D-Rays-6 runs,11 hits,0 errors,2HR(4 runs driven in cause of it)
Jays-7 runs,13 hits,2 errors,3HR(5 runs driven in cause of it)
Tough time trying to control Dickeys knuckleball(while I did strikeout 3 guys with Dickey, I let up 7 hits,4ER in 5IP with him)
I'd say maybe 2-3 runs are cause of user controlled errors on my team(stupid mistakes like not having my guy facing exact angle to catch the ball,and leaving throw canceling on so my guy didn't throw on an easy out)
Jays:
Reyes went 4-5(a HR away from hitting for cycle)
Lawrie went 3-4(all 3 were doubles!)
Lind went 2-4(2HR,4RBI)
D-Rays:
Jennings went 3-5
Joyce went 2-4(a HR,2RBI)
Molina went 2-4(a HR,2RBI)
Both teams struck out 6 times,6 of the 24 hits were doubles
I threw 77% of pitches for strike(111 pitches total in 9IP)
CPU threw 80% of pitches for strike(94 pitches total in 8IP)
Hits were all down the middle(meaning mid-high,mid-center,mid-low) for BOTH teams,only 1 hit of the 24 weren't in one of the 3 middle blocks
Played my first game (playoff mode), and the atmosphere and crowd noise were excellent, felt like how a playoff game should feel like. Loving the new ball physics, ball behaves extremely realistic and a huge improvement from last years version. Game looks great, sharper and better lighting than last years version.
Now the cons:
I didn't experience the "pitcher stutter" in my first game, however every cut scenes (batter walk up, circling the bases after homerun, dugout scenes, etc)...pretty much every cut scene had a easily noticeable stutter/lag which was really distracting. Got to the point where I just skipped every cut scene at the end.
Commentary is still pretty dull, new guy is a improvement, but main guy is still stale and really needs to be replaced.
I really hope they release a patch to fix the cut scene and pitcher (I only played one game, so still haven't experienced the pitcher stutter) stutter/lag.
Eagerly waiting for the servers to come online and hoping online experience will be better than last years.
A very polished game. Happy to say that my game doesn't skip nearly as much as I've heard others do. I am very impressed with the way players turn into a cyber photo after a trade, really makes things authentic when everyone has the same team hat. Hit variety is clear and a great addition. Still trying to figure out scouting so hopefully I'll be able to post some impressions later on.
Playing on all star across the board im noticing a ton of 1st pitches straight down the middle from the AI. Maybe I have to up the difficulty. And that pitch stutter is a game breaker. Its starting to happen even more now.
1st game in with the Jays and wow...i'll post a few impressions here.
The intro? chills.
The soundtrack? It's awesome.
leadoff home-run with Reyes. I haven't played the game in months too !
The ball physics are out of this world. Gamechanger and makes 12 obsolete!
Players mannerisms are crazy, definitely a 'little things' improvement I'm loving.
Players have never looked this real
Dickey's knuckleball is going to take me some time to master.....
The graphics on the stadiums big screens and surrounding LED boards? AMAZING
There's this pop stand behind the backstop at the Rogers Centre that looks so real...can't...stop...looking....
Won on a wild pitch, in an 8-7 thriller vs. the Sox. I'll have to up the difficulty from All-Star because I was raking but yeah. This game isn't getting old anytime soon.
Playing on all star across the board im noticing a ton of 1st pitches straight down the middle from the AI. Maybe I have to up the difficulty. And that pitch stutter is a game breaker. Its starting to happen even more now.
Same here. Bud Norris was serving them up consistently.
First game down, I played Blue Jays (me) on the road against the A's (CPU) at Polo Grounds, of all places (wanted to try out a new stadium) ...
I started off the game on All-Star all the way across (last year I played on Veteran for hitting, All-star for pitching) ..
I soon realized this would take some adjustment. Everyone talked about how much slower the pitch speed is in this version so I assumed I would find the same, however, I forgot that I played MLB 12 with Veteran hitting and pitch speed ZEROED. Needless to say, I don't want to touch sliders yet, but the speed was in fact faster for me playing on default All-Star as opposed to zeroed out pitch speed on Veteran.
After a couple innings I switched back to veteran because I was way behind everything. Anyway..
GOOD:
- The videos really don't do this game justice. It took all of one inning to realize that the new ball physics are much improved. I saw a bunch of new types of hits that were nowhere to be seen in MLB 12. Most noticeable was the foul balls at home plate, but I also had some neat little flares, cue shots and spins on balls that I have never seen before.
- Likewise with animations, I saw several new things in the game that I hadn't seen before... The way baserunners approach the base when they are rounding it, some new shovel and flip and throw animations from fielders, etc.
- I started the game with R.A. Dickey and I was somewhat wild and having a tough time controlling his knuckleball. As a result he lost confidence in it, which made it even more challenging and I had to rely more on the fastball. Very cool.
