Is It All Necessary?

[---]

Ive got a question for everyone, Do you think all these "Improvements" over the past years are really necessary? Barring the actual gameplay and the way the players move, react, etc.

What im talking about are things like freestyle superstars, X-factors, choosing your dunk in mid air. Do we really need these features? I loved NBA Live 2005, it was a pretty realistic, simple, fun game. It didnt have many fancy trimmings, no superstars and stuff, it was all based on ratings. The ratings of the players gave each individual a style of play, if you played inside the limits of that player, you would be rewarded with a good game for that player. If you tried to play outside the limits, you would be punished with inconsistancy and have trouble winning the game. I believe one day that EA should just go back to this way of letting the user have complete control over how an individual played. Some of you may not agree with me, but imagine NBA Live 2005 with all the new graphical features they have added, the nice looking dynasty mode they have set up, the new animations, and that new "comeback" AI people are talking about.

I for one would buy this game. I just think NBA Live is turning into Street, maybe not that extreme, but to the point where they are sacrificing realism for fun, but by doing that, it takes the fun right back out of it. Sure all these new features make the game more pretty, but does it actually add to the gameplay? I may be asking these questions to early, after all the whole freestyles superstar thing only came in in the last installment of the series, so it may take a while for EA to use all these features to actually make the game play better. But I just loved the fact that everything was based on the skills of each individual, and i would hate to see that point of the game fade away.

[Matt]

there was no distinction between each player though. I like the FSS, it adds more realism to the game, but some people complain it's too powerful. I guess depends which lplayers you use.

[Sam The Man]

Well, i do like how NBA Live 2005 was more simple.

But I really like the FSS moves that have been added in, i know they can be over powering but i only use them sometimes.

[funk99]

i seriously dont like that fss is riten in. ebcause it makes live too easy. without fss on live 2005 i couldnt beat superstar much on normal sliders. i agree with you flite. down with fss.

[The X]

I was huge fan of Live '95, '98, '99, '00 (for PC) then I went off game because it turned terrible....Live '04 for me was when it turned around....that was a great game....Live '05 was a really good title too....then freestyle superstar got added & Live '06 went downhill....

I'll probably give Live '07 a chance on the 360, but as a 360 owner, I think they should have:
1) got the game's code steady....
2) worked hard on providing realistic gameplay....
3) having smooth animations etc....
4) add some real depth through a deep dynasty mode....

after they get everything down pat, then add your little touches....for me, I'd be ecstatic with NBA Live '04/05 without the bugs....great graphics for 360....deeper dynasty mode & greatly improved stats engine....add player tendency ratings as per 2k6....signature jumpshots, as per 2k series (not live '07)....and rather than adding freestyle superstar, they're got 70 odd ratings now, so that should help to determine how a player plays, in addition to their tendency ratings....I miss the signature moves/shots of the Bulls vs Blazers days....why the heck don't they have them....I'd much prefer to see Kobe go into his turnaround jumper or Hakeem do his Dream Shake (if he was still playing)....give the top 50-60-70 players in the league their signature moves....also, add more emotion & intensity to the game....doesn't sound too hard, does it?

right now I'm anticipating games like NHL '07, soccer titles & whatnot more than the basketball titles....I know something is wrong

[---]

after they get everything down pat, then add your little touches....for me, I'd be ecstatic with NBA Live '04/05 without the bugs....great graphics for 360....deeper dynasty mode & greatly improved stats engine....add player tendency ratings as per 2k6....signature jumpshots, as per 2k series (not live '07)....and rather than adding freestyle superstar, they're got 70 odd ratings now, so that should help to determine how a player plays, in addition to their tendency ratings....I miss the signature moves/shots of the Bulls vs Blazers days....why the heck don't they have them....I'd much prefer to see Kobe go into his turnaround jumper or Hakeem do his Dream Shake (if he was still playing)....give the top 50-60-70 players in the league their signature moves....also, add more emotion & intensity to the game....doesn't sound too hard, does it?

Thats exactly what i wanna see too, i think that people are too attached to FSS, i couldnt care less if they got rid of it. I woud love them to lose FSS and X-Factor (unless its as good as people are anticipating) on PC and give us all those ratings to play round with... then they would really have something

[The X]

after they get everything down pat, then add your little touches....for me, I'd be ecstatic with NBA Live '04/05 without the bugs....great graphics for 360....deeper dynasty mode & greatly improved stats engine....add player tendency ratings as per 2k6....signature jumpshots, as per 2k series (not live '07)....and rather than adding freestyle superstar, they're got 70 odd ratings now, so that should help to determine how a player plays, in addition to their tendency ratings....I miss the signature moves/shots of the Bulls vs Blazers days....why the heck don't they have them....I'd much prefer to see Kobe go into his turnaround jumper or Hakeem do his Dream Shake (if he was still playing)....give the top 50-60-70 players in the league their signature moves....also, add more emotion & intensity to the game....doesn't sound too hard, does it?

Thats exactly what i wanna see too, i think that people are too attached to FSS, i couldnt care less if they got rid of it. I woud love them to lose FSS and X-Factor (unless its as good as people are anticipating) on PC and give us all those ratings to play round with... then they would really have something

I don't use FSS at all....I just don't see the fun in it, but that's just me & a few others I guess....

[---]

oh by the way, when i said "attached to FSS" i meant it as in people probably wouldnt like it if it was taken away, until they actually noticed how sometimes less is more

[funk99]

i use it in the game when im in dire situations or for great pics for my dynasty but not in online games. i play normally in online games where i give the opposition an advantage.

[diddy]

yeah fss are too powerfull now, but, i believe, in 07 things will change! what bout 2005.. it's not as good as 06, but 06 doesn't have some cool features that 2005 has! in fact, ea have a lot of work to do in gameplay, moves!!! and make more realistic bodyes of players and jerseys! but still - gameplay is #1!

