2K18 - one wish: no more cut-scenes.

[wombatvvv]

I suppose this maybe a controversial idea, but I honestly feel they could make NBA2K18 exactly the same as 2K17, with updated rosters, and just remove ALL the cutscenes from MyCareer and it will be a superior game.

Don't anyone get me wrong. I love 2K and I love My Career ... I just think they could do it soooo much better. Keep the shoe deals, keep the sponsors, keep the social media, the gym training and all the rest, just take out all the cut scenes.

Here are my reasons, in order:

How much money are they wasting on this?

How much do they have to pay all these NBA-stars to do voice recordings every year? Does anyone even watch the pre-game shows with Shaq? How about they take all the money and time they put into paying Shaq to make cut-scenes, and all these NBA stars doing half-time interviews that I'm pretty sure 99% of people just skip through and never watch ... and put them into improving the commentary for example? Or player-creation options? Or one of a million other things that would make the game better?

It's not really "My Career" ... it's The Pres's career (or Freq's career)

I dunno about you guys, but I want to put me in the game. A 7'0, skilled version of me. And play out the experience of having an NBA career.

That is not what this is, but it is what it should be. This isn't your career. It's someone else's career. Freq's or The Pres's. Or Orange Juice's (what's with the cringe-worthy nicknames?)

The cut-scenes just mean you're watching someone else's career.


They're stilted, scripted and have virtually nothing to do with what's actually happening or how you want to play the game

What I think most of us want is the experience of an NBA career to play-out how we want it to, and you're just not getting that if it's totally pre-scripted. If there is some kind of story-line going on in your imagination, they totally ruin it.

Don't believe me? Start your My Career again. It's exactly the same. No matter what. It's so badly scripted that even if you trade out of your team you still get the same cut-scenes as if Justice is still on your side!

Anyway ... why is everyone treating your 57-rated starting player, the worst player in the NBA, who is getting five minutes a game like Michael Jordan? They just don't even make sense.

Why is my 7'2 center the size of a small forward in every cut-scene?

Why is Justice complaining about "taking all these L's" after game 1 of the season?

Why do I have the option to say, "I'll be the one who scores the most" when the commentator is asking me if I think rebounding is a crucial factor in the game? ... and I've scored 2 points so far?


They're extremely boring and repetitive

How many times do I have to watch a cut-scene of my coach telling us "there's one guy killing us out there"? It's like every time out of every game. What does it add? Absolutely nothing. The same goes for virtually every cut-scene in the game.

After a few games you decide you don't want to play as a guard after all and want to a MyCareer as a center? Forget about it unless you want to watch 40 minutes of un-skippable cut-scenes that are identical to the first time you tried ... and even after you get over the introduction, you have to suffer through the same stuff all season.


They're using them to rip you off

The number one reason I believe they keep including these "stories" is so they basically release what is really an "update" on the previous version of the game (as opposed to a new game by itself) and claim it's a totally new experience because they went out a filmed a bunch of cut-scenes.

It's a new story, not a new game. I want to play basketball, not watch a story line about some guy who seems totally unrelated to what my player is actually doing on the court.

They say it's a new game but the player creation, for example, has been identical for years. Down to exactly the same choices of hair style.

You can't skip them or disable them

How simple would this be to implement? What are they scared of? That nobody will watch them? In that case, they should ask themselves why are they bothering to include them? But we already know the answer to that (above). If you could disable or skip them then people would very quickly realize how little has actually changed since last year.


Wasting time and money on cut-scenes is a waste of resources that could be spent developing more important areas of the game

Having cut-scenes imposes so many restrictions on the developers. You have no choice in your background story, no choice in your voice, no choice in your personality ... you don't even have any choice in your body-type.

You can't be a beast like Shaq or Dwight Howard or a bean-pole like Manute Bol, or a tubby guy like Big Baby Davis. Obviously they have the ability for these things in-game, as those players are accurately represented on the court. But your player is stuck with one body-type because the cut-scenes wouldn't work otherwise. The same goes for your voice, personality, etc. It's limiting variety, not adding to it.

I'd much prefer to have those options and zero cut-scenes.

... in fact, I'd even prefer just to have zero cut-scenes, period.

[fluent2332]

If they are going to go with the "NBA Soap Opera", they really should just make it an independent game and keep it far away from the core game.

To me, the career thing with the cut-scenes are incredibly cringe-worthy and absolutely silly. However, years back we had a "real" career mode where you created a character, there were no cut-scenes, you could play in the D-League at first and grow your character with drills, practice, etc. That's before the whole Soap Opera aspect of the game took off.

