Four Keys to Success for MLB '11: The Show

[BobSacamano]

Quote: Originally Posted by MLB01

I believe SCEA did that on purpose to emulate the uncertainty of batting in actual baseball, but I agree with you that it could use a little adjusting.

Yeah to elaborate I think that's generally a GOOD thing - there's gotta be some randomness to make it a baseball game. However, I agree with you that it could use some tightening up. As it is I think it feels a little TOO random. It's still a video game, after all, so it would be nice if it rewarded the user a little more.

I also have a sneaking suspicious that the randomness is more due to pitcher confidence than any other in-game factor. I seem to notice that balls fly out of the park on swings that the CPU was late/missed, my pitcher was "rattled" before throwing the pitch. This is probably okay but pitchers get "rattled" early and often, like after giving up a couple bloop singles or walking a batter. That could use some tuning. No pitcher gets rattled after giving up a single run, especially when they were cruising for a few innings prior.

[baseball66]

The pci is far to big in this game to be called cursor hitting. In fact many on here play w/o even using the L stick and say that it's not even necessary so how is that cursor hitting?

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by baseball66

The pci is far to big in this game to be called cursor hitting. In fact many on here play w/o even using the L stick and say that it's not even necessary so how is that cursor hitting?

you play on the upper levels and its absolutely necessary. Cursor hitting is nothing more than zone hitting, just the cursor provides a visual aid to help the user.

[HustlinOwl]

Quote: Originally Posted by baseball66

The pci is far to big in this game to be called cursor hitting. In fact many on here play w/o even using the L stick and say that it's not even necessary so how is that cursor hitting?

play Legend then come back and post

[MLB01]

Quote: Originally Posted by HustlinOwl

play Legend then come back and post

I'd honestly like to know his opinion after he did that cause it's a lot different on Legend.

[Heroesandvillains]

Quote: Originally Posted by MLB01

I'd honestly like to know his opinion after he did that cause it's a lot different on Legend.

Agreed. When I played on HOF, I was swing only, and hardly ever saw my team batting average below .280. Heck, you can look through my old posts from a few months back. I'm sure I was convinced the PCI covered too much plate back then.

I'm on Legend now. All default minus contact at 4 and strike frequency at 4. I'm 44 games in, using the L-Stick, and hitting .266.

[swaldo]

Quote: Originally Posted by baseball66

The cpu basically decides when you should or shouldn't get a hit.

Quote: Originally Posted by HustlinOwl

lies, are you being serious right now?

How can you call this lies, have you ever looked at a replay? Let's take balls morphing through bats (with good aim and swing timing) as just one example. If that's not the CPU dictating results then what do you call it?

The first videogame I ever played was Pong, and every time the ball hit my paddle it was returned to the other user. EVERY TIME. Now imagine someone playing that game for the first time and watching the ball morph through their paddle. The user would be confused and ask why is this?

"Well, that paddle in particular is not very good, sometimes you cannot hit the ball even though your aim was right on the mark."

Hmmm....well how about just making the paddle smaller to increase the challenge?

And if that's not enough there are other things you can do, such as tweaking the balls size, speed or movement. Whether it's positive or negative most users want feedback EVERY TIME and that's the problem with The Show because there's a disconnect there.

I remember reading a blog from a guy who played a whole season and made it to the playoffs. He went into batting practice to scout the Game 1 starting pitcher so he was fully prepared to kick some nuts. During the game he said he was making good hacks but just wasn't connecting with anything and lost the game. In the end he felt kinda cheated, and after 162 games that's really disappointing because he should've been rewarded for doing his homework and making good swings.

The bottom line is that if you think it's ok for balls to morph through bats then you're just lying to yourself. Justify it however you want but I think a truly rewarding batting system has to be better than that.

[countryboy]

replays are compressed thus meaning they have missing frames, which result in morphing and other things happening that don't actually take place during the gameplay.

Also the outcome of an at bat is determined by several factors/attributes. IMO, its basically:

user input + pitcher/batter attributes + pitcher confidence + luck = result.

Lets face it....sometimes in real life you can hit the ball right on the sweet spot and get that beautiful sound, only to make an out. Sometimes you are fooled, flip the bat at the ball and end up with a hit. Its baseball.