MLB The Show 17 Gameplay Livestream Breakdown

[Steve_OS]

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We had our own MLB The Show 17 twitch stream, right after Sony Interactive Entertainment had theirs. Make sure you are subscribed to our Twitch channel, so you get notified when we go LIVE.

In this MLB The Show 17 gameplay breakdown, Millennium runs through the entire stream and points out plenty of details you might not have noticed. Give it a watch and post your thoughts and don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

[tessl]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Gameplay Livestream Breakdown

Good video Millennium.

Quick manage - maybe it has something to do with this.

New Ways to Play: Now with new managerial and gameplay options that provide different levels of acceleration to progress your franchise while maintaining the control you want to.

Part of humanity AI seems to be fielders changing their fielding and throw power depending on speed of the base runner. Speaking for myself that's fine so long as it isn't always perfect. One of my favorite player was HOF'er Lou Brock. One way he got to 3,000 hits was by putting pressure on the infielders with his speed. I don't mind an occasional miscue on a "routine" ground ball especially with a fast runner because it happens IRL. As they speed up their normal routine they sometimes make mistakes.

One thing I noticed was the first baseman seemed to always dig the ball out of the dirt. I wonder if 1B with lower fielding attributes sometimes bobble a ball in the dirt.

Run downs - very difficult to program but IRL the fielder with the ball runs at the base runner, not to the next base.

Ball spin - major addition and the potential improvement to the value of ground ball pitchers could be a game changer. In manage mode the value of good infielders then also becomes important.

Thanks for the stream.

[jeffy777]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Gameplay Livestream Breakdown

Absolutely love these breakdowns. Thanks for taking the time to do this, Millenium!

[wiser66]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Gameplay Livestream Breakdown

Well done Millenium. This breakdown really hits all the high notes. Plus I know you or your chat will let me know if the stripe on Encarnacion's left forearm wrap is 1/16 mm too large, so there's that too!

[tessl]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Gameplay Livestream Breakdown

Well done Millenium. This breakdown really hits all the high notes. Plus I know you or your chat will let me know if the stripe on Encarnacion's left forearm wrap is 1/16 mm too large, so there's that too!

LOL - I don't see Millenium doing that stuff but there are people who notice things like Mike Trout's shoelaces being tied right over left instead of left over right.

[My993C2]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Gameplay Livestream Breakdown

I hate you guys. No I really do hate you guys. Seriously I do.

Every year it is the same thing. Every year I say to myself "I will not buy the game this year", because every year I get about 3-4 months into the season, then the dog days of summer set in where I begin to burn out needing to play a game almost every day and I end up let the CPU vs CPU games play the rest of the calendar until the playoffs. But every year SDS comes out with some upgrade to the game where they make me think "Oh that sounds cool, glad they fixed it, or glad they enhanced how the game plays". This year the new feature seems to be the new ball hitting physics where the bat is now round as it is in real life versus as described in the review a flat surface. So a round bat will make pitching and hitting in the game that much more realistic.

Did I mention I really do hate you guys? Prior to watching this review I was definitely skipping MLB 17. But now I am not so sure I can. LOL

[tessl]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Gameplay Livestream Breakdown

I hate you guys. No I really do hate you guys. Seriously I do.

Every year it is the same thing. Every year I say to myself "I will not buy the game this year", because every year I get about 3-4 months into the season, then the dog days of summer set in where I begin to burn out needing to play a game almost every day and I end up let the CPU vs CPU games play the rest of the calendar until the playoffs. But every year SDS comes out with some upgrade to the game where they make me think "Oh that sounds cool, glad they fixed it, or glad they enhanced how the game plays". This year the new feature seems to be the new ball hitting physics where the bat is now round as it is in real life versus as described in the review a flat surface. So a round bat will make pitching and hitting in the game that much more realistic.

Did I mention I really do hate you guys? Prior to watching this review I was definitely skipping MLB 17. But now I am not so sure I can. LOL

I know you are a manage mode player like me. In the link above from a gamestop promo they mentioned "new managerial and gameplay options".

