MLB 15 The Show (Community Day Gameplay Q&A Thread)

[nemesis04]

Re: MLB 15 The Show (Community Day Gameplay Q&A Thread)

How much influence does directional hitting have, and does it seem like it rewards the player more for aiming in that direction? The biggest thing I've always feared about directional hitting, which was true for MVP and 2K at the very least, is that aiming up on low pitches produced many pop-ups (saying you didn't aim right) but aiming down was a ground ball, so there weren't many home runs on low pitches. What is the remedy for this?

Also, once the pitcher begins his windup, does the directional hitting mechanic "lock in place" where you last selected? It looked like the camera at least stopped in place each time the pitcher began his motion, but I'm not sure if this is more of a guess pitch feature or what.

As far as directional hitting mechanic is concerned I thought it was pretty well balanced overall. It is not this super overriding force that defies everything like for example if you push up for a fly ball your result is ALWAYS a fly ball. Timing, pitch type, location and player attributes all play contributing roles in determining the outcome as well. You will still get varying hits no matter where you influence. It can also a double edged sword because if you have a strong pull hitter and you concentrate inside you could end up over compensating and end up pulling the pitch foul where if you played it straight up it could have been fair. Also the system is balanced where if you have a weak opposite field hitter like a Mark Texiera he does not automatically become an opposite field champ.

In regards to the camera, it does not lock in place when the pitcher throws, it can be moved up until the time you swing. The moveable camera basically gives you a better vantage point so to speak when you shift to give the impression of seeing the pitch better if it enters your concentrated area. I actually prefer the locked position. The moving camera concept is a little schizophrenic to me, if I am looking to induce a fly ball I am not necessarily always looking at the top of the zone. Also for me, I felt more compelled to swing if I shifted the camera. So I found myself swinging more then I should have. I can see the camera shift concept more for inside outside pitches.

[lhslancers]

Re: MLB 15 The Show (Community Day Gameplay Q&A Thread)

Definitely not playing on legend with max speed...
While in theory I agree that increasing pitch speed should help, the reality is it leads to other problems for me anyway instead.
What I mean by this is that I am happy with my variety of hits,doubles,runs etc but lacking on the so's.
By increasing pitch speed while perhaps helping so's also for me leads to me being late on everything and having far too many balls put into opposite field which is leading to less overall hits,runs, hr's.
As it stands now it is like a pick your poison type thing.
I was just hoping that this year they had shrunk the PCI a bit back to how it was a couple of years ago..

Putting the User Foul Frequency Slider at 0 might help you strike out more. TBH even at the age of 62 nearly 63 I play 14 on AS Hitting Timing with the Pitch Speed Slider at 9. Pre 13 I use default and it is fast enough for me. TS 13 I put it at 10.

[UNIT-352]

Re: MLB 15 The Show (Community Day Gameplay Q&A Thread)

[quote=ShowTyme15;2047040491]Yes. Also crowd placement is dynamic when the game isn't a sellout.[/quote

Just clarifying your response....So fans do finally catch homeruns and foul balls?

[ShowTyme15]

Re: MLB 15 The Show (Community Day Gameplay Q&A Thread)

[QUOTE=UNIT-352;2047040531]

Yes. Also crowd placement is dynamic when the game isn't a sellout.[/quote

Just clarifying your response....So fans do finally catch homeruns and foul balls?

Yes they do.

[UNIT-352]

Re: MLB 15 The Show (Community Day Gameplay Q&A Thread)

[quote=ShowTyme15;2047040536]

Yes they do.

Finally!!!! Awesome

[nomo17k]

Re: MLB 15 The Show (Community Day Gameplay Q&A Thread)

I am gonna re-post my questions (condensed and consolidated) from last night because they've since been buried under new questions. I appreciate any insights you guys might (or might not) have and I also realize you didn't have time to play gobs and gobs of ball games.

1) Any noticeable differences in variety of ball physics and distances on home runs? In past iterations, HRs tend to adopt a narrow range of trajectories and not to go any farther than 440 feet in games. Did you see a true moonshot? Did you see a screamer line drive that barely scraped over the wall?

2) Did the double plays seem overpowered? Were you grounding into 1-2+ GIDP per game? Or has the new fielder speeds fixed that?

3) Did you notice any affect of wind? Did you play with the wind blowing out vs blowing in and notice any differences?

Sorry as far as I'm concerned I'm not necessarily answering them in order and I'm not inclined to add to things that have been answered by Nem/thaSLAB or on things which I'm not very well informed (counting on other guys to take care of them).

My impressions for these are:

1) I have personally not felt any issue is there on HR distance. You earlier mentioned of your experience from the HR derby mode, but if I recall correctly the ball physics is differently tuned in that mode, so it is not a good representation of what "real" ball physics is in the regular gameplay. In HR derby, I haven't had any issues hitting moonshots or those which barely clear the wall (definitely 440+ feet... you can even check that out here: http://theshownation.com/players/nomo17k/home_run_derby) though, to the extent that the mode overall feels a bit comical/arcade too my taste.

