MLB The Show 18: Our Thoughts on This Year's Game (Roundtable)

[kevin23]

Re: MLB The Show 18: Our Thoughts on This Year's Game (Roundtable)

I was very skeptical about getting the game on day one, mostly because I enjoy franchise mode, but I cracked. It is an improved game without a doubt, outside of those who played online franchise. Better animations overall, and I’m not great at attention to detail, but I believe whoever says the strikeout animations are better. I also think the hitting is more responsive, which indirectly affects pitching in a positive way. Ridin’s rosters are great so far! Just buy it. 4.5/5 (5/5 if franchise was improved)

[Caulfield]

Re: MLB The Show 18: Our Thoughts on This Year's Game (Roundtable)

Is there any other on-base celebration than the one that looks like drunken karaoker trying to dab? It seems that's the only one I ever notice.

[Jimmydm90]

Is there any other on-base celebration than the one that looks like drunken karaoker trying to dab? It seems that's the only one I ever notice.

I get the "stirring the pot" animation a lot, almost exclusively.

One thing that annoys me about the commentary. Overuse of a word or phrase.

Last year, Harold Reynolds used the word "electric" all the time when talking about pitchers. This year Mark DeRosa keeps saying "ambush tactics" all the time.

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

I feel like their commentary must be ad libbed because there are so many redundancies. The announcer might say the same word 3 or 4 times in the same sentence. Things even a bad writer would catch. I've been playing MLB 15 since it came out and I definitely prefer the 15 commentary. It seems more polished, probably because it has multiple years of recordings to draw from.

[actionhank]

I'm in that sweet spot (I admittedly notice it in other posters over in the NHL forums) where I'm a fan of baseball, but not in the diehard sense (Opposite of how I am with hockey). 
So I can enjoy MLB The Show for what it is, I guess in a sense, because I'm ignorant of the way it should be. I rented MLB The Show 18 and was really happy with the roster update, and the way the gameplay felt. I was able to import my MLB The Show 17 season over and continue playing as myself at 3B. On that note, does anyone know if it is possible to import single created players? I've got myself as a 3B in 17, but I was hoping to import just my player over to 18. The Season import is nice and all, but I want to play with the new Brewers season in 18, and more importantly, a realistic version of Thames at first.

[DBMcGee3]

I think I'm going to take the plunge.  Didn't play much of last year's game due to an overall shortage of gaming time, and honestly I've grown pretty bored of all my other sports titles.

I'm generally a 'Play Now' kind of guy, and it sounds like the gameplay is as tight as ever.

[McG]

I'm not sure how none of you (comments included) mention the defense. Sure the catchers have been fixed, but I find, entirely too often in this game, that major league players aren't making plays simple plays even at the high school level. How many times are guys with 60 speed going to get infield singles from a ball hit a step or two away from the shortstop? Or how about the outfield? It's currently a joke and not a good one, I really hope they fix it ASAP.

[Armor and Sword]

Re: MLB The Show 18: Our Thoughts on This Year's Game (Roundtable)

I'm in that sweet spot (I admittedly notice it in other posters over in the NHL forums) where I'm a fan of baseball, but not in the diehard sense (Opposite of how I am with hockey).*
So I can enjoy MLB The Show for what it is, I guess in a sense, because I'm ignorant of the way it should be. I rented MLB The Show 18 and was really happy with the roster update, and the way the gameplay felt. I was able to import my MLB The Show 17 season over and continue playing as myself at 3B. On that note, does anyone know if it is possible to import single created players? I've got myself as a 3B in 17, but I was hoping to import just my player over to 18. The Season import is nice and all, but I want to play with the new Brewers season in 18, and more importantly, a realistic version of Thames at first.

No you can not import just a single crated player in franchise mode. The year to year save feature is just for franchise mode or Road To The Show. Not a player you created and plugged into your franchise mode and player locked.

You have to use the same franchise save you do the player lock to keep him on 18.

Now any SCEA created player on your 17 save file does get the updated face scan, hair, equipment etc when you transfer the file. But if your Thames was a player CAP then no, he will not get the updates when you transfer the file to 18.

[guinness22]

Re: MLB The Show 18: Our Thoughts on This Year's Game (Roundtable)

The third game of my Yankees franchise, when I was playing the Jays, and J.A Happ was pitching, DeRosa was talking about how Happ was having a subpar season, and something along the lines of him not being happy at all with his performance this season. It was his first start of the year, and we were in the 3rd inning, he had given up 0 hits, and 0 runs. That one was a head scratcher.

Noticed this in game #2 of my franchise, vs TB...think it was Brad Miller in his first AB of the game, and the commentary was around his sub par season and hoping to turn it around...game #2...

Quick Likes:
- new colors, love the Red Sox red this year, much more vibrant than the standard color palate red
- ball physics seem better on hits, more variety through 10 games (more bloopers for sure, more line drives to the outfield, fewer balls that stay in the air forever)
- new batting glove brands, new fielding glove brands, new cleat models, stance socks, face guards
- less stutter/judder on cut scenes and foul balls using 'enhanced' graphics (or whatever it's called this year, 'balanced'?.. can't remember)
- crowds..TB half full for opening series vs Sox, stadium looked nice though, folks walking the concourse etc. Felt more immersive to me somehow.
- Fish Eye 2 camera. Don't think this was in last year?
- I use auto fielding, and the animations seems smoother and more natural to my eye this year.
- New Franchise menus...I like 'em, not a huge improvement per se but the order and optics suit me.
- The quick response/fix from SCEA with regards to the OSFM roster vault glitch issue.

Quick Dislikes:
- Commentary, an example of which is above, along with reused lines and DeRo sounding like the other 2
- No Nike catchers gear (Nike obviously licensed), no Victus bats (Victus owned by Marucci which is obviously in the game), No Chandler bats (not surprising since not licensed, but given their cover boy uses Chandler...), some popular cleat models taken out (same as every year), Oakley's taken out
- Season and Online Franchise taken out, no real improvement to Franchise other than menus (which, as I say above, I do like)
- Marketplace bugs - I 'lost' some cards/stubs, not a huge amount but still annoying
- Folks talk about catchers being fixed, but I am not seeing it personally...in game #1 Sox vs TB, Sale vs Archer, 4 wild pitches (2 by each starter, HOF Classic pitching) before I even got into the 'pen.
- Rocket bunts, hits up the middle drilling pitchers who stay in the game. Insanely precise user (Classic) and CPU pitching (AKA few walks). Same 'ol same 'ol.
- Meh on the base celebrations after every hit, it happens a lot in MLB and it annoys me there too (Sox might be the worst offenders).
- Overhyped 'batting stance creator' is just a 'batting stance tweaker' with sketchy results IMHO (although I may just not be using it to it's fullest, spent about a half hour trying to edit some stances and with all the restrictions/error notification on hands/elbows/etc etc I got annoyed and gave up). Related to that, the frequency of 'broken wrist' stances - the ones that look like they defy the laws of physics with one hand at an awkward angle.
- No collision detection (fielders and base runners warping through each other, especially at first base).

Overall:
- The good far outweighs the bad for me, given I am exclusively an offline Franchise player. I am very happy to have purchased '18, and would certainly recommend an informed buy understanding some of the removals/omissions. I give it a solid 8/10 so far. Think it probably gets better with another robust patch or two.

g22