NBA 2K23 Gameplay Details and Improvements Revealed

[The 24th Letter]

NBA 2K23 Gameplay Details and Improvements Revealed

2K literally said the same thing last year. People celebrated how spamming steal now drained more energy and they said they penalized those spammers. Then it all changed with patches or perhaps never really was effective to begin with. They’re advertising the exact same thing now except the adrenaline gimmick is perhaps their solution to give it a way to “stick.” I have little doubt it’ll get patched or nerfed.

No they didn’t.

They said this:

Steals also received an upgrade with a greater emphasis placed on the steal attribute. Low-rated stealers get sluggish animations that punish them when they reach, while high-rated stealers (with good timing and opportunity) will be able to pick pockets at a much higher rate. Also be prepared to see more layup/dunk strips from high-rated stealers when slashers try to force their way to the rim in a crowd.

Likely didn’t see much of a difference offline

[alabamarob]

Re: NBA 2K23 Gameplay Details and Improvements Revealed

The step back escape?

It’s pretty much a staple for the craftier dribblers now

I know guys like Trey/Steph do moreso of a hop when they do theirs.

We are usually on the same page with the dribble stick/ moves so maybe I’m misunderstanding the move you’re talking about.

but if so I even think it’s aligned on the controller well…left, right, back + turbo are all escapes.

To the left or right yes. To jump directly backwards while maintaining a dribble seems like a move that would cause serious injury. I have seen Trae hop off of 1 foot at an angle. Never seems him do a 2 foot standing backwards jump while dribbling. Turbo and back is not a move I have ever seen in real life.

Wouldn't you need some momentum to do a standing jump backwards?

[simbayless]

Re: NBA 2K23 Gameplay Details and Improvements Revealed

The biggest news to me was when mike wang mention you can customize your release point with early or late release to the flick of the wrist 👉 2k7 vibes🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[The 24th Letter]

Re: NBA 2K23 Gameplay Details and Improvements Revealed

To the left or right yes. To jump directly backwards while maintaining a dribble seems like a move that would cause serious injury. I have seen Trae hop off of 1 foot at an angle. Never seems him do a 2 foot standing backwards jump while dribbling. Turbo and back is not a move I have ever seen in real life.

Wouldn't you need some momentum to do a standing jump backwards?

Turbo and RS back like this?

https://streamable.com/oijzse

Just making sure we are on the same page. I always look at it like a retreat dribble.

[alabamarob]

Re: NBA 2K23 Gameplay Details and Improvements Revealed

Turbo and RS back like this?

https://streamable.com/oijzse

Just making sure we are on the same page. I always look at it like a retreat dribble.

Exactly my point. The real life video is a dude going sideways. That makes sense. Trae jumps straight back not going side ways. Also the guy is stepping and shuffling his feet, not broad jumping. That is the exact move I was talking about.
Trae plants and then broad jumps backwards.

Turning sideways allows for a different defensive position then the game. That is why everyone uses that escape dribble on the game, and why it is overly effective. Imo.

Retreat dribbling requires quick feet not jumping ability.

[VictorMG]

Re: NBA 2K23 Gameplay Details and Improvements Revealed

I just want to see the James Harden AI hit me with some stationary step-back jumpers off a sizeup, pleeeeease

[AIRJ23]

Re: NBA 2K23 Gameplay Details and Improvements Revealed

This is everything right here, as we all know the sticky onball D is 2k's bandaid in 5v5 for not having advanced, modern, NBA help D. So with onball loosening up and feeling more realistic, it's imperative that the Help D has significantly improved, otherwise the first couple patches will place the bandaid back on.
Not just the big reacting earlier, but the tag man and then the weakside dropping and scrambling on the kick out. We know that in 2k22 guys being able to "dot" a corner 3 and abuse the help on command lead to it being taken out and re implemented in a minimal way, so hopefully an answer is improved physics of longer passes as well.

