This feels like a rush of meaningless content.

[Freakywwe]

Yes, this is the definition of “Old man yells at clouds”

[Jolly Roger]

I hear you man. Whenever I start the game up I have to mash the X button to get through all the screens about how I'm this much closer to earning some Diamond Dynasty card, how the servers are down so I can't play online (plot twist: I don't play online), etc.

It reminds me of this time on vacation as a kid, I was in this arcade playing games and this guy passes by me and gives me a whole stash of arcade tickets as he walks out. He was just playing for the fun of it and didn't want to buy a plastic dinosaur figurine or beach ball with his winnings. I'd give my DD cards and stuff away if it let you, but I don't think it does so I just sell them for the lowest going price.

And for the record, sometimes the clouds need yelled at. These kids today don't hold the clouds to account and I for one will not allow that.

[tessl]

Quote: Originally Posted by furball321

Hi. I'm old. I remember Larry Sherry, Sandy Koufax, Juan Marichal and the guy that got blown off the mound in the world series. I played computer baseball games even before EA sports in 2005. But what the heck? I've played The Show since 2K lost the MLB contract - granted, I only played Franchise mode. But, this year, I bought the game when it was released, so was subjected to all the bugs, server downtime, and so on. This is not a gripe about how SDS is promoting Diamond Dynasty or any other mode to make money, and therefore is screwing the old-timer Franchise players. (psst: I think that's happening.) No, this is a gripe about missions, manage squad, Inside edge, Moments, Exchages, 42, and all the other razzle-dazzle that SDS is throwing at us with NO explanation or schematic or ANYTHING about what exchanges are, what is the real goal of XP or stubs are, or how it all links together. I understand. As a baseball afficionado, I should know how to play baseball. And, as a fan, I should have been following SDS because they were the ONLY MLB official developer. But pretend you come to this game as a baseball fan, but game newbie. You have absolutely NO idea what to do with all the "paths" SDS offers. If you try to just play baseball, you miss out on half of the content SDS provides, because they stopped making franchise and baseball the priority. They made XP, Stubs and money for SDS priorities the priority, it seems. If you play the game this year, you can certainly explore DEEP into menus that have nothing to do with playing a season of baseball. God help you if you try to play the game before late May. It, or the servers are broken. BUT! Prior to this year, they always got the game to a place where, ok, let's play baseball. I can understand SDS trying to add content to the money-making parts of The Show, but why on earth would they make Franchise WORSE? Is this the best MLB and SDS can do? The players? The officials? The mealy bureaucrats? We've taken a game that highlights both individualism and team work and reduced it to missions, moments, exchanges, 1st innings, little profit-making grafts and "team affinity," "player programs," and "daily moments," and "monthly awards?" Are star athletes such wusses that they have to make double-headers - which used to be regular features of a club's season - 7 inning games? You gotta start an extra inning game with a runner on 2nd? OH, HELL! DON'T MAKE ME STAY UP TO LATE! Are we all little soys that need a pat on the head for whatever we are? Are none of us men that can follow rules and play a simple game anymore? This is on you, SDS. Baseball's wussiness is cowardice in the face of culture. Your poor programming, worsening UI, poor support of people trying to play real baseball for a season, and your flailing, "Let's throw any stuff out there to get people to pay $60 or more every year," is, again, on you.

I can't comment on the game because I don't own it yet but the only foul ball I ever caught was on a pitch thrown by Juan Marichal.

[Gosens6]

Quote: Originally Posted by canes21

The game is easily the worst looking of the next gen sports games. The grass textures have been needing updated since last gen. It isn't a bad looking game, but it doesn't look too next gen like the other sports games do. There are some lighting issues as well. Mostly with dark areas being way too dark in some stadiums, but the biggest issue is the inconsistencies in texture quality. Just look at the players themselves. Half the uniforms looks good, then some parts like the pockets and Nike logo on the pants are all jarringly low res for essentially no reason at all. The game does play well on the field. It always has, but outside of that it doesn't have too much else going well for it at the moment. Once the servers are running well I'm sure the DD side of things will be of quality, but the offline, non DD player will be stuck with the same shallow game that has them frustrated already. If all you care about is gameplay on the field only, it's a very good game like always, but if you were expecting a jump in graphical fidelity and/or are someone who was wanting a deeper franchise experience, I see where the disappointment would come from. Thankfully the game is on GamePass so I'll continue to play it, but I would find it hard to recommend it to anyone who is a franchise gamer who already has 20. Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

To each their own, I think it looks leaps and bounds better than Madden if we’re talking about graphics.

