Re: Inside Drive whore is considering NBA Live 2004. Help
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laker8la said:
1. Ball movement, player movement, spacing, and A.I. - I group these all together because I feel that they are all related. I usually love Sega but I hate their Basketball series regardless of how good their graphics get because it has horrible ball movement and off-the-ball player movement which are so important to making a Basketball video game flow and look like the real thing. I hate stagnant half court offenses where no one uses screens away from the ball to get themselves open. As a huge Piston's homer, I like seeing Rip Hamilton run off of screens so that he can get those temporarily open mid range jumpers if you hit him at just the right time. I like to see the spacing in such a way that after I sim a few seasons to where Darko is a contributer, I want to make the defense pay for double teaming him in the post by him kicking it out to the open man for an open look.
ANSWER: I believe live to be the best bball game ever as far as this aspect of the game. They really nailed it. Players fight around screens, battle for position in the post, call for passes when they cut, backpeddle after a made basket on defense. All these little things will make you feel like you are playing a real game of 5-0n-5. I don't believe there to be any stagnant moments, the players all seem to be moving around, and looking realistic in doing so. The spacing is there, and if they double you, you have to kick it out quickly and swing it around the perimeter for a jumper. It is so well done, you just have to try it for yourself to understand while it feels so nice.
2. Team and Player Tendancies - I hate seeing New Jersey and San Antonio push the ball against me with the same aggressiveness. I want to see Kidd get out and run and make me sweat everytime they get a defensive rebound. I want to see Duncan get the ball in the post often and try to make me pay for double teaming him by getting it to the open man. Also I like what I hear about the primacy rating on offense. Is there other stats related to player tendancies or is that it? Also can I edit players before beggining my franchise if I don't like their ratings?
ANSWER: Again, I believe Live nailed this aspect as well. San Antonio will run their half court sets through Duncan, NJ will run you to death. The Mavericks will throw up threes and quick shots. The Lakers will get it to Shaq and Kobe. You can edit any ratings at any time, before or after your dynasty, and the slider tweaks can really make it a realistic game for you.
3. Statistical Accuracy - I'm not really worried about how many minutes it takes me to play a game to get accurate stats and I don't care about having to tweak sliders. What really bothers me is when I can't create an accurate representation of the game statistically regardless of the sliders. Is there any areas of Live that are so inbalanced that they can't be corrected by sliders?
ANSWER: I am getting a very accurate representation of the game statistically. It took a few rating tweaks, but I think you can fix everything pretty much with tweaks. I haven't found anything statistically out of whack that couldn't be fixed with sliders. Other than for me, it seems that you have to shorten the length of quarters 2 or 3 minutes to get an accurate score. IE: I play 9 minute quarters with the Lakers on ALLSTAR and I am averaging right at 100 points a game. But I guess if you lowered the game speed enough, you could play a full 48 minutes and get an accurate representation.
4. Rebounding - This was a major problem in Inside Drive even though it was my favorite game last year. I hate when I can't get an accurate offensive to defensive rebounding ratio. Generally in the NBA, if you get 40 rebounds, 10 will be offensive. Inside Drive supposedly fixed this problem this year and made it so that your defense boxes out better. From what I understand, Live has the opposite problem. Can you get close to 25% offensive rebounding with some slider adjustments? Also, is it possible to come down with rebounds with a user-controlled player. In most games other than Sega's Basketball games (this is the one thing they do right), you really have to let the computer do all the rebounding for you. Will I be able to get them myself finally?
ANSWER: This is something that I found works two ways. If you let the computer do the rebounding for you, they won't get many offensive rebounds. But, as I learned to play the game better, I have found that taking control of a player nearest the basket and jumping yourself for the rebound can make you productive on the offensive boards. Also, raising the CPU Offenseive Rebounding slider to the max (100) seems to do the trick for teh CPU against me.
5. The Post game - Does weight and strength make a difference here? I really want to see some disparity down low. If I leave Darko to guard Shaq one on one, it should only be a matter of seconds before his *** is dunked on. If I bring Ben over to help out, I want to see the back down slowed down or at least make him turnover prone even with sliders set at low steal ratings.