I remember last year someone advocating for the manager to call every pitch in manage mode. I love manage mode precisely because I can set the controller down and only pick it up when I need to make a move. I want the catcher to call pitches like IRL. That's probably the only thing which could cause me to continue playing the show 16 instead of the show 17. Everything I've seen announced so far looks fantastic.

[My993C2]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Gameplay Livestream Breakdown

I know you are a manage mode player like me. In the link above from a gamestop promo they mentioned "new managerial and gameplay options".

I remember last year someone advocating for the manager to call every pitch in manage mode. I love manage mode precisely because I can set the controller down and only pick it up when I need to make a move. I want the catcher to call pitches like IRL. That's probably the only thing which could cause me to continue playing the show 16 instead of the show 17. Everything I've seen announced so far looks fantastic.

We'll have to wait and see what the new managerial feature is. It might not even be accessible in MoM game play. Only time will tell. But yeah there are some nice game play changes in MLB 17 that are coming down the pipe. The round bats and better fielder throwing logic are definitely good to have to make the games that much more realistic.

[tessl]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Gameplay Livestream Breakdown

We'll have to wait and see what the new managerial feature is. It might not even be accessible in MoM game play. Only time will tell. But yeah there are some nice game play changes in MLB 17 that are coming down the pipe. The round bats and better fielder throwing logic are definitely good to have to make the games that much more realistic.

Yep, it looks like the game will be less robotic. On the stream they said they still are having problems with the new ball spin on some hits and are working on it. I don't expect it to be perfect but I welcome that change.

[theu715]

What I thought was interesting with the stream is they talk about the fielding animations being faster, specifically the SS to first and pitcher covering on double plays. They only used slow runners to show those off and the plays were close almost every time. I know, I know, work in progress ... Last year they said the pitchers wouldn't get hit by as many balls up the middle and it was a work in progress, but it still happens way too much. I still think there'll be too many times where pitchers react to slow covering and fielders take their time throwing to first causing runners to be safe. We'll see.

[squashbuggie]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Gameplay Livestream Breakdown

Yep, it looks like the game will be less robotic. On the stream they said they still are having problems with the new ball spin on some hits and are working on it. I don't expect it to be perfect but I welcome that change.

I think "Quick Manage" may be like SM, expect we can choose to steal and hit-and-run w/o having to wait pitch-by-pitch. And I bet we can jump in and out fo the game live. Like a diff. version of FF mode. This will be my fave part

[tessl]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Gameplay Livestream Breakdown

What I thought was interesting with the stream is they talk about the fielding animations being faster, specifically the SS to first and pitcher covering on double plays. They only used slow runners to show those off and the plays were close almost every time. I know, I know, work in progress ... Last year they said the pitchers wouldn't get hit by as many balls up the middle and it was a work in progress, but it still happens way too much. I still think there'll be too many times where pitchers react to slow covering and fielders take their time throwing to first causing runners to be safe. We'll see.

It could use some improvement but there should still be occasional misplays. Misplays happen IRL. You are asking a pitcher who is probably the worst fielder on the team to beat the batter to the base, catch a ball on the run and tag the base.

[theu715]

It could use some improvement but there should still be occasional misplays. Misplays happen IRL. You are asking a pitcher who is probably the worst fielder on the team to beat the batter to the base, catch a ball on the run and tag the base.

My issue isn't so much that a runner beats out a play, it's that runners do not beat out routine plays in real life unless the fielder is being lazy. In most cases, runners don't even run full speed when they hit a hard ball to an infielder, especially a second baseman. Can't tell you how many times I've seen guys beat out balls to second in 16. As far as the pitcher covering, the issue is that the pitchers in the game, like fielders in many cases, have no urgency or reaction. IRL if a ball is hit to the right side of the field, especially towards first, pitchers are taught to break towards first, then stop if called off by a first or second baseman, pending the play type. In game pitchers don't seem to break to first until far too late. The same thing seems to happen for pitchers covering home on past balls. I've seen numerous occasions in game where they don't even come home in game till the runner is sliding in. These things kill the game, not whether the dugout phones get more details, cups in the dugout, or if a section of seats are blue instead of red. I'm a Rays fan and they haven't put the CF opening where people can watch from in the game for two cycles, but who cares? It's a game to be played and in game issues take away from gameplay. That's my biggest issue.

