DAT TRAILER

[TheBlackNerdyGamer]

To me, everything is almost perfect. I just hate that dunk animation Blake Griffin was doing!!! Regardless, I need a demo to give it a final thought.

[zzcoolj21]

To me, everything is almost perfect. I just hate that dunk animation Blake Griffin was doing!!! Regardless, I need a demo to give it a final thought.

Yea they said they were thinking of releasing a demo early. So hopefully soon.

[kingpnp]

Let me know if I missed any accessories in this!

i see the progress EA live squad.

[Andrew]

Definitely looking like a huge step up from NBA Live 15. I'm not going to say it's perfect, as that's an unrealistic goal to begin with, and I'd like to see more of the game - and actually get my hands on it - before I even make a declaration of near-perfect. But those are much better animations than last year, things are looking a lot smoother, and the players are looking great. Hopefully, it feels good to play as well. Really liked what I saw.

[kingpnp]

OK lets break down the Vaseline issue. Actually it used to look like players had vaseline rubbed on their faces and arms. BUT in this trailer its not nearly that bad. i can see that new lighting system at work for better..or for worse.

For worse when you have light reflecting of of a person's face(especially a person of color). It shouldnt necessarily SHINE before they start sweating. It should make that portion of their skin look a tad bit lighter where the light hits.

for instance lets say with no direct light. the person is brown color 4 ( with color 10 being the brightest and 0 being the darkest brown). the moment light starts to hit that person's skin(especially the forehead, bridge of the nose area, cheeks. those areas should lighten up to say a Brown color 6. The more direct light. the ligther the skin LOOKS.
Right now i can see Amir Johnson and D.lil some what shining or reflecting light like a THING instead of like a person. It reminds me of an old effect on Photoshop where it could make anything look like it had plastic wrap on it. this looks like a light version of that effect at times when the lights are hitting the players.

http://www.torontolife.com/wp-content/u ... e-list.jpg

^^^the direct light makes him lighter. granted this is perfect camera lighting so its a bit different. but its the same principle.

http://m1.wholesite.com/2013/11/29/0039 ... ohnson.jpg
^^no real directly light just arena lights slighting hitting his face arms and neck sweat.. slight reflection(not just of the light itself but of the surroundings. sweat = a slight mirror effect). its not just shine. but notice in this pic no directly lighting meanshe looks to be one solid brown color for he most part. the moment he gets hit with that direct light in certain parts of his face/arms. it makes those parts look a lighter shade of brown and the parts without the direct light look a darker shade of brown.

as for sweat shining. the effect that should be used in my humble opinion. is more of a very light reflective sheen vs a bright light being reflected off of a guys sweat.

look at amir's arm sweating on his shoulder, same for i thin thats blatch. its not just shining. its semi reflecting the light.
http://www1.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Toro ... JH9Vpl.jpg

[kingpnp]

-- :17 shoes look ok at a glance, but then you realize they're one completely flat texture, the laces and other various materials that could have at least been embossed to give it a realistic 3D effect are NOT...

-- :20 you see DeRozans foot with that same old Live ice skating effect that's been plaguing the series forever, or maybe it's his foot slipping back, we can hope it's slipping back but history has taught us it's probably ice skating back

-- :22 Kobe's layup he makes, it looks fine, but we can still see glimpses of the same old awkward automatic unnatural path the ball takes going through the hoop, it's as if neither Live nor 2K motion captures the actual ball path on layups that happen in real life, so that's why we get these weird layups where the ball absolutely MUST go vertical high up in the air before going down through the hoop, as if finger roll layups where the ball rolls off your finger directly into the hoop or very lowly off the backboard and into the hoop, as if they don't exist in real life

-- :27 I see they brought back contact dunk animations that they first introduced in I think Live 2007 and then took out for the next few years, I think I saw a few in Live 2014 maybe...

-- :33 the windmill done by Blake Griffin doesn't even look like it was motion captured, it looks like the motion was literally generated by a EA tech guy who used a mouse to move each body part bit by bit until he completed the animation.... also still same awkward slingshot physics we saw in 2014, Blake literally looks like a 500 pound man dunking a basketball, as soon as he puts the ball through the rim it looks like he is literally being dragged to the ground by an anchor.... this tells me that sling shot dunk physics are still "IN THE GAME" at least for some dunks

-- EVERYONE LOOKS LIKE THEY STILL TOOK A DIP IN A HUGE VASELINE JAR BEFORE STEPPING ON THE COURT, nobody at EA knows the difference between a player looking sweaty and one looking like he is covered in vaseline and glowing under the lights

-- CAN THEY EVEN GET THE GAME TO RUN AT A CONSTANT 60FPS, how pathetic is that on a game that isn't even graphically intensive and with all the power of the next gen console


I do see a glimmer of hope though, the last Damian Lillard crossover and dunk.... when he crosses over his defender it actually looks like the defender is following the rule and law of physics and shifting his body weight and feet in a realistic manner and then the great body contact with that dunk Dame does, that whole sequence looked more realistic than anything I've ever seen from any sports game, EVER

to your point about blakes dunk and how fast he comes down from the dunk is spot on.. LIVE you guys gotta switch that up. just slow the speed down a tiny bit , or perhaps you guys are missing a couple of frames between the dunk, a little rim hang and the guy slowly coming out of the sky to meet the ground with his shoes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsUjz61G7JY

^^^and its not just because its in slow motion on the replays. watch the slo mo replay to see that he goes up at a speed and comes down at a certain speed. not nearly as quickly as the nba live trailer just showed us.

