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View Full Version : How is ASB 2003?



DT21
02-28-2002, 02:44 PM
Anyone who has it, do they have the same problems as the previous versions?

Horizon
03-01-2002, 09:41 AM
I just got it yesterday and I am loving it. Though I have not played the game religiously due to time constraints....I have played one game on veteran. Though I am not very good with ASB anyways....still getting used to the hitting scheme, in my first game against Baltimore with the Yankees, we were tied at 0-0 for the first 15 innings. I had to shut the game off cause I was beat and had to go to sleep. But I was quite amazed at the graphics and gameplay. I am not a picky person when it comes to baseball, and though I really wanted World Series Baseball ( i Cant wait till May) and it will probably be delayed to August knowing the past 2 WS games on DC that sucked.

One thing I noticed really cool was farm teams, and you can do callups during the season, I dont know if this was in past seasons, but it seemed like there was quite a bit of players to pick from.

One thing that irks me is sometimes they dont say ball or strike when you through a pitch , so you have to wait for the ball strike count to come back up on the screen.

I think its a easy purchase over TP which is not out yet. plus it has way better game play.

I say though rent it first if you are unsure.

ssxtricky
03-01-2002, 04:27 PM
I will tell you something ASb 2003 is simply amazing and I think is by far the best baseball game out there right now, because for one thing it has every team mascot(never before seen in any baseball game) Another is Authentic stadium with authentic stadium sounds, For instance when you play at the Safe (Safeco Field) You can hear the train going by in the background throughout the game at random times just like in the real Safeco Field. Acclaim has hit a grand salomie with this baseball game cause it rocks THIS GAME IS A MUST, MUST OWN FOR ANYONES COLLECTION!!!!!!!!!!!:) :) :)

NO DOUBT ABOUT IT THE BEST BASEBALL GAME OF THE YEAR,
Note: THE GAME HAS OVER 500 MOTION CAPTURE ANIMATIONS AND OVER 300 PHOTO REALISTIC FACE CAPTURE ANIMATIONS:p :p

robnyack
03-01-2002, 06:10 PM
i could care less about mascots. I want to know if the game is realistic.

High Heat baseball on the pc is the best baseball game ever made, period. I am waiting to see if any of these consoles games can compete.

robnyack
03-01-2002, 08:00 PM
i jsut got home with it, and my initial reaction, and still way to early to make a final judgement, but, my initial reaction is ....snoozeville.

DT21
03-02-2002, 10:51 AM
Originally posted by robnyack
i jsut got home with it, and my initial reaction, and still way to early to make a final judgement, but, my initial reaction is ....snoozeville.
Could you give reasons why?

Horizon
03-02-2002, 11:58 AM
Yes what is your reasoning.....

I think its a well made game so far, from what I see.

hellfire
03-02-2002, 02:49 PM
Originally posted by Horizon
Yes what is your reasoning.....

I think its a well made game so far, from what I see.

what is the gameplay like? how realistic is it? just wondering, because If I cannot find more opinions on this game, I will just buy it anyways, so If it totally sux I gotta know. Of course, software ect. will take games back within 7 days for full credit either way, but I NEED A BASEBALL game. I have been dissapointed ever since my purchase of that POS WS2K1 for DC - what a debacle.

robnyack
03-02-2002, 03:00 PM
those comments were very early first gut reaction to about 3 or 4 innings of play. I now have played about 6 games worth in franchise mode as the Yanks. Here's my take, so far.
There is good and bad.

First the bad.


1) Where are the player ratings?????? If I want to pinch run, and I go to my bench, where the frig is the speed rating??? How am I to know if Joe Shmoe is faster than the guy I want to pinch run for??? Same with pinch hitting and setting your lineups..... Contact hitting rating. Power Hitting rating. vs Lefties, vs Righties. and on and on and on. Baseball is all about matchups and stats and numbers. Where are the stats and numbers?????

