My Review So Far of MLB The Show 25, Pt. 2
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I'm back with part 2 so let's get into it.
Competitive Modes are Basically Worthless
Why SDS watered down Ranked, BR, and Events is a mystery for everyone. Events used to shell out some of the best cards in the game, now, they do [censored] nothing. Now, all three of these modes are tied to the stupid Multiplayer program, which is one of the dumbest things SDS has added since Sets and Seasons. World Series rewards are basically garbage, especially for achieving a rank that high (Clay Buchholz and Larry Walker aren't even top 5 in their respective positions), Battle Royale is pointless and at this point Events should be removed because it serves no purpose.
Switch-Hitters are the Meta Once Again
I mean it's really the same thing year-and-year-out with switch-hitters being all that you see in Ranked. Jimmy Rollins, Beltran, Raleigh, Posada, Willi Castro, Bernie Williams, Ketel, J-Ram. It gets annoying having to pitch to the same cards over and over again every single game. Some people say lineup-diversity is at an all-time high, but personally, I 100% disagree. And the reason this is is because of PCI shrinkage. I see where SDS was going with it when they added it into the game, but same-handed hitters basically have no chance this year. Hitting is buggy this year, and no, PCI shrinkage on sliders does not help.
The Lagrasa Situation
SDS was warned about this glitch the day the game released and ignored it. Now, a stadium called Lagrasa is terrorizing the game, infesting the Vault, and SDS has done NOTHING. It's not even that they were unaware of this glitch that allows you to move wall panels right in front of the batters box. THEY KNEW, and still didn't do [censored]. Hats off to you SDS, you really showed us how poorly organized you are.
Hitting This Year
Brother, hitting this year has to be one of the worst in a long time. Pitches that are barreled are somehow hit with a wet noodle meanwhile my opponent literally doesn't even touch the ball and yet it's a home run. Perfect-perfect outs are insanely high this year (stat-guy please don't be all technical and say I don't have proof I [censored] get that but from what I've heard that's how it seems; it's called speculation).
Anyway, my opinion is that SDS's main team should take a year off and prepare for MLB 27 while assigning a new team for 26. In the long term, it's probably best for the game to focus two years ahead. 26 would probably be bland without much change to it but that's a sacrifice we should be willing to make. -
Event was too sweaty the last two years and I didn't play it because I was tired of getting matched up with flawless people every 3rd game.
The play was to remove the wins being the only way to progress. Wins should always count, but shouldn't be the only mode. Ranked was ironically the only online mode that felt casual, though BR would get there later in its path.
They need to better reward the WS+ to entice them to play ranked for earning stubs where they only play other sweats instead of beating up on people well below their level for the first 5+ games of a run in event or BR.
I agree that yearly games should have a two games ahead mentality. Its ok for 26 to be similar to 25, if we know 27 will have bigger changes. They may lose some sales from RTTS and Franchise having no reason to buy the new game, but DD should be able to churn out content easily in the off year. In the age of AI there is no excuse not to have more offline content than the average player can complete, and adding separate paths back into BR and Event is easy content for the online crowd
I remember the WWE game taking a year off to reinvent itself and it got rave reviews (I personally despise their counter heavy trash but thats just me). The Show probably still has the top game play (its certainly ahead of Madden/CFB) so it doesnt need to reinvent the wheel, but it could absolutely use some improvement.
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Sadly, companies that make the only game for that sport, which is basically every sport now, will in no way take a year off.
When companies that made sports games in the past see posts like this, they wont admit it, but it scares them off.
2K, and EA are crooks, but crooks that had halfway decent Baseball & Basketball(EA), Football & Hockey(2K) games, but checked out and created what we have today what is basically everywhere(see Amazon & Google), 1 choice. It stinks, but is a sad reality. Of course, I dont have to tell anyone here that competition is everything. If you have none, it's your way or no way. The only way to make a difference is don't buy. I know that's almost impossible, because I need my baseball and hockey videogame fix.
