Early Impressions of MLB The Show 17

[RaychelSnr]

As it is with the dawn of every baseball season, the launch of the newest MLB The Show game brings about the usual sources of excitement that we’ve come to expect over the years from playing the series: a bunch of new and promising features waiting to be explored, loads of welcome tweaks to an already solid core of gameplay and — of course — a flurry of people logging on at midnight when the game's officially released, causing the overwhelmed servers to quickly become unstable.

Okay, that last one is probably more of a continued source of frustration than excitement, but at least we can say the servers have been a little better than they were last year.

With only limited time to play the game since its release on Tuesday, here are a few stray observations on what has stood out to me so far, besides the inconsistent online gameplay...

Read More - Early Impressions of MLB The Show 17

[ozcore]

for me as well Ball Physics and Humanity AI are the biggest additions this year. yesterday i hit a flyball with a.j. pollock which i thought would never leave the park and it did

[theu715]

My opinion on similar stuff. I'll say I've only gotten to play one game, but watched a few online.

Ball physics - Stellar! Hit variety was noticed immediately when playing. Seeing a line drive clear an OF is nice, but even better was a line drive hit to CF towards the gap that tailed back towards the CF. Looked incredible!

Human AI - Jury is still out. In one game I had Ellsbury (CPU) hit a nubber to Chris Archer. He fields it, looks at the ball in his glove, and proceeds to do a soft toss to first. Ellsbury beats it out by two steps solid and a run scores. Later in the game, grounder up the middle the SS fields for me and goes into a throwing animation instead of flip to second. Runner safe at second, but thrown out at first. I want this to be better, but honestly didn't expect it to be. OF did seem better on throws but still saw too many guys get "sucked" into the wall before being able to regather and throw it in. Infielders also feel like they're much slower to react than in previous years. This may be able to be tweaked. Again, I've played one game, but not impressed at all in this area.

Commentary - Night and day better! Great job here!

Retro mode - Total waste of time. Stopped three innings in, just not fun. I'd rather play my old baseball games on SNES if I want a "retro" feel. Wish this time spent would've been on something like Online Franchise for instance.

[MrArlingtonBeach]

Re: Early Impressions of MLB The Show 17

Retro mode - Total waste of time. Stopped three innings in, just not fun. I'd rather play my old baseball games on SNES if I want a "retro" feel. Wish this time spent would've been on something like Online Franchise for instance.

SDS said in a stream that it took them just a single day to bring Retro Mode from concept to creation. I don't think it took any time away from other areas of the game's development.

[GrandMaster B]

Better to just turn the commentators off after a week and listen to the stands and the sounds of the ballpark while playing instead.

[RobbieMacc]

Re: Early Impressions of MLB The Show 17

Of course Humanity AI and ball physics are huge, one small thing that goes a long way with me are live the batter/pitcher match-up stats. I'm not sure if this is tied to Inside Edge or not but I would assume so. Well done dev team, well done.

[batflip666]

for me as well Ball Physics and Humanity AI are the biggest additions this year. yesterday i hit a flyball with a.j. pollock which i thought would never leave the park and it did

So amazing, they've out done themselve loving the hell out of the game.

Now if I was a DD player instead of an offline franchise mode guy I'm be seriously depressed with the servers but even they seem to be working now.

[tessl]

Re: Early Impressions of MLB The Show 17

Ball physics are good except for the grade 4 hurricane on each foul line blowing balls foul. IRL balls do not curve remotely as much as what they have implemented.

That's one thing which needs to be addressed in a patch.

[Bigsheen]

Re: Early Impressions of MLB The Show 17

After taking a year off from The Show and video games in general last year, I am thoroughly enjoying the new features they've added. I've only really taken part in RTTS until OSFM comes out like always but I like the non-linear, RPG aspect this year in RTTS.

The commentary is something I see a lot of comments about. I really like having Harrold Reynolds and Plesac in the booth. There is PLENTY of new commentary lines and am loving the dynamic tidbits that gets tossed in over time. However, the only thing I am still seeing that has plagued commentary of just about any sports game except 2k is the repetition of phrases. In my several hours of playing yesterday, I heard Plesac and HR repeat the exact same thing multiple games in a row, and actually once or twice in the same game.

