Free Swingin' CPU intentional?

[Jistic]

Does anyone think that maybe the reason the CPU is so free swinging was an intentional decision by the developers to speed up gameplay?

Baseball games with realistic pitch counts take a LONG time to finish. Which for most of us is a good thing, but for the casual would be a major turnoff.

Just a thought.

[BigL]

Re: Free Swingin' CPU intentional?

Does anyone think that maybe the reason the CPU is so free swinging was an intentional decision by the developers to speed up gameplay?

Baseball games with realistic pitch counts take a LONG time to finish. Which for most of us is a good thing, but for the casual would be a major turnoff.

Just a thought.

I always felt this is a reason why we never see a realistic amount of foul balls, but if its the reason why 2K made the CPU free swing then they should be horse whipped. You dont mess with the heart and soul of a sport.

[baa7]

Re: Free Swingin' CPU intentional?

Does anyone think that maybe the reason the CPU is so free swinging was an intentional decision by the developers to speed up gameplay?

I do, absolutely. Last year, Brinkman said his idea of the perfect video baseball experience is to be able to play a full game in 25 minutes. I'm guessing IE was "tweaked" by his development team to fulfill that mandate. And I doubt VC has done much to IE. Seems they spent all their time addressing other areas of the game.

[therizing02]

Re: Free Swingin' CPU intentional?

Does anyone think that maybe the reason the CPU is so free swinging was an intentional decision by the developers to speed up gameplay?

Baseball games with realistic pitch counts take a LONG time to finish. Which for most of us is a good thing, but for the casual would be a major turnoff.

Just a thought.

I don't think there's any doubt that it's intentional. It seems that game designs are starting to trend towards the minimal attention spans of the Top 10 plays/highlight reel casual gamer. See "wide open gameplay" in NCAA 09.

I actually don't have a problem with it. I do have a problem though with the brain dead decision to remove the AI Take sliders. Leave the sliders in the game and you can have your 25 minute baseball games or a more simulation type of game.

[The Living Legend]

Re: Free Swingin' CPU intentional?

Does anyone think that maybe the reason the CPU is so free swinging was an intentional decision by the developers to speed up gameplay?

Baseball games with realistic pitch counts take a LONG time to finish. Which for most of us is a good thing, but for the casual would be a major turnoff.

Just a thought.

I agree 100% that is intentional, and you know what it doesnt bother me they dont always hack and i have struck out people looking, and even though i am a diehard baseball fan i really dont want to have to work everybatter everytime and take like 45 min for evergame. I honestly hack at everyhing unless its a blatent ball, so the AI to me is doing everything i would.

Im a casual gamer and i dont mind it, though i can see why certain sim players would be upset.

[driz14]

Re: Free Swingin' CPU intentional?

I agree 100% that is intentional, and you know what it doesnt bother me they dont always hack and i have struck out people looking, and even though i am a diehard baseball fan i really dont want to have to work everybatter everytime and take like 45 min for evergame. I honestly hack at everyhing unless its a blatent ball, so the AI to me is doing everything i would.

Im a casual gamer and i dont mind it, though i can see why certain sim players would be upset.

I tend to agree here. I think in a way it offers you a bit more of a challenge as well and makes think about where to throw your next pitch. You know the AI is going to take anything good, so try and fool him with pitch speeds and locations. But that is just my opinion and in no way reflects what others feel towards their style of gameplay

[Picci]

Re: Free Swingin' CPU intentional?

I also think it was done intentional.

I'm trying to grasp this whole "free swingin" issue. It sounds like this is the most serious gameplay issue thus far found. So this means that all my starters have the potential to go a complete game on 50-60 pitches. Meaning that my bullpen is practically useless. Meaning that if I carry more than 10 pitchers on my roster it would be pointless.

Are these the only issues I'm faced with regarding "free swingin"?

Thanks

[Gennataos]

Re: Free Swingin' CPU intentional?

I also think it was done intentional.

I'm trying to grasp this whole "free swingin" issue. It sounds like this is the most serious gameplay issue thus far found. So this means that all my starters have the potential to go a complete game on 50-60 pitches. Meaning that my bullpen is practically useless. Meaning that if I carry more than 10 pitchers on my roster it would be pointless.

Are these the only issues I'm faced with regarding "free swingin"?

Thanks

From the demo, it looks like it's still a good idea to throw balls to set up the batter. They may hack at the high and inside fastball after a couple breaking balls low and away instead of freezing on it, but they seem less likely to make contact. I've gotten anywhere from 2-5 K's per 3-inning demo game with Kazmir or Hamels, which seems in keeping with the K rate I'd expect from those guys.

[BlyGilmore]

Re: Free Swingin' CPU intentional?

