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NBA Playgrounds |OT| More entertaining & less predicable than the NBA play-offs!

DrDogg

Member
I mean, I felt the host advantage on shot timing before. Hitting 3s was always a bit less consistent online, but this is something else.

My player would immediately get stripped off the inbound pass 9 times out of 10 before I could even perform a crossover and I couldn't do the same thing to him even though I was trying.

Yeah I've felt that long before the patch. I just chalked it up to host advantage and inbound the ball in the back court. I also avoid passing full court against players who will steal or push immediately like that.
 
Maybe I just didn't run into any games with huge apparent lag before the patch. Seems like it's wayyyy easier to get blocks too when you're the host.
 

fernoca

Member
Wow, so I still suck at this.
XD

Is there some quick guide out there to learn more about this?

Like, when's the best moment to release the button while shooting? Then to dunk...etc...etc..
 

MrBlonde

Member
Wishful thinking but they should fix some of these stats. Just to name a couple but john wall, Anthony Davis, even Lebron all need some tweaks. John wall had one 8 everything else 7 and under and all his teammates look better, the guy is one of the best and an epic card and the card looks like shit. I Don't have jimmy butler or harden yet but pretty sure they looked liked shit to when I was watching YouTube

PLEASE FIX THIS CHEAP AI,

I finally found a way to beat Paul and griffin, pass to half court crossover quick 3. Using ray Allen and Larry Johnson, pretty good combo so far. Still dumb, don't like playing this way and cheap AI is annoying and I'm sure the next tournament the bullshit will start again

A couple tweaks and this game could be really nice
 
Online is basically all games like this now

AVOpvcM.jpg

mfs87HW.jpg

Was still several minutes left to go in both of these games, but I don't blame those guys for quitting. Basically couldn't do anything on offense because I was blocking and stealing at will. When they did get a shot off, it usually missed. Has to be lag. It's not even fun winning like this. On the plus side, you still get exp when the opponent quits out.
 

AcridMeat

Banned
Well I beat the final tournament first time asking. It may be just how I play defense in this but the AI would just endlessly pass to each other until they had to force up a shot (though this did lead to a shaq fadeaway from back court that was perfect...).

I do see what you guys were saying though, the xp slows down pretty mightily, and without the tournaments to get the gold packs I'm not really sure what to do now. Did get D Wilk and Spud Webb and they're super fun to play together.

I tried an online match it had horrendous lag. I beat the guy like 30-7 because they couldn't make a shot, but they were endlessly blocking/stealing me. Pretty anti-fun. Wilkins is actually pretty good at blocking, or I'm just getting more used to the timing, he had 4-5 each game I played with him.
I feel like looseballs in this game are weird in general. Jumping to get rebounds feels woefully imprecise.
Yep, it's pretty awful.
 

KaYotiX

Banned
game seems to be nothing but 3 pointers now, glad i passed on it. Watching streams and it looks so boring.

Seems like it needs a patch to fix scoring imbalances
 
You can get just as many blocks with a weaker blocker as long as your timing is good. I played against someone online who was running Dell Curry and Harden (pretty sure they are 2-3 blocking stat) and they racked up 10 blocks on me and never missed their 3s. Might have been more of a lag thing, but still so annoying.

Goes with lots of the stats really. Also seen people online nailing perfect 3 pointers with big men like Bill Russell and Ewing. Timing seems to trump shooting/blocking stats for the most part. Dunks and steals are probably the ones that you can't compensate for with timing.
 

fernoca

Member
game seems to be nothing but 3 pointers now, glad i passed on it. Watching streams and it looks so boring.

Seems like it needs a patch to fix scoring imbalances
You know, despite me sucking a lot on it and my friends surprisingly sucking less than me (is my game afterall :p), 4 players with 4 joycons on Switch is great.

Has become a current favorite along Mario Kart 8.

