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No adjustments to gameplay? The mind literally boggles. With a multitude of gameplay issues to choose from when deciding what to focus on primarily with 1.12, you went with.......... None of them. This will probably be my last MLB The Show game in all honesty. It’s the only game I’ve ever come across in over three decades of gaming where you can play for thousands of hours over five years, buy every expensive accessory available to assist your efforts and yet get worse at the game. There’s no sense of improvement or progressing your skills because the game is dictated by inconsistency to the point of feeling like a series of random occurrences.
This game is entirely focused around hitting home runs and there’s a total lack of respect for pitching and defense as it stands. There’s one player in the top 20 for this season who has an ERA below 5 and he’s sitting at 4.87. The current number one player this season in RS has an ERA of 7.01. Your game is terrible. Exactly what you think is fun about playing ninety minute games at Shippet where both teams combine for thirty or more runs, I’m unsure, but this is a terrible representation of the sport of baseball. This is some garbage arcade slugfest with zero emphasis on anything except overpowered hitting.

You’re not beating the target score before you exceed the maximum number of permissible outs, would be my best guess based on the information supplied.

Yeah, I think you’re being a little too pessimistic. Why do you care? What do you mean “It’s not fair?” Fair to who, exactly? Why aren’t you off completing the map 8 times for 200000 stubs instead of complaining about those who are? I’m confused.

Yeah, ‘20 was the last straw for me, I won’t be playing ‘21 at all. This franchise has been in decline for a while and I don’t have any realistic hope for improvements in the coming year. Yes, the show is the best baseball game available, but when the only other game is RBI that’s not saying much. I’m tired of it all now, SDS can’t make a realistic baseball game to save their lives and the deliberate tactic of taking away full user control and replacing it with....... whatever you call the weird gameplay - Has really killed my desire to ever play the show again. Pitches that don’t locate with perfect input, batted ball outcomes that make no sense, losing games to a clearly inferior opponent who has no idea how to play baseball correctly and just pounds buttons arcade style etc. All you can do is express your dissatisfaction, which I have done many, many times, both on the forum and in emails offering feedback to SDS and hope they realise they’re killing the franchise with these terrible decisions.
All I can do is vote with my wallet and I’m not returning for ‘21 due to the hugely disappointing games SDS have churned out in the past few years. ‘16 and ‘17 were the pinnacle of gameplay, due to the absolute control afforded to users when pitching. ‘17 had the best pitching of any MLB the Show game because it was accurate when you were accurate with the controls. Later editions may have surpassed ‘16 and ‘17 in terms of content and availability of content to all players but the gameplay has been in a severe state of decline, every year I feel like I have less and less control of outcomes in game and everything feels more scripted and out of my hands.

It’s actually pretty sad as I would regularly play for thousands of hours and play thousands of H2H games each year, but this franchise is no longer worth the investment for me, be that the financial investment of a PS5 and copy of the game plus stubs, or indeed, the time and effort invested to improve at a game that doesn’t offer any incentive to do so, instead being ruled by nonsensical and seemingly random outcomes. The final concern is that the content last year was horrible, if SDS see fit to continue down that path, giving legitimate legends like Griffey and Babe Ruth worse cards than some minor leaguer who has yet to play a game, giving multiple high diamond cards to the same player with slightly different stats and handing out 99s to anyone and everyone who don’t deserve them, then ‘21 will be just as garbage as last year. SDS really need to get a grip and think about the sport of baseball in a realistic manner, in every aspect from what happens when you throw a pitch, to how a ball should behave when making contact with a bat, to the comparison between Jacob Stallings and Jorge Posada and how that should affect the ratings of their best cards. I just can’t go through that nonsense again. Not this year, maybe ever.

For the last six weeks I’ve spent the vast majority of my time on TSN complaining about how SDS have ruined the game by implementing narrow swing timing windows that are totally impossible to work with. The ball is unhittable, I repeatedly proclaimed. This game is terrible. If there was a thread complaining about hitting being bad, I’d happily jump in and hijack the thread to complain about swing timing windows, I’ve sent emails and complaints and much more.

To be honest, I felt justified in my viewpoint. Hitting was impossible for me. By the time I started to swing at a fastball, it was in the catchers glove. Not possible to hit.

Fast forward to today, when I changed my display settings (should have tried this a while ago) which had reset when we had a brief power outage several weeks ago.......... And it transpires I’m a complete moron. Sorry about that. I’m kinda early on fastballs now on HoF. Might need to slow my bat down a little. Oops. So, ummm, sorry SDS. Sorry, general community, who read my whining posts every day. I’ll get my coat.......

