Need help with Directional

[Mets720]

I found that this years mlb the show 20 Directional seems really different and harder to make a hit or a homerun. I find it weird all my swings are either very early , early or good good and still makes a out either ground ball or fly out. if i jack up the offspeed and fastball speeds same results.

plus theres way too much double plays. also the cpu defense on ok defensed are playing like golden gloves like eric thames from the nationals dude runs out everyball and dives and still catches.

is anyone having the same out come.

[jeffy777]

Re: Need help with Directional

You’re not the only one as I’ve seen at least one other thread about this.

I’ve been going back and forth between Directional and Pure Analog (using Flick for both), and the contrasting results have been rather stark in contrast. Pure Analog, my offense goes through the roof, but with Directional it’s certainly diminished.

When I use Directional, I never touch the left stick, so I let the engine dictate everything else other than the timing. Going over to Pure Analog feels like a breath of fresh air in terms of offensive production. So far I’ve had very few moments of feeling like I got robbed when I get a cookie served up right down the middle, but I’ll probably have to bump up the difficulty as a result.

The other thing that’s always baffled me about Directional is the PCI on the swing analysis is always in the middle, even though we know it moves under the hood... whereas with Pure Analog, it actually shows you exactly where the PCI was on each swing which I greatly prefer. I want to know where I missed, especially on those meatballs that go for weak pop ups. It’s enough to drive a man insane sometimes

[bcruise]

Re: Need help with Directional

I want to know where I missed, especially on those meatballs that go for weak pop ups. It’s enough to drive a man insane sometimes

This isn't a perfect solution to what you want here, but it is possible to see where the PCI was being placed on directional to some extent. In the batter analysis, the combination of the "Recent AB" and "Label PCI Contact" filters will give you the swings from the previous - or current - AB with a number from 0-15. Label PCI Contact is what the former Label_Hitchance was, meaning it will show how close the PCI was placed to the ball's location, without taking timing into account. So, if you swung through a pitch in the zone that you know you had good timing on, it's likely that you'll see a low - or 0 - number from that pitch. It means the PCI placement wasn't near the ball and you got "screwed by RNG/ratings" as it were.

This also serves as the in-game proof of the PCI being simulated in directional, btw.

I'll try to get an example or two as I play through MTO - whenever I get big leads I can switch to directional and play around with it.

[jeffy777]

Re: Need help with Directional

Good stuff. bcruise. I had no idea that info was available.

While I have your ear, do you know if it’s actually possible to influence the PCI with Pure Analog? The in-game control diagram shows that you can by pushing the right stick up at an angle instead of straight up, but I honestly haven’t been able to tell if this actually works for certain or not. Either way I can’t really complain as the results have been very good for me so far this year.

[bcruise]

Re: Need help with Directional

Good stuff. bcruise. I had no idea that info was available.

While I have your ear, do you know if it’s actually possible to influence the PCI with Pure Analog? The in-game control diagram shows that you can by pushing the right stick up at an angle instead of straight up, but I honestly haven’t been able to tell if this actually works for certain or not. Either way I can’t really complain as the results have been very good for me so far this year.

I haven't used pure analog hitting regularly in several years, but if it's unchanged then the left and right is controlled by the angle the R-stick comes forward, and the up/down is simulated. And a quick dive into the custom practice with it tells me that hasn't changed. On Pure Analog the PCI actually moves around visually in the swing analysis so you should be able to see what it's doing. It's way more noticeable on the upper difficulties, particularly Legend where the PCI's are much smaller.

So think of it like this in terms of the user's influence on plate coverage:

Directional (without influence because that opens another can of worms) - one dimension - basically just timing

Pure Analog - Two dimensions, adding left and right. Up and down are left to the CPU, but still increases the user influence

Zone - Three dimensions. All PCI movement is in the user's control, though the player ratings will still have some impact on the outcomes of AB's.

Here's an example of what I'm referring to in this post (I don't have a good example of the analysis stuff from the last post yet.). This is Pure Analog, Legend hitting.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ckXQ68iOYUU" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

"Just Late" is a timing classification that usually means some kind of contact if the PCI is anywhere near the ball. You can see where my swing was on the X-axis - that's the same angle I took the R-Stick. But the Y-Axis is out of my control, and it, along with the pitch location, caused the miss here.

[jeffy777]

Re: Need help with Directional

Thank you bcruise!

[Houston]

Re: Need help with Directional

I wait until the pitcher is about to throw the pitch then I push up on left stick hold it there and hit X when I'm ready to swing.

This year using directional hitting and the method above I stumbled upon a few days ago mskrs hitting HRS a lot easier.

All other show games I've played I never had to influence the hit using the left stick. I had great success just using the X button alone. I hit plenty of HRS just using X alone.

So if you got some power hitters on your team and u love to use directional hitting try pushing up on the left stick and just hit X when you time the pitch up and watch the ball fly.

[jcar0725]

Re: Need help with Directional

You’re not the only one as I’ve seen at least one other thread about this.

I’ve been going back and forth between Directional and Pure Analog (using Flick for both), and the contrasting results have been rather stark in contrast. Pure Analog, my offense goes through the roof, but with Directional it’s certainly diminished.

When I use Directional, I never touch the left stick, so I let the engine dictate everything else other than the timing. Going over to Pure Analog feels like a breath of fresh air in terms of offensive production. So far I’ve had very few moments of feeling like I got robbed when I get a cookie served up right down the middle, but I’ll probably have to bump up the difficulty as a result.

The other thing that’s always baffled me about Directional is the PCI on the swing analysis is always in the middle, even though we know it moves under the hood... whereas with Pure Analog, it actually shows you exactly where the PCI was on each swing which I greatly prefer. I want to know where I missed, especially on those meatballs that go for weak pop ups. It’s enough to drive a man insane sometimes

I used directional, and I RARELY touch the left stick, and I have had great success on HOF. And when I say great success, I mean realistic. Sometimes they throw me a mistake pitch, and I blast away at it, and I end up with a weak grounder. Why? Because that hitter had a bad AB. Or that hitter doesn't have great vision so he'll miss that pitch 6 out of 10 times. That's why I love directional.

[jeffy777]

Re: Need help with Directional

I used directional, and I RARELY touch the left stick, and I have had great success on HOF. And when I say great success, I mean realistic. Sometimes they throw me a mistake pitch, and I blast away at it, and I end up with a weak grounder. Why? Because that hitter had a bad AB. Or that hitter doesn't have great vision so he'll miss that pitch 6 out of 10 times. That's why I love directional.

I agree with the philosophy behind Directional, but my point was that when I hit those weak grounders, I simply want to know where I missed, and the swing analysis doesn’t tell you that with Directional since it shows the PCI in the middle every time.

[jcar0725]

Re: Need help with Directional

I agree with the philosophy behind Directional, but my point was that when I hit those weak grounders, I simply want to know where I missed, and the swing analysis doesn’t tell you that with Directional since it shows the PCI in the middle every time.

Oh okay got it. I guess I don't care I just know that my hitter missed it, I didn't miss it, unless I was way late or way early.