Hi Tutsi
Another review after approx 8 hrs of gameplay. both ODI's & Test.
I have been a regular user of Boss's patches where batting is both fun & challenging and the bowling rocks. I have tried your earlier work Tutsi, but found the gameplay too easy. Not much harder than the original game, just different timing of shots, etc. And bowling was just as boring as in the original configs.
However, I think you have done a great job with this patch so I want to give you a detailed review. I will divide this into a few sections.
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The outfields need to be slower!!!!!!!!!! I saw your explanation about this to someone earlier in the thread, but because of the 6-hit (see below) the outfields are too fast. I have tried your patch with Satish's outfield settings (ie, your field_physics.cfg with Velocity Reduce only changed) and it's still quite easy to score runs. It's far more realistic!!!
BATTING:
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Being so used to Boss's strokes I wasn't sure if I liked the batting in this patch at first. But, I persevered, got used to it and discovered that the batting in this patch is great.
Timing:
The timing of strokes is very different from Boss's patch - all shots must be played later in this one. I quite like it, although the timing in Boss's patch makes it feel as thought the bowlers are quicker!
Direction:
There doesn't seem to be much variation in direction of the shots. I don't mind this as when you time a shot you know where it will go. And with Boss's patch shot directions are a bit TOO varied. My suggestion here would be to have variation in the shot direction about halfway between where it is now and where Boss's patch has it.
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Timing & Direction Summary:
The timing of the shots maybe doesn't affect direction of the shots as much as it should. It's more like if you mistime it goes in the same direction but with no power. There doesn't seem to be much freedom with the timing of the strokes. You either nail it and it goes to the same place every time, or it goes straight to ground and rolls briefly.
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Edges:
Edges in this patch seem great - Boss doesn't have enough & Satish went overboard with edges. I think that you have found a nice balance here Tutsi
Stroke Power & 6-hit:
The regular strokes seem to lack power. This could be partly to do with timing, but because the timing of strokes is so unforgiving it is very rare for me to hit a boundary with the regular strokes.
What you've done with the 6-hit is a great idea. The flatter trajectory is excellent. Playing as England the only person who hit a 6 was Flintoff. Butcher came close and so did Pietersen. This is a very realistic aspect of the patch. But ...
Because the 6-hit is so weak it can be used for almost any stroke. In fact, the only way I could regularly get boundaries was with the 6-hit. The thing is that because it's so weak you really have to play it early to get caught. Most of the time you can use the 6-hit and the ball will go to ground so quickly that it is a very safe shot. Sure, you won't get a 6, but you will probably get a 4 with no risk of being caught. Again, this could be because the timing is so unforgiving?
This is almost realistic, but not quite. My suggestion here would be to give ALL of the strokes a little more power - not much, just a slight touch. Either that or make the timing a little more forgiving - again, just a tiny bit.
Batsman Movement At The Crease:
If there's one thing I don't like in some of the patches I've tried it's this: to make batting harder the patcher pins the batsman's feet to the spot. It's bad enough that the game won't let you move the batsman once the ball is being bowled. But to then stop the batsman moving himself into position to play his shot? OUCH!!! I'm sorry to say that this patch does this.
It's not that much of a problem if you choose your shots "correctly", but it's just annoying. Maybe I actually
want to try turning that ball outside the off stump to the leg side - the CPU does it all the time! So do real batsmen!!! Unfortunately this is not possible with the current settings.
This kind of thing is more acceptable in Test batting, but for ODI's it's just not on! I reckon you might have to consider having separate configs like Boss does. Either way, a little more movement at the crease is one thing this patch really needs, even for Test batting.
Final Thoughts On Batting:
The only strokes I don't like in this patch are the front foot leg glance and the turn off the hips - basically the front- and back-foot versions of the same shot. It might just be me, but I haven't seen either of these shots go any finer than backwards square leg/long leg. I play both of these shots a lot and it seems strange that they never actually go towards fine leg no matter when I play them. Which brings me to my main suggestion for the batting:
The strokes are great! The batting is right up there with Boss's
I am very biased in favour of Boss's strokes file, but your batting is equal IMHO. I think that with the tweaks I am suggesting this would be the best batting around!!! :cool:
The strict timing is actually pretty cool, but if the timing is going to be so strict then the direction needs to be relaxed - or maybe both need to be relaxed just a little. The leg glance (front & back) needs to be fixed for direction. And maybe
slightly more power to all shots. Trajectories are great for 6-hit but too much power missing - it's become a shot you can play all the time with no risk.
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@ heyado and Skidman: Try playing the strokes a little later than you would with Boss's patch and you will start to get the batting in this new one of Tutsi's. Also, another really cool mix of patches to try which I've mucked around with: Instead of Boss's batting and Tutsi's bowling (too easy!!) try Boss's bowling & Tutsi's batting! Very, very, very satisfying.
@Skidman: The strokes file is the 136/7 kb one
I've had enough of typing for now, so I'll come back and do bowling in the next day or two.
Just to let you know Tutsi, that I think this patch rocks! I will definitely post a bowling review. A few things could be tweaked, but when I say just a little bit I mean
just a little bit!. The suggestions I have made only call for very small changes in each of the areas mentioned - subtle changes
Very nice work, feller! Very nice indeed. Thanks for this excellent patch :cool:
P.S. All statements above are merely IMHO. They are not meant to be taken as literal truth - merely an inadequate description of my personal experience
--EDIT-- I only play on Hard setting, so don't know what it's like on Easy or Normal /--EDIT--