MLB Power Pros Diffuculty Settings Thread

[Blzer]

Re: MLB Power Pros Diffuculty Settings Thread

I'm thinking CPU pitching needs to be on All Star. With it on Expert they do little movement with the curson. On All Star they seem to move the cursor around more which makes cursor hitting just a little more challenging.

Anyone else notice this?

I turn the cursor off, but yes, this definitely happens. Try it on Expert... it's crazy movement, and sometimes they change it after it disappears so the ball is pitched elsewhere.

[brendanrfoley]

Re: MLB Power Pros Diffuculty Settings Thread

Well, it's official - I'm stupid.

I played a couple games after work last night. In the second game, right after I picked '1 Player' (the screen with Alex Rodriguez), I noticed the Rookie, Normal, Expert selections were for CONTROL scheme. All along, I thought it was difficulty!

In the options/lineup screen, sure enough, difficulty was set to normal. I bumped it up to Expert - as was OWNED by Chris Carpenter. He pitched 9 innings, 110 pitches, with 9 K's. On the higher difficulty, pitches moved faster and Carpenter's hard slider was ruthless.

So, I've just learned that not only does each control scheme have different difficulty options - but the general game does as well.

Jesus, there are a lot of options. Even with the lack of walks, this is damn close yo being my favorite baseball game, ever. The rest of it is that good.

[Kane182]

Re: MLB Power Pros Diffuculty Settings Thread

Alright I have played about 10 games or so now and I still cannot get the CPU to score more than 3 runs off me in a game. I'm using the Mets pitching which is not that great and my last 3 games have been set to CPU hitting powerful. It's a little ridiculous because the CPU gets a lot of hits and everything is hard hit even by the pitchers, but they don't score and they rarely get any extra base hits.

So, I just realized you can control the CPU lock level. I have had it set to normal this whole time and I think that may be the reason for their lack of offense/extra base hits. I am going to try a game now with CPU hitting to All-Star and their lock level at 2.

I just don't like CPU hitting or pitching at powerful at all. When it comes to human pitching vs CPU hitting at powerful it is almost impossible to strike someone out. It is possible, but it doesn't happen enough. Seems like All-Star is the right level for striking CPU players out.

CPU pitching on powerful is tough because while it is harder to pick up the pitches the CPU rarely throws any balls. I can manage a few walks on All-Star because the CPU will throw balls.

Anyway, I am going to try fiddling with the CPU lock on All-Star and see if it makes a difference. I haven't seen anyone discussion regarding CPU sweetspot lock, (unless I missed it, and I do apologize if I did) so we will see how things turn out.

[Kane182]

Re: MLB Power Pros Diffuculty Settings Thread

Alright, a little better. In my last game I won 5 - 3 over the Brewers. The CPU was making contact with almost everything on All-Star, so I bumped down to Expert and put the lock on for the CPU at 3 and was getting better results. They were still making contact with almost everything, but they did manage two HRs off me at this level and I was able to record some K's.

When all is said and done I'm not sure whether the CPU hitting will play best at Expert or All-Star. With CPU batting at normal it is easy on Expert and All-Star to strike guys out, but they don't seem to get enough extra base hits.

I'm just having a tough time trying to find a happy medium between CPU K's and extra base hits at this point. I'm extremely happy with CPU pitching at all-star and I like my batting lock at 2. I really really want to play at lock 1 or even normal, but I can't seem to get any homeruns. I would be perfectly fine with 1 or 2 homeruns a game, but I haven't been getting any and with a lineup like the Mets have, I should be able to get some shots. Could just be inexperience here.

I'm going to keep testing things out, but for now my settings are:

Human:
Batting lock - 2
Strike Zone - off
Everything @ manual except baserunning which I have at expert-auto because I really don't feel comfortable with the baserunning controls in this game.

CPU:
Pitching - All-star
Batting - Expert with lock level at 3
Baserunning - Expert
Fielding - Expert
Strike Zone - off

[bcruise]

Re: MLB Power Pros Diffuculty Settings Thread

I'm just having a tough time trying to find a happy medium between CPU K's and extra base hits at this point. I'm extremely happy with CPU pitching at all-star and I like my batting lock at 2. I really really want to play at lock 1 or even normal, but I can't seem to get any homeruns. I would be perfectly fine with 1 or 2 homeruns a game, but I haven't been getting any and with a lineup like the Mets have, I should be able to get some shots. Could just be inexperience here.