They just need to make the loadings shorter.
 

hbkdx12

Member
You can get just as many blocks with a weaker blocker as long as your timing is good. I played against someone online who was running Dell Curry and Harden (pretty sure they are 2-3 blocking stat) and they racked up 10 blocks on me and never missed their 3s. Might have been more of a lag thing, but still so annoying.

Goes with lots of the stats really. Also seen people online nailing perfect 3 pointers with big men like Bill Russell and Ewing. Timing seems to trump shooting/blocking stats for the most part. Dunks and steals are probably the ones that you can't compensate for with timing.

This is probably my biggest issue with the game. I wish i knew about this before buying it and that reviews were more forthright about it. The stats don't feel meaningful so you have a roster of unique superstars that all feel more or less similar. Someone like shaq shouldn't be able to hit a jumpshot of any kind let alone a perfect release 3 pointer, i don't care what your timing looks like.
 
This is probably my biggest issue with the game. I wish i knew about this before buying it and that reviews were more forthright about it. The stats don't feel meaningful so you have a roster of unique superstars that all feel more or less similar. Someone like shaq shouldn't be able to hit a jumpshot of any kind let alone a perfect release 3 pointer, i don't care what your timing looks like.

To some degree, I don't mind that stats aren't everything. Otherwise you'd see everyone flocking to the same few overpowered players. I like the idea of making more players viable, but they clearly went too far in some aspects. Some of these players have no business being able to block shots or hit 3s at will.

3s in particular really need to be toned down I think. A player like Curry will hit 100% from half court if you let him. There's way more risk in going for a dunk or layup than shooting a stupid long 3, which isn't right.
 

DrDogg

Member
Wow, so I still suck at this.
XD

Is there some quick guide out there to learn more about this?

Like, when's the best moment to release the button while shooting? Then to dunk...etc...etc..

Lots of stuff here - https://www.primagames.com/games/nba-playgrounds/coverage/nba-playgrounds-wiki-and-guide-all-unlocks

Online is basically all games like this now

Was still several minutes left to go in both of these games, but I don't blame those guys for quitting. Basically couldn't do anything on offense because I was blocking and stealing at will. When they did get a shot off, it usually missed. Has to be lag. It's not even fun winning like this. On the plus side, you still get exp when the opponent quits out.

You only get xp if they quit using the in-game menu. If they back to the dashboard (which I find most people do on console), you get no credit and they don't get penalized at all. It's kind of terrible.

Also, whenever I'm down (which is usually from lag), I just go for alley-oops and dunks to get a lottery pick. It's basically like items in Mario Kart. The further down you are, the higher your chances of getting a broken lottery pick. If you get the stars on the ground, you can make up 20-30 points in 3 possessions.

You can get just as many blocks with a weaker blocker as long as your timing is good. I played against someone online who was running Dell Curry and Harden (pretty sure they are 2-3 blocking stat) and they racked up 10 blocks on me and never missed their 3s. Might have been more of a lag thing, but still so annoying.

Goes with lots of the stats really. Also seen people online nailing perfect 3 pointers with big men like Bill Russell and Ewing. Timing seems to trump shooting/blocking stats for the most part. Dunks and steals are probably the ones that you can't compensate for with timing.

It seems as though you can block with everyone if your timing is good... but the players with a higher blocking stat have a much easier time. You can be way late and still get a block because they jump so high. I had a Robinson go for a block on my shot fake, land, then jump again and still get the block on my real shot. Players with lower stats can't do that.

I run Curry and Frazier, both of which have fairly low block stats. I can get blocks on most jump shots if I time it right, but blocking dunks or alley-oops are way harder without a higher stat.
 
I think everyone quits via the menu on PC. Guess there's no easy way to quit to dashboard like on consoles unless you C-A-D lol so thankfully I've been getting lots of experience from those quits. Admittedly I've quit myself a couple times when the lag made things unplayable. There seems to be no penalty at all for quitting via the menu, yet the other team still gets credit for the win. Probably should patch that.

EDIT: Just when I say that I have some actually rage quit on me lol. Figured something was up when he stopped moving his players. It's amusing when people completely ignore the special meter and only go for 3s and shoves and then quit when that doesn't work.
 
