BREAKING... (The official RBI '14 Thread)

[BeefMaster]

Also, the unlockables are going to be tough.  To unlock the retro brewers jersey, you need to be down by 4 runs and then hit a walk-off HR in a season game.  But, I guess cool stuff should be something you have to work for.  Might be kind of fun trying to get all the unlockables, but that also requiring to do it in a season game is going to be tough since I'm not gonna play a season with everyone.

Yeah, that kinda sucks.  I suppose the solution is to start a fresh season when you want to try and work on a team's unlockable jersey and just play it until you get the unlock.

If my Amazon gift card through Bing Rewards doesn't come through by lunchtime, I'm just going to buy the extra MS credit and use the gift card on something else.

The Twins are going to be SO TERRIBLE in this game.  I suppose that will help to up the challenge factor.

[Turd]

I think the challenge factor has been upped anyways.  I doubt you'll win every game like you could in the original where you realistically could go 162-0 with 100% mercy rules.  I wish my xb360 didn't red ring on me.

[VEGAS]

Same stuttering issues on Ipad and then it crashed for me in the bottom on the first inning. I hope the reboot fixes this. Also, I have a blu-tooth game controller I'm hoping (praying) it might work with this game. I'll test that out later today.

I played three innings on an ipad 2. Stuttered a bunch, almost unplayable. I threw the pitch down the middle on every batter and didn't give up any hits until the pitcher came up. I got some hits but hitting was a struggle with so many missed frames. Three starting pitchers on the Rockies as well. Controls were adequate, assisted fielding pretty much takes you out of it but at least no dumb misses because I didn't know what was going on. I stole two bases standing up, got caught once when I started late but at least I did slide that time (not controllable I don't think). I will reboot and try again but I am concerned. I'll download it to my iPhone 5 too, the splash screen said it was optimized for the 5.

[Turd]

Please do report back on that controller. 

[hort22]

its supposedly out for the 360...thats what the twitter page of @RBIGAME says...ps3 out later today.

also damn was looking for HR distance to be included...looks like its not.

[BeefMaster]

Just kicked off the download on my 360... I've got an appointment over my usual lunch break today but will try to work in a break from work at some point to give it a shot.

[fathedX]

Much smoother on the iphone 5, played 5 innings and was losing 3-2 ( I swing at most everything, I'm guessing Samardzija is at maybe 40 pitches through 5).  Haven't noticed any pitcher fatigue yet, fastballs are coming in at 96-98.  The curveball wiggle is still there but I'm still swinging, bitch.

The ball physics down the line is weird, everything goes straight and nothing curves foul.  I've seen that probably five times now, you hit an opposite field fly ball right down the line and it just keeps going straight and lands fair.  I'm ok with that, just kinda weird considering all the other things the game does right.

I noticed in Wrigley field that when the outfielder had to retrieve a ball in the corner and went out of sight, the player turned into a ghost so you could still see him.  Really cool.  No ivy by the way.

I continue to throw the ball right down the middle and the CPU continues to get itself out most times.  I did give up a towering home run in the second inning but then the next batter swung through three of these pitches.  Almost seems like a glitch, next game I will move the ball around and see if the CPU hits any better.

Overall it's pretty fun, I like many of the things they kept.  I even threw the ball to the wall after my first baseman fielded a grounder and I tried throwing to the base.  Got the 'old school' banner when that happened.

Still haven't tried an AL park to see what the deal is with the DH.  Has anyone yet?

[Turd]

I tried it with the Brewers in an AL park and I confirmed that it used the first guy off the bench for DH. I need to et used to moving my fielder to 1st instead of throwing it if noone is there...the onscreen controls are still a little wonky.  That said, I am getting better with the controls.  Fun game...no replacement for the original, though it's close.  It misses on a few things, I think.  I'll play through a seasn and see if it gets more difficult.  That's my only concern...

[Johnny Tecmo]

Can anyone confirm if there is an option for online play?

[BeefMaster]

It's been confirmed a few times now that there is no online play, although Jeff Passan mentioned in his review on Yahoo that it's being strongly considered as a free update this summer.

[Turd]

Actually, it was recently confirmed in one of the above articles by the developer that online play will be coming in a free download this summer.

[ichiro]

If anyone has played it on the 360 or PS3 please let me know how the fielding is. Since only one fielder moves instead of all the fielders in unison it will be interesting to see if it's better or worse.

