NBA Live 14: It's Time to Leave a Man Behind

[El_Poopador]

Re: NBA Live 14: It's Time to Leave a Man Behind

Good post, Dustin, but I strongly disagree with you.

Game improvement and development for NBA Live 14 needs to be continuous rather than released in yearly blocks. I'll give three main justifications:

First, EA promised a continuously improving product.

http://www.easports.com/nba-live/news-updates-gameplay/article/nba-live-14-open-letter

Second, any gameplay improvements made to Live 14 can be carried over to Live 15.

Last, if the game doesn't improve at all prior to Live 15, customer interest and goodwill in the product will be damaged - perhaps irreparably. If no improvement is made prior to Live 15 there is no reason why a reasonable consumer should trust that Live 15 will be any better than its predecessor. I imagine most gamers would be enraged if a game purchased in November/December was abandoned with promises that next years game will be great (especially after the cancellations of Elite 11 and Live 13). Live 14 was far from perfect at release, but has become far more satisfying as title updates are released. Live 14 is on a steady improvement curve right now. EA is currently showing us improvements rather than making empty promises. Even if you disagree that Live 14 is improving, surely you can agree that continued improvements generate goodwill that EA desperately needs.

It's strange that a sports gamer would advocate that a developer STOP making improvements to a game that was released just over two months ago. Isn't one of the main complaints among gamers that we don't see post release support? If EA did cease support for Live 14, what benefit would we see as a community? The day sports game developers throw in the towel after 60 days of support is the day I stop buying them.

you make some good points but it can also be viewed a different way. if they keep working on live 14 throughout the year (in terms of altering gameplay graphics etc. and not just roster updates and things were used to) then some people may feel that live 15 isnt really much of an upgrade at all. for those who didnt buy live 14 they may opt to buy it instead of 15 since it would be cheaper and close to the same.

the post release support we crave is in terms of roster updates and bug fixes. something like the cpu not calling timeouts. but major overhauls usually arent expected until the next release at the earliest.

[RUFFNREADY]

Sorry I should have stated, that the game isn't deal in the water; but could revive itself with some simple tactics! cont~

[nuke_21]

This game is an embarassment to next-gen hardware. It will never be improved upon because its made by EA. End of story.

[shutdown10]

Re: NBA Live 14: It's Time to Leave a Man Behind

Good Post! Ea needs to prove to the masses that they can create a respectful basketball game. They have run out of all their excuses. Nobody should make excuses for them any more. They had a great opportunity to wow us with Live 14 and choked. If Live 15 is similar then curtains for them. They are the laughing stock of all sports gaming right now and have a really bad rep. Its not going to be easy to get out of that position. 150,000 or 200,000 copies sold are not going to save this title in the future. They better have a brilliant strategy this year to get consumers to buy Live 15.

[riggs6taters]

Author comes off like he is saying "love my 2K!!!!!!!"

[Earl1963]

Re: NBA Live 14: It's Time to Leave a Man Behind

This is one of the biggest pieces that I disagree with. The gameplay is what makes me want to play the game. It makes me want to continue playing even when I know I should be shutting down the PS4 for the night. The jump shots, once you are fluid with the controls are slick. They are about as seamless as you can get. I love going in with a crossover, or rocking someone to sleep, to rise up fluidly for the jumper. I'll spend quite a bit of time just doing that each game, looking at how fluid it is in the replays. As long as your body is in the right position, and you aren't trying to shoot a jumpshot without your body squared, then it's a really nice animation, really fluid.

I agree with this 100%. IMO, Live 14 plays a lot more like what I see on TV, and also when I play outside myself. See, the problem I have with 2k is humans can't possibly move the way they do in that game, it gives gamers a little too much control of changing direction.

Live feels sluggish for most gamers, but I can see what EA is trying to accomplish here. True to life movements. Still a ways to go though.

[Flightwhite24]

Re: NBA Live 14: It's Time to Leave a Man Behind

I agree with this 100%. IMO, Live 14 plays a lot more like what I see on TV, and also when I play outside myself. See, the problem I have with 2k is humans can't possibly move the way they do in that game, it gives gamers a little too much control of changing direction.

Live feels sluggish for most gamers, but I can see what EA is trying to accomplish here. True to life movements. Still a ways to go though.

I'm on board with this statement


Sent from my iPhone

[The 24th Letter]

Re: NBA Live 14: It's Time to Leave a Man Behind

Author comes off like he is saying "love my 2K!!!!!!!"

Everyone in this thread is discussing the article like grown ups...please don't bring this mess in here..

