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NBA LIVE 18 demo is up on Xbox and PSN

It's an EA sports game

Most likely not.....EA is weird like that

Oh well, seems weird. You would think there would be a market for it on pc. I understand somewhat with Madden and nhl, nba I thought they would. Looks like I won't be buying a basketball games this year then!
 

StereoVsn

Member
I will try out the demo, but the vids make it look like a decent game that has a stronger arcade feel then I want form my sports sims.

Hopefully this is a good enough game to cause 2k to lower the micro-transactions a tad, because honestly that is only complaint I have with them. I never by them, but too many do and it feels like the make the my career is more of a grind then what is actually needed to encourage this, to be fair I did not buy nba 2k17 so it could have been better in this area.
NBA2K17 was even worse with MTs since they enforced archetypes and lowered starting point to 55-60 rating. Part of that was because they have SP and MP chars the same and wanted to standardized some of the online competition. Hopefully that meant that SP MyCareer was somewhat of a grind due to necessity of raising your stats.

That said I expect SP mode to be quite a bit worse here but will wait for reports.
 

Quick

Banned
Played a couple of games (one at the start and in The One).

Controls are almost 1-1 to 2K, so it was easy to pick up and go. But habits I picked up on 2K don't fully translate to Live, particularly my over-use of the steal button (terrible habit). Passing to specific players (L1+player icon) is the same as 2K, except you need to hold onto L1 as you select the player to pass to. That was weird for me, but minor.

Gameplay feels fluid, less canned than 2K. I like it a lot. I don't think I've played enough to catch too many little details, but one small detail I like is just how layups look.

Presentation is goooood, though I'm hoping cutscenes are pausable and skippable after the First Take segment at the start of The One. RPG elements with text messages keep things short and simple, though I'm assuming there's more to the story mode than just a series of texts. Player models are pretty good too.

The One is a really interesting feature that could be really good depending on how it plays out. Though, I'm not usually very invested on sports story modes. It'll take a lot to impress me on this end. That being said, I eat up 2K's MyCareer mode partly because it's fucking cheesy and hilarious in its own weird way.

Can't say I'm set on buying this game. 2K still has me hooked in. We'll see though.
 
Tried it out. Nice change from 2K. Hard to knock 2K's game play because they've got a formula that really works but I feel like I've been playing the same game for years.

Competition is great, nice to see Live have a competent outing. I'm holding off Madden for Mutant Football League, and MLB The Show for Super Mega Baseball 2 this year. I'm sick of the same old same old. Hopefully someone makes a good arcade hockey and soccer game soon too.
 

saltyramen

Member
Once they remove the jank I'm in. Also if you go to the animations menu you can see there's not that many signature shots this year and the ones they do have... look completely off. Steph's doesn't look like Steph's and etc.

Menus are A1. Also the game speed is way too slow and odd. When trying to cross half court it seems like I'm fighting the controls
 
I like how weighty the game play feels, but some of the AI is still really janky. Still, good effort by EA. The more competition the better.
 

jmizzal

Member
This story mode already blows Madden story out the water, and both are made by EA, you get to create yourself and what position you play which is a what I wanted in Madden story, not some generic character.

I love the First Take stuff in it too
 

brawly

Member
Is your player supposed to be garbage? This guy getting hyped on First Take and even I would take his lunch money in a 1on1.

Maybe I just suck. Whatever, not for me I guess.
 

Klocker

Member
I cant explain it, the gameplay is a little weird and awkward, but yet its so fun to play.

Yep the sense of weight to the players and the way it plays feels right his time.

Reminds me a little of old school Live
Coming form someone who buys 2k almost every year but hardly plays it for too long as it just seems a little boring and sometimes animations are out of my control.

I feel a little more in control in Live even though animations start slowly but will need to fire up 2k17 again tonight to make sure I am not misremembering

But ys feels fun
 

Nintendad

Member
I have some more gifs. One is a player nearly getting flipped over and the other was a hand off pass which just looks nice if you ask me.

giphy.gif


giphy.gif
 

ron_bato

Member
I've played around 6-7 hours so far, mostly play now, followed by getting a feel for the game in the freestyle practice mode, then the career stuff that i played was just the mandatory stuff.

