MLB 14 The Show News Post

MLB 14 The Show: Which Pitching/Hitting Control Interface is the Most Realistic?

04:23 PM - May 20, 2014 by RaychelSnr

While every MLB 14 The Show player will approach the game from a different angle -- perhaps so much so that what is realistic for one guy might not work for another -- it is my belief that there is some sort of a middle ground base line which all players can work off of to get the most realistic game of baseball possible.

When defining realism, I'm talking about getting a version of The Show which presents only the most important info to gamers -- with many of the gamey settings taken out of the picture such as guess pitch.

However, there are aspects of the game which are gamey which might better replicate the actions and decisions players have to make when actually playing baseball. For instance, is pulse or meter pitching more realistic? What about analog or simply timing for hitting?

So OS, here's the deal: we want to find the most perfect settings possible and we want you all to help us with it. Let's start off with a basic debate on hitting and pitching settings. Which control interface combination do you prefer most for the maximum realism?

Sound off with which hitting/pitching control setting you have selected and why you selected them!

Game: MLB 14 The ShowReader Score: 8.5/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS Vita / PS3 / PS4Votes for game: 12 - View All

MLB 14 The Show Videos

Member Comments

# 21 SDwinder @ 05/21/14 12:00 AM

Zone plus timing for hitting, and Analog pitching. If you haven't tried Analog pitching, you really are missing out on one of the true gameplay joys of this game.

# 22 KMRblue1027 @ 05/21/14 02:05 AM

Meter for pitching just feels right, tried using pulse and get slightly more realistic numbers but I get a weird twitchy feeling in my fingers waiting to time the pulse no idea why.

For hitting I use timing. I've been trying to use analog every year since 2011 but I simply cannot handle the stride timing so far. It's odd that I'm a great player at things like Battlefield or rhythm games but a simple back and forth motion continues to best me.

# 23 JoeMimic @ 05/21/14 07:29 AM

Classic for pitching, timing for hitting.

# 24 GlennN @ 05/21/14 11:08 AM

Most realistic or most fun? I would think analog batting would be most realistic, but, as others have noted, I would suck to the point of it not being fun, so I go with timing.

As to the issue of how much human factor should matter, I have always favored the approach of the Front Page Sports series (which, amazingly, has yet to be matched by any sports game in this regard) - there were no "difficulty" settings because players actually played to their ratings. If the game was too hard, edit ratings or get better players. This notion that human factor should be the primary driving force escapes me for a game with a franchise mode. If I can win titles with crappy players, then what is the point of building a team from the ground up? Having human factor as the primary force works for online gaming (which I totally avoid), but it can kill a franchise mode.

# 25 tanchl @ 05/21/14 02:17 PM

I agree 100% with Heroesandvillians. I want results dependent
on ratings and not my digital dexterity. I would be happy if we had "auto-hitting".

# 26 Benz87 @ 05/21/14 02:51 PM

This year I've been torn between Zone and Timing hitting. I like timing because I feel it allows the attributes of my players to have more meaning and player a larger factor in their performance. I also use Timing because often I will struggle to adjust to pitches if I start my PCI in the wrong location with Zone hitting. The downfall that continually leads to my reverting back to Zone hitting though is my players missing too many meat pitches. Often, I will get a fastball down the middle that I was sitting on, only to have my batter completely miss or make poor contact on. This makes staying with timing hitting difficult knowing my batter should have crushed the pitch and would have done so on Zone hitting. If I were to use Zone though, i often miss out on inside or high fastballs that I should be getting a piece of because I struggle to adjust mid-pitch.

I've been using the Pitch Meter since 2006 when I started playing the show. I tried classic pitching for a bit last year but felt I had little control over the velocity or accuracy. I use a hybrid of Armor & Swords(hitting) and TNK's(pitching & fielding) sliders.

# 27 orion523 @ 05/21/14 02:53 PM

I think that by using classic for pitching and timing for hitting you get the perfect amount of user input without it interfering with the actual player ratings. This is perfect for modes like franchise, and season where you really want the players to play true to their ratings.
In other modes like RTTS, I would think that the more twitchy controls should be used because you want YOUR skill to determine the results on the field.
As far as the game recreating what it's like to play real baseball....um....no.

# 28 orion523 @ 05/21/14 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benz87


	This year I've been torn between Zone and Timing hitting. I like timing because I feel it allows the attributes of my players to have more meaning and player a larger factor in their performance. I also use Timing because often I will struggle to adjust to pitches if I start my PCI in the wrong location with Zone hitting. The downfall that continually leads to my reverting back to Zone hitting though is my players missing too many meat pitches. Often, I will get a fastball down the middle that I was sitting on, only to have my batter completely miss or make poor contact on. This makes staying with timing hitting difficult knowing my batter should have crushed the pitch and would have done so on Zone hitting. If I were to use Zone though, i often miss out on inside or high fastballs that I should be getting a piece of because I struggle to adjust mid-pitch.

It's funny you say that because I'm the exact opposite. The reasons I don't use zone hitting is BECAUSE I don't want to crush each and every bad pitch lol.

# 29 Greencollarbaseball @ 05/21/14 03:50 PM

I switched to classic/timed a few years ago and I'll never go back to anything else. You can really tell the difference between bad, good, and great players.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

# 30 SmooveMove @ 05/21/14 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tanchl


	I agree 100% with Heroesandvillians. I want results dependent on ratings and not my digital dexterity. I would be happy if we had "auto-hitting".

If by auto hitting you mean watching you team hit, but you still wanna pitch can't you just use team select for the half innings where your batting?

Unless that auto hit thing was a joke. In that case carry on.

# 31 COMMISSIONERHBK9 @ 05/22/14 01:09 AM

I AM on the fence too. last year i suck at hitting. i finally got used to zone and i forgot everything this year. now i cant hit. i want to keep doing zone but my reflexes arent as fast. what i did remember was i would keep the pci in there hot zone and only swing when the ball comes. but now it seems like i am always getting strike out. i used timing this year but i feel im only hitting grounders or line drives. im not producing any runs. what is the correct way of using zone?

# 32 Maxflier @ 05/22/14 12:00 PM

Meter pitching, Timing batting.

« Previous 12Next »

More Links

MLB 14 The Show: Which Pitching/Hitting Control Interface is the Most Realistic?