Can we talk about gameplay?

[PVarck31]

With non-stop franchise talk going on in almost every thread, I'd like to talk about 19's gameplay improvements.

From what I've seen the gameplay looks to be substantially improved in the fielding aspect. This is something I have been wanting for years now.

To me, this is worth a purchase alone. I understand the disappointment about the lack of Franchise improvements, and I'm sorry to say that I am no longer strictly a franchise guy so I am not overly disappointed but understand why so many are.

But moving away from that, some of the fielding improvements look great. Outfielders ratings seem to matter more than ever due to their ability to get good or bad jumps on balls. I love how the infielders now have a sense of urgency or a sense of not needing to rush. I've been waiting for this for a while.

So anyway, I'd like to discuss gameplay in the thread and not any modes at all. I am interested in how many people will be buying the game because of this. And interested in peoples feelings about these improvements.

[HarlemYankee]

I am just as disappointed about franchise as the next guy, but one of the biggest things that bums me out is the lack of “moments”... The same canned cut scenes for all walk off homers/hits, the same cut scene of the pitcher jumping on his catcher whether it’s a no hitter/perfect game/last out of wild card game or any series... They’re so old that they don’t even have the same frame rate as the rest of the game. That, with the lack of trackable accomplishments/records/all time leaderboards/etc should be no brainers but just keep on getting neglected.


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[pingponggame]

The cutscenes fall under presentation I would imagine.

Good thread to switch things up. I’m pretty excited to see what kind of difference defense will feel like and look like this year. There isn’t a ton of true CPU vs CPU gameplay to see how it all works, but from the bits shown I think there is a lot to be optimistic about. New branching animations are always a plus. I think the “lazy” fielder is finally starting to get polished. Only a few weeks away from being able to check it all out and post some quality feedback.

[bigwill33]

Looking forward to the fielding improvements. Really hope that weight transfer when throwing is applied and the tags work better. Tired of getting sucked into animations. Hitting was good last year, but they hopefully made it make more sense with regards to the pci and hit results.

[TheWarmWind]

I REALLY like what I saw on defense, and the logic behind the hitting changes make a lot of sense to me. Most of my vitriol comes from the secondary position logic and the pitching tiers. It's so static and punishing to long term franchise players.

To be clear, I am perfectly fine with added punishments in some cases for players playing secondary positions, and same for pitchers throwing their "worst" pitches over and over. My issue is that some players can play their secondary position just as well as there primary, and some pitchers can change what their best pitch is over a career. It's yet another good in theory but terrible in implementation idea that punishes franchise players the most.

They really need to add a tiered system to secondary positions, where positions listed in green are just as good as their primary, positions in yellow have a slight debuff, positions in red have a significant one, and not listed drops fielding attributes below 50% or more. Pitchers need a way to change what there best pitch/s are over a career.

Maybe the implementation is better then what I perceived in the streams, and I'm hopeful it is, but the combination of this perceived negative change, the lack of real improvements or fixes for franchise (the fixes especially), and Nick coming out and calling franchise a piece of a bigger picture are what drove me away this year. The on the field improvements look fantastic, and the only reason why that isn't enough on its own to get me to purchase is because 18 is still pretty darn good.

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[KingOfLanglade]

I’ve said it plenty of times in other threads, SDS replicates it’s sport better than any other AAA Title IMO. Even with Franchise being light, using 30 team control, playing games every night felt so organic/dynamic in 18’.

I am super intrigued to see how they furthered humanity AI and what defense looks like now that they have built that out more.

If I had two critiques they would be:

1) Diving and jumping looks very rough. Especially diving considering one animation occurs for all ball placement. Most of the time the best play of the night is a diving outfield grab, and in TS they just look so clunky.

2) Bullpen AI Logic is still very archaic. There are times the CPU will match wits with me but it feels more like happens chance than actually a strategic move. it feels as if bullpen moves are pre determined regardless of situation sans the closer. To see the same players in the same innings for an entire 4 game series is frustrating. FWIW I am not afraid to switch sides and set up the proper matchups, but it would be nice for the CPU to feel a little more dynamic.

Long story short, 18’ Gameplay is so, so good. I still play it every night, and will probably continue to play it until a good roster drops on 19’.

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[Willis135]

I am very much looking forward to the fielding improvements as well as contact hitters being more usable this year.

The minors in my carry over Tigers franchise is loaded with low power, high contact hitters with high fielding ratings. Somehow that's what I usually end up with in the draft. I guess my scouts knew what they were doing all along [emoji3]

On the field improvements is always the most important thing in my decision to purchase.

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[StormsWarning]

I've been watching the boards I just havent been saying much, I plan to get the game, but maybe around black Friday or Christmas sale. Since moneys tight this go around, I'll watch streams and play 18.

The game play looks improved for sure, as far as fielding and hitting, since I use armor & swords approach, auto fielding should be as smooth as it always has been. When your playing manual fielding you don't get to see all the animations you do on auto. So it should be pretty good.

The hit variations look pretty solid to from what I've watched of the dev streams. As a beta tester I can say after watching the dev streams the ratings will definitely matter, speed will be serious, and slower players may cost ya especially if that single could have been a double type of situation in the late innings. So bench and bullpen management will be key.

Yes of course we all want deeper modes but 19 does look to be the better quality as far as gameplay goes.

Anyways gl in ya games and most of all have fun.