Review: Anyone else unsatisfied?

[Nathaus]

As usual @Madman hit the nail on the head, great post.

Honestly the two worst things I can say about this game above everything else is it's just straight up boring for me and playing on a pretty good PC the logo editor stuff just looks awful.


The game came out in 1998, how much freedom did you expect??

Compared to baseball games, and just about every other sports game at the time it felt more pre-canned than most. I can't remember what baseball it was at the time (it was on PC i'm pretty sure) but it just felt so good and I never understood why that same engine couldn't be used to make a cricket game as good.

Anyway, my point was to highlight some of the nostalgia surrounding BLC/SWC and it wasn't all unicorns and rainbows. Especially when you could get the AI out for about 10 runs by bowling bouncers and having a close field, and there was a square on the pitch that if you pitched it in that square, the AI would just block and get out very cheaply. I feel this has at least progressed somewhat in 19 years

 

[Bluebagger]

Compared to baseball games, and just about every other sports game at the time it felt more pre-canned than most. I can't remember what baseball it was at the time (it was on PC i'm pretty sure) but it just felt so good and I never understood why that same engine couldn't be used to make a cricket game as good.

Anyway, my point was to highlight some of the nostalgia surrounding BLC/SWC and it wasn't all unicorns and rainbows. Especially when you could get the AI out for about 10 runs by bowling bouncers and having a close field, and there was a square on the pitch that if you pitched it in that square, the AI would just block and get out very cheaply. I feel this has at least progressed somewhat in 19 years

Comparisons to baseball games jeez

Maybe don't play cheaply then? The game had bugs and it is still the most fun cricket game of all time. Back when games were about fun and not about playing virtual 'careers'

 

[Nathaus]

Comparisons to baseball games jeez

Maybe don't play cheaply then? The game had bugs and it is still the most fun cricket game of all time. Back when games were about fun and not about playing virtual 'careers'

I usually played PvP as it was more fun. And I don't see how bowling on 1 particular spot on a good line and length is playing cheaply.

Re comparisons to baseball games, its 100% legit to compare the two given they are sister sports in real life... what's your beef?

 

[Jerm]

I share your feeling about the length mechanics, though to be fair I don't believe it makes a big difference in the gameplay itself; only when you're looking at pitch maps. I think bowling in 17 aces 14 purely because of the edges alongside reasonably balanced gameplay. (It's about equal to 14 with the best iterations of franco's hack.)

The game is jekyll and Hyde sadly. Example being I'm currently in a very intriguing FC match (batting first I made 251, they scored 310 and I followed up with 349. Chasing 290 to win AI is 40-odd for 2 at the start of the last morning. It's been a good game where the pace of the match has been spot on, I've had to work hard for runs and wickets but they've come and the dismissals have been nicely balanced...

BUT - I've had to keep taking over the AI to bring on their all rounders and make them use their bowlers properly, I've faced the same fields whether new to the wicket or well set or even on 100, due the stamina I'm almost certainly going to lose as my bowlers are too tired to be effective.

It's just such a shame... a real missed opportunity there is a fantastic game in there somewhere.

There is a thread on the forum somewhere saying that the dude proved the AI is only choosing Agressive, Balanced or Attacking fields, not choosing Defensive fields at all (reported bug), he then goes on to describe that he created about 100 custom fields, labeled other than defensive and that the AI chooses his fields in game, making for a much better balanced change of fields approch by the AI....interesting stuff.

 

[blockerdave]

There is a thread on the forum somewhere saying that the dude proved the AI is only choosing Agressive, Balanced or Attacking fields, not choosing Defensive fields at all (reported bug), he then goes on to describe that he created about 100 custom fields, labeled other than defensive and that the AI chooses his fields in game, making for a much better balanced change of fields approch by the AI....interesting stuff.

i shall give that a shot, thanks.

 

[Acid Burn]

TRUE: SA is the only market outside those two that is worth anything. But it is usually a fraction of the UK/AUS sales - do you have numbers on SA sales for DBC?

No Chief , wouldnt know where to look for it .