ANSWER: Weight and strength makes a huge difference. SHAQ is a beast for me, while Horace Grant or someone of even smaller stature is not effective at backing down bigger players. This is represented very well. Much improved here. Medvedenko turns the ball over left and right when I try to post him up too much, so yeah they got it right.
6. Dunk Attempts - Are dunk attempts by the computer realistic? Most games have dunking sliders but all lowering them means is that you'll miss a bunch of dunks. I want to know if they (unrealistically) insist on trying to throw it down in traffic every time. In the NBA, usually guys will try making a layup when there's traffic in front of them unless they have a good, full head of steam and the defender is out of position.
ANSWER: LIVE dominates all other bball titles in this aspect. The dunks are the best and most realistic I have ever seen in a game. BAR NONE IMO. The collision detection is well done, so if you try to force a dunk (and the CPU too) when there is a man in front of you, you will not be able to attempt the dunk, instead you will try to make an off-balance layup and usually miss because of the contact. You cannot just bash everything and neither can the CPU. Also, when the CPU tries to take it to the rim, if you set your feet underneath them you can take the charge! It is beautifully done.
OVERALL I think you are going to like this game. I played ID last year and fell in love with it. Live has taken most of the good things from ID's gameplay and incorporated into their game, while leaving in what they do best- THE ANIMATIONS. When you see all the deatails and the "little things" all built in to the gameplay I think you will be impressed. Bottom line: if you liked ID like me last year, I can't see how you wouldn't love LIVE.
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Well said and quite accurate in my opinion. Also there is something that monkey has said that is somewhat relative. If i'm not mistaken monkey says Live plays like college ball ...a more pure form of basketball but not like the actual nba. While I disagree, takin my reference from the game straight "out the box" I have found that you can change the style of gameplay simply by adjusting the overwhelming amount of sliders that are there. If u think a certain style pertains to the NBA game you can tweak your game to match that ...and you can do the same to get a college style gamepplay. Ive never played a better game from a gameplay standpoint than Live04.
</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
laker8la said:
1. Ball movement, player movement, spacing, and A.I. - I group these all together because I feel that they are all related. I usually love Sega but I hate their Basketball series regardless of how good their graphics get because it has horrible ball movement and off-the-ball player movement which are so important to making a Basketball video game flow and look like the real thing. I hate stagnant half court offenses where no one uses screens away from the ball to get themselves open. As a huge Piston's homer, I like seeing Rip Hamilton run off of screens so that he can get those temporarily open mid range jumpers if you hit him at just the right time. I like to see the spacing in such a way that after I sim a few seasons to where Darko is a contributer, I want to make the defense pay for double teaming him in the post by him kicking it out to the open man for an open look.
ANSWER: I believe live to be the best bball game ever as far as this aspect of the game. They really nailed it. Players fight around screens, battle for position in the post, call for passes when they cut, backpeddle after a made basket on defense. All these little things will make you feel like you are playing a real game of 5-0n-5. I don't believe there to be any stagnant moments, the players all seem to be moving around, and looking realistic in doing so. The spacing is there, and if they double you, you have to kick it out quickly and swing it around the perimeter for a jumper. It is so well done, you just have to try it for yourself to understand while it feels so nice.
2. Team and Player Tendancies - I hate seeing New Jersey and San Antonio push the ball against me with the same aggressiveness. I want to see Kidd get out and run and make me sweat everytime they get a defensive rebound. I want to see Duncan get the ball in the post often and try to make me pay for double teaming him by getting it to the open man. Also I like what I hear about the primacy rating on offense. Is there other stats related to player tendancies or is that it? Also can I edit players before beggining my franchise if I don't like their ratings?
ANSWER: Again, I believe Live nailed this aspect as well. San Antonio will run their half court sets through Duncan, NJ will run you to death. The Mavericks will throw up threes and quick shots. The Lakers will get it to Shaq and Kobe. You can edit any ratings at any time, before or after your dynasty, and the slider tweaks can really make it a realistic game for you.
