OS MLB 09 Part 3 Impressions - rudyjuly2's Blog

rudyjuly2's Blog

OS MLB 09 Part 3 Impressions

Posted on January 31, 2009 at 06:19 AM.

(6)

So many more impressions after I went to bed last night. I've updated as of 2:30 and my car blew up. I will update further later to a 4th blog since this one is already huge!

Part 1
Part 2

Updated as of Saturday, 2:30 pm EST.

Community Leader Answers/Impressions

-----------------------

Pared (#427 in question thread on if he played the PSP version)
Damn it I wanted to but we just didn't have time. Same goes for the PS2 version.

Although the PS2 version will have some of the small interface enhancements from the PS3 and I'm sure that will trickle over to the PSP as well.

Russell_SCEA (#428 in question thread to ericjwm on fixing any goofy batting stances)
When I get back to work next week (what I'm I saying I'm still at work now lol) you are going to get your wish. Since you seem to be the head Lion in the pride when it comes to batting stances I'm going to give you a special project and we will see.

That is all I am willing to say at this point but you better put your money where your mouth is or I'm going to rag on you all year long lol.

Chris_SCEA_Sports (#312 at 1:14 aM EST)
Hehe...they are still here...going on 12 hours now...I don't think Pared will leave until he beats Legend!!

Jim (#319 and he's home now on if the cut scenes for HRs or foul balls are different)
Basically what you got last year, but a little different angles.

Jim (#321)
The guys who can bring the ball, they bring it. You are going to be quite happy with what they did with the pitch speeds, pitch breaks.

You can not start a game at any time you want. In exhibition mode it gives you the options of cloudy/overcast/clear, one more I think. In franchise mode it generates the times off the schedule, the only difference is when you see a game that is at dusk the lighting REALLY, I mean REALLY takes over. You have to see it to understand it.

Once you see some screens you'll get the wonder of it all.

I can't believe those guys are still there, lol. Ah, to be young again.

Jim (#324)
I can tell you that none of us went there to pander. There were some deep discussions, and we even found out how it is not so easy to do the collision detection, but it was all done respectfully. The devs were really open and really appreciated our feed back. When you have devs looking over your shoulder watching you play the game and listening to you, you know these guys take the communities input seriously.

Jim (#329)
Another short cut. I told you you can use UP and the DPad to bring someone up in your bullpen. After you put them in you can push UP and DPad again and instead of clicking on bullpen you'll see your pitchers at the bottom of the window. Just quickly scroll down to the pitcher you want to bring in and hit X, it's done.

Jim (#333)
Mark,

You are going to crap when you see what they've done. I can still see Nate Mclouth running back to the wall, looking over his shoulder as the ball goes over his head and bounces off the wall. Sweet.

Jim (#336 on any new animations for chin music at the batter)
Tons of new animations, but I didn't hit a batter. There's a cool one where the batter falls to one knee when he's really fooled on a breaking pitch. There's a cool one where the catcher takes one in the gonads, goes down to both knees, puts his face to the ground and the ump calls time. It lasts about 15 seconds and is pretty funny.

Oh, Thome got hit, slammed his bat down, started up the line and turned around to yell back in at the other dugout, picked up his bat, then threw it down again and walked to first in disgust.

If you like presentation, trust me, this game has it. A batter swung and threw his bat into the stands, put his hands on top of his head like "oh, my god, hope that doesn't hit anyone".

Jim (#338)
The ivy in Wrigley field in April? There is none, a bunch of vines with no leaves, all brown.

Jim (#339 at 2:41 am EST)
That's it for me fellas. Appears Pared still hasn't beat LEGEND mode. Hope he doesn't miss his flight in the morning.

Knight (#340 on Jim saying Pared hasn't beaten Legend)
Ummmm
Yes he has.
I'll let him give you the details.

Pared (#343)

No, I didn't beat Legend mode. Close, 3-2. Made some bad decisions at the plate and it really should have been 2-2 but I can't speak on why! Damn it!

Either way, today was a complete blast. Legend mode is manageable but when you lose it, if you don't manage things well you're done!

I got lots of jersey stuff and impressions coming up. I'll try and put together my thoughts tonight.

Oh, the BSG comments got way out of hand. I said you'll some some very, very minor exaggerations on a few players... but overall they were extremely well done.

Span from the Twins was probably my favorite. Just incredible.

Knight (#345 on Ivy at Wrigley)
What he's saying is....it's brown in early April.....gets patchy green a few weeks later.....and then turns a beautiful green for the summer.

....oh and the batter's eye section got some major loving. I spoke to one of the stadium guys....who is also a big Cubs fan. He's going to get even more fixes in for future versions.

