Ashes Cricket General Discussion

[blockerdave]

the ps4 v1.03 day one patch was vastly, vastly superior to the game in its current state.

that said, the bowling innings i have just completed shows up everything that is both good and bad about the game. (for info - legend AI, semi-auto fielding, hard for bowling/batting/fielding, everything default. a first class 4-day "rebel test" match, 100 overs per day, bowling as South Africa XI vs West Indies XI)

the mere details of it makes it sound fantastic:

the AI scored 483 all out from 145.3 overs, the innings ending just under an hour after lunch on day 2.

The top order scored heavy - one opener passed 50, other passed 60, number 3 got 123, number 4 a quick 20-odd, number 5 80, number 6 out cheap, number 7 60. Mix of low scores and teen-to-20 from lower order.

Dismissals - after an untroubled, chanceless century opening stand, opener backfoot chips spinner to mid-off straight after reaching 50. (AAAARGH!!!). But then the rest of the dismissals were: caught gully (edge drive), caught gully (smashed a cut down his throat), bowled (defensive edge onto thigh onto stumps), caught short mid on (mistimed pull off faster short ball), caught slip (edged), lbw (played round a straight one), lbw (beaten for pace / inswing), bowled (played around out siwnging yorker on middle stump), bowled (beat for pace by yorker).

so a strong competitive score, made mostly by the top order including a century and several other decent scores. a realistic overall run rate. 1 poor dismissal but 9 other genuine, varied dismissals. fastest bowler cleaned up the tail. all very big ticks.

and yet...

it was a green pitch but played like an absolute road. very few chances outside those taken, little to no sense of the batsmen riding their luck to get this kind of score. lots of random slogs out of nowhere just to maintain that run rate between 3.3-3.5.

i've no problem bowling loads of overs with nothing with not much happening - IF the conditions should be in the batsmen favour. I've no problem with the batsmen scoring well on a bowler-friendly pitch - but it should feel like hard work, more play and misses or more edges that go into space, don't carry (or given it was a hard pitch, fly over the slips/keeper). more a feeling that i'm having an unlucky day rather than nothing is happening.

re pitches (and weather conditions) i'm out of patience with BA. it's the 3rd game, and they have never given a single statement about if or how individual pitch and weather conditions should affect gameplay. they've added an entire new control system for accessibility to casual fans, but don't explain how play might be affected by the surface. and the bland carpets we are playing on with no visual character, that looks identical after 145.3 overs to the first ball, just fearsome tweak that. they are getting rightly ripped in tennis for not giving different surfaces character when that is a huge part of tennis. well it's just as huge part of cricket and it's time for them to get it right.

 

[Spoobir]

I really feel like there should be a "Normal" pitch condition in between "Soft" and "Hard". Maybe make "Hard" a little bit more bouncy to make up for it.

As for the rest of the conditions I agree it should be a lot clearer. @blockerdave do you remember whether the pitch was Pristine at the start? My theory is that a wearing/worn grassy pitch will be more batsmen friendly than a Pristine one. Which makes sense as when the grass is worn off the pitch the ball will move less.

 

[Langeveldt]

the ps4 v1.03 day one patch was vastly, vastly superior to the game in its current state.

that said, the bowling innings i have just completed shows up everything that is both good and bad about the game. (for info - legend AI, semi-auto fielding, hard for bowling/batting/fielding, everything default. a first class 4-day "rebel test" match, 100 overs per day, bowling as South Africa XI vs West Indies XI)

the mere details of it makes it sound fantastic:

the AI scored 483 all out from 145.3 overs, the innings ending just under an hour after lunch on day 2.

The top order scored heavy - one opener passed 50, other passed 60, number 3 got 123, number 4 a quick 20-odd, number 5 80, number 6 out cheap, number 7 60. Mix of low scores and teen-to-20 from lower order.

Dismissals - after an untroubled, chanceless century opening stand, opener backfoot chips spinner to mid-off straight after reaching 50. (AAAARGH!!!). But then the rest of the dismissals were: caught gully (edge drive), caught gully (smashed a cut down his throat), bowled (defensive edge onto thigh onto stumps), caught short mid on (mistimed pull off faster short ball), caught slip (edged), lbw (played round a straight one), lbw (beaten for pace / inswing), bowled (played around out siwnging yorker on middle stump), bowled (beat for pace by yorker).

so a strong competitive score, made mostly by the top order including a century and several other decent scores. a realistic overall run rate. 1 poor dismissal but 9 other genuine, varied dismissals. fastest bowler cleaned up the tail. all very big ticks.

and yet...

it was a green pitch but played like an absolute road. very few chances outside those taken, little to no sense of the batsmen riding their luck to get this kind of score. lots of random slogs out of nowhere just to maintain that run rate between 3.3-3.5.

i've no problem bowling loads of overs with nothing with not much happening - IF the conditions should be in the batsmen favour. I've no problem with the batsmen scoring well on a bowler-friendly pitch - but it should feel like hard work, more play and misses or more edges that go into space, don't carry (or given it was a hard pitch, fly over the slips/keeper). more a feeling that i'm having an unlucky day rather than nothing is happening.

re pitches (and weather conditions) i'm out of patience with BA. it's the 3rd game, and they have never given a single statement about if or how individual pitch and weather conditions should affect gameplay. they've added an entire new control system for accessibility to casual fans, but don't explain how play might be affected by the surface. and the bland carpets we are playing on with no visual character, that looks identical after 145.3 overs to the first ball, just fearsome tweak that. they are getting rightly ripped in tennis for not giving different surfaces character when that is a huge part of tennis. well it's just as huge part of cricket and it's time for them to get it right.