I’ve been disappointed in The Shows franchise mode since the beginning so I knew what I was getting into with that. Either they don’t have a big enough franchise team, or they’re just not very good at doing a deep, immersive franchise mode. It never has been and I don’t think it ever will be.

I’ve accepted it for what it is, I guess. It’s a wonderful looking and playing game of baseball and year to year I’m never disappointed.

Again, just my take. Others are entitled to their own


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[furball321]

Agreed. My post was too harsh. I've not commented on gameplay in years past. But last night was the first time I've ever gone out of franchise mode and I found the "moments" and other stuff overwhelming without any navigation or other info. (The tool tips didn't seem to help much.)

Sorry for the rant.

This is the first year I've bought the game on release day instead of waiting for the OSFM roster. So I was putting off starting a franchise til rosters settled down.

[Caulfield]

this is actuallywhy the Show is so great. I stick to traditional baseball and (mostly) stay in my lane within the friendly confines of franchise. for as much grief as I may sometimes give to Demon Dynasty and its ilk, at its heart & soul it's still baseball, even though it's not my preferred brand of the sport.

it's great that there is this new kind of baseball to attract people who would no way no how buy the Show if franchise mode were all there was. so that rush is a there by design. and if it feels meaningless, that's probably because you need a different kind of rush, the kind that only franchise can scratch your itch. and there's nothing wrong with that.

[ripsix]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gosens6

I honest to god don’t understand all the hate towards this game. People are entitled to their own opinion and feelings towards a product and that’s completely fine, but I’m just absolutely perplexed at the unequivocal hate this game is receiving. Don’t get me wrong, server issues and the way they massacred RTTS are huge issues, but this game still plays an excellent game of baseball on the field, yet I’m seeing people say it’s ugly or they can’t play it because of grass and the graphics apparently being bad. I don’t know, just my two cents on the matter. I’m on PS5 and the game is absolutely beautiful, and it plays like a dream. I’ve even dived into DD and am having a blast doing so (without spending a dime I might add) Again, people have their opinion and there’s no judgment from my camp. I’m just having a hard time understanding how anyone can call this a bad game. Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

"the game is absolutely beautiful" - It's the same exact looking game as last years, they changed little to nothing.

I personally think SDS deserves all the hate they're getting. They server issues are absolutely inexcusable, we're not talking about an MMORPG with hundreds of thousands of users hitting a login server simultaneously, talking about downloading a simple file (rosters), server handshakes for progress updates, and multiplayer games between 2 people where one of them is hosting.

These might have been hurdles in 2001, but by now in 2021 this is par for the course in the gaming industry.

And those are just the server issues, the game design for anyone who primarily plays RTTS is horrendous. Instead of playing to upgrade your attributes, you now have to equip specific cleats, gloves and other equipment? Don't want to spend real money doing that and your options are grinding other modes that, if you're like me, had 0 interest in anyways.

For those who want to primarily play for Franchise mode, I would recommend looking at OOTP 22, with the real player photos mod I'm having a blast with that while SDS sorts out fixing a game they already sold, released, and continually market with an advertising budget seemingly 100 times more than their budget for QA and networking programmers.

[SoCalAlexdelete]

I'm pretty much just a Franchise player these days after dabbling in RTTS and Diamond Dynasty in the past (just don't have the free time anymore to play a full season in Franchise in addition to multiple seasons in RTTS and the seemingly endless games in DD), and ever since they introduced the "Programs" thing a couple years ago I have no idea what the hell any of it means. I just play the games and if afterward it says I completed a program and unlocked a pack of whatever, cool! Otherwise I'm not fretting about what I'm supposedly "missing out on". I suggest you do the same, OP.