re: MLB The Show 17 Impressions
Enjoyed your write up Armor. I'm 42 and you brought back some memories with the Atari 2600 commentary. I see your a Steve Springer guy when it comes to the mental aspects of hitting. I'm a hitting coach at a high school program and enjoy his stuff myself. Great perspective with your son as well. He's lucky to have you as a Coach and Dad. Wish more parents of ball players had that type of perspective!
Sent from my iPad using Operation Sports
Baseball......it's been a part of my life since I can remember. Literally 42 of my 47 years on this planet, I have been playing, coaching and watching baseball. It is part of almost everyday for me. Around 1981 at the tender age of 11, my dad got me my very first console home video game system. It was called The Atari 2600. My oh my was I thrilled. Of course the very first game I wanted was Homerun baseball. Three guys on a screen moving in unison to catch a square pixel. That was what I had at 11 years old to recreate what I did on the field. And man I played the crap out of it. It also had modes that you could reduce it to 2 or just 1 guy on the field to shag everything.
Well of course the Intellivision system came out shortly thereafter and I had to have it. That game was actually officially licensed and called MLB Baseball. And guess what? It had 9 guys on the field!!! It was amazing. Hours upon hours and my friends and I made a league, kept stats in a notebook, standings. What a joy that game was. Of course we would go on and get every system and every baseball game practically ever made. I have played them all.
In 2009 I finally took the plunge on a PS3 after 10 years of service from my old reliable PS2 and 5 years of that playing MVP 2005. The Show 2009 was a system buyer for me. I was blown away. This was a game that for the first time made me feel like I did in my playing days. The batter/pitcher face off was awesome.
I tell my son 3 key things every time I drive him to practice and before he plays games. Just three key things and it is a consistent message.
1) I want you to be the very best competitor on the field and do anything to help your team win.
2) I want you to reach your attainable goal of hitting the ball hard.
3) Have fun.
I also give him permission not to be perfect. I give him permission that he does not have to get a hit every single AB. It's O.K to make mistakes. This allows him to go out and use his baseball instincts and strive to be the very best competitor on the field, to reach his attainable goal of hitting the ball hard and most importantly...to have fun. This pressure free message from me....the one who loves him the most makes this possible for him. He has enough pressure from the game itself. Baseball is the biggest self esteem destroying sport on the planet. Bar none.
So when I pulled The Show 17 out of it's wrapper last Monday 3/27/17 at around 9:30PM EST I knew three things before even loading it in.
1) It will be the very best competitor on the sports game market
2) It will hit the ball hard in terms of giving me great new features, gameplay, modes and improvements
3) And it will be more fun than any game I play every year.
These guys have done it again, but have taken the game/genre to a level we have not experienced yet.
Hands down after a week with the game and the honeymoon faze over I can proclaim with confidence that this is the very best sports game I have ever played.
And I give them (SDS) permission not to be perfect. I give them permission to use their baseball instincts and take chances free of outside pressures. And by having that attitude, I have embraced the game for what it is. A really fun, competitive baseball game that emulates the sport on my TV like no other has before it.
So let's celebrate this. I can't say enough about it that has not already been said on the previous pages of this impression thread. The game really delivers the goods on so many levels. Modes, gameplay and replay-ability.
What I love:
1) The new Ball physics are mind blowing. Never before have we had this type of true to life ball spin off the bat and out of the pitchers hands. It has made all previous versions of this game completely obsolete for me. It really has. I can't go back to balls that don't spin, curve, tail off....I mean it's really next gen stuff here.
2) Humanity AI and fielding animations - One of the biggest requests we have been pounding the sand about is fielder urgency and non urgency. I am blown away at the sheer amount of variety I have seen thus far in throwing and fielding animations. I am seeing something new almost every game. And it is so life like. It's stunning. The outfielder routes to the ball are far more lifelike and realistic. Playing balls off the wall and corners now also is unpredictable. It's a joy to see unfold.
3) Framerate and PS4 Pro/Ultra 4K HD - Mind numbing how beautiful this game is. I play on Enhanced Visuals and needless to say, I have never played a sports game as smooth and life like as MLBTS17. The game is butter. I still am in awe of the visual eye candy. I can see the ball so well now out of the pitchers hand, and it is a joy to play. The ballparks have all come alive.
4) New player faces, body types, equipment, hair etc - The player models are awesome. I love the new look of players and the face scans are amazing. Even all my transferred classic season files look 10 times better. It's like playing a new game.
5) Presentation - The new MLB Network presentation was long overdue, but Theme 1 and Theme 2 are also really great. I love just playing whatever theme it calls for on the schedule. It is keeping it very fresh for me and making me look forward to the MLBN presentation when it happens. Also HR and DP are great new editions. I can see this will evolve and get better with each iteration moving forward.
Again, I don't want to rehash more stuff that has been said 100 times already in this thread. But those things really stick out.
"I give you permission not to be perfect"
So we have some bugs and things that the development team need to work out. All well documented here. I don't need to affirm it. I see it like you do. The long moon shots and the SP logic that is a little wonky right now. I have not seen the SP wonkyness to the extreme some others have. But I have seen it. It is there. And they will address it. I know it. As far as the HR's......I am not minding it to be honest. Totals are in line after simming and testing. But the majestic shots are up. hey...plays into my last point....
Have fun.
Out of the box this game get's an 8.5/10
I gave a full point deduction because of some bugs like:
SOTS 1000 slots not available as advertised.
Score Ticker on the bottom not showing league leader categories
Y2Y save issue with a message I get "not advancing file one year" when this was not an issue on 15 or 16 (I found a workaround for all my classic season files but still why is this happening all of a sudden?)