The trick to getting homers at lock-1 or especially normal batting is to have the cursor in position early, and not move it (or move it a small amount). And unless you guess location correctly (by moving the cursor to a place you think the ball's headed) the only way that's going to happen is by using the pitching cursor. I know it seems arcadey, but trust me - I struggle to get 7 or 8 hits in most games. The movement of the pitches is what causes that - just because you know the general direction of where it's going doesn't really make it easy to guess what the movement will be. And that movement can turn a 460 ft. HR into a weak infield grounder.

[Kane182]

Re: MLB Power Pros Diffuculty Settings Thread

I kind of figured that's how it would be. For me personally, I just don't like guessing pitch location. I'm not crazy about playing that way, just a personal preference.

Are you having any trouble with the CPU getting extra base hits or scoring runs?

[elguapo79]

Re: MLB Power Pros Diffuculty Settings Thread

I had terrible results hitting on Normal. Usually I have the CPU pitching on All-Star and my hitting on Lock-1.

I dropped the CPU pitching to Expert and moved my hitting to Normal. I figured it would even out, but was I wrong. I got 3 hits (although 2 runs, 1 via HR) in a game vs. Matt Morris. I had so many weak ground outs. I feel a little like a cheeser, but I think Lock-1 is going to be the way to go for me. I'll be able to leave CPU pitching on All-Star this way, too. I have all CPU settings on All-Star as well.

I am getting comfortable with these settings enough that I may start a season. If I find things start getting way off, I'll just sim the rest of my season and start new in season 2.

[wangjaz]

Re: MLB Power Pros Diffuculty Settings Thread

Alright, a little better. In my last game I won 5 - 3 over the Brewers. The CPU was making contact with almost everything on All-Star, so I bumped down to Expert and put the lock on for the CPU at 3 and was getting better results. They were still making contact with almost everything, but they did manage two HRs off me at this level and I was able to record some K's.

When all is said and done I'm not sure whether the CPU hitting will play best at Expert or All-Star. With CPU batting at normal it is easy on Expert and All-Star to strike guys out, but they don't seem to get enough extra base hits.

I'm just having a tough time trying to find a happy medium between CPU K's and extra base hits at this point. I'm extremely happy with CPU pitching at all-star and I like my batting lock at 2. I really really want to play at lock 1 or even normal, but I can't seem to get any homeruns. I would be perfectly fine with 1 or 2 homeruns a game, but I haven't been getting any and with a lineup like the Mets have, I should be able to get some shots. Could just be inexperience here.

I'm going to keep testing things out, but for now my settings are:

Human:
Batting lock - 2
Strike Zone - off
Everything @ manual except baserunning which I have at expert-auto because I really don't feel comfortable with the baserunning controls in this game.

CPU:
Pitching - All-star
Batting - Expert with lock level at 3
Baserunning - Expert
Fielding - Expert
Strike Zone - off

so how's having lock-on for the CPU? do u notice a difference? right now i just got it on normal, AS, and it's working pretty good for me.

[Kane182]

Re: MLB Power Pros Diffuculty Settings Thread

CPU lock on makes a Huuuuuuge difference. I really cannot stress it enough. On every level with CPU at normal I was not giving up any more than 3 runs a game. I am by no means that good at this game either and like I said before this is the Mets staff we are talking about. Not great, but decent.

Anyway, I tried CPU lock on -2 and -3 on all-star and expert and they were making too much contact with my pitches no matter where they were. I was afraid to go back to powerful because even at normal I was initially not getting any strike outs.

This changed when I tried cpu at lock - 1 on powerful. My last game I got creamed by the Cubbies 8 - 3. I've never been excited to lose, but I am just glad I finally gave up more than 3 runs. I also ended up striking out 8 batters which really made me happy as well.

I took Bcruise's advice and moved my lock from - 2 to - 1 because it is just to easy to get base hits at lock - 2 with any of my batters. At lock - 1 you really have to work to get your hits.

So for now I am going to roll with my lock at - 1 and cpu batting on powerful also at lock - 1 as well as cpu pitching set to all-star. My only fear is now the CPU will be extremely hard to beat, but the Cubs are a pretty good team, so I will try a lesser opponent next time and see what happens.

