NBA 2K24 (I hate 2K)

Zero-Cool

Ha V3ttel, one of the things that would make me preorder this is if you posted you were getting it day 1 :D Glad to see we're on the same page.

Very interesting how they skipped a career trailer this year and just gave a few reel snippets about how you're team wants to be the GOAT. They said they're streamlining career to be more basketball orientated but no-one no **** one could ever be a 60 rated prospect and be declared that they will one day be the goat. At 60 rated, you can't make any shots, very slow and can even miss open layups. You wouldn't even get a place on a college team, nevermind an nba team.

Anyway, just a couple more days to find out. UFC 5 game revealing Thursday with rumoured launch date in October which is also making me reconsider the 100 quid on my psn account.

v3ttel

Being real, I'll probably just cave in and get 2K because it's the only basketball game in town. It's either at launch date or sneak it in a Black Friday sale. Hopefully the news over the next few days is good and I'll pick it up.

I've already given up on FIFA/EA FA because of the ludicrous amounts of time (trading) or money you have to spend on loot boxes. At least there is an alternative with Konami.

I had forgotten all about UFC coming out. I'll likely be picking that up.

Zero-Cool

The responses to this are funny and justified :)

https://twitter.com/NBA2K/status/1699074910889373956?t=Q5MNN7u8jH7agBJzZqd-kg&s=19

Jordan 199

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121073442#Comment_121073442

I'm disappointed there is no Penny's or Next.

v3ttel

With the prices clothes are likely going to be in game, my player will be shopping off the clearance rack at Ross

Potential-Monke

Can't see the replies because I don't have twixter. But I can only imagine. Telling to still have no word on what the career actually entails 3 days before release. I see no change to how it's earned/how long it takes to earn. In fact, I'm gonna call it now and say they've made it even harder. I might use the trial/demo of this but 2 hours won't be enough to really get an idea I reckon. I look forward to the feedback of whoever takes the plunge first.

And I'll still be rocking the grey tracksuit/brown tshirt combo if you need to use VC still to buy them. MVP in grey/brown, shows the same amount of care I have towards that side of the game.

Zero-Cool

Does it definitely have a trial? If so, even an hour would be enough to know what the vc situation is like. In 2K22, the quests were atrocious with fashion and music stuff but it actually threw a good bit of vc at you and you could grind a new build to 85 in a few hours. I still think (maybe foolishly) that they'll relax a bit this year and go all in on the battle pass. One thing i really don't like about the pass is that their blog seemed to confirm you can unlock badge boosters (upgrade badges quicker) on the pro season pass which is what everyone will want to do.

Potential-Monke

I thought all new games coming to PS5 had to have a trial? Sony need something to justify that ~€30 increase! I even see one site mention any game over $34 is "supposed" to have a trial (which can be 5-6 hours, such as Death Stranding). But it looks like 2K haven't released a demo since 21. Their reason? They want to concentrate on making "full games"... Uh huh. Again, it speaks volumes. There's a demo of WWE 2K23 and Lego 2K Drive though...

If they were to relax, they'd have been advertising how easy it would be since March. They're staying quiet because nothing has changed, and probably has gotten worse. I have zero faith in them. I actually expect them to continue to make it harder and harder until it all falls down around them, and then they'll blame someone else. Disgusting company. Irrational anger and hatred!

Zero-Cool

Ah lads, 2K are selling 750k VC for 150 dollars (last year, max you could buy in 1 go was 500k) and people already talking about buying it to start their player. Also multiple reddit and twitter threads giving advice how to buy VC from new Zealand store when xbox get to play it early about 1pm Irish time tomorrow. At least we'll see how the build prices look this year and if career looks to give much vc but after seeing that 750k vc, my hopes are dwindling.

Also, zero career news besides a couple of snippets saying your player can be the goat, not at a fecking 60 rating he can't be.

Potential-Monke

I'm beginning to think 2K are even paying Google to keep specific searches away. If one was to Google it, all you'd get it articles for 2k23. It's like no one is talking about it...

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121078376#Comment_121078376

I think it's just because it's a niche market. Basketball fans looking for their hit every year with no competition. If this was a more popular sport or mainstream game, it would be all over the usual sites like Kotaku but the only people who care are basketball fans who are told "just don't buy it".

Zero-Cool

Servers went live this morning with a group of people playing early and streaming. Straight away, someone went into rep rewards and it turns out you only start earning rep when you pick your affiliation and then meet 2 goals, score 100 points for the affiliation and win 10 games. Scoring 100 points in park with a 60 player is gonna be so hard. Then some youtuber just clicks level skip and bought his way to level 40 straight away for 73 dollars. Instant Mascot running around. He then buys 2 mil of vc and puts himself to rating 85 (cost 190k vc), absolutely awful build with no defence. Anyway, he goes into Ante Up for wager matches and gets beat 5 times in a row by a post scorer build and his crew freaking out the game is broken. That other guy probably had high post rating and youtuber had 0 post defence so looked about right to me. but just goes to show how toxic the the 2K community is.

I watched a couple of others but all the same and I felt like I was losing braincells just listening and watching :(

Here are the season 1 rewards if anyone interested. 45k vc can be earned with the premium pass. I'm gonna hold off until I see some proper career videos showing what the vc rewards are like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpY1SWNNXUw

Zero-Cool

And this is why i hate myself with 2K. Everything I've seen today makes me just want to wait for a sale and then like a switch being flipped, I'll think "ah, will just buy the base version and grind career solo until my build is good though for the park" :(

Potential-Monke

Don't feed the machine! And so, with the €120 pass you can earn about €15 worth of VC... Jesus **** this game is pushing it.

