MLB 14: The Show Impressions Thread (Impressions only!)

[Steve_OS]

Confirmed both bayman and Inhocmark both have copies of the PS4 version of MLB 14 The Show.

doughron is confirmed.

If they want to post their impressions, they are free to do so here. Don't flood this post with questions.

[bayman]

Re: Confirmed Users with MLB 14 The Show (PS4)

Did a batting practice with Ichiro, love the new swing. Will save other thoughts until I play with the game fully loaded on the HDD.

[Inhocmark]

Re: Confirmed Users with MLB 14 The Show (PS4)

The Flyers game is on so I've only had a few minutes. Threw on a quick play, LAD @ LAA. Did not have a fly over in the pre game if that's what people were asking.

Quick impression is the game looks brilliant and plays smoothly. The new fielding is great, I completely misplayed a ball in the outfield.

The graphics are mostly a bunch of little things that add up. Looks great.

After playing a lot of FIFA I was disappointed in the load times off the initial boot and going into the game. They felt long.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

[Inhocmark]

Re: Confirmed Users with MLB 14 The Show (PS4)

Would love to know about the visuals overall and animations,etc..the improvements over PS3 version...is its a nice jump in improvments?

I haven't played or focused much on the PS3 version but it is fair to say that it is a lot of small improvements that add up to make impressive visuals. Lighting and shadows look good (day game), player models are strong, crowd looks to be improved. The wind effects appear to be real time too.

If you're looking for a night and day difference between the two then you might be let down. But it is a difference you can see.

Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk

[Inhocmark]

Re: Confirmed Users with MLB 14 The Show (PS4)

Co-op play removed? So no local 2 vs 2? Wow, that blows.

I can not 100% confirm it right now, but there is room under each team in quick play for two controllers. That would seem to indicate 2 v 2 local co-op no?

If I was to hazard a guess about the graphical differences mostly going on MLB 13 PS3 vs the PS4 version again I'd have to say that it comes down to having more resources to work with. Animation at least in one game seemed a little less canned (if you know what I mean). It felt a bit more fluid overall.

I can't comment on Uniform numbers vs. PS3, all I can say is that there's a ton at least for the Angels. I must've gone through 10 options.

I'm not sold on the hitting camera yet. I like the idea but it really limits what you're seeing out in the field. Great for 'realism', but disappointing if you want to actually see the game.

I love the fielding camera though. Fielding feels like a bit of an adventure sometimes.

Bayman is the MLB hard core. I'm a novice compared to him. He's your best bet for a more detailed opinion on the game play.

I will try to snag some screens and vids off the PS4 when the 1.70 update drops tomorrow.

[Inhocmark]

Re: Confirmed Users with MLB 14 The Show (PS4)

When did the pitcher picking up the rosin bag get dismissed? Also, we don't even know if fly-ins are gone yet. It may not do it every game.

Bingo...or it might be specific stadiums. I went with Anaheim being a very middle of the road park to test it out...sadly no flyovers.

But I do think I saw the pitcher going for the resin bag....90% sure anyways.

[bayman]

Re: Confirmed Users with MLB 14 The Show (PS4)

Same amount of uniforms.

Haven't seen a fly in before any of my first 3 exhibition games. 2 of the games opened with shots of one specific area outside the stadium though

[Inhocmark]

Re: Confirmed Users with MLB 14 The Show (PS4)

Just skimming through this before leaving (sorry folks work calls so no impressions until after Game 7 of the Flyers/Rangers tonight). On page 6 it was pointed out that this may not be the final day 1 version. That still may be the case but the PS4 did download a 200+MB patch first time I ran it. And once I did update I was prompted to save the April 28th Roster update.

[Millennium]

Re: Confirmed Users with MLB 14 The Show (PS4)

Alright folks -

No more posting unless you are confirmed with the game. Everyone knows the way we work.

Impressions only.

[bayman]

Re: Confirmed Users with MLB 14 The Show (PS4, Impressions Only)

Re-reading my comment and using "specific shots" makes me realize it was a poor choice of words. Two exhibition games in different stadiums opened with a shot of the cityscape. Don't know yet if the shot can vary per stadium or not.

Game plays as well as I could have hoped for in my limited time. Baserunning is much better than '13 but may be basically the same as '14 on PS3, I can't say. The fielder throw meter seems a little smoother than '13 but that may also be mostly attributable to playing '13 so much that I know what to expect.

Going to have to try RTTS to see if my main AI issues like 3B not playing in during obvious sacrifice situations have been fixed. So far though I haven't seen anything that reminds me of '13 in a negative way.

[Inhocmark]

Re: Confirmed Users with MLB 14 The Show (PS4, Impressions Only)

Okay...keeping in mind I was futzing around with video yesterday and hit X when I shouldn't have...and I really was just playing quickly and only paying half attention (hense the really bad KO), I did manage to capture a little bit of video. I will capture more in the next day or two.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/KAkp244toNI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Steve, if you know a better way to host this that'll allow people to see it go for it. I have no interest in views on my youtube etc etc.

[Inhocmark]

Re: Confirmed Users with MLB 14 The Show (PS4, Impressions Only)

One last video, had to make it quickly after the Flyers laid their egg...5:30 comes real bloody soon.

Trying to see if I could see a flyover I started a Franchise (with Texas as somebody had indicated they wanted proof the Stadium existed.).

The video is the first inning, both sides with the full introduction (Opening Day edition) in broadcast mode without any skipping.