EDIT: Not to mentioned Zambrano pitched something like 8 innings and I managed 4 or 5 hits off him including a HR by Beltran and I struck out 9 times, but I don't think they were all to him. At least 7 of them were though.

[bcruise]

Re: MLB Power Pros Diffuculty Settings Thread

I kind of figured that's how it would be. For me personally, I just don't like guessing pitch location. I'm not crazy about playing that way, just a personal preference.

Are you having any trouble with the CPU getting extra base hits or scoring runs?

Not really....Both Prince Fielder and Adam Dunn hit walkoffs against me, and I had pitches getting whacked for extra bases too. My fielding abilty (lack of ) didn't really help either. The HR's seemed to come off pitchers with very little movement in their pitches - in this case Angel Guzman who served up both of the aforementioned walkoffs.
And this is just on the expert level for everything - I can't imagine Powerful.

[Kane182]

Re: MLB Power Pros Diffuculty Settings Thread

Wow, so I got real cocky apparently. I lost my last 2 games. The first game was against the Nationals of all teams. They had 17 hits against me and they ended up winning 7 - 3. The next game I went up against the Giants, but changed their lock on powerful to just normal. I ended up losing this one 8 - 2 and I gave up 11 hits. I played the first 4 or 5 innings with my hitting set to normal and I don't think I got one hit out of the infield...lol So I went back to lock - 1 (which is definitely where I am keeping it at now) and I got 3 hits one of which included a 2-run HR by Wright.

I know I am changing these settings all too quickly to get a real good feel about where each plays. Now I guess my issue is whether CPU hitting should stay on powerful or not. I'm wondering if it might play best for me at All-Star with a higher lock level. We'll see...

[wangjaz]

Re: MLB Power Pros Diffuculty Settings Thread

i'm liking my CPU on batting expert, no lock on, no pitchcursor, AS pitching, with me on lockon-1, expert pitching with cursor+StrikeZone on.

neither team rarely goes over 10 hits, and i've gotten lots of games where both teams get around 4-7 hits, with 2-4 runs max.
though i'm playing in the AL right now, as a NL guy, i like those sort of #s a lot more.

[nunogomes]

Re: MLB Power Pros Diffuculty Settings Thread

I really suck at this game...

Im playing with my batting at lock-on 3 and i strike out a LOT and get only 5/6 hit´s per game. I like my pitching (at normal), i like cpu pitching at all-star, everything is great, except my hitting... i just can´t hit the ball, the bat seems very touchy, and the slightest movement makes the bat move A LOT...

I used to be good at MLB the Show 07 with pared´s sliders...

Anyways.... i love this game!

[jasongst]

Re: MLB Power Pros Diffuculty Settings Thread

I really suck at this game...

Im playing with my batting at lock-on 3 and i strike out a LOT and get only 5/6 hit´s per game. I like my pitching (at normal), i like cpu pitching at all-star, everything is great, except my hitting... i just can´t hit the ball, the bat seems very touchy, and the slightest movement makes the bat move A LOT...

I find I do best when I focus on the ball marker, then use my peripheral vision to judge the speed of the pitch. I'm out of practice with baseball games, but the difference was night and day when I started doing this.

[jasongst]

Re: MLB Power Pros Diffuculty Settings Thread

The trick to getting homers at lock-1 or especially normal batting is to have the cursor in position early, and not move it (or move it a small amount). And unless you guess location correctly (by moving the cursor to a place you think the ball's headed) the only way that's going to happen is by using the pitching cursor. I know it seems arcadey, but trust me - I struggle to get 7 or 8 hits in most games. The movement of the pitches is what causes that - just because you know the general direction of where it's going doesn't really make it easy to guess what the movement will be. And that movement can turn a 460 ft. HR into a weak infield grounder.

Not necessarily true. I completely turned off the early pitch locator, and I was still able to jack home runs with lock-1. You're best off if you wait for one that's closer to the middle though, naturally. Last night I rocked Matsuzaka for 8 runs in the first couple of innings with these settings (and I'm the Rangers). If you try this and give yourself time to get used to it, you'll realize it's not much more difficult than batting with the early pitch locator on.

I find home runs to be pretty tricky in general, because it requires you to commit to it ahead of time And the hits you get are less reliable, even if they have more power (you hit a lot of line drives right to the outfielders). I would like to get good at switching the cursor over immediately after recognizing a mistake pitch. THAT would be great.