushing the analog stick (up and to the left, center, or up and to the right) and then comparing that to what the swing analysis said. Here's a perfect example of why it seems out of whack at times.

This was with a right-handed batter, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that I did not swing outside. I saw the pitch, reacted to it, and swing inside (up and to the left on the analog stick). I MIGHT have pushed slightly more "up" but there's no chance that I swung to the right in this situation.

However, here's what the PCI gave me.



I'm going to play this demo until the full game comes out and hope that I drop my strikeouts numbers dramatically. I want to use analog hitting but if I continue to struggle this much I may have to go back to classic or maybe try zone hitting.

On a positive note, for whatever reason, I am picking up the ball better. I don't know if the default pitch speed has been reduced or what, but I'm laying off more bad pitches. Ironically, not the one I used in this example though.

[nemesis04]

^What level you hitting on Gagnon?

[spaceg0st]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jdurg

For those who are making their final judgement on a demo build of a game from December of 2010 which was only designed to showcase the analog controls and nothing else, it's your loss. ...

And what do you think the majority of the complaints are based on? Analog hitting, genius

It's not a final judgment, just disappointment. A lot of us were hoping to like the demo a lot more than we did.