MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Franchise Mode

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Franchise Mode

Spoiler

First: I'm really glad I wasn't the only one.

Second: Totally agree with everything you said. Even if it wasn't really indicative of what's going on behind the scenes, personnel and leadership-wise, I think there's nevertheless a lack of direction to the mode.

DD gets the bells and whistles and the innovation. The energy, you know? People are excited to get on the stream and talk about it.

Franchise gets... a delayed stream, what looked like a distracted Ramone, two guys who sound like they don't want to be there, and more than a little defensive tone throughout (not that I wouldn't be defensive, given the reactions). Not to overburden the point RE direction, but the stream felt aimless and sort of glum. It's hard to get excited about menus, but if they can't get excited, I don't know how they can get their audience excited.

Franchise mode gets 1/xth the resources of DD or RTTS, and maybe they were trying to figure out ways to get it more money –*by attracting more casuals. What attracts more casuals? Brighter screens! Easier to parse menus! Click here to skip this thing you probably don't want to do!

Attract more users to Franchise, get the mode more money, which pumps more resources and personnel into the team, which makes a better mode (which starts the whole thing over again). It's a valiant quest, made all the more heroic by how much **** they're taking from the people who'll end up benefiting the most in the end.

Sigh. I hope the game continues to do well, and I hope the rising tide raises all boats. There's a great baseball game there, but I wish there was a little more depth in the chize.

Really no quibbles at all with your line of thinking. The only part I had a slightly different take was about the stream. Ramone did seem a little spaced out, but I bet he's exhausted. This is his busy season. Dude has been everywhere, man. I'm ok if Franchise isn't his favorite mode. As for Matt, he did seem defensive, I agree. But, I almost thought he was the opposite of uninterested. If anything, it looked like he cared a little too much and would totally beat himself up if he misspoke (AllRise doesn't have to be in all caps?)...he seemed high-strung or over-caffeinated maybe is the best way to put it. Then again, he's from Jersey so...Clayton on the other hand seemed more chill to the max than uninterested. I didn't get the sense that either of them didn't want to be there. Maybe neither of them go quite as deep into franchise as some of us do, but they seemed to care about it and to be interested in it.

I also thought the stream was actually pretty well thought-out and organized. It wasn't that the stream was bad. It was just that they didn't really have anything to show us. And, you're 100% right that the other modes have all the energy. It's palpable.

[WhiteBunny]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Franchise Mode

It was just that they didn't really have anything to show us. And, you're 100% right that the other modes have all the energy. It's palpable.

They also clearly stated that pretty much every gameplay improvement is for online competitive play. It may ( or not ) translate well on offline game modes, of course. But online and offline modes need different things in terms of balance. For example, Fifa lost literally every simulation aspect the moment Ultimate Team gameplay come in offline modes. This is something players should be aware. DD games are fast and need to be fast. It's not a coincidence that SDS is trying to speed up every mode since the focus on DD.

[tyler289]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Franchise Mode

After following the pre-release hype for the Show, I've decided to pass on buying it at release. I'll get it used in a month or so when the full minors rosters come out, but their marketing this year just totally rubbed me the wrong way. Not that one sale makes a dent but maybe some of their marketing and online guys see they've lost a customer because of their decision-making. Even the gameplay updates don't impress me - the new tagging system didn't wow me at all, for example - and it just seems like they target every single decision for people who exclusively play Diamond Dynasty and want it as casual as possible.

I only really play franchise and road to the show and to see them acting like Phases is some amazing development and that some bug fixes warrants excitement just seems like a total slap in the face to anyone who plays franchise mode. People are right - they seemed completely uninterested in franchise mode and their stream was miserable.

I got OOTP for the first time in a few years and that can fill my baseball fix until the summer. It's sad to say but even NHL's franchise mode has more fun factor and depth than this one (to me), and that one has tons of flaws and issues.

[cervin29]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Franchise Mode

They also clearly stated that pretty much every gameplay improvement is for online competitive play. It may ( or not ) translate well on offline game modes, of course. But online and offline modes need different things in terms of balance. For example, Fifa lost literally every simulation aspect the moment Ultimate Team gameplay come in offline modes. This is something players should be aware. DD games are fast and need to be fast. It's not a coincidence's that SDS is trying to speed up every mode since the focus on DD.

I think you misinterpreted what they meant by gameplay improvements. They focused on online gameplay exploits yes, but they won't affect offline play. For instance the catcher animations fixes and tagging animations. Those were problems in online and offline, but the CPU wouldn't take advantage of them like another player would. They improved gameplay for both online and offline this year, instead of just focusing on offline like in years past.

[bcruise]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Franchise Mode

I think you misinterpreted what they meant by gameplay improvements. They focused on online gameplay exploits yes, but they won't affect offline play. For instance the catcher animations fixes and tagging animations. Those were problems in online and offline, but the CPU wouldn't take advantage of them like another player would. They improved gameplay for both online and offline this year, instead of just focusing on offline like in years past.

