Time to Blow This Game Up
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I've had a string of like 6 games where I experienced blatant buffing and nerfing. I can give all the scenarios, but it will be a lot to type and read. But what I experienced was the game's engine forcing me to win and forcing me to lose. I don't like either scenario. I want the game to be decided by player skill and player skill only. No randomness or inconsistency excused by the "it's how real baseball is" mantra. Is this a video game or a simulator?
The truth is, SDS can no longer be trusted. They're just a smaller and less profitable EA that's become complacent and is churning out cut copies yearly that get progressively worse from a technical and gameplay standpoint. The last major update might have been 17? Eight years, fellas... eight years. They still want that $70 from you and then some if you're dumb enough to buy packs of cards.... but doesn't seem like they want to give us anything meaningful in return. Ignore the games issues and smokescreen players with new (but also recycled) cards, bat skins, bat flips and create a female baseball player feature. All cosmetic things to give people cheap thrills, but meanwhile players who want the best baseball game possible are left wanting more year in and year out.
Nagging issues I've experienced recently / other reasons to blow this game up.
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Animations costing me hits, runs etc. I anticipate my opponent doing something and upon catching a fly or fielding a grounder. I throw home, only to see a 3 second delay between my command and my player actually throwing the ball home. Sometimes he doesn't throw it at all. I've also had players trying to beat out a throw for an infield single, only to slow up and round first like they were considering going to second.
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Good / perfect commands on the meter pitching system landing 2-3 feet away from my intended target. What's with this inconsistency? I hit that yellow sliver perfectly, but my pitch wasn't perfectly thrown? Sometimes it's just straight hung and hit out of the park. Am I in control of my pitches or not? Reeks of randomness.
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Freezing. Whether that's freeze offs (which admittedly I haven't seen a lot of this year) or my Diamond Dynasty menus stalling and having to back out of the game entirely. I've noticed an uptick in this. Must've borrowed this feature from Madden.
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Removing features. Madden gamers know this all too well. We went "next-gen" but then lost the ability to add our own music. PS5 was an upgrade over PS4, right? Is losing that feature an upgrade? I'm confused.
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Graphics and Animations. Untouched in eight years. There's like 3 slide animations and every single player slides the same exact way. Same with diving to catch a ball... and basically everything else. Animations contain very little variety.
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Pickoffs are pure randomness. I've taken 1 step leads with Elly De La Cruz and did not command him to steal... and on numerous occasions he's been picked off. 99 Speed, 99 Steal, 1 step lead and picked off. Meanwhile I can't even pick off Cal Raleigh with the same lead. Only time I've been able to pick players off is if they take the two step lead. So how does this feature work, exactly? I've never been clear on it and frankly I don't think SDS is either. Seems like it's pure randomness.
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Wonky Baserunning. Steals are random too. Why is Elly taking off perfectly on some attempts, and then stuck in mud on others? Is this another random game mechanic? Or can we actually control the player's jump? Seems random and you're just banking on your players ratings to increase your odds. Also, I've had players (unprompted) not tag up on a fly ball and get thrown out when I realized they were just going to run.
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Hits to Homerun Ratio / Excessive Homeruns. It's not uncommon to see a box score where 35-50% of the hits resulted in homeruns. Look at real MLB box scores and this is not something you'll see. Yet The Show likes to tout the randomness players experience in this game as "real baseball." Real baseball with an unrealistic amount of homeruns lol.
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No Identity. Is this a Simulation or Arcade baseball title? The homeruns suggest arcade, but then the "real baseball" randomness suggests simulation. Which is it? Trying to be both is not working.
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No tattoos. In 2025. No excuses here, 2K has been doing this a long time in NBA 2k (and the WWE games) Perhaps it's an issue of the money SDS has to spend on the game, but regardless, that just means we're allowing a dinky studio with all sorts of limitations make our baseball video games.
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Wonky Stadium Creator. Making a stadium is not easy, number one.... and even when you do make it, the game gives you all sorts of problems when you want to upload it / use it in games.