2) an overall lack of excitement. the crowds in every game act like it's the expos/marlins late in the season with each team 30 games out of first place. polite applause when someone is introduced, a couple seconds of excitement when the hometeam does something (hr, strikeout, etc) and then right back to the Toronto Blue Jay home crowd syndrome...SNOOZEVILLE. I mean come on, let's add some ecitement to the **** game. How about if you are at yankee stadium and a yankee hits a HR, the yankee bells go off? Or if you are at Comisky and a White Sox hits a homerun, the fireworks go off. I mean come on, gee wiz. This is friggin elementary here. Instead, every HR is treated the same way. A couple canned cliche` remarks by the annoucers and that is it.

Example: I am at home playing the Orioles. I am down 7-1, doing nothing the whole game. I get a rally going late, by the 8th inning, it's 7-5, and I hit a 2run homer to tie it up. What does the crowd do? The same exact thing it does if you are down 20-1 and then hit a solo homer. About 2 seconds of crowd excitement and then right back to snoozeville.

In the same game, I throw a guy out at the plate. Nothing. I men come on, that is one of the exciting plays in baseball...a play at the plate. What do you get.....nothing.

3) fielder control: there are 3 modes and anyone who knows baseball games will know what these are. "Auto" mode: cpu chases down and ctaches ball and throws ball to bases. it handles all the defense. "Assist" mode: chases down and catches the ball and then its up to you to do what you want with the ball after it's caught. "Manual" mode: it's all up to you. In this game, and it has to be a bug, the Auto mode and Assist mode are EXACTLY the same thing. The cpu does it all for you. So, really, you only have two options....auot and manual. Totally inexcusable.


Now for the good news:

1) the graphics are pretty nice. I would prefer some nice cut a away scenes for the replays, but, still the movement of the players is pretty smooth and realistic looking.

2) very nice batter/pitcher interface. nice pitcher controls, nice batter controls. I'd proably say they are excellent. Able to hit the other way, pull the ball, or hit straight away. Very nice.

3) alot of subtle controls that a good baseball game must have. Baserunning is taking some serious work getting it down, but, I like it. Every aspect of the game seems to be represented somehow with some control. Very nice.

From what I can see so far, overall, it's a pretty good realistic baseball sim. But, there are some weaknesses that just are inexcusable. So, at this point i could only give the game about a 7.5. A pretty decent game, but with some glaring inexcusable holes.

I'm very interested in hearing others comments on this game.

hellfire
03-02-2002, 03:07 PM
Thanks rob - good breakdown. I mainly am getting the game to play a friend at, so maybe the crowd lack of enthusiasm won't bother me too much. Sounds like they ironed out some of last years games faults in the gameplay dept - but I can totaly understand how lame the crowd sounds, and I haven't played the game. Think I will buy it, and if I don't like it I will take it back within the week - but again - great breakdown, exactly what I needed as far as info on a game. I will post a review of it tomaro.

AzureDrpTp
03-03-2002, 07:14 AM
:D I'd reccommend this game...

I haven't played any of the other titles (world series, high heat, etc...) So I can't do a complete comparison, but with what I've seen with this game, they'd have to be kick ass to beat this one. This is the first game I went out and bought without first trying it out, but that's just because I could't wait to play baseball on the xbox!

One question for those of you who have played it, in the back of the manual under "Hints & Tips" it says you can switch team uniforms by pressing the left trigger or the right trigger + either up or down on the directional pad at teh controller select screen. I've tried this almost everytime I've been at the screen and it doesn't seem to do jack. I've had the alternate uniforms just by chance on one game. Any of you have any luck?

ssxtricky
03-03-2002, 04:48 PM
FOR FUTURE REFERENCE YOU CAN ONLY CHANGE YOUR UNIFORMS DURING EXIBITION MODE. I ALSO WOULD LIKE TO REVEAL A SECRET THAT I LEARNED HOW TO OBTAIN ALL LOCKED STADIUMS, HISTORIC PLAYERS AND HIDDEN STADIUMS.....

