MLB 12 The Show - PS3 Impressions Thread

[Pared]

Fellas, back to impressions please. If you would like to discuss something, use the Q&A thread.

[JKorbini]

[JKorbini]

My first game I was Pirates vs the cubs in the rain. Pulse pitching is something to get used to. i walked 7 guys with Erik Bedard, in the whole game i walked 10 guys. When i did get a ball over the plate Ian Stewart hammered one to dead center gone. Bullpen came in pitched okay finally got used to it a bit, but then starlin castro put one off the foul poul cubs were up 5-0. I had never been no hit in a game ever, but Garza had 11 strikeouts, had a no hitter going into the 9th but Barajas got ahold of one pulled it out of here for my only hit and my only run. Game looks light years different and feels different the bat has weight ball has weight and garza had me looking silly. I lose that one 5-1

My next game i was Rangers at Miami, Holland vs Johnson. Was a pitchers duel, johnson hung one to kinsler and he hammered it out. was a back forth game all game, when hamilton ripped a double it honestly looked just like hamilton when he rips a double. Napoli hit a hanger i was up 4-3 but buck will double for them. But in top of 8th Napoli hits his second homer of the game and murphy follows it up for back to back jacks. I win that one 8-5.

Pirates at Astros, Morton vs Wandy. Beautiful stadium, lee hits a 2 out triple ball took a crazy bounce off the wall astros go up 2 to 0. I still cant hit with the pirates but mccutch does hammer a fastball over the boxes. Lose that one 2-1

My most recent game was amazing. I was the Jays at Nats. Morrow vs Strasburg and that was a pitchers duel. Morrow and stras were go strikeout for strikeout. Morrow ended with 10 k's and Stras the same Stras only lasted 5 innings cause he gives up back to back bombs to Rausmus and J.P. However, Morrow who had a no hitter for 6 2/3 walked 2 guys then Morse who had struck out twice before the pulse got away from me and boom 3-3. I lose in bot of 9th. 4 to 3


Those just are 4 of the games, and every game feels different from the layouts to the weight of the bat, weight of the ball. outfielders infielders there are errors and such. Slightly concerned most of my runs are coming from homeruns but i did move my pitch speed down to zero. I can see the break on some of the balls and when you hit a long ball you actually feel like you hit it, its hard to describe. It is an incredible game, and feels like baseball from the broacast to the layouts to the stats you just gotta see it in action.

[theaub]

I know there's been some dynasty stuff in the Q/A thread, but here we go. I controlled all teams and set everything to auto. Everything is separated by key dates. This post will be long. If you skip to the bottom I have summarized it.

General Notes
- menus etc are pretty much the same. The transaction log is updated per team but that's about it
- the standings board on the main schedule screen now shows GB which is really nice
- I forget if it was last year or two years ago when this was a problem, but players who are injured don't get stuck in AAA/AA etc when they come off the DL. There are still no "merit-based" promotions from what I can tell though. Players only move up/down the system when injuries occur.

Opening Day - May 31

Playoff Teams
AL: NYY, CLE, LAA, TEX*
NL: ATL/PHI*, MIL, COL

Trades
NYY/KC: Andruw Jones for Greg Golson
TOR/MIN: Henderson Alvarez and Casey Janssen for Jason Bulger
OAK/KC: Jarrod Parker for Luis Coleman

In conclusion, teams like trading high-end young SP's for relievers for some reason. Blergh.

June 1 - June 30

Playoff Teams
AL: BOS, CLE, TEX, LAA*
NL: PHI, STL, SF, CIN*

Draft
- Draft class has exactly seven starting pitchers.
- No speed at all for MIF's in the class. Sort of disappointing since I thought they mentioned re-jigging the draft logic. Not a single CF with a speed rating above 40. The fastest player in the draft class is a catcher.
- Seemed that CIF/COF players had more power which seems right. The variety of player available is definitely higher than last year, just it really only relates to contact/power as they're all slow and are average fielders at best.
- Didn't see if the draft cuts off in the middle since I backed out by mistake.

Somewhat disappointed in the draft class tbh...I don't see much of a difference from the past couple of years.

Trades
PHI/HOU: Domonic Brown and Antonio Bastardo for Bud Norris, Frankie Rodriguez and Brett Wallace
TOR/CHC: Charlie Villanueva for Casey Coleman and Paul Maholm
KC/BOS: Bruce Chen for Bobby Jenks and Mike Aviles
CLE/BAL: Josh Tomlin for Chris Tillman + 2 prospects

Also for the record, at this point no one has signed a single free agent

July 1 - July 31

Playoff Teams
AL: BOS, CLE, LAA, TEX*
NL: ATL, STL, SF, MIL*

Trades
Quick legend - brackets are (position, age, potential)

