MLB The Show 22 Technical Test Available Now

[bcruise]

Re: MLB The Show 22 Technical Test Starts on February 17 - Download Available Now

FWIW, Diamond Dynasty is not utilizing the DH yet either, which means that concern is going to come at SDS from all sides - both the franchise AND competitive crowds. I think we'll get an answer about what kind of approach they're taking with it at some point.

[LastActionHero]

Re: MLB The Show 22 Technical Test Starts on February 17 - Download Available Now

Ok so I caved and downloaded the tech test anyway and here are my findings:

Positives:
- the crowd sounds way more alive and into the game (I also have a negative point later on)
- they cracked the bat sounds up
- you can perfect throw to any base now from the outfield
- perfect perfect hits still sound ánd feel like a million dollars on the duelsense controller

Negatives:
- why oh why can they still not get the crowd reacting properly to a homerun?! When the home team crushes a ball which clearly is gonna clear the fences the crowd stays silent until the ball actually gets over the fence [emoji2373]
- graphics look exactly the same including the green tarmac as grass when the ball is in play, I mean come on it’s 2022.
- advertisements STILL rotate behind the batter while pitching, at this point I just give up that they’re ever going to fix this.
- I really don’t like the blue-ish menus. They went into a new direction in ‘21 and I’m totally not feeling it but that’s a personal preference (I really liked the tiles menu!)
- the runner windows look even worse now, ps2 quality at best.

[bases1616]

Re: MLB The Show 22 Technical Test Starts on February 17 - Download Available Now

I have been playing on PS5, XSX, and Nintendo switch. PS5 is definitely the smoothest console for gameplay. The switch will need some patches but I am just glad to be able to play on the road now. The graphics are definitely not as clean looking as the 2021 Professional Baseball Spirits, but I will give it another year to see if SDS does some work on it.

The main issue I have is that Shohei Ohtani is on the cover and you still can't even hit with him in the practice mode. After Ramon said you can play with him both ways in the final cut of the game. Let us play with him hitting to have fun with it, but I guess we are waiting until April 1st. I like the tweaks to the gameplay as I always enjoy fielding and turning double plays. I just hope that SDS comes through with the Universal DH on a day one update as I am optimistic the CBA will be signed and ready to go by then.

[TripleCrown]

Re: MLB The Show 22 Technical Test Starts on February 17 - Download Available Now

SF Giants wearing their City Connect white-orange uniform.

I suppose other ones will be in final release but so far it seems to be the only in tech demo.

EDIT: WhiteSox Southside is in as well

[bcruise]

Re: MLB The Show 22 Technical Test Starts on February 17 - Download Available Now

Here's a little more info about the PCI Anchor from the strategy guide (it's mostly the same year-to-year, but gets little updates here and there for things like this):

"As an advanced strategy, you can use the PCI Anchor mechanic to pre-set the center of your PCI before a pitch. To use, press down and click the Left Stick, and then move the Left Stick in any direction. An OSD will appear showing you 9 zones of selection within the strike zone, highlighting the currently selected zone of centering. Picking one of 8 directions will re-center where the PCI rests for the rest of the at-bat. This changes the sensitivity of input giving you finer control in the side or corner you've set. For example if you lock your PCI Anchor to be high, you can more easily cover 2/3 of the strike zone with just the bottom half of your Left Stick's range. Also when setting PCI lock to any of the 4 corners, you will get slightly more coverage on that corner. This can help when an opponent is predictably throwing to a certain corner."

So...that example of setting the PCI anchor high kinda confuses me, since it goes on to talk about better control of the lower part of the strike zone. Assuming it's not a typo, maybe they're saying that the PCI won't snap to below the zone when you tilt all the way down, and instead stop near the knees? I dunno. I also haven't really seen it being less sensitive when having an anchor point on either, so maybe that part of it isn't turned on yet? We'll probably hear more about this on the gameplay stream.

