Prospective buyer queries...

[W.G. Grace]

I'm almost certainly going to get this game as soon as I have some spare cash. I've been reading lots on here, various reviews and also I've been watching a lot of videos/streams on YouTube and Twitch. But, I still have a few queries that I have not been able to find definitive answers to — hopefully, some of you who actually have the game would be kind enough to answer them for me?

1. I have noticed that the pitch does gain visible wear with cracks and whatnot as 3-5 day matches progress: but, is there merely aesthetic or does it actually have any affect on the bounce and spin of the ball? Ie: when bowling can you exploit the nature of the pitch to your advantage?

2. When facing a spinner, can you come right out of your crease and dance up the pitch, Shane Warne style, to intercept the ball prior to it bouncing?

3. Does the AI batting ability of different batsmen reflect reality? By this I mean: are the lower order considerably easier to get out and do they make a load more errors when batting?

4. I've witnessed quite a few WK stumpings, from the batsman missing a shot on the front foot out of his crease, which like they shouldn't really have been if the batsman wasn't so lethargic. So, I'd like to know, do you have any control over this or is just something you have to deal with? Is there a button to put your foot back behind the line to prevent this?

5. Bouncers: can you use bodyline type tactics? I've not seen bouncers hit the batsman in the head at all: does it ever happen? If so, does it drastically affect their confidence?

Thanks

 

[fanirama]

I'll take a crack -

I'm almost certainly going to get this game as soon as I have some spare cash. I've been reading lots on here, various reviews and also I've been watching a lot of videos/streams on YouTube and Twitch. But, I still have a few queries that I have not been able to find definitive answers to — hopefully, some of you who actually have the game would be kind enough to answer them for me?

1. I have noticed that the pitch does gain visible wear with cracks and whatnot as 3-5 day matches progress: but, is there merely aesthetic or does it actually have any affect on the bounce and spin of the ball? Ie: when bowling can you exploit the nature of the pitch to your advantage?

Seems to be aesthetic to me. I haven't actually seen much change on the bounce and spin tbh. Even at lower (easy) difficulty the AI thrashes me all around. When I bat, it is quite more tougher to dispatch them easily.
After 2-3 days of pitch wear, I have seen no change to either of the 2 above. Maybe it is happening, who knows. I haven't noticed it in my tests

2. When facing a spinner, can you come right out of your crease and dance up the pitch, Shane Warne style, to intercept the ball prior to it bouncing?

Yes. You can dance down the pitch but it depends on the ball pitch if you hit it without bouncing. I've tried it a few times and I've hit a couple as full tosses. You can actually move your batsman quite a bit up.

3. Does the AI batting ability of different batsmen reflect reality? By this I mean: are the lower order considerably easier to get out and do they make a load more errors when batting?

IMO, not significantly. There is some change in how they bat when you bowl the same delivery over and over. As a test, I played an ODI and bowled the same exact delivery for 40 overs and the AI played very varied shots. Then I got a couple of lucky catches and the lower order played the same exact shots as the upper order. And they thrashed me around the park.

4. I've witnessed quite a few WK stumpings, from the batsman missing a shot on the front foot out of his crease, which like they shouldn't really have been if the batsman wasn't so lethargic. So, I'd like to know, do you have any control over this or is just something you have to deal with? Is there a button to put your foot back behind the line to prevent this?

Batsmen are a bit lethargic. But you can either move your batsman very close to the stumps (there's no hit wicket and batsman and AI WK regularly clip into each other and batsman regularly walks through the stumps) to avoid stumping or you can quickly hit Circle on PS4 or B on Xbox One to get back into the crease. But the WK can take some tumbling super catches off of edges. Yes, there's some edges - I've noticed if you use Rt Trigger + Lt Trigger and R3 to advance, there's more edges than normal, especially from lower order.

5. Bouncers: can you use bodyline type tactics? I've not seen bouncers hit the batsman in the head at all: does it ever happen? If so, does it drastically affect their confidence?

You can bowl bouncers but I haven't been able to bounce one to hit the batsman, bounce near head or even chest high. If they miss or get hit, I haven't seen any significant change in confidence.

Thanks

Now mind you, my experience with this game is still quite little (~10 hours or so of gameplay) but there's a few things I'll note - I haven't been able to hit to all areas, I haven't been able to do hooks or aerial flicks or aerial square cuts. Also several animations are weird and cause you to get out needlessly exposing your stumps attempting a square cut especially.