FIRST EARN 20 POINTS THEN SAVE OPTIONS, AFTER SAVING GO TO OPEN PACKS (YOU CAN STILL DO THE TRICK WITH 10 POINTS) LOOK THROUGH ALL THE CARDS, GO BACK THEN IT WILL ASK YOU IF YOU WANT TO SAVE CARDS PRESS NO, AFTER THAT IT WILL SAY ALL UNSAVED DATA WILL BE LOST (THIS IS FALSE) NEXT GO TO OPTIONS THEN LOAD OPTIONS AGAIN GO TO OPEN PACKS LOOK THROUGH PACKS AGAIN AND KEEP REPEATING OVER AND OVER AGAIN , AFTER AWILE YOU WILL HAVE ALL STADIUMS HIDDEN PLAYERS AND MUCH MUCH MORE. EVERY SPECIAL CARD IS PERMANATLEY STORED IN THE MEMORY SO EVEN WHEN YOU DONT SAVE REGARDLESS WHAT IT SAYS YOU STILL HAVE IT UNLOCKED. ALWAYS REMEMBER WHEN YOUU ARE ALL FINISHED TO SAVE YOUR OPTIONS , SO YOU CAN ALWAYS HAVE YOUR SPECIALS , HAVE FUN WITH IT GUYS.

ONE MORE THING DOES ANYONE HAVE A FAVORITE SECRET STADIUM??? PLEASE POST YOURS....... MINE IS THE LOCKO DOME BECAUSE I JUST LOVE THE WATERFALLS IT IS PLAYABLE IN THE WATER............HAVE FUN :) :) :)

ssxtricky
03-03-2002, 04:55 PM
I WOULD LIKE TO REVEAL A SECRET THAT I LEARNED HOW TO OBTAIN ALL LOCKED STADIUMS, HISTORIC PLAYERS AND HIDDEN STADIUMS.....

FIRST EARN 20 POINTS THEN SAVE OPTIONS, AFTER SAVING GO TO OPEN PACKS (YOU CAN STILL DO THE TRICK WITH 10 POINTS) LOOK THROUGH ALL THE CARDS, GO BACK THEN IT WILL ASK YOU IF YOU WANT TO SAVE CARDS PRESS NO, AFTER THAT IT WILL SAY ALL UNSAVED DATA WILL BE LOST (THIS IS FALSE) NEXT GO TO OPTIONS THEN LOAD OPTIONS AGAIN GO TO OPEN PACKS LOOK THROUGH PACKS AGAIN AND KEEP REPEATING OVER AND OVER AGAIN , AFTER AWILE YOU WILL HAVE ALL STADIUMS HIDDEN PLAYERS AND MUCH MUCH MORE. EVERY SPECIAL CARD IS PERMANATLEY STORED IN THE MEMORY SO EVEN WHEN YOU DONT SAVE REGARDLESS WHAT IT SAYS YOU STILL HAVE IT UNLOCKED. ALWAYS REMEMBER WHEN YOUU ARE ALL FINISHED TO SAVE YOUR OPTIONS , SO YOU CAN ALWAYS HAVE YOUR SPECIALS , HAVE FUN WITH IT GUYS.

ONE MORE THING DOES ANYONE HAVE A FAVORITE SECRET STADIUM??? PLEASE POST YOURS....... MINE IS THE LOCKO DOME BECAUSE I JUST LOVE THE WATERFALLS IT IS PLAYABLE IN THE WATER............HAVE FUN
:) :) :)

AzureDrpTp
03-03-2002, 05:03 PM
Thanks SSXTRICKY,

I'm gonna try that out right now, I'll get back to you as what my favorite stadium is.

ssxtricky
03-04-2002, 03:58 PM
Secret Commentary: To hear hidden Commentary and really funny stuff About the Austin DIngers that will just make you laugh go to the credits menu and cycle through with the d-pad or analog stick through the names and press A, You will hear some real funny stuff on most of the names.

Hidden Messages:On some of the Programmers names if you press the right trigger you will see some notes to the programmers girlfriends as well as some of their stories......