[JBulls]

this is just a trailer. not actual game play.

This IS gameplay, only cut in a cinematic way. I know it's not raw gameplay.

i didnt see "as stiff as ever" animations. i mean as stiff as ever is early build live 14, elite, etc. these were not those animations.

OK, I acknowledge "stiff as ever" was probably not the most accurate description. Sure it was an improvement, but still stiff nonetheless. The Blake Griffin dunk, the Lillard & Oladipo crossover, and the Steph Curry pass just looked very awkward to me. This is what I was afraid of when O'Brien said that they had "smoothed" the animations and transitions. I had hoped for a new animation system (which I aknowledge is very difficult and expensive) so they could eliminate these issues once and for all but it seems they're continually trying to improve an outdated system.

[Andrew]

Let me know if I missed any accessories in this!

The only thing that jumped out at me is that Damian Lillard isn't wearing a headband, which apparently he'll be doing this season...though I guess that's something that remains to be seen.

[[Q]]

Let me know if I missed any accessories in this!

Looks like you got them all (unless DLill wears a headband)


At quick glance, it looks like the Cavs and rockets numbers were a bit off. Too fat/not tall enough.

[Ballyoop]

that shoes are insane. the same with the body models, looks they have a variety. distinctive to each other players. the interface/presentation still perfect

the colllars are too wide, it is obvious, is it a tank?

graphically they're good.


the animations and gameplay looks ahhhhhhhrgg. not nice at all. the slippery feel is still out there, those dunks are identical to what they're using since 2002.

overall? still a naaaaahh.

thats what seperate live from 2k. live prioritize the graphics/presentation greatly and just recycle the animations/gameplay from their previous versions.

while 2k is vise versa. tho 2k still has a nice graphics they just prioritize the gameplay/animations more. wc is great.

[JBulls]

the animations and gameplay looks ahhhhhhhrgg. not nice at all. the slippery feel is still out there, those dunks are identical to what they're using since 2002.

A user on OS pointed out that the Wiggins dunk is the exact same animation from Live 06 on the PS2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... -oYcQ#t=14 (at 00:14)

Not surprising given what O'Brien has already said about animations but definitely disappointing.

[zzcoolj21]

thats what seperate live from 2k. live prioritize the graphics/presentation greatly and just recycle the animations/gameplay in their previous versions.

You played both of the games next gen, right?

[Ballyoop]

the animations and gameplay looks ahhhhhhhrgg. not nice at all. the slippery feel is still out there, those dunks are identical to what they're using since 2002.

A user on OS pointed out that the Wiggins dunk is the exact same animation from Live 06 on the PS2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... -oYcQ#t=14 (at 00:14)

Not surprising given what O'Brien has already said about animations but definitely disappointing.

that carter dunk... lol thats the exact dunk animation they used.

[kingpnp]

this is just a trailer. not actual game play.

This IS gameplay, only cut in a cinematic way. I know it's not raw gameplay.

i didnt see "as stiff as ever" animations. i mean as stiff as ever is early build live 14, elite, etc. these were not those animations.

OK, I acknowledge "stiff as ever" was probably not the most accurate description. Sure it was an improvement, but still stiff nonetheless. The Blake Griffin dunk, the Lillard & Oladipo crossover, and the Steph Curry pass just looked very awkward to me. This is what I was afraid of when O'Brien said that they had "smoothed" the animations and transitions. I had hoped for a new animation system (which I aknowledge is very difficult and expensive) so they could eliminate these issues once and for all but it seems they're continually trying to improve an outdated system.

i can see what you're saying and after a 2nd look i can see it being gameplay just chopped up.

[Andrew]

I'm personally glad to see them making use of their backlog of animations, at least until they can fully replace them. That should obviously be the goal moving forward, but moving away from the animations that were intended for NBA Live 13 and at least improving on last year - which seems to be the case - is still a welcome change in my book. NBA 2K15's animations are still king, but like I said, that's looking a whole lot better than NBA Live 14.

I'm also still interested in the feel of the game. Personally, I can put up with some quirky/older animations, especially if they still look OK for the most part, but stiffness and a lack of responsiveness in the controls/getting stuck in an animation is a much bigger problem for me. From the sounds of it, there's been a lot of improvement in that area. Hopefully, the early trial will prove that to be true.

