MLB 11 The Show Demo Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here

[slickdtc]

Love the analog pitching. It feels perfect to me. I like that if you miss too far left, the pitcher will too. If you miss under your mark, the pitcher will too. It's not just, oh I missed the mark, the ball is going to go somewhere. It's going to go where you attempted to throw it, just with the added inside/outside/over/under influence.

Analog hitting looks like it can be really fun and deep, but I think I'll be going with Timing this year. I've never been a good hitter, at least when I come here and read that everyone plays on Hall of Fame and I've been on Veteran forever and still struggle at times. And I've always felt analog hitting kills my plate patience.

I like the fielding. Analog is just a new procedure, but you can tell they really stepped up the fielder ratings and throwing meter is actually functional (I'm coming from MLB 09). It's a lot of fun, brings me back to MVP NCAA 06.

[slimm31]

I have played the demo 4-5 times. And while yes some of what is there is what has been for the last few years, there is more than enough new to make the game fresh and BETTER. If you have not had a chance to play with the camera editor, do it. It is the best way to inject something new into the game if thats what you are looking for. In my case i always had troubles with low pitches, using the camera editor i can adjust the camera INSTEAD of a slider to keep the game genuine, for me at least. It also adds so many more presentation options that you customize to your liking. I think they added just enough this year to make the game fresh without canibalizing what has been an already superb product.

[Entiae]

Quote: Originally Posted by Mom41

I understand this frustration about the stride but it's one of my absolute favorite parts of the analog batting. The load/stride makes it feel so much more like you're facing a real entity on the mound, a real person that you're competing against, not just a ball coming at you.

True. I don't think it's a bad system.. but still. If it frustrates me, I don't think I'll use it. But again, I don't think it's a bad system.

Quote: Originally Posted by Skyboxer

Same here. It makes total sense to have to focus on your stride. People ask and ask for as real experience we can get out of a video game and IMO this is a pretty good representation.

You're absolutely right. My problem is when I go from batting with a player that has a short step to someone like Posey. That's when I lose focus on the actual pitch and just try to get the timing right. That obviously won't give me good results.

But I think I will use in in RTTS. There I won't have that problem.

[Skyboxer]

Quote: Originally Posted by dasfette

IMO, player ratings should affect PCI size ONLY. I played high school ball, and am not exactly talented, but I still can swing a bat higher or lower in the zone at will. Whether I will connect is the hard part. The easy solution would be to mix the timing and influence (left/right) of analog hitting with full-control PCI with the left stick. The PCI would still be moveable, and would have heavy influence on contact. Timing would still mean A TON. Pushing up to the left/right would help boost contact on inside/outside pitches. IMO, simple solution and MORE OPTIONS!!!

They could just add LS use for bat location.
main thing is once all outcome is determined by the user you might as well eliminate ratings all together except for power speed etc....

[Skyboxer]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sharp3500

True. I don't think it's a bad system.. but still. If it frustrates me, I don't think I'll use it. But again, I don't think it's a bad system. You're absolutely right. My problem is when I go from batting with a player that has a short step to someone like Posey. That's when I lose focus on the actual pitch and just try to get the timing right. That obviously won't give me good results. But I think I will use in in RTTS. There I won't have that problem.

Yeah I plan on doing a lot of BP with my players to practice.

[bcruise]

Quote: Originally Posted by Skyboxer

They could just add LS use for bat location. main thing is once all outcome is determined by the user you might as well eliminate ratings all together.

Bingo. At that point the game becomes entirely arcade. Not arcade in a bad sense (as is typically used on this board), necessarily, but simply meaning that the user has absolute control of what happens at the plate regardless of who's batting. That's not really the kind of game I want.

[Skyboxer]

Quote: Originally Posted by spaceg0st

Then this is already stupid. First of all, ANYONE playing in the world series shouldn't miss that badly when THE PLAYER has timed, AND flung the Right Stick up in the right direction. It just feels like a dice roll now. What reward is there for the batter? When you do well enough to recognize the pitch, time it, AND swing in the right direction, you SHOULDN'T have to HOPE the computer does the rest in order for you to get a good hit. Analog hitting = FAIL

I've seen plenty of MLB players miss pitches and then you see them with expressions of "How did I miss that!!"

It's a video game. It's never going to match playing for real and I think that gets lost in the discussion to often.

[Golds]

Quote: Originally Posted by nemesis04

Just to let you know the system originally started out with having to use the left stick to aim but was scrapped. There were certain stick scenarios that made using both overly complex. You see the vast majority of people on the board struggling, having to use one stick. Imagine having to involve another stick, worry about timing your stride and having to move the other stick in an entirely different direction in one fluid motion. Train wreck!

I totally agree with you on the complex part of it. I forgot to add the comment that my suggestion isn't based on me actually trying the two stick method (which from your insight, sounds like they did). I haven't played the demo enough to make accusations about the analog, but it does seem that the CPU decides where your bat will be in a high-low respect. Say I time it good, hit the right side of the zone which is where the ball was pitched, what determines the actual vertical level the bat will swing? What determines if the bat will get on top of the ball, under the ball, or a solid squared up sweet spot contact?