Overall, the ball physics shouldn't be any different from the engine that takes care of all the other hit types, so if your overall experience is jsut fine with ball physics, I don't think there's any issues specific to HRs.


2) My impression is that the new gameplay should help a bit in reducing GIDPs, but it's not clear to me as to how much. This kind of thing is difficult to know since your hitting approach is partially responsible for grounding out, and that approach varies so much based on the gamer. But (if you have been using Timing) the new Directional Hitting should help you avoid grounding out more. (As a general comment, not specific to MLB 15) Personally I'd like to see a few more variations in animation that get hitters quicker out of the box sprinting down to 1st to beat the throw, to simulate Ichiro-type slap hitting, but widening the ability difference in baserunning speed should also help there a bit.



3) The wind has always had a substantial effect on fly balls. I don't expect things have changed.

[nemesis04]

Re: MLB 15 The Show (Community Day Gameplay Q&A Thread)

I am gonna re-post my questions (condensed and consolidated) from last night because they've since been buried under new questions. I appreciate any insights you guys might (or might not) have and I also realize you didn't have time to play gobs and gobs of ball games.

1) Any noticeable differences in variety of ball physics and distances on home runs? In past iterations, HRs tend to adopt a narrow range of trajectories and not to go any farther than 440 feet in games. Did you see a true moonshot? Did you see a screamer line drive that barely scraped over the wall?

I thought the variety was pretty good. Some were majestic and then there were some that just made it out. I did not study distance but I did not get a repetitive feeling in regards to variety when I saw home runs occurring.

2) Did the double plays seem overpowered? Were you grounding into 1-2+ GIDP per game? Or has the new fielder speeds fixed that?

This is hard to judge because it is dependent on the pitcher you are facing and his repertoire. Some games had higher double plays totals then others.

3) Did you notice any affect of wind? Did you play with the wind blowing out vs blowing in and notice any differences?

To me it is hard to judge the wind because of the dynamic ball indicator in the field. There may have been some noticeable difference with wind in and out as opposed to left and right.

Answers in bold.

[Motown]

Re: MLB 15 The Show (Community Day Gameplay Q&A Thread)

Did the field dimensions seem the same or did the revised speed of the players make the fielding areas seem larger?Any bloop shots over the OFs heads for extra bases, & are balls in the dirt inspected by the umps?(wishful thinking) Thanks for the Q&A fix too guyz

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: MLB 15 The Show (Community Day Gameplay Q&A Thread)

Appreciate your responses, gentlemen.

I have a some replies to nomo17k's responses in bold.

Sorry as far as I'm concerned I'm not necessarily answering them in order and I'm not inclined to add to things that have been answered by Nem/thaSLAB or on things which I'm not very well informed (counting on other guys to take care of them).

My impressions for these are:

1) I have personally not felt any issue is there on HR distance. You earlier mentioned of your experience from the HR derby mode, but if I recall correctly the ball physics is differently tuned in that mode, so it is not a good representation of what "real" ball physics is in the regular gameplay. In HR derby, I haven't had any issues hitting moonshots or those which barely clear the wall (definitely 440+ feet... you can even check that out here: http://theshownation.com/players/nomo17k/home_run_derby) though, to the extent that the mode overall feels a bit comical/arcade too my taste.

Overall, the ball physics shouldn't be any different from the engine that takes care of all the other hit types, so if your overall experience is jsut fine with ball physics, I don't think there's any issues specific to HRs.

I think that's really issue. In HR Derby there is quite a variety in HR trajectories as proven by the recap that shows them all on the same screen for a particular player's HR Derby round. The distances also get up into the 440s and 450s regularly. I may recall even seeing one at 470 feet in a HR derby. The problem is that--and you alluded to it by mentioning the ball physics are tuned differently in different modes--is that variety of trajectories and ability to hit really long homers just isn't there in actual games. I am not sure if this deals with speed of the ball off the bat in real games, but I would like the variety of trajectories and distances to carry over from HR Derby to real games while maybe not having the same arcade-y feel that you mentioned from HR Derby mode. They don't all have to be 450-475 feet, but a few should be and even longer, which I've never seen in this game. In games I've played, I haven't seen a HR longer than 440 feet in a non-HR Derby setting.

2) My impression is that the new gameplay should help a bit in reducing GIDPs, but it's not clear to me as to how much. This kind of thing is difficult to know since your hitting approach is partially responsible for grounding out, and that approach varies so much based on the gamer. But (if you have been using Timing) the new Directional Hitting should help you avoid grounding out more. (As a general comment, not specific to MLB 15) Personally I'd like to see a few more variations in animation that get hitters quicker out of the box sprinting down to 1st to beat the throw, to simulate Ichiro-type slap hitting, but widening the ability difference in baserunning speed should also help there a bit.