Any tips for the Hail Mary achievement? I was able to score a 3 from behind the half court line without a power up, but the achievement did not pop. Do I have to be way back like in the opponent's paint area?
 

DrDogg

Member
So many people drop when they're losing, I have to assume the top 100 players all quit out. There's just no other way. It's hard enough even moving up a level, let alone getting as many points as they have without leaving any time they're down.

The only person I've run into with high points quit out as soon as he was down by more than 5 points.
 

NateDrake

Member
Sounds like the Switch version will get a resolution boost in an upcoming patch. Hope the Switch patch for online and other performance updates hit Switch soon.
 
Yea, it's not nearly as bad on PC since you get experience most of the time, but I'm still about ready to throw in the towel on online. LOTS of garbage matches with bad netcode. Honestly only reason I'm doing it is it's been a decent source of experience in a post tourney world. Get a new pack every 3 wins or so compared to having to do 10+ exhibitions.
 

hbkdx12

Member
To some degree, I don't mind that stats aren't everything. Otherwise you'd see everyone flocking to the same few overpowered players. I like the idea of making more players viable, but they clearly went too far in some aspects. Some of these players have no business being able to block shots or hit 3s at will.

3s in particular really need to be toned down I think. A player like Curry will hit 100% from half court if you let him. There's way more risk in going for a dunk or layup than shooting a stupid long 3, which isn't right.
That would definitely be an issue with having people gravitate towards specific players however, i'd like that more given that there'd be a sort of meta that would actually play into picking players and going against opposing teams. Like if someone picks two players who are really good at blocking and dunking, maybe you could pick two players are are really fast and good at steals to combat that. That kind of depth and meaningfulness to the stats would be cool


Any tips for the Hail Mary achievement? I was able to score a 3 from behind the half court line without a power up, but the achievement did not pop. Do I have to be way back like in the opponent's paint area?

Are you playing the game through to completion? The trophy didn't pop for me until the game was over
 
Just the two tournaments left for me I'm glad I found a method to win it's cheesey but this whole game is!

The AI is at the point where it just cheats I mean it's like playing someone with mods activated, it's ridiculous.
 
This games garbage.. unnatural shot release mechanism kills it. I been trying to play this but I should not be missing this many layups.

How about we get on these guys' ass to update this and fix it, cause this is broken.

I love 2k, NBA jam, the goat NBA street v2.. this shit is trash.
 

Spy

Member
This games garbage.. unnatural shot release mechanism kills it. I been trying to play this but I should not be missing this many layups.

How about we get on these guys' ass to update this and fix it, cause this is broken.

I love 2k, NBA jam, the goat NBA street v2.. this shit is trash.
Layups basically can't miss if you press the shoot button for half a second. Dunks you must hold the button for 1 second. It's weird but consistent if you follow this.

Layup: Half a second
Dunk: One second
Shot: About two seconds
 

Verder

Member
I'm super disappointed . I loved nba jam with a passion and tried playing this earlier with the siblings on switch and everyone had a difficult time even doing basic layups and free throws . It kills whatever momentum the game had cause it's more misses than it is swishes
 

The Ummah

Banned
Purchased this game earlier, finally had a chance to boot up. I love the sounds and the old school b-ball song playing at the menu!

Pulled an epic Paul George and Danny Ainge in my first three packs. Got a duplicate already with my fourth, but this is my main squad for the meantime. I have a big in my epic Robert Parish (and epic Patrick Ewing) if I need defense/blocks.

Playing two exhibition games, I've discovered that shooting is gonna take getting used to. As with layups. Pretty much, everything that involves timing. I don't have a problem with this as a mechanic, as it adds some depth to an arcade experience. Sure will take some getting used to.

Gonna play some more games before jumping into the tournament mode.

Edit: Just got legend Shaq, and I had no idea his voice was in the game! He's dancing and singing after every dunk lmao
 

DrDogg

Member
While I agree that layups shouldn't be harder to hit than 3s, the people complaining about missing shots and saying the game is bad because of it need to just practice a bit.

