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

[countryboy]

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

BTW, I love this aerial view shot of Dodger Stadium.

Just need Lance, Chris, and Jeff to move so we can see the entire view.

[tnixen]

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

I really like what I heard about all the improvements to gameplay and ball physics! It gets better each year and that is really great to see!


But why did they not talk at all about any "CPU AI" improvements to things like Manager, Bull Pen and Base running decision making?

Is that not considered a part of gameplay?

Also happy to see the fielding position added to the batter walkup overlays. But I still see a lot more room for improvement in this area. Mostly little things but like for example the fielding position should also be on the defensive position overlay and not whether the fielders bat left or right. I also like how the new MLB Network HR Stat overlay is shown as the batter is heading towards second base now. But the batters full first name should be shown and not just the first letter. Again small changes but appropriate changes in my opinion

Also anyone ever notice the issue where the batter walkup stat overlay never is displayed for the next batter after a replay was just shown for the last batters base hit and so on? It woud be nice if that little bug was finally fixed!

[Blzer]

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

Also anyone ever notice the issue where the batter walkup stat overlay never is displayed for the next batter after a replay was just shown for the last batters base hit and so on? It woud be nice if that little bug was finally fixed!

I actually thought this was an intentional design decision, and personally I like it. When you're showing a replay, it's cutting into the time that the batter is walking up. Normally in real life, they would show it after the first pitch is thrown. I forget if it's also done in this game; I feel like it is, but I just can't recall off the top of my head.

[SmashMan]

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

I actually thought this was an intentional design decision, and personally I like it. When you're showing a replay, it's cutting into the time that the batter is walking up. Normally in real life, they would show it after the first pitch is thrown. I forget if it's also done in this game; I feel like it is, but I just can't recall off the top of my head.

It is, yeah.

[EnigmaNemesis]

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

The catcher improvements are outstanding.

The field generals getting the love they deserve. These changes alone will be huge in the overall gameplay.

The urgency and animations (branching, etc.) make a world of difference for the visual and feel.

[Padgoi]

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

Really guys? I never jump to conclusions until I play the game myself.

I think they cured the easy steals on blocked balls right in front of the catcher with average to below average speed runners. If the ball get’s away far enough a faster guy will be able to take a base.

The two biggest issues offline (forget online it was an offline issue too) were slow and deliberate catcher animations and limp wristed throws. It was brutal. Also the amount of wild pitches were too high.

Now if you don’t get a good read on a blocked ball and take off....you will be gunned down as you should be.

I thought base stealing last season was tough already. They balanced that pretty well. You had to get great jumps (as you should in the Majors).

Anyway point is....let’s play the game when it comes out before sounding the alarms and jumping to broad conclusions based on streams. The video they showed were clear examples of the warts of 17 vs the vastly improved catcher animations in 18.

It’s night and day.

I disagree with your comment on stolen bases. You mentioned that in the majors stealing bases should be difficult but take a look at this:



According to this graphic, the average stolen base % is 72.52%, which would imply that it is much EASIER to steal bases than for catchers to actually throw out stolen base attempts. As a matter of fact, the active leading catcher in caught stealing % is Benji Molina at 41.19% which only furthers this assertion. It should be much easier to steal bases than it is for catchers to throw out base runners, however, for offline mode in Show 17, it was VERY difficult to steal bases, especially on higher difficulty levels. I play on HoF difficulty and through 61 games with the Yankees, I'm dead last in the league in steals and my stolen base % is less than 50%!

[Blzer]

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

Yes, it's true that if you catch more than 25% of runners stealing you are said to be doing a good job at your position.

But consider the fact that runners most often steal when they have what they think is to be the best opportunity. Fatigue-factor and pitchouts aside, if the best player stole from 1st to 2nd on every pitch their success rate would likely fall under 50%. It's all about the jump you get (which is timed pitch-to-pitch) and the pitch you go on. The rest is up to the catcher, but for the most part that stays pretty constant.

There is but a small element of surprise when it comes to stealing as well, but that matters more in something like high school softball than it does in the pros.

[jada855]

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

I personally had a pretty easy time stealing all bases in MLB 17 even with higher ranked Catchers and had a low stealing attribute (40) to my CAP.I lead the league in my Franchise! But I also play from a Player Lock perspective.


Two things I would like to see addressed if there is to really be a cat and mouse game between the runner on the bag and pitcher!

