What can be added to make the individual players more true to life?

[BrianU]

I am talking in terms of gameplay mechanics and ratings, what can the devs add to recreate individual players strengths and weaknesses?

The Show does a great job staying within the confines of MLB averages and overall it is the most sim sports game there is without a doubt. But I do see room for growth in simulating individual players to play like their real life counterparts both when the CPU controls them and when a human controls them.

For batters I would love to see different bat speeds represented. Causing a bit of a shift in the timing window for each individual batter. In real life some guys just struggle catching up to the fast ball because of their bat speed, that should be represented in gameplay some way I think. It would probably create a lot of work though modifying the current system of hit timing but I think it would be worth exploring. It would not only change the way you bat with a player but also how you pitch to a batter. Facing a guy that can't keep up with the inside fastball? Let it fly!

Hot zones are a great feature but they could be developed and utilized better. We have so much data available from real life that you can truly see every batter and pitchers tendencies to the nth degree. I am guessing the hot/cold zones in the player card for batters represent the batting average of balls in play. That is helpful when scouting an opponent but it has a very minimal impact on the gameplay. It has been stated it adds 5% either way to the outcome of a hit. I wouldn't want this to be overdone but perhaps more incentive would be nice to try to swing at pitches where they are most succesful when controlling a batter, to make us play with each batter a bit different. Right now I can just sit on the ball up and inside, middle, or middle inside with every batter to get the best results.

Similarly I would love to see more types of charts like this that dictate stats/gameplay. A hot/cold zone for batters that show their swing rate, that the CPU batters would use to determine when what pitches to swing at or lay off. A hot/cold zone for pitchers which display how often each specific pitch is thrown to each part of the zone vs leftys and vs rightys.

For fielding I think SCEA made great strides this year in outfield play and creating a substantial difference in the quality of defense out there. The infield could see a wider range of elite, average, and poor fielders. You don't see the same separation between an elite fielder and an average one. When I am playing against Simmons in my Mets franchise I don't see nearly enough of his stellar play like I do on TV. I boosted his reaction but it still doesn't seem enough.

Another wish is to see catchers better differentiated from one another. Things like framing pitches and game calling having an impact on gameplay. I wouldn't want a poor catcher at this attributes to turn Max Scherzer into Dillon Gee, but maybe a slight boost/negative to their skills that game depending on who is catching them. The chemistry between pitcher and catcher is pretty damn important and is why some pitchers have specific catchers they throw to.

A bit off topic but manager tendencies would be a major plus. Facing different teams and seeing them each steal more or less, hit and run more or less. And the bullpen management should get a nice hard look. It kills the immersion a bit seeing a lefty reliever enter the game to face Lucas Duda or a righty to face Giancarlo Stanton. The LOOGY is a real thing and it should be represented in the game. A pitcher coming in to get 1 out never happens in The Show. I want to see The Show managers making decision based on the numbers like managers in real life when deciding to make pitching changes.

The gameplay is solid enough that I have hopes these deeper layers of gameplay will truly take things to the next level.

[Trent Booty]

Those are all solid. Really like the pitcher/catcher chemistry.