I'd prefer if they just made 2 separate games - One simulation, core game with a franchise mode, "realistic career/create a player mode", online playing (with sim lobbies, scouting and chat like in 2K7/8), and basic simulation features we've had over the years. The other game could be the NBA Days of Our Basketball Lives (complete with the Park modes and all that), Pro-Am or whatever and all that. This way they could focus on different experiences for the different players, rather than cramming it all in one game and trying to please everyone. They could actually please everyone by making 2 different games.

[Soze Mucky]

Quote: Originally Posted by wombatvvv

I suppose this maybe a controversial idea, but I honestly feel they could make NBA2K18 exactly the same as 2K17, with updated rosters, and just remove ALL the cutscenes from MyCareer and it will be a superior game. Don't anyone get me wrong. I love 2K and I love My Career ... I just think they could do it soooo much better. Keep the shoe deals, keep the sponsors, keep the social media, the gym training and all the rest, just take out all the cut scenes. Here are my reasons, in order: How much money are they wasting on this? How much do they have to pay all these NBA-stars to do voice recordings every year? Does anyone even watch the pre-game shows with Shaq? How about they take all the money and time they put into paying Shaq to make cut-scenes, and all these NBA stars doing half-time interviews that I'm pretty sure 99% of people just skip through and never watch ... and put them into improving the commentary for example? Or player-creation options? Or one of a million other things that would make the game better? It's not really "My Career" ... it's The Pres's career (or Freq's career) I dunno about you guys, but I want to put me in the game. A 7'0, skilled version of me. And play out the experience of having an NBA career. That is not what this is, but it is what it should be. This isn't your career. It's someone else's career. Freq's or The Pres's. Or Orange Juice's (what's with the cringe-worthy nicknames?) The cut-scenes just mean you're watching someone else's career. They're stilted, scripted and have virtually nothing to do with what's actually happening or how you want to play the game What I think most of us want is the experience of an NBA career to play-out how we want it to, and you're just not getting that if it's totally pre-scripted. If there is some kind of story-line going on in your imagination, they totally ruin it. Don't believe me? Start your My Career again. It's exactly the same. No matter what. It's so badly scripted that even if you trade out of your team you still get the same cut-scenes as if Justice is still on your side! Anyway ... why is everyone treating your 57-rated starting player, the worst player in the NBA, who is getting five minutes a game like Michael Jordan? They just don't even make sense. Why is my 7'2 center the size of a small forward in every cut-scene? Why is Justice complaining about "taking all these L's" after game 1 of the season? Why do I have the option to say, "I'll be the one who scores the most" when the commentator is asking me if I think rebounding is a crucial factor in the game? ... and I've scored 2 points so far? They're extremely boring and repetitive How many times do I have to watch a cut-scene of my coach telling us "there's one guy killing us out there"? It's like every time out of every game. What does it add? Absolutely nothing. The same goes for virtually every cut-scene in the game. After a few games you decide you don't want to play as a guard after all and want to a MyCareer as a center? Forget about it unless you want to watch 40 minutes of un-skippable cut-scenes that are identical to the first time you tried ... and even after you get over the introduction, you have to suffer through the same stuff all season. They're using them to rip you off The number one reason I believe they keep including these "stories" is so they basically release what is really an "update" on the previous version of the game (as opposed to a new game by itself) and claim it's a totally new experience because they went out a filmed a bunch of cut-scenes. It's a new story, not a new game. I want to play basketball, not watch a story line about some guy who seems totally unrelated to what my player is actually doing on the court. They say it's a new game but the player creation, for example, has been identical for years. Down to exactly the same choices of hair style. You can't skip them or disable them How simple would this be to implement? What are they scared of? That nobody will watch them? In that case, they should ask themselves why are they bothering to include them? But we already know the answer to that (above). If you could disable or skip them then people would very quickly realize how little has actually changed since last year. Wasting time and money on cut-scenes is a waste of resources that could be spent developing more important areas of the game Having cut-scenes imposes so many restrictions on the developers. You have no choice in your background story, no choice in your voice, no choice in your personality ... you don't even have any choice in your body-type. You can't be a beast like Shaq or Dwight Howard or a bean-pole like Manute Bol, or a tubby guy like Big Baby Davis. Obviously they have the ability for these things in-game, as those players are accurately represented on the court. But your player is stuck with one body-type because the cut-scenes wouldn't work otherwise. The same goes for your voice, personality, etc. It's limiting variety, not adding to it. I'd much prefer to have those options and zero cut-scenes. ... in fact, I'd even prefer just to have zero cut-scenes, period.

agree with all of this

[wombatvvv]

Quote: Originally Posted by fluent2332

However, years back we had a "real" career mode where you created a character, there were no cut-scenes, you could play in the D-League at first and grow your character with drills, practice, etc.

