Operation Sports MLB 13 The Show Community Impressions Thread

[ParisB]

The overall gameplay is money.

The fielding feels nicer, smoother, and more crisp.

The hitting (save for the CPU meatball issue) feels good. I am seeing balls hit with all kinds of momentum, heights, trajectories etc. Feels good.

Pitching is a better experience. The CPU actually chases low pitches on 0-2 counts, they check swing more, and also take looking. The K/BB seems to matter now, as I can use a Verlander or Weaver and feel in command, whereas last year it didn't matter since it was almost impossible to "dominate" a weak hitter with your aces. They would slap away 8 fouls in a row or take ridiculous borderline pitches with eagle eye precision. Kudos for fixing that.

[ParisB]

Quote: Originally Posted by itbeme23

Got three games in yesterday, all Dodgers vs. Angels. - Presentation is better. I like seeing the little things like players running out on to the field at the beginning of the game, or the new score bug, or the new OSDs. These aren't things that hit the ball out of the park (pun intended), but it's good to know that SCEA put the time in to make these subtle changes. Commentary is still mediocre, and it does begin to stale fairly quickly, even with the addition of Steve Lyons. They need to overhaul that for the PS4 version. - Being a Dodgers fan, I was pretty impressed with all of the player models and stances, EXCEPT for Matt Kemp's batting stance. One word: terrible. However, on a good note, Andre Ethier's player model looks ten times better than last year's, and his stance looks a lot more true to life. Kudos on that, SCEA. - I didn't experience any of the Pitch Stutter issue that a lot of people are talking about. I did the game update at the beginning, and downloaded the newest roster, then I disconnected my PS3 from the internet. I don't know if that helped or not, but I didn't notice any stutter in the 3 games that I played. On the subject of pitching.... 1. I tried Pulse Pitching on HOF level, and got absolutely CRUSHED by the Angels in the very first game that I played. I was pitching with Kershaw, and I think I gave up 8 runs in the first 4 innings. I wasn't a fan of Pulse Pitching last year, but I thought I'd give it a try again this year....not happening. Once I switched to Meter pitching, which is what I used last year, things seemed a lot more manageable. I ended up restarting that game, and got into a pitcher's duel with Kershaw and Weaver, which I ended up winning 1-0 . I will say that pitching seems to be more difficult this year, as I was only able get out of the 6th inning with Kershaw. CPU hitters seem to be EXTREMELY patient, definitely more than last year. I haven't touched any CPU hitting sliders just yet, and their strikeout numbers seem to be pretty good at default. I think I fanned 5 or 6 with Kershaw in 6 innings of work. That was the only game where I gave up one run, as I gave up 7 and 8 runs in my final two games using Meter (HOF level). 2. CPU pitching needs a lot of work. With sliders at default, it's nearly impossible to get realistic balls to strikes ratios, because the CPU pitcher is constantly pounding the strike zone. The difference between this year and last year is the pitcher isn't just painting the black, but there are significantly more meat pitches down the middle. Either way, it amounts to the same result, which is an extremely high strike percentage, especially first pitch strike percentage. As a result, pitch counts are pretty low, because of the high amount of strikes, and the lack of walks issued. I had a game versus Joe Blanton (Angels #5 starter), and he ended up with a 77% overall strike percentage, and 87% first pitch strikes. I ended up using my CPU pitching sliders from last year for the last game I played, and it seemed to help. I'm going to use those as my base moving forward. 3. I am not a fan of this "expanded timing window". Like everybody else, I was extremely early on almost every pitch with pitch speed at default. I'm usually a pretty patient hitter, but the CPU pounding the strike zone coupled with this new timing window really screwed up my hitting. I use timing hitting on All-Star, but I wasn't seeing the increase in hitting like most have experienced. My timing was so off, that I was barely able to muster 4 hits in that first game pitcher's duel. I've worked my Pitch Speed slider up to 7, and I'm finally starting to see decent results. I wish SCEA wouldn't have touched this part of the game. If it ain't broke, then don't fix it. - I like the hit variety that I saw. I saw everything from the Angels yesterday. Solid singles, doubles down the line, gappers, Home Runs (even saw a Grand Slam by Trumbo), and the coolest thing to see were those end of the bat little bloopers that fell in for hits. This aspect of the game was VERY well done. - I'm pretty sure fielder arm strength needs to be toned down. I didn't see outfielders gunning anybody down at first or third, but I did see infielders (namely Callaspo and Aybar) making those Jeter-like jump throws to first for outs. I think those types of plays should be designated for the Derek Jeters of the world....not scrubs. - Don't know if it's just me, but it seemed like fielder reaction was just a bit....off. It just seemed like the fielders were just a tad bit slower or faster reacting to the ball of the bat. Definitely didn't feel as natural as last year. I'm sure this will be fixed via sliders.

