MLB '09: The Show (PS3, PS2, PSP) - March 3rd

[BravesMG]

Originally Posted by Maxflier

Am I understanding it correctly that you can only pick from a set list of names to give your player and not make up any name you want?

Not exactly. You can name your player anything you want, but if you want to hear him announced by the announcers and stadium announcer you have to pick through the (insanely long) list of names.

[Goat3001]

^ Yep and in case your players name is something that isn't on the list then you can have the announcers and commentators call him by one of the nicknames on the list.

[Daryl]

I was never able to hit a Grand Slam while playing MLB'08 - usually because I got over-anxious trying to hit it out of the park. So, last night, playing RTTS, I come up to bat with the bases loaded. Since I have no power - I wasn't swinging for the fences, trying trying to get a hit. I hit a nice line drive that the RF dives for and misses, and I end up with an inside the park Grand Slam

[Goat3001]

That reminds me of a very similar situation that I had last year:

I was about 30 years old and on the MLB team and at that point I was pretty much the best baseball player ever. I was hitting 70 HRs a season and stealing 60+ bases. If I got a single I would end up at 3rd on two pitches. It was as if all the best baseball players were on roids (wait a sec...).

Anyway, I'm up with the bases loaded and no one out. The call is to "get on base". So I hit a gapper that rolls around in the outfield after a botched slide catch attempt. It gets fielded quickly but I'm thinking Fuck It, I'm going for the Inside the Park HR. I'm out at home by a mile (I was still on my way to third when the RFer threw the ball to the cuttoff man). Goal: Failed.

[bunkaroo]

Originally Posted by Goat3001

That reminds me of a very similar situation that I had last year:

I was about 30 years old and on the MLB team and at that point I was pretty much the best baseball player ever. I was hitting 70 HRs a season and stealing 60+ bases. If I got a single I would end up at 3rd on two pitches. It was as if all the best baseball players were on roids (wait a sec...).

Anyway, I'm up with the bases loaded and no one out. The call is to "get on base". So I hit a gapper that rolls around in the outfield after a botched slide catch attempt. It gets fielded quickly but I'm thinking Fuck It, I'm going for the Inside the Park HR. I'm out at home by a mile (I was still on my way to third when the RFer threw the ball to the cuttoff man). Goal: Failed.

See I think that should have been a succeeded goal. I've been thrown out many a time trying to get to second on a single but I still get credit for the hit and collecting the base.

[Goat3001]

Agreed. But I'm guessing that since I recorded the out it counted it as not getting a base, eventhough I got a hit. It wasn't an error. I even remember reading the screen before this happened and it saying "get on base" and not saying "Drive the run in" which should have been the goal.

[nickdawgy]

Originally Posted by Goat3001

That reminds me of a very similar situation that I had last year:

I was about 30 years old and on the MLB team and at that point I was pretty much the best baseball player ever. I was hitting 70 HRs a season and stealing 60+ bases. If I got a single I would end up at 3rd on two pitches. It was as if all the best baseball players were on roids (wait a sec...).

Anyway, I'm up with the bases loaded and no one out. The call is to "get on base". So I hit a gapper that rolls around in the outfield after a botched slide catch attempt. It gets fielded quickly but I'm thinking Fuck It, I'm going for the Inside the Park HR. I'm out at home by a mile (I was still on my way to third when the RFer threw the ball to the cuttoff man). Goal: Failed.

But you failed the goal. The manager said "we need a baserunner" not some stat padding weirdo

[BravesMG]

Hopefully somebody can help me because this is driving me nuts. In my franchise I'm having a fantasy draft with the Braves. No matter who I draft, it basically doesn't matter at all to my budget. If I draft a 190m payroll, my budget adjusts accordingly. It doesn't matter if I'm the Marlins or Yankees.

This drives me nuts, is there any way to make budgets a legit part of the initial fantasy draft? Once I get going in the season I have to win enough to earn the cash to make payroll, but with my team stacked as hell we usually end up with 100+ wins.

MLB 2k9 actually handles this really well, generating a team budget up front and letting you know how much budget is impacted with each player selected. Am I missing something here?

[Rob V]

BravesMG, I think it does impact your teams budget... so depending on your overall team budget you'll have to borrow to upgrade your stadium, travel arrangements, scouts, etc. You can also get money by selling advertisements.
If you spend $190M on payroll then you'll have less cash for those other upgrades -- which leads to team and fan bitching.

