REPORT:
3 ODI - 2 T20I Series: IND vs AUS 1st ODI at Kolkata
AI Difficulty: Legend
Batting/Bowling Difficulty: Medium
Gameplay Modifiers: Pace Min/Max 75 Swing 95 Revolutions 51, Spin Drift/Revolutions 51
This was first game in the Limited Overs Series between India and Australia. I chose the location to be Eden Gardens, Kolkata. This beautiful stadium was created by Ramz950 / cricket205.
As you can see, this was a low scoring game. The pitch was completely worn, crumbly and filled with cracks. The Aussies, winning the toss and choosing the bat, struggled against Ashwin, even giving him two wickets in his first over but that didn't mean Australia played well against Pace either. If it was a good spin attack that got the middle and lower order out, it was Bumrah's accurate bowling that opened the top order. No one but Henriques and Nathan Coulter-Nile decided to put their head down and play the overs out, which I must say was very impressive to watch and play against, although it came too late.
The bulk of the scoring happened when the usually economical Bhuvneshwar Kumar was bowling. At an economy rate of 6.38, his figures surely paled against the rest. Especially the economy rates of spin duo Ashwin and Kuldeep. They sent maidens after maidens, 7 of them between their 14.1 overs! Kuldeep was holding on end with just 6 runs off his 7 overs! That's an economy rate of 0.86! The batsmen blocked ball after ball against Kuldeep while they tried to take chances against Ashwin and perished. India didn't even need a 5th bowler. It was overall a very good bowling effort.
India started their innings and I must say, it was the probably the worst running between the wickets I had experienced (6 run outs!). It was mostly due to my error in judgement but worsened due to some control button issues, which I'll talk under the issues section below. Batting-wise, only Ashwin felt comfortable at the crease while no one else was timing the balls well. I must admit, I was able to really feel the difference in the way the batsmen were batting even though it was me behind the controller. Kohli seemed imperiously flowing with the animation I had selected but Pandya for instance seemed to struggle to get the ball in the game while Ashwin was knocking the ball around. Following Ashwin's unfortunate dismissal, I decided to accelerate with Pandya. He hit one four but fell for a close stumping (issues again) when he missed to an aggressive swipe. Overall it was an underwhelming performance but an exciting match nevertheless.
Australia's bowling performance was pretty tight. Starc was menancing to face, especially with the Pace Max slider pushed to 75, his bouncers were screaming past me. It was also interesting to see that Starc was brought up onto the attack frequently as I kept losing wickets and that meant I was never allowed any breathing room. Zampa, on the other hand, was very inviting and tempting me into shots when I didn't want to hit. It would have been exciting to see how they bowled if I hadn't sacrificed my wickets on those run outs.
In the end, I fell short of this low target. A mix of my error in judgement with the running, some issues with the control assignments and small issues with the gameplay meant that I didn't have the best of the batting experience. Despite all that, it was a treat of a game to play.
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Here are the best moments from the game:
BOWLING:
- If you see the wickets of Finch and Warner, they are simple catches but they seemed very realistic. Kinds of dismissals that I would be able to watch on TV.
- Smith's edge of a cut to the third slip was an exciting one and so was the bowled against Travis Head which was totally setup with two bouncers preceding that.
- There were a multitude of edges; fine, thick, inside & outside. My favorite one would be the one that got an inside edge onto the pad and rolled to fine leg.
- Keeper Catches to dismiss Maxwell and Cummins were a treat!
- Play and misses are the absolute best! They are so close and the ones against spinners are droll worthy!
- Starc just decided to blast and fell rightaway. Again, another very realistic dismissal.
BATTING:
- Rohit Sharma's dismissal, again super realistic!
- Starc's bouncers and good length deliveries that spit up like fire were just an absolute treat!!! WOW!
- There were like four shots I felt really proud and amazed about. Ashwin's hit straight back towards the bowler for four; Pandya's glance of the hip was so natural; Ashwin flaying a delivery to the boundary that went like a tracer bullet, seeing the fielder so close yet unable to stop it was a treat; finally that six off Starc was a screamer!
- There were a couple of other moments I added, one that showed off some nice physics like the Pandya push against Cummin's ball that stayed in the air quite a bit and the other one being a very realistic fielding moment unlike the super human moments from past games.
General Note: There some great moments that could have been better if some small things are added:
- The dismissals of Finch and Starc would have been so much more satisfying if the fielders tumbled and rolled after the catch as their momentum would make them lose balance. The Starc one though, would really be a run in from long off and dive full stretch if the fielder was back on the rope.
