NBA 2K23 Impressions Thread (XBOX SERIES S/X & PS5)

[AIRJ23]

I dunno what’s going on lately but it’s like a whole new slew of organic human like animations has been unlocked in this game. I’m seeing so many realistic things and even natural mistakes that look like real life. I just saw cpu pass to Kareem posting up but the passer threw it over his head and it went out of bounds. I saw guys battle for a rebound and bat the ball around until it flew out of bounds. Just lots of very natural animations. Game is playing phenomenally.

[mcdowell31]

Quote: Originally Posted by AIRJ23

I dunno what’s going on lately but it’s like a whole new slew of organic human like animations has been unlocked in this game. I’m seeing so many realistic things and even natural mistakes that look like real life. I just saw cpu pass to Kareem posting up but the passer threw it over his head and it went out of bounds. I saw guys battle for a rebound and bat the ball around until it flew out of bounds. Just lots of very natural animations. Game is playing phenomenally.

I can definitely appreciate this observation. I have been playing for the last six months with Passing Accuracy 0 and Offensive Awareness 0 to create non-steal turnovers. I also have Offensive and Defensive Rebounding at 0 so the ball does not automatically go to someone's hands, so there is less perfect rebounding that results in some chaos. Using these settings does seem to involve the Hustle attribute a little more on 50/50 balls as well. It would be great if 2K Development would lean more toward organic basketball play with more chaos built in like you describe.

[m29a]

I've noticed for the last few years they've really leaned more and more into making the game skill based and going as far into timing as possible. Years ago you could hit some shots if you didn't have perfect timing, now, at least on the highest 3 difficulties, that isn't the case anymore.

There are pros and cons to that. The biggest pro is obvious, you separate the truly skilled users. The biggest con is that it starts to look less and less like the real NBA, most notably how semi contested or moderately contested shots in 2K have a very low chance of going in (unlike in the real games they go in at a decent (albeit not high) amount.) It actually limits the playstyles somewhat because certain players are not nearly as impactful as others because they don't have the needed ratings, like athleticism. I'm not saying you reward bad shots, but that variance and randomness are not necessarily a bad thing even in a competitive manner and that is why basketball and the NBA can be so fun to watch.

I've never been big into the online side of the game, and I'm still able to have fun, but more than ever playing on the highest difficulties forces you to play 2K ball to play in an effective way and limits creativity. Even if the middle difficulties are easier -- it feels closer to actual basketball even if again the entire game has gone into the ultimate skill direction.

Edit: I've played many more quick play games -- it's cool getting back to the classic teams, but one thing that seems pretty apparent is interior defense being overly juiced, with poor / mediocre defenders able to put up heavy contests even if out of position or a mismatch. I suspect this is due to online play complaints and I wish they'd separate the tuning between online and offline because they really are two *entirely different* styles. I'd be curious to know the average inside shot success % for the bulk of players playing offline.

Edit2: More games with random teams and I strongly feel this series is now so far into being tuned for online play. I do not have experience with 2K22 or 2K21 current gen (I played those on PC), but it's hard to imagine how much more "skill" they can put into this. They've locked down fast breaks and the faster players lack real burst, they've severely tightened up interior defense and getting a decent layup opportunity probably requires more effort than it should, they've brought back the stone-walling on the perimeter where even if it's not like 2K17 straight bumps, the hipride animations push you outside and even when you get a clean angle, they warp and push most of the time anyways, it doesn't look like actual NBA drives at all. Again, all of this I suspect is due to online play/complaints and I get it, but also I had hoped offline tuning would remain it's own thing. Even if you play with real player %, the contests are so strong, that you're not able to hit the occasional semi contested shot like some players can hit occasionally. It is hard coded for the game to purely reward open shots and harshly punish anything remotely contested. I actually thought in previous years they maintained more of a balance for offline play and it still could feel like the real NBA games at moments, but it's harder to see that now. I might be playing against an AI but we're playing with online ball guidelines and environment. Just my opinion.

[reindeerfell]

great