The game is much slower with women as well. Overall, however, I am enjoying the bowling and batting in this game. It seems fun. There is not as much of a radical change from DBC14 or even DBC17 but there's some subtle changes in AC which make it a bit easier to pick up and play. If you haven't bought it, I'd definitely recommend buying it.

 

[Jerm]

I'll take a crack -




Now mind you, my experience with this game is still quite little (~10 hours or so of gameplay) but there's a few things I'll note - I haven't been able to hit to all areas, I haven't been able to do hooks or aerial flicks or aerial square cuts. Also several animations are weird and cause you to get out needlessly exposing your stumps attempting a square cut especially.

The game is much slower with women as well. Overall, however, I am enjoying the bowling and batting in this game. It seems fun. There is not as much of a radical change from DBC14 or even DBC17 but there's some subtle changes in AC which make it a bit easier to pick up and play. If you haven't bought it, I'd definitely recommend buying it.

Shot accessibility is very much according to foot placement in this game, your foot placement must be precise , as it should be, much more rewarding , as for the womens game, have you ever watched a womens game, they ARE slower so the game being slower is as it should be!

 

[gideon_swrd]

3. Does the AI batting ability of different batsmen reflect reality? By this I mean: are the lower order considerably easier to get out and do they make a load more errors when batting?

Only played T20s so far, and on Veteran AI, I haven't seen a big difference between top and lower order batsman really - both seem equally capable of smashing balls and making silly errors.

I have mixed feelings about the improved AI over DBC17 - on one hand, the AI in Ashes plays a lot more shots around the wicket (DBC17 had specific zones the AI would mostly score in), and is generally much more aggressive (in DBC17 there would several maiden overs in the middle of a T20); on the other hand, it does seem a little arcadey now -- new AI batsmen will come in and smash the first ball for 6 even if its a decent ball.

Hopefully, BigAnt can tweak the AI a bit to make it competitive in a realistic way (I trust they will fix the known AI bugs of not running singles when hit to the deep, and blocking the last ball of the match when 4 runs are needed)

 

[hammadahmed88]

Any changes or upgrades made to career mode? It seems from reading threads on this site that there haven't been, and issues that were around in 17 persist with career mode. Also, it seems from my reading that some aren't able to access the academy? Is this true?

 

[Ace123]

Any changes or upgrades made to career mode? It seems from reading threads on this site that there haven't been, and issues that were around in 17 persist with career mode. Also, it seems from my reading that some aren't able to access the academy? Is this true?

I bought the game but yet to play, I heard Stats bug is rectified from DBC17 for career mode

 

[cricket_online]

I bought the game but yet to play, I heard Stats bug is rectified from DBC17 for career mode

I heard otherwise. See the post and other related posts in the thread below...
https://www.planetcricket.org/forum...-ant-gaming-series.109353/page-3#post-3221457

 

[kulch]

The stat's are still off in career mode but better. The avg work out but your highest score will carry a not out *. Despite being dismissed. it must be so hard to get right like DBC14

 

[passwordistaco]

The stat's are still off in career mode but better. The avg work out but your highest score will carry a not out *. Despite being dismissed. it must be so hard to get right like DBC14

That seems to be the only issue and it doesn't effect the averages, still it would be nice to show the correct HS but it's not game-breaking.

 

[Little Timmy]

Any changes or upgrades made to career mode? It seems from reading threads on this site that there haven't been, and issues that were around in 17 persist with career mode. Also, it seems from my reading that some aren't able to access the academy? Is this true?

Career mode is now a combination of three-day, one-day and T20 matches. It's so much better for not just being a T20 slog. I've played in England and my team are in a group of six. We play five three-day games, five one-day games and five T20 games plus finals-day in the one-day and T20.

The Academy has had to start again. You can't transfer DBC stuff to Ashes.

For some reason a not out symbol appears next to your highest score but it doesn't affect your average. The club level stats are merged but once you're pro they're separate.

 

[hammadahmed88]

Has there been any word on whether there will be further patches?

 

[Nathaus]

Has there been any word on whether there will be further patches?

Yes, plenty of words

 

[BigAntStudios]

We're working on patches.

 

[param_47470]

We're working on patches.

If anyone thinking to buy this game then just buy it ... playing some test matches offline and it is proven to be classic game ... only with few bug online but overall the game is 90 percent perfect

 

[hammadahmed88]

We're working on patches.

Appreciate the confirmation. Thanks.