This game owns my soul.

[RubenDouglas]

Re: This game owns my soul.

played another game last night

CPU Kansas @ User Uconn.

From the very beginning this game was filled with fouls , second chance points, and more fouls. It was just one of those up and down games where we battled the ref for some FTs. I have never seen FTs this evenly distributed between a user and CPU. with about 8 minutes left, it was getting out of hand as KU got a 20 pt lead. i pushed my way to the FT line, where I would inevitably miss. I went just 19 of 31.. ( I have player ft% set to on, so theres no user input).

Ive had defensive battles. three point shootouts. FT shootouts. this one was just so up and down. 14 TOs didnt help my cause either

few highlight vids coming soon
end of game stats:

[bill2451]

Re: This game owns my soul.

the thing that I find amazing about this game is that, frankly, I never found the actual gameplay to be that great. To just sit down and play the game, imo there are tons of other games out there that are more fun

there are soooooooo many things they could do to improve the gameplay in every aspect

and yet despite what i'd call average gameplay, this game owns my soul! It is just so damn good lol. By far the best "franchise" experience in sports gaming

imagine what this game could be with updated gameplay mechanics

[ehh]

Re: This game owns my soul.

^ True. To be honest it's basically an offensive game of...

- Catch on the perimeter and pump fake every time
- Pick n roll
- Post up and do the badass spin move
- Do the basic B/Circle quick crossover to get by your man
- Run a play (plays are okay in this game, for its time it was great but Live 10 has wildly improved on play calling).

The game play is quite basic and it doesn't do the fundamentals of the game any amazing justice (in general the floor spacing is average, the paint is too crowded and defensive rotations are way too fast) but the game is amazingly fun. You can beast with almost any player over 6'11 especially on the glass.

But the CPU is real smart and real aggressive, that's probably what keeps me coming back to CH2K8 - it's still the best Hum vs CPU basketball game I've played. Plus the games always seem to be wildly entertaining and get me excited. The CPU puts up a fight constantly, you have to work to win games.

It really excels at differentiating power house teams from low majors and future lottery picks to guys who were lucky to get a DI scholarship. You get a great variety of games: blowouts, nail biters, big come backs, physical games where its a parade to the FT line, games where the refs swallow the whistle, etc.

The legacy mode is obviously world class, the player progression is great (breakout stars, busts, solid four-year players, one and dones), the little things are awesome and overall it's a complete, real fun package.

[RubenDouglas]

Re: This game owns my soul.

heres some misc. highlights that as I played, sought fit as highlight worthy in some aspect.

<embed width="440" height="420" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://v4.tinypic.com/player.swf?file=157m9i&s=4"><br><font size="1"><a href="http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=157m9i&s=4">Original Video</a> - More videos at <a href="http://tinypic.com">TinyPic</a></font>

play rundown:
-all time ACC me, against lowly Howard as I try to get many unlockables. A two person double team/trap forces the CPU to throw the ball off of one of my players.
-Kenny anderson no look behind the back as I showboat my way to victory
-Oden to Magic, to Glen Rob.
-next up is just a basic open shot. what I consider an open shot to be in this game. nothing like other games, but I can get by.
-user drive, and a CPU "hard" foul. you wont see much like this in todays nba games. prior titles had these semi- hard looking fouls
-Uconn user team running a fastbreak. the comeback AI is somewhat there in their speed catchup logic, but I found I can get by with what the game offers. Rush hustles all the way down court and gets a blocking foul called.. and1 for UCONN
-after made basket press catches KU off guard. My guard notices and he's able to five for the loose ball.
-maybe the best example of an open shot in this game. The CPU collapses the paint and I feed it out for the open three. WIDE OPEN.
-user bounce pass to the corner of the open zone. catch and open three. SWISH!
-a somewhat open shot on the right wing. Just enough space for the open jumper. I can honestly live with this type of defensive rotation.
-another open three. this time, via the lead pass im able to direct him right in the corner for the VERY quick open three point shot.

the gameplay is the best ive seen out of any game to date including nba titles. which says alot for a two year old game.

ehh, what i showed in the vid, is that what you consider open shots too or is the cpu still too responsive for your likings defensive rotation wise? I ask because I never once thought about it until you brought it up and since I never personally brought it up, it dawned on me, that it never appeared to be an issue for me personally.but your definition of open may be different than mine.

[ehh]

Re: This game owns my soul.

ehh, what i showed in the vid, is that what you consider open shots too or is the cpu still too responsive for your likings defensive rotation wise? I ask because I never once thought about it until you brought it up and since I never personally brought it up, it dawned on me, that it never appeared to be an issue for me personally.but your definition of open may be different than mine.

It's not horrible (it's way better than NBA2K8-9, kinda up in the air on 2K10, I'll have to see post patch) but it's easily the one gameplay element that bothers me the most in 2K8 especially when using low majors that really require team work, unselfish play and a lot of good ball movement. I think that's why I never got into Closed Legacy real big.

It is a little annoying that the CPU will try to challenge every single shot, even if they're still 15' feet away there will be a crazy block attempt animation. The positive side of things is that it doesn't seem to affect the "open shot" logic/percentage or whatever of your player which is why I can look past it.