Ill bet their are more secrets if you keep experimenting have fun and remember you heard it hear first from XBOX ADDICT.com

GO MARINERS:) :) :)

robnyack
03-05-2002, 12:11 PM
waterfalls???? pretty uniforms?????


there's no waterfalls in baseball!!!


there's no pretty uniforms in baseball!!!

djgcue
03-05-2002, 01:59 PM
I started a full season in this game so far I played 11 games. Some of the MAJOR bugs I have found include:

1) When you hit the ball in the gap clearly an easy double your runner will just stop at first, its difficult to get your runner to go for the double. I've tried both using the left trigger with the directional pad and the Y button with the directional pad. I'va found that you have to press these corresponding buttons right when the runner gets to first, and be precise.

2) When batting its way too easy to take check swings even when you dont want to. It seems you have to smash the X button to get the batter to swing.

Other than these major bug I would say this game is greatly improved over last years version. I'm a huge baseball fan but the bugs in this game can get very frustrating and put the nicest person in a bad mood.

robnyack
03-05-2002, 05:24 PM
i dont think the difficulty in running the bases is a "bug". It's more that it's just **** HARD to get the base running controls down.

As for the check swings, I kinda like that. You need to be able to check swing. Many games, as soon as your tap the button, you have swung. This reminds me of real baseball, the pitch looks good for a split second, you start your swing, and then you realize a split second later the pitch is not good. So you check your swing.

My only big problems with the game is the lack of stats.....baseball is a game of matchups and statistics. You gotta have player ratings. You gotta know how your guy hits against lefties or how your guy pitches against righties, or how fast your guy is on the bases. You just have to have this information. That's why HighHeat Baseball is THE best baseball franchise out there. Unfortunately, the jerks are only coming out on PS2. I will be buying the pc version of it though.

The other problem is the lack of excitement with the crowd. Seems such an elementary thing, but they just did not spen enough time working on this.

hellfire
03-05-2002, 06:51 PM
agreed rob - croud excitment reeks on this game, but I also think the check swing is a good thing. Base running is tough as hell, but once you get it down it's not too bad. All in all, I would still give this game an 8/10 - good game, lots of replay/modes, and great to play with a friend.

AzureDrpTp
03-06-2002, 05:29 AM
:rolleyes: Hi SSX, I don't know, but I tried what you said... I got 20 points. Went and opened up 20 packs, backed out, didn't save, went to options to load, then went back in and opened up 20 packs again, backed out, didn't save, went back into options, loaded, etc... Over and over again and then finally after about doing it 8 times, I saved my cards and left. I didn't get a lot of the stadiums I thought I saw. Am I doing something wrong?

Also, is there a list somewhere with all the stadiums, teams, etc that can be unlocked?

djgcue
03-07-2002, 02:29 AM
I agree with Rob on the crowd. I wish developers would case the attendance in the crowds on the performance of the teams. I mean when was the last time you actually seen Olympic Ball PArk in Montreal have a sell out.

robnyack
03-07-2002, 03:15 PM
I have noticed one thing about the crowd which is kinda cool. late in the game if the home team has 2 strikes on the road team that is up to bat in a close game, the crowd starts getting into it cheering for the 3rd stike. that's cool.


but, still there is so much more they could do to make the game more exciting by involving the crowd more and by giving some of the unique to each stadium shananagins that go on. The yankees bells when they hit a homer. Or playing Sinatra's "New York New York" at the end of each game, or firweworks at Comisky when the Sox his a homerun. there are a lots of things across the league that are unique to each park that involves crowd participation and different ways to celebrate homeruns.

However, I do like this game. There is so much to learn as far as controls go. But, I have to say it again....WHERE ARE THE STATS AND PLAYER RATINGS????? Do I want to pinch run for Ventura when I have nick johnson on the bench? I dont think so, but how the hell do I know who is faster????

