MLB 15: The Show Impressions Thread (Impressions Only!)

[CujoMatty]

Re: MLB 15: The Show Impressions Thread (Impressions Only!)

Last year's game was hitting-friendly. It's way more difficult this year but more realistic imo. It's not ruined for analog users. You just need to adapt and practice. You can use Dynamic difficulty.

You are kidding right? How can you say analog hitting is harder now. You don't even have to time your stride. It's waaaay easier. And how is it more realistic to not have to time your stride. I've played baseball my whole life and in now way could I just stand there and flail my arms and expect to have success. figuring out his stride timing was hugely instrumental in jose bautista unlikely jump from league journey man to elite power hitter.

[fearwhatnow]

Re: MLB 15: The Show Impressions Thread (Impressions Only!)

You are kidding right? How can you say analog hitting is harder now. You don't even have to time your stride. It's waaaay easier. And how is it more realistic to not have to time your stride. I've played baseball my whole life and in now way could I just stand there and flail my arms and expect to have success. figuring out his stride timing was hugely instrumental in jose bautista unlikely jump from league journey man to elite power hitter.

My post was based in my experience with directional hitting. I assumed they increased the hitting difficulty for analog too. Sorry for my misleading post.

[LastActionHero]

MLB 15: The Show Impressions Thread (Impressions Only!)

Overall great game but they've ruined hitting for us analog users. My timing's all kinds of jacked up now, struggling to hit on Veteran when in last year's I've always been an All-star+ hitter.

I was sceptical too when this news came out but I must say after a few innings where the timing threw me way off I'm now really digging it. You can now even decide after the pitch if you wanna go for contact or not by flipping the stick left or right if it's a ****ty pitch but you have 2 strikes. I still understand the frustration of the stride guys but I'm convinced.

[bad_philanthropy]

Re: MLB 15: The Show Impressions Thread (Impressions Only!)

The alterations to the animation system makes this the most different version of The Show in years. It's a very good thing.

Everything feels and looks so much more smooth, and it translates to a lot of subtle gameplay improvements. It really changes hitting in the sense I no longer feel handcuffed by a specific players stance and swing. For instance, Brett Lawrie's little bat wiggle in his swing doesn't feel slow and throw me off anymore. I feel like there isn't as much variance between batter performance based on the speed of swing animations.

I love how fielding no longer has the suctioning. You have a lot more control and have to be a lot more strategic about tracking down balls. Makes the whole system a lot more engaging.

[Cowboy008]

Re: MLB 15: The Show Impressions Thread (Impressions Only!)

Decided to jump right into franchise last night with the Twins. Played one game against the Red Sox and it was a good one. Everything looks better this year compared to last. The only thing I don't like that I hope they can fix is after I select a pitch something happens to the graphics and it is noticeable.

[LastActionHero]

MLB 15: The Show Impressions Thread (Impressions Only!)

Decided to jump right into franchise last night with the Twins. Played one game against the Red Sox and it was a good one. Everything looks better this year compared to last. The only thing I don't like that I hope they can fix is after I select a pitch something happens to the graphics and it is noticeable.

Yeah I think I know what this is, when pitching from behind the pitcher view before you select the pitch the grass is 3d rendered but after you've selected the pitch it goes to the flat "carpet" graphic.
This is probably because it's too much to render with the action otherwise. I hope they can figure something out for next year that gives us the rendered 3d grass also during at bats and while pitching. For now it's maybe better to give us the "carpet" while pitching the whole time instead of this weird switch.

[Cowboy008]

Re: MLB 15: The Show Impressions Thread (Impressions Only!)

Yeah I think know what this is, when pitching from behind the pitcher view before you select the pitch the grass is 3d rendered but after you've selected the pitch it goes to the flat "carpet" graphic.
This is probably because it's too much to render with the action otherwise. I hope they can figure something out next year that gives us the rendered 3d grass all the time or at least also during at bats and while pitching. For now it's maybe better to give us the "carpet" while pitching the whole way instead of this weird switch.

You can also tell a difference in the pitchers jersey it does look bad.