An open shot in 2K8 is a little different from an open shot IRL. Like in your vid, the first UConn clip when AJ drives down the right side of the lane and dishes to Dyson for a baseline J. Dyson's heels are basically on the 3PT line and his defender is still in the paint as Dyson starts his J. Yet his defender kinda slides, takes one step and then jumps even though he has no chance to block it. No way should he be able to cover that type of ground that quickly nor should he be challenging that shot - he should be hitting the glass.

But spacing/rotations are a HUGE factor for me personally when it come to basketball games, I'm sure it's way more important to me than most gamers. It's why I'm playing Live '10 over 2K10 this year (for now at least) due to the awesome spacing & rotations (plus you can actually play defense in Live lol). People talk about "wow" moments and things like that, for me the ultimate "wow" moment isn't an alley-oop or buzzer beater, it's seeing a real-life basketball fundamental nailed perfectly in a game. When I can drive, draw the D and then kick it out for an open 3 or an extra pass and then an open three - man, that is the ultimate "wow" moment for me. I love it.

[DJ]

Re: This game owns my soul.

It's not horrible (it's way better than NBA2K8-9, kinda up in the air on 2K10, I'll have to see post patch) but it's easily the one gameplay element that bothers me the most in 2K8 especially when using low majors that really require team work, unselfish play and a lot of good ball movement. I think that's why I never got into Closed Legacy real big.

It is a little annoying that the CPU will try to challenge every single shot, even if they're still 15' feet away there will be a crazy block attempt animation. The positive side of things is that it doesn't seem to affect the "open shot" logic/percentage or whatever of your player which is why I can look past it.

An open shot in 2K8 is a little different from an open shot IRL. Like in your vid, the first UConn clip when AJ drives down the right side of the lane and dishes to Dyson for a baseline J. Dyson's heels are basically on the 3PT line and his defender is still in the paint as Dyson starts his J. Yet his defender kinda slides, takes one step and then jumps even though he has no chance to block it. No way should he be able to cover that type of ground that quickly nor should he be challenging that shot - he should be hitting the glass.

But spacing/rotations are a HUGE factor for me personally when it come to basketball games, I'm sure it's way more important to me than most gamers. It's why I'm playing Live '10 over 2K10 this year (for now at least) due to the awesome spacing & rotations (plus you can actually play defense in Live lol). People talk about "wow" moments and things like that, for me the ultimate "wow" moment isn't an alley-oop or buzzer beater, it's seeing a real-life basketball fundamental nailed perfectly in a game. When I can drive, draw the D and then kick it out for an open 3 or an extra pass and then an open three - man, that is the ultimate "wow" moment for me. I love it.

Great post. This is why I'm having a hard time going back to 2k8 after playing Live 10. The floor spacing in that game is the best I've ever seen in a video game.

[KG]

Re: This game owns my soul.

My only problem going back to 2K8 at this point is that the defensive rotations are really bad in comparison to Live 10. The rotations are way, way too fast. Game is still fun though.

Defensive rotations and spacing which are intertwined are my only complaints about this game. It can somewhat be resolved by changing the camera angle but I like what I play on.

I wish it had some of the animations of 2K10 but that's understandable. It still has more animations than NCAA 09 and it appears the same way for '10.

[JVal3208]

Re: This game owns my soul.

I had this on 360, sold it for some stupid reason. I'm gonna pick it up again when I go to get Modern Warfare 2. The depth and fun factor in this game still has not been match in a sports game. And I didn't even use sliders before...

[ehh]

Re: This game owns my soul.

This small discussion about rotations and spacing inspired me to do some testing with game/player speed yesterday. Plus after playing Live so much it just reiterated what I've always known, CH2K8 plays way, way too fast.

It sounds crazy (and the transition game looks ********) but with my MOP settings I have game speed at 52 and player speed at 5. Yeah, five, not a typo.

In the half court the game plays much better in terms of spacing/rotations, in transition it looks worse because it's so slow but it isn't gameplay affecting because the speed is still constant among all players. A quick guy will still break away, it'll just be slower and non-life like. For me, however, I'll gladly take the trade off of a better mid-range/half court/spacing/rotations and slower fast breaks. Plus this also allows the CPU to play better on offense and get some more open looks. I did still see way too many insane block attempts when a defender shouldn't be trying to block the shot cause he's 15' away but I did see quite a few open J's where they did not - which is an extreme rarity in this game on higher player speed settings.

In my UConn legacy I've got a sophomore who was a 5-star recruit, great shooter (3PT and mid), is athletic (finishes with authority above the rim in the open floor) but still hasn't developed a dribble drive game (can't drive past a grandmother yet). He's pretty much been a deep threat and that's it during his year-plus on my team. I changed the speed settings and the only full game I've played so far was @ Rutgers but this kid dropped 23 points on 8-13 shooting. 2-3 from deep, one dunk and five beautiful, open mid-range jumpers.

If anyone tries it out I'm sure you will be appalled at how slow the game looks the first time you make this adjustment but try it out for a game or two. Just focus on the movement, spacing and rotations in the half court. Try to do a lot of penetrate-n-pitch and inside-out stuff to see the difference.

