The Mlb 2k9 Impressions Thread

[Sean O]

wow, i'm not too happy they decided to go with securom disc check instead of steam registration for DRM. i hate games that require discs in the drive all the time, i really liked nba 2k9's way of steam registration, why did they change things for mlb?

imo this just invites more piracy. ppl can easily crack exe's, whereas steam can't be cracked.

Probably because the geniuses at 2ksports forgot to include the activation code with the release of nba 2k9.

[Trues]

Having just played a few games, I'll say this..

I'm not as disappointed as I was with the PS3 demo. The game actually looks and plays much better on my PC.

I'm starting to think with some tweaking, this could be a fun game. It will definately take a while to get used to the controls. One thing that jumps out at me though is that it's way too easy to make contact (on allstar setting). I'll have to mess with some sliders I guess.

Also, I turned off particles in the options and that got rid of the stupid puffs of dirt.

More to come.

[dabanara]

ha, i do remember that but they fixed it very quickly by not requiring the activation code. either way cd-checks suck bigtime.

[mike360]

Having just played a few games, I'll say this..

I'm not as disappointed as I was with the PS3 demo. The game actually looks and plays much better on my PC.

I'm starting to think with some tweaking, this could be a fun game. It will definately take a while to get used to the controls. One thing that jumps out at me though is that it's way too easy to make contact (on allstar setting). I'll have to mess with some sliders I guess.

Also, I turned off particles in the options and that got rid of the stupid puffs of dirt.

More to come.

Can the particles be set to medium or low or is it just an on / off option ?

[Trues]

Can the particles be set to medium or low or is it just an on / off option ?

Just on/off.

[soylentheston]

I'd like to hear your thoughts on franchise mode. I love playing season to season, drafting, trading, and building a ballclub. The description of franchise mode is a bit terse, so I was hoping to get a more detailed impression.

[kraken613]

The Free Agent bug is real, 1 month in no free agents have been signed...

[Kayxero]

Hows the fielding? meters look really close to MVP and looked more responsive than the shows circles(which do nothing to throw power)

I must say from the few vids on youtube the fielding seems kinda close to MVP and the gameplay seems ALOT better from what 2k8 was.

The fielding and baserunning always annoyed me on the show kus it wasnt as manually use rcontrolled as I like...so whoever wins that battle may get my cash. The pitching and batting seem decent in both games.

[VTek33]

The meters are close to MVP. I will say though, I'm having a little trouble getting comfortable with how it all works. So far I haven't figured out how to turn a quick double play. For example: On a 6-4-3, I'll get a quick throw from short to second, but it seems like my second baseman can't get off the turn quick enough. I think maybe the game won't let you start a throw until the ball is physically in the player's mitt. So...you'd think using the buttons would be easier, but I can't make it work either way. I know it's a practice thing and once I figure it out, I won't think the fielding is suspect.

[VTek33]

Here are my overall impressions from playing just a little bit. I'll try to keep this short.

FYI- I haven't played a game. I've only been on the practice field. I wanted to know how everything worked before getting into an actual game.

Pitching

I thought the gesture thing meant you did that motion. Like for curve balls, I thought you'd start the stick in the lower left and roll it around in a circle. I think what you're actually supposed to do is follow the direction the arrows are pointing and just do that as your second move. So for fast balls, you'd hold the stick down and then flick it straight up as fast as you can. I found the faster you did that, the better your pitch ending up being. I haven't figured out how to change the pitching mode to the 2-button, so I can't comment on the difference between the two. Also, maybe I'm doing it wrong but curve balls seem hard to judge where it's going to end up. I think you're supposed to anticipate the break point and put the pitch cursor higher than you want. I would aim for a bottom of the strike zone curve ball and everything was ending up in the dirt.

Hitting

I like it. I've read through a bunch of the boards and a few couple have commented on the step-influence thing and I think maybe there is something to it. If I loaded early it seemed like I couldn't put as much power on the ball vs. loading and swinging in a more fluid motion. Zone hitting seems to work well and I would have a variety of hits and there is no weird yellow bat cursor in your way.