My overall impressions are that it's a competent game, but it's not a good game yet. The base is now here for the team to iterate and improve. I think it's still behind 2k, by a few iterations. I think both 2k16 and 2k17 are much better games than this, but this was a big step in the right direction.

Stuff i liked:
- Controls feel good, very responsive, and chaining dribble moves is smooth. the transition from 2k to live was seamless because their controls are very similar with just very minor tweaks. That said, executing moves become significantly more difficult due to the momentum and movement system, which I am so far not liking (more on this later). Though one thing I ran into is that the game gets confused with when I want to use the shot stick vs dribble moves - could be user error as I get used to things more.
- I feel that shot success is fair on the perimeter. So of course, shooting is still timing based, but contested shots are graded accordingly (when your shots are contested well, the game lets you know you were guarded and reduces shot success accordingly). However, this doesn't necessarily translate to interior defense, where i feel shot success is dependent on an animation, and is way more random (more on this later). EDIT: As I'm playing right now, it seems like getting green releases even with shot contests is easier than I thought - so I may have to reevaluate this. I just hit 3 straight contested 3 green releases from 3s.
- Presentation from a broadcast perspective and atmosphere are really good. The courts look really good, and the ESPN integration looks great. The street court stuff, pro-am stuff, all are really good too.


Stuff I didn't like:
- The biggest thing i absolutely hate is the overly cluttered UI. The shot meter placement is distracting, the many arrows you see on the floor telling you who you're currently targeting with your pass, all the UI elements and hints that pop up - these are all too distracting (I think there are options to take them off - which I recommend you shouold). But the biggest pain for me is the UI overlay when calling a play. Jesus. Just try calling a play, and see for yourself.
- The movement and momentum system feels bad. I feel like I'm sliding too much, and I actually feel like movement is a bit too floaty. This is something that they need to work on in the future, because it gives the player less control, and gives you the impression that you're fighting with the sticks to regain your player's movement.
- Please stop with the canned walk-up animations. This is really annoying when I want to speed up the pace, but instead, I'm forced into a slow-walk dribble animation when I'm bringing the ball up the floor .
- Passing and more importantly, pass logic is not working well right now. To be fair, this is something that 2k struggles with too, my biggest issue is that passes occasionally don't go where you want it to and so you're going to want to rely on icon passing primarily.
- Problem is, icon passing is executed stupidly. Why do i have to hold R1 the entire time to keep the icon passing option on? It should be a press, and the icons should stay on top of the players, so you don't need to be holding R1 all the damn time. This is a weird design decision, which I feel can be corrected easily - so hopefully they do.
- Inside defense doesn't feel good or rewarding. There's very little contact in the paint, which makes waltzing in there and getting in a dunk animation very overpowered (your only hope is to get the block animation activated). For layups, it's actually worse, as interior defense or shot contessts relies to heavily on two-player animations. I remember one instance where I was on a fastbreak using KD, with a clear advantage for a dunk. Lebron was behind me, but not close enough to really bother me, as I was about to dunk, I got drawn into an animation, allowing lebron to chase down block me (The game slowed me down to initiate a layup, instead of dunking).

Things that are solid, but need some tuning:
Defense is fine (on the perimeter), I feel like I can defend well enough but I still don't like the risk-reward system of left stick timing. Timing defense perfectly stops the guy you are defending immediately via a bump, while bungling the timing puts you in a stagger animation which means you're gonna get blown by immediately. This system where both the reward is too high, and the punishment is too strong is not a good mechanic in my opinion because it allows guys who are not lockdown defenders to bump someone and stop them immediately as long as you press the button correctly.

Anyway, I think it's still a decent game, but it's not a good game. There are things I need to evaluate more, like the 5-player movement and off-ball movement, which so far seems fine, but it's not as fluid and dynamic as the freestyle set system that 2k has.

I played on all-star by the way, tried playing superstar but the computer will not miss any shots at all in the few games that I played lol.

streaming right now for those interested in giving a watch: twitch.tv/ron_bato
 

ron_bato

Member
I think it's too early to tell whether anything is binary after one day of play.

I've seen so many dynamic gameplay situations and moments already though, and I don't feel like it's a system that can be mastered where anyone can shut down anyone.

BTW, I'm going off of the Warriors vs Cavs experience played on All-Star, the One mode seems purposely nerfed difficulty wise to ensure people have success and learn the systems.

