MLB The Show 18 Launch Day Is Here, Your Impressions!

Surprised my BestBuy pre-order arrived yesterday.
Only had a chance to play 3 games last night.
Servers don't seem to be up (I don't play online, but wasn't able to download the latest roster).
To be honest, the game felt almost the same as 17. Don't get me wrong, I love the game, but if you're looking for dramatically improved/different gameplay, you'll be disappointed.
So far it seems like a roster update, and some of the franchise screens/menus look nicer.

Got mine just now

Definitely has a feel of familiarity. lol
I really like the batting timing feedback thingy
I traditionally use meter pitching but I really like the analog meter with home plate on it and think I might try and use that this year. Trying to paint corners with that meter could be fun.
4k mode or "sharper" is still choppy IMO

All the new presentation elements honestly warrant a purchase in my opinion. The new broadcast type cuts inbetween pitches, batters, etc... are simply awesome. Pair that with some new animations and I can't even come close to describing how much better it makes the game look.
I hit a slicing ball down the line and it showed my batter running towards first while he slowly bent over to set the bat down as he was running but all the while watching the ball to see if the ball sliced foul. It was truly jaw dropping.

Thanks for the 4K impression. Was hoping it would be smoothed out this year.
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I think in the end we may not see it improve soon. Might be a hardware limitation?

Thanks for the impressions. Looking forward to 11pm cst

That's great to hear, the presentation improvements was the only thing that had me exited and was what pushed me over the edge to purchase 18.

Yes does feel very similar.. almost glad i havent played 17 in months to feel “fresh”.. but in sure after 10 or so games ill start noticing all the new changes. I think with hdr and 4k on it looks the best to me and the chop isnt like a lag its been very subtle to me and im going to keep these settings now cuz it isnt affecting my timing on swings. I think if i keep going back and forth between the settings its just gonna mess with me and ill find little nuances between each so im just going to stick with it and enjoy the beauty..
default is fish eye bat view.. is this a new view? Cant remember but it is a bit to far back from me sticking with fish eye 2 and considering catcher high but i like being able to see most of the stadium when batting so i dont know.
Now just need the servers and roster update so i can get my franchise with my sorry mets going.

Going through the rosters checking out the models and the pictures, etc.
Pretty disappointed they haven't updated a lot of the pictures when you go through their stats. A lot of outdated and missing pictures for players, a lot of them rookies.
Hopefully there's an update patch for these. Same deal happened with NBA 2K18, wonder why they've become lazy to update these things. Even if it's small. It's always the little things.
No face scan for Clint Frazier? That's disappointing.

Loved the intro. Very well done again. Goosebumps. But I’m a baseball junkie. :)
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The uniforms. Wow. The colors pop. Noticeable right away. Playing Cards vs Cubs play now game. Both teams colors are significantly improved but man the Cardinal red is finally Cardinal red.
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First impression, the game pops off the screen in hdr. The lighting is simply amazing. Ive never seen the color pop off the numbers and stitching. Well done.
I played my first game on default HOF and came out with a 2 to 1 win. Pitching and hitting both felt crisp and fluid.
Really enjoying the presentation and commentary. The audio sounds alot better coming off my speakers than in the stream. I think Dero is a welcomed addition so far. I really enjoy his work on mlb central and think he translates well witj matt.
So far so good!

Agreed.
I thought the intro for '17 was great, but I believe '18 tops it.

My first impression is that I'm very frustrated right now.
Trying to load my save file from '17 and I keep getting an error that reads:
"This save file was not advanced at least one calendar year in the previous year's release"
I played primarily on '16, then at the end of the offseason uploaded to '17 and waited to upload to '18.
Why am I not allowed to upload???? :confused:
If I lost my franchise due to this, I'm not going to be a very happy camper. I had to start over in '16 due to a mistake I made. I don't want to start over again. :brickwall
Anyone have any advice?

