Biggest Reason The Show is A Terrible Franchise
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I could literally write a thesis about all the things wrong with this game, but I'll stick to one big thing: The Show doesn't know if it wants to be a simulation game or an arcade game. Them trying to make it both is what makes this game awful. I did not like 19, I hated 21 and 25 is so bad I can't even get mad (sometimes) The only way to fix this game is to pick a lane. If SDS wants this game to be all home runs, which it basically is (I'm writing this after an all too common loss where my opponent has 5 hits and 4 of them were home runs. Only one of the balls he hit out was in the zone everything else was in the corners, out of the zone etc.) Home runs are beyond excessive and it's destroying the game. At the same time, SDS wants to give us plenty of "That's Baseball" moments. He hits a home run on a pitch he didn't square up or hit cleanly. I ground out with a perfect-perfect. Now very true.... this happens in real baseball. You know what doesn't? 5-10 home runs every single game.
So here's where they need to pick a lane. If you want the games to be high scoring, fun and arcade-y... then everything should be dependent on player skill. If I perfect-perfect a ball, that should be a hit. If I hit the yellow bar on the pitch meter, the pitch should go exactly where I commanded it. Remove bobbling errors which are random and has nothing to do with player skill and make the game full arcade. OR keep all the "real baseball" simulation elements in the game, but turn down the home run frequency by like 150%. I see more home runs than I do singles or doubles and that is a massive problem. Also... no one should be playing in a ranked / competitive environment with different settings. If I'm using the PCI with the default batter view, so should everyone else. No one using timed swinging or mega zoom batter's box... no one has a leg up through fudging the settings.
This is why the market needs games like NBA Jam and MLB Slugfest.... it gives people who like the idea of the sport, but don't actually like the sport a chance to shoot nothing but 3's and hit 15 home runs a game. Leave that cartoon-y and arcade-y garbage out of simulation games. When The Show plays well, it's so much fun. But then there's too much BS on the side which is why the user rating on Metacritic is 5.2
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I get what you are saying and don't wholly disagree. However I don't think this is the Show's fault. I think it's the playerbase's fault that just wants to whine about every little thing because as you said they don't actually like baseball, they just want to hit as many homeruns as possible.
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@Squid_Adams_PSN
"Home runs are beyond excessive and it's destroying the game."Are you referring to Events, RS, BR, Offline, etc. or all the above? Because the current "Moonshot" Event is about hitting homeruns. If you are referring to RS, then what division/level are you referring to? This game plays different in every game mode, and it plays different on every difficulty mode.
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@Squid_Adams_PSN said in Biggest Reason The Show is A Terrible Franchise:
Home runs are beyond excessive and it's destroying the game.
Are you talking about MLB The Show or are you talking about MLB The Sport?
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@xElRojo44x_MLBTS There are literally too many home runs in every mode. And if someone hits the ball hard and it ISN'T a home run. They come here and cry about it. So yes, they are beyond excessive.
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I play franchise, and I play alot of AAA games.
It's actually a legit baseball game at those attribute ratings.
For what it's worth
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As the saying goes, "If you try to please everyone, you please no one."
I'm mainly referring to Ranked Season's in DD and I'm like 21-26 or something, so between 350-450? I get that a lot of my complaints would be quelled by playing single player, but it shouldn't have to come to that. Playing a card collecting game by myself doesn't seem like much fun lol. Honestly, I just want a good, competitive game... win or lose. I don't like blowing people out either because I didn't sign up for 4 innings of play before a quit.
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@Squid_Adams_PSN lol, so the game doesnt play the way YOU want it to play. Got it.
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@Lord-Oimak_MLBTS That's why I made sure to reference the MetaCritic user score. It doesn't play the way LOTS of people want. Being given a 5.2 out of 10 is not a compliment, my guy.