Default settings (new fielding and batting camera). And no ridiculing my gameplay I'm not an expert

http://youtu.be/YC0tt_MjJno

The video should be HD...I was originally only getting a lousy resolution but it seems to have sorted itself out.
Enjoy

[bayman]

Re: Confirmed Users with MLB 14 The Show (PS4, Impressions Only)

There are 2 things that are noticeably bad right now that could potentially be improved through patches but worth mentioning. Loading times (even after full loading on the HDD) are clearly worse than later PS3 versions and probably comparable to early PS3 versions at the moment. (edit: after watching Inhocmark's videos I'm unsure if the next part is not one of those need to rebuild the database quirks, either way it in no way affects gameplay) Also every pitch when a batter doesn't swing, they reset before doing their reaction. Even when they get hit by the ball, they reset before starting the hit by pitch animation.

I'm pretty sure St. Louis looks the same at night as it did in the IGN video.

Haven't noticed any slowdowns or hiccups that would affect gameplay but pretty sure there is slowdown at times during cutscenes.

I started 2 franchises to see what the intro was like on opening day and didn't get a fly in either time. Even if fly ins are found, I don't think people expecting much from them will be satisfied because the amount of stuff around the stadiums is about the same as last gen. It's pretty much just anything that can be seen from inside the stadium.

Did notice a mention in both games about career numbers for guys in the 1st inning of the franchise games which bodes well for the commentary immersion level during the long term modes.

Pretty sure I've found my first slap hitter in Jonathan Herrera of the Red Sox. The animation reminds me of how Luis Castillo used to hit.

[Inhocmark]

Re: Confirmed Users with MLB 14 The Show (PS4, Impressions Only)

I will repost this as a blog to avoid duplicate posting in the forums and to allow people to agree/disagree with some or all of what I’m saying.

I just want to put a caveat on all my opinions so that everybody knows where I’m coming from. I’m a sports gaming fan…I buy games for sports that I’m not a hardcore fan of in real life because I love playing them. While I consider myself a baseball fan, I’m not at the level where I’m going to notice is they got the facial hair of Brady Anderson right (or that Brady Anderson retired apparently…psych! ). I’m the guy in your fantasy league that may not realise that his 15th round choice was just put on the DL coming out of Spring Training unless he’s on the Jays. In short…I’ll school you with Soccer or hockey knowledge, but I’m just a typical fan of baseball.

For the minutae of it all, Bayman is uh…The Man. The guy knows his baseball.

That being said, I’m a big baseball game fan and have been since my Intellivision days (the plastic overlay over the 12 number controller that allowed you to select a fielder to go get the ball. Revolutionary!). So I’d hope that as a generalist my opinions would mean something.

Most people here have read anything and everything so nothing I’m saying should be news.

The TL;DR is: I think anybody looking for a generational change between this version and the PS3 version are going to be disappointed. You may need to wait until the PS3 version truly becomes an afterthought before the full power of the PS4 is brought to bear on the game.

I’m not sure I would say this is the game to go out and buy a PS4 for, especially if you’re happy with the PS3 version of the game. But this shouldn’t surprise any sports game fan. The install base of the PS3 vs. PS4 means developers have a bigger profit potential on the current system that they can not afford to truly leave it.

While the graphical updates are modest when put together appear to make a nicer looking game with great look and frame rate, for the most part it plays very similar to last year’s game and feels like a typical year over year improvement vs. a huge leap forward. Fans of the game are going to notice differences, they do exist but most of them are modest cosmetics vs. gameplay. While not entirely accurate, an apt comparison here would be watching a movie on DVD vs. Blu Ray. You will see the differences but it doesn’t really change the content.

While FIFA and Madden (and perhaps NBA 2K) were able to show enhanced AI vs their PS3 counterparts, the struggle a baseball game is going to have is that as a static game the AI improvements are not going to be obvious.

With all that being said, if you have a PS4 and skipped the PS3 version of the Show then have no fear buying it.

So far:

LIKE:

-The new fielding. I love love love love it. The first game I played I lost a ball by playing the wrong path to it (something that would not have happened in MLB 13) and caught another one while getting a later break on it and being completely unsure whether it was going to make it over the fence. It is a small change that adds a ton to the game.

-The new animations for the PS4: While they add nothing really to gameplay, the game looks better and has a more immersive feeling of the world being alive. There’s still some work to go and the majority of the heavy lifting is done in cut scenes, but the crowd looks great as do all the player. You can see the extra power of the PS4 at work here. It’s not a massive leap, but still a leap.

-Advanced Count: This is a great feature that doesn’t appear to take from the integrity of the game or your statistics and allows you to play a game in 20-30 minutes. In the two games I ran, the stats generated by advancing in the count were on par with what you would expect. Pitchers who gave up hits lasted 6-7 innings before hitting the 100 pitch mark so it felt right. A pleasant surprise.

-It plays great: Quibbling aside about what may or may not be there, the game plays extremely well with no graphical issues so far.

MEH:

-Load times. Load times are AWFUL. Unequivocally the WORST on the system of the games I’ve played, certainly the worst of all the sports games (I own them all save for NBA Live). You’re looking at 60-80 seconds from main screen to the “Press Start” and a good 2+ minutes for each game. No other sports game comes close to those load times.

-New hitting camera. I get what its purpose is and it does it well enough, but I feel I’m missing a lot of the game by using it. The action happens on this sort of flat plane so you kind of miss everything that’s going on as the camera slowly moves up from the batter’s box into a position where you see what’s going on in the field. You can see it in the two videos I posted. I think I’ll be finding a new angle once I give it a few more chances.

[bayman]

Re: Confirmed Users with MLB 14 The Show (PS4, Impressions Only)

If you only get a PS4 for The Show and it has to justify your $400, you will be let down.