Have only played 3 innings so far but I can tell you the feel of hitting (currently using directional) is phenomenal and fresh. I can actually feel my timing. Sounds strange but I’ve laced a ball to the gap on pitch where I felt I had perfect timing and I was rewarded for it. I also got jammed up and in on a Lester fastball to Jose Martinez. Martinez fought the 2 strike pitch off and fisted it over Rizzos head for a bloop single that spun slightly into foul territory after hitting the grass. Ball physics are awesome so far and noticeable. I know I’m in the honeymoon phase (3 innings!! Lol) but seriously the look and feel of this game is different then any Show I’ve played so far. I’m 43 and have played the show every season it’s been out. I’m sure I’ll find some warts but so far this is the best “feeling” iteration I’ve played. Also, cpu hit timing seems spot on. I typically pitch from the outfield view. Last year and in years past I would experience off cpu timing. Sometimes awkwardly so. Hard to explain but I’m sure you Show vets know what I’m talking about. So far I have not seen those awkward cpu off timed swings. Their rhythm and timing seems as close to real life as it’s ever been. Awesome to see. Game is playing silky smooth.
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Only two innings in, but holy cow the presentation and camera angles are impressive. And I'm not the biggest presentation guy

The most noticeable difference to me so far has been the crowd. Its nice to see more variety and not the same model two seats away from each other doing the same reaction. Is there a way to turn off that yellow splatter after the swing showing your pci coverage. I prefered the old way where it just showed where the ball went and where you actually put the reticle

First sac bunt did not go well. Runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 one and Carlos Martinez up. Bryant playing on the grass begins to charge as the pitch is in the air toward home. So far so good. Martinez puts a bunt down that looked more like a ground ball. Bryant turns an easy two to end the inning.
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This game is SLICK!

Rent 17 again and advance to the start of the next season?
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Sounds like you need to sim at least a year to at least 17 in your 16 franchise carryover to be playable in 18

Still seeing a lot of should be base hits up the middle that are rocketing off the pitchers face and body, and he's still somehow capable to throw to first and stay in the game. Thats been a longstanding issue and it appears to be back.

Perhaps Carlos Martinez is not a good bunter lol

Sounds of the show are messed up. I have yet to hear a base hit song play. Also i'm pretty sure the reverb option is backwards. It is on by default but walkups don't seem to have any echo. If I turn reverb off it seems better. that's backwards.
edit...sounds are overlapping each other alot. I did a hit and run and got a succesfull hit and the steal base music played...

Any other issues with SOTS that you've noticed so far? Just curious before I put in all that work in game.
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Not an issue. SDS designed it that way, they’ve said so in the past. If he gets hit anywhere other than torso or head, then I think he can come out. And even then, I think it’s only in franchise.

Great intro so far!

Quick impressions before I go to bed (Gamestop came through with the 9PM release):
-Graphics/HDR seem sharper, tighter.
-Gameplay overall is much smoother.
Pitching still seems way too easy on Pure Analog, will move back to Meter.
-Trade Logic: I simmed a few seasons and there was nothing too insane, not as bad as on the Franchise stream, this was both with the default rosters and with a 2017 carryover franchise. They still need to do something about teams putting their star (Nolan Arrenado) on the trading block while in contention only because it's the last year of his contract.
That's about it so far, I'll say the biggest improvement is gameplay (mostly fielding feels alive and not quite so scripted), and hitting feels much improved. Also, I think they tweaked player speed ratings which is a welcomed change, Nick Markakis should not be a 55 speed and grabbing every ball hit to RF. Pitching - jury is still out.

When searching for a player the major league team logo appears over the minor league player.

Its an issue in the rate that it happens along with many times it ends up being an out after the pitcher was just blasted and the ball bounces off him with VELOCITY. No doubt it's been designed that way, but it simply does not replicate real life.

The CAPS look outstanding.

First thing I noticed while going through rosters/equipment is that Oakley is no longer in the game. Extremely disappointing. CAP’s look great. The batting stance creator is really fun to play around with as well. Really looking foward to the gameplay. I would personally buy the game every year even if it were only a roster update though, so my judgement may be biased.