I only play offline, because I have nothing to prove, but feel you guys pain. I started playing these around 1996, way before online came in 1999.
I would love to be a 'God' at Hockey & Baseball videogames, but its not necessary at this point in my life. I'm here to have fun playing these games & to take away the pain of never becoming pro!
We're never getting the perfect game for any sport, so either we don't buy, or accept & expect many flaws. -
@TheGoaler_PSN EA came back to basketball. You must have missed it because of how terrible it was. They also came back to baseball but made Mega Baseball 4. I would buy this and 2k back when they both came out and 2k was garbage and usually back at GameStop so fast I actually got decent trade in value for it.
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@fubar2k7_PSN said in My Review So Far of MLB The Show 25, Pt. 2:
@TheGoaler_PSN EA came back to basketball. You must have missed it because of how terrible it was. They also came back to baseball but made Mega Baseball 4. I would buy this and 2k back when they both came out and 2k was garbage and usually back at GameStop so fast I actually got decent trade in value for it.
I have NBA Live '18 & '19. I loved them. Even wrote Trophy guides for both on PlaystationTrophies.org, as 'Iceyice.' They weren't 2K caliber, but terrible is a stretch, bro!! People still play 'Live Run' on '19 today.....
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@TheBigPapa55_PSN said in My Review So Far of MLB The Show 25, Pt. 2:
Switch-Hitters are the Meta Once Again
I mean it's really the same thing year-and-year-out with switch-hitters being all that you see in Ranked. Jimmy Rollins, Beltran, Raleigh, Posada, Willi Castro, Bernie Williams, Ketel, J-Ram. It gets annoying having to pitch to the same cards over and over again every single game. Some people say lineup-diversity is at an all-time, but personally, I 100% disagree. And the reason this is is because of PCI shrinkage. I see where SDS was going with it when they added it into the game, but same-handed hitters basically have no chance this year. Hitting is buggy this year, and no, PCI shrinkage on sliders does not help.That's 100% on the players. Are they not supposed to give the Legends and Hall Of Famers who were switch hitters good cards? Not supposed to reward Cal Raleigh for his home run derby win?
I don't know how they fix this other than penalizing switch hitters or artificially boosting those who are not switch hitters. Neither of which seems like a great idea.
Looking at my app here is the best lineup. Only two are switch hitters and one of those is playing a secondary position.
Starting Lineup
Position OVR Player Team Series Meta C 99 Jorge Posada NYY Signature 99.15 1B 99 George Brett KC Hall of Fame 102.15 2B 99 Leodalis De Vries OAK New Threads 99.3 3B 99 Jose Bautista TOR Finest 106.2 SS 99 Willy Adames SF Spotlight 102.45 LF 99 Ted Williams BOS Hall of Fame 104.8 CF 99 Ken Griffey Jr. SEA Spotlight 105.6 RF 99 Babe Ruth NYY Milestone 104 DH 99 David Wright NYM Signature 105.4 -
@fubar2k7_PSN said in My Review So Far of MLB The Show 25, Pt. 2:
@TheGoaler_PSN EA came back to basketball. You must have missed it because of how terrible it was. They also came back to baseball but made Mega Baseball 4. I would buy this and 2k back when they both came out and 2k was garbage and usually back at GameStop so fast I actually got decent trade in value for it.
Technically EA did not make Super Mega Baseball 4. They just acquired the developer. The question becomes what direction, if any, does that franchise go moving forward.
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@Dolenz_PSN
Like I said, get rid of PCI shrinkage for one thing. That'll help out with lineup diversity. -
@TheBigPapa55_PSN said in My Review So Far of MLB The Show 25, Pt. 2:
@Dolenz_PSN
Like I said, get rid of PCI shrinkage for one thing. That'll help out with lineup diversity.Do you really think that will make a major difference? That people are using switch hitters because of PCI shrinkage and not just because it is easier to track pitches from opposite side? Switch hitters have been the favorite among players for more years than the PCI shrinkage has been in the game.
