MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream - Gameplay & AI, Legend Vladimir Guerrero Announced

[Cowboy008]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream - Gameplay & AI, Legend Vladimir Guerrero Announced

Don't know why they put that picture of the players on the bus above franchise mode if it's only for RTTS. I hope they focused some of their time on franchise mode and not just DD and RTTS. I liked just about everything that I heard in the stream and am glad they have the players position on the batter walk up. Now hopefully when they show how the defense is set up in the very beginning of the game they also will have their positions.

[capa]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream - Gameplay & AI, Legend Vladimir Guerrero Announced

I am hoping at some point they use a hook slide animation on the bases and at home plate. I know for the slides at home almost all of them seem to be head-first slides.

It's true that many real life players slide head-first, but I'd love to see a little variety with a mix of head-first and hook and fadeaway slides. Probably won't be this year since I think the tag animations are partnered with the slides in some aspect.

C

[Rob_NYY]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream - Gameplay & AI, Legend Vladimir Guerrero Announced

I've used directional hitting the last few years. I haven't played with the PCI since...well, I don't think I've ever played with that! Before directional hitting, I always just used button hitting. The last time I remember hitting with a cursor was All Star Baseball! But after watching this stream, I'm going to give it a go in 18.

All the new catcher, fielder and sliding animations look spectacular! The new tags look great. I can't wait for this game!

[bigmike0077]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream - Gameplay & AI, Legend Vladimir Guerrero Announced

Don't know why they put that picture of the players on the bus above franchise mode if it's only for RTTS. I hope they focused some of their time on franchise mode and not just DD and RTTS. I liked just about everything that I heard in the stream and am glad they have the players position on the batter walk up. Now hopefully when they show how the defense is set up in the very beginning of the game they also will have their positions.

Same here, I love absolutely everything I have seen in this stream for gameplay. Its just you hear all the talk about online ( Which is great for the online guys getting some love!) And a lot of teasing about RTTS/Diamond Dynasty.....very little enthusiasm about Franchise. Fingers crossed tho!

[burjeffton]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream - Gameplay & AI, Legend Vladimir Guerrero Announced

Very pleased to see the updated animations with smoother branching throws. This adds so much more realism.

[decga]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream - Gameplay & AI, Legend Vladimir Guerrero Announced

Same here, I love absolutely everything I have seen in this stream for gameplay. Its just you hear all the talk about online ( Which is great for the online guys getting some love!) And a lot of teasing about RTTS/Diamond Dynasty.....very little enthusiasm about Franchise. Fingers crossed tho!

Well as from my standpoint. They mentioned the value of two players versus each other being exploited. I agree with them if we are playing the CPU we don't mind exploiting the AI.
What was interesting about the missed or misplace tags in MLBTS 17 that they were called correctly. I mean if the tag wasn't applied it was called safe.

I didn't recognize any off center placement of tags because all I play is franchise. But the branching out to the correct animation to throw whether it's a pitcher, infielder, outfielder or catcher affected all modes.

[bigmike0077]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream - Gameplay & AI, Legend Vladimir Guerrero Announced

Well as from my standpoint. They mentioned the value of two players versus each other being exploited. I agree with them if we are playing the CPU we don't mind exploiting the AI.
What was interesting about the missed or misplace tags in MLBTS 17 that they were called correctly. I mean if the tag wasn't applied it was called safe.

I didn't recognize any off center placement of tags because all I play is franchise. But the branching out to the correct animation to throw whether it's a pitcher, infielder, outfielder or catcher affected all modes.

That is very true! All the updates I'm glad to see as they will still affect offline play, and as usual Players will find different ways to exploit games weather online or offline. My only thing is if they showed love at all to Franchise mode, because they don't seem so excited about it lol

[Junior Moe]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream - Gameplay & AI, Legend Vladimir Guerrero Announced

Vlad the impaler! I loved this dude as a kid. I just remember him getting solid hits and even home runs on balls all over the strike zone. Like, how the hell did he do that? It sucks because the addition of quick courts and just learning the game I'm more disciplined at the plate. With Vlad I'm gonna be swinging at any and everything now.

[Blzer]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream - Gameplay & AI, Legend Vladimir Guerrero Announced

This game unfortunately doesn't reward you for swinging on the edge of the strike zone or outside of it, and I don't think they have an attribute or "weapon" (or whatever they're called) that helps with that as well.

Or maybe they added one in, who knows? If they did, it could very well break the game if not done right.

