MLB: The show 18

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Herschie
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MLB: The show 18

Postby Herschie » March 26th, 2018, 10:33 am

I think that we all have a nostalgic bone in us, especially on a classic video game board. For me, that's what I love about these old games, they bring back the feelings I had at the time when I played them. Whether it's playing Mario Kart 64 with my friends while we we under the influence of various things, or being jealous that my neighbor became the first person on our street to beat Ganon, the games I play bring back the memories and feelings I had of the time.

That's what's so great about baseball, the memories. In my case, I'll never forget playing whiffle ball in the front yard with my parents, then going inside at 1:20 to catch the Cubs on WGN. I remember when their manager Jim Frey was fired in 1986, I was so upset that my mother helped me write him a letter offering our condolences. And guess what? He wrote us back! Then pretending that I was Andre Dawson, and all the sudden all my Cubs shirts had to have number 8 on all of them.

Fast forward to 2018, my father has passed, my mother is getting old, but we still like to watch the Cubs whenever I come visit. Time hasn't been all bad, I'm sure we all know what happened to the Cubbies in 2016! And MLB: The Show 18 is out. Now this game is better than ever! There really isn't one big thing that I can say they have done with this game. Rather, there have been a bunch of little improvements that add up to a great game.

I like how the colors pop a lot more. You can actually see the light shining off of the stitching on the jerseys, or glistening off of a wet dugout after a rain delay. Yes, rain delays are in!
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They're random in length, and they affect pitcher fatigue. They added a bunch of new retro jerseys that I remember growing up, such as the 1975 Reds jerseys that they actually wore through 1992. They also included the 1994 Pirates jerseys, the 1998 Padres jerseys, and get this; the 1981 Expos jerseys that you can wear as the Nationals!

Then I love how they improved the home and road 1982 Cubs jerseys. I think that's what brings back most of the memories for me, because they wore those jerseys when I was a kid, from 1982-1989.
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Gameplay, the batting feels so much smoother, and it was pretty smooth last year as well. They made so many little improvements, and that really has made this game so much fun to play. Everything just feels so much more polished.

I thought Call of Duty WW2 was addicting, but that's nothing compared to MLB: The Show 18.

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Retro STrife
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Re: MLB: The show 18

Postby Retro STrife » March 27th, 2018, 12:35 pm

Thanks for sharing about this. I've been curious how it would turn out, since it's been getting a lot of marketing this year. I'm a big fan of sports games, but mostly stick to football and basketball. It's probably been about a decade since I bought a new baseball game. I'm overdue though, so maybe this will be the year.

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: MLB: The show 18

Postby VideoGameCritic » March 30th, 2018, 10:48 pm

Awesome post. A lot of heart went into that! I think most guys have fond memories of playing whiffle ball in the yard and watching games with dad.

While my enthusiasm for the series has waned over the years, I am going to buy this, if only for the rain delays.

jon
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Re: MLB: The show 18

Postby jon » March 30th, 2018, 11:42 pm

What a great post. I've had my ups and downs with modern baseball (home runs are too easy, not enough triples), it reminds me that baseball is a fantastic sport. If the fences were pushed back to where they were before the 1940's (not that I remember, just a historian here) baseball would be by far my favorite sport. In fact, maybe there's an option in these games to do that.

Herschie
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Re: MLB: The show 18

Postby Herschie » April 6th, 2018, 9:23 am

MLB: Glitchfest 18 is more like it! Yesterday I pinch hit Albert Almora Jr. for Jon Lester in the top of the 7th with 2 outs. Almora grounded out to end the inning, and I then brought in Mike Montgomery to pitch the bottom of the 7th, replacing Almora. Ok, normal enough.

But come the bottom of the 9th, I had a 3-1 lead, and with Schwarber being an absolutely atrocious fielder, I wanted to bring in a defensive replacement. And guess who was on the bench, available to use? Albert Almora Jr.. What's more is when I replaced Schwarber, Schwarber himself became available on the bench.

Plus, there were some other glitches, like the guy from the on-deck circle running the bases when the ball was put into play.

Glitch Gremlin is alive and well!Image

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VideoGameCritic
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Re: MLB: The show 18

Postby VideoGameCritic » April 6th, 2018, 7:34 pm

Wow this game sounds hilarious!

Herschie
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Re: MLB: The show 18

Postby Herschie » April 10th, 2018, 9:36 am

VideoGameCritic wrote:Wow this game sounds hilarious!


The problem only seems to happen when I use the "quick manage" feature, and then go into the game. Maybe the game gets confused or something, and can't keep track of the players.

Anyway, they need a patch, although this only seemed to start happening after patch 1.06, and still happens with 1.07.

Voor
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Re: MLB: The show 18

Postby Voor » April 10th, 2018, 4:34 pm

Interesting and raises a point. In the retro gaming community, glitches aren’t considered a bad thing, just a quirk that adds character to the game. Some are celebrated, in fact, and the exploitation of them adds to the fun. Happens a lot in speedrunning.

But, as time goes on, gamers are increasingly unaccepting of glitches, and with patches available, games that are less than perfect should be “fixed”.

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Re: MLB: The show 18

Postby VideoGameCritic » April 10th, 2018, 6:59 pm

That's an insightful comment Voor! Probably worthy of a separate thread.

Can you imagine playing an old Japanese game only to discover the funny "Engrish" translations have been changed to perfect English? That would really suck.

Herschie
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Re: MLB: The show 18

Postby Herschie » April 11th, 2018, 9:17 am

Yeah, I can think of a few charming glitches, such as wall jumping in the original Metroid. Often times, though, you have to really hunt to find said glitch. But usually the glitch isn't gamebreaking, or all that serious. And yeah, often times the bad translation from Japanese is hilarious.

But in The Show, the glitches are blatant, and can even affect the outcome of a game. It even gets the rules of baseball wrong! For example, the Indians had Jose Ramirez starting. Ok, that's fine, he's a good player. But imagine my surprise when he somehow comes up to pinch hit in the bottom of the 8th, then is playing both 1st and 3rd in the top of the 9th. Hey, if MLB is going to start cloning players, maybe they can bring back a young Andre Dawson to replace Heyward for the Cubs!

If that was a rare occurrence, then fine. But it's not. Which is why, in the case of MLB The Show, I cannot forgive these blatant flaws in an otherwise fantastic game.

Finaly, it's even more disappointing because it's baseball, and I love baseball. Any other game, and fine, I simply don't play it anymore.


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