Bunts are brutal. Unless I’m doing something wrong, bunts are flying off the bat. Is there a way to deaden a bunt? I’ve seen CPU rocket bunts as well so I don’t think I’m doing something wrong.
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Been playing 17 since release up until this afternoon.
That said, up to 4 innings now on the installation game and I really enjoy it.
The updated uniforms look great as well as the amazing new hair textures on the face/head.
Also the new animations, and keep in mind this is after 4 innings, are so much smoother and fluid. They look natural and I keep waiting for some canned animation but nope.
Can't wait to play more and check out the new uniforms and stadiums.
Definitely a good buy for me at least. I'm already sold.

It's true, Franchise really is the exact. ****ing. same.

so this just happened lol

What do you honestly expect to change? Just curious. The stream showed no new features were added besides phases, and a UI overhaul.

Mannerisms are wayyy better this year, players react to things more appropriately and the color and frame rate is amazing, gameplay is good as always, one of the best looking Shows I've ever seen
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Pretty bummed they removed Season mode. I always enjoyed playing with just 40-man rosters.

Well it appears my carryover franchise save is dead. I have a save file from the end of the season prior to the start of the offseason in '16 that I could upload into '17 and then do the offseason in '17 and see once I go into January if it will allow me to upload into '18. But doing that means I lose the offseason that I had, all the tuning and adjustments I did to add in missing players and such, and getting rosters set for Spring Training in '18.
I didn't expect this to be an issue. I thought that I would pick up '18, upload the save file from '17 to '18 and then dive right into Spring Training. I am beyond frustrated and on a night that I planned to be up basically all night playing '18, I'm shutting the game down and taking a break for a few hours. I really don't want to start over again and having to go back and add all the minor leaguers and prospects that I had in the game. I also don't want to wait for an updated roster file, because the rosters available now are missing several free agent signings.
I am completely bummed out right now. So excited that I got the game this evening as I wasn't expecting it until the mail came tomorrow, but now I'm sitting here not playing due to this happening. :(

Yeah that's garbage. I was a big fan as well.

Don't you just love how this was never ever mentioned in all the hours of streaming?
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Not exactly. One difference is they removed season mode, so you're screwed if you want to continue your save file from previous years.
There's that. Had to make room for retro mode in franchise, I guess.

Stadium shots between innings look nice. Most of the angles between plays seem the same as last year though.
Same shot of the managers face in the dugout after every homerun...was hoping they'd switch that up this year.

Damn, they really removed it? I spent upwards of 75% of my time in that mode. Really annoying to have to switch to franchise. I liked it simple.

So I just played one of the best games of my show life, and I streamed it and was about to post about it with highlights and examples. But I was looking through the menus and it is indeed true they have removed season mode. I'm honestly really disappointed, had a 3 year 14 game season mode going with a friend... Now just for nothing I guess. This game plays great on the field, so dang good. But I'm feeling very dissapointed by this news. Maybe later I'll post about the gameplay in more detail.
For now though:
Great Camera Angles.
Hitting is smooth and pitch speeds seem a bit faster on default hof
Ball Physics are much improved and even better.
Fielding seems very responsive.
Did I mention camera angles?
The menu's are really nice too.
No season mode :(

I can’t tell you how many classic rosters are now lost to being carried over with this decision.
Not a single word about this. This is a huge huge huge letdown.
I will still play 17 for all those amazing rosters we have. But wow.

I've played season mode exclusively going years and years back, and have been playing my season file since '16.
No way in heck I would've bought this year's version had I known.
It's a crap move...not to say anything about it. If they want to remove it, fine, but tell us, please. It doesn't take much effort, does it?

Hitting feels very smooth. The way the ball comes off the bat definitely feels more natural.
High Frame Rate mode (or "Faster" as they call it now) feels a bit different now. Last year it was like butter, and for the most part it still is, but there's a slight hitching after some plays. Will have to give it more time.
DeRo sounds pretty good so far.

Graphics are a nice step up on the ps4 pro from last year. I'm surprised they didn't give this more attention on the streams- though obviously it's hard to show on a stream and they weren't using a ps4 pro most of the time.
One of the better looking ps4 games now- just shows there was more power in the ps4 pro they could take advantage of.

This game is beautiful.