[Rob_NYY]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream - Gameplay & AI, Legend Vladimir Guerrero Announced

Vlad the impaler! I loved this dude as a kid. I just remember him getting solid hits and even home runs on balls all over the strike zone. Like, how the hell did he do that? It sucks because the addition of quick courts and just learning the game I'm more disciplined at the plate. With Vlad I'm gonna be swinging at any and everything now.

Vlad played a lot of "La Placa" growing up. It's a game played in Dominican Republic kind of similar to cricket. There's a batter (usually with a broomstick as not many families could afford to buy actual baseball bats) and a pitcher. Beyond the batter, where the catcher would be in baseball, kids would use rocks to stand up an old licence plate (where the name Placa comes from). If there was no license plate available they'd use a piece of cardboard, an empty soda bottle, empty milk carton, etc. The the goal for the pitcher was to hit the license plate or other small object and knock it over. The batter, meanwhile, tried to hit the ball to prevent it from hitting the object. Taking these wild swings was how Vlad learned to hit and kept that "swing at anything close" mindset his entire career.

One of my favorite hits of all time:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DoAdY3uP9c0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Blzer]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream - Gameplay &amp; AI, Legend Vladimir Guerrero Announced

^ Ooh, and it looks like he's swinging a garden hose up there.

[Shaffer26]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream - Gameplay &amp; AI, Legend Vladimir Guerrero Announced

First things first, VLAD! The one card I wanted in The Show is finally here! Crazy pumped to grind for his card(s).

Secondly, Loved the new tagging animations, but I don't want everyone to be Javy Baez when it comes to placing tags on baserunners. It is a skill/art that not everyone has. Perhaps there will be a "Tagging" rating or it could be implemented within the current fielding rating we already have(I know I may be thinking too far ahead with this but this is where I'd like to see it in the future).

[HypoLuxa13]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream - Gameplay &amp; AI, Legend Vladimir Guerrero Announced

I did not see equivalent likenesses of Larry King and Mary Hart in the front row behind home plate in their normal seats at Dodger Stadium. And I thought this was supposed to be a sim baseball game. Pre-order cancelled.

[thescoop]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream - Gameplay &amp; AI, Legend Vladimir Guerrero Announced

I did not see equivalent likenesses of Larry King and Mary Hart in the front row behind home plate in their normal seats at Dodger Stadium. And I thought this was supposed to be a sim baseball game. Pre-order cancelled.

Ok you win. This is the funniest post in the thread so far.

I'm looking forward to watching the stream later and adding my thoughts as well.

[jada855]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Gameplay &amp; AI

*Tagging and catcher urgency have been improved. It would be nice if the range of animations available are related to the attributes of the player. If all catchers can do these things perfectly, then it makes little difference who you use.

*I especially like what the improved tagging "engine" will do for plays at home plate. Up until now, close plays have always gone to the runner because he slides headfirst around the catcher's errant/late swipe tag. Remains to be seen if the advantage now shifts to the catcher or, even better, if it's balanced to some out/some safe at home.

*You can tell this stream was a direct response to a lot of the complaints dealing with online play and hitting. They hammered at exploits in online play. They tackled the ball in the dirt problem, the taking random extra bases problem, and addressed people who feel hitting is "broken" because they don't always get the same result with the same "good" timing swing feedback. They were quite clear that it depends on the physics, handedness of the pitcher, batter attributes, timing, placement of the PCI, plus some randomness etc.

*Seems like they "cracked the code" with the ball physics once again. Jeff McArthur mentioned his audit turned up some issues with hit distances on fly balls and things are now improved. Aaron Judge seemed quite pleased with Jeff's work. Seeing more realistic HR distances and exit velocities so far.

*The "meh" pitching effort is still evident in some of the pitching animations. Where it's a lazy backswing and/or doesn't seem to have much force coming forward. The Astros pitcher animation looked quite limp during the Maeda at-bat near the end of the stream.

*The picture that we were looking at as either a plane or bus that might indicate a deeper front office in Franchise Mode...they said this image was exclusively for RTTS. In general, there was a lot of teasing info for RTTS and complete silence on Franchise Mode. This seems unfortunate. Probably means that Franchise Mode wasn't a development focus this year.

*Ramone better watch his back, lol. The guy (Stephen Hass) who stood in for him during the stream did a nice job. He kept them moving along and also summarized info a few times throughout the stream. Seemed to be prepared and to know what they had time to talk about. There's not much to complain about with the content of this stream other than maybe they rewound the tagging animations and replayed them a bit liberally.

WaitTilNextYear,

I highly agree with your first point. Having this would definitely make the gameplay feel more dynamic and less predicted if certain Tag or Jump Throw animations could be triggered and tied to attributes/ratings and not just every player on the field.

I feel like this will happen in the next couple of iterations of MLB The Show along with more dynamic base running!