News Post

Where's the Fun in Fielding?

02:10 PM - June 9, 2008 by RaychelSnr

This week, Ryan Spencer checks in with an article detailing various users' thoughts of how to improve fielding in baseball games. Check out his article, Where's the Fun in Fielding?

Quote:


	"A little over a week ago, I saw a thread in the MLB The Show forum that caught my attention: �Ways to make fielding more fun?� The thread, created by OS member metallidevils, argued that fielding in all baseball games -- past and present -- was boring and tiresome."

Game: MLB '08: The ShowReader Score: 8.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS2 / PS3 / PSPVotes for game: 97 - View All

Member Comments

# 1 rspencer86 @ 06/09/08 06:29 PM

I agree with you, fielding should not see an increase in difficulty/complexity on all levels. But it just seems a little strange that fielding is the same on both Rookie and Hall of Fame. There should be something that makes it more difficult as you move up the difficulty levels.

It would be best if they could separate the difficulty levels by batting, pitching, and defense. So if I was an excellent hitter but fielding was too difficult on the higher levels, I could mix and match to get the perfect difficulty.

# 2 mel81399 @ 06/09/08 06:37 PM

I think they (SCEA) are very close to getting it down.
The fielding meter needs tweaking because I do feel like my bad throws are random.
The first basemen has yet to not scoop up a ball in the dirt.
The action of my OF being sucked into making the play feels a bit awkward but I am over that.
All in all this game has been on the shelfs for over three months and I still look forward to firing up my PS3 or my PSP and getting in 9.

# 3 PaperLantern @ 06/09/08 07:30 PM

Honestly, fielding has been the most fun part of baseball games for years in my opinion.

# 4 Sigma4Life @ 06/10/08 12:33 AM

Why are you mentioning MVP while completely ignoring MLB 2k8 as if it doesn't exist? I think 2K8 does a great job of making fielding interesting. 08 is a better sim but the controls of 2k8 are superior.

# 5 rp71284 @ 06/10/08 01:26 AM

Well I'm going to ignore MLB2K8 since I didn't play it and it would be wrong to form an opinion about it without at least trying it.

Anyway, I do agree that in The Show, the animations kick in way way too early.

Here's a glaring example:

Man on 1st, 2 outs
If there is a ground ball hit, your fielder automatically starts the animation to throw to 1st. So if you decide you rather get the easy out at 2nd, the fielder has to stop his animation that makes him look towards 1st and start the whole process over again which means you're too late to get any out by the time the ball gets to 2nd.

The thing I don't like about the game, and it's my only major gripe (besides the problems with people covering bases), is that the only options in a lot of things such as fielding are "Auto" and "CPU Assisted".

I loved how in MLB, I could roam around after the play. I could throw all over the diamond pretty much. There was freedom. In The Show, once you make the out, you can't do anything. You can't even run into your own guy like in MVP 04 (I think they took it out of 05).

Trust me I love how the show plays & looks, but there are some things that remind me of MLB 2K7 & MVP 04, as in they are so close to getting the game near perfection. MVP took 3 years, and next year will be the 3rd installment (at least on the PS3).

# 6 Knight165 @ 06/10/08 01:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rp71284


	The thing I don't like about the game, and it's my only major gripe (besides the problems with people covering bases), is that the only options in a lot of things such as fielding are "Auto" and "CPU Assisted".

I hear you about the "short way" out...

But are you sure there is no Manual fielding? I thought it was Manual/Assisted or Auto?

M.K.
Knight165

# 7 Deltron @ 06/10/08 04:35 AM

Baseball Stars on NES is a game with fun fielding. First of all you have to react quickly to grounders or line drives, making it seem as if you are really making a great play when you field a tough-to-reach smash. Secondly, instead of a metered throw you must press the d-pad in the direction of the base at the same time as the throw button. If you hit both simultaneously, the game rewards you with a hard throw. This method really makes if feel as if you earn the out when you gun out a fast runner by timing the throw correctly; opposed to the meter which feels out of place and slows down the gameplay.

# 8 callmetaternuts @ 06/10/08 08:13 AM

There are a few changes that could be made. Dont suck the players into the animation by the ball. In the outfield, you can be within 5 yards of the ball and you still make the catch.

# 9 chuckm1961 @ 06/10/08 09:03 AM

[checks for snipers; peeks out carefully]

MVP 05 had great fielding. Absolutely loved it.

[runs for cover]

# 10 PaperLantern @ 06/10/08 02:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuckm1961


	[checks for snipers; peeks out carefully] MVP 05 had great fielding. Absolutely loved it. [runs for cover]

Yeah MVP 05 definitely had the best fielding ever.

