I'll try this again, since every thread that I create in criticism of NBA 2k and 2kSports gets closed.
I'll let 2k speak for themselves and you can decide if they delivered on their claims and promises.
I'll add my opinions in
bold ()'s.
This will be a long post and I've only covered 2 of the articles that I'll link to from 2k's own Facebook.
First,
http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/08/...asketball-game written by Jose Otero on 8/19/2016 one month and a day before early release.
“
Every year our goal is to be the most realistic sports game on the market,” 2K Sports Brand Manager Andrew Blumberg told a room of reporters at Gamescom 2016.
Blumberg gave us a quick update on some gameplay changes. The development team wanted to put more control in the hands of the user and rely less on probability from stats.
(In some ways you have more control, but in many others you might have less.)
They also revamped the fatigue system.
(The fatigue system is still flawed and recovers entirely too quickly.)
Blumberg said stealing the ball also had a significant revamp, so it’s not abused as much as it was last year’s games.
(Stealing is as bad or worse than ever and without question more abused!)
Second,
http://www.sportsgamersonline.com/nb...log-mike-wang/ written by Mike Wang on 9/1/2016 19 days before early release.
What’s up, 2K fans?! Mike Wang here to give you the scoop on some of the hotness our gameplay team has in store for you this year! I know a lot of news has already come out about some of the gameplay features for NBA 2K17
but hopefully this blog can give you a fuller picture of what to expect when you get your hands on the game and clear up some of the questions you might have. So let’s jump into it!
Each dev cycle we have a million things we want to accomplish on the gameplay front, but if I had to sum up the main goal for NBA 2K17 it would be this: MAKE THE SKILL OF THE GAMER MATTER.
(I guess "skills" can cover a wide range. Spamming dribble moves behind screens is a skill. As is spamming the steal button to force opponents into animations and turnovers.)
One of the most noticeable applications of this idea is in the area of shooting. In NBA 2K17, ALL shots (with the exception of dunks) have a timing mechanism to them. Jump shots,
layups, hooks, buzzerbeater pullups, even full court heaves.
(Layup timing is not timed on the release of the ball, rather the relationship of the feet to the ground. In reality, where your feet are has almost nothing to do with when you release the ball on a layup, especially a change shot layup.)
And don’t worry, on the flipside the system is also tuned in such a way that prevents bad shot selection or chucking from half court from being a viable offensive strategy. You still have to take good shots with the right guys to be successful.
(Really?)
Let’s talk about the shot meter as it’s been re-designed for NBA 2K17. This year, you want to fill the meter all the way up for ideal timing rather than stopping the meter half way.
(I, and I know many others as well, hit more half way full shots than I do solid white shot meter shots.)
One last thing I want to mention regarding shooting is the idea of evasive layups vs. strong layups.
Because these types of shots require a bit more touch, it’s really important to nail your timing when using the evade layups.
(The timing of your feet in relation to the floor.)
The theme of gamer skill being a driver for our design doesn’t only affect offense, but extends to the defensive end of the floor as well.
First off, the steal system has been completely re-worked for NBA 2K17.
The new system takes into account many more factors than before, including: the type of move the ball handler is in, how exposed or protected the ball is in relation to the defender, whether the ball handler is in open space vs. in a crowd, and of course, each players’ attributes.
(Steals, imo, are as bad as they have ever been. People dribble the ball right into my chest as I hit the steal button all the time and nothing happens. Yet, hit the steal button as soon as someone catches the ball and they'll be thrown into an uncontrollable animation and most of the time lose the ball.)
Blocks also received a nice makeover with tons of new content, better hand to ball collision detection and ball targeting recognition.
Weak blockers vs. great blockers are more accurately differentiated in the game now too.
(I get blocked by tiny players far more often than I block them. I'm a 6'10" athletic finisher. I should almost never get blocked by a guard! And the crazy run from the other side of the court blocks with major contact almost never result in a foul!)
Usually when you spend a lot of time working on things like responsive controls and
respecting the user’s input 100% of the time,
(?)
The physicality of basketball
NBA Basketball is a slugfest at times and that’s something we wanted to incorporate better into our game.
(Overdone. Most of the grabbing and pulling in this game would result in a foul on any court.)
The post game received a huge makeover this year,
Post movement was completely redone
(If the post game was "completely" redone, it's barely noticeable. You can almost never actually play the post game, because the players can cover too much ground too quickly. And steal spamming on top of that breaks the post game.)
