Extended RTTS / Ballplayer thoughts
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Well since I just unlocked my first Diamond archetype a few minutes ago I feel like now is a good time to go into some more in depth feedback on this year’s iteration of RTTS and the Ballplayer system in general.
The big elephant in the room is that there are bugs everywhere (chief among them being that archetype progression doesn’t work without the DD workaround), and while they are very much a serious issue there are 101 other threads dedicated solely to them. So with that out of the way let’s get started.
Positives:
— Archetype progression feels good.
The archetype specific missions / milestones feel good for progression and add a lot of value to the games you play in the minors. They’re a much better alternative to the teammate challenges from previous games and are more rewarding than just relying on base gains and training days. Plus, the jump in stats that come with each new tier of the core archetype is a much more impactful spike in OVR than the slowly raising stats 1 point at a time.— Universal stats can make for “OP” starts
With the universal Ballplayer keeping the same base stats and archetype choices throughout multiple saves means that you can have “superstar prospect” starts without the need for high tier gear.Indifferent:
— Base stat caps at 50
Given that you can get upwards of +40 boosts from core archetypes I can understand why base stats are capped at 50. I don’t have an issue with this, but it makes base gains feel pretty inconsequential since they have to be stunted in order to make the smaller improvement window work.Negatives:
— Next to no immersion at all
RTTS has never been the most immersive gaming experience out there, but there were tools within the game mode that at least let you have some. Personality perks and the ability to create multiple characters (not just save files) meant that you could have a loyal team captain that stuck with the team that drafted him, or a loose cannon that just went with whoever paid him the most money, etc. Without those things the mode just feels devoid of anything aside from a background to house archetype progression. The prospect podcasts are neat and do add to the experience, but it’s still not enough in my opinion. Especially when you consider you always start out as a two-way prospect no matter what.Plus, loadouts don’t help the immersion issue considering you can go from a speedy contact hitter, to a slow power bat, to a fireballing ace, all in the span of 3 days. Superhumans do exist I guess. Perfect for DD, but don’t really enhance RTTS in a meaningful way if you aren’t a two-way player.
— Perk cards are pretty bland
Perk cards are incredibly underwhelming considering they do nothing other than offer additional stat trades. Especially the low tier perks that are more of a detriment to stats than they are a benefit. +5 to contact for a -5 in power doesn’t really add excitement to the system. I haven’t reached any diamond perk cards yet, so for all I know they end up being a bit more interesting in their stat tradeoffs, but I doubt that will make them any more interesting.— No more fresh starts
Unless I’m not thinking of something simple then there’s no way to have a “fresh” RTTS save in which you start from scratch with base stats. Aside from maybe making a new PSN account I suppose. While it’s not the worst thing in my opinion, it’s still something.Quick Thoughts:
- 50 base stat caps are fine. The days of superhumans with 99 in everything have been gone for a while now and Loadouts let you get close enough to that anyway.
- Still would like to be able to pick which stats I can train on training days rather than picking from a list of stats that might not contain what I want to improve.
- A return to having multiple characters is much needed. Universal Ballplayer is cool, but letting us have other unique players for RTTS makes the mode more replayable. Limiting it to only one at a time being usable in DD seems like a fair compromise.
- Loadouts are perfect for DD which makes me feel like the system was forced onto RTTS halfway through development.
- Archetypes should be account wide, while base stats should be character specific. (More multiple character wishes)
- We should be able to pick the DD Ballplayer’s primary and secondary position rather than having the archetypes decide that for us. The Ballplayer should be able to fill in a hole in our roster if need be, not create conflicts.
- A return of personality choices in RTTS would be nice, as well as pre-draft content to help add a little more life to the mode in general. High school games are likely a pipe dream, but anything is better than being thrust into the draft upon starting the mode.
All in all I’ve had fun with the Ballplayer system so far, even with how unpolished and broken some aspects are right now. It certainly isn’t flawless, and even if everything was functioning correctly it wouldn’t be perfect. However, at the same time I don’t think it’s entirely doom and gloom outside of the obvious issues that need resolving.
