MLB 12 The Show - PS3 Impressions Thread

[sroz39]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - Impressions Thread

FINALLY, after an excruciating 15+ minutes of install, ready to go. Right off the bat, the Wild Card intro is probably the coolest intro for a baseball game since Triple Play 99. What a well put together few minutes.

Alright, about to start playing. Be back in a few minutes.

[sroz39]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - Impressions Thread

Keep in mind, I have only played THREE innings so far, between checking the Q&A forums and my PM's, its been hectic. Anyway, definitely a true upgrade to 11. Nothing (so far) stands out as a HUGE change however, between the difference in fielding, the ball physics and the True Broadcast presentation, its a substantial WHOLE improvement from last year.

Pulse Pitching, though not my thing (I've always favoured a little more user input), is going to be a huge hit amongst the Classic Pitching crowd. And its no joke. I played the O's using the Jays and it took me 20+ pitches to get out of the first with Brandon Morrow. It takes more focus than any other pitching system in the game. Just not my thing.

Something about the hitting is drastically different. I've stayed away from ZAB for the time being, just using Analog like last year to feel the difference in this year's game...and it is different. I don't know how far the ball physics extend but this year, hitting the ball, especially against a guy like Jake Arrieta (cracks 96mph) feels like the ball really has some weight and the fastball can really come up on you if you don't read it out of the pitcher's hand. I know a lot of you like the new camera angle but I wasn't a fan, at least through 3 innings. I had a really hard time judging low strikes. Might go back to it later.

Fielding, so far, feels noticeably different. Had a hard hit ball go to Adam Lind to set up for an inning ending double play and he flat out missed it when it went right to him. I don't remember seeing too many of those in last year's game. One change that I noticed too, since I use Button throwing, you can now set the difficulty level for that system too. Have it at All-Star right now but I will tinker with it moving forward.

Those are my early thoughts. Seen some terrific replays of players hitting the ball on the screws in super slo-mo that I didn't see last year. I think a lot of you will really enjoy the game (obviously) but I think a lot of you on the fence and especially the guys who didn't play 11...you're in for a treat.

More in a bit.

[Skyboxer]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - Impressions Thread

Installing now. Taking roughly 15 minutes to install the large install...
Will play 1 game and then post early thought.

[Knight165]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - Impressions Thread

Okay....so I opened up my mailbox...(which used to be filled with dust and bills!) and lo and behold.....I must have been a good boy this year!

I found a box with Christmas tree wrapping paper and a page from a calendar from December 2012 with the date 25 circled.....and a little note that said "Christmas comes but TWICE this year".


(thank you Santa...you know who you are....)

My first impression.
It's even better than I remember it from Community Day!

More impressions later.

M.K.
Knight165

[Knight165]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - Impressions Thread

I love the placement of the Baseball America prospect book Knight. Good stuff.

Just in case there was any doubt on who was claiming it...

M.K.
Knight165

[Skyboxer]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - Impressions Thread

Pulse Pitching (HOF Level) and I walked the first 2 men I've faced.
I'm Atlanta -Hudson/ Playing San Fran -Lincecum

This is default HOF pitching and default HOF batting (Zone)

3-1 San Fran after 1... I will complete the game and then post impressions so far...

In 1 inning I can already tell you (mentioned many times by the other guys I'm sure) the new ball phyisics..uh.. SWEET!
And as a side note San Frans RF Cabrera missed a routine fly out that resulted in a 3 base error. Sacrificed him in the next batter

Will finish game and then post some more.
My work will suffer tomorrow.....

[Skyboxer]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - Impressions Thread

Stopped after 4 innings as Lincecum was making me look like a school girl and I couldn't hit the side of a barn when pitching lol. Dropping to All Star and will go again. Going to play everything at default first before making adjustments afetr a good amount of games.

[Flightwhite24]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - Impressions Thread

Not sure if this was in previous years but I was warming up Lily to start the game vs the Marlins and on one of the pitches Ellis bobbled a warmup pitch. Never seen that before and thought it was a nice touch.

Currently playing in the new Marlins stadium and my O my it's nice looking.

Can't put a finger on it but fielding just feels different. Maybe player momentum could be it? The batting just seems more realistic in terms of how the ball flys off the bat. So many things/thoughts running in my mind its just hard to describe what I am experiencing with this game.

[Skyboxer]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - Impressions Thread

OK some more thoughts. I know some may think "whatever" but I'm telling you the new physics make it a whole new ballgame. Simply can't get over how much more it does for the game.

As far as pitching:
I only have done pulse BUT I really like it a lot. I did move to AS level though until I get used to it. I was really all over the place and the pulse isn't something you can just get the timing down with either. The pulse seems random as far as speed etc.. and even changes up during each pitch. LOVE IT. (But suck at HOF level lol )

Batting: I have done zone and timing so far and it's what you would expect. I'll use timing in franchise and zone in RTTS UNLESS I fall in love with Analog+Zone which I'm trying next.

I posted a quick vid of the dropped ball by Cabrera and a down/away single up the middle.

Analog throwing in the field "seems" tones down and a bit easier. Might just be me though but it seems like it.

There's so much I want to do I feel like I'm just going all over the place. I'm simply in baseball Heaven.

Will be back with my thoughts on Analog / zone hitting. It's probably more than my "old" reflexes can handle and I may break something but I'll try.