I've tried to see how well this can be abused, and I feel as the community gets comfortable and gets the system correctly, they will have to tune this.

I now get frequent occasions where I get the green timing correctly and stop people on their tracks even before they get past half court. It's a risk and reward system, and if i guess wrong or time it wrong, i get the red indicator and I'm left in the dust as a result.

I was even able to stop lebron from bringing up the ball with steph curry just by bumping him by getting the timing correctly. This is should absolutely never happen and is not a good mechanic and needs to be tuned.

I am also playing on all-star on play now.
 

Ivan

Member
Wow, I can't believe I'm reading that many positive impressions about live...

It used to be one of my favourite franchises, I really hope it'll come back.

I never got into 2K, I never liked its gameplay. It feels too heavy and out of control in pure gameplay sense. To me everything felt like one big animation.

I really hope this is different.
 
I actually like it a lot. I am pleasantly surprised by this. The gameplay seems a bit more fast paced than 2K - like the old Live. They have done a great job in removing the players feeling and looking like they are sliding across the floor. Animations are tight and the overall flow is good. I'm impressed.

Will pick this up.
 

Ascenion

Member
I really really like it. It's actually, dare I say, fun vs. 2K where it's just expected. It's still janky, but damn if the one isn't better than my career from the demo at least. Gonna need to spend more time. But as it is I'll pick this up day one for $32.
 

ron_bato

Member
Anybody who is remotely interested in post play is going to hate this game. Its absolutely bare bones with a lot of moves missing, and feels extremely sluggish and dated.

Edit: the move set is definitely lacking and not just for post play. There's no hop step, no spin jump shots, no post shimmies, the pick and roll options are extremely limited. They still have a ways to go.
 

Ovid

Member
Been playing this for a few hours and I like it.

The sound of the buzzer is ripped from from Live '96. I shit you not lol. I still have that game on PC too.

Edit: Just checked YT and it is. That sfx is 20 years old.
 
Played tonight. I haven't bought a basketball game since NBA Live 2004. Buying this as soon as the cash rolls in. $40 for this? I had a blast. Can't wait for the NBA season to begin.

Go Cavs!!
 

dreamfall

Member
Alright so I just spent four-ish hours with the demo, and my mind is pretty blown. The demo is meaty as all hell, and Be the One is actually a ton of fun. The same narrator from NBA Street Homecourt? The intros for every court and the atmosphere was fucking phenomenal.

The gameplay itself is solid - players don't feel like they're skating around anymore, the three point shot is way too easy to make, and layups seem to be slightly over powered. But defense feels like it has more impact, and blocks feels great. The presentation value is really through the roof. Some solid intricacies with the control system regarding passing, bounce passes, handoffs, lobs and flash.

Competition is a great thing, and I love 2K (always have). But EA did some major things right this year, it's worth checking out the demo. Great create a player too!
 

saltyramen

Member
Surprised at the lot that would pick this over 2K.. I just don't understand. The jank is real. The only good things about the game are the things that don't have to do with the gameplay... the actual 5v5 broadcast view is awful. I'm all for Live being a competitor but this year is simply not it. At all. If you want authentic basketball at least.
 
Surprised at the lot that would pick this over 2K.. I just don't understand. The jank is real. The only good things about the game are the things that don't have to do with the gameplay... the actual 5v5 broadcast view is awful. I'm all for Live being a competitor but this year is simply not it. At all. If you want authentic basketball at least.

Some people don't like the 3 to 5 second canned animations that 2K has used for the last 7 years. I MUCH prefer this version of Live over 2K for reasons I have already posted in this thread. I like the dribbling much more, I like the on ball defense much more and the more physics based contact/fouls. 2K does some things better for sure. I just like this total package more. Hoping it's not as disgusting as 2K is with it's VC.
 

dragos495

Member
i went in expecting crap and..... i actually liked it. the gameplay i mean, the animations, the fluidity overall felt right. i could do some stuff that i cant easily do in 2k and viceversa.

but if this was great how amazing is 2k gonna be?

ps: i skipped 2k17 but im gonna be day 1 with 2k18.
 
Anybody who is remotely interested in post play is going to hate this game. Its absolutely bare bones with a lot of moves missing, and feels extremely sluggish and dated.

