MLB 15 The Show: Directional Hitting Guide

[RaychelSnr]

MLB 15 The Show’s directional hitting has taken me back to MVP ’05, where moving the left stick in a direction would attempt to influence the ball to go that way. It’s a system that’s pretty confusing if you’re locked into zone hitting, but once you wrap your head around it, it can be very useful in key situations. The fact that your swing will revert back to a timing-based version if you don’t pick a direction, complete with hitting stats based on each player, means you still have a viable way of making contact if a particular at-bat isn’t going your way.

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[BaylorBearBryant]

I have no idea what they were thinking with all the changes to hitting this year. They add this crummy mode and take away the best one. What gives?

[nemesis04]

Quote: Originally Posted by BaylorBearBryant

I have no idea what they were thinking with all the changes to hitting this year. They add this crummy mode and take away the best one. What gives?

Out of curiosity what makes it "crummy"? The system adds another layer to timing which makes it more interactive.

[BaylorBearBryant]

To me it seems cheap, rather gimmicky. With zone hitting you can still look for pitches you want to drive the other way, and based on your swing timing can influence them to do so. If you want to pull a hit, look for an inside fastball and swing earlier.

They take away the most realistic hitting mechanism in the game, pure analog zone, in order to include this??? That's why it's crummy. Let's take two steps back and one forward... It'd be like if EA NHL suddenly took away shooting with the right stick and went back to button pressing. It just doesn't make sense to me. It's still a great game, but I'm not a fan of this decision.

[nemesis04]

Quote: Originally Posted by BaylorBearBryant

To me it seems cheap, rather gimmicky. With zone hitting you can still look for pitches you want to drive the other way, and based on your swing timing can influence them to do so. If you want to pull a hit, look for an inside fastball and swing earlier. They take away the most realistic hitting mechanism in the game, pure analog zone, in order to include this??? That's why it's crummy. Let's take two steps back and one forward... It'd be like if EA NHL suddenly took away shooting with the right stick and went back to button pressing. It just doesn't make sense to me. It's still a great game, but I'm not a fan of this decision.

The two items you are referring to are really two separate entities. Directional hitting had nothing to do with the redesign of analog controls. The game has had timing as an option for quite a while, now there is more to it. The analog change was brought on by lack of use with the mechanic. From the responses here it sounds like all the users of pure analog are in this forum. Anyway you can still use zone with analog in its reimagined state.

Directional is not for everyone, I am a zone player myself. I think it is not accurate to say the inclusion of directional brought on the demise of pure analog.

[bkrich83]

Quote: Originally Posted by BaylorBearBryant

They take away the most realistic hitting mechanism in the game, pure analog zone, in order to include this???

How did you come to the conclusion they were related? Makes zero sense.

[bigbuckeyeboi]

This game is great! Period

[bcruise]

Directional (or basically timing with the ability to slightly influence hit direction) isn't really my thing unless I want ratings to mean more than everything else, but I did play my first game with it on launch night. I basically treated it as timing hitting for the whole game, save for one at-bat where I was intentionally trying to move a runner from 2nd to 3rd.

It's very well balanced IMO, much better than past attempts at a similar system (which are overdone IMO and tend to let you place a hit exactly where and how you want it). As usual, there's enough hit variety in this game to give you the feeling that anything can happen once the ball leaves the bat.