[tessl]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Gameplay Livestream Breakdown

My issue isn't so much that a runner beats out a play, it's that runners do not beat out routine plays in real life unless the fielder is being lazy. In most cases, runners don't even run full speed when they hit a hard ball to an infielder, especially a second baseman. Can't tell you how many times I've seen guys beat out balls to second in 16. As far as the pitcher covering, the issue is that the pitchers in the game, like fielders in many cases, have no urgency or reaction. IRL if a ball is hit to the right side of the field, especially towards first, pitchers are taught to break towards first, then stop if called off by a first or second baseman, pending the play type. In game pitchers don't seem to break to first until far too late. The same thing seems to happen for pitchers covering home on past balls. I've seen numerous occasions in game where they don't even come home in game till the runner is sliding in. These things kill the game, not whether the dugout phones get more details, cups in the dugout, or if a section of seats are blue instead of red. I'm a Rays fan and they haven't put the CF opening where people can watch from in the game for two cycles, but who cares? It's a game to be played and in game issues take away from gameplay. That's my biggest issue.

https://youtu.be/b2D7SfO5Bgk?t=179

I believe in the previous blog Russell addressed your concern about fielders taking too much time. I saved the video at the appropriate place. I disagree with you assertion runners never beat out "routine" ground balls IRL. As I stated in a previous post I watched Lou Brock for many years and he was a line drive hitter but one way he got to 3,000 hits was by bouncing the ball to the shortstop and if the ball bounced twice Brock was safe. The pressure he put on infielders with his speed generated hits by forcing the fielder out of his normal routine. Any bobble or failure to perfectly transfer the ball from glove to throwing hand = base hit for Brock. I believe they have cleaned up the "lazy" fielding animation which is good but fast hitters do get infield hits on "routine" plays because the pressure on the infielder generates mistakes. My preference would be for ground ball to infielder not 100% of the time result in an out. It's nearly impossible in a video game to replicate the pressure speed can put on the defense. Once the speedster gets on base sometimes the pitcher gets distracted. For example in 1971 Torre won the mvp - a big reason was Brock on base distracting the pitcher which resulted in the pitcher paying more attention to Brock than Torre. I don't know how they would ever program that dynamic into a video game but IRL it is a very real dynamic.

Pitcher covering first was in the video. I believe the main problem remaining is the relay throw from second base on a 3-6-1 double play and from memory I think the devs discussed this last year. The problem is the fielder doesn't throw the ball until the pitcher is close to the bag. I'm confident they will clean up this problem but as with the "routine" ground balls IRL there are miscues with the pitcher covering first base. People in St Louis can tell you about a world series which hinged on such a play.

Regarding pitchers not covering home plate on passed balls or wild pitches I completely agree. That needs to be cleaned up. It's sometimes as if neither the catcher or pitcher realize there is a runner on third base. As a manage mode player I'm aware of issues with runners making very poor base running decisions and being out by 30 feet. Both of those issues could use some work.

[mrCPUgeek]

Re: MLB The Show 17 Gameplay Livestream Breakdown

I think "Quick Manage" may be like SM, expect we can choose to steal and hit-and-run w/o having to wait pitch-by-pitch. And I bet we can jump in and out fo the game live. Like a diff. version of FF mode. This will be my fave part

That is what I'm thinking. Which is what I've been wanting for quite some time. This will be great for those of us who don't like to "sim" thru games. You will still have some control over the outcome of every game if you wish. SM was great, but was too buggy, so hopefully, this will be the replacement of SM.