NBA 2K17 Impressions Thread

[AJenius06]

Re: NBA 2K17 Impressions Thread

My first impression, is that this game is beautifully altered yet similar to 2K16. Which means I still feel the core of 2K16, but with small changes that make this game, for me, a 9 out of 10, instead of the normal 8 of 10 we arbitrarily rate it every year (besides 2K11 ).

I can't express how good the game handles and flows. While not perfect, it still allows you more control while dribbling, driving to the basket and finishing through contact, which is what was really needed to push this game to the next level. The physicality is balanced, so instead of automated preset animations taking control over your attempt to score in the paint there is a ton of skill needed to be able to effectively finish around the basket -- and I can really appreciate that. It's not just one big mush of animation, it's you maneuvering your thumbs to put the ball high off the glass or just over the lip of the rim... I feel that this year and it makes the game a beautiful specimen to play.

*Things I love*

- Shot Stick Bonus: I've always been a button guy. But I can feel the difference in response when I use the shot stick. I feel like I have more control over the shot and the chance of it going in.

- Defensive AI: No more passes through a brain-dead CPU player or teammate. They are responsive and will pick the ball off with no hesitation if you test them. P&R defense is good too, a lot smarter and the rotations make sense.

- Rebounding: Feels awesome! Makes me want to crash the boards every rip because of the physicality and animations that were put into this years game... Also, dunks look a TONNNNN better. Guys still kinda dunk like a video game, but you see a lot of real life dunking animations and rim-hang on's, which I can appreciate.

*Things I Dislike*

- Inbounding Fast Breaks Off Made Baskets: Seriously, You can still turbo through a made bucket because the defense doesn't get back quick enough -- at least online. Hate this!

- Fadeaway Jumpers From the Post: Maybe it's just me, but it feels a little clunky and less fluid as the rest of the shooting options.

- Matchmaking in Play Now Online: Hate seeing mirror matches... Fix it!


Overall, this game is fun, fluid and about as good as it gets... I've played about 5 online games, freestyle mode and a half of play now and can tell I'll be in love with this game because of the physicality changes that has taken it to another level, as far as gameplay goes.


Great Job, 2K. Love it!

[cool318]

Re: NBA 2K17 Impressions Thread

Love that you can't trad a player you just traded for, for 60 days.


However, I'm getting very similar trades from last year. Unrealistic as el.


I traded Yi And Nick Young for Rudy Gobert

[2_headedmonster]

Re: NBA 2K17 Impressions Thread

This game has addressed a HUGE amount of little legacy things that have added up to what im playing now. Not only were they addressed, they were done right. I'm sure i'll have more later, but let me detail what i have so far.

First off I want to mention that they have addressed verticals across the board.

People with high verts sticks out as such, and people who have the vert of a house plant are appropriately grounded. I tried to defend the paint on a few possessions with Ryan Anderson just to test its effectiveness and found it appropriately pointless. Then i tried to do the same with Clint Capela. I got bullied during contact situations by Zaza, but I got a beautiful block on him where i tipped the ball at its apex, a level of athleticism that felt both unique and appropriate.

They overhauled the close range shots, more on that in a bit. But in regards to vert, for years i've complained that people jumped too high on close range shots. Often times a big would have his head at rim level when they shot the ball because they seemed to be playing out a one-size fits all animation captured by a guard. Not only did it look unnatural, it gave big guys an even bigger advantage because they couldnt be blocked ( remember Yao Ming's top of the square finger-rolls?). As it stands i havent seen a single instance of it and it warms. Only Sam Cooke can attest to how long ive waited for this day.

Those chase-down blocks that were always a possibility on the break...even if you were Zach Lavine trailed by Matthew Dellavedova have been fixed. I suspect it wasn't only a vert issue, but defenders having the hand-eye coordination of a table tennis champ as well, but defenders jumping higher than they should didnt help either.

Close range shots and Lay-ups

I have screamed from the mountain tops that 2k enabled the down-hill, abuse the paint style for years because everyone attacked the rack like Lebron or Shaq. Hold sprint and shoot and good things would happen. Well after my time with the game, i dont want to jump the gun and say its been eliminated, but 2k has taken all the right steps to reel that in and make it far more realistic.

Firstly the addition of avoidance lay-ups or finesse finishes around the rim has brought forth a wide variety of attempts the game has been missing and accurately portrays the leagues agile players. As beautiful as they are, non of them would mean much if the game was the same as previous iterations and game didnt respect the positioning of the defenders. Not only have i seen the game respect it, but some of the wild attempts your player with throw up when you dont will make you respect their position as well.

But let's say you do have that strong offensive player that can bully defenders and strong arm his way to the rack, has that been nerfed? Not at all, I would say its been made more realistic, partly because of the on-ball defense ( more on that later ) and more rewarding. It's kind of hard to explain, but i'll try.

You know that feeling when you see someone on TV or at your local gym, take the contact and score in traffic and you say, "good finish/strong finish/good take"? Well previously on 2k if that happened i'd say the same, but give credit to the character on the screen. In 2k17 thanks to the shot meter on lay-ups, i give myself that extra pat on the back. Not only that, it works as a bit of a counter to the novice that wants to just bull Lebron into the paint carelessly.


On-Ball defense and dribbling interactions

Boy oh boy...Now some of you may have seen the annual on-ball defense threads i have made over the past few years where i have complained about everything from the footwork to the contact. And how i felt after the progress that was made with 2k12-14's OBD that 2k's current representation was in a weird place. It seemed to be an odd offensive and defensive balancing act being done that resulted in years of overly-physical defense and mushy, slow and jerky offensive moves in 2k16.

