What happened to the series

[Freakywwe]

Re: What happened to the series

And yet so many disagree. Strange innit?

Are these people that disagree in the room with us right now? Where are you seeing anybody complain about the gameplay? Most complaints come down to bonehead decisions on the backend, but the gameplay is still excellent?

[baseballguy99]

Re: What happened to the series

Pitching is far too easy IMO, the cpu isn’t the challenge it used to be. With that said on the flip side hitting and fielding IMO is the best it’s ever been

[Madden08PCgmr]

Re: What happened to the series

I don't believe the series has taken steps backwards, but I think there's an argument to be made that the series doesn't feel as if it's taken any meaningful steps forward in a number of years. At least not in the areas that most people on this forum are looking for, which I understand is the minority overall.

Best baseball game of all-time between the lines.

They took a step in the EA direction removing year-to-year saves. That was one of the more unique features in sports gaming history.

I'm not convinced we'll get it back, like all the features removed from Madden over the years.

[Douevenbench913]

Re: What happened to the series

The pitching in this game is simply boring. Cpu offense is no threat…they took out long at bats with more swings and misses. What I believe they did was in previous mlb the shows the cpu batter would often times contact swing on 2 pitch strikes…equalling more foul balls…longer at bats… you know basics of baseball.

Now since the mlb batting fundamentals are horrendous in real life so is mlb the show. This will continue unless they bring in a my eras type of option like 2k where gameplay is different in the eras. Don’t think it will happen as this game is catered to dd more ever year. Guess I’ll fire up 22 at some point and see if cpu has those long at bats instead of easy slider for the k all day.

[baseballguy99]

Re: What happened to the series

The pitching in this game is simply boring. Cpu offense is no threat…they took out long at bats with more swings and misses. What I believe they did was in previous mlb the shows the cpu batter would often times contact swing on 2 pitch strikes…equalling more foul balls…longer at bats… you know basics of baseball.

Now since the mlb batting fundamentals are horrendous in real life so is mlb the show. This will continue unless they bring in a my eras type of option like 2k where gameplay is different in the eras. Don’t think it will happen as this game is catered to dd more ever year. Guess I’ll fire up 22 at some point and see if cpu has those long at bats instead of easy slider for the k all day.

Maxing out their timing and contact sliders will help bring back some of the longer at bats, however they still chase really bad pitches at a higher rate than ever.. slider low and away is kryptonite for them


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[DonkeyJote]

Re: What happened to the series

The pitching in this game is simply boring. Cpu offense is no threat…they took out long at bats with more swings and misses. What I believe they did was in previous mlb the shows the cpu batter would often times contact swing on 2 pitch strikes…equalling more foul balls…longer at bats… you know basics of baseball.



Now since the mlb batting fundamentals are horrendous in real life so is mlb the show. This will continue unless they bring in a my eras type of option like 2k where gameplay is different in the eras. Don’t think it will happen as this game is catered to dd more ever year. Guess I’ll fire up 22 at some point and see if cpu has those long at bats instead of easy slider for the k all day.

I actually keep track of a lot of stats after each game I play. For reference, I use classic pitching on Legend with CPU Contact, Timing, Foul Frequency, and Solid hits at 5 (default), and power at 6, with HUM control at 2 and Consistency at 5.

The last 20 games I've played, CPU has scored 5.5 R/g, hit 1.6 HR/g, and struck out 9.5 times per game. All of those figures are within real MLB averages. They're actually at 10 hits, 4.4 XBH, and 4.3 BB/g, which are actually all a little high.

The CPU is swinging and missing on 10.7% of pitches (league average this year was 11.2%), and their fouls/strikes was 28.6% (average was 28.1%).

Their system certainly isn't perfect. But the big issues are that it's outdated to modern baseball, not that it's updated it enough. CPU chase rates are entirely too low, not too high; I've got just a 25.7% chase rate in the last 20 games, compared to 31.9% in MLB in 2023. CPU Contact rates on pitches out of the zone are a little low; 56.2% contact on swings at pitches out of the zone for my last 20 games, which is better than the A's, but that is it. The CPU (and human players, for that matter) typically throw too much in the zone. I've got the CPU throwing in the Zone 50.6% of the time, I'm throwing 51.9% of the time. And in my experience, most players are probably in the zone north of 60% of the time; I actively try and live on the edges. And there are too many Fly Balls and Line Drives compared to ground balls. In MLB this year it was 34.7%/21.3%/44% Fly Balls/Line Drives/Ground Balls. On my last 20 games, I'm at 38.4%/25.5%/36.1% and the CPU is at 36.2%/27.4%/36.2%.

A lot of the plate discipline stuff, along things like lineup management and sim stats, are pretty in line for like 2008. It's just that they haven't really updated that stuff since.

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[jcar0725]

Re: What happened to the series

Pitching on legend using classic pitching for my franchise and its been a blast and a real challenge especially if I'm using an average/below average pitcher. I haven't put this game down since it was released and I'll keep going all winter.