Another great note.
When the CPU rests players....it will now re-work the lineup.
No more seeing Wilson Betimet hitting third in the lineup when Alex Rodriguez got a day off. HUGE!

(thanks Kolbe)

NOTE: Russell_SCEA stated in #347 that they just got that in a couple days ago

Pared (#346 on if the new pitching meter got him)
Nah, that wasn't it, but the break on the pitches in the default batting camera angle was KILLER. SO HARD to pick them up... then I switched to the angled view and it felt like I could read them better.

The breaks are very similar to MVP in that the ball appears to stay level then drops out of the zone.

The batter-pitcher experience is just all around SUPERB. Much props to Brian_SCEA who really hit a walk-off grand slam with this one. It's amazing. I had a game, runners on first and third with one out... the CPU kept pounding the ball low in the zone, trying to get the ground ball for the DP. It would even go up in the zone trying to keep you off balance... the level of complexity is amazing. Again... Brian_SCEA... you da man!

I do want to add that the entire team was such a blast just to hang out with and talk to. Many thanks to all of them and it was a pleasure meeting all of you.

Cubs fans should love this: Zambrano didn't have the correct glove height when starting his windup. I pointed this out and it should be addressed before final build! Also, David Wright's stance will be addressed as well. Mets fans should love his minor changes!

Knight (#348)
Mike75..

You wanted to know how much power the PS3 uses when running The Show?....I found out these last two days. 110%

Were nicknames and first names added? Yes..and yes. You can now choose a first name and last name for the game in the editor.

Did they change/add the commentary. Yes.....and there is specific playoff/W.S. commentary added
...also Opening Day and the playoff games...the stadiums are dressed. LOOKS GREAT. Logos and bunting.

The saved game no catchers mitt glitch. Fixed

Confidence bars disappearing. Fixed

Pared (#351)
Guys,

Do not mistake our comments for hype or anything else... we just had a lot of fun with the game and we're solely answering your questions. Just a little friendly disclaimer.

On a slightly negative note, I do not feel there were enough errors by default. I did not touch the sliders because I wanted to solely focus on the core engine "out of the box" but Nem can fill you in on the impact of the sliders.

Guys if you've PMed me, I'll answer your questions here. You guys blew up my PM box. If anything, please use the comment section on my arena. Thanks.

Knight (#353)
Weather? No real weather(as far as precip) You will get clear skys, cloudy skies and overcast. The tempature will also matter.

On a related note...pitchers will wear the jackets on colder days...the long sleeves will also be worn on colder days...but some players will never wear them.

Beachballs toned down? Yes

Will the chalk lines fade down the bases as well as batters box? Yes.

Rogers Centre? fixed the panels that were blue to gray.

Nemesis (#355 and huge slider news!)
Hi guys!

Here are the sliders for 09:

User:
Contact
Power
Timing
Fouls
Solid Hits (New)
Starter Stamina
Reliver Stamina
Pitcher Control
Pitcher Consistency

CPU
Contact
Power
Timing
Fouls
Solid Hits (New)
Starter Stamina
Reliver Stamina
Pitcher Control
Pitcher Consistency
Strike Frequency
Manager Hook
Pickoffs

Global
Pitch Speed
Fielding Errors
Throwing errors
Fielder Run Speed
Fielder Reaction
Fielder arm strength
Baserunner speed
Baserunner Steal ability
Baserunner Steal frequency
Wind

The total number of clicks is different this year. From default (middle) you can move the slider 5 clicks either way. It looks like each click is the equivalent of two last year. From the way the game played in its current state we will not need to spend much time sliding. Brian did an excelent job tuning the game in its current default state.

As you can see from the list that the sliders were streamlined. Some were cut basically because they did not work or worked against one another. After playing a good junk of games on Legend and Hof, the game is tight!

Pared (#358)
Last one for me and I'm outta here:

All Star teams are not editable.

I know someone asked that so I just want to answer it. Gotta get some sleep for a long day of flying tomorrow.

Enjoy the information fellas.

Chris_SCEA_Sports (#360 at 5:15 am EST)
Let's see here...

Have Wright fix his gloves after a swing and miss. Check.
Fix Johan Santana. Check.
Higher hands, elbows in, glove straight for Zambrano. Check.

Can I go home now, Pared?

Jim (#13 in Pasta thread on wild pitches and passed balls)
I didn't see one wild pitch in all the games I played. Also, with the passed balls. Nem and I noticed how many of those "passed balls" were blocked by the catcher right in front of him. You know how the balls used to go back to the backstop on third strike? What Nem and I saw was these balls actually being block near the plate and almost every time the catcher just tagged the runner. I thought that was an improvement.

Jim (#392)
One definite thing I noticed with hitting, and this is just the way I played. Last year I would be late on 80% of my swings. As a righty I'd foul tons of balls down the right field line, same as a lefty, but down the left field line.

