My annual assessment of this game
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So I've been playing offline since release, grinding all the programs and what not. So during that time I always keep my opinion to myself, because we all know offline usually plays fine and you don't really run into the issues that could spoil your experience.
Today I've been playing the event all day long. And it started out okay I guess, some slugfests here and there and just getting my feet wet. Nothing out of the ordinary. But the more I played, the more recurring themes I encountered.
First and foremost, the amount of bloopies/flukies or whatever you wanna call them are simply ridiculous. I understand that it is a part of baseball and it is totally fine if they happen occasionally. But the volume of bad swings that get rewarded are just out of hand at this point. We all like hit variety and we all want contact hitters to be usable, but not if this is the trade off. And that's what I feel is happening here, these hits are a thing because of the complaints regarding lack of hit variety in the past in my opinion.
What I also noticed is that the game, once again, forces my perfectly executed pitches into the strike zone. This was a thing in 18 and it feels the exact same to me in that sense. I have given up staggering amounts of homeruns on offspeed pitches that I spotted almost in the dirt and executed perfectly, yet somehow ended up in the bottom of the strike zone. Why are perfectly executed pitches being punished? What's the point of mastering PPP, which was introduced to widen the skill gap mind you, if you're gonna reduce that skill gap once more by adding randomness to the pitching outcome?
Then I've noticed that contact hitting is broken. Again. Try it for yourself to have a laugh. I played 5 games in a row swinging with the contact button exclusively and I hit 430ft homeruns and got 110+ mph exit velocities all the same. We can no longer see our opponent's feedback, but I wouldn't be surprised if many of the players in this community do the exact same thing. Since it widens the timing windows, allows for more solid contact and still gives you the same exit velocities.. why would you ever normal swing or even power swing?
Then there is the overall performance of the game in terms of fluidity and choppiness. I play on PS5 on performance mode and I played in a handful of created stadiums and major league parks that once again induce frame drops and choppiness all around. As if I'm playing on my vanilla PS4 all over again. Try playing an online game at Target Field and you'll see what I mean.
Another thing that seriously irritated me is the amount of weak flyballs and even pop ups on swings where the ball is entirely in my buckshot, albeit in the top part of it. But that's what the game wants us to do, no? Lift the ball with power hitters? So that's what I'm aiming for and I get okay hits for weak pop ups. Again, this reminded me of MLBTS 18.
Last but not least (for now) is the amount of freeze offs STILL HAPPENING. Like how on earth can you not find the issues to this problem for all these years? I can't help but think that these people just don't care or have given up on this problem like "it's part of the game, get used to it". That's unacceptable and laughable in a sense.
I have tried my hardest to find some good things to say as well. I guess I do like the sound off the bat, especially during a perfect/perfect. I also like the fact that fielders have more urgency and you're able to gun a lot more people now with good throwing input. But that's about it.
I'm sorry, but the game is just not very good. Again. I hate that it gives me MLBTS 18 vibes, but that's really what it does. Hopefully the upcoming gameplay patch that has been confirmed will fix many of these issues. If not, I probably won't play very long.
Edit:
One thing I forgot to mention, the PCI anchor. This feature was brought because people wanted to be able to have a sensitivity slider for the PCI. This is not that! The feature is terrible because it is basically guess pitch lite. People can just sit in a certain part of the zone and take away a whole part of the plate. I noticed that some people do this and don't swing until the ball comes into that part of the zone. I don't see how this has anything to do with skill and I think it's a terrible feature that should be removed asap or should be barred from online play. -
This game reminds me exactly of 18. It comes to a point in events where I don’t know what I am supposed to do hitting wise because nothing makes sense. Good contact in the pci lazy pop ups and little choppers. To me it feels like pitcher confidence and/or energy may be factored in way too much with the result.
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@hoffsdrawlar_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
This game reminds me exactly of 18. It comes to a point in events where I don’t know what I am supposed to do hitting wise because nothing makes sense. Good contact in the pci lazy pop ups and little choppers. To me it feels like pitcher confidence and/or energy may be factored in way too much with the result.
Yup, another good point. It's hard to get hitters out too. Just like in 18.
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I stopped reading after you mentioned the only online you’ve done is playing event games today.
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@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
I stopped reading after you mentioned the only online you’ve done is playing event games today.
Cause none of this stuff happens in any other gameplay? You really want to go that route?
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@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
I stopped reading after you mentioned the only online you’ve done is playing event games today.
You wanna question my knowledge and experience in regards to this franchise as a whole? Events are fine to use as a sample.
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@parradox-cam_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
I stopped reading after you mentioned the only online you’ve done is playing event games today.
Cause none of this stuff happens in any other gameplay? You really want to go that route?
I’m going the route of not bothering to read a wall of text titled “my annual assessment…” when it’s based on only handful of online games. Yes.
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Question for you: Do you feel that these issues are intentional due to this being the first year for Switch? Meaning, do you feel that they dumbed down the gameplay for Switch players?
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@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
@parradox-cam_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
I stopped reading after you mentioned the only online you’ve done is playing event games today.
Cause none of this stuff happens in any other gameplay? You really want to go that route?
I’m going the route of not bothering to read a wall of text titled “my annual assessment…” when it’s based on only handful of online games. Yes.
Or maybe he does this every year at the beginning and writes up his assessment of how the game is playing early on.
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@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
@parradox-cam_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
I stopped reading after you mentioned the only online you’ve done is playing event games today.
Cause none of this stuff happens in any other gameplay? You really want to go that route?
I’m going the route of not bothering to read a wall of text titled “my annual assessment…” when it’s based on only handful of online games. Yes.
Not just a handful, a whole day of playing. I've been doing this assessment every year in the exact same fashion, and I have identified issues that were at some point in time generally accepted by the community as a whole each and every time. Sorry if I didn't meet your criteria.