Good article...but I don't think EA should give up or anything like that...just continue to accept feedback from the community and try their best to implement it into the game....as of right now, pre patch, I think they have a LONG way to go...even if we're leaving graphics out of the occasion....

I actually disagree with some of the gameplay criticisms in the article...but one thing I totally agree with is it sometimes feeling like a chore to finish a game...

a game I had the other day was a perfect example of this...did a fantasy draft to shake things up, I get in game and realize that half of my team have the same signature shot...really sucks out a lot of the immersion. I also realized that have no idea who I am playing on the opposite team because the likenesses don't stand out...Unless they had an outstanding quality, I couldn't tell who they were until it flashed on the bottom of the screen when they scored. This isn't a "oh it's not pretty enough" complaint...this is legit graphical complaint that many others besides myself have spoken on..,.

Combine this with the gameplay issues that I have already talked about previously, it just sucks what fun there is out of the game sometimes.....some games go great...but lately I am seeing more bad than good. I've been playing this game since day one...I like that it's different, I like a lot of what it brings, but I can't call it a "good foundation" any more, right now it's just "a foundation" to me, and I hope EA can tweak and build upon it...

[The 24th Letter]

NBA Live 14: It's Time to Leave a Man Behind

I agree with this 100%. IMO, Live 14 plays a lot more like what I see on TV, and also when I play outside myself. See, the problem I have with 2k is humans can't possibly move the way they do in that game, it gives gamers a little too much control of changing direction.

Live feels sluggish for most gamers, but I can see what EA is trying to accomplish here. True to life movements. Still a ways to go though.

I guess this is just a preference thing, but for me it looks like about half of what I see on TV and real life...

I actually just got back from the gym...won 5 games straight...but got ran off the court by some younger guys who basically ran their break to perfection the whole game...I don't see this in Live '14....our big guy couldn't stay with their smaller, more athletic big guy....he couldn't really score because of his foot speed....this wouldn't matter in Live '14, as the bigs have guard handles...and lord knows he couldn't spin move through double teams to win us the game...

as far as impossible movement...I have never seen someone euro step from 15 feet and throw in a layup with their off hand IRL..

It's 100% fine to prefer this game, but I think it's only fair to hold them to the same standard if were going to make these types of comments...

[Earl1963]

Re: NBA Live 14: It's Time to Leave a Man Behind

I have to agree regarding the euro step. That needs cleaned up right now.

[Sjhone30]

I very much enjoy NBA Live 14(ps4). I find the pacing to very realistic. I play 12 mins All-star difficulty and i absolutely love it. I also play the other game but only mycareer, when it works... lol but iam really excited for the next patch/update for this game. its not the graphical marvel that we would expect from next gen but we also see what all graphics and nothing else gets us... vc, no servers, and a headache... #GoLIve

[mythreesons]

Re: NBA Live 14: It's Time to Leave a Man Behind

...I get in game and realize that half of my team have the same signature shot...really sucks out a lot of the immersion.

I roll with the Heat and only recently noticed that Battier and Allen have the same shot

Sad, because IRL no two shots are further apart than those two.

[The 24th Letter]

Re: NBA Live 14: It's Time to Leave a Man Behind

I roll with the Heat and only recently noticed that Battier and Allen have the same shot

Sad, because IRL no two shots are further apart than those two.

Hadn't noticed that...

That's funny because Live '10 probably has the best Allen shot in NBA video game history

[shutdown10]

Re: NBA Live 14: It's Time to Leave a Man Behind

I think people need to understand that operation sports does not make up the total buying audience that Nba Live is trying to target. You guys like this game, which is fine but its not going to change the perception of this title outside this forum unless EA does something jaw-dropping. The competition has slipped up again with their online issues and VC micro-transactions, but what if they scrap and repair those issues for their next game this year? The pressure to make NBA live great Next gen sports game might be too much for the Live team.

[ThaLiveKing]

2K released so many patches for their game and it's still broken, but NBA Live should stop LOL. Let's see what the first REAL patch brings and go from there. I didn't like the game when it came out, but the game has been tuned, they need to get their controls as responsive as FIFA, then people wouldn't complain so much. Once you can control your players the way you want, and as precise as you want, the game will be fun.

Like most fans, I wish we could save our own rosters, I don't understand this concept of downloading rosters all the time keeping them current (but they never are) business, keep it for the online gaming, not the offline. We as gamers should be allowed to custom our offline play. If that's where gaming is headed, I'm just gonna stop playing altogether