Too Much Wrong With the Game Mechanics
-
I play franchise on HOF difficulty. No problem winning games, but there's a lot of things about this that don't really seem to play true to baseball, or that detract from the gameplay - it's easily the most infuriating game I've ever played, so much so I'm unlikely to purchase in the future. Unfortunately, I expect none of this to change.
-
This game is waaaaay to home run centric. I frequently can't score without a home run, but at least I have 7 players in my lineup that have 40+. That said - it pretty much takes away baserunning away as an important element of the game, which makes it a lot less fun than it should be (more plays at the plate etc, coming through in the clutch, etc). Getting a base hit with RISP shouldn't be so rare - the best indication I have that I won't score in an inning (due in part to the massive amount of solo HR) is getting runners on 1st and 2nd with 0/1 outs. And if the wind is blowing in at all you can just forget offense entirely. I have over 2x as many home runs as doubles - making the ball actually move fast relative to the outfielders when you hit a rocket would help here, outfielders cover so much ground even on 100+ exit velo that gappers practically don't exist.
-
The pickoffs, holy [censored]. Stop. If I take an extended lead it's 50/50 I get picked off, but I can NEVER pick off the CPU when the CPU takes an extended lead.
-
Walks shouldn't be so rare (I'm at about 1.5/game, bottom of the league by a mile). They happen in baseball quite a bit.
-
It's impossible to identify certain types of pitches (changeups especially, splitters, sometimes sliders) before you hit swing and the ball magically moves to where your bat isn't. Some sliders and curves at least pop up a little bit.
-
Balls that conveniently bounce right back to infield defenders over and over
-
Lack of urgency from your own defenders when there's a tight play. Even with pre-loaded throws, your defenders lackadaisical pace getting the ball to whatever base you want costs me outs over and over.
-
When using metered pitching - a perfect release should mean the ball goes where I aim it. Even with four seamers, if aimed in the zone and with a perfect release there's a decent chance it ends up a ball. Stupid.
-
-
@Hawkeyellini_XBL, I think there's some merit to just about all of your points, though I diverge where you say you're unlikely to purchase the game in the future; warts and all, this is still a pretty good baseball game and definitely the best thing going, so my PS5 (just like my PS4, and PS3 before it) will remain, largely, an MLB the Show playing machine.
The Homeruns are crazy. Nothing can be said to refute that... I understand that unimaginative, quasi-fans of baseball love to hit home runs and succumb to the boredom that antagonizes this Adderall-fueled generation if at least half of all hits aren't sent into orbit, but, man, that isn't what baseball is supposed to be like. I'm hoping that there will be some minor adjustments (like, why is the ball so [censored] bouncy?) to how the ball plays in future iterations, but this may just be a matter of what the people want. At least there are some large stadiums to keep things contained a bit, and going back to a power creep should help--at least to start the year.
I can't say I agree with you on pitch identification (good hardware helps with this), nor the meter on perfect release, as the overwhelming majority of my releases end up somewhere within the PAR (but I don't think they all should, as you can seemingly do everything right in real life and still miss from time to time), but I do think most of what you say is valid.
I just don't think I get as angry about it... at least not to the point where I consider passing on future releases. I wish there would be improvement on the things you list, and I still appreciate the product we have.
Good post.
-
@Hawkeyellini_XBL Lots of good stuff here. They really need a new hitting engine that more accurately reflects real baseball.
-
Thanks. I literally just threw out my copy of TS24 though (you hear that SDS?). I kinda liked it for awhile, but all that bs I mentioned just makes it not worth my while. Too bad, I feel like they're so close to a great game.
I just played through (and swept) a 3 game series, and scored exactly 1 time without a home run. Then started the playoffs, multiple instances with RISP, but again, no scores without a home run. To hell with it.