PIT/SD: Pedro Alvarez and Elmo Aguilera (SP, 24, A) for Chris Denorfia
SEA/DET: Ichiro Suzuki for Sammy Perez (SP, 23, B)
NYM/LAA: David Wright for Peter Bourjos and Alberto Callaspo
HOU/WAS: Carlos Lee and Steve Lombardozzi for Adam Laroche
PHI/TOR: Josh Shelton (CP, 18, A) and Brian Sanches for Francisco Cordero
MIL/COL: Miguel Alonzo (1B, 24, A) for Todd Helton
SF/STL: Avery Franklin (SP, 24, A) for Lance Berkman
ATL/CWS: Freddie Freeman and Monroe Looney (19, SS, A) for Paul Konerko
CHC/WAS: Geovany Soto for Adam Siffel (LF, 24, B) and Wilson Ramos
COL/CLE: Casey Blake for Lonnie Chisenhall
LAD/ATL: Andre Ethier for Jason Heyward, Julio Teheran and Arodys Vizcaino
TEX/ARI: Mike Napoli for Paul Goldschmidt and Miguel Montero
CIN/SD: Michael Rodriguez, Wilson Valdez and Devin Mesoraco (C, 23, A) for Jason Bartlett
DET/COL: Jacob Turner (20, SP, A) and Ignacio Cordova (24, 2B, A) for Jorge de la Rosa

ARI: signed Derek Lee 1 yr/$2 mil
LAA: signed Javier Vazquez 1 yr/$6.35 mil
DET: signed Roy Oswalt 1 yr/$7.37 mil

Okay, so my general thoughts
- Most trades involve "position A for worse position A + prospect(s)." I have no issue with this, just pointing it out
- When I judge a game's trade engine, I try to imagine it as fictional players. As such, while I had issues above with trading a young B potential SP (Alvarez) for a RP, I...don't have many issues here. Would the Mariners trade Ichiro for a decent SP prospect? No. Would a non-contending team trade a 38 year hitting .245 and making the second highest salary on the team for a decent SP prospect? Probably.
- The only trades there that I would consider bad are the first one and the last two. Mesoraco for Bartlett whyyy dammit Cincy.
- Some will say that Atlanta's trades are bad. But I will say they are going for it. That's a Bourn/Prado/Konerko/Uggla/Ethier/McCann/Jones top 7.
- No teams left massive holes from their trades if they were contending. St. Louis traded for Travis Hafner, and while you can doubt his 1B'ing IRL, dude's hitting .332/16/62 at the end of July. I'd keep him too.
- One small thing I'll point out is while the potentials are accurate, there's some 24 year old A potential guys who just plain suck. I don't know what the progression's going to look like but we'll see if those trades are worth it in the end

So yeah, I like the trade engine. Way better than last year IMO, and you can see the clear definition between teams going for it and trying to build for the future

August 1 - End of Reg Season

Final Standings
ALE: Boston (104-58), New York (12.5), Tampa Bay (24), Baltimore (25), Toronto (32)
ALC: Cleveland (90-72), Detroit (5), Chicago (20), Kansas City (26), Minnesota (27)
ALW: Los Angeles (100-62), Texas (7.5)*, Oakland (21), Seattle (30)

* = wild card (defeated New York in one game playoff)

NLE: Atlanta (91-71), Philadelphia (5), Washington (8), New York (26), Miami (26)
NLC: Cincinnati (99-63), St. Louis (3)*, Milwaukee (7), Pittsburgh (21), Chicago (35), Houston (39)
NLW: San Francisco (92-70), Colorado (6), Arizona (7), Los Angeles (13), San Diego (23)

League Leaders
BA: Cabrera, DET - .324 : Freese, STL - .324
HR: Fielder, DET - 49 : Upton, ARI - 40
RBI: Fielder, DET - 140 : Pence, PHI - 120
SB: Gardner, NYY - 67 : Gordon, LAD - 77 (3 in MLB with 60+, normalized quickly after that)
OPS: Cabrera, DET - 1.004 : Upton, ARI - 1.027

W: Arrieta, BAL - 19 : Wainwright, STL - 19
ERA: Weaver, LAA - 2.10 : Lincecum, SF - 1.97
SV: Bailey, BOS - 59 : Axford, MIL - 52 (20 in MLB with 40+ SV)
K: Sabathia, NYY - 234 : Lincecum, SF - 259
WHIP: Weaver, LAA - 1.04 : Kershaw, LAD - 1.04

Trades
So in August there were actually a bunch of trades...guys like R.A. Dickey, Jeremy Guthrie, Erik Bedard and Orlando Hudson moved. Not sure if that's a trade waiver issue or the game is just letting guys pass through. You can draw what you want from it, I'm indifferent. Always liked August trades.

Then guys like Kelly Johnson, Miguel Olivo, Carl Pavano, Mark Kotsay got traded in September. That's...interesting. I mean its allowed, but it never happens and you can't even put guys on the playoff roster when it does happen. KJ went to Colorado for three good prospects, when he's a FA at the end of the year and Colorado's 5 games out of the playoffs. Makes no sense to me. No trades happened after September 15.

