PYS Appreciation

Sure, I have my gripes with the frame rate stutters on PS3 and a couple of the easily fixable bugs that should've been fixed during testing. I have very few issues with the AI, though. The only big problem is that the CPU pitchers throw too many balls, which leads to early substitutions. A lot of inexperienced players will swing at those balls, but long time players won't even flinch at them. A fixing of the ball-strike ratio would lead to a very enjoyable offline experience.

Anyway, I bring up this topic because I'm playing a short pennant with the Carp and actually found enjoyable settings. I throw with perfect pitches over 50% of the time, which is considered very good. Pitching on Spirits level difficulty makes it so basically anything that isn't a perfect pitch can get hit. Power hitters will usually blast any pitcher left in the zone without perfect pitch timing. This leads to a very realistic pitching experience for me. If I get nervous, I can give up walks. There's something about having to make perfect pitches right on the lines that leads to more walks and more satisfying outs.

In addition to that, I bat with digital control and medium speed pitching, which makes batting a challenge without being cheap. I'll blast mistake pitches, but sometimes not be able to catch up to really good pitches on the black.

Pawapuro stinks because they don't have all these customization options. Players progress as they play more and we need more options like Spirits difficulty and pitching speeds. I'm glad the PYS guys figured that out a while ago. This is where American games are way more advanced with their slider system. They leave it up to the players to set the AI. PYS isn't quite at that level yet, but it's getting there. To Namco's credit, Netsu Sta's difficulty options are also extensive.