Fielding

I mentioned fielding a little in my above post, but so far it has taken the most to get used to. Like I said, I haven't fully figured out turning DPs, but I'll chalk that up to "user error" and not that there's something wrong with how the game is coded. I will say that fielding with the right stick does produce some ARGH! moments. A few times I'll try to field and throw fast and I end up throwing to the wrong base. The game must be pretty picky on how well you are aiming your right stick towards the bag you want.

On fly balls there is some slow down due to pre-programmed animations, but I don't mind it. You think you're not going to get there, but I think the game decides if you will or not, meaning on balls you'll get to you'll slow down a little, and for gappers it'll let you sprint the whole way. I couldn't really test it in the fielding practice mode, but I think one annoying thing will be hits through the holes. If I'm reading the controls right, in a matter of seconds you'll have to decide to switch infielders (hit a button to do it), and hit a button to dive. I guess I miss MVP controls where you could hit a button to switch players and then use the right stick to dive and then buttons to pick a bag to throw to.

Anyway, before this ends up being a treatise, I'll stop here. In all, I'm really enjoying the game so far and I think I'll like it even more when I get the controls down pat.

A quick point/request/observation:

Something that I know I would love to see and others might as well, is a stickied thread with answers to some of the game play questions many of us might have.

For instance:

I use a Logitech Gamepad. What are the corresponding buttons for the Logitech and the X-Box controller? The manual is kind of useless because it's for the X-Box and the game only lets you know so much. Like, I haven't figured out how to turn on the vibration so you know when you're on the edge of the strike zone when pitching.

Am I right about the pitching mechanics? How do I turn on the 2-button mode?

What's the proper way to turn a DP?

I'm sure others have many more questions. It'd be kinda cool to have a list of questions and answers all in one place for those picking up the game for the first time.

Cheers

[maddux31]

I have to say, after playing a full game I am really happy with it. Of course there will be some tweaking...But I guess that is to be expected.

Another I really like is the live bullpens, the pitchers expression while pitching..alot of small stuff. Oh and the pitcher can get rattled and lose concentration or whatever you want to call it..Fun gameplay too!

[cocobee]

I wish the uniforms got dirty though. I heard they do on the 360 and ps3 versions. I hope it's added in the patch. Otherwise, having a lot of fun with the game.

[mva5580]

First, to determine what type of pitching/hitting control scheme you use, when you're in the control settings page, hit the number 4 on your keyboard. It takes you to the selection screen for batting pitching styles.

If you want to have the pitch go exactly where the cursor is, select "Pinpoint." If you want to do it by trying to gauge the break of the pitch, select "Breakpoint"

I think the game is better than what a lot of the reviews are saying, but it has some issues. The fielding feels very strange, like there is lead in all the players spikes. I felt the need to up the fielder speed slider and that seems to have helped a lot.

You've really got to work the plate as the CPU is very aggressive with their swings. I've heard about some franchise bugs but have no experience with them as of yet as I haven't tried it.

If a patch is released which alleviates the apparent bugs in the game, I think we could be on to a solid game here. I'm interested to see what people do with the slider settings as I think the potential is here for a pretty realistic playing game. I enjoy it so far, but it needs some tweaking.

[Schrades]

First, to determine what type of pitching/hitting control scheme you use, when you're in the control settings page, hit the number 4 on your keyboard. It takes you to the selection screen for batting pitching styles.

If you want to have the pitch go exactly where the cursor is, select "Pinpoint." If you want to do it by trying to gauge the break of the pitch, select "Breakpoint"

I think the game is better than what a lot of the reviews are saying, but it has some issues. The fielding feels very strange, like there is lead in all the players spikes. I felt the need to up the fielder speed slider and that seems to have helped a lot.

You've really got to work the plate as the CPU is very aggressive with their swings. I've heard about some franchise bugs but have no experience with them as of yet as I haven't tried it.

If a patch is released which alleviates the apparent bugs in the game, I think we could be on to a solid game here. I'm interested to see what people do with the slider settings as I think the potential is here for a pretty realistic playing game. I enjoy it so far, but it needs some tweaking.