For 2k17, especially with body-up sensitivity in the range of 35-40 they are in a great, great place. Moves are snappy, the defense is responsive, contact to chest of the defender is respected as a defensive win usually and (OMG) attacking the lead foot is actually a thing....

You can create space with jabs, use the defenders momentum against them, shoot off the space created off contact. Beautiful. The pull up game is back in a major way, and position defense matters.

On the negative side, i may have an issue with the consistency of the dribble move im trying to pull off vs the sig combo the game is registering i.e; my dbl between the legs input vs the game's between the legs cross combo recognition. But i'll have to do more testing. I do however wish on the move the r-stick did a quicker crossover maybe that could be used in tight spaces while R2+r-stick cross was the more exaggerated version for one on one situations. But even that may require more testing of different players....

Thats all i got for now, hopefully i gave the guys at work something to chew on until it's time to clock out...

[zaywop]

Re: NBA 2K17 Impressions Thread

offline feels like a way more fluid nba live 10

online has terrible input lag still

[Barncore]

Re: NBA 2K17 Impressions Thread

Man, off-ball screens are awesome. They actually catch the defender and give you opportunity to break into space. I can't explain why exactly, but screens feel way better this year.

Also, Doris Burke's commentary isn't as annoying as i thought it'd be

[ClevelandinDistress]

Re: NBA 2K17 Impressions Thread

Hey breh Imma need to see proof bruh cuz I'm not seeing it bruh okay been?

Don't mock me

It's in the game. The myplayer blog discussion revealed that it's not there at the beginning and is an unlockable feature for your myplayer later on in his career. What would be the point of making all this up? But I don't take you for the comprehension type so I guess we'll just wait until someone posts a screenshot.

[BChizzle]

Re: NBA 2K17 Impressions Thread

Been playing for 3 hours now, just my personal opinion but the upgrades and additions aren't enough to warrant this game a $60 price tag. It still feels way too much like 2k16.

[extremeskins04]

Re: NBA 2K17 Impressions Thread

Been playing for 3 hours now, just my personal opinion but the upgrades and additions aren't enough to warrant this game a $60 price tag. It still feels way too much like 2k16.

Considering how much they improved MyPlayer and MyGM/MyLeague, I think it definitely is worth the $60 tag, in fact it's worth more IMO.

I don't play MyPark.

The game is pretty amazing.

[Barncore]

Re: NBA 2K17 Impressions Thread

I'm up by 19 points with 4:30 to go in the 4th quarter and the assistant coach seems pissed off with the team. Lol. Has he been watching the game?

[Barncore]

Re: NBA 2K17 Impressions Thread

Been playing for 3 hours now, just my personal opinion but the upgrades and additions aren't enough to warrant this game a $60 price tag. It still feels way too much like 2k16.

That's what it feels like to me too, but i must say that the more i play 2k17 and adjust to the new tunings, it feels VERY good. Everything just feels so well balanced. It's hard to explain. But the game plays like a basketball game should. And strategically you have to think the same way you would if it were a real game.
An adjustment period is required though to get a feel for the new balances.
I just hope the "out of the box" balances don't get patched out again.

We really need some new default running/dribbling animations though. They've been around since 2k10ish. It makes me get sick of playing the game too easily, because it's the same animations all the time.

[scottyp180]

Re: NBA 2K17 Impressions Thread

Standout things in NBA 2K17...

1) Courts,players and jerseys really have a NBA LIVE 16 FIDELITY to them. Colors pop,skin tones and sweat look great. Anti aliasing is good and overall lighting overhauls are welcome and really make the game look better. IF anyone enjoyed NBA LIVE 16 because the graphics on court just felt more realistic then you'll know what I'm trying to say.

I only played a couple games but I think this is most noticeble in certain arenas and with certain jerseys. The first game I played was celtics @ Lakers and the Lakers yellow/gold jersey has NEVER looked this good in 2k. I definitely got a nba Live type vibe from it, in a good way.

I played a Cavs @Warriors matchup after and the colors and lighting didn't seem to stand out as much (maybe my eyes adjusted after the first game) but I'll have to play with more teams to tell for sure. Either way definitely an improvement and it makes me excited to see how different arena lighting plays a role in the visuals.

[CEOHaize]

Re: NBA 2K17 Impressions Thread

How am I trolling? Because I have a different impression than most? Great logic

I called it trolling because you didn't give explanation. But you latter did.


To your complaints. I take the bumping to be more physicality added to the game. It does feel different for sure.

[Aby777]

Re: NBA 2K17 Impressions Thread

Cheesers won't like this game and that's awesome

[Barncore]

Re: NBA 2K17 Impressions Thread

More notes

--Love the grab-and-go animations (reb + run).

--Something that i'm starting to become aware of: using the shot stick to shoot jumpshots isn't ideal if you want to shoot asap before the defense recovers in time. There seems to be a slight delay when you push down on the stick. I think it's the computer trying to figure out if you're about to do a dribble move or shoot. It's not a HUGE problem. It's manageable. But not ideal.

--I've been finding myself marvel at how deep the gameplay has become. Since i've been playing 2k for 10 years, it's easy to forget how far it's come. Right now, it's so deep! I'm loving how many different things are possible in a game! So many little sub-narratives go on, just like in real ball. I.e. Thon Maker tried to pump fake KG too many times then he got stripped. Or Middleton went on a run and then strategies started changing. It's awesome if you think about it.

[chelios7]

Re: NBA 2K17 Impressions Thread

Picked up my copy during my conference period and went home to get it installed. I had to come back to work, but now when I get out it will be ready to go.

Also...bought the standard version and apparently the employee giving me the preorder was new because I ended up with a $99 Kobe Legacy Edition Gold. Didn't even notice until I was out in my car.