MLB 15 The Show: Directional Hitting Impressions

[exeter]

Quote: Originally Posted by brrmikey

read through the thread, i'm confused. i have been a zone + analog user since the feature was introduced. it seems the zone + analog combination still exists. am i correct to think that this years zone + analog combination is exactly the same as last year minus the need to worry about the stride? Thanks, much appreciated!

The zone part (using PCI) is the same but pre-pitch swing directional influence has been removed (and if I understood Russell? correctly has been gone since at least last year). The analog part of the equation has been changed to incorporate (IMO, unintuitively) swing type into the right stick.

[Smallville102001]

I think I am going to have to go back to zone hitting. I have played sever games with Directional hitting and I am playing on DD and I am only on rookie and I am already hitting into a lot of double plays and I am having a lot of at bats where I get good timing on a good pitch to hit to only fly out or ground out. I just don't think this directional hitting is my thing.

[apex_predator82]

I'm taking the game back. Removing the stride from Zone + Analog ruined hitting for me. THAT was directional hitting --pull the ball, start the stride early and wait for an inside pitch; push the ball, start the stride a little later and wait for a pitch on the outside part of the plate. The stride timing was CRUCIAL in ZPA and removing it was idiotic in the highest degree. "Russell" is also an arrogant f'n a-hole in his responses about the subject. He can go suck "directional hitting" for all I care. I won't buy another release of this title until they put ZPA w/ stride back in. Period. I've been using it since it was released in '11 and play two or three games a day from March to October. Looks like this year I'll playing on last year's version. Stupid, stupid decision, SCEA SD.

[COMMISSIONERHBK9]

So when is it good to hold up or up left or up right

[joewillyjets]

speaking as someone who used zone plus analog since its implementation, and also as someone sorry to see the stride mechanic go by the wayside... i'm willing to give anything new the chance to work. so... i have used directional hitting since day 1. i like it, but something was missing. today, for the first time since i picked up mlb 15 the show on day 1, i decided to go back to zone hitting. don't ask me why, but for some reason, because the interface is no longer called "zone + analog"... i was thinking it wouldn't be the same as last year. but... it is, with the exception of stride being removed. and since i've been without it for over 3 weeks, now, anyway... i discovered what it is i've been missing, by using directional hitting... and it's simply control over my at-bat. it's fine to allow the game to determine whether or not your bat makes contact with the ball, BUT... when using the "zone" interface, YOU are the one controlling where your bat swings through the strike zone. if you want to employ what i like to call "situational" hitting, which is more or less what directional hitting is trying to accomplish, then simpy watch the video that (i think his name is wolverine) put up, here on operation sports, to help people with zone hitting. want a fly ball? swing slightly under the ball. want a ground ball? get on top of it. wanna it to right field? wait back on the pitch. this is more "true-to-life" than randomly allowing the cpu to determine when and if you're going to make contact with the ball even when you get "good" feedback on your times swing. directional hitting is ok for those who need some help with their hitting, but i feel zone hitting is still what makes this game "feel" like you have more control on what is happening with each individual at-bat.

[joewillyjets]

Quote: Originally Posted by joewillyjets

speaking as someone who used zone plus analog since its implementation, and also as someone sorry to see the stride mechanic go by the wayside... i'm willing to give anything new the chance to work. so... i have used directional hitting since day 1. i like it, but something was missing. today, for the first time since i picked up mlb 15 the show on day 1, i decided to go back to zone hitting. don't ask me why, but for some reason, because the interface is no longer called "zone + analog"... i was thinking it wouldn't be the same as last year. but... it is, with the exception of stride being removed. and since i've been without it for over 3 weeks, now, anyway... i discovered what it is i've been missing, by using directional hitting... and it's simply control over my at-bat. it's fine to allow the game to determine whether or not your bat makes contact with the ball, BUT... when using the "zone" interface, YOU are the one controlling where your bat swings through the strike zone. if you want to employ what i like to call "situational" hitting, which is more or less what directional hitting is trying to accomplish, then simpy watch the video that (i think his name is wolverine) put up, here on operation sports, to help people with zone hitting. want a fly ball? swing slightly under the ball. want a ground ball? get on top of it. wanna it to right field? wait back on the pitch. this is more "true-to-life" than randomly allowing the cpu to determine when and if you're going to make contact with the ball even when you get "good" feedback on your times swing. directional hitting is ok for those who need some help with their hitting, but i feel zone hitting is still what makes this game "feel" like you have more control on what is happening with each individual at-bat.

btw... didn't this game used to have "directional influence" that you could use prior to your swing? wasn't it something like holding L2 and then moving the left stick up, down, left or right, to HELP influence where your hit would go? to me, it seems like (after watching all the live streams prior to release) that there was that one guy who was vehement about directional hitting being more reflective of his own personal experience as a professional baseball player. but he was a utility guy. not a power guy. so a lot of his at-bats with runners on base were about moving the runner over. and that's fine, but don't you wanna be the one to determine where the ball goes, based on not only your timing... but also your placement of the bat? i think they could easily marry the two mechanics to satisfy those who enjoy both. i could see them doing that, next year.

[GatorNation15]

I'm new to baseball games. I am currently switching between pure analog and button hitting. Just so I have this correct, in pure analog I swing for contact with the right stick to the right or left and power up or down? Also, do I use the left stick to direct where I want the ball to go? For directional button hitting, what do I use the left stick for? I am on ps4 and have hitting on rookie. Thanks to anyone who can help.

[ghbnm]

The way you describe it in the write-up implies that there's a timing element to Directional. If that's the case this is the first time I've heard that.