Official MLB Power Pros 2008 thread!

[umd]

Re: Official MLB Power Pros 2008 thread!

I've held off long enough on this game. Now that the baseball season is almost over, I'm going to need my baseball fix for the offseason. I have a PS2 and Wii. Is there any logical reason I should get the Wii version over the PS2 version, since the PS2 version is 19.99? I didn't figure there was, but I wanted to ask first to be sure.

Also, has anyone here updated the rosters and put them online anywhere? I'll probably go through and update for a day or two, but if someone already has, that will be even better.

You can get it used for the Wii from Game Crazy for like 12.99 if you're interested. I didn't see any PS2 copies used though.

[FORMULA316]

Re: Official MLB Power Pros 2008 thread!

Is there any link between the last years MLB Power Pros for the Wii
and the 2008 version, such as a career export, or some sort of file
that can be imported? If there is nothing, I'll likely go with the PS2.

[ComfortablyLomb]

Re: Official MLB Power Pros 2008 thread!

Is there any link between the last years MLB Power Pros for the Wii
and the 2008 version, such as a career export, or some sort of file
that can be imported? If there is nothing, I'll likely go with the PS2.

Not that I know of. The PS2 version is one of the great value purchases out there!

[ChiCubs]

Re: Official MLB Power Pros 2008 thread!

hey baseball freaks....ok, here is the deal: i love this game, but, can someone please tell me why my starting pitcher is winded after a few innings? last night i (the cubs) was playing the brew-has and dempster gave up a three run bomb in the first inning and by the third inning he was doing all of the "tired/out of it" animation on the mound. it is insane how quickly the "tired" animation comes up, especially after you give up some hits to teh other team. is there something in the practice mode that will get rid of this?

[ComfortablyLomb]

Re: Official MLB Power Pros 2008 thread!

What's his stamina rating? A guy with "A" stamina should be able to throw 90+ pitches so long as they're not in a foul mood. I believe the mood (red, yellow, blue, etc.) does affect their stamina going into the game.

Beyond that, if you throw pitches with extra effort you will gas a pitcher much sooner and it should be noted that pickoff throws do count as pitches so far as the stamina formula is concerned. Throw to first a lot and you'll wear out sooner.

I feel like pitcher stamina in this game is a bit like MVP 2005's. It allows for too few pitches to be thrown but the way the game plays it seems to allow the right amount based on innings that a guy should throw. One problem is too many starters have stamina that is too low. Most guys should be up in the "A" range but a lot are down at "B" and even "C". I made a lot of edits.

[draven085]

Re: Official MLB Power Pros 2008 thread!

CL is absolutely right that starting pitcher stamina is completely unbalanced in this game. I love that they reduced the base stamina for most relievers to 40 for this year's version in an effort to produce relief outings that are more in line with what you commonly see in MLB today. Unfortunately they saw fit to give a good number of starting pitchers only three times the stamina of the average reliever. Heck, even workhorses like Halladay and Webb have only roughly five times the stamina of a short reliever. It isn't logical at all. The problem is also exacerbated by the fact that the CPU expends a significant amount of energy ramping up on pitches, thereby tiring their starter more out much more quickly than my starters who are usually throwing with minimal effort. In my last three games, all of which came against opposing starters with stamina ratings of least 150, I have yet to see a CPU starter even go five innings.

Like CL I've made significant edits to a number of starting pitchers in the game and I am still seeing results that are unrealistic. I am considering even more drastic edits but my concern is that going forward incoming rookies will be created with far too little stamina to be effective starting pitchers in a league where the average starting pitcher stamina is roughly 180.

[ComfortablyLomb]

Re: Official MLB Power Pros 2008 thread!

Endurance doesn't scale linearly. A reliever with 40 (E) stamina will be able to throw 30-35+ pitches when they're in a yellow mood or better before being gassed. That's assuming you just throw them normally and without extra effort. A starter with 120 stamina will not throw 90-105 pitches. You need a guy with stamina well over 150 to do that.