[RoyalBoyle78]

Re: MLB The Show 22 Technical Test Starts on February 17 - Download Available Now

I have been playing on PS5, XSX, and Nintendo switch. PS5 is definitely the smoothest console for gameplay. The switch will need some patches but I am just glad to be able to play on the road now. The graphics are definitely not as clean looking as the 2021 Professional Baseball Spirits, but I will give it another year to see if SDS does some work on it.

The main issue I have is that Shohei Ohtani is on the cover and you still can't even hit with him in the practice mode. After Ramon said you can play with him both ways in the final cut of the game. Let us play with him hitting to have fun with it, but I guess we are waiting until April 1st. I like the tweaks to the gameplay as I always enjoy fielding and turning double plays. I just hope that SDS comes through with the Universal DH on a day one update as I am optimistic the CBA will be signed and ready to go by then.

how is 2021 Professional Baseball Spirits able to play so well compared to what I see with the SHow so far.

[Eh-Red]

Re: MLB The Show 22 Technical Test Starts on February 17 - Download Available Now

I have played a couple games on the Switch and while it could use some cleaning up, I don't think it is as bad as some are making it out to be. And I was playing MLB on my Vita just before starting a game on the Switch and I find it laughable that people are saying that version looked and ran better. It is not perfect but I still find it rather enjoyable to play on the go.

[sbmnky]

Re: MLB The Show 22 Technical Test Starts on February 17 - Download Available Now

Here's a little more info about the PCI Anchor from the strategy guide (it's mostly the same year-to-year, but gets little updates here and there for things like this):

"As an advanced strategy, you can use the PCI Anchor mechanic to pre-set the center of your PCI before a pitch. To use, press down and click the Left Stick, and then move the Left Stick in any direction. An OSD will appear showing you 9 zones of selection within the strike zone, highlighting the currently selected zone of centering. Picking one of 8 directions will re-center where the PCI rests for the rest of the at-bat. This changes the sensitivity of input giving you finer control in the side or corner you've set. For example if you lock your PCI Anchor to be high, you can more easily cover 2/3 of the strike zone with just the bottom half of your Left Stick's range. Also when setting PCI lock to any of the 4 corners, you will get slightly more coverage on that corner. This can help when an opponent is predictably throwing to a certain corner."

So...that example of setting the PCI anchor high kinda confuses me, since it goes on to talk about better control of the lower part of the strike zone. Assuming it's not a typo, maybe they're saying that the PCI won't snap to below the zone when you tilt all the way down, and instead stop near the knees? I dunno. I also haven't really seen it being less sensitive when having an anchor point on either, so maybe that part of it isn't turned on yet? We'll probably hear more about this on the gameplay stream.

Good find in the strategy guide.

I interpret this a little different. They are saying by anchoring you PCI high you can cover 2/3 of the entire zone (high and middle) with the just the lower half of your stick's range (by not moving L3, you also account for the high zone). Jamming all the way down will go past the lower 1/3 and outside of the zone.

I like the idea of more coverage on the edges of the zone when an opponent is spamming a location - which is also something you'll have to account for when you're the pitcher.

[HustlinOwl]

Re: MLB The Show 22 Technical Test Starts on February 17 - Download Available Now

I have been playing on PS5, XSX, and Nintendo switch. PS5 is definitely the smoothest console for gameplay. The switch will need some patches but I am just glad to be able to play on the road now. The graphics are definitely not as clean looking as the 2021 Professional Baseball Spirits, but I will give it another year to see if SDS does some work on it.

The main issue I have is that Shohei Ohtani is on the cover and you still can't even hit with him in the practice mode. After Ramon said you can play with him both ways in the final cut of the game. Let us play with him hitting to have fun with it, but I guess we are waiting until April 1st. I like the tweaks to the gameplay as I always enjoy fielding and turning double plays. I just hope that SDS comes through with the Universal DH on a day one update as I am optimistic the CBA will be signed and ready to go by then.

You can hit with him have a NL team as home and you as Angels away


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bcruise]

Re: MLB The Show 22 Technical Test Starts on February 17 - Download Available Now

Good find in the strategy guide.

