Played 2 1/2 Games... my first impressions

[JdotK]

Well, I have just played 2 games and im on my 3rd.
Im the Celtics...

The first game I played Miami with 5 min quarters and won 64-52. We both shot over .500 but I cant recall exactly what it was... I shot like 25% from behind the arch and at least went 10/10 at the line... whatever it was I shot 100%.

Second game I played was at Memphis, 7 minute quarters. Now, you start off with fatigue set to 0, even on sim, so i adjusted it to 47 thinking that would be about right... still no subs in the whole game for my team... memphis got in serious foul trouble and was subing like crazy. I won 98-72. This is with me playing the computer as hard as I could, no holding the ball... i just went right at em... so, with 12 minute quarters, i wouldve scored about 168 or so... this is on the default difficulty as well. Both teams ended up shooting over .500 and my ft % was at 100% and I had at least 15 FTA with Pierce...
Behind the arch was awful tho, i shot less than 20%.

Based on these first 2 games, here are my observations:

Pros -

Biggest thing I have noticed is that the collision detection is awesome, when driving into the lane wither Pierce Ive had my shots altered, offensive fouls, defensive fouls, and no calls that left Pierce under the basket hunched over.

The sound is awesome. The whole crowd atmosphere for that matter. I got Battier going one one and got around him to the baseline, did the jump to get around Gasol and did a two handed slam. Then after I landed, Pierce pointed up into the stands and the crowd started booing... this is when we were away... at home, every time Pierce got the ball in Iso, the crowd started chanting MVP.

Oh yeah, and Czar will be in the middle of explaining something, and if something else better happens, he'll cut off what he's saying and start talking about the new thing... and it doesnt sound like its just a new recorded phrase, it actually sounds like a human. The Celtics are all over the boards to... what a great steal by(___)

Animations are fluid, from the cross over, to the jump, to the finishing move. The one thing I noticed is if you push the button you wont as hes in the jump move, rather than waiting for him to land, it will do one full move, so if you push the jump button (Triangle or Y) and then as he's making his first hop, push the slam button, he'll do the full movie, the jump right to the slam.

Passing - I have heard a lot of bad talk about the passing, from fast break, to the jump passes. Here is what I have noticed... if your player is facing the guy who is to receive the ball, and has a clear lane to pass, he will pass normally, if he has his man gaurding him close, he will adjust his body, which most of the time means his leaps to the side, and passes... ive never had the guy turn around a pass like hes saying the ball from going out of bounds.

As far as fast break passing... if your guy has a clear lane from a diagnol, he will pass and the guy receiving the ball will catch it and continue in stride. if your at an angle where u are behind him and if you passed it to him it would hit him in the back, then yes, he will turn around... its the only way possible for him to catch it... until they program the ball to be completely loose and on its on so u can pass it over the guy and have the guy go retrieve it.

I can tell who everyone on the Celtics is


Cons-

Way too much animation sometimes... as smooth as it is, if your defender gets close to you, you automatically turn your back to him and bob back and forth. Its hard to perform a Free Style move like this.. the only way ive gotten it to work, with the defender right on top of me, is to hold up and hope i can pull off the freestyle before making contact.

I havent seen any player introductions... they spot lite one player, then show clips of him playing against the team your about to play (i dunno how its possible since u havent played em yet) and then it goes right to the jump ball.

The commentators pronounce your team name, and when they talk about how the other team is doing, refer to them as "The Other Team". They will say, the Heat need to be doing a better job of passing the ball... but when its something like, the Celtics are completely outrebound the other team, they dont say the name.

Thats basically it at this point.... oh yeah one more thing...

The shoes suck. I was really hoping you could change the color of the Real shoes to fit your team, but u cant, they are only the shoes that were really out for sale (which is realistic) but Vin Baker has the Black with Blue trim Jordan's... which looks stupid in Celtic green... i was hoping when you bought new shoes, you can change em to the team colors... so like Green Tmacs... but u cant.