I know the blog briefly mentioned improved rotations, so I'm anxious to see what this looks like. Hopefully an individual's Help IQ rating matters as well.

I must be the only one who likes the sticky on ball D. Because I accept the fact that being tied to the AI providing excellent help D is too risky a bet. 22’s sticky on ball D and blocks bandaids at the very least allowed defense to still feel challenging with CPU defensive sliders jacked all the way up. NOW, if they nerf help D again, it’ll be 2K21 easy perhaps, with the lack of on ball defenses.

Just line in real life how we see over and over again, help defense is only as good as the help defense is able to be. If you have bad on ball defenders unable to have tools to properly guard you, then it falls on the help D. But just like IRL, when that help defense fails, which it does so often, it yields open shots and lanes which we see constantly in games, both irl and gaming.

I hope I’m just being pessimistic but as promising as the “trust our new AI system” sounds, it also comes with the huge caveat of “but if it doesn’t, enjoy being able to score 150 points each game.”

But then again, realistic help defense and realistic on ball defense used to be a given really, my 2K20 mobile which uses the PS3 engine had natural feeling defense that wasn’t as imbalanced as next gen defenses.

[The 24th Letter]

NBA 2K23 Gameplay Details and Improvements Revealed

Exactly my point. The real life video is a dude going sideways. That makes sense. Trae jumps straight back not going side ways. Also the guy is stepping and shuffling his feet, not broad jumping. That is the exact move I was talking about.
Trae plants and then broad jumps backwards.

Turning sideways allows for a different defensive position then the game. That is why everyone uses that escape dribble on the game, and why it is overly effective. Imo.

Retreat dribbling requires quick feet not jumping ability.

I don’t think he’s leaping as much as he appears to be on 2K cam

His footwork:

https://streamable.com/pt3swb

I think the guy in the tutorial gets up higher than he does, lol

but if you were speaking from the online player perspective, I feel like the issue is moreso where you can chain the move from more than the actual move. I know everyone uses the Trae or Kemba for that reason. Didn’t want to turn this into a whole thing though,Just always curious to hear where you are coming from regarding moves in the game.

I just want to see the James Harden AI hit me with some stationary step-back jumpers off a sizeup, pleeeeease

I always have a collection of clips with the CPU pulling off crazy move and this year was the year I had the least amount. Just too much bumper cars on the court. CPU couldn’t go to work.

[Mikelopedia]

Re: NBA 2K23 Gameplay Details and Improvements Revealed

I must be the only one who likes the sticky on ball D. Because I accept the fact that being tied to the AI providing excellent help D is too risky a bet. 22’s sticky on ball D and blocks bandaids at the very least allowed defense to still feel challenging with CPU defensive sliders jacked all the way up. NOW, if they nerf help D again, it’ll be 2K21 easy perhaps, with the lack of on ball defenses.

Just line in real life how we see over and over again, help defense is only as good as the help defense is able to be. If you have bad on ball defenders unable to have tools to properly guard you, then it falls on the help D. But just like IRL, when that help defense fails, which it does so often, it yields open shots and lanes which we see constantly in games, both irl and gaming.

I hope I’m just being pessimistic but as promising as the “trust our new AI system” sounds, it also comes with the huge caveat of “but if it doesn’t, enjoy being able to score 150 points each game.”

But then again, realistic help defense and realistic on ball defense used to be a given really, my 2K20 mobile which uses the PS3 engine had natural feeling defense that wasn’t as imbalanced as next gen defenses.

But see that's exactly the point of the bandaid, to still make the defense challenging. But what I'll always want is more of a basketball challenge than a video game challenge. I dont expect perfection, and understand the necessities for such gameplay aspects, but I do expect steps, whether they be leaps or small steps, towards NBA basketball simulation.