We really need a patch to fix the franchise bug...maybe it will address some more issues

[forEvErYankEE87]

Well i got the demo, cranked it up and issues came front and center so fast so far. My psx to usb converter is recognized right away and works but it needs work my left joystick is not working well, but the dpad is fine for menu navigation, which is nice since mvp 2005 utilizes the mouse only at the menu even scrolling works in this game. The response from the controller or kb/mouse still needs work, when i attempt to switch button configs while using the mouse it always prompts the new key change rather than moving to the next clicked item. Moving from batting, pitching etc controls i have to click those arrows several times until it navigates even still at the same time it is prompting a new keychange to whatever is highlighted. Due to this headache i just went off to play and didnt bother with it.

i like the intro as the game began, Cole Hamels looks good, Akinori steps in his face looks poor, as hamels delivers the swing button whatever that is didnt work so at 0-2 i just bunted for strike three and now an even more disturbing issue arises Akinori seems to refuse to leave home plate! Please 2k work wonders with that patch...

Here are some shots to see for yourself

[Raybann]

(From the other topic)

The game seems buggy. In two games, I ran into the following problems:

- With the Orioles, I had an error with Brian Roberts... the ball went past third base and got stuck in between the rolled-up tarp and the wall. I couldn't get back there to get it, and every runner scored.

- With a runner on first, the computer team singled into right field. I threw it back in, but the game wouldn't continue. I didn't know what was up, so I threw to first base and the runner was out. It was really strange. It's like he rounded first a little bit and then got stuck there.

- Someone (I think Geovany Soto) singled into right field, and Ryan Ludwick threw him out before he got to first... ugh...

Beyond that, other stuff that sucks: I'm pretty sure the PC version is missing features. I didn't see an option to add custom music to pitcher entrances / batter walk-up's. I know this is in The Show, but I thought I read it was in 2K as well. I think the PC version is also missing gameplay changes. I didn't see an option to switch to classic hitting, or the three-stage pitching. I didn't look that extensively, but I don't think it's there. I wasn't able to get Hitter's Eye to show up at all, either. I tried all of the buttons, but none of them triggered that...

As far as positives go...

The game looks really good. It seems like it's a good port (but then again, at this stage it seems like a good port of a mediocre game). It's really smooth. The presentation is awesome. They constantly change views, and it really does seem like you're watching a TV telecast. The engine the game runs on is nice. It feels a lot more realistic than MVP's.

Honestly, for $20 I would recommend giving it a shot. I think the game will grow on me the more I play it.

I will post more after I get more time put in... I've only played two games thus far.

It's there in the PC version.

[Raybann]

I use the xbox wireless controller and I just had to configure it but it works like a charm. I've also been playing nba 2k9 PC since October so not sure what's going on.

How do i get rid of that yellow bat when I'm batting.

When modders get a hold of this game, whoa! For 20 bucks you can't lose with this pick up.

I think you're in "Zone mode" vice "Batter's Eye"

[HBR_Rocket]

Is there anyway you can click "on" for auto field? I do not like to control my fielders. I would like to set it up like I have MVP, auto field but I can still throw the ball where I want to.

[Sharpshooter]

A couple of things.

After installation, the game was very choppy on my new Dell, and it's a very good rig. I went into video settings and I set everything to high, EXCEPT the particles. Now the game runs very smooth. It does get a bit laggy on the cut scenes and closeups or maybe it's just a desired effect from 2k, I don't know. Bottom line is, if your game is choppy, mess with the video setting right away.

I installed the wireless xbox controller for windows and it works very well, so it DOES work with wireless controllers. One problem that did take forever for me to figure out is that the default hitting controls are not automatically set for the wireless controller. I had to look at the equivalent of the keyboard controls and manually put those in for the controller.

It did take a while for me to figure out how to go to classic control and total control features. Had to press on the 4 on the keyboard. It seems like this game has menus hidden behind hidden menus. Oh well.

For those Cubs fans, I played a night game at Wrigley and the State Farm building beyond Center filed is not there. I didn't see it. It is there in the day version. I did get killed in my first game since I am TOTALLY new to the controlls after playing MVP for so long.

Fielding feels like MVP. All of Theriot's throw from short are one hoppers when you max out the meter. I do agree that during a 6-4-3 double play, Fontenot seems to lob his throw to Derek Lee. Not good because the batter will always beat out the throw from second.

I have not messed with sliders. I like the game and the potential it has. It does need major tweaking but we are all in spring training mode anyway. The grounders up the middle roll very slow and the ball usually dies between the center fielder and the second base bag. Maybe they implemented the high grass from Wrigley, I don't know. My girl friend thought I was watching a Cubs' game until she saw a cut scene and saw a cyberface and realized it was 2k9. Look very promising for me.