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by BrianU

I am talking in terms of gameplay mechanics and ratings, what can the devs add to recreate individual players strengths and weaknesses? The Show does a great job staying within the confines of MLB averages and overall it is the most sim sports game there is without a doubt. But I do see room for growth in simulating individual players to play like their real life counterparts both when the CPU controls them and when a human controls them. For batters I would love to see different bat speeds represented. Causing a bit of a shift in the timing window for each individual batter. In real life some guys just struggle catching up to the fast ball because of their bat speed, that should be represented in gameplay some way I think. It would probably create a lot of work though modifying the current system of hit timing but I think it would be worth exploring. It would not only change the way you bat with a player but also how you pitch to a batter. Facing a guy that can't keep up with the inside fastball? Let it fly! Hot zones are a great feature but they could be developed and utilized better. We have so much data available from real life that you can truly see every batter and pitchers tendencies to the nth degree. I am guessing the hot/cold zones in the player card for batters represent the batting average of balls in play. That is helpful when scouting an opponent but it has a very minimal impact on the gameplay. It has been stated it adds 5% either way to the outcome of a hit. I wouldn't want this to be overdone but perhaps more incentive would be nice to try to swing at pitches where they are most succesful when controlling a batter, to make us play with each batter a bit different. Right now I can just sit on the ball up and inside, middle, or middle inside with every batter to get the best results. Similarly I would love to see more types of charts like this that dictate stats/gameplay. A hot/cold zone for batters that show their swing rate, that the CPU batters would use to determine when what pitches to swing at or lay off. A hot/cold zone for pitchers which display how often each specific pitch is thrown to each part of the zone vs leftys and vs rightys. For fielding I think SCEA made great strides this year in outfield play and creating a substantial difference in the quality of defense out there. The infield could see a wider range of elite, average, and poor fielders. You don't see the same separation between an elite fielder and an average one. When I am playing against Simmons in my Mets franchise I don't see nearly enough of his stellar play like I do on TV. I boosted his reaction but it still doesn't seem enough. Another wish is to see catchers better differentiated from one another. Things like framing pitches and game calling having an impact on gameplay. I wouldn't want a poor catcher at this attributes to turn Max Scherzer into Dillon Gee, but maybe a slight boost/negative to their skills that game depending on who is catching them. The chemistry between pitcher and catcher is pretty damn important and is why some pitchers have specific catchers they throw to. A bit off topic but manager tendencies would be a major plus. Facing different teams and seeing them each steal more or less, hit and run more or less. And the bullpen management should get a nice hard look. It kills the immersion a bit seeing a lefty reliever enter the game to face Lucas Duda or a righty to face Giancarlo Stanton. The LOOGY is a real thing and it should be represented in the game. A pitcher coming in to get 1 out never happens in The Show. I want to see The Show managers making decision based on the numbers like managers in real life when deciding to make pitching changes. The gameplay is solid enough that I have hopes these deeper layers of gameplay will truly take things to the next level.

Great post!

The bolded part is what I've been wanting for a few years now. Managers are really just names in the game. While they have a minor impact on ratings, they have very very minute impact on the game. Adding something like this would open up the game more in terms of having to know your opponents manager and what he likes to do.

[Houston]

Great write up as always. I would like to see the show have player models, stadiums, grass etc liek other games currently out now, i downloaded Metal Gear Solid 5 and wow the character models on that game, Fifa, and InFanous or even Final Fantasy models look incredible real, the environment in those games have so much more detail. I know and I understand its a sports game and baseball has alot going on at one sec or another and it takes time for the frame rate etc to catchup with things, but if we could ever get those type of character models this game would really look amazing.

I just think were now in 2015 on PS4 and these player models do not look as good as they could, all these other games have made the jump and upgraded there models so why cant MLBTS do the same? I think its finally time they use all this memory they kept going on and on about form PS3 to PS4 jump. Sorry to kinda rant but I just dont think the player characters are where they should be for this game.

A whole new coversation about the created player options, we are in a day and age where we should be able to almost make players as good as the one in the game that are real, ability to use face scans or other players body or face models to turn into a player we might want would work wonders.

I have asked for about 4 years now the ability to export current real players or from previous show games atleast a year back this would help us add players who are real that were removed from the game because they didnt play the previous year or retire or play over seas etc.... Example is Ryan Madson, or say Luke Hochevar etc aren ot on this years game but are on last years MLB 14 if we had the option to transfer there real player model onto the current years game. When doing rosters and if your not careful or know what your doing you could easily import over a ral player and hes gone for good unless u decide to use another roster but if u have a lot of work on the one that wold happen on your screwed and have no choice but to recreate him from scratch which also brings me to adding in editable service time maybe under the first page of created player maybe under there location/city.

[Knight165]

Solid list.

I could agree with everything touched on that would add dimension to players.
Especially some sort of catcher rating to distinguish more between them than just the current fielding and block rating.

A pickoff rating that we can see(there currently is one...well it's either two or three....but IMO pickoffs and leading off need the most serious attention for next year.....different topic though)

On top of manager tendencies....I would also like to be able to interact on some level with players pre-game and especially post game. Have it mean something...if not in game performance(although why not...to some small extent) then at least in some sort of team loyalty aspect.

M.K.
Knight165

[CBoller1331]

I'd love to see more unique shifts like we are in today's game. In this game there are only a handful of lefties that get shifted against. There should be more player specific shifts.

[BrianU]

Quote: Originally Posted by CBoller1331

I'd love to see more unique shifts like we are in today's game. In this game there are only a handful of lefties that get shifted against. There should be more player specific shifts.

Oh yeah that's a big one I missed. That should be tied to manager tendencies. If Maddon signs with another team they should be shifting more. Using the Mets I never see teams shift against Lucas Duda when it happens a lot in real life. There needs to be more players shifted against in general.

[johntait1]

I would really love to see manager tendencies and catcher differences.