[---]

what bout 2005.. it's not as good as 06, but 06 doesn't have some cool features that 2005 has!

Unless you accidently got that round the wrong way, or havnt played 2005, 06 has more features than 2005 and (in my opinion) 2005 played much better than 06

[Bryant24]

If you want sim get 2K7. Live will be somewhat fun but the gameplay is miles behind the 2K series imo.

[---]

yeah but 2k7 poses a problem for us PC users

[black man]

I don't see how anyone can proudly produce a game and the gameplay is an afterthought.

[elitethatsme]

i actualyl like FSS its one of the reasons i go for live over 2k i want the game to be realistic but also FUN... and i think it really makes live FUN... as long as they keep it realistic.. i think its totally cool that certain levels of players can do certain moves and others cant, thats realistic in my opinion

[bigh0rt]

With the supposed decrease in FSS power in Live 07, I think this eliminates a large 'problem' that a lot of us had with 06. I feel like many of you are assuming that just because FSS is in 07, that it will mimic 06. The developers recognized that the 06 FSS moves were too powerful, and in Andrew's review, he noted that they are much less powerful this year. If that is indeed the case, I'm all for keeping the hiearchy of players around.

[sonic_313]

The FSS moves in Live 06 are way too powerfull and that is one of the main reasons why the game is bad. The AI will dunk on you and shoot a three in your face, so you have to exploit the FSS moves yourself to win the game too often. Combined with the gameplay bugs like players sticking together, AI hitting every shot late in a game when they are losing...ahh, the game got an arcade feel to it.
I like games that have depth and reality to them so I hope Live 07 will be better with the downed down FSS, team chemistry, X factor players, smooth net animation! and so on.
What this series needs in my opinion is to make the game itself feel like an NBA game. Cutscenes enyone? And I don't just mean cutscenes of players on the floor or on the bench. Cutscenes of the crowd. People wearing their hometeam jerseys, the camera stops on a guy who is a Ben Wallace look-alike with the haircut and everything. The team mascot chearing up the crowd. Also the players on the floor should react to the game more. Shoure in Live 06 players selebrate after a dunk or a buzzerbeater but they should feel more alive. 2k7 looks good in the videos but Live's gameplay still seems to be the same. Same old commentary lines, same old animations with some new ones. The AllStar Weekend also sems to be the same it was in 06.
But with no other NBA titles on the PC it seems that I have to play Live again this year. 07 will be much better than 06, I'm shoure but it will not be a game I'm going to be satisfied with either.

[ThaLiveKing]

I just noticed how NHL 07 got like an 8.7 rating by IGN, and the guy who did the game was producer for NBA Live 06. Just imagin if he did Live next Gen. I'm sure we wouldn't be disappointed

[point-guard]

i think EA miss out many basics of basketball. where are the layups? where are the normal 2 handed dunks, 1 handed dunks that big men does all the time? where are the under the rim shots? where are the reverse lay ups? i dont need things like reverse windmill jam. why did they miss out so many basics of basketball, and integrat so many redundant features such a FSS level 1 2 3, Star/superstars, X factor. i think most people know that i've been a nba live gamer/patcher for quite some time. IMO. 2K7 seems to be over taking the live series...and live dont seems to be any where close

[TNazT]

IMO, 2005 was the best Live. All EA had to do was build upon what they had there. The animations were great. The graphics were, too! I don't see why had to change it so drastically for '06. A few more tweaks & a few more additions were all that 2005 needed. I was expecting something great last year. Hopefully EA can redeem themselves with '07.

[Donatello]

Meh, this is just kind of a random comment, but oh well.

2004 was the best, game-play wise, in my opinion. Dynasty mode keeps improving (for the most part), though.

[xman]

x factor is ok i think, but i hate freestyle control

[TNazT]

I just noticed how NHL 07 got like an 8.7 rating by IGN, and the guy who did the game was producer for NBA Live 06. Just imagin if he did Live next Gen. I'm sure we wouldn't be disappointed

I wonder if he's Canadian....That would explain everything!

[Andrew]

Since Freestyle Control was first implemented (and even before that) most people seem to want to have more and more control over everything the players do on the court and to see a distinction between regular players and the cream of the crop. That's what FSS and Total Freestyle Control are meant to do although the first incarnation of FSS was too powerful.

I think a lot of people panic or dismiss features too readily because they've got a gimmicky name attached to them. I also think some of the labels given to these features for marketing purposes are misleading for a lot of people since even though they give us what we've been asking for - or try to give us what we've been asking for - they don't explicitly describe all aspects of the feature or describe it in the same way we phrased it in the Wishlist or "What I'd like to see" posts in the Forum so it's written off as "just another gimmick".'

I certainly do that to an extent, even with small features. I didn't think much of seperating the dunk/layup button into two buttons but when I played the game I could see the advantage of being able to have complete control over whether a player takes it up strong or just tries to lay it in. When it was a single button and context-based, allowing the CPU to choose whether a dunk or layup would be best, it didn't always make the right choice particularly when the comeback code (which is now gone) kicked in. The difference seems subtle at first but all the same I have to say it was a better idea than I first thought.

Ultimately I think FSS and Total Freestyle (or at least the concept) is something we've wanted (albeit with a name suitable for marketing purposes) and is beneficial to the game, but it's an aspect of the game that is prone to having arcadeish qualities or being too overpowering, which was the case last year. The impression I got when I played 07 at the Community Day is that it has been sufficiently toned down, I'm hoping I feel the same way when I get my hands on the final version and play it at length.

[Old School Fool]

IMO, 2005 was the best Live.

No.

That thing had a permanent freeze glitch or something for the consoles, and thats bullshit.