Operation Sports MLB 13 The Show Community Impressions Thread

[Armor and Sword]

Quote: Originally Posted by BobSacamano

After having played the game for the better part of a week now, I feel ready to elaborate on my early impressions. Longtime player from the early PS2 days, and I pretty much only play franchise, so YMMV, yada yada yada... anywho, onwards: The (overwhelming) positives. I'll keep this section shorter, as most of this stuff has been covered in depth: - Pitch repertoires are vastly improved. This has bugged me for years! Finally, lots of pitchers have non-4-seam FB primary pitches, and cutters and sinkers abound! - Much improved ball physics. Bloops exist! Huzzah! - I'm getting very, very different results every time I play, which I consider a huge positive. - Being able to turn off the on-screen displays. Oh how big a difference such a simple option can make. - Everything looks very polished. The franchise menus are easy to navigate, snappy, and informative. The sorting options in the roster management screens are so much more convenient. Not having to scroll to see what level a guy plays at is hugely time-saving. - I've never touched scouting before, but it looks much more intuitive this time around, so I'll give it a go. - Obviously, the game is gorgeous. The negatives. I'll expand more on the negatives than the positives not because they outweigh positives (they absolutely do not), but in the hopes that this stuff gets rectified via patch or in future releases: - The crowd is a little... funky. They're rather raucous in the first inning, which feels weird for a mid-May game between non-rivals, but they settle down after that. Maybe the bigger problem is that the crowd doesn't seem to respond to the right situations. I got out of a bases loaded jam in the 8th inning of a game by punching out two straight guys, and the crowd didn't make a peep. However, get a man on base any time in the late innings, and they start going nuts. It seems really over the top, like the game is trying to emphasize that the crowd exists. Problem is, baseball is a pretty placid game. 95% of the game is a soft buzz, muted cheers, and polite claps. In the Show, it's either silence or the park going nuts. - The hat sweat. Ugh. I know this is really minor and superficial, but the details matter with this game, right? Anyways, the hat sweat is wrong on multiple levels. First, that every single player has a ring of sweat on their hats, including the managers, is a little bizarre. That it happens on 40-degree days is even worse. Most importantly, the new style of hats don't show sweat anymore, so hat sweat doesn't exist anymore. But in the game, it's on every player, all the time. - The weather. I haven't delved too deeply into my franchise, but I'm still playing sleeved-games every night, short sleeves every day. It's been in the low 40's every night game in Boston in April. A little variety would be nice. And maybe a little toughness out of the players: pitchers should be able to pitch in short sleeves when it's 58 degrees. The whole "sleeves for below 60 for pitchers, below 50 for players" is a little bothersome. - I'm not seeing the reliever-usage logic improvements. My last game, the Royals brought in Tim Collins in the 8th inning, up by two, to face a L, L, R. He got through those three, so that's good. He then comes back the next inning, faces a L, gets him too. But then he faces a R, R, R... and stays in the game. Predictably, I record a walk, single, three-run home run. The Royals had both Aaron Crow and Luke Hochevar up in the pen and warm. - Contrary to my first post in this thread, I had to turn down solid hits several clicks again. I've done this every year, as I feel the game is a little too rocket-line-drivey for my tastes. - CPU outfielders still play walls like psychics. This is probably exacerbated by playing at Fenway, to be fair. Okay, I've run out of steam and am now tired. Great game.

Try fooling around with the manager hook slider. It works with a few tweaks.

[Critical Kills]

I love that we've come so far in gaming that we are debating "hat sweat".

And to think when I played Atari Realsports Football I never thought it would come to this!

btw - not denigrating anyone about the "hat sweat" comments, just take my observation at face value!

[BobSacamano]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

I love that we've come so far in gaming that we are debating "hat sweat". And to think when I played Atari Realsports Football I never thought it would come to this! btw - not denigrating anyone about the "hat sweat" comments, just take my observation at face value!

Oh I agree completely. Any time I find myself bothered by something minor, like a player's stance not looking right, I have to remind myself: I spent my youth playing a baseball game with little fat pixels that looked identical, and I LOVED IT. Can I really complain about how high a guy holds his hands?

Also, I'll give the manager hook slider a look. I'm trying to not get stuck in slider hell this year, and besides a few simple tweaks (solid hits, fielder arms, CPU strike frequency), I'm pretty content.

[dalger21]

Quote: Originally Posted by thefakeJTS

For the guy complaining about Strasburg playing for Toronto in 2014: Last year did you complain about Miami trading away Jose Reyes or Mark Buehrle?

So you're saying the the Nationals will trade away Strasburg next year? Or the braves will trade away Jason Heyward and Kris Medlen? Yes, the game does not recognize names. However, there is something odd about Jeter playing for the Tigers. All of this has happened in my current RttS and its the middle of 2014.

[Jackdog]

This is the first year I've used the "Broadcast Cam" while batting. I've noticed that the rocket shots are greatly reduced. I'm also finding gaps and getting hits over outfielders outstretched gloves. Default sliders. Outstanding work SCEA!

[Cavicchi]

Quote: Originally Posted by Knight165

I'm sorry....anything can happen in baseball. -1969 W.S....Dave McNally hits a homerun in 2 games. Frank Robinson was only able to equal that total in 5 games. -1986...do I really need to talk about 1986?! Crazy things happen!...and they often make someone mad! Mission accomplished! M.K. Knight165

Yeah, I can deal with crazy things happening, but why not for me??? Even when I have perfect timing with pitches in my hot zones it often yields nothing, sometimes even a miss! So why should I accept Wise hitting 2 home runs on pitches in his cold zone? After all, there must be a reason why they are called cold zone, at least it seems to make sense for my batters.

Wise hasn't been the only one so it's not a freakish occurrence. Hey, it could have been a bloop or whatever hit, not a weak hitter belting home runs.

Sorry, but I don't agree with you guys.

[Cavicchi]

Seems like there needs to be an adjustment for player base running speed, but that slider raises for both CPU and User. I think having separate sliders, CPU and User, would be a great addition to the game.

[Majingir]

If about 60% of the pitches I swung at were early swing(and only about 20% were late swing) does this mean I should probably increase the pitch speed slider?

Most of those early swings came off of circle changeup(which was low 80mph).

I'm thinking bout increasing speed, but don't want to just incase fastball becomes too fast. Seems like the visual speed difference between 90mph fastball and 80mph change are too big in this game.