[Maxflier]

So I caved and bought a PS3 today with this game for free. I fired it up tonight and was incredibly dissapointed to find there is no home run derby.....WTF? Had I known that I would have just stuck with the PS2 version and not spent $400 bones on this because HR Derby is what I play the most in baseball games.
The game is really fun though. I started up RTTS with my created player (Nicholas Gerz) and got drafted by the Pirates. You know how they say a player is setting the world on fire? Yeah, well i'm doing the exact opposite of that. I can't hit for shit (currently batting .158) and am still getting the controls down, the baserunning is a bit of a challenge.

[musick]

just to show how infuriating this game can be at times......

starting new RTTS season on the Orioles since I get no other offers in the off season

a few games pass .....

I get the win in a game on 4/26

mail in inbox

4/26 - Lights Out

..... we couldn't have won without you

no new game game

4/27 - Left Me No Choice
your continued struggles have given us few options to work with so we're going to push you back a step

4/27 - Optioned To Norfolk (AAA)

get the W in my first start on 5/1
get the W in my second start on 5/6
get a no decision but the team takes the loss on 5/11 earning me the "It Happens To Everyone" trophy for losing 100 games

5/12 - Team Injury

called back up to the O's in the bigs

.... and I still haven't been given a chance to be traded away from this blessed team yet ... urghhhhhh!!!!!!!

[Tarantino]

With about two months to go in my second season, I finally get my wish and the Angels AAA team trades me at the deadline...to the Marlins AAA team. I went from a last place team to a last place team. Either way, I lead the league in batting average and triples, and in the off season the Marlins offer me a contract.

In spring training, my first two hits at the major league level are home runs (after hitting just 10 in each of the two previous seasons). Looks like spring with the Marlins is going to be pretty good.

Fatty Dick is on his way.

= J

[Maxflier]

The baserunning controls in this game are an absolute joke. The majority of the time it seems I have no control over my player whatsoever. I will rip a double and he just rounds second even though I am pressing the right stick to try and get him to slide and he will run past the base and just stand between the bases like a fucking idiot. Or like just now he was running to second and I am pulling back on the right stick which the game claims is how you go back to the base but he just keeps on running while the guy is standing on the base holding the ball waiting to tag him when he gets there.

[BravesMG]

Originally Posted by Maxflier

The baserunning controls in this game are an absolute joke. The majority of the time it seems I have no control over my player whatsoever. I will rip a double and he just rounds second even though I am pressing the right stick to try and get him to slide and he will run past the base and just stand between the bases like a fucking idiot. Or like just now he was running to second and I am pulling back on the right stick which the game claims is how you go back to the base but he just keeps on running while the guy is standing on the base holding the ball waiting to tag him when he gets there.

This is absolutely true. Running between second and third actually seems to reverse the 'up/down' left stick. Almost every time I round second, as soon as the camera angle shows up behind me running I turn around and run back to second. By the time I can figure out what the hell is going on I'm stuck in a rundown. I don't know why they switched up baserunning, of all the shit to change that worked fine last year.

[BravesMG]

Originally Posted by Rob V

BravesMG, I think it does impact your teams budget... so depending on your overall team budget you'll have to borrow to upgrade your stadium, travel arrangements, scouts, etc. You can also get money by selling advertisements.
If you spend $190M on payroll then you'll have less cash for those other upgrades -- which leads to team and fan bitching.

But is there any way to know what the contracts are before you sign a player?

[Goat3001]

Originally Posted by Maxflier

The baserunning controls in this game are an absolute joke.

Agreed. Which is why I use the classic baserunning controls. It works perfectly and you don't have to mess around with the right analog stick at all. I'd recommend switching to that. Here's how it works: Every player on base is designated a button (1st = O, 2nd = triangle and so on). The D-Pad is also designated bases (down = home, left = 3rd and so on). The L1 button is to advance all runners and the R1 button returns all runners to the previous base. So say you have runners on 1st and 2nd and you hit a single and you want to advance the 2nd base runner home and 1st base runner to second. You press Triangle (to control the 2nd base runner) and press Down on the d-pad. That runner won't stop til he gets home. Then press the circle button to control the 1st base runner and press UP to have him stop at second. If you hit a double in the same situation and want to send all of them home just hold down L1 and they'll keep advancing until you let go.

I hope that makes any sort of sense.

[Goat3001]

Is anyone else having issues keeping the lead in the late innings? It seems that everytime I'm up late in the game my bullpen blows it. Yesterday I was up 5-2 in the 7th and brought in my 7th inning guy and he promptly gives up a game tying home run... to the 9 hole hitter who hadn't hit a home run all season... on a slider that was meant to be in the dirt. It seems to happen everytime I'm up late in the game.