One of my favorite upgrades in this year’s title has to be the play around the rim. We’ve added hundreds of new animations including ground and mid-air collision rebounds, tipped balls, new boxouts,
swims,
pulling the chair, putbacks, and the list goes on.
(Swims? Pulling the chair? I've not seen them. I cannot find any control that allows me to swim. And I've never been able to successfully "pull the chair", nor ever seen it preformed.)
Another new feature we’re bringing to the table this year is our new offball collision system.
(Also overdone. Again, many of the animations would result in foul calls on any court. And being held in the paint is crazy. Where's the respecting user input 100% as mentioned above?)
We also spent a great deal of time working on collisions between the ball handler and the onball defender.
We really wanted to avoid “snatching” players into multi-actor animations that didn’t make sense and let the natural physics of the collisions play out as they would in real life.
(Like screens?)
And defensively, it was paramount that onball defensive movement was tight in order to not give the offense an unfair advantage in 1-on-1 situations.
(On ball defense is tight? Defense as a whole feels like you're on ice skates and you have to fight for control of your player and play defense at the same time. While also trying to avoid suck in screens.)
We’re very happy with where the meta game netted out this year
Artificial Intelligence is continually getting smarter with each new iteration of our game.
(?)
The transition game has been rebuilt from scratch and now features players properly running their lanes, better spacing logic and intelligent transition 3’s.
(Again, another rebuilt mechanic that doesn't feel any different and maybe worse than before.)
Speaking of 3’s, another aspect of the AI attack that’s greatly improved is the AI’s ability to hunt for the 3 ball.
(In Pro-Am, the CPU almost never takes a 3 at the right time. Wide open 3's are passed up by the CPU far too often.)
On the defensive side, one more thing I want to call out is the ability to switch matchups on the fly. If you’re not happy with the matchups that the game automatically generates for you, you can quickly swap them around without going into the pause menu to make sure you have your best defenders checking the biggest threats.
Pro AM crowd, this one’s for you! Gotta keep that Teammate Grade up!
(Only if you or a friend are controlling the PG. Wouldn't it make sense to give that control to anyone with the "Coach on the Floor" badge or at least play makers and point forwards?)
Jump passes can now be triggered on demand (PS4 = SQUARE+CROSS, XB1 = X+A)
(These or at least passing out of a shot are greatly overpowered. A well guarded 7'3" C should not be able to throw a cross court pass out of a shot to a teammate that is well guarded. Passing in general needs work, but this is a major concern.)
Improved catch on point logic ensures that receivers catch passes on their desired spots rather than veering off in a bad direction
(I disagree. This happens just as much if not more than previous years.)
Pump fake auto-fouls in the paint are gone. If you “do nothing” on the sticks as a defender, you won’t incur a shooting foul.
(I think many would disagree.)
The goal behind the new archetypes was to force gamers to make a choice when creating their characters. We’re really trying to individualize players in our online modes so not everyone ends up being the same 2 or 3 types of guys.
(Sharp Shooters, Stretch Bigs, and Glass Cleaners. You'll almost never run into a team with out all 3.)
If you’re like me and too lazy to read long blogs, let me just summarize real quick.
NBA 2K17 is a game of skill. Our goal was to make the gameplay experience compelling in every aspect of on-court play and I’m proud of what the team was able to accomplish.
I’ve had multiple people come up to me throughout development praising gameplay and telling me just how fun it is to play defense, how cool it feels to be able to master the game and show off their stick skills, and how accurate to real life the basketball looks. The game is much smarter, feels better in just about every way and moves/animates silky smooth in the process thanks to some very cool new tech. My hat’s off to each and every one of our gameplay engineers (the real rock stars of the show) and to the hardest working group of producers I could ask for.
(Who are they?)
I think that about covers the main gameplay stuff.
I know you guys are going to love the game this year,
That's only from the two articles that I have read so far.
Did 2k deliver in your opinion?
Please add your comments and/or read some of these other articles and add your comments on those.
MyCareer
https://www.facebook.com/notes/nba-2...3795803517267/
MyLeague
https://www.facebook.com/notes/nba-2...3816142357267/
MyPark
https://www.facebook.com/notes/nba-2...3847538272267/
MyGM
https://www.facebook.com/notes/nba-2...3690401877267/
I apologize if outside links are not allowed.
I used them for reference and will remove them if needed.
12-24-2016, 01:19 PM
