Don Bradman Cricket 14 - first impressions thread

[Biggs]

Honestly, I don't see any logical reason for applying forced difficulty levels to the career mode. It's a bizarre design choice

Here's my take; I agree with you in theory that forcing the difficulty level is frustrating when you initially "pick-up-and-play" the game, because the difference between Amateur and Pro really is a huge chasm to cross.

Once you've crossed it though, it's genuinely rewarding. My concern is your average 13 - 20 year old who's "not that fussed" about cricket, but picking it up and playing it because of the good reviews might lead them to bail on the career mode pretty quickly as it's not rewarding or fufilling until around year 3 or 4 ...and that's a LOT of ducks and shitty scores to wade through even for the dedicated amongst us, which is the majority of the forum.

I think the leaderboard thing has held hostage a lot of smarter decisions regarding the difficulty level that really should have been a player-decision, rather than a forced one. I appreciate Big Ant have tried to get an effective leaderboard for the stats-minded folks, but the reality is most of us were talking about in-game stats and achievements, not online-based ones, so while it's too late to patch that kinda stuff out of the game, I think any sequel needs to be focused on the in-box stats, achievements and less on the arbitrary leaderboard, which means nothing to anyone who isn't a basement dwelling fake-lawyer.

The caveat to all this; Had I not been forced to play in PRO mode in career, I probably would have played my first career in Amateur and while it would have been vastly easier, I think most of us would have made the same decision and may not have found out the weighting issues as much with the super powered fielding, especially on the higher difficulty levels. So I guess that's a blessing in disguise.
@barmyarmy whats your theory on the difference between Aus/Eng. I like the theory that it's the different pitches and bowlers playing a role in how difficult it feels batting? Certainly agree with you @blockerdave that the BBL is vastly easier. I hadn't noticed the shorter boundaries in the UK though, so I'll have to check that one out...

 

[zimrahil]

I think the leaderboard thing has held hostage a lot of smarter decisions regarding the difficulty level that really should have been a player-decision, rather than a forced one. I appreciate Big Ant have tried to get an effective leaderboard for the stats-minded folks, but the reality is most of us were talking about in-game stats and achievements, not online-based ones, so while it's too late to patch that kinda stuff out of the game, I think any sequel needs to be focused on the in-box stats, achievements and less on the arbitrary leaderboard, which means nothing to anyone ...

This

Never known a career mode have online leader board before in my sheltered existence. Hope it's dropped in next iteration

 

[Kiko_97]

So turns out the difficulty level ramps up a bit the minute you get your first contract, huh? Playing in the UK T20 league for, um.... I dunno, some team. The one where our logo is cool orange dragon. I picked my team because; Logo.

You're at Somerset? You must be their weak link in t20 then!

 

[barmyarmy]

@barmyarmy whats your theory on the difference between Aus/Eng. I like the theory that it's the different pitches and bowlers playing a role in how difficult it feels batting? Certainly agree with you @blockerdave that the BBL is vastly easier. I hadn't noticed the shorter boundaries in the UK though, so I'll have to check that one out...

Fewer teams = more fast bowlers in Aus. Batting tends to be back foot on bouncy pitches. England = fast medium/medium on less bouncy wickets so front foot. I'm half decent playing off the front foot but that doesn't work at all in Aus.

 

[sami ullah khan]

Yeap, I agree facing quicks in Australia can be tricky especially if you are FFP (Front Foot Premeditator) in the game, like me.

 

[whiteninness]

I think the leaderboard thing has held hostage a lot of smarter decisions

Summed it up right there.

I haven't started career mode yet, just played a few casual games. I'm playing on pro and so I don't have a problem that the career mode will also be in pro, just that it locks me to it.

I also don't necessarily think that bowling aids should be automatically turned off at higher difficulties. Some people may want to play against stronger AI at the higher levels, but keep the assists on. I don't see why people shouldn't be allowed that option, aside for issues regarding the leaderboard etc. And who really checks that anyway?