[alabamarob]

Re: NBA 2K23 Gameplay Details and Improvements Revealed

I don’t think he’s leaping as much as he appears to be on 2K cam

His footwork:

https://streamable.com/pt3swb

I think the guy in the tutorial gets up higher than he does, lol

but if you were speaking from the online player perspective, I feel like the issue is moreso where you can chain the move from more than the actual move. I know everyone uses the Trae or Kemba for that reason. Didn’t want to turn this into a whole thing though,Just always curious to hear where you are coming from regarding moves in the game.




I always have a collection of clips with the CPU pulling off crazy move and this year was the year I had the least amount. Just too much bumper cars on the court. CPU couldn’t go to work.

I wasn't trying to argue with you. I agree with about 99 percent of the things you say. I went back and did it again. You are right. He turns and quasi shuffles. The rumble of the stick and the landing is what threw me off.

[VictorMG]

Re: NBA 2K23 Gameplay Details and Improvements Revealed

Turbo and RS back like this?

https://streamable.com/oijzse

Just making sure we are on the same page. I always look at it like a retreat dribble.

The way the guy in the real-life clip branches into a hesi cross after the retreat dribble, can we do that in 2K?

[EccentricMeat]

Re: NBA 2K23 Gameplay Details and Improvements Revealed

The entire time I was listening, and it was a great listen for sure, I was wondering if the devs would ever consider implementing a slider for exactly what Czar was talking about. "Body-Up Window Angle" or something like that.

I think that’s what the Body-Up Sensitivity slider does. I always just kind of thought of it as “slider higher = more brick walls”, but hearing him explain it as tied to the angle of attack at a defender makes a lot of sense for the slider as well. This would explain why lower values still give brick walls but only when you really run right at the defender.

[Junior Moe]

Re: NBA 2K23 Gameplay Details and Improvements Revealed

I think that’s what the Body-Up Sensitivity slider does. I always just kind of thought of it as “slider higher = more brick walls”, but hearing him explain it as tied to the angle of attack at a defender makes a lot of sense for the slider as well. This would explain why lower values still give brick walls but only when you really run right at the defender.

In my experience I found that the body up sensitivity slider led to more contact registers, not necessarily body ups. I get more charging/blocking calls, as well as illegal screens and even fouls on jump shots. I am playing 2K22 on basically allstar with the body up slider at 100. Game speed at 65 and fouls maxed out. For me, it was the driving contact slider that lead to the "sticky" body ups. I have driving and inside contact at like 35 or something and I think the game plays pretty well. But that's in MyNBA vs the CPU.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Operation Sports mobile app

[EccentricMeat]

Re: NBA 2K23 Gameplay Details and Improvements Revealed

In my experience I found that the body up sensitivity slider led to more contact registers, not necessarily body ups. I get more charging/blocking calls, as well as illegal screens and even fouls on jump shots. I am playing 2K22 on basically allstar with the body up slider at 100. Game speed at 65 and fouls maxed out. For me, it was the driving contact slider that lead to the "sticky" body ups. I have driving and inside contact at like 35 or something and I think the game plays pretty well. But that's in MyNBA vs the CPU.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Operation Sports mobile app

It does and it doesn’t. With the contact shot sliders so low you’ll see a lot more layup animations ignoring the presence of a defender and not triggering a two-player animation. There are pros and cons to that, I just hate how it looks sometimes (with the defender being ignored and phasing out of the way on layups) so I have to leave the contact shot sliders at 99 or 100 [emoji28] It definitely leads to more of a “sticky” feel to defense because it can cause an out of position defender to still trigger contact animations on those inside shots/layups, but I still prefer that to the look of defenders being ignored sometimes.

The body up slider definitely helps with blocking and charging fouls, but that could still be due to these animations being triggered at wider angles of attack. Not sure (and haven’t played the game in well over a month) so I’m just spitballing here.

[daveberg]

Re: NBA 2K23 Gameplay Details and Improvements Revealed

Basically, if it plays anything like 16 or 20, it'll be a winner. Both those games had the 'it' factor for me and got so much right.

If not, it's going straight back to store, like 21, & 22 did.