Only took a little BP, so these are very very early impressions:
Graphics look good. Everything just feels more polished to me.
Pitch speed seems to be slower (I've got it the slider at 0). I'm thankful for that since my reflexes stink in my advancing age.
The tiny bit of gameplay in BP felt fine to me.
SunTrust looks better than last year.
Going back to MLB 07, I've always just played Season mode. Wish they had kept it. I liked the simplicity. I'll adjust to going full Franchise, but I'm still bummed it's gone. And yeah, it would have been nice to have gotten a heads up about it being removed. I feel for the guys who were planning on carrying over their seasons from MLB 17.
OCD thing, I wish BP didn't count in the Profile stats. It'd be cool if my stats were only my franchise games. As it is now, I'm averaging one hit a game, since that's all I got in my limited BP session.

Cardinals red is actually correct this year. Not the dull red it used to be.

Really unbelievable that they removed Season without any mention of it whatsoever. I absolutely love classic rosters, spending countless hours refining and perfecting them and was especially excited this year with all the new legends and equipment, and Season was my go to to use them. I really see no way many if not most classic rosters can be used outside of Play Now as Franchise isn’t too compatible with the more basic classics. This emphasis on DD over the last few iterations has proved pretty devastating for players who prefer offline modes. I love the Show and try to refrain from overly harsh criticism but this has absolutely zero justification and from an outsider’s POV just looks like sheer laziness and almost feels like an attack towards offline players at this point with no notable Franchise additions and the removal of Online Franchise and Season (which I know it’s not). Praying they somehow add it back through a patch if possible. This is extremely frustrating.

I can’t believe season mode is gone. it is the only mode I have ever played...and I have played the show every year for forever. I can make it work with Franchise mode but will have to finish my 17 season (early August) in 17. Oh well.
Overall, I like the look including the new dynamic swing feedback. I noticed, however, that the information doesn’t carry over the next inning after your 3rd out. I always liked having that information. Frustrating not getting to know the feedback on your last out in the inning.
Opposing pitcher came into the game with his pitch count at zero. A small sample size but yay! Relief pitchers inheriting pitch counts has been my biggest gripe the last couple of years.
Stanton hit a 444ft. BOMB. The presentation was impressive!
It’s early but I miss Harold Reynolds.

SHOWTIME DOES NOT TURN OFF
– Showtime Display does not turn off even when main menu options are set to off as well as in game option modes (Franchise For Example)
– When playing defense for example Short Stop the slow mo effect cannot be turned off! After playing it reminds me of the hiccup seen when playing a online match as seen in the Developer Tournament live stream today. Even though the reason was giving for online play.
The stated this feature could be turned off during the stream!
Truly hope this gets solved in a patch. Otherwise personally I just can't play!
Crowd Atmosphere
Playing all innings Player with the Milwaukee Brewers coming back from a 10-2 deficit in the bottom of the 9th inning! CPU scored several runs! Score is now 10-7 bases are loaded (I am on 3rd) And the entire stadium is sitting down. While the cheers sound slightly improved I hoped they would address the crowd immersion in a much bigger way!

Holy red Batman. I usually play with the Red Sox and right of the bat the red in the home uniform popped out of the screen. I think all reds got an overhaul. With hdr on in 17 the red didn’t look like that. So either all reds got worked on or hdr is stronger this year.
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My first impressions. Wow just wow. What a great step up for the series!
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Just a few short comments before I doze off to sleep. The bleachers at Wrigley and Dodger Stadium are a thing of beauty. The lighting on the field and through out the game is much more balanced, it looks fantastic. Last year it was way to dark in the infield during the early innings while batting. And the outfield sky was way to bright which gave too much contrast during evening/night games. The colors on the uniforms really pop this year. The red on the uniforms is a true vibrant red. Lastly, I’m going to really miss season mode, it’s been my bread and butter every year, but I’ll be okay because this game is still the number one to me.

Can I request that folks commenting on the graphics mention if they are playing on Pro or nor, as well as if their TV has HDR and what settings they use on the console?