- After pitching with Dickey, I had Sergio Santos in there and him throwing at 97 MPH there was a huge difference and the mitt was POPPING. It really felt powerful the difference in sound effects of the ball hitting the mit with the guy throwing gas versus the flutter ball. I felt like a beast with Santos.
- After moving down to veteran, I was still somewhat behind a lot of pitches, but I can definitely see how hitting is easier. It's a bit odd, but I rattled off like six or seven consecutive singles in the 7th inning to put up four runs. That has never happened to me before in any other series of the game.
BAD
- I did experience some mild stutters. It wasn't hugely noticeable and maybe not what others are seeing, but still annoying enough.
- I feel the CPU pitchers throw too many strikes and too many good strikes. I should note that for MLB 12 I had "pitcher strikes" "CPU consistency" and "CPU control" all zeroed out and I found that produced much more realistic ball/strike ratios ... I might have to eventually do the same here... That being said, it's also possible I was just over anxious, but the A's starting pitcher had like a 4-to-1 strikes to ball ratio.
- I'm still undecided on the new throwing meter. It's kind of neat, but it will definitely take some getting used to. I think I might prefer full analog, but we'll see. I gave up an in the park homerun because I am having trouble hitting the cutoff with an accurate throw with the new meter - that, and I was playing at Polo Grounds and the gaps are HUGE if a ball gets into them,.
Game result:
Blue Jays 5 (13 hits)
Oakland 6 (10 hits)
A's rallied for three runs in the bottom of the 9th off Casey Jannssen to take the walk-off win.
R.A. Dickey went 6 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 S)
A. Griffin for the A's went 6 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 9 S0 (yup, shouldn't be striking out that much against this guy! Batting cage time!)
So far with my basic impressions: The hitting timing is a lot different. I'm out in from of everything. I use pure analog pitching and it seems even when you're hitting your spots perfectly, the ball isn't going exactly where you place it and your pitchers stamina matters.
So far with my basic impressions: The hitting timing is a lot different. I'm out in from of everything. I use pure analog pitching and it seems even when you're hitting your spots perfectly, the ball isn't going exactly where you place it and your pitchers stamina matters.
I've noticed this as well. Even with timing swing I'm out in front of everything even 94 mph fastballs. Maybe I'll try upping the human timing slider a click or two.
The "slight pause" of the ball coming out of the pitchers hand is brutal. It absolutely kills my timing at the dish. It's almost like a yo-yo. You see it cone out of his hand, pause and then the delivery animation kicks in. I hate to harp on a game when it just comes out, but this really sucks. Especially after waiting what seemed like forever, for this game to download and install.
Got one game under my belt and overall I'm liking what I see. Going along with the others the game looks great. It just has a good crisp look to it. Colors a very vibrant and Turner Field looks great. Also like others timing window is something to get use to, I'm way out in front of most pitches. First game I played on all star and hit 3 bombs so I'm def moving up a notch or 2 once I get some more feel for everything.
I use pulse pitching and love the new icon, just a dark shaded circle is a big diff from the white ring last year. Was able to hit most of my spots with a lil variation here and there when I rushed to pitch, which was nice.
Animations look great and I'm LOVING the upgrades to all the stances and follow thurs, looks really smooth and great. I'm not getting much of the stuttering like others have spoken of, had maybe one or two pitches from the CPU that felt like it skipped a lil but it was hard to tell. Def hasn't effected my gameplay so far.
Overall I'm really enjoying it. Doesn't feel like a roster update to me as some have mentioned. Looking forward to many more games and getting a real good feel for all the adjustments..
The "slight pause" of the ball coming out of the pitchers hand is brutal. It absolutely kills my timing at the dish. It's almost like a yo-yo. You see it cone out of his hand, pause and then the delivery animation kicks in. I hate to harp on a game when it just comes out, but this really sucks. Especially after waiting what seemed like forever, for this game to download and install.
Same here. On top of that, the stutter issue is there in the cutscenes.
Ok only played half a game during lunch but I wanted to post my first quick impressions anyway.
First of all I downloaded the game and for me the experience was very smooth. 2/2,5 hour download for everything. The menus and game are all super smooth for me. Maybe the disc version also navigates a lot faster this year but from the show 12 on disc (yes I installed the 10gb) to 13 as digital version it's very noticable!
Ok so I played half a game Cubs against Detroit.
Few thing I noticed from this short time of play:
- Rhe high bounces are gone
- The possibility to turn off the OSD's this year is wonderfull!
Besides the fact that it looks more like a real broadcast I now (have to) remember all the pitch types. Before the pitch type OSD made you (well at least me) lazy so I always looked at it to choose my pitch. Not anymore
- They finally fixed the pitch history colours!
- Really liking the new scorebar
- Lots of new camera cuts (wide opening shots of the stadiums is very nice)
- Hit variation was instantly noticable. In just 5 inning alot of hits I haven's seen before.