Jab Steps
1. Smaller step increments or jab steps increments or even a fake step animation from the bag. There is currently only one lead off animation for this.

I never understood how the MLB Broadcast mode would calculate the steps in the action replay when every person's base lead was the same distance!

Better Reaction Times/Dives
2. Ability to react to the throw and not be a perfect throw 99% of the time. Hoping the new tag system might be able to help with this a bit. It will be very interesting to see how the new tag system plays when using a Player Locked on defense! Might be able to finally get a out at second base when playing defense!

This is where a tag attribute would be awesome since there is no manual input at 20 vs a 85 tag rating should see a difference!


MLB 17 Quick Tip

For anyone who plays Player Lock style and had to continuously hold the analog stick in order to get a safe dive back to first base when the pitcher throws over. Here is a alternative tip!

Lead Off but Hold the L1 button your player will go into a Softball style lean towards first!( I so hope they change that animation for MLB 18) If you are in this animation and use the analog stick to head back to the base. You will increase your chances of been safe and not called out 99% of the time. It's more challenging than just hold the analog stick. So maybe that is more of a Cat & Mouse game they implemented.

[bxphenom7]

Vlad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Caulfield]

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

I disagree with your comment on stolen bases. You mentioned that in the majors stealing bases should be difficult.

According to this graphic, the average stolen base % is 72.52%, which would imply that it is much EASIER to steal bases than for catchers to actually throw out stolen base attempts. As a matter of fact, the active leading catcher in caught stealing % is Benji Molina at 41.19% which only furthers this assertion. It should be much easier to steal bases than it is for catchers to throw out base runners, however, for offline mode in Show 17, it was VERY difficult to steal bases, especially on higher difficulty levels.

its EASIER for good runners to steal but there are far far more average to below average runners than good.

[countryboy]

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

One thing that I didn't mention that I liked in the stream was when Chris talked about players getting locked into a set fielding position on weakly hit ground balls/choppers instead of charging them. Very welcoming to hear, as there is nothing more frustrating than charging a ball to make a play only to have your fielder stop and wait for the ball to get to them and the runner beat the play.

[redsfan4life]

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

Please revamp the stale scouting/drafting and prospect development please. It's so boring right now.

[Armor and Sword]

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

I disagree with your comment on stolen bases. You mentioned that in the majors stealing bases should be difficult but take a look at this:



According to this graphic, the average stolen base % is 72.52%, which would imply that it is much EASIER to steal bases than for catchers to actually throw out stolen base attempts. As a matter of fact, the active leading catcher in caught stealing % is Benji Molina at 41.19% which only furthers this assertion. It should be much easier to steal bases than it is for catchers to throw out base runners, however, for offline mode in Show 17, it was VERY difficult to steal bases, especially on higher difficulty levels. I play on HoF difficulty and through 61 games with the Yankees, I'm dead last in the league in steals and my stolen base % is less than 50%!

Nice graphic. But I was mainly pointing out the wild pitch issue more than anything else and how you could walk to second with balls blocked right in front of the catcher due to lazy animations and flawed throwing.

Also on MLB 15 and 16 I was stealing at will. 17 was very tough to steal (and according to actual MLB %’s too tough as you pointed out).

I hope they balanced it better for 18.

But.....let me go back and see if I kept my save file for th end of the season stats in my Yankees Chise on 17. My Stolen base percentage was better than 70%...that I know. The volume of stolen bases though was lower....but they were not a great base stealing team for me in The Show this past season.

With Rickey Henderson in my 1987 Yankees franchise.....I steal really well with him. At a 90% clip in fact.

But I don’t disagree about the difficulty of stealing bases on 17. It was harder than it has ever been.

[UNIT180]

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

This is what I meant about the guard rails which enclose the moat (rich seats) behind home plate which extend behind the dugouts at Yankee Stadium being aluminum colored, not black, like they r for the show 18 videos. Also added a picture of the YANKEE STADIUM sign...u can see the sign high above left field has a video camera mounted just to the right of it which is fixed on the visitors bullpen and the blue letters are encased in an aluminum casing. Just little details I caught form the videos

[tessl]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Gameplay & 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.

It's a continuation of what they did last year with the rest of the infield. The most important attributes for 2b, ss and 3b are speed and reaction because once the fielder gets the ball in his glove the animation does the rest.

In the battle between arcade and reality score one for arcade.