I have a few questions about ASB.....

[FloridaGamer]

Originally, I was wanting to get High Heat for xbox....but I've heard some good things about ASB so I'm considering getting it instead. I tried it last year for xbox and was extremely disappointed with it. These are a few of the gripes I had about ASB last year.....
1) The games took WAY too long to play. An average 9-inning game was taking me nearly an hour to play. There were way too many in-between pitch animations from the batter and pitcher that drove me crazy. I got bored playing the game after 45 minutes and only being in the 7th inning. Is this any better? In High Heat, I can play a good solid 9-inning game in about 30 minutes....and I love it this way.

2) In this year's ASB, can you set the batting to be zone-based like it is in High Heat? I thought I read somewhere that you could, but wanted to verify this. Has anyone tried this zone-based hitting? ....and if so, how does it compare to High Heat's batting system? Can you read the pitches well? I really REALLY despise cursor batting, as all it becomes is a game of missle command--where you just try to move the little hit cursor on top of the little pitch cursor and hit the Swing button.
3) How is the realism factor? Can you realistically score from second on base-hits? How about the number of walks, foul balls, hit variety, etc?
4) Be serious about this one... IS the game FUN? Is it fun to pitch? Is it fun to bat? Do you actually WANT to keep playing the games? I tried ASB last year, and got extremely bored with it after a couple of days. I ended up buying WSB instead, and thought it was a much better game of baseball. I actually kept playing it until the end of the MLB season. This is what I want out of ASB, but I;m extremely skeptical.


Basically, I'm wanting to know if you can set up ASB to play similarly to the way high heat plays? As far as how the batting system works, etc. If I could get high heat's batting system, with ASB's graphics and in-depth options, along with ASB's franchise mode----I would buy it in a second.

[sandmac]

Re: I have a few questions about ASB.....

I'll do what I can to help...

1st off, I got HH2004. It sucks. UGLY graphics, annoying bugs...major problems.

I got ASB xbox as a fix before WSB which I've had my heart set on for a while.

What a great suprise! I didn't expect it to be this good:

AWESOME front end -fantastic animations and menus.
VERY GOOD GAMEPLAY -hundreds of varying scenarios, very smart AI, responsive controls.

VERY FUN GAME. Seriously, I don't think it would be this good. I've played many games and it for real. HUGE editing, customizing options, great graphics, great gameplay.

THE GAMES CAN GO FAST. They have a set count feature wher you and the computer can have set counts when up to bat. Sounds weird, but results in more walks and K's. Also the games run shorter this way. Figure 35-40 mins per game.

If you are on the fence, pick up ASB. -Good Stuff.

[sandmac]

Re: I have a few questions about ASB.....

I'll do what I can to help...

1st off, I got HH2004. It sucks. UGLY graphics, annoying bugs...major problems.

I got ASB xbox as a fix before WSB which I've had my heart set on for a while.

What a great suprise! I didn't expect it to be this good:

AWESOME front end -fantastic animations and menus.
VERY GOOD GAMEPLAY -hundreds of varying scenarios, very smart AI, responsive controls.

VERY FUN GAME. Seriously, I don't think it would be this good. I've played many games and it for real. HUGE editing, customizing options, great graphics, great gameplay.

THE GAMES CAN GO FAST. They have a set count feature wher you and the computer can have set counts when up to bat. Sounds weird, but results in more walks and K's. Also the games run shorter this way. Figure 35-40 mins per game.

If you are on the fence, pick up ASB. -Good Stuff.

[asb_man]

Re: I have a few questions about ASB.....



1) the average game is 1/2 hour this year, plus there's the "SAVE and QUIT" option so if you go extra innings and have a movie to go to, just save it and go.
2) yes, with "exaggerated pitches" and "zone batting" on, the game is very similar to high heat's system. With exaggerated pitches and 2-d classic batting icon on, it feels like ASB'99 from the N64.
3) The games are much more realistic this year, doubles/triples are more frequent as well
4)I won't answer this since it's subjective. Most response from the game thus far is that people are enjoying the experience and the 'vacant' feeling ASB had the last few years is gone. I will say it's a hell of a good game of baseball.
I guess I did answer the question. If you get the game and have questions/gripes, I can answer them.