3. Statistical Accuracy - I'm not really worried about how many minutes it takes me to play a game to get accurate stats and I don't care about having to tweak sliders. What really bothers me is when I can't create an accurate representation of the game statistically regardless of the sliders. Is there any areas of Live that are so inbalanced that they can't be corrected by sliders?
ANSWER: I am getting a very accurate representation of the game statistically. It took a few rating tweaks, but I think you can fix everything pretty much with tweaks. I haven't found anything statistically out of whack that couldn't be fixed with sliders. Other than for me, it seems that you have to shorten the length of quarters 2 or 3 minutes to get an accurate score. IE: I play 9 minute quarters with the Lakers on ALLSTAR and I am averaging right at 100 points a game. But I guess if you lowered the game speed enough, you could play a full 48 minutes and get an accurate representation.
4. Rebounding - This was a major problem in Inside Drive even though it was my favorite game last year. I hate when I can't get an accurate offensive to defensive rebounding ratio. Generally in the NBA, if you get 40 rebounds, 10 will be offensive. Inside Drive supposedly fixed this problem this year and made it so that your defense boxes out better. From what I understand, Live has the opposite problem. Can you get close to 25% offensive rebounding with some slider adjustments? Also, is it possible to come down with rebounds with a user-controlled player. In most games other than Sega's Basketball games (this is the one thing they do right), you really have to let the computer do all the rebounding for you. Will I be able to get them myself finally?
ANSWER: This is something that I found works two ways. If you let the computer do the rebounding for you, they won't get many offensive rebounds. But, as I learned to play the game better, I have found that taking control of a player nearest the basket and jumping yourself for the rebound can make you productive on the offensive boards. Also, raising the CPU Offenseive Rebounding slider to the max (100) seems to do the trick for teh CPU against me.
5. The Post game - Does weight and strength make a difference here? I really want to see some disparity down low. If I leave Darko to guard Shaq one on one, it should only be a matter of seconds before his *** is dunked on. If I bring Ben over to help out, I want to see the back down slowed down or at least make him turnover prone even with sliders set at low steal ratings.
ANSWER: Weight and strength makes a huge difference. SHAQ is a beast for me, while Horace Grant or someone of even smaller stature is not effective at backing down bigger players. This is represented very well. Much improved here. Medvedenko turns the ball over left and right when I try to post him up too much, so yeah they got it right.
6. Dunk Attempts - Are dunk attempts by the computer realistic? Most games have dunking sliders but all lowering them means is that you'll miss a bunch of dunks. I want to know if they (unrealistically) insist on trying to throw it down in traffic every time. In the NBA, usually guys will try making a layup when there's traffic in front of them unless they have a good, full head of steam and the defender is out of position.
ANSWER: LIVE dominates all other bball titles in this aspect. The dunks are the best and most realistic I have ever seen in a game. BAR NONE IMO. The collision detection is well done, so if you try to force a dunk (and the CPU too) when there is a man in front of you, you will not be able to attempt the dunk, instead you will try to make an off-balance layup and usually miss because of the contact. You cannot just bash everything and neither can the CPU. Also, when the CPU tries to take it to the rim, if you set your feet underneath them you can take the charge! It is beautifully done.
OVERALL I think you are going to like this game. I played ID last year and fell in love with it. Live has taken most of the good things from ID's gameplay and incorporated into their game, while leaving in what they do best- THE ANIMATIONS. When you see all the deatails and the "little things" all built in to the gameplay I think you will be impressed. Bottom line: if you liked ID like me last year, I can't see how you wouldn't love LIVE.
<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">
Well said and quite accurate in my opinion. Also there is something that monkey has said that is somewhat relative. If i'm not mistaken monkey says Live plays like college ball ...a more pure form of basketball but not like the actual nba. While I disagree, takin my reference from the game straight "out the box" I have found that you can change the style of gameplay simply by adjusting the overwhelming amount of sliders that are there. If u think a certain style pertains to the NBA game you can tweak your game to match that ...and you can do the same to get a college style gamepplay. Ive never played a better game from a gameplay standpoint than Live04.
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