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

[fathedX]

I'm still only playing on the iOS platforms but I did think more than once that the outfield situation felt a lot like RBI 4 or '93 on the Genesis, you seemingly get a window and only one outfielder, with no real frame of reference.  It's frustrating and a far cry from the original.

[RBI Empire]

It might not feel quite like the original, but I thought the fielding was pretty solid on PS3.

I did have one play where I threw to second on a grounder to short to get the out and the second basemen ran across but never touched the bag. I didn't realize it until after I threw to first. I'll have to play with it to see what the deal is there.

As far as outfielders go, I had 1 play where my left fielder felt slow, but I found that if the ball is hit and I start running right away toward the ball that they will get to most balls unless they're deep in the gap or corner. I was able to top the Brew Crew 7-2 at Miller Park.

On a side note, it takes a shot to hit the ball 400 feet. I had a couple deep flies to CF that did not go out. On the contrary Justin Upton hit an oppo HR to RF and pulled one out to LF. Heyward also hit one out to deep RF. Both those fences are around 345 feet. I'm going to say that the fences are pretty close to accurate when it comes to dimensions.

[BeefMaster]

It might not feel quite like the original, but I thought the fielding was pretty solid on PS3.

I did have one play where I threw to second on a grounder to short to get the out and the second basemen ran across but never touched the bag. I didn't realize it until after I threw to first. I'll have to play with it to see what the deal is there.

I had the same thing happen to me once.  Not sure if that means I just need to wait longer to make the turn on the DP, or if we got hit by a glitch.

As far as outfielders go, I had 1 play where my left fielder felt slow, but I found that if the ball is hit and I start running right away toward the ball that they will get to most balls unless they're deep in the gap or corner.

My big problem was gauging the depth of the fielders - most of the ball's flight takes place with your fielder off-screen and only tracked by the arrow indicator, and by the time I figured out where the ball was going to land, the fielder was too slow for me to adjust his position correctly.  Fielder placement is one of those things that you learn by playing in a baseball game (I'm sure I had the same problem with RBI at one point), so I'm guessing I'll get the hang of it better, but it was a huge annoyance for someone who was hoping for it to be a lot closer to the original.

[Turd]

I thought th same thing. Standard fielding is really tough.

[ichiro]

I'll probably be a no go for this game due to the fielding aspect. It's too bad Namco couldn't have signed on for this one. I look forward to the REAL RBI 2014 via Turd's ROM!

[Turd]

Yeah. Reinspired I'll still plY it though

[redfanrod]

Haven't installed it for iPad 2 yet. Installed XBox 360 trial. Played 3-inning Red Sox-Cards game and Nava for BOS smacked 2 dingers. Unfortunately, the Cards teed off on my starter Lackey (edit) for 6 runs in the bottom of the third and Sox lose, 6-5. One note: While the home run animation was okay, I was hoping the homers would show the distance hit -- say "389 Feet" -- or even a quick replay of my shot. Maybe those items can be fixed with a patch or update. On the plus side, game play goes pretty fast, which has always been a problem for big league sims (besides R.B.I. of course). Game play (including flight of ball) looks very similar to R.B.I. 3 or R.B.I. 4 on Genesis with the exception of modern/superior graphics. David Ortiz looks fatter than other guys so there is realism although you don't ever see their faces. I don't have base running down yet and, on defense, I threw a couple of balls "south" toward the backstop that were intended for other bases. Errors show a "!" and I had one at first base and the computer made two. No major complaints but I guess I'll just have to pay the $20 to try out my Cincinnati Reds 

[BeefMaster]

My shortstop booted the very first ball put in play against me.  "Welcome to RBI 14, n00b!"

I'm sure the fielding is better on the Xbox than on the iPad.  Does it use a virtual joystick, or a click-and-drag mechanic of some sort, or what?

Still not positive whether to use the D-pad or the joystick; I mostly used the D-pad my first game.  Using the joystick does do fully analog control, rather than just 8-way like it does with lots of old-school games, but I worry that it's going to be slow or imprecise for throws.  Then again, I managed to throw the ball to the wrong base (third instead of home) at least twice in my first game - "precision" is a relative term with the worthless D-pad on an Xbox controller.

One of the achievements mentions a "fast throw", but I haven't been able to figure out exactly how to do that - I threw the ball around a bit after giving up hits, and it seemed like hitting the direction and button simultaneously didn't really make any difference.

[Gantry]

The achievements thing seems like a good idea, though all games probably do that at this point eh?

[hort22]

The achievements thing seems like a good idea, though all games probably do that at this point eh?

Yah most do...they are called trophies on psn...always thought they called them that cause gamers probably never ventured outside to win an actual trophy...lol

[Gantry]

There's already emails with the old school Dee-Nee crew to get together and play this when the PS4 version comes out.  I'm guessing we'll rock Anything Goes on this version, though one never knows. 

[BeefMaster]

The achievements thing seems like a good idea, though all games probably do that at this point eh?

Microsoft has required games to have achievements since the Xbox 360 came out.

The highest-point achievement in RBI '14 is "Complete 5 R.B.I. Challenges" - I'm not really sure what that refers to, although I'm guessing maybe it's the things to unlock the retro jerseys.

I generally stay up late playing video games on Wednesday nights, so I'll try out a few more games tonight and see if I can get the hang of fielding better.

[AlecTrevylan006]

Most important question... if we get the Android version, can we edit the rosters?

As in...

Can we do fantasy baseball in RBI 14?

[Turd]

I'd bet  a copy of the game that we can't. The other versions don't allow it, android is no different.

[AlecTrevylan006]

I'd bet  a copy of the game that we can't. The other versions don't allow it, android is no different.

It's Android, it's usually much easier to get into files and mod stuff compared to a console.

Not something I'm capable of but I want fantasy back

[Turd]

Yeah, I'm betting it ain't happening. Use my rom for it. I made good progress today.

[Johnny Tecmo]

I played 10 games today. It is a very good game. I would have liked to hear more original RBI music and option for online play. My understanding they will add the online play option so that makes it sweeter. Very nice work. I totally approve this version of R.B.I.

[RBI Empire]

I approve as well. I figured it would be good seeing that the game's producer wanted to kick it old-school. It lives up to it. Yes, it's a different game, but it's closer to RBI 1, 2 & 3 than it is to RBI '94.

I made it through 8 games tonight and won 7 of them. My only loss was as the Mariners to the Twins. Dozier hit a Grand Slam off of me. I couldn't recover. My quickest game on PS3 was 18 minutes. Most took 22-23 minutes. Still a hell of a lot faster than The Show or 2k. The fielding got a lot better as I played. I really like how it feels now.

Got a new blog up!
http://rbiempire.tumblr.com/

[fathedX]

Rebooted my iPad 2 and played a great game as the dodgers vs the cards. Had a blast, took 24 mins for 10 innings. I'm happy with the game, just what I was looking for. Damn CPU executed a beautiful hit and run with two outs, I had to laugh.

[Gantry]

Will be trying it out today at Zorbs, though since we don't have a ton of time (mini family fest) I may just get the iPad version instead of blowing $20 on the XBox 360 to use for maybe a couple games.