Finally got back to gaming and some thoughts on (not just) 2K18

[ThePointForward]

Hello everybody!

After a few months of sorting out life stuff I finally got some time to play games, including basketball.

For anybody wondering, during those few months I managed to change a lot of things.
Overall lifestyle change - including losing weight.
I have moved - not too far, but it's still difference.
I have changed jobs - from local company that was treating staff like shit to a certain corporation with HQ in Bay area. If I ever get called there for some reason I'd love to visit VC and play some hoops with local members.

First I'd like to say a few things about community...
I've checked most 2K18 threads and saw some familiar faces. Which in this context means that the usual suspects have the same comments as several years back. I'm sorry, but if you can say that 2K17 looks like 2K13/14 on PC, I'm willing to say that you're either blind or cherry-picking. And there are more comments (including unnecessary paranoia), this was just the last one I saw before writing this.

Few advises:
If you feel like something was downgraded, be damn specific. When you put screenshot of last gen and current gen games next to each other and say "they look same, downgraded already" I can't help but compare them overall... Which obviously ends up in "are they blind?", because they're nothing alike.
If you do not like or use specific features, it doesn't mean nobody does. You might actually be in a minority when it comes to using or not using them. And more importantly, when there is an announcement "We did X and it will be ready for 2K18" it does not mean that there are not different people working on the features you like or use. I highly doubt that people working on player design are the same ones that are trying to optimize the performance.
Also complaining about an issue and then bragging how you managed to rip off 2K by abusing the world market doesn't help (not to mention that by supporting gray market you just probably support money laundering operation, but hey...).


Next, some specific stuff:
I Hate Mondays: I'm an idiot. If you're still interested in the sliders let me know.
Andrew: Bloody fine work that you've got this place still running!
Our community's 2K devs: Good luck, you're probably pushing final features or already working on a day one patch. One thing for the future... Any chance of bigger transparency? More dev blogs, sooner, etc. I guess this is up to some management, but if the devs would agree with the fans it can't hurt, right?
Leftos: Apart from above, this actually might be right in your department... Got an idea for alternative fantasy draft. Fantasy Free Agency. When user starts MyLeague in offseason mode, there would be Fantasy FA feature like Fantasy Draft in standard start. Essentially every player would become Unrestricted FA and player would have to negotiate instead of drafting (reset repeater tax?). IMHO this could create very interesting teams instead of leveled playing field that gets created by Fantasy Draft, while allowing you to create your own dream team. Or attempt it.


And finally about 2K18...
So far so good!
It actually looks like they got rid of the college stick-figure body type. At least for KD, hope to see more players that were plagued by this.
Jerseys look good. I guess that since they have to redo them, somebody said "let's do this properly".
The whole MyGM stuff... I was not a fan of MyGM before. It was like MyLeague, just with less flexibility and some built-in cheats. The story element actually makes sense for the mode and I'll be sure to at least check it out.
The hands-on reports. I liked some of what I've heard, did not really like some other things.
Improved defense is one thing, but my big issue with 2K17 was the AI defense of my team. Namely guards rushing to help in the middle leaving 3pt shooters wide open while the center is actually handling the opposing post player well. And more of course. I really hope this got vast improvements in 2K18.

I still think there will be issues with the game.
Servers and online quality of play are a lasting evergreen on the list of major issues with the game.
Player creation system is absolutely terrible when you can't scan your face ( in short when it doesn't work properly for your face). I'm worried that CAP system will see overhaul only when the next generation arrives.
Our "favorite" community manager will probably say some stupid stuff again ("this isn't barbie dress up game" right after adding ridiculous looking bunch of pants).
2K17 felt like it was optimized for Warriors. Every team had players pulling off stepback fadeaway threes or running transition threes like Curry. The problem was that this behavior happened for players who had no business doing it.
Also alley-oop defense was absolutely broken. I've seen (actually got screenshots of that) Seth Curry who is a 6'2" guard with less than 70 vertical to jump up from standstill and grab alley-oop pass that was solid 40 cm above the rim at that point. And my Vertical sliders were at standard 50.

I fully expect to spend few hours with sliders, coaching options and other ways to make the game play like I prefer it. There is nothing wrong with that, although I'd be glad if the game was optimized for 12 minutes quarters, because if I turn on 2K17 with vanilla settings and play 12 minute quarters I'm gonna get to ridiculous scores and stats.

TL;DR: Screw you, if it took me solid hour to type it all, you can find time to read it.

[I Hate Mondays]

Welcome back man! Almost forgot about those sliders, lol. Don't worry. I found a good set that fits gameplay very well, check my locked thread in the 2K17 modding section. I really recommend that set.

[jay-r]

2K17 felt like it was optimized for Warriors. Every team had players pulling off stepback fadeaway threes or running transition threes like Curry. The problem was that this behavior happened for players who had no business doing it..

I couldn't agree more Hopefully this won’t continue this year. Nonetheless I am excited, because of my move from pc to ps4 pro, now I’ll have two basketball sims and with live 18 looking quite decent its especially exciting

[ThePointForward]

Well, fuck me, I post a "rant" and within hours we get more news making some of my worries dispelled.

Welcome back man! Almost forgot about those sliders, lol. Don't worry. I found a good set that fits gameplay very well, check my locked thread in the 2K17 modding section. I really recommend that set.

I'll check them out, if only to compare to them with my current wip set!

I couldn't agree more Hopefully this won’t continue this year. Nonetheless I am excited, because of my move from pc to ps4 pro, now I’ll have two basketball sims and with live 18 looking quite decent its especially exciting

I will stay with PC for 2K (21:9 is amazing), but I'll definitely check out the demo for Live 18 on my PS4.

[Andrew]

Good to see you around again! Thanks for the kind words.

I completely agree in regards to giving detailed feedback and critique. We know basketball games in this community, and it's to our benefit that we express ourselves honestly, constructively, and intelligently. I'm hoping we'll have some great discussions this year, from the previews to our hands-on impressions, and our experiences playing the game when the full version is out.