@JayhawkerStL
Playing on PS4 PRO 1080P TV, No HDR Support! No 4k Graphically too me it looks like the game got a smoother overpass more noticeable on the uniforms which look a lot smoother and some colors look more accurate.
Dirt on white home uniforms while still grey appear to have a little bit more detail most likely due to the PBR on uniforms. But nothing eye popping jaw dropping from my perspective to say it's completely different from MLB 17.
Also noticed they did not do a graphic stream this year!

Playing on the Pro, Samsung 4k.....wow! Red is RED! Playing in a minor league stadium, clear day.....just beaytiful.

Well the Phillies home run celebration is a pile of garbage. Not accurate in the slightest.
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are you kidding? there are dozens of changes that hardcore franchise players on here have been asking for for many years. it's barely been touched in a long time. nobody asked for phases.

The 1st baseman still lobs the ball 10 feet in the air when tossing it to a pitcher covering 1st.
Tried out analog pitching and its not bad with home plate on the meter. Is there anyway to control how hard/break on the ball?
CPU runners seem more aggressive off first look. Brett Gardner took off for third on a wild pitch ball that bounced right in front of my catcher. I threw him out, but iirc, the cpu wouldn't take much chances unless they knew I had no chance to threw them out.
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Getting my copy tomorrow but have been binge watching videos. Love the equipment accuracy this year and the improved batting stances. I spend more time refining stances and equipment than I do playing each year. They could still both use some improvement but this year looks like a major step up. The batting stance creator also looks incredible (hoping they did it right) and I’m expecting to spends countless hours if not days endlessly tweaking stances to my match reality.

He was asking.. after all the videos etc.. we've seen, why did he think he would see anything new that wasn't in those streams/vid...
NOT that there weren't things they could have added....

• Relocation
  
• League Expansion
  
• Rotating interleague schedules
  
• Bring back more depth in regards to setting ticket prices etc. (You know everything that used to be in 5 years back)
  

To name a few...

So to sum it up: a few very minor new features were added, rocket bunts are still in and they stripped two game modes that A LOT of people enjoyed. I'm sorry, but that's pathetic. I sure hope we gets some answers - and soon.

Played my first game vs. CPU inside of Diamond Dynasty. I win the game and when I back out of it to the menu it gave me a Network Error and the game didn't count. No stats recorded either...

WOW , On the PS4 Pro it is glorious looking with the supersampling and the frame rate and gameplay is smooth as silk, thumbs up SDS, great job !!!!

That sounds great. In 17 while pitching and during cutscenes the lighting was great and you could tell that the stadium lighting around hp was on but when batting it was like the lights were turned off.
I made a few bug reports with heaps of pictures and videos comparing 16 to 17 and between when pitching and batting. May not have been a bug but i thought the lighting took a step back in 17.

And coaching staffs that affect the team/game..
So yep plenty of things..
But back on topic--->> Impressions

Love what they've done this year! The game looks great. They even did some work on the Oakland A's stadium. They added the Rickey Henderson Field logo to the wall and to the field. However, for some reason they put a pretty awful screen behind the plate. It looks like something from the PS2 era. Other than that and no season mode, (what is up with that?) I am pleased..... so far.

Not a big leap from last year, but a lot of little things make it a great game for me. Lighting and colors are so much better. That was huge for me. Everything was so washed out before. Not anymore.
Gameplay is as good as ever. I love all the new animations. I love the casual catches the outfielders make on routine fly balls. I was hoping for more of those.
IMO so far, it's worth getting this year. There is enough to justify the price.
I have negative opinions on the game as well, but I'll give those in a different post.

Early impression: feels like hitting and pitching are better and more realistically balanced.
Last year it just felt like hitting the opposite effectively was too easy. The timing and rate of getting balls in play seem toned way down this year, thankfully.
Additionally, I feel like the swing timing to go after that middle-in stuff in hitters counts has a lot more granularity. I'm liking how putting balls in play by getting the bat head out front feels so much better. Also, as I said, the failure, weak contact, and foul rates of trying to stay back on a pitch on the outer half, and send it the other way feels like a big improvement. Not ever hitter is a capable high-contact/master slap artist with two strikes.

