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.

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.

Nah, I’ve practically stopped using my PS4. Can’t justify the expense for a PS5 and there’s nothing I want to play on it anyway. I’ve been playing Champion Jockey on PS3 for the last month when I do feel like playing anything.

I’m thinking that ‘21 may be an update DLC for owners of ‘20 that brings new card art, rosters and content via a patch that costs around half of the base game. If released as a standalone title on PS4 and on other platforms, you’ll get ‘20 with the ‘21 updates preinstalled over the base game of ‘20 and pay full price. This will save a lot of work, allow for improvements to be made to the existing product and give them an extra year to think about a full rebuild. Plus it’s an entirely new game for non PS4 owners. Digital delivery is the future of gaming, music and any downloadable product (well, it’s the present, but you get my drift), with physical discs and so on rapidly being phased out of existence, so to make a base game at AAA price and keep it current with yearly updates makes sense, particularly when they blatantly sell us the same game with updated rosters etc every year anyway. Why not admit that, own it and utilise it?

Nah, I pretty much quit a couple months back. Finest was the last straw for me really. More stupid cards that were better than the likes of Mantle, Ruth and Griffey and we got handed over 40 elite round choice packs that contained a total of three cards to choose from, ensuring everyone got at least a dozen of each card. Excellent concept.

@TEXAS10PT said in What did I ask Santa for? Might you know? What did you ask Santa for everyone?:

@ComebackLogic said in What did I ask Santa for? Might you know? What did you ask Santa for everyone?:

Must be nice, here in England I haven’t had a single penny from the Government for Coronavirus assistance. Can’t wait until they start screwing us all over on taxes etc to claw some money back, even though I’ve had nothing. Merry COVID Christmas!

I have been thinking about you a lot lately since the news says y'all have a stronger strain of the virus showing up in the U.K. Just hoping you are ok and that all you guys in Europe are OK. Hope Raes is ok also.

Well, they say it’s more contagious. Not more deadly or necessarily stronger. I’ve worked all year in a public facing job, handling cash and visiting stores and I’m fine. Well, I don’t have COVID. I’m probably not fine, but I find the solution is to avoid doctors and hospitals, that way they can’t diagnose you with anything nasty!

@raesONE said in What did I ask Santa for? Might you know? What did you ask Santa for everyone?:

@ComebackLogic said in What did I ask Santa for? Might you know? What did you ask Santa for everyone?:

Must be nice, here in England I haven’t had a single penny from the Government for Coronavirus assistance. Can’t wait until they start screwing us all over on taxes etc to claw some money back, even though I’ve had nothing. Merry COVID Christmas!

Oh well, the $600 US citizens are receiving won't even be enough to afford a coffin. Dying is an expensive event.

I’ll try to avoid dying then

Over here they’ll give you a free funeral if you’re a [censored], probably just get cremated in a cardboard coffin, but hey! Free.

I enjoy pitching more than hitting, I get a lot more out of dotting a slider for a backwards K than I do hitting a 400 foot bomb. I still like the mental exercise of pitching, setting batters up and exploiting weaknesses that I pick up, but it’s annoying when the game doesn’t allow you to execute despite good input. I always know what I’m throwing and why, so it’s frustrating and makes the strategy aspect pointless if every pitch in every location can be hit out, foul tipped despite bad timing, or they randomly just go down the middle. Ruins the game for me.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas, if you’re getting a ps5, I’m jealous!

@The_Canuckler said in I finally figured out to succeed in this game:

Oh.. this again.. crazy how majority of players batting averages, slugging percentages and OPS's have gone up from this year compared to last yet this game rewards people less than every other game that's ever existed...

On the pitching side it stinks. Hitting is far too rewarding, particularly on early swings and often on badly timed or placed swings as well. My main issue with the game this year is that it’s wildly unbalanced in favour of offense at the expense of all else and I hate playing what amounts to an arcade slugfest home run derby baseball game, when I expect something more akin to a simulation of the sport. I totally understand that some players find hitting home runs to be the most exciting part of the game and find pitching boring, I can even accept that, however, I don’t like it at all. All I really want is a good balance and this year has failed to provide that.

Must be nice, here in England I haven’t had a single penny from the Government for Coronavirus assistance. Can’t wait until they start screwing us all over on taxes etc to claw some money back, even though I’ve had nothing. Merry COVID Christmas!

@Jeviduty said in I finally figured out to succeed in this game:

@ComebackLogic said in I finally figured out to succeed in this game:

This years game was hard to play for long periods of time for me, not an issue I’ve experienced in years past. After three or four games at the most, I’m done, win or lose. After a game, I don’t want to jump right into another and grind my way up the rankings, because the game isn’t really all that captivating. The cards feel pretty generic to me, so there’s little interest in mixing up the team composition as in years past, just fill up with any juiced cards, they’ve all got well over 100 power and contact, the name and card art is pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things and swing away until the game decides it’s your turn to score. All the best games I play are against total noobs or terrible hitters, we usually end up having a relatively low scoring, closely contested game. When you have two skilled players facing off, the game is an absolute shitfest of non stop home runs and early swings being excessively rewarded. Pitching is completely broken and randomly rewards good input with a hanging meatball, while you can miss your release horrifically and wind up dotting a strike on the corner. It’s a stupid game that makes little sense and a major factor in all of this is that what’s happening in game fails to correlate with user input frequently.

That said, you're getting MLB 21? Lol

Unsure. I keep checking back here for any news, hoping to see something that might relate to an overhaul in the gameplay, but nothing as yet. The problem is, I’ve only really played MLB the Show, with an occasional nostalgic foray back to GTA to look at my car collection, for the last year or two. If I quit MLB the Show, I probably quit gaming altogether.

That said, I’m 40 next year and maybe it’s more a sign that I’m just outgrowing gaming. Nothing else really appeals to me, I don’t like shooters, I don’t mind racing/driving games and I can appreciate a decent story based adventure game, but generally I find that games are a lot more shallow these days. Pretty visuals, but no depth, or full of bugs and glitches that need to be patched repeatedly, with varying degrees of success.

I’d love nothing more than to buy a PS5 and enjoy playing MLB ‘21 with vastly improved sound and graphics and more balanced, realistic gameplay than we’ve seen this year. I can’t guarantee that will be the case though, I didn’t like this years game very much at all, personally. It’s a tough call, I’ve barely touched my PS4 for a couple of months now, it’s just gathering dust and when I do turn it on and load up baseball, I usually turn it off again without playing a game. Meh.