In fact for the AI batting, do people find that the AI actually gets harder/smarter as you progress from pro -> veteran -> legend? Or is bowling to them just harder?

 

[Biggs]

Forcing the assists off in the casual/arcade mode seems a bit insane in the membrane to me, as that should be a user-choice to make. However, forcing them off (and by association the difficulty level increase) should remain for the career mode, simply because it adds a nice risk vs. reward factor, along with showing the absolute need to be at the top of your game to continue at the higher difficulty levels, just like a real career... International levels SHOULD feel different to domestic cricket, by design that requires the game to force you to play differently, whether that's turning the assists off or making the timing window smaller, that's fine by me. The issue with this system currently is the difficulty level probably starts too high and doesn't get easier at all for a long time... in fact, a lot of the difficulty really relies on the player having the patience of a Egyptian Prince's architect, certainly early on in the career. Now I'm on the other side of the challenges, I'm glad I stuck it out as it does get a little more rewarding from year 5 onwards, but the reality is there should be a little more "give" for the pick-up-and-play crowd, which is where starting on a more forgiving difficulty level (or allowing you to select your starting difficulty) would make more sense, in career mode.

In the arcade modes, the game shouldn't dictate to you at all how you want to play it. That should be a free-for-all, really.

Fewer teams = more fast bowlers in Aus. Batting tends to be back foot on bouncy pitches. England = fast medium/medium on less bouncy wickets so front foot. I'm half decent playing off the front foot but that doesn't work at all in Aus.

Interesting, really interesting. There are certainly more slower bowlers in England and it took a while to get my timing right... after the contract ended I was able to put together a few nice scores in the T20 competition, hopefully good enough to get another contract. However, I did notice on my return to domestic cricket in Australia, I was back into really good form and hit a solid 58 in my first four day match...

...so the old "playing county cricket makes your game better" kinda was replicated nicely there, I guess. I've kept my more exaggerated footwork approach to the Australian competition for the slower bowlers, but kept it basic for the faster bowlers, seems to do the trick.

Interesting stuff at work in this game...

 

[MattW]

Indeed considering the sheer length of time a 20 year career mode takes - does a leaderboard position really matter? Who is going to sink another 6 months into playing through it just to finish in a different spot?

If there was the option to play other modes of the game controlling just the one player it would be great.

 

[Acid Burn]

It's definitely a difficulty increase. Might be marginal, but it's there. I'm having to bat in a completely different way. It's a good thing, not a bad thing btw...

@ Biggs

It could be that the game has simply moved you to the Veteran difficulty , where footwork is just not up or down on the stick , but the actual angle as well.

 

[cricket_online]

In fact for the AI batting, do people find that the AI actually gets harder/smarter as you progress from pro -> veteran -> legend? Or is bowling to them just harder?

I'm sorry to say AI batting is pretty poor on Legend as well. My career player is a specialist no. 3 batsman but whenever I'm asked to roll my arm over, I manage to get a wkt or two. And that too when I don't even change the field AI has set for me when I bowl. I'm sure if I can select my own field without slips and silly point and long on & long off back, I would pick a lot more.

Bowling on Legend is difficult coz you don't have any indicators but otherwise AI batting is not much improved. Yes, they will score more than what they do on PRO but the improvement is not that great either. Once you get used to bowling without the bowling HUD/meters, you will be able to pick up wkts without much trouble. This is one area Big Ant has to focus on as fragile AI batting makes user/human vs AI matches unplayable.

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If there was the option to play other modes of the game controlling just the one player it would be great.

I would love such a mode. Nothing better than playing a World T20, World Cup or IPL/BBL as a player.

 

[Gentoras]

Controlling on player gives one the feeling of playing cricket and of being in the field,,,I like that too, other than batting as a whole team where you know you have 10 other player to come when you are dismissed

 

[zimrahil]

I'm sorry to say AI batting is pretty poor on Legend as well. My career player is a specialist no. 3 batsman but whenever I'm asked to roll my arm over, I manage to get a wkt or two. And that too when I don't even change the field AI has set for me when I bowl. I'm sure if I can select my own field without slips and silly point and long on & long off back, I would pick a lot more.