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@soisyy_psn said in Extended RTTS / Ballplayer thoughts:
Well since I just unlocked my first Diamond archetype a few minutes ago I feel like now is a good time to go into some more in depth feedback on this year’s iteration of RTTS and the Ballplayer system in general.
The big elephant in the room is that there are bugs everywhere (chief among them being that archetype progression doesn’t work without the DD workaround),
Progression doesn't work for me and many others even with the DD workaround.
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@Soisyy_PSN - really great post. Well done, well put together. I agree with about 90% of what you say here. A few comments:
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(1) I think we should be able to pick the Ballplayer's primary and secondary position regardless of whether it's DD or RTTS. Meaning that for RTTS, if a player were to choose not to be a 2-way player then they could pick a secondary position which was not hard-coded as a pitcher;
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(2) I agree - the bronze perk cards seem basically a useless trade of +n this for -n that, but then the gold perk cards (not sure how the hell I got a couple of those) are +n this for -(n-2) that. I'm sure you've seen far more perk cards than I given that you are at diamond archetype and I'm still at bronze due to progression issues - but has that theme in terms of the delta between bronze and gold perk cards continued? Do you even know that there are diamond level perk cards? (I see them listed on the market but all with 0 quantity available)
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(3) I'm not sure I was ever that big of a fan of the personality choices back when it was first implemented (2018 I think). It ended up always being a dialogue box and you told the guy whatever was going to raise the personality type you were trying to raise at the time to unlock the perk tree. I do think the concept of relationships - where you started as acquaintances, eventually became "friends", and then eventually "bros" - and if you had enough "bros" on your team then you got the "powered up" version of your perks - that SDS could have taken that concept further in 2021 and that potentially would have enriched RTTS quite a bit. I see from playing that the mechanics of it are present - you can see relationships go up when you turn a defensive play (e.g. - 6-4-3 dp) or drive in a runner or are driven in by a batter - in all those cases your relationships go up slightly (the "handshake" symbol appears briefly over the heads of the players - and eventually becomes a "fistbump" symbol). Once you have good relationships with teammates, you start seeing small perks to either fielding or batting. I think SDS has really missed an opportunity with 2021 to develop that aspect of the game and that could add a lot more life to the mode imo.
In any case - great post man. Hope SDS reads it.
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@moosealbany_psn - Thanks for the reply. May as well elaborate on some of the points you bring up as well.
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I agree that the choice of primary / secondary position should return to RTTS as well. I kinda forgot that you don't have a secondary position this year even though you do get the choice to pick the primary early on.
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I haven't seen every gold perk card but the bonuses do heavily outweigh the downsides at that point. I have a gold +8 contact and +10 clutch for -5 power and +7 contact for -2 power and arm strength. So I would assume the rest of the gold tier perks follow a similar trend of being a net positive. As for the diamond perks I can't say how good they are yet. I just know they exist since the end reward for my current archetype path (The Hawk) is a diamond perk. On that note there are two diamond equipment choices along the way as well, which is surprising!
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While it's true that the old personality system was pretty bare-bones, the perks that came with them were at least interesting ways to influence gameplay unique to RTTS. As for the relationship system now it functions in much the same way as previous titles. Improving through the tiers of "friendship" give you bonuses to fielding stats as well as batting stats if you're buds with runners on base. It's the ground floor for a potentially interesting system, but that's about it for now.
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Though I agree I like the progression. It's kinda cool. I like you are rewarded for X number of hits, stolen bases, PA etc. I just find the whole system to be super unrealistic and very gimmicky. I feel the developers are either out of touch with what we really want. Or they only care about getting us to play DD. Nothing about this mode feels like a career mode. Nothing, at all. Hell as go as far as saying even Madden has a better career mode right now then The Show.
You play a bunch of games. Do your weekly practice. Play more games. Unlock stuff to earn large overall boost. That is this mode in a nut shell
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