The Official PC/PS360 NBA 2K14 Impressions Thread

[chicagoRAW]

something kinda minor. but the dunk contest for all star weekend has the same dunkers every time. i think they just pick the 4 players that have the highest rated dunk attribute which is the same 4 players, at least in the first year.

[MJALLDAY]

HATE the soundtrack. The only song I like is Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight" but that song is so played out, he should have went with "I Don't Care Anymore". Thank god Leftos & nesa24's Audio editor still works.

[dandreb_015]

Sir I would like to ask if what are the botton to press when making a hop step move?? Thank you....

[fjccommish]

The other night, D. Howard had 26 rebounds. That reminded me of an issue that persists in 2K14. There are rarely big rebounding games for any player. Try maxing out rebounding, awareness, even height and jumping on a tall center. He still won't grab many more than 10 RPG (in game play or sim).

[dim-3D]

I didn't like the new controls, flashy pass sucks, no point in this new feauture. But.... since i changed the controls i can't make an alley-oop. The new cotrols are LT-X (x-box controller although i play on pc) but when you change the LT for shooting then... no alley-oop, not even with the old controls X-A.

Seems a little improved on rebound and interceptions (not that much but ok i guess when you improve the sliders). Too many blocks, i'll try to change the sliders in this one too. The hot step is a bad change. 50-50 loose balls 90% in favor of cpu again, THAT SUCKS!!!

If anyone knows how to make an alley-oop when you change the controls please make a post. Thank you.

[Andrew]

You can't. This is an oversight 2K is aware of and something they might patch but for now, their suggestion is "give the new controls a try".

[fjccommish]

Here's my take on the music/soundtrack. I call it the noisetrack.

I Want to Play (2K14)

[CHORUS]
I want to play
Without this music
So turn it down
It's pathetic
Turn this noise off
Whenever I play, day or night
Just letting you know that I'm not your drone
Nobody has to follow you down a road (you choose)

[INTRO - During Chorus]
Yeah, I want to play 2K14
I guess I have to turn down this music, they chose
Some of you may like it, that's OK
If you don't like it, turn it down
That's what I do

You can try and push your rotten lyrics to my ears while I play
But I don't have to listen to them no matter how loud you try to say 'em
Cause I control the horizontal, and the vertical, and volume
I'm not influenced by your ideals
I don't listen to your squeals
F the world you say, but you aren't f'ing me
Shout your curses, they're meaningless, those curses don't condemn me
I'm not what you want me to be, without a doubt, I'm just playing on a screen
You won't tear me down, I'm not even really sure what that means

[shadowgrin]

Just turn off the music then.

[fjccommish]

That's what I do.

I tried Leftos' tool, but it won't run on my PC with 2K14. Not sure if there's an updated version.

The bad music is the same reason I like working Sunday MLB games over weekday; games. Sunday, they music from the 40's to the 70's.

[shadowgrin]

You obviously didn't turn it off much earlier when you got the game seeing as you made a song for it.

[bowdown]

Is fjccommish really having a mental breakdown because of this game's soundtrack?

[shadowgrin]

You'll never know when and where creativity will come from.

[Jackal]

Where is Ruffryder when you need him? Those rapping skills are weak son. YOHANCE VS SHANE ENCORE OMGWTF!

[JaoSming]

Where is Ruffryder when you need him?

http://www.operationsports.com/Ruff%20Ryder/

[fjccommish]

Yes I listened to it. I turn it down, because I don't want my brain polluted with it. I took a few minutes to parody and rebut the negative messages contained in the songs.

It's a negative aspect of video games that this type of music is associated with the games.

[fjccommish]

BTW, in the "do superstars play like superstars file", this...

CPU v CPU, Bulls (with MJ added) vs Memphis. Memphis led by 10 going into the 4th quarter. In the 4th quarter Jordan scored 20, Rose scored 14, and Gibson scored 2 (on an assist from Jordan.) The superstars led the Bulls to a come from behind, 10 point victory.

The talk of player moods/emotions and coach strategies gives me hope there will be even more of this in the next gen. The AI purposefully getting the ball into the hands of superstars who want to score - that feels like basketball.

[dim-3D]

In 2k13 cpu had the most steals and off rebounds when the other team tried to catch up. Happend again and again every time my team took a good lead (not big lead just an ok lead 10-12 points) in the game. This year they leave to the cpu only the off rebounding. Only it seems worst, in 15-20 games I played they jump over the block out and not once the game calls an over the back, if i do this it's 100% over the back. I become better and better in the game and in each game the off. rebounds from the cpu become more and more to keep it close. 1/3 of the points the cpu team scores come from that. I had to drope the slider way too much to get some more realistic numbers (90 defensive and 25 in offensive both user and cpu). In 10 minutes game (game speed 45.. about 70-75 shots and 15-20 ft each team in a game) 11-4 in favor of the cpu... I had one game though with 3-4 in my favor (the only game so far i had the most and the only game with so few all together). What sliders do you guys use in rebounding. So far it's the only real problem for me.

I play in all-star mode (usually i play in superstar but i haven't adjust to the new controls 100% yet)

[fjccommish]

The bad part about rebounding is position and your reaction on the control seem meaningless.

[Spree#8]

Yeah, I've been bitching about the rebounding for over a year now. Positioning doesn't matter, boxing out doesn't matter, rebounding attributes don't even matter. You can only grab rebounds that the CPU is kind enough to let you grab.

What sliders do you guys use in rebounding. So far it's the only real problem for me.

I play in all-star mode (usually i play in superstar but i haven't adjust to the new controls 100% yet)

I play on All-Star as well. Drop CPU offensive rebounding to 0 to minimize the agony. User offensive rebounding is fine at 25-30 because - like you noticed - you can't get away with any of the cheese CPU pulls.

