Nor Problems, Per Se

[furball]

Some franchise observations of 2K12 (PC version):

1) I notice by hitting the left axis key twice when the opposing pitcher is in the field, you see his current game pitch tendencies and you see his current composure. I haven't found any way to see my pitcher's composure except by visiting the mound. Why would I know the opposing pitcher's status better than my own. . . or am I missing something?

2) For my pitcher, the various pitches seem to move to the red number at random. I.e., I'll start with a pitcher with a fastball rating of 94. Some games, after throwing that pitch only 2 or 3 times - without giving up a hit - it will drop to 93 (and then lower). And some games even that first move will have the 93 in red, while others it stays at green 'til it drops lower. (This is an example.) Other games it seems to stay higher longer. I assume this is a random factor built into the game?

3) Similarly I can discern no pattern for what causes the ball part of the pitch selector to move from green to yellow to red, though I would have thought it would have to do with the opposing team's/battters' success against the pitch and/or how often I've used it.

4) Since neither my Logitech Rumblepad Right Controller nor 5 on my keyboard can bring up the player's card when in "edit llineup" mode at the start of a game, I have no way of checking my players' energy level at the start of a game. (Yes, BEFORE I start the game I can go into GM mode and click on the health option.) It seems a no-brainer to me that the player's current energy level should be listed on the lineup screen in edit lineup mode - and in the pinch hit, pinch run and defensive substitution menus.)

5) Similarly, in the relief pitcher menu, you would think selecting a relief pitcher with the 2 key would show his pitches and ratings at the top of that menu screen, But no, those don't show up until you verify that you want to warm this reliever up. Wasted keystrokes. The UI philosophy of this game seems to be, "Well, you can do the stuff you need to do, but we didn't invest much into making it flow well."

6) As others have mentioned, I find it odd that they let you totally change a franchise player's contract, but not his primary position. I'm happy with the game because it has never crashed on me (so far) and I appreciate something new after 6+ years of MVP2005. But it seems awfully quirky after so many years in development. (I've followed the MLB boards at 2ksports for a couple of years and am familiar with the gripes.)

EDIT: Fairly major problem: If you change your controller options for pitches (and I think batting) you also change menu choice buttons. For example: The 1 button (on the buttons that go, from bottom then ounterclockwise, 2, 3, 4, 1, is always your 2 Seam fastball pitch. The 3 button is (almost always) a curveball. In MENUS, 3 is the "Continue" button. If you go into CONTROLLER OPTIONS and change the 1 button to be Curveball, and the 3 button to be 2 Seam Fastball (whch is how I liked my mvp2005 pitcher settings) you've just screwed up the way the 3 key works in MENUS. And it is *not* that the 1 key has replaced it!

At this level of detail, it's as if the controller setup menu should have had ANOTHER menu: "controller settings for menu." If I change my curve-ball PITCH to be button 1, that should not have affected my MENU choice for "Continue" from button 3.

Edited May 5, 2012 by furball

[RazberyBandit]

I agree with everything you've said, and I honestly wish I could stop at 6 complaints. I had more than 30 of my own in the "Feedback (for future patch)" thread on 2K's forum before I gave up listing problems I found within this game.