[Hammerhunker]

Re: What happened to the series

I actually keep track of a lot of stats after each game I play. For reference, I use classic pitching on Legend with CPU Contact, Timing, Foul Frequency, and Solid hits at 5 (default), and power at 6, with HUM control at 2 and Consistency at 5.

The last 20 games I've played, CPU has scored 5.5 R/g, hit 1.6 HR/g, and struck out 9.5 times per game. All of those figures are within real MLB averages. They're actually at 10 hits, 4.4 XBH, and 4.3 BB/g, which are actually all a little high.

The CPU is swinging and missing on 10.7% of pitches (league average this year was 11.2%), and their fouls/strikes was 28.6% (average was 28.1%).

Their system certainly isn't perfect. But the big issues are that it's outdated to modern baseball, not that it's updated it enough. CPU chase rates are entirely too low, not too high; I've got just a 25.7% chase rate in the last 20 games, compared to 31.9% in MLB in 2023. CPU Contact rates on pitches out of the zone are a little low; 56.2% contact on swings at pitches out of the zone for my last 20 games, which is better than the A's, but that is it. The CPU (and human players, for that matter) typically throw too much in the zone. I've got the CPU throwing in the Zone 50.6% of the time, I'm throwing 51.9% of the time. And in my experience, most players are probably in the zone north of 60% of the time; I actively try and live on the edges. And there are too many Fly Balls and Line Drives compared to ground balls. In MLB this year it was 34.7%/21.3%/44% Fly Balls/Line Drives/Ground Balls. On my last 20 games, I'm at 38.4%/25.5%/36.1% and the CPU is at 36.2%/27.4%/36.2%.

A lot of the plate discipline stuff, along things like lineup management and sim stats, are pretty in line for like 2008. It's just that they haven't really updated that stuff since.

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I enjoyed your breakdown, thanks for taking the time. While your percentages are "close", but not so much if you're trying to emulate MLB results. I could presume, obviously, that we would observe a wide variance in results across all the Show players due to the varying play styles, even moreso categorizing within each slider combination (the data would be vast).

Applying your data to the original argument leaves me with a simple conclusion, you make of this game as you make it, between the lines as some of you say. I await the significant leap forward in graphics and animations and a few other features, but as far as gameplay, it is as solid as it always has been.

[bronxbombers21325]

Re: What happened to the series

Pitching is far too easy IMO, the cpu isn’t the challenge it used to be. With that said on the flip side hitting and fielding IMO is the best it’s ever been

I finally found the balance that I had been looking for that makes pitching feel like it did in the older games. Took me until October, but better late than never I guess. Even when I pitch a gem it feels like a challenge, and I never get the feeling that I’m just cruising through a game.

[baseballguy99]

Re: What happened to the series

I finally found the balance that I had been looking for that makes pitching feel like it did in the older games. Took me until October, but better late than never I guess. Even when I pitch a gem it feels like a challenge, and I never get the feeling that I’m just cruising through a game.

Dude please share the settings and sliders you are using !

[Douevenbench913]

Re: What happened to the series

U can change the sliders all you want but it doesn’t adjust the changes they did under the hood. Along with the lack of discipline the cpu hitters have on every difficulty. Sliders low and away…all day…breaks the game. Scea won’t fix it. Played 22 last night…cpu actually had a lot more discipline. For me 23 plays terribly because of the discipline issues. Happy some enjoy 23 but gameplay for me is no bueno.

Dude please share the settings and sliders you are using !

[bronxbombers21325]

Re: What happened to the series

Dude please share the settings and sliders you are using !

HOF meter
Human Pitcher Control 4
CPU contact 6
CPU timing 6
CPU foul frequency 6

Worked like a charm for me. Foul frequency seemed to be the key. Makes it harder to get confidence up, which in turn makes pitching more difficult. Like I said I still have 10 K shutouts, but they don’t feel easy.

[DonkeyJote]

Re: What happened to the series

U can change the sliders all you want but it doesn’t adjust the changes they did under the hood. Along with the lack of discipline the cpu hitters have on every difficulty. Sliders low and away…all day…breaks the game. Scea won’t fix it. Played 22 last night…cpu actually had a lot more discipline. For me 23 plays terribly because of the discipline issues. Happy some enjoy 23 but gameplay for me is no bueno.

Please share your data on the CPU having bad discipline. Because CPU hitters on legend have better plate discipline than actual MLB hitters in all of my testing.

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[TripleCrown]

Re: What happened to the series

@DonkeyJote I tried your pitching sliders and love it. What are you using for hitting ?

[KnightTemplar]

Re: What happened to the series

U can change the sliders all you want but it doesn’t adjust the changes they did under the hood. Along with the lack of discipline the cpu hitters have on every difficulty. Sliders low and away…all day…breaks the game. Scea won’t fix it. Played 22 last night…cpu actually had a lot more discipline. For me 23 plays terribly because of the discipline issues. Happy some enjoy 23 but gameplay for me is no bueno.

I’ve been critical of gameplay on release day. Not now. Playing great ball. I do not see anything close to what you’re talking about.