Starting Pitching logic seems off this year.
Once we get a patch addressing these issues which I deem big....this game is 9.5/10 for me.
Again...not perfect. Nor do I ever expect it to be.
Enjoy this game folks. It is a special year for us die hard Show fans. They really hit the ball hard this season.
Huge props to SDS.
Well of course the Intellivision system came out shortly thereafter and I had to have it. That game was actually officially licensed and called MLB Baseball. And guess what? It had 9 guys on the field!!! It was amazing. Hours upon hours and my friends and I made a league, kept stats in a notebook, standings. What a joy that game was. Of course we would go on and get every system and every baseball game practically ever made. I have played them all.
In 2009 I finally took the plunge on a PS3 after 10 years of service from my old reliable PS2 and 5 years of that playing MVP 2005. The Show 2009 was a system buyer for me. I was blown away. This was a game that for the first time made me feel like I did in my playing days. The batter/pitcher face off was awesome.
I tell my son 3 key things every time I drive him to practice and before he plays games. Just three key things and it is a consistent message.
1) I want you to be the very best competitor on the field and do anything to help your team win.
2) I want you to reach your attainable goal of hitting the ball hard.
3) Have fun.
I also give him permission not to be perfect. I give him permission that he does not have to get a hit every single AB. It's O.K to make mistakes. This allows him to go out and use his baseball instincts and strive to be the very best competitor on the field, to reach his attainable goal of hitting the ball hard and most importantly...to have fun. This pressure free message from me....the one who loves him the most makes this possible for him. He has enough pressure from the game itself. Baseball is the biggest self esteem destroying sport on the planet. Bar none.
So when I pulled The Show 17 out of it's wrapper last Monday 3/27/17 at around 9:30PM EST I knew three things before even loading it in.
1) It will be the very best competitor on the sports game market
2) It will hit the ball hard in terms of giving me great new features, gameplay, modes and improvements
3) And it will be more fun than any game I play every year.
These guys have done it again, but have taken the game/genre to a level we have not experienced yet.
Hands down after a week with the game and the honeymoon faze over I can proclaim with confidence that this is the very best sports game I have ever played.
And I give them (SDS) permission not to be perfect. I give them permission to use their baseball instincts and take chances free of outside pressures. And by having that attitude, I have embraced the game for what it is. A really fun, competitive baseball game that emulates the sport on my TV like no other has before it.
So let's celebrate this. I can't say enough about it that has not already been said on the previous pages of this impression thread. The game really delivers the goods on so many levels. Modes, gameplay and replay-ability.
What I love:
1) The new Ball physics are mind blowing. Never before have we had this type of true to life ball spin off the bat and out of the pitchers hands. It has made all previous versions of this game completely obsolete for me. It really has. I can't go back to balls that don't spin, curve, tail off....I mean it's really next gen stuff here.
2) Humanity AI and fielding animations - One of the biggest requests we have been pounding the sand about is fielder urgency and non urgency. I am blown away at the sheer amount of variety I have seen thus far in throwing and fielding animations. I am seeing something new almost every game. And it is so life like. It's stunning. The outfielder routes to the ball are far more lifelike and realistic. Playing balls off the wall and corners now also is unpredictable. It's a joy to see unfold.
3) Framerate and PS4 Pro/Ultra 4K HD - Mind numbing how beautiful this game is. I play on Enhanced Visuals and needless to say, I have never played a sports game as smooth and life like as MLBTS17. The game is butter. I still am in awe of the visual eye candy. I can see the ball so well now out of the pitchers hand, and it is a joy to play. The ballparks have all come alive.
4) New player faces, body types, equipment, hair etc - The player models are awesome. I love the new look of players and the face scans are amazing. Even all my transferred classic season files look 10 times better. It's like playing a new game.
5) Presentation - The new MLB Network presentation was long overdue, but Theme 1 and Theme 2 are also really great. I love just playing whatever theme it calls for on the schedule. It is keeping it very fresh for me and making me look forward to the MLBN presentation when it happens. Also HR and DP are great new editions. I can see this will evolve and get better with each iteration moving forward.
Again, I don't want to rehash more stuff that has been said 100 times already in this thread. But those things really stick out.
"I give you permission not to be perfect"
So we have some bugs and things that the development team need to work out. All well documented here. I don't need to affirm it. I see it like you do. The long moon shots and the SP logic that is a little wonky right now. I have not seen the SP wonkyness to the extreme some others have. But I have seen it. It is there. And they will address it. I know it. As far as the HR's......I am not minding it to be honest. Totals are in line after simming and testing. But the majestic shots are up. hey...plays into my last point....
Have fun.
Out of the box this game get's an 8.5/10
I gave a full point deduction because of some bugs like:
SOTS 1000 slots not available as advertised.
Score Ticker on the bottom not showing league leader categories
Y2Y save issue with a message I get "not advancing file one year" when this was not an issue on 15 or 16 (I found a workaround for all my classic season files but still why is this happening all of a sudden?)
Starting Pitching logic seems off this year.
Once we get a patch addressing these issues which I deem big....this game is 9.5/10 for me.
Again...not perfect. Nor do I ever expect it to be.
Enjoy this game folks. It is a special year for us die hard Show fans. They really hit the ball hard this season.
Huge props to SDS.
Enjoyed your write up Armor. I'm 42 and you brought back some memories with the Atari 2600 commentary. I see your a Steve Springer guy when it comes to the mental aspects of hitting. I'm a hitting coach at a high school program and enjoy his stuff myself. Great perspective with your son as well. He's lucky to have you as a Coach and Dad. Wish more parents of ball players had that type of perspective!
Sent from my iPad using Operation Sports
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