As someone who loves and plays this mode a ton, this doesn't sound great to me at all. He also mentions a few other issues, but they all seem to stem from the new DD integration:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MLBTheShow/...on_rtts_is_in/
https://www.reddit.com/r/MLBTheShow/...on_rtts_is_in/
Now, whenever creating an RTTS save, it is now your Ballplayer being the one that takes the spotlight of the mode. That means that rather than the possibility of making multiple unique characters and have fun in essentially a sandbox of a baseball world, you are now limited to just your singular ballplayer that's tied to your profile when entering RTTS. You can still start separate saves to try other positions, but they will always be tied to the appearance and name of your pre-existing ballplayer.
You can no longer have the opportunity of going back and forth between a save of a short, speedy, Brazillian centerfielder to a save where you have a 6'7 flamethrower Texan racking up 300 strikeouts a year. You only have your one ballplayer, possibly playing different positions for different teams if you do make multiple saves, but any of the magic of creating new characters and molding your own history has been completely lost. The entire game mode of RTTS feels like it's been completely relegated to just the backdrop for yet another Diamond Dynasty feature, which I think genuinely ruins the entire game of MLB The Show 21 for some people.
You can no longer have the opportunity of going back and forth between a save of a short, speedy, Brazillian centerfielder to a save where you have a 6'7 flamethrower Texan racking up 300 strikeouts a year. You only have your one ballplayer, possibly playing different positions for different teams if you do make multiple saves, but any of the magic of creating new characters and molding your own history has been completely lost. The entire game mode of RTTS feels like it's been completely relegated to just the backdrop for yet another Diamond Dynasty feature, which I think genuinely ruins the entire game of MLB The Show 21 for some people.
With the early release of MLB The Show 21, the issues of Ballplayer integration were pretty apparent, which already is a huge blow for the game mode alone. However, the forced inclusion of Ballplayers was only of many changes SDS made to the mode. Remember, playing the Draft Showcase games, getting drafted, and the pretty lame narrative that came attached with it eventually? All of that has been almost completely cut from the game. The start of RTTS is now completely different, with the original narrative and previous systems in place being gutted to make way for the new narrative.
The initial setting of the beginning of the story, like I said, has been cut. You no longer play any draft showcase or even go through any draft screen. You instead immediately start RTTS through a generic conversation with your coach about what you want your secondary position to be and what team you want to play for.
Wait, Secondary Position? Well, If you haven't tried it yet, you might be confused, but SDS has somehow gone even further than the relatively mediocre narrative pushed the last few years by barraging you with the new story: You're a Two-Way player. Being a Two-Way player is not just an extra option for you to choose to play, like possibly an archetype with how previous games worked, it is an actual forced part of your career when you begin RTTS. While the other narrative was super lame it was also pretty easy to ignore and forget about, but this new one is far from subtle. You're drafted because of your potential as a two-way, podcasters and commentators will have audio clips talking about you as a two-way player. Two-way players are cool, don't get me wrong, but why can I not just play the actual RTTS in the traditional way that had already existed. It's only after a few minor league games and multiple conversations of you choosing to complain about not wanting to be a two-way player, you finally actually get put into the position you wanted to start your career in.
With the draft being gone, you are instead shown a short cutscene of that team you chose calling you, paired with a fake MLB Network Show talking about you being drafted and being a two-way player. These are actual real recorded people talking in an actual MLB Network studio though, so they have to talk in a vague and completely nonspecific way when raving about you, because there is only one recording of this, not multiple depending on if your draft rank had varied or if you were a different style of player because there is no draft anymore or any styles of players. Have fun starting new saves and seeing the exact same recording again, which is already something most won't do because you can't have multiple unique characters.
With Archetypes being gone from RTTS, you can now only define your playstyle via the Ballplayer perks previously mentioned. You still train and level up your attributes like previous games, but now everyone has the same hard caps imposed on them, with only the perks that have to be obtained via grinding or the market actually molding your attributes in a meaningful way, like emphasizing you as a contact hitter, or vice versa. You can't make an elite superstar player, at least not through traditionally training and spending time in RTTS, because you have hard caps keeping you at a relatively mediocre level, and can only have a few specific attributes boosted with the perks at a time while the others stay exactly where they are, essentially bringing back the hard caps of MLB The Show 18 albeit configurable on the fly.
These hard caps existing are probably the biggest spit in RTTS players faces because they exist for an obvious reason: To balance them for use in Diamond Dynasty. In the most depressing fashion, SDS has taken away the freedom players had to mold their characters and also deck them out in a single-player experience in a way to direct all attention to its use for Diamond Dynasty. They've even taken away the ability to create a Knuckleballer, because like before, that would obviously be an issue in Diamond Dynasty. This is no longer a SandBox where you can go at it with unique and differing characters and really make varying characters you can feel attached to, but instead a glorified training ground for a Diamond Dynasty feature with how SDS has designed it this year.
