Andrew wrote:So, we've identified some of the most pressing gameplay issues this year. Since we are compiling the Wishlist at the moment, what are some specific suggestions and solutions that we can offer?
Ways to improve atmosphere without hurting FPS:
- 1. Improve arena lighting, while keeping the crowd animations mostly the same.
2. Enhance court chatter, it brings life to the on floor action.
3. Have the crowd react more to big plays/dunks. Like, if a player makes a basket and foul while being hit, a slightly more boisterous reaction. When I say this, I'm not saying make the crowd jump out of seats, I mean more the sound effects of the crowd enhanced.
4. Players body types looking more like athletes, it absolutely improves the visual appeal.
Ways to improve defense:
- 1. Find the happy medium between brick wall defense and blow by defense. Make the attributes matter. This may mean tweaking the motion system to the point where you can be stopped when running in a straight line, but when stopped it doesn't create a long stagger. Maybe it makes your offensive player backup a tad, or something along those lines. Getting the defender on your side should happen sometimes, but not every time.
2. Stop making the defenders off the ball stick to one guy (Assignment) only. It's why we lack the help defense that happens in real life. Somehow make the AI smart enough to react to bodies moving towards the basket (Help). Not sure how that would be implemented, but it's a must. 2K was able to do that with past gen 2k's, so I don't see why they can't with this gen.
3. Stop forcing us into foul animations when we don't hit the steal button, or jump button. It's really frustrating to lose control like that. I get being penalized when someone is driving if we mash the steal button and we actually foul the guy, but not if we don't push a button at all. This was also a major problem with NBA 2K17.
Ways to improve offense:
- 1. Fix the motion system, and I mean... I almost think it should be scrapped. The skating is horrible, it doesn't feel like you are moving around with real basketball players. You need to implement real foot planting without making the players feel heavy (Which you succeeded with on NBA 2K17... until the patches after December 2016 ruined that). It's been achieved in the past, so you can do it again. With the new skating system, all the players kind of blend in together on the court, it looks messy and feels messy. So, implement foot planting without creating heavy players.
2. Because of the new motion system (Where EVERYTHING feels super sped up), jump shots and shooting in general feels unrealistic. Players elevate oddly. Get back to the shooting mechanics in 2K17 where you could enjoy going up for a shot with a player, enjoy the feel and look of the full motion.
3. The sizeups are unrealistically fast, they look ridiculous. Slow the sizeups down to a realistic pace, all you have to do is watch video of players isolating, and slow the animations down to that level. As simple as that sounds, that's really all it is. Create a difference between players like Lenny Wilkens and Allen Iverson, so many players at the guard position have the same dribbling/dribbling speed capabilities. Create some separation.
4. Get back to making the game authentic with the players, instead of everybody blending in together. It's a big turnoff as a user when I go into a game, and I can do so many things with a player that I shouldn't be able to do (Like blow by Leonard with Ariza every single time). Lets get back to that authentic NBA action with players playing like themselves. This goes with some of the points above, whether it be shooting forms looking and feeling right, ball handling, etc.
5. Get rid of the excessive animations passing the ball. In real life, NBA Players whip the ball around the perimeter, they don't stumble all over the place. Rarely will you see NBA players stumble making or receiving a pass.
Misc ways to improve the overall experience:
- 1. Vastly improve the CPU's smarts on offense. Players in real life don't take step back or off balance shots when they are wide open, NBA players do not routinely hit the bottom of the rim shooting under the basket, NBA players do not go up on 2 or 3 people all the time when they are near the basket. Mix the CPU's AI with finding the open man, but also isolating at times.
2. Body blocks/Body steals and clipping have got to go, or atleast be nerfed. Throwing an upfake is almost a moot point because the defender will still block the shot with there stomach or something. Body steals and body blocks RARELY ever happen in the NBA, but they happen all the time in NBA 2K the last couple years. Find a way to create a better barrier between bodies so people are not going through eachother, and the ball isn't hitting everything and being jarred all the time. Find a way to make the players hands on the ball actually matter, not like they are 5 years old and don't know how to/incapable of gripping a ball firmly.
3. Respect retro: The classic teams are so rushed... between copy and paste ratings, recycled faces, incomplete faces, faces that were updated that look horrible (Bird, Drexler), etc. Kareem being listed as 28 on the all time lakers, but looking 40, Kobe looking nothing like his primed self (Even though a haired Kobe DOES exist in the files..), you guys using the wrong Jerry Stackhouse face (looks nothing like him), the Kobe in 03-04 looking nothing like himself, etc etc. I could go on and on. The person who does the rosters rushes, and does not do a good job creating a realistic experience. The shooting forms are off most of the time, the attributes look copy and paste. For a company this big, you couldn't do better? How many people do you have working on rosters? I mean, I'd volunteer to help with the classic teams just so they get the respect they deserve. It seems that 2K is focused on the wrong things, or it makes updates to things that really don't need updating (and sometimes messing that up) while not improving on or working on the important things. The on court action is the most important thing, lets get back to that as the #1 priority.
4. The ball physics/backboard physics have gotten a lot worse in NBA 2K18. The ball bounces off the backboard hard even when the ball is put up soft, so many misses around the hoop that shouldn't happen. Go back to the ball physics of NBA 2K16 and 2K17, it was a lot more realistic.
I guess that's it for now, I'll add more if I can think of more items.