Everything is moments these days, or a variation of moments, such as Showdown. I was thinking about the days before the moments concept existed in DD, when missions were to be completed in regular play, either against the CPU or H2H. While I’m not a fan of moments, mostly due to the fact I think they’re pretty much rigged, I wasn’t a huge fan of the old method of loading up your line up with grind cards and facing the Rockies on rookie either.

While it seems like a more sensible, streamlined approach to set you a task and then have you right there with the player to attempt to complete only that specific task, the reality is that you’re trapped in that moment until the game allows you to proceed. That’s my main issue with moments, they don’t feel like a skill based challenge, where you’ll succeed based on your ability, they feel like a time sink where you’ll be allowed to progress as and when the programming dictates you will progress. The Willie Mays level fielding from bad to average defensive players and the absolute flat refusal of the AI pitchers to play along with the script at times (Beaning batters with one hit left in a mission to get 4 hits including 3 XBH etc) would be a huge factor in this take.

I also just think they’ve taken the concept too far at this point. POTM is moments, Topps Now is moments, Showdown is just moments with a twist and the draft element of BR bolted on, player programs are predominantly moments.......

It would be nice if we saw something a little more imaginative in terms of mission design next year, I feel like I’ve been in a moment that represents every possible situation in baseball over the past two years. Not to mention some of these magical moments truly do last a lifetime. Or so it feels.

@Oachs83 said in MLB The Inconsistency:

8 out of 10 RS games go like this

First inning or two the better player will score right away but just a run or two. Then it’s five innings of stalemate (usually just a ton of fly balls near the warning track or double plays). If someone does score during stalemate time that run will be matched in the next half inning.

Then in the 8th the better player will get a two or three run lead. In the 9th the lesser player will get the tying and or winning run on base but will come up just short. This happening near the end leaves the better player happy because of the win and the lesser player believing he almost pulled it off.

Now this formula works until you experience the same scenario about 50 times and just realize it’s in the coding.

I can’t lie, I’ve argued heavily against game scripting and the like on this very forum over the years, but with over 1100 RS games played this year, that scenario sounds extremely familiar.

@raesONE said in Ken Griffey:

The only thing I dislike is that he has a shift.

When you’re a bad hitter like me, you get a ton of oppo doubles due to being late on outside pitches

Title is accurate. There have been so many days this year where I’ve been off work and had nothing planned, so I’ve settled down to grind RS in MLB the Show for the day. Almost without exception, after a game or maybe two, I’ve completely had enough and can’t stand to continue.

That’s the biggest confirmation that the gameplay this year is not engaging enough. There are far too many home runs, which makes every game feel very similar. Yes, we do have other types of hits, the old double down the line that just stays fair, then the outfielder gets it from the corner and does that crow hop animation before throwing to second, where the second baseman gets pulled away from the base so they’re safe. I see that quite a bit, yeah.
The one where the third baseman boots the ball, but blocks it with his body then recovers to make the out in time at first base happens frequently also. But it all feels scripted, repetitive and not at all spontaneous this year. It’s boring.

@lazy_toast said in Y'all can have Chipper:

@Hikes83 said in Y'all can have Chipper:

You don’t understand how popularity works huh?

Oh i do. Just dont understand why people pay for a name rather than stats. Its a competitive video game after all. SDS feeds of those ppl so

This is not a competitive video game. It may attempt to present itself as such, but it falls short in many areas on many levels, to the point where it really cannot be regarded as such. A competitive game would usually see the outcome decided by the skills and input of the user.

No, it’s nothing like it was in years past. As I only really play RS it formulates my view of the game as a whole and in my view, this is probably the worst edition of the show I’ve ever played and I’ve played every year since ‘16. It’s definitely now on a par with ‘18 in terms of gameplay quality and may even sink beyond that given enough time.
You can’t pitch anywhere without batters making contact, you can’t reliably expect to have any success with good input, every game features a combined 15-20+ runs on 30-40 hits, even if you avoid Shippet, Good/Okay is absolutely out of control, terrible animations abound, outfielders are still dicey about fielding balls hit close to the base of outfield walls, hit variety is way down (unless you count the different types of home run under hit variety), ERAs are into the stratosphere, desync makes the game look terrible online, if not downright farcical at times, bunting is OP due to bad infield defending, outcomes and feedback - Both on the hitting and pitching sides - are totally random as opposed to being dictated by, or in many cases bearing any vague relation to, inputs and visual indicators of success, there are still issues with MLB stadiums dropping frames, the list is endless. None of this, unsurprisingly, makes for a great baseball experience.

@ItsaCanesthing said in Gavin Lux is a starting pitcher:

Mistakes like this happen, no big deal.

But my problem is how can Gavin Lux get a 90 OVR card while Nick Madrigal gets a 95?
In what universe is Madrigal a better prospect than Lux???

I do not like these "fake" prospect cards with bloated stats, but this is crazy.