- The hit variation also makes the outfield play way more exciting this year! Feels really fresh!
- Liking the profile point system thing. Every inning you see how much points you've earned. Very subtle in the right corner of the screen below. Maybe next year they could even go as far as showing it after every play that earns you points.
- I like the flow of Steve Lyons
- I don't notice the pitches coming in any slower than last year..?
Always play on All Star but doesn't seem slower to me.
It seems like game doesn't count errors for CPU. I've seen CPU make a couple of errors, but when I see boxscore, they have 0 errors. It's plays that are clearly errors, like someone hitting a ball at a player and the ball bounces off the fielders glove, or a player threw the ball away.
Don't get what pitcher stutter people talking about, I haven't noticed anything
I've noticed in Franchise retirements are handled a bit better, not everyone who's 37 automatically retired. In fact in a test sim with the Yankees, only Pettitte and Rivera retired, Kuroda (39), Jeter (38) and A-Rod all returned for another year. Jeter and A-Rod regressed significantly though, both were down in the 60s and their overall abilities were diminshed. Overall I like the way progression/regression was handled this year, no more seeing A potential guys still progressiong once they're in their 30s
Played an online game, seems better than last year but still pretty choppy and delayed, the swing timing is completely different and I couldn't do anything. Pitching seems ok though as far as timing goes. I'll try it with a wired connection next time but honestly I've never had a problem with shooters or most other sports games while this game just can't seem to get it right. I was ahead of everything while swinging and balls that looked past me already jumped off my bat and I fouled them off instead. I'm guessing it will be playable to some after you sort of get used to it but it seemed pretty janky and just not very smooth at all.
Another great game!
Os-2 runs,10 hits,"0" errors(game doesn't count errors for CPU?)
Jays-4 runs(should have been 5,but stupid human error strikes again),13 hits,1 error
O's with 4 doubles, Jays with 2 doubles
Each team had a HR
Jays struck out 8 batters
O's struck out 1 batter
Lawrie: 2-4,3RBI,HR
80% of my pitches were strikes
92% of CPU pitches were strikes(they threw 61 pitches in 8 innings! Cause only a handful of strikes I didn't swing at due to how good locations they all were)
* I had some stuttering between cut-scenes. I didn't see any during pitching or actual gameplay, just cut-scenes. Annoying but not game breaking.
* I'm still not seeing the CPU throw enough balls. There's definitely more, but it took me 9 innings to draw one walk, and I'm generally a patient hitter. It's better than last year though, so with some slider adjustments, it should be great.
* It only happened once, but on a force play, it wouldn't let me throw the ball to 2nd. I had no more problems throwing all game, so it must have just been a weird glitch.
Positives;
* Diving. THANK YOU SECA! I can actually dive in the outfield and not fill like I'm putting my team at risk every time. Diving is fun and those highlight catches are fantastic in real life and now we can finally do them in the game. Last year, diving was atrocious (one of the few things 2K did better). This year, I made two fantastic diving catches catches, while missing one (but it was a lot closer than the misses last year). It seems a lot more polished.
* The hitting is fantastic. The ball sprays over the field and this year I actually never know what's a hit and what isn't. Last year, you saw the same 3 or 4 hits. This year you get bloopers, broken bat bloopers, line drive singles, blooping singles. The biggest improvement is last year, whenever an OFer was near the ball, it was a catch. This year, it can go over their head and drop. Very nice. Huge improvement.
* Hitting the pitcher. Granted, I've played one game, but last year, I'd smoke the pitcher 4 or 5 times myself, with the CPU doing once or twice. In my game this year, it hit the pitcher once and stopped dead, allowing my pitcher to toss it to 1st for the out. The only two other balls near the pitcher were fielded cleanly. Huge improvement if it stays like that.
* The graphics look nicer. Can't place my finger on what, but they do. WAY more player faces are right this year. I didn't see one Blue Jay that didn't look like his real life counterpart (although I am super tired so I may have missed someone).
* I like the slower ball speed. It will let me play on a harder difficulty while still being able to keep up with the ball. At times last year, I found the hitting far too easy, but the speed always killed me so I couldn't move it up or I'd strike out every time. I can identify pitches better this year.
My first game was a 6-1 Blue Jays win over the New York Mets on veteran settings. Jose Bautista had 2 HR, 4 RBI and was the player of the game. Jose Reyes and Melky each had two hits, with Edwin getting the other. Bautista also drew my walk. I had a couple of great pitcher battles as well with Brett Lawrie, although he ultimately lost both. RA Dickey went 7 1/3 innings notching 10 Ks while giving up 3 hits and 1 ER. Got a standing ovation as he left the field. Brett Cecil struck out both guys he faced in the 8th before Janssen came in for a 1-2-3 inning in the 9th. Finished with 13 Ks, which should knock down to 8-10 most games on the next difficulty level.
I'm sure there will be more impressions to come after I get some more games in, but thats it for now.