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Uniform creation. There's been no changes to this in years. No sleeve patches, alternate uniform options, no additional fonts, nothing. Untouched. A recurring theme with SDS.
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Untouched modes and aspects about the game. If it doesn't directly make them money, SDS will neglect it. They neglect a lot about this game. Uniform creation, creation options in general (logos creation tools, announce-able team names etc) , Franchise, RTTS and so on. Lazy and EA like game development.
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Check Swing and Umpire Inconsistency. The "real baseball" excuse again. But some games, it's so lopsided and gives one player a huge boost. Check swings are always successful for their players and not mine (or vice versa) and umpire calls are a lot more lenient or stringent from one player to the next. Real baseball, sure... but there's certain things I think that need to be omitted for video game quality of life purposes (much like they did with removing the need to warm up relievers)
I can definitely continue going, but I think that's good for now. I'm sure the next few games I'll play will be a lot of fun... but will inevitably return to it's inconsistent nonsense that has been hindering a once beloved series. It's just Madden for baseball, now.
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Agree game is scripted and user skill is irrelevant.
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@Squid_Adams_MLBTS said in Time to Blow This Game Up:
I can give all the scenarios, but it will be a lot to type and read.
Would be too much to type and read and still manages to to type out a 1,043 word rant about whatever the issue is today.
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@Squid_Adams_MLBTS
Ngl bro is spitting facts -
@LYNX6937_XBL said in Time to Blow This Game Up:
Agree game is scripted and user skill is irrelevant.
if game is scripted and user skill is irrelevant, I'd be winning a WHOLE lot more.
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@SaveFarris_PSN
Except that part -
If you’re playing against another human then who does the script favor? Just the other person because you’re a sore loser I presume?
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@fubar2k7_PSN silly comment. You must not play the game a lot. We don’t know the exact reason for favoring an opponent. It could be market manipulation or sliders being adjusted for players that aren’t as high in rank. I don’t know but many others on this forum have explained it well. There is absolutely no reason you can go 5-30 on goods with very hard and solid contact while ur opponent is making very soft early and late (dink) contact putting runners on base with sudden slams. I’ve had defense errors randomly at crucial moments. I’ve had games where my perfect-perfect outs were more common than they weren’t. I’ve had perfect pitches hung and annihilated and perfect pitches called balls when they were very much so in the zone. And no I’m not talking about dots on the line. For me it’s the random meatballs down the center. You will be pitching well all game then suddenly ur pitch meter doesn’t go green and it hangs down the middle always a homer 800 and up players. The list goes on and on.
The issue is the gameplay. It isn’t consistent and if you actually read what he said he admitted sometimes the game sways in his favor and we all agree and have seen the same but that’s not what we want. If I’m playing good one day and slaughtering the ball well more than my opponent I should get good feedback. Not rage quit. And the days I’m playing terrible I deserve to get stomped. However, it just doesn’t work that way anymore. -
@LYNX6937_XBL said in Time to Blow This Game Up:
Agree game is scripted and user skill is irrelevant.
I love these comments. Many of the same people making it also call SDS bad devs and poor programmers. Apparently they can not get anything right except some magical comeback code which, according to them, works better than anything else in the game.
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I say all these things having had a VERY large sample size. Not proud of it, but my ranked game total is well over 100, not to mention all the modes I play outside of that. I believe in some professions they call these people "researchers."
I'd like to hear your reasons for denying people's experiences rather than what you went with, which contributed absolutely nothing to the conversation. Your comment is practically making that face Don makes when Napoleon Dynamite is performing with the Happy Hands Club.
@allday9128_PSN said in Time to Blow This Game Up:
Would be too much to type and read and still manages to to type out a 1,043 word rant about whatever the issue is today.
Is being articulate a bad thing?
@SaveFarris_PSN said in Time to Blow This Game Up:
if game is scripted and user skill is irrelevant, I'd be winning a WHOLE lot more.