As a long-time MLB The Show Fan, it's honestly one of the most ridiculous changes SDS could have made to the game in general, and I feel that this has gone way too far in alienating single-player fans that also paid full price for the game. Why can we not play RTTS as an open and single-player experience? Why does the experience need to be integrated with Diamond Dynasty? Why would you seemingly continue to add more and more roadblocks and restrictions to one of the only sports career modes that had thrived without it, and how could you justify removing content that already existed in the game like the Draft Showcase and replacing it with such a mediocre and short narrative? If I wanted a forced mediocre storyline for career mode, I would have played Madden or FIFA, and at least those games have actual cutscenes, voice acting, and consistency.
I'm sure MLB The Show 21 will have its good parts as well, especially for those interested in the Online Content, but the blatant gutting of RTTS to encompass it in SDS's online vision is sickening to me.
The initial setting of the beginning of the story, like I said, has been cut. You no longer play any draft showcase or even go through any draft screen. You instead immediately start RTTS through a generic conversation with your coach about what you want your secondary position to be and what team you want to play for.
Wait, Secondary Position? Well, If you haven't tried it yet, you might be confused, but SDS has somehow gone even further than the relatively mediocre narrative pushed the last few years by barraging you with the new story: You're a Two-Way player. Being a Two-Way player is not just an extra option for you to choose to play, like possibly an archetype with how previous games worked, it is an actual forced part of your career when you begin RTTS. While the other narrative was super lame it was also pretty easy to ignore and forget about, but this new one is far from subtle. You're drafted because of your potential as a two-way, podcasters and commentators will have audio clips talking about you as a two-way player. Two-way players are cool, don't get me wrong, but why can I not just play the actual RTTS in the traditional way that had already existed. It's only after a few minor league games and multiple conversations of you choosing to complain about not wanting to be a two-way player, you finally actually get put into the position you wanted to start your career in.
With the draft being gone, you are instead shown a short cutscene of that team you chose calling you, paired with a fake MLB Network Show talking about you being drafted and being a two-way player. These are actual real recorded people talking in an actual MLB Network studio though, so they have to talk in a vague and completely nonspecific way when raving about you, because there is only one recording of this, not multiple depending on if your draft rank had varied or if you were a different style of player because there is no draft anymore or any styles of players. Have fun starting new saves and seeing the exact same recording again, which is already something most won't do because you can't have multiple unique characters.
With Archetypes being gone from RTTS, you can now only define your playstyle via the Ballplayer perks previously mentioned. You still train and level up your attributes like previous games, but now everyone has the same hard caps imposed on them, with only the perks that have to be obtained via grinding or the market actually molding your attributes in a meaningful way, like emphasizing you as a contact hitter, or vice versa. You can't make an elite superstar player, at least not through traditionally training and spending time in RTTS, because you have hard caps keeping you at a relatively mediocre level, and can only have a few specific attributes boosted with the perks at a time while the others stay exactly where they are, essentially bringing back the hard caps of MLB The Show 18 albeit configurable on the fly.
These hard caps existing are probably the biggest spit in RTTS players faces because they exist for an obvious reason: To balance them for use in Diamond Dynasty. In the most depressing fashion, SDS has taken away the freedom players had to mold their characters and also deck them out in a single-player experience in a way to direct all attention to its use for Diamond Dynasty. They've even taken away the ability to create a Knuckleballer, because like before, that would obviously be an issue in Diamond Dynasty. This is no longer a SandBox where you can go at it with unique and differing characters and really make varying characters you can feel attached to, but instead a glorified training ground for a Diamond Dynasty feature with how SDS has designed it this year.
As a long-time MLB The Show Fan, it's honestly one of the most ridiculous changes SDS could have made to the game in general, and I feel that this has gone way too far in alienating single-player fans that also paid full price for the game. Why can we not play RTTS as an open and single-player experience? Why does the experience need to be integrated with Diamond Dynasty? Why would you seemingly continue to add more and more roadblocks and restrictions to one of the only sports career modes that had thrived without it, and how could you justify removing content that already existed in the game like the Draft Showcase and replacing it with such a mediocre and short narrative? If I wanted a forced mediocre storyline for career mode, I would have played Madden or FIFA, and at least those games have actual cutscenes, voice acting, and consistency.
I'm sure MLB The Show 21 will have its good parts as well, especially for those interested in the Online Content, but the blatant gutting of RTTS to encompass it in SDS's online vision is sickening to me.
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