I just tossed a complete game with Halladay and only needed 103 pitches to do so. He started showing fatigue at 100 pitches and based off what I remember from some Success Mode guys I've made with stamina in that range he probably should have been able to get up over 110 somewhere. He has 200 stamina in the game and that's really plenty unless you're not good at making pitches count.

The big problem are those lower stamina starters who are struggling to get through 5 innings. Shawn Hill, who was pitching against me, has 147 stamina (high B) and was showing fatigue after 77 pitches and was gassed after 85. He barely made it through 5. Of course, he's never thrown 100 innings in a season in his life and average just 5.25 innings per start this year so that might actually be just about right for him. If I didn't make him throw about 30 pitches in the first innings he probably would have gone another inning.

Now you can jack up ratings so everyone is up in that 100 area in terms of pitch count but they'll be throwing too many innings. I'll get through 9 almost every single time with the 200 stamina Halladay has. At the worst I'll get through 8. The way the game plays 200 is a ton of stamina.

[draven085]

Re: Official MLB Power Pros 2008 thread!

I agree and as I mentioned I think part of the problem is that the CPU doesn't do a good job managing the pitch count by throwing less high effort pitches. Obviously there's no way to tell how often the CPU reaches back for a little extra but I noticed a decent amount of higher velocity fastballs from Rich Harden and Justin Duchscherer. It also seems to me that you shouldn't have to use low effort pitches 95% of the time to get a decent amount of innings out of your starter. How often do you see Josh Beckett throwing 90 MPH fastballs (his crappy game 3 ALCS start aside)?

Yesterday I edited all starters with a low stamina up until at least 140 but both Harden and Duchscherer, at 150 stamina after my edits, failed to last five innings against me. This morning I went back and increased the stamina of all starting pitchers by twenty, leaving the lowest stamina rating for any starter at 160 and with most guys checking in between 170-180. There are only a handful of players with 200+ stamina. I think these new rating will work better for the CPU and will also allow me to dial it up a bit more frequently with my hurlers without fatiguing them by the fourth inning.

[ComfortablyLomb]

Re: Official MLB Power Pros 2008 thread!

It also seems to me that you shouldn't have to use low effort pitches 95% of the time to get a decent amount of innings out of your starter. How often do you see Josh Beckett throwing 90 MPH fastballs (his crappy game 3 ALCS start aside)?

You don't, but it's nitpicking IMO. If some arbitrary number weren't shown on-screen after every pitch you wouldn't think anything of it. Pretend the gun Power Pros uses isn't clocking velocity right out of the pitcher's hand (pitched balls slow down on the way to the plate - a ball may leave a pitcher's hand at 95 mph but it'll cross the plate at 90 mph) and isn't juiced like broadcast TV guns. Problem solved. =P

So far as the way velocity and effort work in the game, I think it's great. There's a difference you can notice when balls are thrown as hard as possible but you don't want to do that every time anyway. Not only will you gas a pitcher sooner but batters eventually just start catching up with that extra little bit of speed.

[draven085]

Re: Official MLB Power Pros 2008 thread!

I wouldn't care about the aesthetic aspect of the pitch speed if it didn't have an impact on gameplay. The issue here, for me at least, is that the AI is unable to manage pitch effort the way a human player can and this gives the human player a significant advantage over the AI by allowing its best pitchers to pitch significantly more innings. I'd be all for your solution if the AI was smart enough to throw 85-90% of its pitches with minimal effort, but it isn't.

For example, last night an edited Rich Harden with 170 stamina in normal condition began showing fatigue in the 6th inning after roughly 70 pitches and was removed from the game after 5.1 innings. My poor condition Josh Beckett with 194 stamina was gassed after 81 pitches in the bottom of the 7th. With those performances in mind I don't think my edits are unreasonable.

[ComfortablyLomb]

Re: Official MLB Power Pros 2008 thread!

Re: poor condition. You might as well assume that the player is slightly hurt/sick/disinterested and playing through it when they're in this condition. Unless they have [consistency 4] they're going to take a big ratings hit.

