Oh how I hate Live 2005

[El_Presidente]

Or the birdbrained gameplay things in Live 2005 that I wish I won't see in Live 2006

1. Set a box out and the CPU goes through it like a ghost.
2. The "stop and catch" practically nerfs fastbreaks (yeah yeah, fastbreaks do work but for it to work a player must do that "running hop" animation) and backdoor plays (which rendered Off-Ball useless).
3. You don't see the speed cheat because it's in the post. FS past your guard, pro hop free and suddenly you run into a wall that was a good 2 feet away then.
5. Why the hell are my big men like Shaq and Duncan CAMPING IN THE 3-pt. AREA INSTEAD OF MANNING THE POST?!
6. When on a fastbreak, why is it on a lets say 2-1 in my favor, my teammate suddenly stops (near the FT line)instead of backing me up on the attack.
7. Why the hell are there too many jumpshot fouls? (If it can be helped please help, I've tried adjusting the midair collision and I feel its still time same)
8. Why is it when my center, who's in a position to score in the post, jumps away from his position to get my pass? AAAARGRGH!!!
9. AND LASTLY, GET RID OF THAT STUPID POKE ANIMATION AFTER I FAKE. That is absolutely the stupidest and cheapest concept of EA in "defense".

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

7. Why the hell are there too many jumpshot fouls? (If it can be helped please help, I've tried adjusting the midair collision and I feel its still time same)

Adjust the shooting foul slider...

[Metsis]

8. Why is it when my center, who's in a position to score in the post, jumps away from his position to get my pass? AAAARGRGH!!!

This happens in real life as well... If you got a player on your back the best way to catch a pass is to step out a step and get the ball there... The don't always do this in the game nor they do it in real life, but it's just something you gotta do sometimes to catch the ball wihtout defense getting it.

[COOLmac©]

pretty much unleashed lot of frustations there mate.good for you...

[Sonic98]

8. Why is it when my center, who's in a position to score in the post, jumps away from his position to get my pass? AAAARGRGH!!!

This happens in real life as well... If you got a player on your back the best way to catch a pass is to step out a step and get the ball there... The don't always do this in the game nor they do it in real life, but it's just something you gotta do sometimes to catch the ball wihtout defense getting it.

It happens in real life, but not as much as on this game. But at least its better than what happens in 2K. The men run halfway across the screen to catch ball.

[ntong]

Adjust the slider can fix most of your problems...

[cyanide]

... or not. I don't see sliders fixing animation problems.

I agree with most of your comments, el presidente, and I really hope to see a better gameplay in 2006. I've already bitched earlier in the year about the game's problems, so I'm kinda tired of bitching... but I agree with most of what you said.

[tsherkin]

Big frustrations:

1) Blocking

WAY too much shot-blocking going on, even with the CPU and User block sliders (both for each) set to 0. I block too many shots and the computer blocks too many shots. They block an average of a half-dozen THREE POINT attempts a game and almost every second mid-range J. I'd understand it if they made it harder to block if you jumped into or away from your opponent but damned everything gets blocked. This is an incredibly potent source of irritation.

2) Garbage calls; When I get shoved out of bounds, don't call it out of bounds on me, call a foul. This is irritating. Also, when a post player does that "I'm lowering my shoulder and running through you" animation, call a charge, because that's what that is.

3) Bounce pass! Every player who's not got a terrible pass rating should be able to do this. Theoretically, the Superstar thing should help this with the Playmaker rating but a bounce pass is a fundamental of basketball, not a superstar skill.

4) Catch Up Bug. They TOTALLY lied when they said they had removed this.

5) Missing dunks. When CPU assistance is on, don't SABOTAGE my game to catch up, help the other team out a little. Shaq doesn't miss frikkin' dunks. I missed over a dozen dunks in one game and that just doesn't happen.

6) 360s in traffic. God no...

7) Teammates are largely useless... They don't rebound well nor set good screens.

8) Plays don't really work all that well, the play diagrams are gone and there's no "screen, screen, screen, pass, shot" type play.

9) Court's too small. It doesn't look like they scaled the court properly. There's not enough space, it seems.