I`m basing it purely on the Online Leaderboards , My Own SA Only Online League and general Online League Participants , and in general whenever I came across randoms in online games.

I would rate it as follows :

1. Asian Based
2. Asian , based in another Country
3. South African
4. UK
5. Australian

 

[riteshagl]

There is a thread on the forum somewhere saying that the dude proved the AI is only choosing Agressive, Balanced or Attacking fields, not choosing Defensive fields at all (reported bug), he then goes on to describe that he created about 100 custom fields, labeled other than defensive and that the AI chooses his fields in game, making for a much better balanced change of fields approch by the AI....interesting stuff.

Well that post was by me. In terms of AI choosing only Agressive, Balanced or Attacking fields, i said it holds true for t20. Havent tested in other formats. Actually after that i stopped playing the game. So cant comment for other formats.

 

[Chief]

No Chief , wouldnt know where to look for it .

I`m basing it purely on the Online Leaderboards , My Own SA Only Online League and general Online League Participants , and in general whenever I came across randoms in online games.

I would rate it as follows :

1. Asian Based
2. Asian , based in another Country
3. South African
4. UK
5. Australian

As far as payola goes, you can basically turn that upside down.

 

[Deleted member 9102]

Comparisons to baseball games jeez

Maybe don't play cheaply then? The game had bugs and it is still the most fun cricket game of all time. Back when games were about fun and not about playing virtual 'careers'

I think comparisons to baseball games can be relevant, there are many similarities in how the sports play out, although admittedly I'm not a baseball fan; never watched a match in my life and only played a couple of video games briefly.
The sports seem very similar really... A guy throws a ball at a guy with a bat, he hits it into an outfield and runs . There are plenty game design elements that games for both sports would be very similar in, e.g. bat on ball physics/mechanics, catching/fielding, CPU tactics/match strategy etc.

Lately I also tend to disagree with the approach of "don't play cheaply" in games. IMO it is the job of the developer to ensure that the game is balanced, not the job of the player to enforce arbitrary rules and avoid using exploits. I know it's not so easy for sports games where there is a real life game you're trying to replicate, but Rocket League is the perfect example of one that does this right for me. It is IMPOSSIBLE to play that game cheesily by exploiting game mechanics... You just try your damned hardest to win and it is simply down to your mastery of the controls, strategy and physics of the game.

Linking that back to DBC, at the start of my career mode as a pace bowler, I found that simply repeating the exact same delivery (yorker) for every ball of every over almost entirely stopped the CPU from scoring as long as I timed the inputs in the green. Any variations were less efficient and meant the team was less likely to win... So why would I bother? Am I trying to win the match (as should be the aim in a sports game imo) or purposely trying to make the game look pretty? It's up to the mechanics of the game to punish such an approach and in this case the solution would be to make controlling length much more difficult (especially with lower skilled players) but with the current system that won't be happening. It seems that the vision/direction BA have for DBC gameplay is not compatible with what I'm looking for in a sports video game, which is unfortunate, it seemed much the opposite with 14.

Hopefully the tennis game BA have hinted at will be more to my liking .

 

[Bluebagger]

I think comparisons to baseball games can be relevant, there are many similarities in how the sports play out, although admittedly I'm not a baseball fan; never watched a match in my life and only played a couple of video games briefly.
The sports seem very similar really... A guy throws a ball at a guy with a bat, he hits it into an outfield and runs . There are plenty game design elements that games for both sports would be very similar in, e.g. bat on ball physics/mechanics, catching/fielding, CPU tactics/match strategy etc.

Lately I also tend to disagree with the approach of "don't play cheaply" in games. IMO it is the job of the developer to ensure that the game is balanced, not the job of the player to enforce arbitrary rules and avoid using exploits. I know it's not so easy for sports games where there is a real life game you're trying to replicate, but Rocket League is the perfect example of one that does this right for me. It is IMPOSSIBLE to play that game cheesily by exploiting game mechanics... You just try your damned hardest to win and it is simply down to your mastery of the controls, strategy and physics of the game.

