NBA Live 15 and First In-Game Update Available Today, Post Your Impressions

[blackceasar]

I'm trying to like the game and I guess this year I'm probably more mad than I have been in the past 5-6 years and I will tell you why. And it's not just about Live.. its a 2k thing too..

I don't think 2K moved the needle enough this year. Actually in some instances I think they took a step back. What happened to the awesome halftime report in 2k? Also I think 2k has gotten lazy with their stadiums. The on the court sound is top notch, the crowd is good as usual, etc.. but the court floors themselves just look kinda bland. I feel like the texutures being used could be A LOT better. On the flip side of the coin though 2k's my player is amazing as usual, BE a GM makes me feel like I have a real job with real goals to accomplish and makes me feel like i have a real boss looking over my shoulder. Its stuff like this that makes me want to play well into multiple seasons. I dont mess with online so much because of the cheese factor.. but the actual gameplay of 2k is still great. players have weight, PG's play like PG's, Centers play like centers. There is not one or two canned play styles applied to players across the board... but 2k.. I just don't feel like you've really made any real strides in the on the court experience.

Then we have Live, which I feel many of the player faces look better than 2k's this year. I feel like the arenas and courts blow 2k's out of the water this year. Look at the Pacers floor for Live then look at it for 2k. Live's floor for the pacers looks and feels like wood with a nice coat of sealent/protectant on it and the wood grain color seems accurate.. 2k's floor for the Pacers looks like a painted low res jpeg of a floor. it just feels.. well flat. For some reason I feel like the floors looked better in last years game. Live's play by play though is nowhere near 2k's... and they still refuse to make the single player GM or Player experience feel like I want to keep playing multiple seasons. I'm not going to get fired as a GM.. no one's setting expectations for me.. there's on pressure to do well other than my own satisfaction.. no payoff whatsoever. Then the most important thing is the gameplay.. live 15 feels like a Live 14.2 tons of suctioning, players don't feel like they have any weight whatsoever and the animations based off your joystic moves feels herky jerky and it shows in the shooting as well. The AI is what needs the most work in Live as the more I play it, the more I start to see the laziness or lack of skill and know how rear its ugly head. Id guard the CPU pg.. and if you were far enough back, he wouldnt think about driving..hed just hold the ball until 6 seconds left then either shoot or pass. I can almost get the CPU to do this EVERY TIME now. If i get right up on him and give him just an inch to get around me.. he will every time and drive to the bucket.. which is FINE with SOME PG's in the game.. but where Live fails again is you NEVER see my teammates down low collapse on the PG driving stright to the paint. They just stand there next to who they are guarding, and watch the easy layup while they stand next to whoever their counterpart is on offense at the time.

I'm trying hard to like this game but I'm starting to not feel fufilled on the court or off the court. Live 15 is a MUCH prettier (slightly smarter version of 14) and 2k 15 is a step backwards from 2K 14. One is better than the other in certain areas but if this were a track meet, this year isn't even about who got to the finish line first.. both games are running the 100 meter dash in about 18 seconds...

[BL8001]

Quote: Originally Posted by blackceasar

If i get right up on him and give him just an inch to get around me.. he will every time and drive to the bucket.. which is FINE with SOME PG's in the game.. but where Live fails again is you NEVER see my teammates down low collapse on the PG driving stright to the paint. They just stand there next to who they are guarding, and watch the easy layup while they stand next to whoever their counterpart is on offense at the time.

This is driving me nuts.

And I can't figure out anything to do about it. I have tried swapping to a deeper player near the rim and have even gotten into position and held the accept charge R stick position.

And wouldn't you know? I take the charge and the CPU just barges right through me and makes the layup or dunk and there is a no call.

Meanwhile on the other end there have been several instances of me driving and the cpu flopping and me getting called for charging.

But it all stems from the same thing, the CPU D has a force field that slows you down if you make the mistake of running into it.

The human D only has a much much less effective force field if you hold the LT when playing D.

[Insight23]

The fun factor has died down to me. I've played with almost all the teams and I'm seeing the same animations every 2-3 players. I thought Harden had a sig layup until I did it 4 other players. No individuality is killing me right now. Lack of post game is hurting and although I questioned someone a couple days back about how easy they were saying the game was even on superstar I now see it.

After getting fully used to the controls I can absolutely score at will. Simmed dynasty and stats were everywhere.

I will say tho, the face scans and presentation is a lot better to me than 2k's. I actually have got comfortable with their graphics and alms of justified keeping the game solely because of it. Kyrie, LeBron, George, Howard, and a few others are spot on and a lot better than 2k versions. At times that factors into the enjoyment of playing a game. I play 2k and hate playing with the rockets haha.

All in all I will stick with 2k this year. I expect even more improvements from Live 16 and wouldn't be surprised if I chose it over 2k16 as I was so close to doing so this year even with it's flaws. Also, 2k's flaws have never been voided but it's laughable to think just because they took a step back that now both live and 2k are on an even playing field because that is NOT true to me. Don't justify your Live purchase that way, it's good to see Live as refreshing but don't act as if 2k15 is live 14 all of a sudden haha.

[BL8001]

Tell me how you score at will.

It's not a spoiler, if you think it is you can PM me.

I need some tips to get all those point I need to clear that first NBA Rewind challenge.

I have one, and this would be a sure thing except without the ability to purposely throw a lob pass...