I interpret this a little different. They are saying by anchoring you PCI high you can cover 2/3 of the entire zone (high and middle) with the just the lower half of your stick's range (by not moving L3, you also account for the high zone). Jamming all the way down will go past the lower 1/3 and outside of the zone.

I like the idea of more coverage on the edges of the zone when an opponent is spamming a location - which is also something you'll have to account for when you're the pitcher.

Good point about the snap reset (or not moving the PCI at all) - wasn't thinking about that. I often like to set my PCI in a location I think the ball might go, but I'm always ready to let off the stick and swing middle if something comes right down the heart. Being able to "snap" to a location other than dead middle is a pretty significant change.

I like your take a lot better than mine.

[bcruise]

Re: MLB The Show 22 Technical Test Available Now

As for gameplay impressions on PS5, I just had a really fun game vs. the CPU with a DD team I cobbled together. Legend difficulty, Zone hitting, Pinpoint pitching. Here's the lineup I threw vs. DeGrom and the Mets (live series unless otherwise noted):

Wander Franco SS (80)
Adam Frazier 2B (78)
Mookie Betts RF (88)
Dan Vogelbach 1B POTM (81)
Randal Grichuk CF (78)
Justin Upton LF (71)
Micheal Brosseau 3B (72)
Jacob Stallings C (78)
Montas P (78)

DeGrom made me look absolutely foolish for 6 innings, walking 2 and fanning 11. But the 2nd walk was immediately followed by a Dan Vogelbach game tying HR (which was a situation where I anchored the PCI high and snapped to it, btw!), and it forced his exit from the game. Score stayed 2-2 until the bottom of the 8th when Wander Franco yanked a hanging slider from just over the RF wall. I brought in Giovanny Gallegos (85) to close it out for a 3-2 win. In total my pitching staff walked 2 and struck out 7. Just 9 hits between both teams.

Game is still just as fun on the field as it ever was for me. Which is to say it's also not changed much. As others mentioned, there are perfect throw opportunities to the other bases as well as Home from the outfield now, and there's the PCI anchor thing.

[atomo]

Re: MLB The Show 22 Technical Test Available Now

A little bit more aggressive CPU and a bit more "arcade" style. In spite of that, everything feels very stale...

[ShaiLeGran]

Re: MLB The Show 22 Technical Test Available Now

Curious about the next deep dive about the Switch version. The test rund at max 30 fps and looks jaggy. The compare it to this: https://youtu.be/wuQzhNKYeb8

The difference is night and day. A Konami game that looks good and runs 60fps on the Switch... Here is hoping!

[TheDarkKnightRises]

Re: MLB The Show 22 Technical Test Starts on February 17 - Download Available Now

FWIW, Diamond Dynasty is not utilizing the DH yet either, which means that concern is going to come at SDS from all sides - both the franchise AND competitive crowds. I think we'll get an answer about what kind of approach they're taking with it at some point.

I really hope so. All I’m asking is an option to turn it on or off in exhibition mode like you can in franchise mode.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 22 Technical Test Starts on February 17 - Download Available Now

Its likely going to take something significant in the upcoming streams to get my anticipation for '22 to increase, because the tech test didn't do it. It just doesn't provide that same excitement for the new game like '21 did over '20.

This isn't to say that '22 BETA is bad, because it isn't. But in this current pre-release state, there isn't anything there that excites me or persuades me to abandon my current franchise and start over. It was tough to do last year (granted I was more heavily invested in a carryover franchise of 13 seasons), but '21 was so good in the BETA that it made that decision extremely tough. Right now, its not that tough, as if I was forced to decide today, I'd stick with my current franchise in '21 versus starting over.

Again I know and understand its a BETA and things can change and I'm much looking forward to certain upcoming streams to see what is announced. But for now, I've actually deleted the tech test as I'd rather not "waste time" looking for enjoyment when I can apply that time to a franchise and game that I'm currently enjoying, even moreso after getting a PS5.