Sorry that you're not nailing everything within 10 minutes of picking up the game. This isn't easy mode people...
 
Even when you finally get the timing down for the layups and dunks, it doesn't feel particularly good or satisfying as it should. It's just a really strange mechanic they decided to go with.
 
Layups basically can't miss if you press the shoot button for half a second. Dunks you must hold the button for 1 second. It's weird but consistent if you follow this.

Layup: Half a second
Dunk: One second
Shot: About two seconds

I'm supposed to release the button when they release the shot. Difference between this game and the others.. this game goes through the animations regardless of my release.

But I don't wanna spoil nobody's fun, if you like how it is , fine.. but it's broken.

Why would I release the button on a dunk? Lol
 

Spy

Member
I'm supposed to release the button when they release the shot. Difference between this game and the others.. this game goes through the animations regardless of my release.

But I don't wanna spoil nobody's fun, if you like how it is , fine.. but it's broken.

Why would I release the button on a dunk? Lol
Never said it wasn't broken. I think it's stupid as hell, just helping others who are struggling with it.
 

dimmer

Member
So until this gets a patch or two, I am staying with NBA Jam Remix on PS3. I hate the cheesy AI there but people report that in this game it is even worse.
 

DrDogg

Member
Finally got full patch notes from Friday's patch:

Improvements:
  • Added ‘International English' with metric units as a language option in case none of the supported languages is the user's system language.
  • Adjusted timing for layups and 2-pointers from under the hoop. Layups are now easier to perform, and players with low stats for 2-pointers are slightly better than before.
  • Adjusted the steal action so that it now uses stamina, in an effort to better fit intended gameplay on consoles.
  • Changed the Stars Lottery Pick so that it can only be awarded if a team is at least 6 points behind.
  • Improved the frequency of catching a ball while in mid-air (for alley-oops).
  • Improved the online matchmaking algorithm.
  • Increased the duration of the 3-pointers x2 Lottery Pick power-up.
  • Reduced the duration of the Stars Lottery Pick power-up.

Fixes:
  • Fixed an issue that prevented settings from being saved when leaving the options menu (this includes fixing an issue that prevented audio settings from being saved).
  • Fixed an issue that occasionally caused the Lighting Ball Lottery Pick to not score from longer distances.
  • Fixed the misspelling of a player's name.
  • Fixed several localization related items and enabled Steam's language panel in the game's properties to change the game's language. The languages available are now: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Russian and Brazilian Portuguese.
  • Fixed an issue that occasionaly prevented users from seeing off-screen markers.
  • Fixed UI resizing issues in 1280×720 resolution.
  • Fixed issues related to key bindings in the Options Menu on PC.
  • Fixed an issue that prevented the ‘Q' key from showing the Challenges of each Tournament Round on PC.
  • Fixed several desynch issues in bad network connection scenarios.
  • Fixed a problem where a dunk could score after the match ended.
  • Fixed a problem where certain menus could be skipped on PC without user input.
  • Fixed several problems that made the ball get stuck on the top of the backboard.
  • Fixed a problem that prevented the ball from spinning after scoring.
  • Fixed a problem in which failed dunks could score if the teammate was performing an alley-oop.

https://www.primagames.com/games/nba-playgrounds/news/nba-playgrounds-update-may-12-2017
 
Is there a list of all legend moves somewhere?

The signature moves of legendary players I found so far:

Shaq: dunk
Iverson: crossover
Steph Curry: crossover
Magic Johnson: signature pass
Wilt Chamberlain: some kind of lay up / fingeroll. Sorry I don't know what its called.

 

Schnozberry

Member
Sounds like the Switch version will get a resolution boost in an upcoming patch. Hope the Switch patch for online and other performance updates hit Switch soon.

It very badly needs an optimization pass.

I hope they address some of the gameplay slop and AI rubber banding at the same time.
 
Is there a list of all legend moves somewhere?