Well for one i'm not so sure about "free swinging" being the problem.

the problem is the hitters being very aggressive, hacking at everything near the plate, AND making a ton of good contact.

There are just very few swings and misses in this game right now, either by you or by the computer.

I have played about 10 full games and pieces of several other games so far, and have struck out about 8 hitters. I personally have struck out only about five times. I'll double check this when I get home (the profile stats page is very indepth so you can see these things).

[Greenevol]

Re: Free Swingin' CPU intentional?

I don't mind the "free swinging" CPU. And if adding a realistic amount of foul balls added 15 mintues to my game, put me in the shorter is better camp.

I think the pitcher-batter matchup is well done. I can generate a fairly realistic pitch count by trying to paint the corners and pitching where the catcher calls it.

I've also been able to K the batter when I make my pitches, and i've also caught him looking a time or two. I've also been blasted when I missed my mark and sent a fat one down the middle.

It's not perfect, but it's plenty fun. I know there are some people who are looking for the dead on exact replica of the real thing. That's OK, but I think i'm a bit more in the tolerant crowd. It's a video game, and I think this one plays a pretty good game of baseball.

[sask3m]

Re: Free Swingin' CPU intentional?

Why don't they have a free swinging cpu when you have quick play or whatever it's called enabled and have them be realistic when it's disabled.

[Eddie1967]

Re: Free Swingin' CPU intentional?

If we are talking about the demo here, then I don't see the CPU swinging at everything. I have struck out the cpu with pitches down middle, on the corners etc. and even find myself in danger of walking a batter when I stay too far away from the plate. I just don't see the free swinging CPU that's being talked about.

[m-dogg]

Re: Free Swingin' CPU intentional?

its definitely intentional, I remember a desinger saying no one wants to not swing at pitches -- huh?!

anyway, fine, at default have it this way - BUT you better have sliders to customize it the way many people will want to play the game! its crazy they took away these sliders! im also bummed they took away the foul slider - after only one year of having it! I will never get that balance of having possible 12 pitch at bats with 2k...they just wont let us..

and before you say you had a 12 pitch at bat, yes, it can happen but its rare and its luck. I want a good contact hiter, tough to strike out, and the ability to repeatedly foul off pitches if the timing is there, until you get a pitch you can hit. more foul balls!

anyway i digress, the AI aggressiveness...I hope someone figures out a way to edit all batters to a realistic way and 2kshares it. however, i also fear IE will just override these edits anyway and screw it up. i like 2k, but I just dont know what theyre thinking sometimes...I dont like facing Dmitri Young every at bat!

[vegasmike]

Re: Free Swingin' CPU intentional?

I dont mind too much if they hack at almost everything in the hope to speed up play so that the pitchers get tired quicker? It would only work in my opinion if the pitchers get tired quicker which I doubt happens until they throw enough pitches. so I think starting pitchers will probably never come out of games and there will be more complete games than there should be.

[Trapdoors Exist]

Re: Free Swingin' CPU intentional?

I think the OP makes a great point, and I'd like to expand on it.

Put yourself in the developer's shoes: you have, on one hand, casual gamers. On the other, you have the hardcore sim geeks. Which side will you cater your game towards?

Casual gamers will probably not put much effort into the game. They just want something they can pick up, play, and have fun with, without having to worry about settings or sliders. They will be playing the game largely how it comes "out of the box."

The hardcore crowd, on the other hand, will be tweaking the game to their exact specifications. They will, for example, note the difference between a slider set at 60 and a slider set at 65, and calibrate appropriately. No matter how the game ships, they will be tweaking every possible aspect of it until they feel the game is as finely tuned as it can be.

I'm obviously oversimplifying, as not every gamer falls in to one of these two very broad categories, but it essentially boils down to this: the sim crowd is more than willing to spend time and energy tinkering with rosters, settings, and sliders to make an arcade-style game more sim like. The casual crowd, on the other hand, is not going to spend any time or energy trying to make a sim game more arcade like; if they're not enjoying it, they'll just stop playing. It's really that simple. Anyone who can't see that, and understand that it makes business sense for 2K to cater towards the casual crowd, is simply being irrational.

I would certainly love to see 2K make a more sim like game, but I can understand why they don't. If they lose the casual gamer, that person is likely gone for good. They can always win back the hardcore gamer (whom, I should add, will likely play the game anyways, no matter how vociferously they complain about its faults.)

EDIT: I should add that this all rests on having customizable options that actually make the game "tweakable." If the game is going to be quite unrealistic, regardless of how one changes the settings, rosters, and sliders, then that is a large problem. I'm hoping that all of the complaints people have about the game are correctable with the proper adjustments, like NBA 2K9; that game plays very arcade-like out of the box, but can be tweaked to play a very realistic game of basketball simply by downloading a good roster file and slider set.