2K Sports and Konami Swing into Action with MLB® Power Pros 2008

[TheMatrix31]

Re: 2K Sports and Konami Swing into Action with MLB® Power Pros 2008

Really? I usually hate superstar modes and stuff. What makes this one different?

[XiaNaphryz]

Re: 2K Sports and Konami Swing into Action with MLB® Power Pros 2008

Really? I usually hate superstar modes and stuff. What makes this one different?

It's hard for me to describe. The main draw for me is the genuine feeling that you're building a player's career story - nothing majorly pre-scripted, what happens is primarily driven by your decisions and how well your player does in games, but the random specter of injury or some other off-field event can crash things down (luckily, you can always reload if you don't want to accept that). So as a result, there's a real sense of accomplishment and regret as things occur, and major highlights for each player you take through stick in your head and you end up building your own set of stories. Granted, these stories are all in your head as you piece things together, but if following a real player's career as he goes through ups and downs fascinates you in general, you should at least give this a shot.

Here's a post I made on GAF regarding My Life mode in a previous Pawapuro game. It's a bit loose and not as well written as it could be, but I hope my points come across:

It's much less cutscene driven. You create your player at the beginning, get an initial contract with a team, and then throughout the mode you'll get different choices at various times as the calendar year goes by (who you train with, whether you go out on a night on the town with your teammates or not, etc). You can choose things like what car to drive, or what house to own, etc. There's a small bit of socializing, as you can meet women along the way and possibly get married and have kids - you get a massive condition boost on your kid's birthdays, which is a cool touch. There's also a "fame" rating that will rise as your player does better and better - up to a rating of 100 being mega superstar, meaning constant TV commercial offers, lots of post-game interviews, more leverage in contract negotiations (i.e. you can get away with higher salaray demands, more bonus clauses like getting a bonus for winning MVP, etc)

You can change your current training regiment at any time which determines your current stat growth, but you'll get boosts/losses also based on your game performances. You ONLY control your player during games - only your at-bats or innings you're called up for pitchers. No control of any other players whatsoever, this mode is meant to sim just your player.

You won't play much when you start, only when the manager puts you in. So it's possible for you to sit out of entire games if you're on a loaded team. But as you do well in games and gain the manager's trust, you'll get put in more and more. You have to earn playing time, but when you do get a starting spot you'll feel like you earned it.

For an example of the game mode: The pitcher I created in Pawapuro 10 started as a relief pitcher for the Tokyo Giants, but soon earned the closer spot towards the end of my rookie season. I earned the rookie of the year award for that, and was allowed a shot at the starting rotation the next season. I did pretty well, leading the league in ERA, but lack of run support meant a lot of no-decisions and 2-0 losses. Same thing happened the next season as my player earned pitcher of the year by leading the league in Wins, ERA, and K's, but the rest of the bullpen was crap as were the 3rd and 4th starters. During this time, my fastball velocity increased to the low 90s, my slider and sinker reached level 4, I became one of the major star faces of the league, bought a luxury car, a huge mansion of a house, dated a few people and eventually got married and had one kid.

I ended up getting traded at the start of the next season to the Hanshin Tigers, which kinda irked me as they were at the bottom of the standings most of those seasons. So my player went out and continued to lead the league as the game's top starting pitcher, slowly improving my stats along the way. I eventually led the Tigers to a championship title in my contract year, which meant tons of free agent offers in the offseason. I also noticed as my player approached his late 20s/early 30s, stat improvement was slowing down considerably. Most of my training effort was more to keep my stats where they were than in any real increase.

I could go on and on, but this mode is truly awesome for one main reason: it's you are building your player's career story, and you'll be intimately connected with key highlights that happen along the way.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: 2K Sports and Konami Swing into Action with MLB® Power Pros 2008

Wow. Thanks for that rundown. Sounds interesting to say the least! Can you skip games you dont play in?

[XiaNaphryz]

Re: 2K Sports and Konami Swing into Action with MLB® Power Pros 2008

Wow. Thanks for that rundown. Sounds interesting to say the least! Can you skip games you dont play in?

Games you aren't involved in are always skipped, and you never have control over other players (this is a sim of your own player after all). You only play your at-bats as a position player, or pitch in innings the manager puts you in as a pitcher. So early on as a rookie, you might have a lot less playing time as you'll likely be coming off the bench or the bullpen, so you might have only one appearance per game and possibly have a stretch of games where you don't come in at all.

[TheMatrix31]

Re: 2K Sports and Konami Swing into Action with MLB® Power Pros 2008

But what I'm saying is, you won't have to actually WATCH games unfold if you won't be playing in them? They'll jump in to the game if you're chosen as a PH or rsomething?

[XiaNaphryz]

Re: 2K Sports and Konami Swing into Action with MLB® Power Pros 2008

But what I'm saying is, you won't have to actually WATCH games unfold if you won't be playing in them? They'll jump in to the game if you're chosen as a PH or rsomething?

Oh yeah, if you're not currently active you'll just see the scoreboard fill-up as innings are played and it will cut back into gameplay when you're actually up to do something.

[caseyd]

Re: 2K Sports and Konami Swing into Action with MLB® Power Pros 2008

This sounds awesome. I have this game called Inside the Park (made by the people that make OOTP) and it's basically the same but through that text based game. I'm excited to actually be able to play out my stuff. No PS3, so I've never been able to play the Road to the Show mode in The Show. Can't wait for this.