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@Dolenz_PSN
People don't want it in the game. It makes same-side hitting much more difficult, so just get rid of it. Hitting is hard enough this year. -
@TheGoaler_PSN said in My Review So Far of MLB The Show 25, Pt. 2:
@fubar2k7_PSN said in My Review So Far of MLB The Show 25, Pt. 2:
@TheGoaler_PSN EA came back to basketball. You must have missed it because of how terrible it was. They also came back to baseball but made Mega Baseball 4. I would buy this and 2k back when they both came out and 2k was garbage and usually back at GameStop so fast I actually got decent trade in value for it.
I have NBA Live '18 & '19. I loved them. Even wrote Trophy guides for both on PlaystationTrophies.org, as 'Iceyice.' They weren't 2K caliber, but terrible is a stretch, bro!! People still play 'Live Run' on '19 today.....
The AI in those games was terrible. That’s why 19 was the last of them.
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@Dolenz_PSN said in My Review So Far of MLB The Show 25, Pt. 2:
@fubar2k7_PSN said in My Review So Far of MLB The Show 25, Pt. 2:
@TheGoaler_PSN EA came back to basketball. You must have missed it because of how terrible it was. They also came back to baseball but made Mega Baseball 4. I would buy this and 2k back when they both came out and 2k was garbage and usually back at GameStop so fast I actually got decent trade in value for it.
Technically EA did not make Super Mega Baseball 4. They just acquired the developer. The question becomes what direction, if any, does that franchise go moving forward.
True. They did just publish. My point being they chose not to make their own game after NBA Live crashed and burned after 2 games of buggy AI.
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I think EA is actually prepping to get back into the baseball game, no pun intended. Them buying SMB was likely a stepping stone, as it gives them a baseball skeleton to build off of.
I wouldn't be opposed to them making another NCAA baseball game either
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If 2K made a baseball game they would pony up to get more legends, and a ton of mediocre players too
and for $1000 you could get GOAT Kevin Maas, 125 in all stats and somehow learned to be a switch hitter.
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@Teak2112_MLBTS
MLB 2K7 had Tris Speaker. 18 years later, SDS still doesn't have him. Goes to show lol. -
@TheBigPapa55_PSN said in My Review So Far of MLB The Show 25, Pt. 2:
@Teak2112_MLBTS
MLB 2K7 had Tris Speaker. 18 years later, SDS still doesn't have him. Goes to show lol.I'm not going to lie. Part of me wonders if I would take the tradeoff of The Show being EA/2K levels of scum if it meant I could have most of the 86 Mets, or guys like Turk Wendell
And I know where I fall on that and we will just leave it at that.
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It's not just about having the rights to put them in the game. I think they could put any player in the game that they wanted by just using the stats. The thing that holds back these players from being in The Show is the likeness rights. These are separate than just using the name and stats.
Out of the Park has the entire history of baseball? How? They don't use likenesses of all the players. Here are the Babe Ruth cards for their perfect team mode (which in my opinion is really pay to win). No faces means no likeness rights needed.
I don't think believe for a minute that the vast majority of The Show players would be happy with players that don't look like they actually do or did.
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@Dolenz_PSN
I guess it's better than not having them all. Like you said, make the player look very similar with his stats but use a random name and give the players the option to customize him to his real likeness. -
@TheBigPapa55_PSN said in My Review So Far of MLB The Show 25, Pt. 2:
@Dolenz_PSN
I guess it's better than not having them all. Like you said, make the player look very similar with his stats but use a random name and give the players the option to customize him to his real likeness.For offline only.
I dont want to see deformed head Ichiro, female Barry Bonds, white Jackie Robinson, or worst of all skinny Bartolo Colon.
And players would absolutely do all of those things.
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We need @SDS_JoeK_PSN to pass this along to the team.