Edit: the move set is definitely lacking and not just for post play. There's no hop step, no spin jump shots, no post shimmies, the pick and roll options are extremely limited. They still have a ways to go.
I can do all that stuff? Do you have the post moves primary or secondary skill?
 

ron_bato

Member
I can do all that stuff? Do you have the post moves primary or secondary skill?

No you cant. Im not talking about hop step out of the post, because there are post step backs. Spin off of posts, and drop steps.

What im saying is there is no pro hop button to initiate a driving hop step lay up (ie the hop gather).

There is a spin gather for layups, but no spin jump shot off of a drive.

Pick and roll control is limited, you cant select which side to set the pick.

These are all glaring absences which are essential in a basketball game in 2017.
 

tookhster

Member
Anybody else amazed by how accurate the face scan is in this? Especially compared to 2k's face scan, which got worse from the first year they implemented it. If EA can add this feature to Mass Effect and other games it'd be a game changer, at least for me.

Anyway, I was actually one of the people who had fun with Live 16, used to play it at a friend's house and we were in tears laughing at how broken the game was....yet the randomness added a realistic tone to the game due to how random basketball can be in real life, and so we got addicted and had fun playing through the Rising Star mode.

I just played the demo for 18 and honestly at first I was disappointed by how little the animations changed as they still looked a bit stiff (such as the free throw animation where every player has the exact same reaction when the ref hands them the ball, just like in Live 16), BUT despite the animation, the gameplay is noticeably improved and more fluid. As someone mentioned above, blocks feel way more realistic and vicious compared to 2K, and I actually like how easy it is to score unlike 2K where the AI never lets you go past them. And thankfully, you can actually play defense in this game and make an impact on shots using the right stick. In Live 16, there was ZERO defense and nothing you can do against the AI.

My favorite thing about the game has to be the leveling up system. It's easy yet deep, and the addition of loot crates (which you buy with actual earned points, not cash money) adds a fun factor to unlocking cool shit while you level up. Each role has two primary attributes (like 3pt shot and mid-range shot for example), and as you level up, you get to decide which other attributes you want to focus on. With all the different player roles and types I can see myself spending a shit ton of time making different characters with different play styles.

For 40 bucks I can't wait to give the full game a try, and it might even prevent me from buying 2K this year, because I'm so fed up with all the VC bullshit and canned animations.

Also, NBA Live 18's soundtrack >>>>>>>>>2K18's.
 

Farsi

Member
The gameplay still needs a lot of work but the presentation is fantastic. I just came back from a double digit deficit and hearing and seeing the energy of the crowd and them chanting defense defense was too damn fun. Way better than 2K in that department. I'm gonna lose my shit if they add in more stuff like the go spurs go chant.

I wanna pick it up just to show the dev team support because I really love the direction they're going in.
 

StereoVsn

Member
Ok, going to try the demo tonight. Will get the game if I like it since it's cheap with Prime or GCU. Although I will definitely not have time for 2 basketball games at the same time for sure.
 

saltyramen

Member
Some people don't like the 3 to 5 second canned animations that 2K has used for the last 7 years. I MUCH prefer this version of Live over 2K for reasons I have already posted in this thread. I like the dribbling much more, I like the on ball defense much more and the more physics based contact/fouls. 2K does some things better for sure. I just like this total package more. Hoping it's not as disgusting as 2K is with it's VC.
Interesting.. I thought the dribbling was awfully slow and unresponsive. I'll admit the "2K view" played out better than Broadcast and the defense can be fun but the whole bumping and sliding animation got ridiculously repetitive.

I don't know how bad the VC thing is tbh? I don't play MyCareer. I just play locally against my friends or Association against CPU. What is so terrible about the VC implementation -- is it the pay to win factor or something? Genuinely don't know but always see people complain.

I just .. I don't know. Some of the player faces look awful and the lack of signature shots (I think 2K8 had more) is painful. I can't get over the bad looking animations. Just a difference I guess. I want my experience to emulate the real broadcast thing. If a 2 second animation is going to help that then I'm all for it. And honestly I thought dribbling in 2K17 was incredible; you can easily branch out and chain different moves. I really just don't think Live can hold a candle to 2K in the gameplay department this year. Feel like the Live team understands that themselves if they're pricing the thing at $40. It shows me they don't believe in their product.

