Operation Sports MLB 13 The Show Community Impressions Thread

[JoeT]

Re: Operation Sports MLB 13 The Show Community Impressions Thread

I am getting constantly blown away by the new ball physics. The hit types this year are unmatched in video game baseball history.

Just gorgeous to see flares looping over infielders, down the line, dropping in just in front of outfielders.

This year......true ball physics.

Passed balls and wild pitches are superbly recreated. Really awesome.

A&S, I couldn't agree more. It looks fantastic. I've seen a couple of those seeing-eye bloopers drop just a foot beyond the reach of the rapidly retreating 2B and SS and in front of the charging outfielders. Never saw these before. And I'm seeing things like foul popups balls down the lines that the slower outfielders actually can't reach.

In the pre-release advertising they mentioned the improved physics to cut down on ground-rule doubles--which is certainly true--but it is SO much more than just that. To be honest, it's probably what I was hoping for when they announced the new physics changes for '12. And while it was much better last year, it wasn't quite there. So it's great that they went back right away this year and further modified it and got it to where it is. Physics 2.0 = To me it puts '13 head and shoulders above what was a great game last year.

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: Operation Sports MLB 13 The Show Community Impressions Thread

I can't get over the outfield play this year!

CPU fielders just SO ORGANICALLY misplay balls and make mental mistakes this year. Last night, B.J. Upton simply flat out misplayed a groundball in the outfield corner causing the CPU to empty the bases on me. When I saw him misjudge it, I was going nuts with excitement like I do when watching games in real life. LOL!

I'll have to post a few of my videos sometime.

This game just plays so well between the lines right now. I gave up 10+ runs in back to back games, and then came back to pitch an incredible outing with Mike Minor for a little Cubs-killing redemption.

The unpredictability on a game-to-game basis is the best this series has seen yet. Pitcher Confidence has been almost perfectly refined...allowing me to get almost no-hit by Cliff Lee, but smack down Cole Hammels in the very next battle.

Good stuff.

[zippy2212]

Re: Operation Sports MLB 13 The Show Community Impressions Thread

I am still adjusting. In fact, I may have to RAISE the pitch speed (from default) to try and eliminate all of my early swings.

This is exactly what I had to do. I was striking out 10-12 times a game because I was early on everything, even fastballs. Finally I upped the pitch speed 2 notches and now the game is perfect. I am still early on off-speed stuff like I should be but overall it plays almost perfect for me.

This game has just amazed me with the ball physics. I've seen bloopers fall over the infielders heads in front of the outfielders than others that looked like the would only to have an infielder track it down and make an over the shoulder catch. Which coincidentally turned into a DP since I sent the runner from first thinking it would fall in. But I thinking one of the best signs of the new ball physics I've seen to date was a pop up I hit yesterday that fell between 3 players in short right center field and I was able to leg out a triple on it. All three fielders where chasing it then the CF and 2B stopped to avoid a collision and the RF dove to try to catch it only to have it roll out into the gap. It was a thing of beauty.

[stealyerface]

Re: Operation Sports MLB 13 The Show Community Impressions Thread

I tried the Button Accuracy option last night, and thought it was pretty well done. I like that the meter for throwing has the sweet spot in the middle, thereby having the possibility of a throw that is too soft, or too hard, depending on the fielder's position, and his attributes... Very nice.

That being said, I bumped up my fielding to the Legend level, and am sticking with Analog, No feedback. Can't wait to see what happens...

Now, with my short time with the Button/Accuracy, I came up with a killer awesome idea, that hopefully someone is listening to (reading) and will think about this addition, and I would be interested in feedback from the crew.

When going for a pickoff, why not incorporate the same meter as used in the new fielding application, in the pitcher's pick off attempt? The green bar would be bigger for guys with a higher-rated pickoff move, would be smaller for big guys with slow feet, would have a quicker motion for leftys, and would add some sense of actually having control over the pickoff moves, as opposed to praying the ball does not go into the stands. The meter would not be on the screen until the pick off attempt, so it would not be instrusive, and I think, would add to the ability to have some control.

Thoughts?