I agree completely about hitters needing to get out of the box faster. See, the issue I have is that A LOT of people are leading their respective franchises in GIDP. It's mentioned ad nauseum, so it has less to do with nuances, USER approach at the plate, and the pitcher being faced and more to do with the batter corkscrewing himself into the ground on swings and not getting out of the box fast enough. This is also related to catchers having cat burgling instincts and tagging guys out as they're stuck in the mud. I think it's probably also related to infielders covering too much ground relative to batted ball speed. I am hoping that the slowing the fielder speeds will have an impact here and let more grounders get into the OF. I use zone btw.

3) The wind has always had a substantial effect on fly balls. I don't expect things have changed.

I think my issue is more that the wind is hardly ever blowing in games rather than that the wind doesn't do anything when it does blow. I do see an effect when the wind is blowing, but I'm hoping to have less 2-3 mph wind days which really seem to be 80% of what I see when I check the wind indicator. I can't think of a time the wind was blowing in double digit mph. And I play most games at Wrigley Field, so that's just odd.

Answers in bold.

[thaSLAB]

Re: MLB 15 The Show (Community Day Gameplay Q&A Thread)

Did the field dimensions seem the same or did the revised speed of the players make the fielding areas seem larger?

The fields are the same correct size. A cool verification of that is being able to line up a bunch of player models in T-pose and use them as a ruler, of sorts. Anyway, yes just the change in player speeds made them play "bigger" and more true to life. I had some nice hits in the gap or into the corner, that would have been long singles in 14. Although I think it was balanced, meaning it was probably still a long single for Victor Martinez.

Any bloop shots over the OFs heads for extra bases, I didn't witness one blooper over an OF head, I did have a cool bloop single over a drawn in infield (think Luis Gonzalez 2001 WS winner.)& are balls in the dirt inspected by the umps?(wishful thinking) Unfortunately, no. I've actually been asking for that too! Thanks for the Q&A fix too guyz

Answers in bold.

Speaking of the drawn in infield. The whole defensive positioning has been worked on and plays a slightly bigger part in the game. I think it is used more efficiently by the CPU, but it could be that it now lets you know the defensive setup for each batter. There is now a quick menu to access those settings (d-pad up), and quickly get you back to the action. Nem and I even talked to Kirby about taking it even further, in the future, for quick changes in franchise or online.

[Eman5805]

Re: MLB 15 The Show (Community Day Gameplay Q&A Thread)

I only use timing. And something that frustrated me to no end was how often I'd line out to short stop. I mean, hit it directly to them. Dude just has to raise his glove. Don't even to to the left or right or jump or dive. Just straight at him. I'd rather ground out in that situation. At least then it doesn't feel so cheap.

I hope that's been turned down a bit. I do it almost two times a game every game.

[MrOldboy]

Re: MLB 15 The Show (Community Day Gameplay Q&A Thread)

With regard to batted ball physics:

- Do balls roll/bounce realistically in the outfield this year? I have yet to see a ground ball hit down a line and for it to reach the corner in MLB 14 similar to how a ball would roll in real life.

A few examples

Hard liner down line
Hard ground ball down line
Softer chopper down line, still gets pretty far down the line

Ground balls roll a lot and don't lose momentum as fast as they do in The Show. Part of it is how fast/well outfielders get over to the ball so maybe the new AI/sliders can help with this, but I really hope one day we start seeing hits like this in the game.

[Bobhead]

Re: MLB 15 The Show (Community Day Gameplay Q&A Thread)

No problem, I am sure those were not some of the answers you wanted but that is how I saw it when I was there.

Yeah it's a bit disappointing but I'd rather hear the truth than something misleading. Regardless, I'm playing '14 right now (literally right now... only 3 weeks away from the playoffs!), still enjoying it despite those 3 issues, so I doubt any of them will stop me from buying or enjoying '15.

I can only hope/ask that SCEA is aware of all three issues?

[Blzer]

Re: MLB 15 The Show (Community Day Gameplay Q&A Thread)

With regard to batted ball physics:

- Do balls roll/bounce realistically in the outfield this year? I have yet to see a ground ball hit down a line and for it to reach the corner in MLB 14 similar to how a ball would roll in real life.

A few examples

Hard liner down line
Hard ground ball down line
Softer chopper down line, still gets pretty far down the line

Ground balls roll a lot and don't lose momentum as fast as they do in The Show. Part of it is how fast/well outfielders get over to the ball so maybe the new AI/sliders can help with this, but I really hope one day we start seeing hits like this in the game.

Problem is I don't think The Show still incorporates top spin when it hits the ground, and it doesn't differentiate dirt from grass. Also what you said about outfielder speed, and they are positioned too closely down the line already.

Lots of factors go into this that make me think it's still not perfect in any way, but I know they've worked on ball physics and the outfielders will take deeper angles now.

[ARoid1313]

Re: MLB 15 The Show (Community Day Gameplay Q&A Thread)

Thanks for the responses guys..

Is sounds of the show still in the game? Any chance we will get support for this by putting music on the usb?