What can we do to prevent 2k from taking steps back?

[FBeaule04]

Re: What can we do to prevent 2k from taking steps back?

For me, it's letting know 2K we love the game and we play it. Usually, forums, blogs and such are mostly filled with negativity about the games. It's more what people want to get in the game than saying good things about the positive of the game.

For me, playing EA's NHL for years, the first thing I would say to 2K is that the MyCareer thing ain't perfect, but it's playable. I wouldn't overhaul the system just to be cute. NHL Be A Pro is a train reck and MyCareer simply a great mode to play.

The presentation, by comparison is another stelllar thing for 2K. We can feel the electricity from the crowd. Even a game between the Pistons and the Kings can have people screaming like crazy. Players are reacting well to basket, to the importance of the game and there's a connection between players after a great play or an important basket. In NHL, you simply have to scratch you head when you compare that dept with NBA 2K.

The comments is in the same category, that's a lot positive. I understand that there's some kind of repetition, but at least, you have a feel that Harlan, Kellog and Kerr have an idea what they are watching, when they are watching, where they are watching and what it means. On that aspect, NBA 2K is pretty good.

I'll leave the negative to people who have some since I don't have nothing to gripe about the game so far. Been playing it for a while and love the experience. NBA 2K14 is already a go next year, while EA's season pass and NHL 14 won't be a buy.

Like I said, the only way to avoid a step back from 2K is to make sure 2K hears the positive and that we are playing the game and have fun. Critics are fine, to some extend, but for me, the positive is not said enough on the forums, and there's a lot about that game that deserve to be said.

Just my two cents.

[eko718]

Re: What can we do to prevent 2k from taking steps back?

they dont need to step forward, they just need to fix up the steps that were made already in this game.

2k needs to just stay with what they have already, twitch a few areas that need twitchin and add more cool animations on top of IT.

No more steps, just more animations


VC/2k sports fan

There are many areas in which 2K can improve their product. For one, they definitely need to take a step forward online.

[drspringroll]

Re: What can we do to prevent 2k from taking steps back?

First off, let me say I like a lot of new things they put in 2k13, but I still prefer 2k11 as of today. (I skip 2k12) The graphics or animation just feel better and smoother in 2k11. Maybe they should just go back and look at what made them successful in 2k11.

[spankdatazz22]

Re: What can we do to prevent 2k from taking steps back?

They should let Jay-Z handle music and getting the tough to sign legends(Barkley,Pippen, etc) and leave the screen overlays and the rest of the presentation to more traditional Sports TV broadcast experts.

I'd have to disagree. While I can understand people not liking the gold trim or speakers, it's really not that intrusive. And everything else presentation-wise has been an improvement on what was already stellar presentation/the best presentation in a sports game. While I miss the TNT-like promos for upcoming games that appeared in the lower left corner of the screen, they have added a lot more relevant stat screens, the commentary's continued to be amazing, and the variable intros are something no other sports game's come close to attempting. When I watch TNT basketball or NFL pregame shows pretty much all of them are hip-hop flavored to some degree. I was shocked to see ESPN let Lil Wayne interview Randy Moss a few weeks back. If anything 2K's been ahead of the curve. I'd give them credit for constantly evolving. Either way I don't see how the presentation can be considered taking two steps back.

A few years ago the "traditionalists" on this forum voted EA's NCAA Basketball as having the best presentation in a sports game and the ONLY things that game did was have ESPN/CBS splash screens/logos/and music. Everything from the commentary to the stat screens were very generic. But the traditionalists here touted the presentation in the game as being excellent. This was over everything NBA2K was doing presentation-wise at the time, everything The Show was doing presentation-wise.

I'm glad 2K doesn't only listen to the opinions of this forum.

[NINJAK2]

Re: What can we do to prevent 2k from taking steps back?