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@Squid_Adams_PSN Unfortunately metacritic scores aren't always a great indicator of actual feelings on the game and you have to dig into them a bit. It is not people leaving legitimate reviews of the game as much as it is people venting. It shows 23 total scores that people actually left a review on and of those 9 are 0 or 1. I don't care how much you don't like a game a 0 or 1 are games that don't load or are completely unplayable and this game is not that. There are also like 6 10s in there too from people that even it out a little but those reviews are just as bad because this game is not even close to a perfect 10. And don't get me wrong because I have my complaints about the game and would put it somewhere around 6.5 or maybe 7 but those "reviews" are normal for metacritic users now.
Last 5 years
MLB 25 5.2
MLB 24 4.3
MLB 23 6.3
MLB 22 5.4
MLB 21 4.4They haven't been happy with the game for years but I bet most of them keep coming back every year and complain about the same things again.
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@Squid_Adams_PSN if you're playing on that level, yes it's home run derby. Once you get to hall of fame and up, the game changes drastically. Especially in legend and goat.
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@Squid_Adams_PSN said in Biggest Reason The Show is A Terrible Franchise:
@Lord-Oimak_MLBTS That's why I made sure to reference the MetaCritic user score. It doesn't play the way LOTS of people want. Being given a 5.2 out of 10 is not a compliment, my guy.
First of all: I like the constructive way you formulated the OP … Very refreshing and good, so thumbs up for that …
Besides that I have feedback on this
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You base your opinion on 50 users that submitted Feedback on an internet platform (metacritic). Your final line: EVERYBODY complains the way I see it … That is wrong in the first place. Some complain about RTTS not improving much … others about graphics … microtransactions … etc. … and yes, that the game does not play well (but those are not 50, way less).
„50 opinions“ is also statistically irrelevant … Millions of people buy the game and the fact is: You cannot know how „USERS“ feel and think. You only know what you think. Stick to that, otherwise your argument line … is going nowhere.But again: good op
… I agree to some degree … that is why I complained heavily about 24-shield-woods having the game going in a wrong direction (i.e. too much arcade)). They took a better route in 25 imo) -
@indiansfan44_PSN said in Biggest Reason The Show is A Terrible Franchise:
They haven't been happy with the game for years but I bet most of them keep coming back every year and complain about the same things again.
They come back because they enjoy baseball and if you want to play a baseball video game you have one option and one option only. Same goes for Madden and 2K. I love all 3 of those sports, but without competition, we're stuck. Either skip out on something you've found enjoyment in previously or give it a go and just hope there's some fun to be had.
@YOSHI24_XBL
Surprised others felt motivated enough to dig into the MetaCritic scores. If you want, you can continue to do research through various YouTube and Reddit outlets and see what you find. I'll be honest... I see a lot of people who ignore the issues and accept it for what it is. My one friend who is super casual and plays sparingly is one of them and never sees anything my way. I commend those people. I honestly wish I could get served a plate of [censored] and be satisfied with it. Then anytime a new Marvel movie or Disney rehash rolled around, I'd be stoked for a fun night at the movies. However, I just see a great game getting bogged down by this identity crisis. My main issue is the home runs. They ruin the game the majority of the time. Like I said, I have no issue getting taken deep if I hang a pitch... but that hasn't been the case. Pitches that should probably have been singles if they weren't outs end up going 420 feet.I'll be honest again. I didn't want to join the forums or spend time and energy here, but I really didn't see anyone mentioning this issue in the negative commentary about the game. I guess I'm checking in to make sure I'm not crazy... but I also think people are just feeling defeated and realize The Show is going to be a half baked MLB Slugfest, so they focus on other issues... like the graphics. Or the animations. Or there not being any tattoos in a game that should be far easier to have them than NBA 2K. Or there not being alternate customizable jerseys. Or the fact that they're taking features away, likely only to re-introduce them years later as a new feature a'la Madden. Or all the wonky Show things that happen like fielders having no urgency. Maybe they only think about one or two of those things... who knows? But I sure would love to see this game take the next step in all departments, especially graphics that belong in 2025. Of course, none of that will matter if the game continues to go with this philosophy of pleasing the kids with excessive home runs and stupid cards like a power hitting Brian Roberts, ignoring how he has only 97 career home runs and all, plus pleasing the older people with all the simulation aspects. To wrap up my thoughts in an analogy... The Show to me has been a nice looking burger that has the taste to match... but then I get vicious stomach cramps and diarrhea.