[redcat]

Originally Posted by Goat3001

Agreed. Which is why I use the classic baserunning controls. It works perfectly and you don't have to mess around with the right analog stick at all. I'd recommend switching to that. Here's how it works: Every player on base is designated a button (1st = O, 2nd = triangle and so on). The D-Pad is also designated bases (down = home, left = 3rd and so on). The L1 button is to advance all runners and the R1 button returns all runners to the previous base. So say you have runners on 1st and 2nd and you hit a single and you want to advance the 2nd base runner home and 1st base runner to second. You press Triangle (to control the 2nd base runner) and press Down on the d-pad. That runner won't stop til he gets home. Then press the circle button to control the 1st base runner and press UP to have him stop at second. If you hit a double in the same situation and want to send all of them home just hold down L1 and they'll keep advancing until you let go.

I hope that makes any sort of sense.

That actually makes a lot of sense. It sounds pretty intuitive from the way you describe it. It never seemed that simple just reading in the manual, so I'll definitely switch to that when I play tonight. I assume that 2nd base runner turns into 3rd base runner if he's more than halfway to third from 2nd base, right?

[bunkaroo]

I'm still using the new baserunning for RTTS, but while playing teams games I have always used classic. It's too bad the manual sucks at explaining how the controls work - they should hire Goat to do their instructions.

[Goat3001]

Originally Posted by redcat

That actually makes a lot of sense. It sounds pretty intuitive from the way you describe it. It never seemed that simple just reading in the manual, so I'll definitely switch to that when I play tonight. I assume that 2nd base runner turns into 3rd base runner if he's more than halfway to third from 2nd base, right?

I have to be in front of the game to make sure but I believe you are X from home to first, O from first to second, Triangle from second to third and square from third to home. So if you hit a gapper with no one on base you can either press X then UP to get the runner to second or hold L1 and stop when he gets to second base.

I admit it takes a bit of getting used to. The toughest part is deciding if you want to use the L1 button to advance all the runners or if you want to do it individually. It is pretty intuitive the game moves slowly enough that you can easily decipher where you think the runner should end up on any hit. Then you quickly press the button and they'll get there. If you make a mistake you can also reenter the right sequance and the runner will go back. So for example if you plan on going from 1st to 3rd and you press O + LEFT but once you begin rounding second you realize that Ichiro is going to gun you the fuck down you can just tap in TRIANGLE + UP to go back to second. You can also press R1 to send him back but if you have a runner going from third to home they'll retreat as well. You're pretty much following the baserunning on the upper corner where it shows the diamond. Instead of having yellow dots for the runners they're the corresponding buttons (X, TRI, SQU, O) to make it easier to see since they're always changing.

Originally Posted by bunkaroo

I'm still using the new baserunning for RTTS, but while playing teams games I have always used classic. It's too bad the manual sucks at explaining how the controls work - they should hire Goat to do their instructions.

That's a good idea. Poor spelling, bad grammar and random unneccesary F-Bombs is EXACTLY how they should have their manuals.

[Maxflier]

I'm going to give that a try. Although I have to admit, memorizing the fatalities for Mortal Kombat II was less confusing
But it has to be better than the useless default baserunning controls. To say they are frustrating is an extreme understatement.

[jpb07]

I think I've played 10 games total since buying the game. Waiting for complete rosters sucks! In my PSP RTTS '08 I get a kick out of seeing major league guys in the minors with me. Just couldn't get into battling it out with Joe Smith for 2B.

[Tarantino]

Originally Posted by Goat3001

Is anyone else having issues keeping the lead in the late innings? It seems that everytime I'm up late in the game my bullpen blows it. Yesterday I was up 5-2 in the 7th and brought in my 7th inning guy and he promptly gives up a game tying home run... to the 9 hole hitter who hadn't hit a home run all season... on a slider that was meant to be in the dirt. It seems to happen everytime I'm up late in the game.

I'm playing RTTS, and it seems no lead is safe going into those later innings. I'll be up 5-0, and when I come up for my next at-bat, I'm losing.

= J

[Maxflier]

Haven't had any problems with my bullpen blowing the few leads I do have late in games.
It's funny how few fans are in the stands for my games because my team sucks so bad. It's like being at an Expos game.
I haven't been playing that long, but I already have the double play mastered. In fact my double play skills are a true art form that none of you mofo's can match. Anytime I am up to bat with a runner on first you can count on me to hit into one EVERY time.

[musick]

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