Bowling on Legend is difficult coz you don't have any indicators but otherwise AI batting is not much improved. Yes, they will score more than what they do on PRO but the improvement is not that great either. Once you get used to bowling without the bowling HUD/meters, you will be able to pick up wkts without much trouble. This is one area Big Ant has to focus on as fragile AI batting makes user/human vs AI matches unplayable.

Agree 100% with this

I just find getting wickets even at legend level generally unrewarding

Get loads of wickets no problem, but 75% caught at mid on/off or long on/off

Playing a test match is torture. Lost count how many times first ball of test is whacked in air by AI batsman for 4
Add in the unrealistic default fields makes longer forms of the game unappealling

Really hope second patch turns this round

 

[whiteninness]

Agree 100% with this

I just find getting wickets even at legend level generally unrewarding

Get loads of wickets no problem, but 75% caught at mid on/off or long on/off

Playing a test match is torture. Lost count how many times first ball of test is whacked in air by AI batsman for 4
Add in the unrealistic default fields makes longer forms of the game unappealling

Really hope second patch turns this round

It's tough because on one sense, the game does succeed. I do find that bowling well means you get hit for less runs and gives you a greater chance of wickets. On the other hand, the wickets you do get don't feel earned because they are normally just spooned to fielders.

Honestly it's quite upsetting (as much as you can get upset about a video game). It doesn't feel like much time was put into the AI in general. It feels like a disproportionate amount of time/effort/resources was put into Cricket Academy, for a company that small.

I don't want to seem like I'm telling BA how to make a video game, but CA was worked on for over a year before release? It seems like only a small fraction of the time was spent on AI.

Nevertheless, I still find bowling quite fun, due to the first point I raised, but it's far from what it could/should be.

 

[zimrahil]

Playing a test match is torture. Lost count how many times first ball of test is whacked in air by AI batsman for 4

Apologies to BA for this comment. It was heat of the moment rubbish

It's not torture to play tests - its just a bit unfulfilling for me at least. Not too bad in career mode, but when playing as the whole team I find it a bit wearing

It's tough because on one sense, the game does succeed. I do find that bowling well means you get hit for less runs and gives you a greater chance of wickets. On the other hand, the wickets you do get don't feel earned because they are normally just spooned to fielders.

Honestly it's quite upsetting (as much as you can get upset about a video game). It doesn't feel like much time was put into the AI in general. It feels like a disproportionate amount of time/effort/resources was put into Cricket Academy, for a company that small.

I don't want to seem like I'm telling BA how to make a video game, but CA was worked on for over a year before release? It seems like only a small fraction of the time was spent on AI.

Nevertheless, I still find bowling quite fun, due to the first point I raised, but it's far from what it could/should be.

Last 15 years has shown me that getting AI right in a cricket game is very hard indeed
So many permutations to think about. Match awareness is obviously difficult to program else most cricket games would have implemented it much better than it has been

 

[whiteninness]

Apologies to BA for this comment. It was heat of the moment rubbish

It's not torture to play tests - its just a bit unfulfilling for me at least. Not too bad in career mode, but when playing as the whole team I find it a bit wearing



Last 15 years has shown me that getting AI right in a cricket game is very hard indeed
So many permutations to think about. Match awareness is obviously difficult to program else most cricket games would have implemented it much better than it has been

I think it'd be much easier than "dynamic" games like soccer, Aussie rules, rugby.

The overall pacing and ball by over by session intelligence would no doubt be difficult but there are certain things which should be relatively easy to get right, like field settings. For example, the field settings are presets that the AI chooses from (with some on the fly exceptions) yet it doesn't take a genius to work out that lots of those presets would never be seen on a cricket field.

I find it surprising because it's a game with so much depth in so many areas. The controls are beautiful and miles ahead of any other cricket game, yet the AI seems majorly neglected.

Ultimately, I suppose that it is a game first and simulator second, and it is a fun game so it does "succeed", but I think we're like a bit more intelligence shown but he AI.