~syf

[Cavicchi]

Re: Operation Sports MLB 13 The Show Community Impressions Thread

While I love the game, there is one impression that doesn't sit well with me. Harper gets a Vision rating in the 60's and Trout gets it in low 40's. Considering Trout hit .326 and Harper hit .270, my impression is the game likes Harper better and gives him bonus points, and I find that troublesome. I feel players who have major league experience should be rated on what they did in the major leagues, not what they might do on a fantasy team.

Posey is another example. Runners stole 87 bases on Posey last year, but Posey is given better arm accuracy than...Yadier Molina!

[XxJustAguessxX]

Re: Operation Sports MLB 13 The Show Community Impressions Thread

While I love the game, there is one impression that doesn't sit well with me. Harper gets a Vision rating in the 60's and Trout gets it in low 40's. Considering Trout hit .326 and Harper hit .270, my impression is the game likes Harper better and gives him bonus points, and I find that troublesome. I feel players who have major league experience should be rated on what they did in the major leagues, not what they might do on a fantasy team.

Posey is another example. Runners stole 87 bases on Posey last year, but Posey is given better arm accuracy than...Yadier Molina!

So rating changes are needed?

[stealyerface]

Re: Operation Sports MLB 13 The Show Community Impressions Thread

While I love the game, there is one impression that doesn't sit well with me. Harper gets a Vision rating in the 60's and Trout gets it in low 40's. Considering Trout hit .326 and Harper hit .270, my impression is the game likes Harper better and gives him bonus points, and I find that troublesome. I feel players who have major league experience should be rated on what they did in the major leagues, not what they might do on a fantasy team.

Posey is another example. Runners stole 87 bases on Posey last year, but Posey is given better arm accuracy than...Yadier Molina!

"Maybe those are the kinds of calls that you get when you have your picture on the cover of the game...."

Just wait for Knight & Co's Rosters. They fix all of that stuff.

~syf

[treyraq]

Re: Operation Sports MLB 13 The Show Community Impressions Thread

This has probably been mentioned already, but the CPU has some wacky depth chart logic... After ending spring training my MLB team has 7 starters, 3 catchers, and 5 outfielders. It seems like it chooses the 25 players with the highest overall regardless of position (that are on the 40-man of course)

Lol, it doesn't HAVE depth chart logic, which is the problem.
I've had to redo complete rosters at the beginning of Franchises because teams stockpile Relief Pitchers (up to 12 on some teams) in addition to taking ONE (1!) bench player into the regular season.

That and I'm again seeing things like an NL team with
Votto at 1B, and someone like Rizzo in AAA, trade a key player for another 1B like Ortiz or Helton...

They really need to work on a depth chart system for this game.

[skow05]

Re: Operation Sports MLB 13 The Show Community Impressions Thread

While I love the game, there is one impression that doesn't sit well with me. Harper gets a Vision rating in the 60's and Trout gets it in low 40's. Considering Trout hit .326 and Harper hit .270, my impression is the game likes Harper better and gives him bonus points, and I find that troublesome. I feel players who have major league experience should be rated on what they did in the major leagues, not what they might do on a fantasy team.

Posey is another example. Runners stole 87 bases on Posey last year, but Posey is given better arm accuracy than...Yadier Molina!

Vision doesn't factor into BA - it deals with BB's I believe.

Regardless, you are correct, they should probably be more even in that regard. With a slight lean towards Trout.

Harper - 56 BB's in 597 PA's in 2012 (9.3% BB Rate)
Trout - 76 BB's in 774 PA's combined in 2011 & 2012 (9.8% BB Rate)

Edit: I think I got them switched. Vision might deal with strikeout's while Discipline deals with walk's.

Harper - 120 SO's in 597 PA's in 2012 (20.1% K Rate)
Trout - 169 SO's in 774 PA's combined in 2011 & 2012 (21.8% K Rate)

Still should be more even, and both strikeout rates are below average.

So, YES, they should be pretty equal in terms of vision and discipline.

Someone, quick, take away my CPU. lol

[tbone1]

Re: Operation Sports MLB 13 The Show Community Impressions Thread

After playing this game for a couple of weeks I can honestly say this game is simply beautiful in motion.
The lighting, ball physics, and animations are all amazing!
However the true broadcast 2.0 falls short.
It feels incomplete and a step back from years past.
The commentary feels like its missing lines.
The replays after big plays are not triggering.
I just hit an inside the park homer and it cut straight to a reliever coming out of the bullpen.
I threw out a runner at home and it cuts to the next batter
Maybe its just me but it seems to be not working properly
It was touted on the fact sheet their was upgraded stadium ambiance and hundreds of presentation animations and i'm not seeing them.

