If NBA Live Has a Future, It Has to Look Radically Different

[Sundown]

Quote: Originally Posted by El_Poopador

fans dont prefer it because its not pretty and its not what theyre used to. the problem is that no one gives it a chance because of the graphics. the few people on here who have gone back to play it since 2k doesnt work have said its much better than they originally thought.

I played the Live demo and thought it looked and felt like an abomination, but that there were some promising animations.

I played it again later with a friend and discovered how terrible the actual basketball is with hop step cheese. Still, some of the animations looked kind of okay in moments if I didn't concentrate too hard.

I played it one more time while waiting for a 2K patch to download-- I was curious about Synergy updates and just wanted to mess around mindlessly for a few minutes. I wasn't even sure on the positives I saw previously. It looked worse AND played worse than even I remembered even when I wasn't trying overly hard to be critical. It's a bad looking, bad playing, bad feeling basketball game that doesn't even appear to be as good as Live 10.

Quote: Originally Posted by WTF

If you fellas are happy with that type of ball game, then that's fine. I will applaud EA for everything that it's doing, sans the graphics. If this game came out swinging with the graphics of NBA 2k, or better, and with a tutorial/practice mode, you'd see a LOT more guys on the forums over here. But it doesn't look next gen. It's not pretty. But it plays a damn good game of basketball.

No it doesn't.

Unless hopstep circus layups with Andrew Bynum is good basketball.

Terrible defense, horrible dribbling model, off-ball AI that does nothing (is this a demo only thing?), AI defenders that seem disinterested in contesting, AI forgetting to shoot the ball when quarters run down, zero explosiveness in player movement, not to mention all the bad animations that equal a bad simulation of player interactions.

A lot of the 2K issues can at least be mitigated by sliders and difficulty levels even though momentum has always been too strong in the game. But when the most effective move is to hopstep repeatedly regardless of player or handles, Live does not look or play like any semblance of good basketball. With all due respect, it seems that your frustration and familiarity with 2K's flaws have completely blinded you to everything that is more poorly done in Live in almost every aspect of the game outside of a few nice pass animations.

[El_Poopador]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sundown

I played the Live demo and thought it looked and felt like an abomination, but that there were some promising animations. I played it again later with a friend and discovered how terrible the actual basketball is with hop step cheese. Still, some of the animations looked kind of okay in moments if I didn't concentrate too hard. I played it one more time while waiting for a 2K patch to download-- I was curious about Synergy updates and just wanted to mess around mindlessly for a few minutes. I wasn't even sure on the positives I saw previously. It looked worse AND played worse than even I remembered even when I wasn't trying overly hard to be critical. It's a bad looking, bad playing, bad feeling basketball game that doesn't even appear to be as good as Live 10. No it doesn't. Unless hopstep circus layups with Andrew Bynum is good basketball. Terrible defense, horrible dribbling model, off-ball AI that does nothing (is this a demo only thing?), AI defenders that seem disinterested in contesting, AI forgetting to shoot the ball when quarters run down, zero explosiveness in player movement, not to mention all the bad animations that equal a bad simulation of player interactions. A lot of the 2K issues can at least be mitigated by sliders and difficulty levels even though momentum has always been too strong in the game. But when the most effective move is to hopstep repeatedly regardless of player or handles, Live does not look or play like any semblance of good basketball. With all due respect, it seems that your frustration and familiarity with 2K's flaws have completely blinded you to everything that is more poorly done in Live in almost every aspect of the game outside of a few nice pass animations.

i think everyone has agreed the hop step is an issue. but we also remember the spin dunk from nba 2k11 that was the hop step of that game. yet it is still regarded by many as the best basketball game ever.

you say terrible ai but from what ive seen the play to play ai is pretty decent. theyre not disinterested in contesting. they just cant warp/slide into position for a good contest every time. is the ai perfect? far from it. and not taking that last shot of the quarter is definitely an issue. but for the most part the ai plays pretty realistically.

personally i like the dribbling system. but i do agree about the explosiveness on the first step. again no one here is saying that the game is flawless. we all agree the game has issues. but it also does a lot well.

[The 24th Letter]

Quote: Originally Posted by DonWuan

You looked up someone's twitter? I must be getting old (27). Speaks volume's Once again I do agree with OP. Sent from my M353 using Tapatalk

People 27 and over shouldn't access twitter?

[DonWuan]

Of course they can its built for old people.

Just kidding. But I will keep my thoughts to myself.



Sent from my M353 using Tapatalk

[Ace1259]

People's true nature getting exposed I see.

[JoeDog10]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sundown

I played the Live demo and thought it looked and felt like an abomination, but that there were some promising animations. I played it again later with a friend and discovered how terrible the actual basketball is with hop step cheese. Still, some of the animations looked kind of okay in moments if I didn't concentrate too hard. I played it one more time while waiting for a 2K patch to download-- I was curious about Synergy updates and just wanted to mess around mindlessly for a few minutes. I wasn't even sure on the positives I saw previously. It looked worse AND played worse than even I remembered even when I wasn't trying overly hard to be critical. It's a bad looking, bad playing, bad feeling basketball game that doesn't even appear to be as good as Live 10. No it doesn't. Unless hopstep circus layups with Andrew Bynum is good basketball. Terrible defense, horrible dribbling model, off-ball AI that does nothing (is this a demo only thing?), AI defenders that seem disinterested in contesting, AI forgetting to shoot the ball when quarters run down, zero explosiveness in player movement, not to mention all the bad animations that equal a bad simulation of player interactions. A lot of the 2K issues can at least be mitigated by sliders and difficulty levels even though momentum has always been too strong in the game. But when the most effective move is to hopstep repeatedly regardless of player or handles, Live does not look or play like any semblance of good basketball. With all due respect, it seems that your frustration and familiarity with 2K's flaws have completely blinded you to everything that is more poorly done in Live in almost every aspect of the game outside of a few nice pass animations.

Sundown, you make a lot of good points here.

Live is strictly a single player game for me, so the hop step cheese doesn't ruin the game for me. Could I exploit it against the CPU every time down and get to the basket with ease? Yeah, pretty much. But I only use it in realistic situations, so this doesn't even bother me. I'm enjoying the game a lot playing against the CPU, but I couldn't imagine playing against someone in the same room or online. It wouldn't be pretty.

I don't play the demo anymore so I can't compare the demo and the retail version, but I can tell you that on the retail version, the players no longer just stand around on offense anymore. The "Automotion" option wasn't available in the demo, and I'm guessing that's probably the reason why. The offenses move well and play pretty realistically, and the spacing on the court is really evident.

The biggest problem I'm seeing after having spent a lot of time with game is the points in the paint. It's not always a problem, but I'd say maybe 3 out of every 5 games or so. Going back to the point you made about "hop step circus layups with Andrew Bynum", there are certain stretches of the game where you see that happening. And that's because you really can't "body up" someone in the post once they have the ball. So a lot of times, it results in an easy bucket for the CPU and it's usually an ugly animation too, LOL.

I guess any video game is what you make of it. But, I do think Live plays a good game of single player basketball. It's far from perfect, but it's also not nearly as bad as so many people make it out to be. It's stopped me from playing 2K outside of human vs. human games.

[Slater James]

Live is really in a miraculous place if you think about it. This series should be stone dead. But the other game has somehow managed to keep gamers looking for an alternative. All EA has do is put out a solid game and they could actually force their way back into the conversation. The opportunity for them to reclaim their place is as open as its ever been.

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[KG]

I don't understand why they released a demo without Synergy AND Automotion? Seems like self-sabotage. It's one thing to release a demo that has a few bugs, it's another thing to release it w/o major gameplay features.