I just added it to my wishlist earlier today. The franchise mode could be cool.
Key takeaways for me:
- Crossplay between all launch platforms
- 60fps target on all platforms
- Team/stadium limited online version is free to play with no time limit
Unfortunately one of the features I really enjoyed from the first game - trainers with contracts that pulled from a larger pool as you leveled up - doesn’t seem to be returning. And they’re upping the price tag to $45.
I’m still enjoying the first one due in no small part to this game mechanic I love and refused to buy the 2nd one at all because they removed it and I’m sitting on the sidelines on the 3rd till I see the full feature set.
Finally, a concrete release date after it became clear they were going to miss “April 2020.” The game will release on May 13th on all its platforms.
And a new video with some on-the-field gameplay details.
It’s finally… checks notes… April the 43rd, so this is due to come out today.
Here’s some thoughts from IGN
Thanks for posting, I’m still playing a season in the 1st one right now. I skipped the second one like I mentioned above because they removed the RPG element with the coaching system. Sounds like they’re making a minor nod in returning at least a piece of that with traits, but if I can’t pick them not really the same.
Btw, steam store is saying May 13th (so nice touch with that April 43rd) release and the not exactly inexpensive price of 45 bucks.
That’s just me being a jerk. For months this was listed as an April release and then as April was just about to run out they announced May 13.
$45 does seem steep for this, but it’s a really good baseball game and there isn’t much competition out there on the PC, so we’ll see how it goes for them.
Edit: And there it is…
No launch discount.
On my wishlist, but I don’t think I’m ready to drop $45 on it. I wish they had a discount for owners of prior versions since I had both of them.
$45 doesn’t seem that bad to me.
I’m sure if you buy it and tell me it’s great my resolve may waver a bit :-)
Well the demo is out on the Switch, and while the loading times improved, the game exhibits framerate drops, but worse… it looks kinda like shit.
I was wondering if I was remembering wrong, but after launching 2 again, while the loadings are much, much longer, the game is much smoother and looked as warm as I remembered.
Also, the menu selection colour thing is totally weird. I couldn’t tell whether I was selecting something or not a lot of times. Probably just because I’m a lefty.
Ooh, 39.99 EUR on PS4, that’s not bad at all.
It’s in the Goldilocks zone for me I think. Need to check out some reviews.
I always preferred the more cartoony character designs of the original to the more realistic look in the second, but I think I’m in the minority on that. I do really love the different baseball stadiums and how they’ve been improved over installments, seemingly getting more unique each time. This one adds four news ones for ‘not-quite Boston,’ ‘not-quite New Orleans,’ ‘not-quite the Mountain West,’ and ‘not-quite Seoul,’ which all look lovely from the screenshots I’ve seen.
Anyway, PC Gamer gives it a 90 which, as we know, is a 5-out-of-5 on the Tom Chick scale.
This is disappointing to hear since I was planning to get it on Switch, but I guess I might have to settle for the PC.
Besides the drab palette and the obviously upscaled lower resolution rendering, the models got something weird in the Switch version, like the heads are stuck onto the bodies independantly. It’s really weird. This was also the case in 2 to some extent, but I had to pay attention to it playing again to notice it, while it really jumped at me in 3.
After checking PC footage, it seems to have that same weird… anatomic problem. Maybe it’s just me.
I think the characters are going for a more realistic look in 3 than in 2, but it’s all artistic sensitivities I guess.
I really like the little situational quirks they’ve added to players now. Gives them a bit more character and is a bit more nuanced than just “this person is fast.”
I started my franchise as the Jacks and had a good back and forth in my first game. Took a 5-4 lead into the ninth, which became 5-5 when my pitcher panicked and lost control (because of his personality trait) and ended up walking in a run.
Brought in my ace closer to try to get us to extra innings and he knocked down two batsmen… then fired a slider into the dirt that got past the catcher and the winning run strolled home for the bad guys.
Hell of way to lose my first game.
That sounds pretty damn fun, I’m definitely getting this sooner or later.
See this is why I loved coaches in the first one, I got a reward in XP for winning I then got to use to buy coaches that improved multiple aspects of my players. By the time I’d completed multiple seasons I was very much attached to and knew the strengths and weaknesses of my entire team.
Ditto
I watched the IGN video review and the loading times looked extremely long on PS4. How are they on PC? And it was unclear to me if the loading screen only kicked in when starting or ending a game (which is probably fine), or if it is more prevalent?
One other question - in Franchise Mode is there a lot of menu-driven stuff - ie I’m trying to get at whether this would be better on PC with a mouse rather than a console/with a controller. My experience of navigating franchise modes on consoles in the past has been rough, but maybe this implementation is light enough to get away with it?
PS4 always has terrible loading times in my experience.