NBA Live 15 Actual Gameplay

[TBM]

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http://www.easports.com/nba-live/news/2 ... rview-blog

[zz21]

Still dont know why its getting so much hate. It actually looks like a game unlike last year.

[Andrew]

I agree. I mean, there is obviously still room for improvement, and NBA 2K15 is still king when it comes to the animations, but that looks like an improvement over last year to me. The quickness and smoothness of that Harden drive looks a lot better; you can't take off with a quick first step like that in NBA Live 14.

The delay to October 28th is risky, but if it means a more polished game and a better step up from last year, then it'll hopefully be worth it in the long run. I'm still optimistic, and looking forward to the game.

[chicagoRAW]

It's an improvement. I don't know if that saying much. I want to play it before giving any real judgement. Ball physics are what stood out the most, very unnatural on some passes.

[JBulls]

Ew. Pass.

[Andrew]

Ew. Pass.

What in particular don't you like? I mean, "Ew. Pass." doesn't really tell the developers much.

[chicagoRAW]

Probably means the ball kinda floats on some of the passes.

[Andrew]

I took it to mean JBulls intends to pass on the game, which is certainly fine, but I still think it benefits us all as consumers if we're specific in our criticisms.

It's like when we're compiling the Wishlists, and some people just say "better gameplay" without any kind of elaboration. There's not much you can take away from that.

[JBulls]

Ew. Pass.

What in particular don't you like? I mean, "Ew. Pass." doesn't really tell the developers much.

That was just a knee-jerk reaction on my part however I did make a conscious decision not to elaborate because it's the same gripes I've tried to communicate for the past few years (in detail, mind you) to Tiburon here, and outside of this board.

With the release of these clips, I'm uncertain as to whether they are listening. It's likely they're not, or they disagree, or whatever the case may be because at the end of the day the fact is there is no real dialogue between myself and Tiburon. (Believe me, I've tried).

In a nutshell, though, it's the quirky animations.

[Andrew]

Fair call.

[Patr1ck]

I think it looks well improved over 14, both in image quality and movement.

I would like to see more than just offensive plays.

I thought I saw a nice hesitation animation by Harden, but it turned out his dribble was interrupted by a slight collision animation as he passes the defender. He ends up "palming the ball" because the dribble animation doesn't complete. I hope they blend that better by release. On the contrary, most of the animations look pretty fluid compared to some of the trailer's stiff animations. This is why we want to see gameplay videos.

I hate that jumpy instant replay camera. Please add viscosity, dual-targets(when player has the ball snap the target to the player), and dampening to the cameras because when it's locked on the ball, you can't focus on the action. EA had all this stuff in the PS2/Xbox version 10 years ago. It's been jumpy since the 360.

[Manni Live]

From the looks of it they did however improved on the game.they still seem abit stiff to me but i guess i can live it it

I just kinda feel abit let down since they built up all this suspense with the screenshots blogs and stuff just for this.

[Mr LostSoul]

I'm not a fan. Maybe that'll change with a few quarters of gameplay, but as of now, I do not feel this.

I mean, I think I see a defensive change from last year, but it looks so weak in these clips. Defenders just leave their man for uncontested 3s in two clips; get blown by so easily. Both clips the offensive player isn't ready to catch and shoot, floating passes. That same stationary dribble pose still looks intrusive. Dwight's guarding the basket, so he decides to switch out on KLove as LeBron's heading to the basket? What??

I want to see clips of players getting locked up. That's all there is to it. If that looks legit then I'll be a fan. It doesn't, then it looks like a minor step from 14, aside from graphics.... Still, I do like the jumpshot interference with LeBron, how he stumbled a bit, kicked out. Liked Harden's hesitation, and drive speed. The contact looked better too.

[ChrisCP3Paul]

lol, oh man
Harden drive looks dope and realistic at a glance, but then you look closer and realize it was just Dion Waiters getting stuck in a steal animation he had to wait to finish before he could burst at James to try and block it... as if it's physically impossible to move your feet while doing something else with your hands... 2K is absolutely magnificent at these types of lock animations as well....