Played one game, looks much better...4K framerate is not as bad as last year but will prob stick with the enhanced graphics option (middle one). Overall gameplay feels much better and more refined..Hitting is much better as well... Sounds of the Show DO NOT WORK! Spent my first two hours doing all the stadium sounds but they are not playing..This is by far the best baseball video game to date however...

I agree, gorgeous!
What I don't like is having my 99 RTTS player dropped to a 54. It was forced to which basically erases the countless hours I put into it the last few years.

I'm sorry, I can't create a new thread to ask this question. My first impression is frustration.
I'm a new player and I don't understand CAP. I want to CAP for DD.
From Options, I created a player (went through all the customizations) and it said he was added to the free agent pool. I can't find him anywhere including in Player Movement.
In DD, there are two options "Edit Created Player" and "Equip Created Player". If I click equip, it says I need to create a player. Which is what I thought I just did above. When I click edit, I can't change the primary position. If I go through with the player creation it says he is a SP. The second position is grayed out.
There's something I'm missing surely, it's just not clear to a new player.
Thank you in advance.

The default presentation mode in Diamond Dynasty is fast play. Last year it was hybrid or broadcast. No replays at all....even in single player and offline game types. Pretty disappointing. Why was that changed??

You can't change it?

Didn't they say the regression is going to be gradual? And the one developer on here said only from the age of 34 (didn't make sense when I read it and thought he might've had it wrong...but still thought it would be gradual)...mmm

Game looks familiar and plays familiar, but there are some noticeable improvements. The swing feedback and ball off the bat is cool. The player faces are much improved. Ball physics seem to have improved on balls in play. Started played on sharp and then switched to smooth I’ve noticed a few spots on both where we had some frame rate issues, anyone else experience anything? Noticeably faster frame rate on the smooth setting looks great. Waiting for rosters to start my franchise but started RTTS. I’m a fan of the progression system my guy just has no pop. Chose the all around archetype so I’m focusing on building up my power and plan on using equipment to boost that and speed a little. Still able to steal bags pretty easily starting out so I’m not too worried about the speed cap. Backdrops in minor league fields nice addition and the colors look great along with textures and reflections. So glad they fixed the faces though the game feels a lot more realistic now. Chris sale actually looks like a human being this year along with a bunch of guys on the Sox roster a lot of new face work. Anyone see Heath hembrees new hair?!?
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thinking the same thing. this game already seems to have a lot of gameplay improvement, even the high heater got toned down a little bit so 67 pitchers that throw hard wont dominate as much.
the online is smooth, and when i say smooth i mean u cant even tell u are playing online instead of vs ur friend on ur couch.
the new programs look like they arent gonna give me as many players i like is my only disappointment haha

