Baserunning is Still my Achilles Heel

[RaychelSnr]

Do you have a specific aspect of a sports video game you just cannot do well at? For some it might be manual catching in football games, for others it might be making slick moves while driving the paint, and for some it could be running the bases in baseball. Patrick Williams explains why baserunning is still his Achilles heel in sports gaming in his article today.

"When taking a fresh-out-of-the-wrapper sports game for its initial ride, you know the game is going to have a learning curve.

For some gamers this can be frustrating. Often, however, it can also be very rewarding and help give the game lasting appeal. Generally, I consider myself to be above average at sports video games. Years of playing the real sports and their video game counterparts have helped in this regard."

[greenngold01]

Theres certainly a learning curve, but I have no problems running the bases, judging what's a double or a triple (granted I get thrown out sometimes, but that's baseball)

One problem I have is on wild pitches, the camera sort of swings around from the catchers point of view to the outfielders point of view, making a 180, and I stumble on that all the time. I can usually get the man from third in to score, but if there are other runners on I usually don't have time. I know somewhere there is a button to send all runners, but I never think of it spur of the moment.

[Blzer]

Here's an easy way for baserunning... use the analog sticks.

Left-stick advances runners, right-stick retreats runners. Press it a specific direction (up, down, left, right) to guide them. And yes... I can think of a reason to send a runner back from first. To send them all, click the left stick. To send them all back, click the right stick.

To slide, hold L2 (or L-trigger) and use the left-stick for feet first slides (left/right are hook slides, up/down are take-out/pop-up slides), and use the right-stick for head-first slides (left/right are hook slides, up/down are standard slide/take-out catcher).

To stop runners, hold R2 and either stop an individual runner with the right-stick (which I have yet to see in a video game), or click the right-stick and stop them all.


I don't see why that doesn't work just fine.

[jim416]

Re: Baserunning is Still my Achilles Heel

Yes, it's baserunning for me too. I had NO problem with CLASSIC BASERUNNING in The Show, but had to switch to NEW to play guys on line. They are completely backwards to one another.

It can get really confusing with two men on, especially when you want to send one particular runner back. I try to watch the flight of the ball, but between watching that and where my baserunners (baserunning window) are in relation to the base it can get frustrating.

[rockbottom3]

Im not so good with baserunnig as well never have been..don't know why?

[HechticSooner]

Actually I think that baserunning is also the hardest thing in real baseball. Of course certain times it is easy like the last little story, but look how many baserunning errors appear in real games. Quite a few in the Majors and that is where they are supposed to not make errors period. So I always put the difficulty of baserunning in my head as the difficulty to communicate with the players running the bases and the first and third base coaches... of course I could be just bad at it like the author and making excuses.

[Blzer]

Baserunning errors in real life baseball come from making the wrong decision as to whether or not you should run, not that you accidentally ran or you forgot how to run back. Big difference, IMO.

Plus, most of them come from poor fly ball judgments, and in most of these games there's a landing target for people to know where it's going to land beforehand. The issue is in the controls.

[Crash Davis]

I only read the featured statements, the baserunning in the show isnt too bad, on RTTS its a bit worse, but still manageable,
only real complaint i have is when im called out and its clear the catcher or basemen didnt tag me with the ball at all that happends waaaay too often

[Pappy Knuckles]

I'm in the same boat w/ baserunning.

[sput]

I play MLB 2k8 and half the time I feel like I'm running with the Bad News Bears. On the average I get in about two or three pickles a game. I think the problem is that baserunning controls (as Blzer's post above demonstrates) aren't always terribly complicated, but are overly complicated for the period of time in which you use them. Think about it, in baseball managing the running is probably the most excitable period of time and, therefore, the most difficult to have complete control over your faculties.

Simplify, simplify, simplify.

-J

[wsu_gb23]

That's why I go with auto-baserunning.....

[Heshi]

Re: Baserunning is Still my Achilles Heel

I suck at baserunning as well. Big time. I thought it mainly was because as a Euro kid that didn't grow up playing baseball video games all day I just wasn't used to the very fast and accurate controller shredding that you need to guide your guys around the base paths.

Now I know it's the game's fault. Thank you.

[Jgainsey]

I usually suck at b-running, but I like the new controls for the show. When I first purchased the game I went through the usual growing pains, but I think the new controls are pretty intuitive. I can't even remember the last time I was screwed over by the base running.

[stretch45]

2k8 baserunning is simple
use the left stick to control the runner
and face buttons to the bases
right stick slide

but I would like know how the MLB08 baserunning is
classic baserunning i suck at

[Jgainsey]

Re: Baserunning is Still my Achilles Heel

2k8 baserunning is simple
use the left stick to control the runner
and face buttons to the bases
right stick slide

but I would like know how the MLB08 baserunning is
classic baserunning i suck at

Sounds like it's about the same. The left stick selects the runner and the face buttons tells the runner which base to go to. R1 and L1 control multiple runners and the right stick can control sliding.