That sounds sooo much better.

The weird thing is, they actually realise that people don't like it (most people anyway, I know some people do). I was so happy to hear all the press releases and previews of 2K17 saying that the storyline has been toned way down from the "Spike Lee Joint" thing, and there's now way more options for your player and actual real consequences to what you do ... I mean, that's how they advertised it! They know the linear story is not popular.

So wtf is going making exactly the same stuff again? The only difference from the Spike Lee Joint is this is a different story. Very slightly.

Just throw it all out. The entire story. Spend that development time and money on actually improving the core game. Give us new player creation options. Or a dunk and layup creator or something.

[fluent2332]

Or a play creator. In College Hoops 2K8 you could actually create your own intricate plays and playbooks. That's back when people were interested in intelligent simulation-style features, I guess. I think many are still interested in this stuff but 2K has to cater to the other fans as well, which is why again, I think they would be best creating 2 separate games.

[fluent2332]

It's interesting because I feel like EA felt that 2K was going in the arcade direction back in 2010 and tried to take back the sim market with NBA Live 10. Live 10 wasn't perfect but it had some great ideas and felt like a real NBA game most of the time.

I feel that 6 years later, EA could now have a golden opportunity to turn the tables on 2K by going for an ultimate simulation-style NBA game with ideas from Live 10 and new sim-friendly ideas (much like 2K turned the tables on EA years back by creating sim-style games when NBA Live was going towards the more arcade style. 2K captured the market over time).

[wombatvvv]

Quote: Originally Posted by fluent2332

Or a play creator. In College Hoops 2K8 you could actually create your own intricate plays and playbooks. That's back when people were interested in intelligent simulation-style features, I guess. I think many are still interested in this stuff but 2K has to cater to the other fans as well, which is why again, I think they would be best creating 2 separate games.

Who exactly?

The dumb thing is, it's the simulation aspect that made 2K the king of the hill. I remember when it first came out, and all we had with NBA Live where every second play was a 360 dunk-contest in traffic, and 2K came out with a realistic basketball game and everyone loved it.

The cut-scenes and "story line" mode are rubbish. They have no place in a basketball simulation. Well ... they could have I guess if they were done really well i.e. they actually made sense in context to your 57-rated player, and they didn't limit your options when it came to player-creation, and you could choose your voice and personality, etc. but that's just far too big a job, better to just remove them and let the player's story "tell itself".

Weird thing is, I've heard the latest NBA Live game aint half bad, and their career mode has not storyline and cut-scenes. (and their player creation options seem much better too). If it were available on PC I'd definitely give it a chance.

[fluent2332]

Quote: Originally Posted by wombatvvv

Who exactly? The dumb thing is, it's the simulation aspect that made 2K the king of the hill. I remember when it first came out, and all we had with NBA Live where every second play was a 360 dunk-contest in traffic, and 2K came out with a realistic basketball game and everyone loved it. The cut-scenes and "story line" mode are rubbish. They have no place in a basketball simulation. Well ... they could have I guess if they were done really well i.e. they actually made sense in context to your 57-rated player, and they didn't limit your options when it came to player-creation, and you could choose your voice and personality, etc. but that's just far too big a job, better to just remove them and let the player's story "tell itself". Weird thing is, I've heard the latest NBA Live game aint half bad, and their career mode has not storyline and cut-scenes. (and their player creation options seem much better too). If it were available on PC I'd definitely give it a chance.

I agree with all this. Read my post above about why I think EA could turn the tables on 2K if they play it smart.

Quote: Originally Posted by wombatvvv

That sounds sooo much better.

It didn't have the drama or intrigue of a story mode, but it was more grounded in reality and simulation-style elements and had the intrigue and story that was "user-created" with your imagination and role-playing.

I remember people complaining about having to spend time in the D-League at the time (although I loved it), so slowly but surely 2K has tweaked it over the years so you're basically the second coming of Michael Jordan 2 games into your career with all the soap opera drama one can handle.

I know some people do like that (a large amount, probably. It seems to be 2K's most popular feature by far now for the past several years), but it just seems apparent to me that they could benefit by just making that game its entirely own spin-off. Heck, put 2 different teams on each game. 2K has the money to do that. They can expand the "old-school" career mode and make it more realistic less over-the-top dramatic and make it more like a real NBA career, and the other game could be all about the silly drama they now have in MyCareer.