[asb_man]

Re: I have a few questions about ASB.....



1) the average game is 1/2 hour this year, plus there's the "SAVE and QUIT" option so if you go extra innings and have a movie to go to, just save it and go.
2) yes, with "exaggerated pitches" and "zone batting" on, the game is very similar to high heat's system. With exaggerated pitches and 2-d classic batting icon on, it feels like ASB'99 from the N64.
3) The games are much more realistic this year, doubles/triples are more frequent as well
4)I won't answer this since it's subjective. Most response from the game thus far is that people are enjoying the experience and the 'vacant' feeling ASB had the last few years is gone. I will say it's a hell of a good game of baseball.
I guess I did answer the question. If you get the game and have questions/gripes, I can answer them.

[Quint75]

Re: I have a few questions about ASB.....

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
1st off, I got HH2004. It sucks. UGLY graphics, annoying bugs...major problems.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">
The PS2 version has the scoring-from-3rd bug that can be easily worked around. It is important to note that this bug is not present in the X-Box or GameCube versions according to 3DO. It is also worth noting that 3DO immediately jumped on this bug (it was found on a weekend and by the next working day 3DO had their response and workaround posted) , found out why it occured and how to work around it. Their support on this was fantastic, IMO. What other bugs are you talking about? And what are the "major problems" you are referring to?

I don't have HH2004 yet (I am getting the X-Box version), but your post sounds exaggerated from what the concensus on HH2004 seems to be, that it still plays a helluva game of baseball.

[Quint75]

Re: I have a few questions about ASB.....

</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
1st off, I got HH2004. It sucks. UGLY graphics, annoying bugs...major problems.

<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">
The PS2 version has the scoring-from-3rd bug that can be easily worked around. It is important to note that this bug is not present in the X-Box or GameCube versions according to 3DO. It is also worth noting that 3DO immediately jumped on this bug (it was found on a weekend and by the next working day 3DO had their response and workaround posted) , found out why it occured and how to work around it. Their support on this was fantastic, IMO. What other bugs are you talking about? And what are the "major problems" you are referring to?

I don't have HH2004 yet (I am getting the X-Box version), but your post sounds exaggerated from what the concensus on HH2004 seems to be, that it still plays a helluva game of baseball.

[SoxFan]

Re: I have a few questions about ASB.....

There have been a couple of good replies so far, but i'll take a stab at it too. More opinions=better. But take what i say with a grain of salt as I never played last years version. Any comments i make about last years version are stricly word-of-mouth.

1. Games seem to take a proper amount of time to play. If you put it on fast gameplay, there is very minimal waiting for the pitcher to throw pitches - it's pretty much bam-bam-bam. I would says it's close to High Heat 2003 on PC. Also, i heard there were replays on EVERY play last year. This year, there are very few replays. And there doesn't seem to be a lot of extra extraneous animations that don't have anything to do with gameplay. In short, i really don't know how the game could go quicker unless they make the gameplay animations play unrealistically fast. Game-time will vary of course depending on how the game is going, but i'm quite sure you can play a full game in the same amount of time it would take you in any of this years baseball games. And finally, it seems like a lot of people just didn't like the atmosphere in last years version - it felt dead. I don't think this one feels dead at all. There are ump calls. You can hear the crowd, and they react pretty good to what's happening on the field. I especially like how the crowd really gets into a rally frenzy when their team is catching up.

2. Like asb_man said, zone along with exaggerated pitches is the exact same system as High Heat's batting system. You point the cursor in the direction that the ball is coming in, and swing accordingly. The pitches themselves come in a lot differently than in HH, but the mechanics of it are identical. It's what i've been using and am having very good success with it. I'm getting a really good variety of hits, and i still strike out my fair share.