I'm also ecstatic that I found out the 2K Cam can be lag-free if you zoom in more on the PS3. I switched to PS3 last summer from 360 (where default 2K Cam is fine) and only tried the 2K Cam on the default settings which has too much lag to really play. Last night I was testing out all camera angles while going through some of the small arenas highlighted in Rub's thread and noticed the smoothness of a zoomed in 2K Cam. Awesome find for me personally, 2K Cam has always been the way to go in 2K games since the Dreamcast days. Bugged me that I couldn't use it on PS3.

My interest in this game has been rejuvenated like crazy between the new camera and speed adjustments. Looks like Live will be moved to the back burner for a while.

[Jukeman]

Re: This game owns my soul.

Yuup

I have both player speeds at 0

[ehh]

Re: This game owns my soul.

In the sliders or the gameplay option?

In the game sliders I still have it at 51/49 in favor of the HUM. If you have it at zero for CPU and HUM what do you have it set in the gameplay menu? (Where you see game speed, player speed, and I forget what the third and final slider is there).

[Jukeman]

Re: This game owns my soul.

In the sliders or the gameplay option?

In the game sliders I still have it at 51/49 in favor of the HUM. If you have it at zero for CPU and HUM what do you have it set in the gameplay menu? (Where you see game speed, player speed, and I forget what the third and final slider is there).

Gameplay- I have game speed at 100 and player speed at 0

Gameslider- I have speed at 0

the game speed and player speed "slider" was strickly for cpu vs cpu play to get the correct FGA for 20min halfs

player speed in options was reduced for the reason you mention

[ehh]

Re: This game owns my soul.

Interesting that you have game speed at 100, I'll try that out tonight.

[KG]

Re: This game owns my soul.

This small discussion about rotations and spacing inspired me to do some testing with game/player speed yesterday. Plus after playing Live so much it just reiterated what I've always known, CH2K8 plays way, way too fast.

It sounds crazy (and the transition game looks ********) but with my MOP settings I have game speed at 52 and player speed at 5. Yeah, five, not a typo.

In the half court the game plays much better in terms of spacing/rotations, in transition it looks worse because it's so slow but it isn't gameplay affecting because the speed is still constant among all players. A quick guy will still break away, it'll just be slower and non-life like. For me, however, I'll gladly take the trade off of a better mid-range/half court/spacing/rotations and slower fast breaks. Plus this also allows the CPU to play better on offense and get some more open looks. I did still see way too many insane block attempts when a defender shouldn't be trying to block the shot cause he's 15' away but I did see quite a few open J's where they did not - which is an extreme rarity in this game on higher player speed settings.

In my UConn legacy I've got a sophomore who was a 5-star recruit, great shooter (3PT and mid), is athletic (finishes with authority above the rim in the open floor) but still hasn't developed a dribble drive game (can't drive past a grandmother yet). He's pretty much been a deep threat and that's it during his year-plus on my team. I changed the speed settings and the only full game I've played so far was @ Rutgers but this kid dropped 23 points on 8-13 shooting. 2-3 from deep, one dunk and five beautiful, open mid-range jumpers.

If anyone tries it out I'm sure you will be appalled at how slow the game looks the first time you make this adjustment but try it out for a game or two. Just focus on the movement, spacing and rotations in the half court. Try to do a lot of penetrate-n-pitch and inside-out stuff to see the difference.

I'm also ecstatic that I found out the 2K Cam can be lag-free if you zoom in more on the PS3. I switched to PS3 last summer from 360 (where default 2K Cam is fine) and only tried the 2K Cam on the default settings which has too much lag to really play. Last night I was testing out all camera angles while going through some of the small arenas highlighted in Rub's thread and noticed the smoothness of a zoomed in 2K Cam. Awesome find for me personally, 2K Cam has always been the way to go in 2K games since the Dreamcast days. Bugged me that I couldn't use it on PS3.

My interest in this game has been rejuvenated like crazy between the new camera and speed adjustments. Looks like Live will be moved to the back burner for a while.

Hmm...I'll have to check this out tonight. For some reason I think I have player speed at 5 but I'll need to fire it up.

Oh yeah, the stuttering on the PS3 in this series is one of the reasons I went back to the 360. I had a great legacy going with Towson, switched over to the PS3 and every game against a NC on the road was unbearable. I miss that legacy.

[RubenDouglas]

Re: This game owns my soul.

i'm now intriged as well. its worth a shot. Using AuburnALumni's AA sliders, i havent really had a desire or need to steer away from those at all. but its worth a shot.

I think currently its set at Game Speed 60.. and under attribute game sliders, speed is 53-50 in favour of USER.

I guess first test out of all of this would be to only change player speed. I'll go down 45 and see what happens. 8user-5CPU for SPEED, and game speed still at 60... then I may drop game speed to 50 .

btw, ehh, have you played with AA's AA sliders? Are they too easy for you? I just know now that I feel its almost perfect, but maybe this change will be better. I just wonder what other changes you have that may be reflective of what you are seeing. I think we all may need the same baseline settings. but maybe not