Yeah the whole run rate having to be between 3 - 3.5 thing or we will go for a wild slog for me isn't test cricket, and I've given up bowling largely because of it. Will see if I can eke any enjoyment out of this title while batting. I also don't remember the run rate requirement or mad slog being such a part of the day one patch. Amazing that we all had our machines downloading a patch to ruin this game that we could have stopped had we known.

 

[wasteyouryouth]

I really feel like there should be a "Normal" pitch condition in between "Soft" and "Hard". Maybe make "Hard" a little bit more bouncy to make up for it.

As for the rest of the conditions I agree it should be a lot clearer. @blockerdave do you remember whether the pitch was Pristine at the start? My theory is that a wearing/worn grassy pitch will be more batsmen friendly than a Pristine one. Which makes sense as when the grass is worn off the pitch the ball will move less.

As with a lot of things in the game it could be improved by simplifying it and just having some default pitch combitinations that come with a two or three line description of what to expect at the start of the match and as it progresses.

 

[Dean johnes]

Ah so simple, where were you when BA were developing Ashes......

Actually it was simple for big ant but are they too egoistic to take suggestions from people
But they screwed it themselves their reputation and the ashes 17 just like ash left over after burning the hearts of all innocent buyers.

 

[CaptainOZ]

As with a lot of things in the game it could be improved by simplifying it and just having some default pitch combitinations that come with a two or three line description of what to expect at the start of the match and as it progresses.

Yes. Keep it simple. One of the key areas in which this game failed.

Better to have 3 things that work all the time, than 30 things that work some of the time or not at all.

They tried to include too much. But instead of making the game comprehensive, it actually made it superficial. Does that make sense?

 

[Jerm]

You do realise that probably has nothing to do with the fact that it's on legend difficulty?

It does make a difference in the timing window (ie when and for how long the length indicator is on for etc...

 

[Gamer Pradosh]

I was playing career mode earlier bowling at the death in an ODI. Fired in a perfect yorker only to have it 'prod-shotted' over deep backward point for 6. I closed the game.

That exactly what happens..Like they did with DBC 14 for playing too much to third man, they should remove this animation IMO..Its causing more issues than doing any good to the gameplay...

And with BA they have a tendency to make use of the weird stuff more in the game than the awesome animations there are..Too many shots are played with the prod animation...That and the short ball where AI just moves and looks at WK while playing a weird shot to the point region which goes through the bottom of the bat and diverts square..Sample video below of that weird shot..

 

[Pinch hitter]

I never thought, I ever able to play hardest batting, bowling difficulty with legendary option with in a 10 days of play... but Ashes Cricket made this possible...
So, for me the tagline for this game must be like... Easy to pick and play and even easier to master it with in 10 days...

 

[Spoobir]

That exactly what happens..Like they did with DBC 14 for playing too much to third man, they should remove this animation IMO..Its causing more issues than doing any good to the gameplay...

And with BA they have a tendency to make use of the weird stuff more in the game than the awesome animations there are..Too many shots are played with the prod animation...That and the short ball where AI just moves and looks at WK while playing a weird shot to the point region which goes through the bottom of the bat and diverts square..Sample video below of that weird shot..

That's supposed to be an aggressive cut behind square I think but that shot is broken at the moment and goes towards mid-off.

 

[Gamer Pradosh]

That's supposed to be an aggressive cut behind square I think but that shot is broken at the moment and goes towards mid-off.

Maybe but for now bowling isnt fun to play for me...Removing decals did make it better but the consistency in gameplay when bowling just isnt there...

Not sure upto what level the support will be with patches but its going down in the same old track for now...

Though enjoying batting without HUD in career at hardest...Feels good..

 

[Thieves]

I never thought, I ever able to play hardest batting, bowling difficulty with legendary option with in a 10 days of play... but Ashes Cricket made this possible...
So, for me the tagline for this game must be like... Easy to pick and play and even easier to master it with in 10 days...

Are u using standard or classic controls?

 

[Dean johnes]

I think he was too busy getting a prescription for his verbal diarrhea, which obviously hasnt come through the post yet.....

And u were too busy commenting and giving bribe to the doctor not to give me the prescription so that he looks at ur mental diarrhea with no cure.

 

[Gamer Pradosh]

@Spoobir Speaking of that prod six I got this..

 

[Spoobir]

@Spoobir Speaking of that prod six I got this..

Yep that's pretty much exactly what mine looked like.