10) Players with average quickness and dribble ratings playing like they aren't fit for the NBA. Baseline athletic level and skills level in the NBA means this sort of thing is crap.

EDIT

11) Big men with high jump shot ratings can't shoot, it seems, with a few exceptions.

Yep, those are the things about this game that frustate me.

[Silky Smooth Vlade]

When I read about complaints about Live, I usually try to defend the game in my head, but in this case, this is the first edition of Live where I agree with nearly every single complaint.

I especially agree with the following:

4) Catch Up Bug. They TOTALLY lied when they said they had removed this.

5) Missing dunks. When CPU assistance is on, don't SABOTAGE my game to catch up, help the other team out a little. Shaq doesn't miss frikkin' dunks. I missed over a dozen dunks in one game and that just doesn't happen.

9) Court's too small. It doesn't look like they scaled the court properly.

I remember we were promised that the catch up bug was gone... not even close. It's SLIGHTLY improved, but definitely not gone. The court is far too small, and yes, sabotage does seem like the right word.

Honestly, if you don't abuse the pro hop, I think Live '04 is the closest thing to the perfect game. I realize there will never be a perfect game, but '05 could not have been farther off.

[tsherkin]

Honestly, if you don't abuse the pro hop, I think Live '04 is the closest thing to the perfect game. I realize there will never be a perfect game, but '05 could not have been farther off.

Yeah, too much time spent on a crappy All-Star weekend and not enough on backing up their words about improved gameplay. '04 was better, for sure.

[Rokas[LTU]]

Hmm.. What i noticed in one of no-music movies, when Wade stole the ball from Magic player, no one catched him. Even when he dunked, Francis came after awhile..

Watch 7.66MB size movie, 25 second.

[bennismalls]

Please, live 04 was bad too. On superstar, I can still go 8-10 for three pointers.

This looks like it can be the best Basketball game ever though. Cant wait. You know whats funny.... They are prbably going to concentrate too much on the Dunking on ppl aspect or the Freestyle super star aspect than anything else. There is always something missing.

[El_Presidente]

@Metsis
Yes it does happen in real life but its weird when you got a 7'10 guy like Yao (who usually puts up his hand to catch the ball) jump out after establishing a good scoring position in the post.

Some more things I left out:
1. That invincible CPU drive. The CPU simply lowers its shoulders dribbles the ball, and slides around my defensive wall.
2. It's simply mind-boggling that the CPU can get away from a triple team that I smother on their great post player.
3. Bad as 04 was, playcalling wise, it was better than this year because when you call a basket cut, you really see a penetration. 05's plays degenerate into non-existence.
4. I understand things have to be harder in higher difficulty levels, BUT WHY THE HELL IS LEBRON-A PREMIERE DUNKER MISSING ALLEY-OOPS FROM J-WILL-WHO HAS A 90+ PASSING RATING 100%X IN SUPERSTAR MODE?! Good Grief EA an alley-oop percentage slider is sorely required.
5. That very, very, very, very annoying reaction time lag that kills really great plays. Picture this: Wade draws a 2x team. My created center, gets really free under the post. Wade gives him the pass. The center stands there for a good 5 seconds which will result either A)The defense recovers to collapse thus resulting in a bad shot or B)When the defense collapses and initiates the 2x team I have to pass which will result in a 3 second violation.
6. Despite touting of having the manual defensive stance, it really doesnt make much difference as the CPU will slide around it.
7. And finally, whats the use of Freestyle when the defense recovers too quickly from it? Another Freestyle killer is when the CPU falls for your crossover but slides with your player while in the "broken ankle" pose.

Look I really like Live but as an owner of both it and 2k, I do wish EA puts more effort into it like Visual Concepts puts in their games (although 2k4 was a complete disaster ) Despite its flaws, you have to appreciate what VC did to 2k5-post moves, team chemistry, tempo, it really shows they put in an effort to their games. I hope EA does the same for us, instead of putting in a palliative smokescreen (read:All-Star Weekend) to mask the fact that some of the annoying things of last year are still in this year.

[bennismalls]

LOL he has a point.