[AlexTony]

Is there anyway you can click "on" for auto field? I do not like to control my fielders. I would like to set it up like I have MVP, auto field but I can still throw the ball where I want to.

Sooner or later I will get to this game and that was mostly the way I used fielding as well.

so it will be good to know. Thanks for asking

[kraken613]

Ive turned a few double plays. Ive goten a bit better, I think practice will help this issue. Im too used to the MVP controls still.

I love the batting in this though. I was really impessed.

[briansong]

I actually picked up this game on Saturday cause the Best Buy for some reason must've released it on accident or they just didn't care. lol

So I've had some time to play around with it and so far have encountered some VERY frustrating bugs.

Lets start with BATTING...

Batting thus far seems very easy. I've adjusted sliders quite a bit and can't find that perfect area yet so hopefully as most of you guys play you will have some suggestions on making hitting harder for both us and the CPU. There are just far too many Home Runs in my opinons. I'm hitting at least 5-6 home runs every game and the CPU is right there with me, even on Legend batting settings. Other than that, batting seems to be the least of my worries.

FIELDING...

I can't begin to tell you how frustrating this is right now. Unless I can find an option to do auto fielding, this is gonna be the death of me for this game. Half the time there will be a routine fly ball to one of my outfielders and it seems as though there is some pre-determined factor that decides whether or not they want you to catch the ball because my fielder will jog to the circle making it either impossible for me to catch it or making a shoe string grab which is just as nerve racking. Then not to mention to routine ground balls that have been hit to my 3rd baseman only to have my first baseman pull off the bag. That's with the throw meter in the green mind you too. That's probably the biggest headache right now. There's also the ball getting stuck in the walls and the inside the park homeruns because of it. Fielding right now seems to need the MOST work I can see because it doesn't seem as though with the CPU in the field, they have the same problems, just manuel fielding.

PITCHING...

My only gripe about pitching right now is that it seems as though my controller doesn't want to read all the time. This could be because my controller is older and maybe needs to be replaced but I can gurantee you that if you dont have a good read on your controller, you will throw meat balls and you will pay for those meat balls in All-Star or above. Like I said, it could just be my controller and maybe someone can clear this up but I have a hard time getting the stick to read sometimes when I push up or in the bottom left hand corner to fill the circle up.

So far I like the game though, don't get me wrong. There are just some major bugs that need to get fixed because right now, Im playing games that are like 14-10 and 9-5 and just really high scoring games and this is on LEGEND setting. I tried to back down the hitting settings but it still didnt seem to help the home run factor. But there were other times were I had a good 5-3 game or a 2-1 game but it seemed to only happen in Exhibition mode. As long as I started my franchise, all of that went out the window and the high scoring games were back. Now granted I do play with the Reds whos pitching is sub-par to say the least but I'm still thinking there could be more realism to this.

Hopefully you guys will let me know if you stumble upon some auto fielding options casue I think that will help some of the fielding issues until they patch or something.

[HardcoreLegend]

If people could post their video cards, that'd be great.

[Fitz]

I think it was in this thread:

You can adjust your defense. On my control settings it's somewhere on the D-Pad. Both Infield and outfield.

Personally I don't really like this game as much as MVP. Something doesn't feel right. For pitching, it seems like the ball floats in. I don't think the hitting is very realistic. I hate the sound of the ball off the bat. It sounds ridiculous. I would love a mod for this if possible (errm.)

NOTE: I'm playing the demo, not the full version.

[Conrad.TDI]

So pretty.....and so buggy.

I can't go more than 20 minutes between crashing to desktop. Modern hardware/software/drivers, all way beyond specs and able to easily handle even ca-ca designs like ut3.

I'm going to put it aside for a little while. Back to MVP and Diamond Mind while I wait for their release of the inevitable first patch......just like I did with ALL of their Sid Meier products.

Seems like all the publishers rush release, and the product runs like a late-stage beta.

Still: I'd be really hot if this was $60, or anything more than $20. I fear this may be just a $20 arcade game to have a few laughs with, while oogling the pretty eye candy. I wonder if they did an analysis of a price point above which the complaining would get too loud......you know, like $20. :)