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@Squid_Adams_PSN Tbh … I looked into the metacritics and I have no interest basing my opinion on other‘s … and dig further. That is not my job. My job is to come to my own conclusion and make my personal buy/not-buy-decision … SDS‘s job is to react on feedback or not … and that will decide on other user‘s buy/not-buy-decision.
Again, you got good points … but I do not think, that any kind of „research“ (that is a very big task) will lead you to objective results :).
I would also love a new „The Bigs“-game (that was awesome ) … and have MLBTS be a sim … To me, the latter is one … I enjoy this game very much and I think it improved a lot over the last 2 years -
@indiansfan44_PSN exactly this. 4.4 for MLB the show 21, which many consider the Greatest version of the game but has the lowest score on here....
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@Dodgers_1890_PSN I know this is a small sample size but the creators that I watch that are playing on HOF and up are still playing a HR Derby.
And even as such the game shouldn't have to be insanely difficult in order for it not to be a HR derby. So many people on this forum act like they want every perfect perfect to be a HR (I'm not saying you do) and to me that's what's wrong with the game. But I want real baseball where bad luck happens and there are many more variables to hitting than just timing a swing. In fact to me being late or early on a swing are how you use the whole field so seeing those words used as negative swing feedback has always been weird to me. Obviously there are extremes were you are too late or too early but I can be late on a pitch and slap it the other way, if I'm perfectly timed that means I'm hitting the ball back up the middle.
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Every perfect swing should be a HR. A “perfect” swing is entirely a video game invention. There is no such thing as a perfect swing in real life because there’s no actual way to measure if the swing could have been better. A “perfect” swing is not synonymous with “high exit velocity” or “hard hit.” It is entirely a video game invention with no real life counterpart.
As entirely a video game invention, SDS chooses what it labels/classifies as “perfect.” They’ve chosen to label swings as perfect when they’re very clearly not perfect. No one is trying to swing over the ball and hit a ground ball for a double play so labelling GIDP swings as “perfect” because the bottom of the three PCI dots covers the ball is absurd.
Does that mean all swings currently classified/labelled in-game as perfect should be HRs? No. The feedback system is a significant problem with the game as it doesn’t guide players to make optimal swings. For example, it’s better to be just early or early than good on swings in the middle of the plate. Why are bad swings labelled as good when they’re not actually good swings? They need to overhaul the feedback so that it matches the results and properly guides players to what they should be trying to do.
If you’re going to have a video game mechanic labelling swings as perfect, those swings need to be HRs 100% of the time. That shouldn’t be controversial. It’s basic common sense. No one is hitting a double and saying they couldn’t have done better. And again, it’s entirely a video game invention. It’s not “that’s baseball.” It isn’t baseball. The label doesn’t exist in real life.
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I wouldnt go as far as to say its a terrible franchise but they're gonna have to do some serious work if they wanna keep people next year once GTA 6 comes out. Ive already given up this year as there are at least 4-5 games out or on the way that are more fun right now and ive already decided not to buy next year. Im not wasting $100 on basically a rental because once GTA 6 drops, thats all ill be on for the rest of 2026 and beyond.
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@RealPudgyPanda_MLBTS Respectfully, I wholeheartedly disagree with you. Perfect swings are synonymous with hard hit balls aka "barreled" baseballs. You can barrel a ball and hit into a double play or a double or even a homerun. If you hit a HR every time you get a perfect swing then that's arcade baseball. And while there may be a place for that The Show is not it. The Show is first and foremost a baseball sim and IMO it should stay that way. Historically arcade baseball games don't have the staying power, and to me that's because it's only entertaining to hit a homerun every at bat for so long.
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@trfatboy22_MLBTS said in Biggest Reason The Show is A Terrible Franchise:
Perfect swings are synonymous with hard hit balls aka "barreled" baseballs.
They’re not. They never have been. You can get “perfect” swings in the game that do not even count under the game’s own hard hit filter while regularly having “non-perfect” swings that do. You just tell that lie to yourself to cope with a terribly designed and executed video game mechanic.