Overall the gameplay is fantastic.
Hopefully the presentation aspect can be fixed up a little.

[lvann4x]

This game is a blast to play. I've stuck to Postseason Mode mostly as I wait for Knight's OSFM rosters to come out. I've also played a small amount of RTTS as a position player.
Overall Impressions:
This is a well-polished, fun game to play. It "feels" more like it's real-life counterpart more than any other sports game I've played.
The biggest flaw I've seen in the game without playing Franchise Mode is the stutter, which seems to be either rampant or non-existent in my games. Enough has been said about this, and everyone knows that it needs badly to be fixed, it's just a matter of finding the culprit and fixing it.
I'd love to have a better way of picking up the pitch out of the pitcher's hand visually, without Guess Pitch involved. Maybe with PS4, the graphics will be good enough to be able to pick up the true spin. In lieu of next-gen graphics, I liked MVP Baseball's color system.
Pitching with Analog is fun and challenging, but I still rarely walk guys. I can increase the difficulty, but then I'll have more walks AND give up hits and homers left and right. Then it's off to Slider-Land.
A dev-tuned, out-of-the-box Sim Mode for all difficulty levels could fix Walk and Strike Frequency without forcing the user to run 75-game tests and devote so much time to Sliders. I've posted a suggestion in the Bug Report section at the Show's website under my username, lvann4x, if anyone cares to see this idea in more detail and vote on it. This would give the idea some support for the dev's to see.
Errors, Homeruns, and mid-game Starting Pitcher injuries have all been way too frequent through 12 games in postseason mode.
Picking off runners is still too frequent, and throwing errors on a pickoff are still way too frequent.
However, this game is still very fun to play. It brings the best of baseball to life with great visuals.

Postseason Mode:
Great mode for those of us who wait for OSFM. Plenty of drama. The crowd seems to be at full noise-level a bit too often, i.e. when the Home team's batting with an 0-2 count in the bottom of the 4th. The crowd typically doesn't get in a full frenzy when their own hitter is in an 0-2 hole.
I like the fact that the crowd is amped up, it just needs to be tuned a bit.
I'd like to see the ability to switch my Pitching Rotation to a 4-man or 3-man rotation if I see fit. A small thing since you can always pick your starter before each game.
I'd like to see some team celebrations after winning the LCS. I play on Fast Play Mode, but that shouldn't affect any postgame presentations after winning a league pennant.

RTTS:
I LOVE the fact that I can see what happens leading up to a play involving my player! This is something I asked for a year or two ago (maybe on here, maybe on The Show's forum), and the dev's found a great way to execute it!
This gives much more context and meaning to my player's actions. Great job on this one!
RTTS is already a great mode, and it's gotten better this year.

What I'd like to see next year:
A Fielding Mini-Mode. Not just from RTTS first person view, but a Franchise Mode view as well. I always have auto fielding on in Franchise and Postseason Mode because I don't want to learn fielding on the fly. I manually throw to bases, but manually controlling my fielder just results in too many cartoonish Little League plays.
I'd love to have a Fielding Practice Mode from the Camera View of MY choice so I could get a bunch of reps without having to go through 20-30 important Franchise games handicapped by my fielding inadequacy. I don't use Analog Throwing for the same reason.
I used to love controlling my fielders in past-gen games, but the learning curve is too steep now that I don't have hours of time to play anymore.

On that note, I've gotta run. I'll finish my impressions later.

Don't forget to vote on lvann4x Bug Reports if you agree!

[cbrown119]

I don't post very often, but I have an impression that I would like to share...I feel the most important impression.

For the first time, my 10 year old son asked ME, if I wanted to play baseball!

Thats never happened before (I am talking about video games, not the real thing--there's still too much snow on the ground)

So, I would like to thank scea for co-op play!

[DJ]

Re: Operation Sports MLB 13 The Show Community Impressions Thread

Well, I think my goal of playing all 162 games in MLB 12 The Show is not going to happen. After playing MLB 13 last night, I don't think I can go back ... at least not right now.