It all felt different in 09 and I wasn't late on stuff. You can pick up the pitched ball a lot better. I was letting balls go that were out of the zone (not always, of course, and Mr. Manage-Only Knight swung at everything), but also beware as the pitch breaks are really mucho better this year.

When Nem and I were striking each other out on curveballs and change ups we'd just look at each other, smile and say..."ooooooooooh yeah".

Jim (#393)
I used Daniel Cabrera in a game, new Washington pitcher. The first four balls I threw in the game were.....balls. That's Cabrera. (note: I used CLASSIC pitching/all visual aids off).

Jim (#397 on new baserunning mechanics and if it was better than '08)
After moving from CLASSIC running scheme to NEW last year (becauses that what on line uses), I thought the system worked really well. It took some practice. Not sure what you're asking.

Jim (#411)
I can't praise enough what I saw in the pitcher batter aspects of the game. The ropes down the line. I'm not saying all of them are easy, because they have worked so much on tweaking all the issues. It depends on the outfielders, but last year they flat out weren't there unless the ball bounced off a wall away from the outfielder. I can tell you this, on manual field, I had my guy going for some fly balls and I just knew that I might not get to it where last year outfielders tracked down way too many flyballs. I took a great screen of Soriano just missing catching a fly ball down the line at Wrigley and hope that one gets posted.

Jim (#417)
Pickoffs? Nem commented one time, "nice to see a quicker move to first". That kind of stuff? To tell you the truth, didn't pay that much attention to that part. Maybe one of the other guys will chime in. I know their planes aren't scheduled to land in NY until like 6 pm EST, then they have to drive home, so they'll be on later tonight.

Jim (#422 on being late on balls in '08 but not in '09)
Nem and I had a pitcher/batter duel and I bet I hit seven foul balls down the LEFT field line. Last year they would have gone to right field. Then he dropped a BIG FRIGGIN hook on me and down I went, lol.

Jim (#425 on if the cpu pitcher still throws two strikes if he falls behind 3-0)
Didn't really test this, sorry. Looking at the pitch charts though I can tell you the user should be able to draw walks, just don't know about the 3-0 thing.

Jim (#427 on if you could tell the difference between good and bad fielders)
Mike, lol, are you reading my posts? Balls over guys heads, thinking I might get to a fly ball, but don't, some plays are closer than others at second? This is the aspect of the game that stuck out like a sore thumb for us.

Jim (#430 on dynamic lighting during gameplay)
If they post the one screen I took, it was in Milwaukee, there are shadows all over the field because of those high walls that aren't solid. Because of the structure of this particular stadium it is heavily influenced by shadows. Pitcher will be standing half in light, half out. It's there.

Jim (#431)
Played in all the stadiums. Saw Hamilton jack one out, great cut scene. I'm not a spot on stance guy, but Pared will chime in when he gets in. I was told that the batting guy added stances for every player that he knew and I'd think those big guys got definite attention.

Jim (#433)
Game is optimized to run at 720.

Jim (#436 on the different skill levels of fielders)
How do I make YES in huge capital letters, lol. I would actually be straining my stick trying to get to some of the balls, talking to myself, "come on, come on, come on" and, woops, the ball would be by the outfielder.

Jim (#439 on minor league parks)
Knight wrote them all down. I didn't really look at them.

Jim (#444 on the crowds in '09)
You really have to strain your eyes this year to pick out the duplicate fans. They pulled this off really well. They look better and they walk around the stadium, up and down the stairs during game play. You can see them walking along the outfield walls where the seats are, etc. I played a game as the Padres and the fans were booing them, but that's to be expected.

Jim (#462)
BATTING STANCES....ALERT

Again, I will tell you that the batting stance guy was asked to put every batting stance that he knows into the game. Please ask Pared as he's a little more up on it and he isn't going to be getting home until later EST. The batting stances that I could recognize, Span for example as it's a little funky, looked really good.

Jim (#464 on people being happy that they won't be so late to swing this year)
It is absolutely true. Trust me, nobody fouled balls off more the opposite way than me. I actually will have to retrain myself when batting, lol.

Jim (#466 on dome lighting)
Hmm, I can't answer this directly and I looked at both those stadiums. I can just say they really improved everything. Dolphin Stadium even looks great.

Comments

# 1 rspencer86 @ Jan 31

Thanks for aggregating all of the comments, Rudy. This game is starting to sound like one for the ages. Incredible stuff.

# 2 TeaBags @ Jan 31

Hello, Did they add any new Homerun camera angles this year?last years cams were horribe you couldn't see where the ball went,I know most baseball fans like to see a cool homerun shot and admire it.

How are the Stadium Jumbotron celebrations?

Did they bring back the fireworks?

Thanks.