[Dolenz]

Re: MLB 15: The Show Impressions Thread (Impressions Only!)

I pretty much skip the game introduction video each year after viewing it once or twice so it is not that big of a deal to me but I will say that while I thought the introduction was cool looking I hated the fact that it was focused so heavily on Puig. It kind of alienates those of us who root for one of the other 29 teams and don't really care about Puig. Honestly I would have rather seen one of your trailer videos as the intro.

[THESHAMISASHAME]

Re: MLB 15: The Show Impressions Thread (Impressions Only!)

Yeah they really tweaked the AI , physics and animations to near perfection as I havent seen anything goofy on Allstar default .
Just had a beautiful hit and run and all the animations were super smooth and realistic moving even where Adam Eaton slowed down and sped back up going into 3rd

Oh and balls down the lines , gaps and even over head AS default are programmed perfectly no more suction stuff .

Rain seems weird has anyone noticed on fly balls or cut scenes you can see the rain but not at ground level pitching or hitting ? This is very disappointing as it was great on the PS4 last year but on ps3 I could barely see it .

[SoxFan01605]

Re: MLB 15: The Show Impressions Thread (Impressions Only!)

Some early thoughts:

-Played two games, one in Fenway against the Cubs (night game in September) and one in Wrigley during a July day (still as the Red Sox). Both stadiums looked beautiful and I actually saw a a nice deep blue sky with black clouds in Fenway...something that wasn't possible before (used to transition from yellowish brown to black, basically).

-Graphics have been beat to death, so I'll just say that it is indeed a gorgeous game. Grass seems to keep the 3D look from further out camera shots than previously as well.

-2nd inning of the first game and I got a replay challenge. successfully overturned the blown call as well. I actually got another challenge in that same game and one more in the next game. I dig it...and I assume that the frequency is more coincidence than the norm given other impressions I've read.

-Fielding animations and movement is better, but fielding still has too many head-scratching moments IMO. Still saw plenty of playable balls get the "ole" treatment. First base animations in-particular looked WAY better though, as there was more variety and realism to both routine and offline catches.

-I know commentary is something people love to hate in this series, but I think the improvements are noticeable. What they need to work on next (IMO) is rounding back to or better closing out conversation that's been cutoff due to action on the field.

-One frustrating thing is that it seems the game has found a compromise between those who prefer a full presentational feel and those who like to just keep it moving. There are way less cutaways to player reactions or between inning events, foul balls are rarely shown (really hate that), no tossing around the horn, etc. I understand not everyone plays the same, but you can X through the stuff if you don't want it and there have been different presentational modes in the past. I don't think we should have to compromise our experience for those who don't appreciate such things. Anyway, I'm off my soapbox now

-I tried out directional hitting (typically a Zone guy) and actually really enjoyed it. I love the subtle camera movement when you select a direction and some of the contact feels better in this mode IMO (dead pulls and hard oppo shots are particularly satisfying).

-I enjoy the new pitching marker interface, though I've yet to notice any change in accuracy with analog. I also like how the hot zone preview works properly without having the strike zone on now.

- Both the crowd and announcers seem to have better situational awareness (actually, the AI too, for that matter). Greater urgency in late-innings, close plays, etc. Audio as a whole is really well done IMO.

[HokieB]

Re: MLB 15: The Show Impressions Thread (Impressions Only!)

4:05 start time at Nationals Park was a thing of beauty! They finally have the shadows coming in from the 3rd base side this season (it's been incorrectly coming from the 1st base side in all previous versions). Lights starting to come on around the 7th inning; stadium lights, building lights, neon signs, etc.

The pitch timing feels different to me this year. I seem early on everything. I'm also having a bit more trouble reading the low ball. It also seems that the pitchers nibble the corners more effectively this year. Hitting has definitely become more of a challenge (of coarse I've only faced Wainwright and Harvey, so that may have something to do with it).

Directional Hitting seems pretty cool, but I've always been a simple Timing guy. Not sure if using just a timing approach is going to work this year. The Timing Hitting option not longer exists, and was replaced by Directional.

Definitely encountered a few glitches. Hopefully they'll patch things up again soon.