I know, understand, and appreciate the work and time it takes to record and edit and perfect the commentary but I feel like for how long this stuff has been going on, there should be some idea on how to minimize the repetition.

Aside from that relatively minor detail cuz I often listen to music when I play anyway, I have no complaints in the early stages.

[bfindeisen]

Re: Early Impressions of MLB The Show 17

Not a good start...

I'm a Show veteran, so I have no doubt I'll enjoy the game immensely. However, my first day with the game was almost a complete disaster. After waiting hours to download my Digital Deluxe version, I was unable to connect to the servers even one time...all night. Ok, fine. Fired up exhibition, Red Sox vs. Yankees. Game looks amazing, but certain issues continually plague this series; frame rate drops during some cutscenes, etc; Harold Reynolds repeats literally the exact same lines when discussing Porcello and then an inning later when discussing Tanaka; gave up my first runs on a line drives to the OF that go right through the player with no animation to catch the ball triggered. This happened again later in the game. Ended up losing 7-6. Will update impressions once I get a chance to play more.

[rkocjay]

For the short time I have played I really enjoy the presentation of the mlb network as well as the ball physics. Playing on the pro makes a huge difference to me from last year with the frame rate improvement. I always like the speed of the pitches even though I am struggling on slower pitches. The graphics needs not much to say than it has to be the best it has ever been.

[Thebard]

Re: Early Impressions of MLB The Show 17

So far just ok. Way too many cut scenes (is there a way to turn those off) during games. The commentary is very repetitive (I swear I've heard everything and i'm only like 8 games in). Ball physics look cool, but seem random. Computer fouling off way too many strikes. Outfielders still running into and sticking to walls. And i'm not a fan of the change to analog pitching.

The graphics look great (even on standard ps4 with benq). The interface is better outside the game. The missions are more varied (even if I'll never get the Griffey). I think the game will will have even more staying/playing power over the season this year.

[Formula1Racing]

Other then the new ball physics...It s all the same, nothing really new. Please but for the grace of GOD...Get rid of Matt V....He's great in real life but in game he is as stale as old bread! The other two sound like they are not in the booth at all...very bad. .Also, why do we have to see the developers as fans in the game?......I am sick of it...enough!...It's like yea, look at us, we make the best baseball game show-offs....I think this is it for me....no more every year getting the show until they really have a drastic change...maybe in PS5..lol

[CaseIH]

Re: Early Impressions of MLB The Show 17

The ball physics and the atmosphere are amazing, not sure how 16 was, since I wasnt able to get it, but things sure have improved from 15.


The AI at times seems smarter with pitching changes in later innings, on bringing a lefty in to face a tough lefty hitter.

Unfortunately the AI is still dumb as can be when bringing in position players late in a game. I saw the Pirates, bring in Allen Hanson to play catcher after using him as a PH'er. That should never ever happen. Dont know if they cant fix it in a patch or not, considering it took them this long to make better decision on pitching changes, Im guessing this wont get fixed.

Other than that the game is definitely made major improvement to a already very good game. 1 thing you can typically count on with the devs of this game, is they will always put out a solid game each yr, which I cant say that about other sports games each yr.

[jcblayze]

Not a good start...

I'm a Show veteran, so I have no doubt I'll enjoy the game immensely. However, my first day with the game was almost a complete disaster. After waiting hours to download my Digital Deluxe version, I was unable to connect to the servers even one time...all night. Ok, fine. Fired up exhibition, Red Sox vs. Yankees. Game looks amazing, but certain issues continually plague this series; frame rate drops during some cutscenes, etc; Harold Reynolds repeats literally the exact same lines when discussing Porcello and then an inning later when discussing Tanaka; gave up my first runs on a line drives to the OF that go right through the player with no animation to catch the ball triggered. This happened again later in the game. Ended up losing 7-6. Will update impressions once I get a chance to play more.

"Harold Reynolds repeats literally the exact same lines when discussing Porcello and then an inning later when discussing Tanaka"

To be fair that's a pretty accurate representation of the real life Harold Reynolds.