The signature moves of legendary players I found so far:

Shaq: dunk
Iverson: crossover
Steph Curry: crossover
Magic Johnson: signature pass
Wilt Chamberlain: some kind of lay up / fingeroll. Sorry I don't know what its called.

Hakeem Olajuwon has his signature hook shot
Dirk has his fadeaway jumper
Bill Russell has a special block
Scottie Pippin has a special dunk (really annoying since it has like a 6 second taunting animation afterwards)

Those are the only ones I've seen so far in addition to above.
 
Yeah the AI is bad but its beatable I'm winning most of my games with one try.

- get a good 3pt shooter
- get a dunker
- inbound the ball and WALK
- IF 12 sec shot is active SPRINT with dunker and pass to SHOOTER and launch a 3 when you enter the other half of the court.
- when shooting a 3 don't run into a shot, just stop dead and shoot.
- when I shoot a 3 I like to cut diagonally to either side of the court and pop the shot the AI doesn't seem to steal but can sometimes block.
- when you want to dunk slowly bring the ball up with a shooter
- look where the dunker is DO NOT get too far from him
- pass the ball just as he enters the D and hold sprint and shoot briefly and release

Defending wise you just gotta stick with the ball handler don't spam steal or block stay on your feet, the AI loves to pass so let them run down the clock. I've had so many occasions where I force them to jack up 3's at half court.

Also, if you don't win the the tip off and score first just restart.

Yeah it's cheesey but it works.
 
That's the final tournament complete won the last two completely unbeaten.

Larry Johnson and Ray Allen are godly together.

Just packed AI and Paul George in the same pack.
 

RS4-

Member
Just played a few games at a friends place, pretty underwhelming.

Did open up some packs though, one had Shaq and Dirk, other had AI and Lebron. But yeah, count me out of this game, just doesn't feel great at all.
 

MrBlonde

Member
Yeah the AI is bad but its beatable I'm winning most of my games with one try.

- get a good 3pt shooter
- get a dunker
- inbound the ball and WALK
- IF 12 sec shot is active SPRINT with dunker and pass to SHOOTER and launch a 3 when you enter the other half of the court.
- when shooting a 3 don't run into a shot, just stop dead and shoot.
- when I shoot a 3 I like to cut diagonally to either side of the court and pop the shot the AI doesn't seem to steal but can sometimes block.
- when you want to dunk slowly bring the ball up with a shooter
- look where the dunker is DO NOT get too far from him
- pass the ball just as he enters the D and hold sprint and shoot briefly and release

Defending wise you just gotta stick with the ball handler don't spam steal or block stay on your feet, the AI loves to pass so let them run down the clock. I've had so many occasions where I force them to jack up 3's at half court.

Also, if you don't win the the tip off and score first just restart.

Yeah it's cheesey but it works.

I could not get passed Chris Paul Blake Griffin and I was about to lose my mind. I finally did last night and beat the next tournament. I use either Ray Allen or Steph Curry (got him in a gold pack after Chris Paul challenge, was pretty happy). Pair one of them with a good big man, I was using Larry Johnson but switched to Patrick Ewing because I blocks better when they go for a dunk. Basically pass to half court, cross over, pop a 3. I hope this strategy works for the rest of the tournaments even though I hate playing this way I just want to finish these and then ill play different and try more players.

Defense is tough, cant spam steal anymore and I was not getting any steals last night and barely blocking shots, AI is so cheap and it should be changed.

Like Ive said this game could be close to perfect with a few changes that I have already listed....Also some of these player stats really should be changed, I cant believe how bad some of the Epics are like John Wall, what were they thinking? Even Lebron is very average and I was pumped when I got him now I don't even use him. There are plenty more that I was shocked when looking at there stats.

That's the final tournament complete won the last two completely unbeaten.

Larry Johnson and Ray Allen are godly together.

Just packed AI and Paul George in the same pack.

Lucky, other then Shaq those are the only two players left that I want....I hope we get Larry Bird, I.T(Celtics) and a few others in an update.
 
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