Think of it more like an NBA referee officiating a game he bet on. Think Tim Donaghy. He can't straight up make the Lakers beat the Kings. If Shaq and Kobe can't hit the back side of a barn and the supporting cast also plays like trash, there's only so much he can do. But if they play reasonably well, Timmy D can make some foul calls here and there. Maybe at a crucial time to stop the King's momentum. Maybe get a King's player into foul trouble. Maybe put the Lakers on the line a lot more than the Kings, etc. These two things aren't 100% comparable, but I think the shoe fits.
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@Dolenz_PSN you should think about what you said real quick. You should also do your research and look up dynamic difficulty adjustment or (DDA)
Before SDS does anything it’s likely a requirement from the Sony that they have this in place. It’s creates much more revenue for them as it keeps players engaged. When more players are engaged and not stressed out because they can never compete or win what do they do ? Well they likely play the game more and spend more money.
Ur comment is naive. -
@Squid_Adams_MLBTS said in Time to Blow This Game Up:
I'd like to hear your reasons for denying people's experiences rather than what you went with, which contributed absolutely nothing to the conversation.
@RAisEdByGoAt_XBL said in Time to Blow This Game Up:
@Dolenz_PSN you should think about what you said real quick. You should also do your research and look up dynamic difficulty adjustment or (DDA)
Before SDS does anything it’s likely a requirement from the Sony that they have this in place. It’s creates much more revenue for them as it keeps players engaged. When more players are engaged and not stressed out because they can never compete or win what do they do ? Well they likely play the game more and spend more money.
Ur comment is naive.Question for both of you? Where did I ever deny anyone's experience? Or where was I being naïve?
I simply stated something that I found amusing. I never said anyone was actually wrong or that their experience was not valid.
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Reminding a lot of people of their moms right now. You know exactly what you said and what your intentions were, but now we're playing pretend? Accountability, my man.
Everyone that agrees with me has articulated why... everyone that disagrees with me just makes this face. Not the best counter-point.
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Dude, I like your lists and think they are accurate, but can you please stop posting new topics and just add to one plz. I keep reading these hoping for something new but its the same general thing. No problem with the list, I like it, but can you please keep it to just a couple topics. Thx!
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@Dolenz_PSN I’m still waiting for the free wins I’m supposed to get as a lower ranked player; any day now
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Yeah man, I'll do the best I can with that. Sometimes these threads get locked because certain members hijack it, but this one seems to have more positive momentum and conversation going, finally. Appreciate the respectful request!
I'm starting to think you're on the forums more than you play the game. Honestly, no need to waste your time replying if you didn't bother reading what anyone's written. Multiple people laid it out articulately and with personal experience. I just played a 2 inning game (signed up for 9) because I put 3 runs on my opponent in quick fashion. I was hitting pitches in locations that would ordinarily be groundouts for me. I was buffed. Is it unfair of me to question my own "stellar" performance?
EDIT: I creeped like other people did with me. This guy has played 26 games of ranked ball this year. A record of 13-13 (buff, nerf, buff, nerf anyone?) On top of that, his last two 9 inning ranked games took place on June 29 and July 26 respectively. He mainly plays the computer. And he's telling me, someone with 142 games under his belt, that I'm full of it? You gotta raise those numbers and play a couple games a day, then get back at us.
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@Squid_Adams_MLBTS I’ve been on the forums for years and your complaint is nothing new. That the game has matchmaking problems or connection inconsistency issues or other stuff that cause a frustrating experience for players, no one is disputing that.
But yeah the game helping Timmy tinfoil hat theory is always the same. You think that my 26 RS games this year (according to your research) is my only online experience? This year and overall?
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It's right there for anyone to see. I encourage people to look up his game history if they're so inclined. Myself and others PLAY this game. We play it a lot. We're invested. So when it plays like trash, we're more affected than casuals like you. You can see yourself out until you have something better for me. Not to discount the first part of your post where you actually admitted to some of the game's faults.
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@Squid_Adams_MLBTS I’ll play:
You’re 68-74 online, and you have a bunch of losses vs the CPU; you may play a lot but you’re maybe just not good enough to overcome the game’s DDA. I don’t know; may be a skill issue.
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@Squid_Adams_MLBTS Okay, Thanks! Forgot to think about that