Linking that back to DBC, at the start of my career mode as a pace bowler, I found that simply repeating the exact same delivery (yorker) for every ball of every over almost entirely stopped the CPU from scoring as long as I timed the inputs in the green. Any variations were less efficient and meant the team was less likely to win... So why would I bother? Am I trying to win the match (as should be the aim in a sports game imo) or purposely trying to make the game look pretty? It's up to the mechanics of the game to punish such an approach and in this case the solution would be to make controlling length much more difficult (especially with lower skilled players) but with the current system that won't be happening. It seems that the vision/direction BA have for DBC gameplay is not compatible with what I'm looking for in a sports video game, which is unfortunate, it seemed much the opposite with 14.

Hopefully the tennis game BA have hinted at will be more to my liking .

Meh

If you're continually applying cheese strategies then you're cheating yourself out of a game.

 

[thisISjoel]

This is a bit weird for me, because I enjoy bowling more than batting in this game, but does anyone else kinda long for a little circle to aim on the pitch for line and length when bowling? Full disclosure, I never played DBC14 so the last cricket game I played was ashes something.

 

[Skankhunt 42]

long for a little circle to aim on

hmm! it's an obvious missing factor for a fan who had played Ashes 09 as last cricket game. But the cricket gaming has changed a lot since BigAnt came into the fray. To sum-up, you'll adjust with it. that circle thing is somehow not inclined to the realism of the game. I play DBC 17 with all markers off... and trust me it's a different ball game all together then!

 

[Deleted member 9102]

Meh

If you're continually applying cheese strategies then you're cheating yourself out of a game.

The "cheese strategies" only exist because of the design faults of the game, in any game. It was more excusable in the era of BLC99 of course (where the topic arose) though as the games were so simplistic and had such limited hardware to work with compared to today.

Tennis games always seem to have lots of cheesy tactics and a site I play TE tournaments on (ITST) enforces lots of rules, and has a mod which tries to shape the gameplay a certain way to try and get matches to play realistically... But it's so arbitrary (who decides where to draw the lines?) and the winner between two players of equal technical and tactical skill will often be decided by who crosses the line into cheesing the most. Who wants to be the guy that constantly reports opponents for breaking "rules"?

Playing that game by picking fast characters, running round the back court defending everything and then constantly doing short angled strikes whenever you get the chance to attack is way more effective than it should be. IMO it's just as unrealistic and "cheesy" as constant dropshots, but that's on the list of banned tactics (and not even defined) whereas the one I mention is not? I can't really be bothered any more to always have in the back of my mind "I shouldn't do this or that as it's cheesy" to artificially make a game look better than it actually is on merit.

 

[cmanbarto]

I really must be the minority in this forum, in that I really enjoy the game. In fairness since I've bought the game I've rarely experienced crash or lag issues and most of the gripes I had (reference the range of batting shots) were fixed with patch 3. In fact batting has gone from very poor range to almost completely realistic (barring some of the newer freakish shots and slog sweeps over cow corner). I don't play online so maybe I avoid some of the major issues, yes the stats are a little annoying but despite mainly playing career mode I just love the gameplay so the stat issue is minute for me. The realistic kits make the graphics look good to me especially during night matches, overall any changes made in patch 4 will only enhance an already great game (imo).

 

[First.Last]

I really must be the minority in this forum, in that I really enjoy the game. In fairness since I've bought the game I've rarely experienced crash or lag issues and most of the gripes I had (reference the range of batting shots) were fixed with patch 3. In fact batting has gone from very poor range to almost completely realistic (barring some of the newer freakish shots and slog sweeps over cow corner). I don't play online so maybe I avoid some of the major issues, yes the stats are a little annoying but despite mainly playing career mode I just love the gameplay so the stat issue is minute for me. The realistic kits make the graphics look good to me especially during night matches, overall any changes made in patch 4 will only enhance an already great game (imo).

Out of interest does your game in its use of "realistic kits" use test outfits when it shouldnt and dress the umpire in the same coloured shirt as the ball?