Chill out, we’re getting a 95 overall Gavin Lux next week. With a 102mph sinker.

@boogiewithstu2 said in Game Update 1.12 Thread:

@ComebackLogic said in Game Update 1.12 Thread:

No adjustments to gameplay? The mind literally boggles. With a multitude of gameplay issues to choose from when deciding what to focus on primarily with 1.12, you went with.......... None of them. This will probably be my last MLB The Show game in all honesty. It’s the only game I’ve ever come across in over three decades of gaming where you can play for thousands of hours over five years, buy every expensive accessory available to assist your efforts and yet get worse at the game. There’s no sense of improvement or progressing your skills because the game is dictated by inconsistency to the point of feeling like a series of random occurrences.
This game is entirely focused around hitting home runs and there’s a total lack of respect for pitching and defense as it stands. There’s one player in the top 20 for this season who has an ERA below 5 and he’s sitting at 4.87. The current number one player this season in RS has an ERA of 7.01. Your game is terrible. Exactly what you think is fun about playing ninety minute games at Shippet where both teams combine for thirty or more runs, I’m unsure, but this is a terrible representation of the sport of baseball. This is some garbage arcade slugfest with zero emphasis on anything except overpowered hitting.

19 is where it’s at right now, that and 17 ....

I actually went back, reinstalled and played some ‘17 this year, it felt great, but it did serve to highlight just how much hitting and pitching have changed for the worse in the interim period between then and now. I uninstalled ‘19, though I still have a plethora of cards should I wish to return at any point and make use of them.
When you go back in time and play ‘17 online (I played H2H with @raesONE and I was able to find a few games in RS against randoms, surprisingly) you are left in little doubt about the regression of core elements of gameplay such as hitting and pitching. While there are faults and they do affect gameplay (the top spin on Miggy and Griffey is really obvious, for example and some terrible animations like catchers always sliding on dropped third strikes allowing the runner to reach first also spring to mind), the basic elements of the game feel much more accurate and natural than they’ve ever felt in any version of Diamond Dynasty since. Pitches go exactly where you aimed them with good input and when hitting, exit velocities seem astonishing compared to what we’ve become used to in recent years. I’m not sure why SDS moved away from solid fundamentals in favour of strange and unrealistic outcomes, but it is what it is.

@Ikasnu said in Proof of broken check swing mechanics:

Remove check swings

F- that. So we just get rid of everything that SDS broke or can’t manage to execute successfully? It’s going to be a strange baseball game when we remove hitting, fielding and pitching then, because it’s all messed up lol. Make them get things right would be my solution.

@MarinerMatt01 said in I Think I’ve Had it With Diamond Dynasty:

It’s bad enough that I have to go through yet another low scoring game with a guy just blast 102 mile an hour fastball at me 105 times a game but when I finally catch up to it and get a two run homerun. Bottom of the ninth he gets his second hit, 2-0, he attempts a steal with one out (?) and the game freezes. Currently in a stand off. I can believe this game has gone back to the 2017 meta. If this is how it continues to play, count me out, I’ll try again next year.

Wondered why I’d not seen you around twitch lately. Nothing we can do except play the game we’re given, it’s affecting us all. I’ve quit being mad, I’m past that stage now. Best advice I can give you is to not take it as seriously and just laugh at the BS that will definitely occur in games. As for trying again next year, man..... I have to be better than this. I have to stop giving in and preordering this game, because it’s not getting better. I love baseball just like everyone else, for some reason, I even love diamond dynasty and MLB the Show - When it works half right, that is.
But the whole package of caring about this game, wanting it to be better, trying to compete and becoming emotionally invested has to stop. It’s a consistently trash product that’s fun half the time and frustrating all the time. I’d be as well of trying to get emotionally invested in a mobile phone game where you tap the screen to swing.

@faemont said in You can replay Run it Back Conquest or Showdown to get as many packs as you want...:

So this is basically them saying the game is over? free cards to everyone.

Yup. The day the music died. As soon as they hand out the unlimited 91 Elvis Andrus, it’s game over.

Someone’s going to tell you he had less AB vs LHP and using this formula you’re incorrect.

3.2.1........

@SJR15ITFC said in 10th inning predictions:

Can see the 10th inning drops on 30th October with 'can't talk about it yet' as the teaser clue. Could this be pitchers who have thrown no-hitters or perfect games as the bosses, given the unwritten rule of not talking about a no-no whilst it's in progress? or is it something else do we think?

My guess is one boss only and it’s Ken Griffey Jr.

This year, everyone already has 8 or 9 “CAPs” on their team. The only difference is that SDS created them.

Oh yes. Check swing every pitch lol. Hitting feels really uncomfortable this year and unnatural.