I'd have to disagree. While I can understand people not liking the gold trim or speakers, it's really not that intrusive. And everything else presentation-wise has been an improvement on what was already stellar presentation/the best presentation in a sports game. While I miss the TNT-like promos for upcoming games that appeared in the lower left corner of the screen, they have added a lot more relevant stat screens, the commentary's continued to be amazing, and the variable intros are something no other sports game's come close to attempting. When I watch TNT basketball or NFL pregame shows pretty much all of them are hip-hop flavored to some degree. I was shocked to see ESPN let Lil Wayne interview Randy Moss a few weeks back. If anything 2K's been ahead of the curve. I'd give them credit for constantly evolving. Either way I don't see how the presentation can be considered taking two steps back.

A few years ago the "traditionalists" on this forum voted EA's NCAA Basketball as having the best presentation in a sports game and the ONLY things that game did was have ESPN/CBS splash screens/logos/and music. Everything from the commentary to the stat screens were very generic. But the traditionalists here touted the presentation in the game as being excellent. This was over everything NBA2K was doing presentation-wise at the time, everything The Show was doing presentation-wise.

I'm glad 2K doesn't only listen to the opinions of this forum.

Come on spank. The line up cards with swirly lines, speakers, equalizers, etc. is all Jay Z and it looks flat out corny. In other words, where he chose to leave his outright signature doesn't help the presentation element imo. If you took a poll of what irks most people about presentation most of those things I mentioned would possibly be where people are annoyed the most in regards to presentation and it's everywhere(menus,halftime,etc). I like most everything else about presentation but I really question how much Jay Z played a part in the rest of it(camera cuts/flybys/commentary/stat overlays/etc.). If he helped design 'everything' I take my initial impression back.

[SwaggerCoach]

Re: What can we do to prevent 2k from taking steps back?

Put their focus and attention into Association mode, their most important mode that they have and are going to lose a lot of their consumers if EA Sports gets their act together and puts out a game with Association mode being the lead of the game. I think they took out the D-League this year to see if they could make it editable for us like we've been screaming about of the past 2 years, so seeing them introduce that back into the game next year with it being editable for users and quite possibly a way for them to make the D-League rosters the actual rosters and not generics. Put a head coaches and assistant coaches pool together instead of us having to deal with created generic ones in Association. They already have the other coaches on the game disc with their information, if your not going to allow us the opportunity to have access to everything on the disc, then why put on there to begin with? Continue to improve Online Associations and continue to give users (owners at least) more complete control over their Online Associations and also allow customized rosters to be played.

This.

I was really starting to get the impression 2K was ignoring association mode this year...kind of like the forgotten step child. If it weren't for the MUCH MUCH MUCH MUCH needed tweaks, both done through the original development cycle and the recent patch, I would be bitterly disappointed. Thankfully a lot of the known bugs and issues we all had from last year's association mode have been faithfully addressed.

With that being said, I want to continue to see life breathed into this game mode. IMO, it's time for a face lift. We've been looking at the exact same interface for too long. It's also time to see more realistic strategy by the CPU - using defensive matchups more intelligently, using smarter rotations, better trades, better team building AI, etc.

I don't mind energy being put into MyCareer, to me, it's a ton of fun, but please don't sacrifice attention that could be put towards association mode.

[jfsolo]

Re: What can we do to prevent 2k from taking steps back?

A thread like this is good and will probably bear some fruit, but unfortunately I think that every AAA sports game will take a step or two back in some fashion every single year.

When you're at the point where you're getting 8.5's to 9.5's every year, risks have to be taken in order to maintain those lofty numbers. The game can be made a lot better by just addressing the legacy issues, but doing that won't making the reviewing sites all tingly. They need to see something shiny and new, or they'll pout and downgrade the new version to an 8 or 7.5 on general principle. So with the all new things that will be added in that absurdly short annual development cycle, things that use to work will get broken or changed in way that some people don't like.

The best you can hope for is that the steps back are not in the areas that are most important to you.