You're saying that Josh Beckett was in lousy shape for the game and still got himself into the 7th. That sounds like more stamina than he should actually have (based on IP, not pitch count) He only averaged 6.4 innings per start this year and only went beyond the 7th inning five times. He's not a guy who goes deep often. Even last year when he was in prime form he only went beyond the 7th eight times. He's basically a 6 or 7 inning guy and occasionally he won't even give you that much. And Harden only went beyond the 7th inning one time this year. Just once! He only got through the 7th six times.

The actual pitch count is obviously way off, I totally agree, but in terms of how deep pitchers go I think you're actually a bit off in terms of how much it needs to be fudged on the high end. Take a look at Beckett and Harden in 2008 and how deep they went each time out there. The days of the 7-8 inning pitcher are mostly gone.

Harden: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/...7fa.UD5wOFCLcF

Beckett: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/players/...CLcF?year=2008

What I'm really getting at is I think stamina needs to be zeroed a bit better so a guy like Beckett or Harden should go 6 innings when in normal (yellow) condition. If he's feeling saucy and is red or pink then deeper and if worse then maybe just 5. You'll end up with a very low pitch count but in terms of the actual work out there it should be correct.

[tommyfusco]

Re: Official MLB Power Pros 2008 thread!

Well, with pitchers and catchers reporting soon, I am ready to play some wii baseball. So the research began.

MLB 2k8 and The Bigs eliminated themselves before I even tried them.

I got PP2008 from g-stop and tried it for a week.

Loved it, but had to return it within a week to get my money back.
That was a month or so ago.


Now I have the baseball jones and its either 2008 (If there is a 2009, I don't want to wait till August to play it) or MLB 2k9.

I aM SCARED of that game being the same old same old.

I do like the updated rosters it will provide as well as the new Stadiums.

But...

Anyways, i found Blockbuster selling a used PP 2008 for 20 so i am off to get it.

Few questions.

--Does anyone have any 'in a nutshell' settings for sim play?

I want the experience.

Loved the game and want to maximize its potential.

I still can't believe a baseball game, got the blooper single scoring a runner from second thing down (you listening Show and MLB?).

--Are there milestone happenings? No hitter celebrations?

Basically, what have you guys noticed as the 'little things' that separate it from the rest.

Go-Go Ko-Na-Mii!

thanks in advance

[ComfortablyLomb]

Re: Official MLB Power Pros 2008 thread!

I've been waffling a while but after a lot of play the past few weeks I've finally settled mostly on:

Pitch speed: fast
Human lock-on: 1
AI lock-on: normal

AI batting: all star
AI pitching: powerful
AI fielding: all star
AI baserunning: all star

AI pitch cursor: off
AI strike zone: on
Human strike zone: on

[neuroticomic]

Re: Official MLB Power Pros 2008 thread!

What agame.

Does anyone know if the CPU controlled teams make call ups.
I set teams up in arrange mode and the Mets (who i was altering but not going to play as) got all jacked up.

After i did the JJ PUTZ and K-Rod trades and got rid of Pedro and El Duque, Billy Wagner ended up as the 5th starter.

Aaron Heilman, the real life mets starter is in AAA and I couldnt figure out how to get him up to the big show.

My question, will the CPU adjust that, or will Billy Wagner lead the league in One Inning starts?

[jackcoostow]

Re: Official MLB Power Pros 2008 thread!

Hi all, Just stumbled on to this site. Great game! I'm having lots of fun, with the following 2 exceptions.

I am using the wiimote/nunchuk controller option. As I was having trouble fielding I had the CPU control my infielders for "Season" (I'm the Blue Jays), but I control the outfielders. Problem with this is that when a flyball is hit to the outfielders the player takes forever to move, resulting in what I believe to be a "catchable" ball dropping in for a hit. Can anyone comment on what is wrong (maybe something I'm doing)?

Also, when I do get a hit and press the directional controller pad on the wiimote, often the player will stop, and I can't get him moving again. This often results in an out. Again, comments? Me or my controller? Both?

I can't give you any more detailed settings as I'm at work right now (shhhhhh!!), so you'll have to work with what's here.

Thanks.