But biggest realism killer is, players look like they're float bouncing from one spot to another instead of fluidly running to it, I can't get over that..... well maybe if I play the game only by jacking up long distance 3's and ignore every other aspect that requires realistic movement and spacing....


also LeBron look like he dunking on a Little Tikes hoop, they really cannot animate for the life of them any sort of one handed dunk, only ones that are passable are the 2 hand rim hangers

[Mr LostSoul]

I want to change my stance on this. I think it could secretly be very good. My main concern was that it's hard to see the picture this game paints vs its previous iteration. At it's core, I suppose I shouldn't expect much change in a game's makeup.

[TBM]

One of the things that caught my attention in the first clip was when LeBron started driving to the basket, Dwight walked out of the paint and let LeBron get the dunk for no reason at all.

[thelegend23]

graphics look great, i think harden dances before dribbling the ball

[Andrew]

For what it's worth, the game apparently looks more like the Visuals Trailer, which I felt featured some better animations than a couple of the ones we saw in the WIP videos. Additionally, polishing animations is something they'll be doing in the additional three weeks they'll have with the release pushed back.

I still expect 2K's animations to be the gold standard, and I'm guessing it'll be another year before some really big improvements come to NBA Live's animations. I do think it's a step up from NBA Live 14, and it seems like they've got a bigger variety of animations in there, albeit older assets that they're re-working for use in the new game.

It's not the ideal in the long run, and there's still plenty of room for improvement, obviously. However, I'm still interested to see how it plays. I can get used to the animations and look past a few of the funkier ones, if the gameplay experience is enjoyable. If it's smoother, more responsive, plays a decent game of NBA basketball...in other words, if it plays better than it looks...then I can put up with the animations not being where they need to be.

That's the issue with NBA Live 14. While I got used to the feel of the game, I have actually had fun with it, and there are some good things about the gameplay as far as teammate defensive AI, shot distribution, and the Xs and Os (though there are definitely AI lapses)...well, there's still that stiffness. One could probably overlook some of the animation issues if it weren't for that, but without that smoothness, the animation problems really stand out and the feel of the gameplay experience doesn't compensate for visual shortcomings.

So yeah, that's what I'm hoping will be the case with NBA Live 15: that the animations are a little more polished than what we saw in these videos (more like the trailer, hopefully even a bit better), but regardless, the game feels a lot smoother and more responsive on the sticks. That'll make for a game that's not going to look the best, but should be more than playable, probably even enjoyable for a lot of people.

Again, that doesn't mean the animations don't need to get better, but personally, I can overlook issues with the visuals if the rest of the experience is enjoyable. Take Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, for example. They're in a completely different genre, obviously, but a good example of games that while pretty nice looking, do not represent the acme of stunning graphics; now, or at the time they were released. However, they are a couple of my all-time favourite games, because of the experience they deliver.

So, we'll see, I guess. Hopefully, the trial will still come out around the time of the original release date.

[skoadam]

Animations kills this game, players with stick in their ass, we are talking about sport game, animations are probably most important thing in graphical aspect of the game.

[Patr1ck]

Animations kills this game, players with stick in their ass, we are talking about sport game, animations are probably most important thing in graphical aspect of the game.

That is probably what causes the stiffness. Player's torsos are what we move around while playing, and the legs just animate accordingly. There has to be a way to use the feet as the anchors rather than an invisible pole through a players body.

[Kevin]

Let them release Live 15 on PC and let's see what we can do.

[Mr LostSoul]

Just wanted to mention that it really irks me when one-footed leapers dunk off two and vice-versa. LeBron, Jsmoove, and I think DeRozen, almost always leap off one, them doing major dunks off two just seems ridiculous to me.

[Andrew]

More signature dunk packages would seem to be the solution there.

[Ballyoop]

obviously its an improvement, i guess i'm wrong bout the slippery feel comment before, the footwork animations looks solid, especially on that harden drive.


but...

the jersey numbers are so big.
the name plate at the back still looks like .
they look small in the court, looking like highschools.


ye, 2k still own them.

[atlwarrior]

It looks playable and that's all that matters to me. I'm not expecting anything more than what we've been getting the past 8 yrs. It'll just be another basketball game I play on the side when I get bored with 2k. Since EA brought back the ability for us to edit and do sliders, I'm sure someone will come along and fix a lot of the issues anyway. 14 didn't give us that option.