Also does it show the box score with individual stats at the end of the game? During season mode does it keep stats and does it have league leaders?

[Turd]

THe end of game screen only shows the team score, with the addition of batting average.  I believe that they said no individual stats for a given season, but I ahven't tried it yet.

[BeefMaster]

THe end of game screen only shows the team score, with the addition of batting average.  I believe that they said no individual stats for a given season, but I ahven't tried it yet.

Yeah, saw that in Leitch's article as well.

[Turd]

P.S.  You can tell a pitcher is tired by how he looks before he pitches.  His body will be slumped a little with his head hanging, but only if there's not a runner on base.  He pitches from the stretch in that scenario...

[RBI Empire]

Picked it up for my ipad 3 this morning. Mine crashed as well on the initial boot up. I restarted and haven't had any problems since.

I've played through a 3 inning game and a 9 inning game with the Braves and an All-Star game as the NL vs. the AL.

Controls took a bit to get used to but I am getting used to them. I lost to the Royals 0-1 and to Milwaukee 5-8. As the NL I beat the AL 14-6. It's definitely harder and takes some adjustments.

Different hitters definitely make a difference. Uggla and BJ Upton like to strike out regardless of how I swing, which is accurate.

Medlen was a lot better than Teheran for the Braves. I threw 6 innings of 1 run ball with Medlen. Teheran came in and gave up 7 runs in 2 innings. Part of that was me missing 2 fly balls on standard fielding. I hadn't missed any up to that point. But his pitches didn't curve near as much as Medlen's.

[Turd]

Standard fielding is super difficult on the iPad.

[hort22]

its out on the psn network

https://store.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/#!/en-us/games/rbi-baseball-14/cid=UP2121-NPUB31467_00-RBIBASEBALL00001

[BeefMaster]

Just played my first game on the Xbox - got shellacked by the White Sox, using the Twins.  Thoughts...

The batter-pitcher matchup is very similar.  The bats are more realistically skinny, so it feels like you have to be more precise with your swing timing and location, although I got use to it after striking out with my first two batters - I think I ended up striking out about a half-dozen times.  CPU players will chase curveballs off the plate sometimes, and I struck out about six of my opponents as well.

Baserunning used the old controls but had a couple major departures from the original behavior.  In the original RBI, if you wanted to have your runner stretch a single into a double, you could hold up-B as he approached first, and he'd automatically make the turn and keep going.  In this one, the up-X isn't registered unless it's pressed after the runner is already at the previous base, so if you hit one into the gap, you basically have to hold up and pound X to make sure he gets off to second base quickly.  The other big difference is the runners' behavior.  In this one, they don't automatically take off if they're not force (depending on the situation).  If there's a grounder to the right side of the infield, you have to remember to manually send your runner from second base.

I will note that some of this is sour grapes because I sucked at it, and it will improve as I get use to it, but at the moment I would describe fielding as an absolute fucking disaster.  The fact that players don't move in unison means that only one of your fielders is active at a time, which also means that you have to remember to hit "A" to switch fielders once the ball gets by your infielder, something I have never done before in a baseball game (I have played very little of simulation-style games, if this is normal there).  In addition, you have no choice which infielder goes after a ball, and I got caught a couple times trying to use the wrong guy - I can recall one where a ball into the hole on the left side seemed like a natural one for the shortstop, only they'd given me the third baseman with no way to switch.

It's the outfielding that's really the pain in the ass, though.  The game either needs a smaller outfield or faster outfielders, because by the time they get into view on the screen, it's VERY difficult to get them lined up with a fly ball before it drops.  The original had an unrealistically small outfield (I think someone measured that, given the length of the baselines, the fences would be something like 200' down the lines) that kept fly balls manageable; this game appears to do no such thing, and while it's more zoomed out than something like Griffey on the SNES, it still could use a radar like Griffey had to keep track of your outfielders.

Once I get use to the fielding, I think I will grow to like this game.  At the moment, though, it was a fairly fun offensive experience interspersed with a tremendous exercise in frustration that did not at all resemble the game we all love.

[Turd]

The switching fielders thing is pretty normal for modern baseball games. I think it'll just take some getting used to. I played on iPad, but I noticed the same baserunning thing where you can't stretch it until your on the base. Frustrating.