3. I'm finding this is playing a VERY realistic game of baseball. You can walk if you're patient. Both you and the computer hit plenty of foul balls. And like i said, using the Zone system, i'm getting really good hit variety. I did try using the Normal (3D cursor) system, and i felt like i had way too much control over my hitting so that if i was going to get a hit, it would be a double in the gap. Zone takes care of this problem. As for scoring from second on a base hit, i'm running into a little trouble with this one. More often than not, i'm getting thrown out by a few steps. I think part of my problem is i haven't mastered the baserunning controls, so i'm not getting as good jumps as i should (i feel the baserunning controls are a bit clunky). But overall, the baserunning speeds, fielding speeds, and general feel of the play feels quite authentic.

4. I've had the game since friday, and i'm having a blast playing it. I really want my baseball games to play realistically for me to get maximum enjoyement out of it, and so far ASB is delivering. I never played WSB last year, so i can't compare the fun-factor. If you read some of the post on this board, you'll find that most of us are enjoying the game. A LOT of people are really liking it more than last years version.

Now should you get this over HH? I don't know. HH is a special game, and really has gameplay mastered. While you can set the batting up in ASB to be like HH, it still has a pretty different feel to the game (which i guess you know about since you played it last year). I think you should at least give ASB2004 a fair shot. You might find yourself surprised.

[SoxFan]

Re: I have a few questions about ASB.....

There have been a couple of good replies so far, but i'll take a stab at it too. More opinions=better. But take what i say with a grain of salt as I never played last years version. Any comments i make about last years version are stricly word-of-mouth.

1. Games seem to take a proper amount of time to play. If you put it on fast gameplay, there is very minimal waiting for the pitcher to throw pitches - it's pretty much bam-bam-bam. I would says it's close to High Heat 2003 on PC. Also, i heard there were replays on EVERY play last year. This year, there are very few replays. And there doesn't seem to be a lot of extra extraneous animations that don't have anything to do with gameplay. In short, i really don't know how the game could go quicker unless they make the gameplay animations play unrealistically fast. Game-time will vary of course depending on how the game is going, but i'm quite sure you can play a full game in the same amount of time it would take you in any of this years baseball games. And finally, it seems like a lot of people just didn't like the atmosphere in last years version - it felt dead. I don't think this one feels dead at all. There are ump calls. You can hear the crowd, and they react pretty good to what's happening on the field. I especially like how the crowd really gets into a rally frenzy when their team is catching up.

2. Like asb_man said, zone along with exaggerated pitches is the exact same system as High Heat's batting system. You point the cursor in the direction that the ball is coming in, and swing accordingly. The pitches themselves come in a lot differently than in HH, but the mechanics of it are identical. It's what i've been using and am having very good success with it. I'm getting a really good variety of hits, and i still strike out my fair share.

3. I'm finding this is playing a VERY realistic game of baseball. You can walk if you're patient. Both you and the computer hit plenty of foul balls. And like i said, using the Zone system, i'm getting really good hit variety. I did try using the Normal (3D cursor) system, and i felt like i had way too much control over my hitting so that if i was going to get a hit, it would be a double in the gap. Zone takes care of this problem. As for scoring from second on a base hit, i'm running into a little trouble with this one. More often than not, i'm getting thrown out by a few steps. I think part of my problem is i haven't mastered the baserunning controls, so i'm not getting as good jumps as i should (i feel the baserunning controls are a bit clunky). But overall, the baserunning speeds, fielding speeds, and general feel of the play feels quite authentic.

4. I've had the game since friday, and i'm having a blast playing it. I really want my baseball games to play realistically for me to get maximum enjoyement out of it, and so far ASB is delivering. I never played WSB last year, so i can't compare the fun-factor. If you read some of the post on this board, you'll find that most of us are enjoying the game. A LOT of people are really liking it more than last years version.

Now should you get this over HH? I don't know. HH is a special game, and really has gameplay mastered. While you can set the batting up in ASB to be like HH, it still has a pretty different feel to the game (which i guess you know about since you played it last year). I think you should at least give ASB2004 a fair shot. You might find yourself surprised.