[JBulls]

I'm personally glad to see them making use of their backlog of animations, at least until they can fully replace them. That should obviously be the goal moving forward, but moving away from the animations that were intended for NBA Live 13 and at least improving on last year - which seems to be the case - is still a welcome change in my book. NBA 2K15's animations are still king, but like I said, that's looking a whole lot better than NBA Live 14.

I'm also still interested in the feel of the game. Personally, I can put up with some quirky/older animations, especially if they still look OK for the most part, but stiffness and a lack of responsiveness in the controls/getting stuck in an animation is a much bigger problem for me. From the sounds of it, there's been a lot of improvement in that area. Hopefully, the early trial will prove that to be true.

Even if they were to heed my suggestion of investing in an entirely new animation system which would mean they would be unable to use any of their old animations and therefore would have to start over from scratch, 10 months probably isn't a long enough time to properly develop it and iron out all the kinks so that it would be presentable. Around 18-22 months seems more feasible so with that in mind I'm hoping that they've been developing it on the side and it's just not ready yet.

On the upside, graphics no longer need a major overhaul. One step at a time

[Andrew]

I'm guessing that's the case too, and if so, that's good news in the long run. Equalling or overtaking NBA 2K in the space of a year wasn't going to happen, and is a long term goal at any rate. Improvements on the previous year and moving closer to where they need to be are more realistic short term goals, but I imagine there's a lot of stuff going on in the background for the future. In the meantime, I do think we're getting a fairly substantial upgrade over NBA Live 14, which is most welcome.

[Ballyoop]

yes, it is still a huge step. but it's just disappointing that they can't focus where they really lack.

the overall feel of the game is still a mystery tho the trailer is nice(at some point), i remember in live 2013 we're in the same amount of hype expecting a huge live comeback until we saw this:

[Ballyoop]

I'm guessing that's the case too, and if so, that's good news in the long run. Equalling or overtaking NBA 2K in the space of a year wasn't going to happen, and is a long term goal at any rate. Improvements on the previous year and moving closer to where they need to be are more realistic short term goals, but I imagine there's a lot of stuff going on in the background for the future. In the meantime, I do think we're getting a fairly substantial upgrade over NBA Live 14, which is most welcome.

i agree, its a long process, i hope in the next year's live they'll focus overhauling and building new animations/gameplay/'feel'.

[Andrew]

I think that they have been focusing on the right areas, we're just waiting/hoping for a bigger jump. Or, to put it another way, the short term solution to improving animation variety and quality - re-using older animation assets - isn't the big jump that we'll hopefully see with completely new animations. However, it seems likely that that's in the works as the long term solution.

[JBulls]

LOL!

https://twitter.com/VicOladipo/status/5 ... 1092147201

His "new crossover" is a years old Live animation?

[ChrisCP3Paul]

Is anyone surprised they're recycling whatever they can ?
I just don't or ever will get it, what they had failed them for years causing the game not to be on store shelves during that time, so the only way THE ONLY WAY !!! that EA even had a chance to get back in the game against 2K would have been to go balls out with a completely new built from the ground up engine especially now that we got the new gen consoles, AND they had a multi year window cycle to make this happen, they had EVERYTHING they needed to succeed.
But what do they do ?? they spit shine the same old turd that got them in this mess in the first place, and prove to the world that they are as delusional as the few fans they have left.
Should I or any of us be surprised, I mean EA has been voted Americas worst company to work for 2 years in a row, and when I say worst company I don't mean worst video game company, I mean worst company OVERALL


I will always cherish the memories I had playing this series throughout the 90's and early to mid 2000's, but it all started going downhill when the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions started popping up.


And I "think" I take back what I said about the Vaseline glow in my earlier post, I just saw the uncompressed footage in full true 1080p, and the skin tones look normal, they dont look like they have that ridiculous glow that Live 14 had... I guess You Tube craps on the true quality of videos

[ChrisCP3Paul]

oh and the Victor Oladipo crossover guys here and over on OS are complaining about, it's actually dead on, if you've seen him play you notice he has a very unique hunchback looking stance, he looks noticeably different than anyone else on the court because of this, and because of this almost everything he does doesn't look normal compared to others, including the way he sets up his crossover

take a look at this video here for comparison

phpBB [video]

[JBulls]

That doesn't look the same in the game as it does in real life. Much more awkward in the trailer, in my opinion.

[ChrisCP3Paul]

I don't know dude, I pause the trailer at the early part of :35 seconds, and then pause the vid I posted at early part of :04 and everything looks identical except in the trailer he's keeping the ball further away from his body.

But I'm not going to sit here and try to convince you that someone at EA looked closely enough at Oladipo to see how he actually does his crossover and put it into the game like that, hahaahh..... I wish they had that type of attention to detail