As I stated in a thread I started, I'm going with all Analog controls (All-Star difficulty) this year. Last night I played what was just an absolute gem of a game.

Baltimore (CPU) @ Pittsburgh.

Final score: Orioles 4, Pirates 3

Just a thrilling game from start to finish even though I did lose. The game was smooth (no stutter, thanks patch!) the animations looked great and the user experience during batting, pitching and fielding was all-around fantastic.

Analog hitting is just so rewarding when you time things up perfectly. I didn't hit any homers but had three doubles and finished with 8 hits. The new timing window really helps me with this interface; on Timing I was early on everything the CPU threw at me. With Analog, thanks to the stride timing, I find that's not the case. I drew 3 walks (using a slightly modified version of the Catcher Offset camera) and struck out 8 times.

The hit variety is off the charts compared with previous years. I hit an opposite field flare with Russell Martin that I know had I made contact with that same pitch (jammed inside and my swing was a fraction late) in MLB 12-11-10, etc., it would've been a pop up to the catcher. The low-line drives are great and more groundballs find their way through the holes now, too.

As I've mentioned before, Analog pitching has a bit more looseness to it so if you aren't 100% accurate with your R-stick placement, expect your pitch to miss the mark by a decent margin. I was around 68% strikes for the game which is a shade high but better than the 75-80% range I was frequently around in MLB 11.

The Analog throwing is very responsive, too. I play with the meter turned off and no feedback but you know right away if your throw is going to offline. I rushed an attempted cutoff throw last night and the ball sailed right over the second baseman's head.

I'm playing on pretty much default All-Star across the board. The only changes I've made are to the CPU pitching sliders:
Control -1
Consistency -2
Strike Frequency -4

Last year it took me a while to lock in on my settings. That, and an unfortunate re-start (corrupted file) cost me some time in Franchise Mode and is why I'm at 132 games played in MLB 12. I will go back and finish at some point but right now, it's all about MLB 13.

I'll keep playing random Exhibition games until OSFM is released (man I really wish we could use those rosters in MLB Live) and then it's time to start a Franchise. I'll likely be using the Colorado Rockies this year. I won't play every game this year, but I'll play most of 'em.

MLB Live will also occupy a lot of my time.

I hope everyone is enjoying MLB 13 The Show as much as I am. I never think SCEA can top its previous effort but they always find a way. Congrats on putting out such a stellar game!

[Heroesandvillains]

Re: Operation Sports MLB 13 The Show Community Impressions Thread

Pitching with Analog is fun and challenging, but I still rarely walk guys. I can increase the difficulty, but then I'll have more walks AND give up hits and homers left and right. Then it's off to Slider-Land.

A dev-tuned, out-of-the-box Sim Mode for all difficulty levels could fix Walk and Strike Frequency without forcing the user to run 75-game tests and devote so much time to Sliders. I've posted a suggestion in the Bug Report section at the Show's website under my username, lvann4x, if anyone cares to see this idea in more detail and vote on it. This would give the idea some support for the dev's to see

While I think the game is tuned remarkably to represent a true-to-life MLB product, I'd personally love to read your ideas! You do not need to open a bug report to share your thoughts. OS is an ideal place to put your suggestions out.

What I'd like to see next year:

A Fielding Mini-Mode. Not just from RTTS first person view, but a Franchise Mode view as well. I always have auto fielding on in Franchise and Postseason Mode because I don't want to learn fielding on the fly. I manually throw to bases, but manually controlling my fielder just results in too many cartoonish Little League plays.

I'd love to have a Fielding Practice Mode from the Camera View of MY choice so I could get a bunch of reps without having to go through 20-30 important Franchise games handicapped by my fielding inadequacy. I don't use Analog Throwing for the same reason. I used to love controlling my fielders in past-gen games, but the learning curve is too steep now that I don't have hours of time to play anymore.

I wanted to see this for a while now. Look at it this way; I could take fielding off of Auto and all the world to see my sucky-ness!

[Bamafan3723]

Re: Operation Sports MLB 13 The Show Community Impressions Thread

Anyone notice the bats no longer have the "MLB The Show" logo on the barrel? Wonder why they removed it? I always kind of liked having something on the barrel like a real bat would.