MLB The Show 16 Has Officially Arrived, Post Your Impressions Here

[Beatles]

^^^I have.

[WhiteBunny]

After a week, some impressions. All in all, this is imho a dangerous step in the MLB The Show franchise. More hits, more strikes, more HR, more fielding power with outstanding throws from OF and speedy LF/CF/RF players, more strikeouts and so on. It's like SCEA is trying to deconstruct baseball in a more spectacular and fast paced sport. While the game remains pretty fun to play and a lot of tweaks are spot on, the real strenght of MLB The Show, the main difference with other sport games, was realism and authenticity. What we have a now, it's a sort of baseball on steroids. When a dev team starts to focus on what the players want, it's probably time to take the ball out of the field. It's not the game we want, it's the game you - SCEA - want to develop. A lot of comments here are ( IMHO ) scary, it's like people praise the new course of The Show just because hitting and pitching are way more easy. Or because there are a ton of linedrives. Do you remember Fifa ? It was a nice soccer sim, until EA focus all its resources on Ultimate Team, changing the game in a super fast paced, arcade game. The problem is not Diamond Dynasty. The problem is baseball and what gamers want nowdays. Fast-food games. Some of the features SCEA removes from the Show, the poor love for Broadcast mode or all the pressure put in RTTS mode are hints that players refuse to see now. Maybe in a few years.
On top of that, MLB 16 is a step back on the graphic department. PBR is a hit and miss. It's a nice effect and on some surfaces, especially leather, looks really good, but don't forget this is the same PS3 engine with a lot of the old assets still in the "field". The result is a big hit on IQ ( image quality ), there's a lot of flickering all around and even the lighting often goes completely wild with a sort of radioactive effect. If you compare it with MLB 15, technical and graphical side MLB 15 is without a doubt the better game. The IQ was more crisp, very clean and every object, including the player models, was way more detailed. I strongly suspect - but it's just my impression - SCEA has lowered the resolution or maybe is using a dynamic one.
Don't get me wrong, it's still The Show. But i see what they're doing and i will probably on the fence next year. It's baseball. If i want something more fast paced, more spectacular or flashy, there's a lot of games out there. I really hope SCEA takes its time to remember why The Show was the best sim and hardcore sport game on the market.

[jada855]

Whitebunny,

Fast Food Games ha I like that. I agree I've been reading a lot of post here and it seems more of the simulation style gamers are expressing the same point. I felt they had the best balance in MLB 14 and MLB 15 if you want to play fast there are options for that. If you want to play the full game experience there is a option for that! Perfect everyone wins!

I was hyped for MLB 16 and after I downloaded the game continued my player lock franchise and realized what was going on. I couldn't believe it the formula that worked so well was no longer available.

In short I'm the guy who pressed the "O" button for 18 innings because I love baseball and wanted to see the game pan out like a real baseball game should. Even though I never got one ball hit to my player locked short stop. It made me realize where the series is going.

And to your point Fast Food! After stripping the options for RTTS/Player Lock there is no way they could go back to this in future MLB games and restore faith.

MLB 16 does have some nice touches but the roots of the game of baseball have been stripped for a fast play arcade game and new modes. I won't even get started on showtime, scripted defense and auto catch using player lock.

Been purchasing every year since MLB 14 no reason to even remotely check in on MLB 17 as it's clear where things are going!

We are the 0.04%

[nomo17k]

One thing that really bothers me about the box score this year is that the text color used for the header and total lines doesn't contrast well at all with the background, making them pretty much impossible to read unless you are close to the screen:





Pretty bad color selection, I must say...

Relevant bug report: http://theshownation.com/bug_reports/12131

[Stolm]

Quote: Originally Posted by WhiteBunny

After a week, some impressions. All in all, this is imho a dangerous step in the MLB The Show franchise. More hits, more strikes, more HR, more fielding power with outstanding throws from OF and speedy LF/CF/RF players, more strikeouts and so on. It's like SCEA is trying to deconstruct baseball in a more spectacular and fast paced sport. While the game remains pretty fun to play and a lot of tweaks are spot on, the real strenght of MLB The Show, the main difference with other sport games, was realism and authenticity. What we have a now, it's a sort of baseball on steroids. When a dev team starts to focus on what the players want, it's probably time to take the ball out of the field. It's not the game we want, it's the game you - SCEA - want to develop. A lot of comments here are ( IMHO ) scary, it's like people praise the new course of The Show just because hitting and pitching are way more easy. Or because there are a ton of linedrives. Do you remember Fifa ? It was a nice soccer sim, until EA focus all its resources on Ultimate Team, changing the game in a super fast paced, arcade game. The problem is not Diamond Dynasty. The problem is baseball and what gamers want nowdays. Fast-food games. Some of the features SCEA removes from the Show, the poor love for Broadcast mode or all the pressure put in RTTS mode are hints that players refuse to see now. Maybe in a few years. On top of that, MLB 16 is a step back on the graphic department. PBR is a hit and miss. It's a nice effect and on some surfaces, especially leather, looks really good, but don't forget this is the same PS3 engine with a lot of the old assets still in the "field". The result is a big hit on IQ ( image quality ), there's a lot of flickering all around and even the lighting often goes completely wild with a sort of radioactive effect. If you compare it with MLB 15, technical and graphical side MLB 15 is without a doubt the better game. The IQ was more crisp, very clean and every object, including the player models, was way more detailed. I strongly suspect - but it's just my impression - SCEA has lowered the resolution or maybe is using a dynamic one. Don't get me wrong, it's still The Show. But i see what they're doing and i will probably on the fence next year. It's baseball. If i want something more fast paced, more spectacular or flashy, there's a lot of games out there. I really hope SCEA takes its time to remember why The Show was the best sim and hardcore sport game on the market.

Pretty much my thoughts exactly.


Each year the game gets less and less realistic, be it gameplay or presentation. Every year pitches get slower, hitting gets easier, features get cut, presentations get trimmed, and the game becomes less immersive.

I don't mind them incorporating things like Quickplay and Quick Counts, because I get that not everyone has the time and patience to play a 2 hour game of baseball. But when you introduce these new presentation modes, while simultaneously cutting large chunks out of Broadcast, it kills the experience for those that use it.

Performance wise, the game is worse than it has ever been. Seems the compromises needed for PBR are far too great. And while making textures look nice, the game suffers from far too many graphical glitches, hitches, and framerate drops to justify it.

[sirwoodz]

this game is amazing. every year gets better and better

it's not perfect, but i'm 34 years old i remember playing baseball on atari.

sans the issue in my sig i think they outdid themselves again. great job guys.

[geisterhome]

Performance wise we can only hope that the devs start to figure out how to properly port the, still in place, old PS3 gameengine to the PS4.

I think we are still suffering for the complicated cellstructure the PS 3 had, scea fitted The Show perfectly to it back in the days and got the most out of the PS3s possibilities. But now it's I guess very tough on them to get it run well on the PS4.
Starting from the scratch is obviously no option. But still I'm wondering what amazingly looking game we'd have if it was entirely developed for the PS4 only, getting the last bit of resources out of it like The Show did for the PS 3...

Right now The Show is like (PS 3) The Show Remastered.

Sent from my GEM-702L using Tapatalk

[jason324]

Quote: Originally Posted by nomo17k

One thing that really bothers me about the box score this year is that the text color used for the header and total lines doesn't contrast well at all with the background, making them pretty much impossible to read unless you are close to the screen: Pretty bad color selection, I must say... Relevant bug report: http://theshownation.com/bug_reports/12131

You know what bothers me? The middle line of that box score, just put the damn thing on the top.