[bluengold34_OS]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - Impressions Thread

Just finished an epic game between the Cubs and the Mets(can a game between these two clubs be epic)

I finally broke a 4-4 tie in the 13th, when Soriano hit a 2 run blast. What can I say , but it felt great the whole way through. The game had errors, home-runs, great defensive plays and repetitive rehashed announcing

One of the improvements that I absolutely love this year, is how little an animation interferes with what you are trying to do on the field. You no longer feel like the last second of a play is just a canned animation. It feels like you have complete control down to final millisecond...which is awesome

[sroz39]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - Impressions Thread

Alright, just finished a full game as the Jays in Miami (I think playing against Miami will be many guys' first or second game lol) and man oh man, All-Star seems slightly tougher this year than last. Maybe it's rust, though I've been playing RTTS in 11 for the last week, but I lost 6-4. I used Henderson Alvarez and it took me almost 50(!) pitches to get out of the first two innings. I was down 6-0 going into the top of the 3rd and Zambrano had me swinging at all sorts of splitters in the dirt.

Made a game of it with the long ball but all in all, they controlled the game from the outset. Tried Pulse Pitching again, and yeah, just not my thing. But like I mentioned previously, MANY on these boards will enjoy it. Used ZAB almost the whole game and no doubt, this will be what I take into my RTTS and Franchise. Very natural for me so far.

At this point, really enjoying all the little things that have been tweaked that make this such a great game but no doubt, the ball physics are a game changer like Skyboxer mentioned. Its the real deal. I'm gonna play around with Classic and Meter pitching as well as Timing and Zone hitting in the next game I play.

Ill tell you, its veeeeeeeery tempting to start an RTTS right now but I know when the OS rosters come out, ill just start a new one with those. Wish the servers were up to dive into DD a bit but not a big deal, I'll just keep playing single games and try and come across some of the very specific Q's in the other thread.

[Skyboxer]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - Impressions Thread

Just had a ball (I was pitching) that hit the 1st base bag and went straight up. I fielded it with my 1b but was so confused as to what the heck was happening by the time I realized what had happened I panicked and missed the bag and batter was safe....

Good grief lol

[Skyboxer]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - Impressions Thread

Just finsihed a full game- CUBS at Washington and it was sweet!
The CUBS led the whole way and went to the 9th leading 2-1.
Washington rallied for 2 in the 9th for the win!
Desmond singled, Werth singled, Zimmerman singled and Desmond scored to tie the game.
LaRoche struck out for the 1st out, Morse grounded out.
2 outs runners on 2nd and 3rd. Espinosa was intentionally walked.
Pinch hitter Derosa singled to center for the game winner!

Chicago 2 runs on 5 hits
Washington 3 runs on 9 hits


I'll throw up the highlight reel in a few...

I don't want to go to bed!!

[bayman]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - Impressions Thread

The first thing that has to be said is everything is so much smoother from menus to gameplay. Collision avoidance isn't perfect but makes a big difference most of the time. In my first game I didn't notice any commentary from last year that really annoyed me. Pulse pitching is more challenging than it might look watching videos.

One thing I've noticed that I don't like is the training drill options in the main menu. I couldn't find a way to do fielding or baserunning at all from the main menu and there is only one option for pitching and hitting vs. last year when you had multiple of each. If anyone knows what I'm doing wrong let me know, Good at bat was my favorite last year and right now it seems to not even be an option.

[ckarlic]

Re: MLB 12 The Show - Impressions Thread

Got home from work kind of late. Played only 1 game (angels vs Yankees). I was the Yankees on a partly cloudy day and and I must say that it really did appear to be a partly cloudy game. At times it would get cloudy and at times the sun would be shining bright.

Here were my settings:

All star all the way
Tried pulse pitching for a few innings but went to Analog pitching afterwards
Zone hitting
Button fielding


Pitching:

I must say that pulse pitching was harder than I expected. I could not get my timing down at all. In 3 innings, I walked 3 batters withCc which is good. I switched to analog and still walked 3 hitters which I really liked. Right now I'm leaning towards using analog pitching since I've been using analog pitching all of last year. This year it seems that you can get your fair share of walks with analog.

Hitting:

Hitting is great. Stuck with my bread and butter which is zone hitting and I'm liking the new default camera angle. I'm able to see the pitches better and am able to get deep in the count. It's a lot easier to judge the break of the pitch IMO which allows me to lay off of close pitches. In the first game I played tonite I managed to get 7 hits and 3 runs so hitting is not dumbed down. It's actually "smartened up" with the new ball physics.

Fielding:

Saw some great fielding animations in the game I played tonite. Didnt see any balls warping into gloves. Saw a ball bounce off of Arods glove on a dive and it looks like pitchers can throw out hitters on slow dribblers close to the 3rd base foul line. I had Cc come off the mound to get to a ball hit slowly towards the line and got the runner out on a close play at first. Last year, I remember the pitcher would get to the ball, only to have his momentum prevent him from firing to 1st in time more often than not.

Presentation:

Love it. Love the overlays and player stats when they walk up to the plate such as how much success or failures they have against a particular pitcher. Also, I can tell that the commentary has beem improved and thy have added a good amount of new dialogue. The game truly has a broadcast feel to it.

Even though I wasn't able to get much playing time in tonite, I really like what the devs have done to the game. Can't wait to get more time with the game over the weekend. I will try to post some pictures and highlights in the highlight thread.

The only bad thing is the fact that I have to go to work tomorrow so I'm off to bed.