Of course I've always liked the fielding in Ken Griffey Jr's Slugfest as well.

# 11 uraz3r0 @ 06/10/08 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaperLantern


	Honestly, fielding has been the most fun part of baseball games for years in my opinion.

There is nothing better than diving at a screamer down the line with your 3B and peg Chone Figgins out at home.

# 12 Doran @ 06/10/08 09:54 PM

The only time I have fun fielding as a CF is with a homer and a low fence (which I haven't had yet). Flyouts are too easy. Shallow line drives and hits into the gap are just not fun at all. Until my CF gets better and I can start diving, I really have no fun with fielding. I look forward to my ABs every game.

# 13 bizarro @ 06/12/08 10:57 PM

For season two in my franchise, I've switched off every in-game visual indicator possible, in an attempt to make it a little tougher and just look a bit more like a real baseball game. Fielding in the outfield is definitely more of an adventure this way. I changed the fielding cam to 'high' to get a little more eye-time on the actual ball, and rely a good deal on the initial jump that the computer gives you to determine the likely landing spot. But what's neat is that I have to play line drives a lot more conservatively... whereas before I could just high-tail it directly for the landing marker, now my first priority is taking an angle that will prevent the ball from getting by me.

I recommend it for anyone looking to mix things up.

# 14 Blzer @ 06/13/08 01:15 PM

My biggest problem that I've had with fielding is that an animation got in the way of me getting an out. It was a ground ball to Vizquel, and I had to throw the runner out... but he did the double-pump thing and then lofted it to first, and the guy wasn't even close to being out after that. I don't mind these cool looking animations, but they can't affect gameplay like that.

Otherwise, fielding isn't super fun, but it doesn't really seem like a chore, either. I think MLB 2K8 had some pretty fun fielding. I think the camera might have a bit to do with it even. I hope The Show 09 has a few better camera options instead of the same thing we've had for four years.

# 15 DodgerFanatic2K3 @ 06/13/08 04:58 PM

Don't forget about how you can never charge a ball in the outfield and make a strong throw while running because that lame animation kicks in that makes your outfielder stop almost dead in his tracks before he throws which almost always allows a runner to score or be safe at a base

This is the biggest flaw in Fielding IMO

# 16 duke776 @ 06/16/08 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rp71284


	Anyway, I do agree that in The Show, the animations kick in way way too early. Here's a glaring example: Man on 1st, 2 outs If there is a ground ball hit, your fielder automatically starts the animation to throw to 1st. So if you decide you rather get the easy out at 2nd, the fielder has to stop his animation that makes him look towards 1st and start the whole process over again which means you're too late to get any out by the time the ball gets to 2nd.

I'm not sure if it's just the ps2 version, but the last 5 games I've been able to go the short way with a man on 1st and 2 out and haven't had any delay. But, this could be just because this small sample of games, this is the first time I've played this game in a about a month.

# 17 hoodlum10 @ 07/09/08 02:19 PM

fielding in 2k8 the show is a joke. the computer makes a diving stop on half the grounders i hit and it is wayyy 2 easy to rob home runs.

# 18 metallidevils @ 07/09/08 08:06 PM

Wow, seeing my username in the first post was a pleasant surprise

Thanks for the nod!

# 19 metallidevils @ 07/09/08 08:15 PM

The problem with fielding lies in the fact that, for the most part, most plays in real baseball are routine, and almost brainless to the players involved. How could you make a routine grounder more interesting? Or a routine fly ball? I read about the user suggesting pressing a button to act as closing the glove, but what happens if you time it incorrectly, the ball would fall out of your glove? There would be at least 10 errors a game (and frankly, timing a ball into a glove would also get pretty boring pretty fast). Fielding needs to be easy, in order to get realistic results, and doing something 'easy' 60-70 times a game will get boring. I honestly can't think of a better fielding mechanism, than say, a better tweaked version of what we have now. A funner version of fielding would involve more challenging routine plays (which is almost a contradiction inself), which would lead to tons more errors. Unfortunately, I can pretty safely say that there is no way to make a popup or ground ball more fun to field. First-person RTTS fielding is definitely something I hope makes it into the game, however..

# 20 metallidevils @ 07/09/08 08:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uraz3r0


	There is nothing better than diving at a screamer down the line with your 3B and peg Chone Figgins out at home.

Well sure, there are certain SITUATIONS that make fielding fun. Just like in football games, extra points are a no brainer, and not fun at all, but if the game is tied as time is expiring, your hands are still going to get sweaty while you kick it.

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Where's the Fun in Fielding?