Do I want to pinch hit for Ventura against a leftie when I have Gerald Williams on the bench? I think so, but I need to know what Ventura hits against lefties and what Williams hits against lefties to know for sure. This is the biggest disappointment of the game.

ssxtricky
03-07-2002, 03:36 PM
Hey Robynack,

Let me tell you something You are supposed to know the matchups in your head, If You know baseball then You know matchups , Everyone knows that if you got someone like Ichiro on first hes gonna steal thats just an example of common sense yOUR SUPPOSED TO KNOW HOW FAST YOUR GUYS RUN AND WHOS THE FASTEST!!!! COMEON GUY thats the fun part knowing your matchups then utilizing whats in your head to win the game, You wouldnt make a good Coach....... Anyways I know my matchups, I dont have to rely on some stats to know when to go to my bench or when to pinch hit because it should be in your head already, See baseball is a game of using your head and utilizing your know hows......... If you dont know then get high heat or something guy.

robnyack
03-07-2002, 04:43 PM
ss,

trust me, I know the matchups. However if I the only guy i have on the bench is Nick Johnson, do I sub him in to pinch run for Robin Ventura? You tell me. There is no way to know unless there are player ratings. And to further illustrate my point, as you go deeper into a franchise mode, say 5 -6 years, and you have all new guys playing, how are you going to know the speed of these guys? Sure it's easy to say Jeter is fast, Soriano is faster, Ventura is slow and jiambi is mollasses, but what about the guys that are going to come down the road that are nopt real players?

While you are at it, tell me what Ventura is hitting against lefties in your season, and what Williams is hitting against lefites in your season. You can't. You know why? BECAUSE THEY DONT TELL YOU. Those are VERY improtant stats that are a MUST for any complete baseball sim. Absolutely no exceptions.

Baseball is about matchups. And to get the right matchups, you need lots of info. This game does not provide enough info for a person to get REAL deep into the sim.

Try High Heat baseball on the pc, and you will know what I mean.

robnyack
03-07-2002, 04:47 PM
and by the way, ss....you know how many managers there are that rely on their head and gut in the big league? hardly any. it's all about numbers and matchups.

How does my leftie throw to rightie batters? How does my leftie batter hit against leftie pitchers? How does my guy do in late inning situations at the plate with men in scoring postion? and on and on.

What do you think is on those clipboards they hold during the game? Grocery lists?


this coming from the guy who rated the game based on waterfalls, pretty uniforms, and mascots.


good grief.

AzureDrpTp
03-07-2002, 06:18 PM
:) I agree with robnyack, the game does lack in the stats department. But the waterfalls, uniforms, and mascots are cool - even though I've yet to unlock the stadium with a waterfall.

But also, the crowd excitement is lacking. As well as some of the realism... I know that in madden 2002 on the pc, stadium crowds would be dependant on how the team is doing. I think that should have been done here in All Star Baseball as well.

And just a personal gripe, Pacbell Park doesn't cut any designs into their grass! I notice some of the other stadiums have their designs cut how they are in real life, why'd they have to go and mess up pacbell? Pacbell is nice without the designs. I think that bothers me a lot, cuz i play the giants most the the time.

rickey939
03-07-2002, 07:34 PM
I really like this game; however, the stolen base department is so **** weak it makes me cry. For one thing, you can take Rickey Henderson (all 43 years of him) and steal anytime you want....guaranteed to be safe...I have to be at least 50 for 50 with him. At times, the ball is at the base for a few seconds before Rickey even shows up in the darn screen and yet they "miss" the tag and he is safe. Now either they are partial to the greatest base stealer of all time or it's a bug in the game. Anyway, that is my only gripe. I would highly recommend getting this game for it's great AI, graphics, and overall lasting appeal.

ssxtricky
03-07-2002, 10:55 PM
Yes I did say the game has great mascots cause You name a game that does ncaa football dont count, baseball game? You cant , and yes there is a stadium where there is a waterfall in it and by the way its in deep center field and its playable. This game is a cool game I am sorry you dont like it roby. But I dont need to rely on stats to have fun I can play the game (many seasons) and know my players. I guess thats why we here in Seattle are #1 we got the best record in baseball my friend because Lou knows his players and can use his head..... tell me one time when Lou had a clipboard in his hands?????????