All that said though, I might buy it when the price drops even more just because I love basketball lol. Love that they got YOX & Russ on the soundtrack. Feel like the team at NBA Live is more in tune with the youth as soundtrack and certain hairstyles (Uzi Vert and Lil Yachty) are more catered to that.
 

CSX

Member
If I can mess around with full settings and sliders on Be the One mode, I'm in on this game. Have they confirmed this yet?
 

RS4-

Member
Interesting.. I thought the dribbling was awfully slow and unresponsive. I'll admit the "2K view" played out better than Broadcast and the defense can be fun but the whole bumping and sliding animation got ridiculously repetitive.

I don't know how bad the VC thing is tbh? I don't play MyCareer. I just play locally against my friends or Association against CPU. What is so terrible about the VC implementation -- is it the pay to win factor or something? Genuinely don't know but always see people complain.

I just .. I don't know. Some of the player faces look awful and the lack of signature shots (I think 2K8 had more) is painful. I can't get over the bad looking animations. Just a difference I guess. I want my experience to emulate the real broadcast thing. If a 2 second animation is going to help that then I'm all for it. And honestly I thought dribbling in 2K17 was incredible; you can easily branch out and chain different moves. I really just don't think Live can hold a candle to 2K in the gameplay department this year. Feel like the Live team understands that themselves if they're pricing the thing at $40. It shows me they don't believe in their product.

All that said though, I might buy it when the price drops even more just because I love basketball lol. Love that they got YOX & Russ on the soundtrack. Feel like the team at NBA Live is more in tune with the youth as soundtrack and certain hairstyles (Uzi Vert and Lil Yachty) are more catered to that.

The MTs and online are absolutely fucking garbage in 2k. The MTs might be one of the worst in general.
 
Played the career mode last night and really enjoyed it, though I usually don't enjoy those modes. I made a defensive post big man and really enjoyed the rise.

The ESPN segments are cheesy but whatever, they're silly diversions and I like that they're present.

Played a single play now game and ejoyed it. I like the ball physics and that it doesn't feel predictable. Playing center feels pretty good especially helping on screens and falling back down to the defensive post. I've also like rebounding as it seems at least somewhat about placement and positioning.


It's a flawed game but I decided I'd buy it especially at $35 with EA Access.
 

saltyramen

Member
The MTs and online are absolutely fucking garbage in 2k. The MTs might be one of the worst in general.

Truth. Online play is garbage at start up with the terrible input lag lmao. Honestly it gets to be okay uhh 4 months after the fact. I don't know why they can't get their servers right. Haven't tried online on Live yet but I'm gonna assume the same.

Does anyone know if this game has HDR implementation?
 

RS4-

Member
Truth. Online play is garbage at start up with the terrible input lag lmao. Honestly it gets to be okay uhh 4 months after the fact. I don't know why they can't get their servers right. Haven't tried online on Live yet but I'm gonna assume the same.

Granted, I've only played maybe 5-6 online matches in the Live beta but they're better than anything I've ever experienced in 2k.

One thing that sorta stands out for me so far in Live is that there's some camera adjustment like zooming out, etc. Unless I'm missing it, they're all fixed depending on which view you pick.

Don't think there's HDR in the beta, unsure about the full game.
 

Mik317

Member
This is pretty good. It kept me going until I reached the end, which is rare for most demos. There is some jank tho. such as being able to make a lot of tough contested layups....but other wise it was super fun.

doubt I pick it up over 2k because its all of the little things 2k still has over Live that makes me enjoy it. But this is definitely a welcome attempt to make 2k actually try again.
 

saltyramen

Member
This is pretty good. It kept me going until I reached the end, which is rare for most demos. There is some jank tho. such as being able to make a lot of tough contested layups....but other wise it was super fun.

doubt I pick it up over 2k because its all of the little things 2k still has over Live that makes me enjoy it. But this is definitely a welcome attempt to make 2k actually try again.

The contested lay-up part is probably attributed to the difficulty level which is set at Pro (Easy/Very Easy Idk) by default. When most people refer to jank it's not actually the ability to sink tough shots it's more so the way everything moves and works together. Pretty much the animations and their fluidity.
 

Klocker

Member
No you cant. Im not talking about hop step out of the post, because there are post step backs. Spin off of posts, and drop steps.

What im saying is there is no pro hop button to initiate a driving hop step lay up (ie the hop gather).

. ...snip

Double tap X while driving for hop step
 
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