Aldridge inbounds for portland, Lilliard brings it up, as Aldridge passes by me I tell him to screen which brings the defense up, then slip Aldridge. Now he is wide open and just needs to be led with a lob since he is halfway down the lane with me at the top of the key with nobody between him and the rim.

So of course half the time the game decides I want to bounce pass it through 3 sets of defenders legs clogging the top of the lane. If I could manually lob the pass I could easily score all the points Aldridge needs in that challenge.

This of course brings up another thing I have noticed.

When the ball is loose the CPU is more aggressive and even seems to bend over more to get the ball.

Have any of you seen this? if the cpu inbounds it and the guard and the inbounder are running near each other, still in their end of the floor and you get in there and disrupt the ball handler with a steal once the ball bounces loose the inbounder ESP snags it every time. Often times warping right to their hand without them even breaking stride.

[blackceasar]

This is my biggest fear for the Live franchise on next (err current) gen.

I've worked in an industry where I have sat in rooms with guys who are working with 3d models, high level textures, etc for major entertainment brands (and games). Ive asked them at times about the process and what it takes to pull off sports titles with motion capture, 3d models, etc etc.

A good friend of mine who's been doing this kind of work for the good part of 16 years now tells me with a video game that comes out every year, you have to start with a base year one. Base 3d models made up of points where the joints, etc would pivot, etc etc and you build layers and layers on it to get the final visual product you'd see in a sports video game. He said that base that gets built takes A LOT of time and money and is the number 1 thing that determines what you CAN and CANT do with it from an animation stand point moving forward.

He told me pretty much EA Sports is going to be limited in how much they can improve animations on the players because their base model they started with for Live 14 has already been established. Things can be tweaked and enchanced but it's going to have it's limits. If they cannot get the animations and physics nailed down to what customers are asking for, they will have to completely trash the base and rebuild it from scratch which takes the most work and most money to do so. This is why Live 15 feels better than 14.. but it's not "different" from 14 in the animation and physics department if that makes sense. What he was getting at is even on the last year of our XB1's and PS4's that iteration of Live will be better than what you bought this year, but if they just build and tweak their base from 14 (which is what they are doing now), you might just see tiny improvments throughout the lifespan of this generation of consoles. He said its the same thing for 2k as well though. Their base is different from Live's but the same thing holds true for team 2k, which is why 2k 14 and 2k15 aren't that much different in terms of animation and physics.

So what he was telling me basically it all starts with that base and that engine they build for year one. It will determine what the following years of that title is going to be like...and that scares me... for both franchises.

[Insight23]

Quote: Originally Posted by BL8001

Tell me how you score at will. It's not a spoiler, if you think it is you can PM me. I need some tips to get all those point I need to clear that first NBA Rewind challenge. I have one, and this would be a sure thing except without the ability to purposely throw a lob pass... Aldridge inbounds for portland, Lilliard brings it up, as Aldridge passes by me I tell him to screen which brings the defense up, then slip Aldridge. Now he is wide open and just needs to be led with a lob since he is halfway down the lane with me at the top of the key with nobody between him and the rim. So of course half the time the game decides I want to bounce pass it through 3 sets of defenders legs clogging the top of the lane. If I could manually lob the pass I could easily score all the points Aldridge needs in that challenge. This of course brings up another thing I have noticed. When the ball is loose the CPU is more aggressive and even seems to bend over more to get the ball. Have any of you seen this? if the cpu inbounds it and the guard and the inbounder are running near each other, still in their end of the floor and you get in there and disrupt the ball handler with a steal once the ball bounces loose the inbounder ESP snags it every time. Often times warping right to their hand without them even breaking stride.

Nice read but just typical basketball plays really. I just find the holes & windows of opportunity to score. I find it that sometimes users attempt some of the hardest shots when it's unnecessary. Live has to lower the accuracy. I wasn't too fond of the quick release at first but now that I have it down it's easy money.

I play with the pacers sometimes and it's all net with George, hill, Watson, west, miles, copeland. Good pick and rolls. Exploiting the little space defenders give you and threes will almost always go in if you step back quickly to get that space. If I have time I'll record a video today before I trade it in.

[bigeastbumrush]

Quote: Originally Posted by Walt Frazier

Likely will have it within 24 hours. Just watched Skillz vids and the cpu pick and roll is terrible..Yet in the DEMO I am playing the cpu is using the pick and roll and pick and pop really well. Kind of confusing. WTF's vids are nice also... Are you all on the same setting / level?

I play on Superstar.

My gripes with the P&R game from the CPU is that once a screen is set, the CPU PG just stops in his tracks sometimes.

Other than that, I don't have issues with it whether it be frequency or execution.

[Playmakers]

Quote: Originally Posted by WTF

http://www.twitch.tv/wtf_os/b/583251671 This is the game I played last night against the Clippers. Ignore the 2 times I accidentally press Alleyoop from full court. I was in the midst of pressing circle to double team in traffic, didn't realize I had the ball I'm uploading the youtube as we speak as well. I just re-watched the first and part of the second quarter, and not a post play was called for DeAndre. Blake shot some fadeaways from the post. I'd rather them have been face up and shoot type of shots. I think once Synergy updates based on their play this year, we'll see some even better results.

The problem with that is Blake and Jordan aren't rookies so shouldn't they already be playing their style with or without Synergy WTF?

Why are we needing to Synergy for this year just to get players from the 2013 season to play to their true identities?

Everyone on these boards know that Clippers are "Lob City" yet we have to waite for Synergy to drop just see them play the way they already should be playing out of the box?