I feel that they improved the fielding greatly, and this year the ratings matter more. As far as the Jeter thing, ironically both Callaspo (above average fielder) and Aybar (great range, and rocket arm) rate well above Jeter who surprisingly is a subpar defender and has been the last several years. Jeter might be the only SS (except for Hanley Ramirez) who can't do "Jeter plays", lol. Not sure since when Aybar is a scrub, he's pretty valuable defensively, and has a cannon arm. Look up some youtube highlights.

[Bigredmachine87]

Quote: Originally Posted by TopDog

Maybe I'm missing something? The stats you listed are at almost exactly 8 hits and a shade over 4.5 runs per game. Even extrapolating out the 2 incomplete games, you'd still be right around the average.

10 hits on almost 6 runs.....

I guess it was just a shock from the way the old game was like 3 runs on 6 hits average.

I like it on my end. But I don't feel I have the control of my pitcher like the other game. Extremely hard to paint the corner. It's either a ball or I have to start deeper in the zone than I want and a lot of time end up getting hammered cause it didn't move like I wanted.

The game is much improved. I'm really shocked how much better it is. Sports games usually change so little you can go two or three years without much being done. But they really did great.

[slthree]

Quote: Originally Posted by bakan723

The big question from me regarding the fielding is...does the cpu still go after balls for you on manual ??

Unfortunately, there is no pure manual fielding. But, positioning is important and I've made s few mistakes by being just slightly out of position.

Fielding is a lot of fun. Greatly improved

Sent from my SPH-L900 using Tapatalk 2

[m1ke_nyc]

Just got shut out by R.A. Dickey. Could not get the timing down for nothing. Lost 3-0. Jose Bautista hit a 3 run jack for the only score of the game.

[Sevensign]

I'm on the rope with this one lol. Or this stuttering I'm hearing making don't want to waste $60. I had one game that stutter but once I sign off it stop. Have anybody try that? Does it stutter in rtts? Thanks for the help

[Bigredmachine87]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sevensign

I'm on the rope with this one lol. Or this stuttering I'm hearing making don't want to waste $60. I had one game that stutter but once I sign off it stop. Have anybody try that? Does it stutter in rtts? Thanks for the help

The game just came out. Give it a month. It rarely even does it with me

[bwiggy33]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sevensign

I'm on the rope with this one lol. Or this stuttering I'm hearing making don't want to waste $60. I had one game that stutter but once I sign off it stop. Have anybody try that? Does it stutter in rtts? Thanks for the help

Trust me you will not be wasting $60. The game plays great the way it always has. You have to remember no matter how much they test a game, they can't find every single bug or problem that there is. They only have so many people to test the game, where on release day they have thousands. Of course things they didn't notice will pop up. If EA had some of the bugs we've seen so far, they probably wouldn't get patched because they don't communicate with the buyers. Since it's SCEA I have the utmost confidence the things we find will get fixed. Russell has been on here all the time through development and since yesterday's release day, explaining things and taking note of issues we've seen. He's here to help and there's no doubt things will get fixed, as long as they are fixable. Trust me you will be perfectly happy with the game. For god sakes this is The Show!