Oh yeah, and the NBA Store.... its worthless. You can buy old school jerseys... to practice in. Each team has one headband... you can buy custom headbands that look like Tube Socks. And you can buy old school socks... but only 8 old school teams have em... Celts, Lakers, and a couple other teams.

[pjrf]

I was able to put the MJ from the 90's allstars to the Chicago Bulls using the [sign/release player]menu and then play him with the Bulls in the franchise mode in NBA Live 2003. Can you also do this in NBA Live 2004 in the Dynasty mode? Thanks! :D

[Nick]

Good post. Keep us posted.

[Power And Proud]

So, in a 12 min quarter game, one player if going to the basket enough can get a decent amount of FT's, instead of the whole team shooting like 6 FT's a game in 6 min quarter like I've done in 2003?

[CHHAMP]

I was able to put the MJ from the 90's allstars to the Chicago Bulls using the [sign/release player]menu and then play him with the Bulls in the franchise mode in NBA Live 2003. Can you also do this in NBA Live 2004 in the Dynasty mode? Thanks!

I'd also like to know if you can do this.

[JdotK]

Just finished my third game this morning... 7 min. Celts at Hornets

heres the stats:

Delk - 18min, 2 pts, 1-1Fg, 0 Off Reb, 1 Def Reb, 0 Blk, 2 Stl, 1Ast, 1To, 1PF
Pierce- 17min, 26pts, 12-20, 1-3 3pt, 0 Reb, 1 Blk, 1 stl, 1 Ast, 2 To,
Battie - 17min, 6pts, 3-3, 6 Def, 2 Blk
J. Jones- 15 min, 5pts, 2-5, 0-2 3pt, 1-1Ft, 2 Def, 3stl
K. Brown- 14min, 25pts, 10-14, 0-1 3pt, 5-5Ft, 5 Def, 3Blk, 1stl, 4 ast, 6 To
Walker - 12 min, 6 pts, 2-4, 0-1 3 pt, 2-2FT, 4 Defense, 1 Blk, 2 Ast, 1 To
M. James - 12 min, 0 pts, 0-1, 3 Reb, 1 stl, 1 ast
Williams - 11 min, 2 pts, 1-1
McCarty - 11 min 0 -1
Baker - 9 min, 6 pts, 4 reb
Banks - 8 min, 8 pts, 4-6, 0-1 3pt, 1 reb, 1 ast

Just wanted to show u the minutes off the bench and how they contributed as well as shooting number.
Im not sure why Walker only played 12 minutes, i guess i have to adjust the subs a little bit.

Final Score - Celtics - 85 Honets - 65

FG
C- 37/61 (.607) H- 24/62 (.387)
3pt
C- 1/8 (.125) H- 8/20 (.400)

Ill see if i can get Jordan on my team now so I can answer yall.

[JdotK]

To answer your jordan question...


They have a Legend Pool where u can sign the Legends to your team, but ya gotta do this before entering your dynasty... they got a grip of guys too....

[CHHAMP]

To answer your jordan question...


They have a Legend Pool where u can sign the Legends to your team, but ya gotta do this before entering your dynasty... they got a grip of guys too....

Thats cool

[sixerfan03]

.

Passing - I have heard a lot of bad talk about the passing, from fast break, to the jump passes. Here is what I have noticed... if your player is facing the guy who is to receive the ball, and has a clear lane to pass, he will pass normally, if he has his man gaurding him close, he will adjust his body, which most of the time means his leaps to the side, and passes... ive never had the guy turn around a pass like hes saying the ball from going out of bounds..

I was just watching the Cavs-Lakers game, and I was suprised how much the passing looks like it does in Live (in the videos, I don't have the game yet). The Cavs jumped on almost every pass, and even the Lakers passed a lot like that.

[BShaw20]

I bought a crapload of jerseys and shoes, and I was able to use them all in exhibition, not just practice.