- Wicket Keeper shouldn't be standing between the delivery of the ball and his continuing animation. It's like he is having a perfect squat and then goes on to just standing and then the succeeding animation. I would suggest going from the squat to the succeeding animation for now and in the future add a follow the ball with the hand infront animation. (Meanwhile WKs receive balls very differently than other fielders so dedicated animations for them in the future would be great!)
- There was a moment when a fielder slid to tap the ball back but hit the rope. I would suggest adding and substitute this condition with a front on dive. This is really the last major piece of animation missing in fielding.
- Right away there were texture issues with the skin and eyes of players. It's they are displayed at 8 bit or something. Thankfully it's not all the players but hopefully this will be looked into for the next patch.
- There was also the India Logo that didn't appear right. The pre-match screens and the batting HUD seems fine but on the opening cinematic, lineup showcase doesn't seem to appear right. Overall the textures don't seem be sharp enough. I'm not sure if this is game engine issue or an issue with the logo itself.
- AI running itself out by sending two batsmen on one side. This was the only instance in 4 ODIs I played but it happened twice in a single game so thought I'll put it up. I'm okay with such misunderstanding but it would great if atleast one batsman decides to run to the other end and not completely stay on the same side completely.
- THIS ONE has been mentioned a million times and I just want to mention it as a me too: AI batsmen need to run singles when ball goes into the deep. This is obviously being caused by the deep fielders being almost at the 30 yard circle. I noticed in one of the other games that once the death overs came, they ran singles but I'm guessing that under normal circumstances, they would have ran 2 here. So hopefully, this is the first thing on the priority list for the next patch...put the fielding on the boundary. Currently, there is a feeling of claustrophobia cause of how close everyone always is.
- Batsman not getting back into the crease in another issue. I love the animation after he plays and misses but for spinners, he just takes like 4-5 seconds before reacting to my command to get back in the crease cause the animation had to play through. I would suggest that the wicket keeper doesn't hit the bails as of now unless I advance down the wicket and in the future add animations that let the batsman take a bigger step. Cause I really love that after shot animation and wouldn't want to remove it.
- Running between wickets wise, I really wish that the original DBC 14 controls came back. I don't understand why there was need to changes things that were working well. First of all batsmen never made a u-turn to wait for the next run. It worked beautifully in DBC 14, they always ran past the crease and they were really aware of it. Hardly was there a run out because of this issue (after the patch). To add to this, DBC 17 changed the dive button from being just a push to a hold! This is causing an unnecessary delay in timing my dive and why change something that worked well?
- I hardly had any time to appeal for a caught behind or a slip catch! If you had seen the best moments video, there were 3 edges that I couldn't appeal for cause I was 1 second late! This is not a problem for LBW appeals.
General Note: The fielders staying inside and batsmen getting stumped after play and misses aside, most of the issues I have with game are returning from DBC 17 and something that was completely fine in DBC 14. To list them:
- Batsmen should go back to running past the crease.
- Dive button for batsman should just be a a tap and not hold.
- Look around through Eyes for Batsman needs to go back to RT.
- Bowling length adjustment shouldn't have the shoulder buttons and go back to being timed for User. I hardly use it any more and I feel so bad for missing it. It's just taking me out of the immersion while on DBC 14 it was such a natural phenomenon.
- The whole replay system :/ DBC 14 had the best replay system and it was PERFECT! DBC 17 system used a lock on system that Ashes also uses and it's just not even close to what we could do and see with DBC 14.
- Field Editor. Ashes surely has a better one compared to DBC 17 but it pains to not know which fielder is standing where. I don't want the computer deciding on who must stand at a certain place. I had the liberty to do that in DBC 14 and it was the biggest loss for me in DBC 17 and Ashes now.
Please! If it's all the same for the game, I beg of you to return back to these original systems. And in the future don't try and change things that are working perfectly, please.
Despite the above mentioned issues, I just loved the game. It's so beautiful and flows like never before. The mo-cap, reaction times between catching and celebrating, all these breathe new life into the game. This is definitely a hundred steps towards AAA quality. We are almost there, gameplay wise. Just some minor tweaking and adding uniqueness to AI players will take it to the perfection. Although, presentation wise, there is a lot to be done; given my career focus is cinema, presentation is the first that would bump me if it's not right. Hopefully I got give enough constructive feedback to turn the next one a perfectly presented game, cause as it stands, this game deserves a millions times better presentation than it has currently.
@Dutch I would happy to use your music from next video onwards if you are willing?
All said and done...Thank You Big Ant! Thank You
@BigAntStudios Ross!!! And thank you all who worked on the beta and those who keep the Academy Community filled with wonderful content!
Until next game,
Sibi Naayagam