Playoffs

Boston over Texas 3-1
Cleveland over Los Angeles 3-2
Cincinnati over Atlanta 3-2
San Francisco over St. Louis 3-2

Boston over Cleveland 4-0
Cincinnati over San Francisco 4-3

Boston over Cincinnati 4-1

Offseason

Retirements
Big ones were Rivera, Vizquel, Vazquez, Chipper, Mike Cameron, Jim Thome, Helton, Nyjer Morgan (injury), John McDonald, Saito, Giambi and then a bunch of FA's who didn't get signed. Nothing out of the ordinary

Progression
- if you're young and good, you'll progress. Seems to be the same as last year which isn't a bad thing

Re-signing
- old FA system is still in the game, as players are Type A/B. No qualifying offers

Free Agency
Top FA's available

Jose Bautista - CLE 56.95/5 (my fault since I offered him a horrible contract to see what would happen)
James Shields - BOS 42.48/4
Andre Ethier - BOS 15.72/4
Carlos Marmol - COL 9.84/3
Ichiro - TOR 8.60/2

Contracts are really, really low. But there's no contract renewal issues and every decent FA got signed. So I'll take it!

TOO LONG, DIDN'T READ SUMMARY
Trades: Teams that are in contention will go for it and trade top prospects to fill holes. There are some weird trades, and RP's are probably a bit too highly valued, but the engine is decently solid this year on a CPU level. Teams do a good job of deciding whether they are contenders or pretenders. On the downside, decent MLB regulars get traded as late as mid-September, which is a bit weird as players acquired in September can't go on playoff rosters. I would still call it a large improvement from last year on the whole.

Draft: To be blunt, disappointing. Seems the exact same as last year, and there are severe shortages of certain positions (like SP).

Free Agency: All players sign and there isn't any contract renewal glitches like there were last year, but contracts seem very low. Probably will be benefits to building teams through FA at this rate.

As an overall conclusion, I am impressed with franchise. I still think there needs to be a more OOTP-like element to it, but that is personal opinion. At the very least, there doesn`t seem to be any franchise-killing bugs, which is more than most games can say these days. If you didn`t like franchise mode in the past, there`s not much to bring you on board this year (unless you didn`t like it because of bugs), but if you did like it, you`ll be happy again this year.

[Skyboxer]

I"m playing a test franchise right now and Swisher just botched a routine fly..
Hit his glove..then his mouth and then the ground...lol

[Papi34]

I'm coming to this years game from '10 so apologies if some of my comments are old news from last year. The intro is great, but not for Red Sox fans.

- Firstly, I think one word that sums this game up is SUBLIME. Everything about it oozes quality. I've only played one 9 inning game, but it was probably the best game of the Show I've played. It manages to make you feel part of a baseball game, but it's also like watching a game on tv at the same time. Does that make any sense.
- I really like pulse pitching. Took a few innings to get used to, but the tension is fantastic on pressure pitches. Haven't tried analogue yet, but much prefer it to the meter. Does anyone else find themselves nodding in time with the pulse? No? Just me then.....
- I love analogue batting. I'm just using the right stick to start with, but I love the immersion it gives you. I was waaaaayyyyy late initially, but once I got the hang of it I found it a lot easier to lay off pitches. I'll definitely be sticking with this.
- I'm not noticing a huge difference with the tru broadcast presentation, but it does seem that much more polished and some of the shots don't drag out as much, eg foul balls. I'm not inclined to skip any of them now.
- I love the improved animations and transitions. When the 1B fielded a ball close to the bag he used to sprint briefly before slowing abrubtly. Now it's seamless. All in all it just makes the game look even more realistic.
- It's probably not new, but the game looks even more beautiful. Now THIS is how you do progressive lighting.
- The commentary is getting a bit stale, but it's not distracting like Madden or NCAA and still MUCH better than either. I think it's great, just not as great as NBA 2K (not played MLB 2K).
- The new collision detection system is noticeable straight away. Again, just adds to the immersion and realism.
- It might just be my memory, but there seems to be much more obvious when you're playing a bad team. Previously I'd play the worst team with the one of the top ones, but they'd play shockingly well with only a rare error. I played the Astros as the Red Sox and they both seemed more like their stats. There was a couple of errors and once I got back in the flow, the Astros began to crumble, before collapsing in the 8th. I tried a quick game against the Yankees and noticed straight away the difference.
- Last, but definitely not least, those ball physics. I agree they are a game changer. Nuff said and just another tweak that adds to the immersion and realism.

As good as this game is (every year) it always causes me a little pain as it makes me dream what Madden or NCAA football could be like.
Oh, I like the 100 years of Fenway Park sign on the Green Monster and the patches on the jerseys. Also, are the ball dents all over the monster new? Not noticed them before.

[theaub]

No hitter with Morrow through 6.2 in Pittsburgh. Grounder to short and Escobar runs right by the ball

[Skyboxer]

Just had another very fun game in my test franchise- Lost but oh well

NY at TB


NY 4
TB 5

A Swisher dropped fly was with 2 outs. 2 runs scored on error.....

2 HR's for TB (both solo) and 1 for NY (2 run HR)

Really fun game though.