The CPU took FULL advantage of the excessive WP's (and the catcher's inability to get to them quickly) to advance bases in '17. That particular fix - the catcher animations - will definitely help the offline vs. CPU game.

[KBLover]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Franchise Mode

The CPU took FULL advantage of the excessive WP's (and the catcher's inability to get to them quickly) to advance bases in '17. That particular fix - the catcher animations - will definitely help the offline vs. CPU game.

Speaking of which, I hope the baserunning AI for both the CPU and those who use auto baserunning also accounts for this.

Would hate for such an awesome and much needed improvement to have bad side effects on the AI front.

[Will I Am]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Franchise Mode

Any idea if the over aggressive cpu baserunning has been fixed? I'm talking about the runner on 2nd that rounds third and heads home when my catcher already has the ball. I hated that one.

[Vmascarello]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Franchise Mode

Any idea if the over aggressive cpu baserunning has been fixed? I'm talking about the runner on 2nd that rounds third and heads home when my catcher already has the ball. I hated that one.

I'm not optimistic it has. That's been in the game for years and years. Seems like a bug they can't seem to fix.

[Will I Am]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Franchise Mode

Guess I'll wait and see, that one was enough for me to stop playing.

[Padgoi]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Franchise Mode

I'm not optimistic it has. That's been in the game for years and years. Seems like a bug they can't seem to fix.

Hard to fix a gameplay bug when all of their effort is on DD.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[Archie56]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Franchise Mode

Hard to fix a gameplay bug when all of their effort is on DD.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

I believe Ramone said in one of the first streams they did that it had been fixed. I always hated that base running bug myself

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[tackleb0x]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Franchise Mode

shame what franchise mode has become or hasn't become. Why can't they copy what All Star Baseball, MVP, and OOTP have done better rather than this cell phone trading card game crap. Imagine online leagues where you are the owner, you build/upgrade the stadium, attract the fans, and compete both on the field and financially. You are invested. Its rpg 2.0 level **** so that card game is actually a virtual simulation within your franchise so quiting matters. You are invested in more than just packs. Next years game moves forward your stadium and all the unique features and tweaks you've unlocked and your stats. Iunno, i liked the old nba2k cribs or whatever nfl2k had for a bit, lol. Oddly they also don't have an amazon preorder this year, so this year isn't looking good for me.

[kehlis]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Franchise Mode

Hard to fix a gameplay bug when all of their effort is on DD.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

This is straight up trolling and you know it. You also know better.

[Dolenz]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Franchise Mode

shame what franchise mode has become or hasn't become. Why can't they copy what All Star Baseball, MVP, and OOTP have done better rather than this cell phone trading card game crap. Imagine online leagues where you are the owner, you build/upgrade the stadium, attract the fans, and compete both on the field and financially. You are invested. Its rpg 2.0 level **** so that card game is actually a virtual simulation within your franchise so quiting matters. You are invested in more than just packs. Next years game moves forward your stadium and all the unique features and tweaks you've unlocked and your stats. Iunno, i liked the old nba2k cribs or whatever nfl2k had for a bit, lol. Oddly they also don't have an amazon preorder this year, so this year isn't looking good for me.

Yeah, they should totally copy what two series that have had the plug pulled on them did. And as much as I respect OOTP baseball, their sales numbers would not sustain this game.

Oh yeah, and Out of The Park baseball is adding an online competitive mode this summer called Perfect Team. Which the developer states

"That is the concept behind it. You can spend some money if you want to, but you can definitely be successful and enjoy the mode without using the microtransactions."

Sound familiar?

[ShowSavage]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream Starting Now - Franchise Mode

I agree with those who were underwhelmed by the presentation and overall energy of the franchise livestream. It actually felt like the guy running the stream was talking down to you, like he put these features in to help us understand franchise, and we should appreciate how the mode will guide us through what we couldn't understand previously.

It's like he was 'these are some features that I have added to the home screen for you so you don't have click on it anymore, and i've created fresh new user interfaces for every important time period in franchise year round called PHASES so you people can finally understand what you're supposed to be doing and thinking about, everything was way too complicated for most of you baseball fans to handle last year.'

You can't start the stream out by talking for 20 minutes about how the new user interface 'just puts everything right in front of you' and act like people are going to appreciate it. When people want features added, authenticity improved, and bugs fixed, you're gonna make a lot of people angry by touting your accomplishment of making few things show up on the home screen instead of a couple clicks away in one of the menus.

I could just feel the franchise community's blood collectively boiling when he said 'and all you have to do is flick the R stick to check out what's going on with your minor league teams...'

Yeah, now tell us something we don't know.