Another thing I noticed is that guys with "Tenacious Rebounder" skill are golden in this game. In my Association, I traded for Faried and Noel also developed this skill after the first season and let me tell you that they clean up, sometimes coming up with crazy rebounds in traffic. Meanwhile, Thad Young - in perfect position to grab the rebound - gets pushed right out of the way by the CPU's undefeatable animations. It seems that "Tenacious Rebounders" neutralize at least most of the rebounding bullshit.

On a side note, I find the soundtrack not TOO bad this year, it's definitely better than 2K13's. After I booted up the game for the first time, "Blurred Lines", "Get Lucky" and "Started From The Bottom" got muted immediately and I find myself able to tolerate the rest. The menus are also so much easier on the eyes in 2K14 - I was tired of last year's menus as soon as I saw them.

[wkd]

what the hell is up with the difficulty in nba2k14.

getting a triple double and a+ rating on superstar mycareer and still losing games... my pacers vs raptors..

[shadowgrin]

A star in a losing team. As real as the NBA to me.

[KubbasOG]

I wonder if finally computer AI will change the match ups during the game, for example Dudley guarding Kobe not JJ Reddick, i dont know why since 2k9 they didnt notice that CPU isnt changing matchups at all.

Do Leftos now about that?

[dim-3D]

Other than the new exciting feature that is defense, the gameplay is mostly unchanged. CPU still wants to force their way into the paint on every single possession. Most of the time, it seems they're trying to run a play and if that play doesn't get them a wide open shot, they pass it back to the play initiator who then goes into "bulldoze my way to the paint" mode, doesn't care about getting bumped 5 times on his way and finishes a layup or gets it blocked... over and over and over and fucking over again. Most games, CPU's point guard ends up with 20+ FGA while a non-PG star only takes 5-7 shots. It just reminds me of the "PG domination" problem from old Live games - except you can actually defend those point guards in 2K14. While it only happened once thus far, I had the CPU team not make a single jumpshot until the 3rd quarter - they only took like 3 or 4 jumpshots in the first half and missed them all. And then, of course, there's the rebounding. It still sucks ass. It looks as if they just lowered some hidden sliders/attributes/whatever, because all the bullshit from 2K13 is still in the game, but it happens a bit less often, so it's not as agonizing, still incredibly annoying though. Also, the "slow motion contest" animation is still there and it sometimes causes you to miss a nicely timed block attempt.

Another thing I want to talk about is the AI teammates' defense. It's clearly improved - they now attempt to rotate when they think somebody's getting open, they're more active (I even had a teammate tip a pass and force a turnover before I could switch to him - wow, pretty sure I haven't seen that in the game since 2K11) and aware of what's going on. It needs to be tuned a bit, because sometimes they make a really dumb rotation - on one possession a teammate left a great shooter open in the corner to stop a point guard's drive, but the PG wasn't even in the free throw line area yet and there were teammates closer to the play who just stood and watched. They also tend to be extremely passive to help on drives, but overeager to help on the perimeter. I see major progress though - even if they sometimes do something stupid, my teammates are now interested in playing defense and everything they try to do has a purpose, it's not pointless wandering around 2K12 style. Besides, setting "deny ball" defense on a player you don't want left open usually does the trick. It has to be deny though - "play tight" doesn't do anything for some reason.

I believe these are the biggest problems with the new 2k. It seems that every team attacks the same way. The pg tries to go inside with every way possible and waits the double team so then and only then he can pass the ball. If a team has a weak pg you win easy. If a team has a decent pg it's a close game and if they have Rose or Paul you just loose. I played Rockets vs Hawks and won by 36 it was waaaay to easy for me in defence. I played Heat vs Celtics i was winning by 18 at the half but lost by 4 points at the end. Bradley had 20 points in the second half from the pg position. It was impossible to stop him, everything went in for him no matter the defence. The AI defence seems a little better from 13 but still not good enough. I left Chalmers guard him and waited inside with Lebron (played as pf). Not even once Chalmers stoped him from entering the paint in second half and i had him at played tight mode. It was waay too easy for Bradley.

The rebounding still is bad but manageable with the sliders i believe.

[Spree#8]

If a team has a weak pg you win easy. If a team has a decent pg it's a close game and if they have Rose or Paul you just loose.

Yeah, teams that don't have a strong scorer at PG position are just not a challenge at all because of the way the CPU plays on offense. I find the Wizards (Wall) and Spurs (Parker) hard to play against and I'm yet to face Paul, Westbrook and Rose (was injured when I played the Bulls).

The AI defence seems a little better from 13 but still not good enough. I left Chalmers guard him and waited inside with Lebron (played as pf). Not even once Chalmers stoped him from entering the paint in second half and i had him at played tight mode. It was waay too easy for Bradley.

"Play tight" is broken in 2K14, it does nothing. Try denying - that will make the AI teammates get closer and do a decent job of not letting them get open. Don't know how they act on ball though, because I play on ball myself.

The rebounding still is bad but manageable with the sliders i believe.

It's 2K13 with reduced cheese frequency. That's really all there is to it.

[iforgotmypassword]

after a month and a bit im going to go back to 2k13....some things in 14 are just beyon irritating like the lax defence by the CPU and my players never guarding the corner 3's. Also the CPU seems to take a lot of shots with just a handful of secs on the clock...i thought this wasnt a problem in 2k13.

So anyways 2k14 has some nice features that I will miss but it's gotten so frustrating that i dont enjoy games anymore. At least in 2k13 I played some epic games.