I've got to go to bed, but I've got a few first impressions after roughly 5-6 hours with the game.
My first thought, when jumping into a game, is that it feels so much more like baseball than last year's game. This is because of a mix of things, but for me, the main reason is atmosphere. The fans can be heard reacting, at least semi-dynamically, to what is happening on the field.
When the ball is hit, and has impact, the stadium reacts accordingly. If the ball is rolled over, you will hear a small amount of noise.
On the note of hitting and impact, I feel like they've made hitting and pitching more realistic. Read - not easier or harder. It legitimately feels like there's a bit more balance out of the box than there was last year (or even late into 17's life).
I had to mess around a bit, but I found a medium I'm already happy with.
I like how they've handled ratings, and diamond dynasty. I am definitely a franchise first, RTTS second guy, but I can see DD actually being worth playing a bit more this year. We'll see what happens, but I was optimistic after my first DD game.
I know not everyone is going to be happy to hear this (especially not the people who were complaining because the biggest change to Franchise was basically cleaner menus and a brighter tone), but I'm a huge fan of what they've done to Franchise.
It's a winning formula as it is, to be honest, it's not missing much in the way of features. The ones it is missing are either entirely inconsequential to me (like setting the price of hot dogs) or are ridiculously huge features that might take up an entire dev-cycle, and take away from other focuses (like relocation, expansion, or a stadium creator).
The main thing Franchise needed, in my opinion, was a touch-up this year. It was already a B+ product, and I think the fresh screens make it an A-, honestly, it makes that big a difference to me.
I played a few games with my carryover save (which is now in 2021, and in week 7 or so of the regular season), and the dynamic storylines are in play, and it felt new.
Mark DeRosa is a great addition to the booth, and he doesn't speak a lot, so I don't think we're going to get tired of him all that quickly. When he does speak, he offers commentary that Harold Reynolds wouldn't, and it's definitely a new take.
I feel like this year's game, at first glance, is just about putting the fun back in baseball. From the intro (if you haven't seen it yet, it's really neat, though I personally preferred last year's) the tone is set, and once you start playing games, it just feels like the focus has been amplified.
I had my first rain delay (it was in the only game I played in the rain, hopefully it's not too common), and the logic made sense. My SP with 90 stamina was at roughly 60 pitches, and starting to get into the yellow zone (early season, still getting stretched out), but not quite there yet. Rain delay hits in the 6th inning, with one out, and I leave my pitcher in, out of curiosity.
Game comes back, and he's basically exhausted. I manage to get two more outs, but in games where there is rain, you will be rewarded for having the bullpen ready to go from the 5th inning onwards.
My biggest worry with the game at present is going to be how the logic works long-term. 6 hours is just not enough to see retirement logic, lineup logic, dynamic bullpens, CPU logic (to determine if we can finally turn off 30 team control, without worrying about the CPU shooting itself in the foot), and trade logic pan out. I'll be playing with it a bit in tests to see how that all works out, since I'm not playing RTTS or Franchise hardcore until OSFM is out for 2018.
In all, it's just a first impression, but I see 18 as an improvement over 17. Is it a 60 dollar improvement? I'm not so sure, that's a lot of money to some people, and this is the first year I've been forced to pay 60 (years of Amazon Prime allowed me to get it for 48 bucks, but not this year, or probably ever again) in years.
But I'm happy. I'm having fun, and for the first time since basically August, when I boot up the Show, I'm feeling optimistic, looking at screens (all of which are pretty snappy, colorful, and generally fun to look at).
A small touch that I wanted to point out before I go. In 2017, David Ortiz's number was retired, and was put up on the wall with all the other retired numbers, and I signed Bryce Harper in FA (who uses the same number).
In 2017, Harper kept wearing 34, despite the fact it was retired. In 2018, maybe by coincidence, in my carryover save, Harper got changed to 35. And I didn't see any other players wearing retired numbers.
Small change, but one that helps a lot with my immersion factor.

Season mode gone? SDS, what a bunch of idiots

Feels a lot like 17. The hitting feels better. 4k mode feels better than last year. The PBR to the jerseys wasn't really noticeable in the lone game I was able to play. Night game at Safeco. Idk how they look during the day yet. Batting stance creator is cool. A little buggy but it is still neat. Overall, it's an improvement but it is very close to 17. Like the poster above said, it's an improvement but I'm not sure it's a $60 improvement. I guess that depends on your financial situation. Don't get me wrong 17 was my favorite version of the game yet but after one game (again extremely small sample size) it really didn't wow me. Dan and Dero seemed rather quiet in the game I played. Anyways, enough of my rambling thoughts. Maybe it will grow on me the more I play.
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I am not doing well with my preferred modes of play. My first online franchise.....gone and my second.....season also gone. I am getting moved right off the map!

I was wondering about this too. I know for sure we could change it in conquest last year, but the options aren't there in-game this year. Only hitting/pitching/fielding. You can't even change your audio/video settings.

OK so everything in-game feels insanely polished this year. Playing on a PS4 Pro on a 1080p TV and the graphics look so natural and the colors so vibrant. The new camera angles between innings are freaking baseball porn, man! My only complaint in that department would be the recycled stuff such as the manager shot after every homerun, but I can let it slide for one more year because all the other presentation and visual aspects are so good.
The hitting feels amazing, and the physics are outstanding...they feel like they do before they toned them down last year, but even better now.
Pitching feels even better too, at least offline. Online, the slow-mo effect kinda ruins the feel of it.
The huge elephant in the room though is the removed modes...season and online franchise. I was worried they might even remove posteason mode, which I actually enjoy playing when buddies come over. Great mode to get a few quick series in, so thankfully that is still in.