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@parradox-cam_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
Question for you: Do you feel that these issues are intentional due to this being the first year for Switch? Meaning, do you feel that they dumbed down the gameplay for Switch players?
Honestly I don't think there's a correlation there. They are just trying to find balance in the game within their (limited) perception of possibilities and have yet to find it. But now I feel like they're making the same mistakes that they clearly didn't learn from, which is disappointing.
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@raesone_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
@parradox-cam_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
I stopped reading after you mentioned the only online you’ve done is playing event games today.
Cause none of this stuff happens in any other gameplay? You really want to go that route?
I’m going the route of not bothering to read a wall of text titled “my annual assessment…” when it’s based on only handful of online games. Yes.
Not just a handful, a whole day of playing. I've been doing this assessment every year in the exact same fashion, and I have identified issues that were at some point in time generally accepted by the community as a whole each and every time. Sorry if I didn't meet your criteria.
Anytime.
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@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
@raesone_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
@parradox-cam_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
I stopped reading after you mentioned the only online you’ve done is playing event games today.
Cause none of this stuff happens in any other gameplay? You really want to go that route?
I’m going the route of not bothering to read a wall of text titled “my annual assessment…” when it’s based on only handful of online games. Yes.
Not just a handful, a whole day of playing. I've been doing this assessment every year in the exact same fashion, and I have identified issues that were at some point in time generally accepted by the community as a whole each and every time. Sorry if I didn't meet your criteria.
Anytime.
Anytime? That's your response? Okay.
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Thanks Raes. I haven’t bought the game yet this year, and I appreciate your honest assessment.
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Contact hitting… That’s what I was talking about when I posted that a crutch from last year made its return… I just didn’t want to spread it. Everytime I square a ball up with contact swing it’s 103mph or more and when I don’t it’s a bloop single
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@raesone_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
@raesone_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
@parradox-cam_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
I stopped reading after you mentioned the only online you’ve done is playing event games today.
Cause none of this stuff happens in any other gameplay? You really want to go that route?
I’m going the route of not bothering to read a wall of text titled “my annual assessment…” when it’s based on only handful of online games. Yes.
Not just a handful, a whole day of playing. I've been doing this assessment every year in the exact same fashion, and I have identified issues that were at some point in time generally accepted by the community as a whole each and every time. Sorry if I didn't meet your criteria.
Anytime.
Anytime? That's your response? Okay.
Breathe. You don’t need validation from everyone. It’s not personal. Everything you said may be true. I just don’t care to read it because I have the ability to think. You know, small sample sizes.
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@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
@raesone_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
@raesone_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
@parradox-cam_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
I stopped reading after you mentioned the only online you’ve done is playing event games today.
Cause none of this stuff happens in any other gameplay? You really want to go that route?
I’m going the route of not bothering to read a wall of text titled “my annual assessment…” when it’s based on only handful of online games. Yes.
Not just a handful, a whole day of playing. I've been doing this assessment every year in the exact same fashion, and I have identified issues that were at some point in time generally accepted by the community as a whole each and every time. Sorry if I didn't meet your criteria.
Anytime.
Anytime? That's your response? Okay.
Breathe. You don’t need validation from everyone. It’s not personal. Everything you said may be true. I just don’t care to read it because I have the ability to think. You know, small sample sizes.
lol acts as if he's the resident expert on the game
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I definitely agree with most of this, I'm just not feeling the MLB 18 comparison much at all. Feels like a mix of 19 and 20. Pitches not going where you placed them with good input was way more of a 20 problem than 18. Hitting feels like pre HR/9 patch 19 more than 18 by a longshot
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@hustlinowl_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
@raesone_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
@raesone_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
@parradox-cam_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
I stopped reading after you mentioned the only online you’ve done is playing event games today.
Cause none of this stuff happens in any other gameplay? You really want to go that route?
I’m going the route of not bothering to read a wall of text titled “my annual assessment…” when it’s based on only handful of online games. Yes.
Not just a handful, a whole day of playing. I've been doing this assessment every year in the exact same fashion, and I have identified issues that were at some point in time generally accepted by the community as a whole each and every time. Sorry if I didn't meet your criteria.
Anytime.
Anytime? That's your response? Okay.
Breathe. You don’t need validation from everyone. It’s not personal. Everything you said may be true. I just don’t care to read it because I have the ability to think. You know, small sample sizes.
lol acts as if he's the resident expert on the game
In all fairness, I probably am. I'm willing to bet the house that I've been playing this game for a lot longer than most of the people on this forum and at a consistently higher level too.
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@raesone_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@hustlinowl_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
@raesone_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
@raesone_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
@parradox-cam_psn said in My annual assessment of this game:
@bob_loblaw1984 said in My annual assessment of this game:
I stopped reading after you mentioned the only online you’ve done is playing event games today.
Cause none of this stuff happens in any other gameplay? You really want to go that route?
I’m going the route of not bothering to read a wall of text titled “my annual assessment…” when it’s based on only handful of online games. Yes.
Not just a handful, a whole day of playing. I've been doing this assessment every year in the exact same fashion, and I have identified issues that were at some point in time generally accepted by the community as a whole each and every time. Sorry if I didn't meet your criteria.
Anytime.
Anytime? That's your response? Okay.
Breathe. You don’t need validation from everyone. It’s not personal. Everything you said may be true. I just don’t care to read it because I have the ability to think. You know, small sample sizes.
lol acts as if he's the resident expert on the game
In all fairness, I probably am. I'm willing to bet the house that I've been playing this game for a lot longer than most of the people on this forum and at a consistently higher level too.
lol you play one mode primarily offlinen