2001 Seattle Mariners- 116 Game winners

2002 Seattle Mariners-120 game winners-World Series Champs

Go Ms

robnyack
03-08-2002, 12:15 PM
ss,


This game is a cool game I am sorry you dont like it roby.

from an earlier post of mine:


From what I can see so far, overall, it's a pretty good realistic baseball sim. But, there are some weaknesses that just are inexcusable. So, at this point i could only give the game about a 7.5.

so, now that we cleared that up.

And if you dont "need stats" to play the game, then obviously, all you do is go up and swing the bat and throw the ball. Baseball is a thinking man's game.

Seattle #1? That's odd, I dont even remember them getting into the World Series. Wow! what a bitter disasterous ending to their season. You win all those games during the regualr season, and then, once again blow it in the playoffs. I can sense the bitterness you feel. I feel your pain.

mojo__31
03-12-2002, 10:09 AM
This game is so boring. I bought it because of threads on message boards like this one. The player graphics are good, but you feel totally detached from the game, its like a couple mini games in one. You have the batting game, the pitching game, and the fielding game (pretty much on auto pilot). All of these aspects seem so detached from one another, there is absolutely no sense of being at a ball game. The sounds are horrible, the crowd is one of the worst I have seen. I am selling this one and gonna get Sega's game when it comes out. Anyone wanna buy it?

Huckleberry
03-12-2002, 11:19 AM
it feels like they rushed this game out in order to be the first one to market. here's some of the odd things i've found.

you can't direct your bunts...and even if you bunt for a base hit, the next time you come up to bat, it will say sacrifice bunt

you can't edit players you make...you have to delete them and recreate them

the announcers frequently say things that are not accurate to what just happened in the game.

players arriving to the base before the ball are sometimes still out, and sometimes players that aren't yet to the base are called safe


i've noticed this in just a few games...i've not even delved deeply into the play yet. i'm pretty iritated with i, overall, and will probably sell it when morrowind comes out...

robnyack
03-12-2002, 12:10 PM
I dont think I would go as far as mojo did in his slamming of the game, but he does raise some of the problems with the game.

You do feel somewhat detached from the game. That's what I've been griping about as far as lack of fan reaction and participation and the lack of unique things each stadium does to jack up it's crowd. This part of the game can only be given about a 3 on a scale of 1-10.

I do LOVE the batter/pitcher interface. Being able to pull, go the other way, or hit straight away is also very cool. And the pitcher repertoire is represented nicely. All around very good.

Hey huckleberry, I think there is a difference between sacrifice bunting and drag bunting for a base hit. So, if you do a sacrifice bunt (going into your bunting stance before ball is pitched), it is going to register as a sac bunt regardless of whether you are out or not. To drag bunt, is a little different (I have not tried it enuff yet to know much about it) and from what I read, you can direct your drag bunt.

The commentary for the most part is pretty good, I think. Not great, but decent. They do occasionaly say something that does not go with the play, but, that is getting a little nit picky, I think. What I get a kick out of, is if you set your controller down to do something else for a minute (phone call, whatever), the game kicks into this mode where its panning all through the stadium and the commentators start talking at length about different things. One is about the bad treatment Brenly got during the WS last year and how he had the laugh laugh (of course, we all know he deserved to get trashed because he made some of the worst moves ever in a world series!!!)

Sometimes they get the call wrong. But, you know what....that's baseball. I can deal with that.

The lack of info (player ratings and stats) is the biggest killer to this game though.

Overall, I like the game, but you get so frustrated playing it and knowing that if they had taken their time and put some more effort into it, it could have been a GREAT baseball game. As it is now, it's good baseball game with some inexcusable weaknesses.

da-x-man
03-12-2002, 12:58 PM
Just got it the other day. The action seems pretty realistic, but I do hate the fact that you cannot change the batters position in the batters box. This is the first baseball game I have played where you cant do that.