Zero-Cool

Some positives, the career actually looks fun this year. You pick your team, get an instant shoe deal and starter for the team. You have a goal to be the all time greats in a goat tiered list so it spans multiple seasons. As seasons are so long, you can choose to just play key games to move it along a bit quicker, all positives imo. But then i saw this, you can play flashback games where you control your grandfather and then father when they played in the NBA against people on the GOAT list that you're trying to surpass, great touch.

https://youtu.be/EIPvS1Roozo?si=U8TFlCMujDh3amIf

Potential-Monke

Any word on VC grind required? 195k to go from 60 to 85. That's a lot...

Zero-Cool

No, very hard to find info on the VC grind but I found that with last couple of years as well, I thought there would be grind advice (do this quests, use this difficulty, etc) but there's more advice given on how to buy vc. It was 190ish to go to 85 last year as well so that seems the same. I did see a funny video where it cost 50k vc to go from a 98 to 99 3 pt shot. People freaking out but I don't mind that cost as it should be a high price to get a 99 stat. Also, it made him jump from an 85 to an 89 so gave the expected boost in player rating. Anyway, the builder looks very strict this year, very hard to have a player good in multiple areas. The amount of no defence builds I've seen is crazy.

Chris Smoove has his first career video up, he talks about the builder as well being very restrictive.

So anyway, I decided to get this last night :D haven't tried it yet though but outside of City and Rec where I'll put in most of my hours, I'll get my value from career mode, My Team, The W and Mamba Moments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UZswUNLYaw

Potential-Monke

I'd assume the grind will remain the same at least so. Let me know how bad it is!

Zero-Cool

Gonna be ages tweaking this build before starting a career, builder is very restrictive which is good as it reduces the demigod builds online but it's really hard to be good in more than one area. Like below, defence is my priority and passing is very important but my offence is taking a hit with low post control. I'll have to try get that up a bit. The no died and acceleration is a deal breaker though, way to slow in the test game, can't make it up the court fast enough to keep up with the offence. Reduced from 7'1 to 7'0 and upped my speed, feels a lot better but yeah, still needs some tweaking.

As for the actual game, plays so nice and smooth, feels like the best gameplay yet, really enjoyed my time in MyTeam so far.

Zero-Cool

Posting this as a reminder where to find the info, you can unlock Shep Owens as a secret AI Street Ball partner in the solo street ball side quest. Apparently you collect AI partners but they start off fairly bad and it's tough to beat daily challenges against nba players. Shep is rated 86 so handy to have from the off. Find 10 tokens around the city to unlock him, steps below.

https://reddit.com/r/NBA2k/s/NZHxRzWmQZ

v3ttel

The builder is super restrictive. My first build is similar to yours.... standing dunk, close shot, strength. Little less defense, little shorter, but it gives me rounded playmaking, speed and a three point shot.

I like to make an all rounder - as much as possible, but you have to sacrifice multiple things this year.

One YouTuber had a build that had shades of Dame. I might make that as a guard. Prefer to run a big in MyPark though. I can't shoot consistently (or at all) with the lag.

Potential-Monke

Saw a video of a lad who just wanted to play the next game in MyCareer but it wouldn't let him until he performed an Ollie Oop on his skateboard... concentrating on the basketball this year!

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121087316#Comment_121087316

That was an exact quest last year and there's no skateboard this year, you watching a vid of 23?

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121087277#Comment_121087277

Tweaked mine, sacrificed post game which i never used anyway except for backdown. Now i have speed, driving, dunking and layup so now a pnr build where i can roll to the basket and attack it. Much faster than my last build. Think this will be the one. Diming Paintbeast like Mutumbo :)

Potential-Monke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121087643#Comment_121087643

Ah, rewatched it and he said he went back to play 23 instead of paying for 24. Good catch. No skateboard is a good start anyway! I'll be waiting for sub inclusion I reckon.

Zero-Cool

Chris Smoove spitting fax as the kids would say. He's not happy with the new badge regression system.

https://youtu.be/W03nlDKArwI?si=6u8p9ex1fs3dGumK

Potential-Monke

How to kill your own game. They're pushing and pushing and because there's no competition and rabid fans who spend tens of thousands every year on it, they're getting away with it. Feel sorry for the lads actually making the game. Prime opportunity for someone else to jump in and make a fun basketball game with fake versions of everyone, like Stephen Vindaloo and Hebron Dames, and just take the absolute mick out of 2K's games.

Zero-Cool

So having spending a couple of days with it, there are ups and downs. Straight off, it makes it very clear you have to buy vc if you want to play park. To join an affiliation, you have score 100 points or 50 assists and win 10 games, extremely hard to do as a 60 when no one will want to play with or pass to you and you are not good enough to make any kind of contested shot and too slow to get free.

So off to the nba with me. I really like the new goat story, minimum cutscenes and they are actually talking about basketball. Playing key games only option is nice and makes them feel important that you're not just trying to win but perform better than the star on the other team who's also on the goat list. There's a new twist system that records highlights in a game for quick access to all of them so far in a game from nice angles, I've been apart of some tasty plays and this shows it off nicely.

It's such a **** drag to play though. I'm playing on superstar but might drop to all star until i get my rating up. I'm 66 rated, center defensive anchor and even with a 65 close shot, i can't make a shot under the basket if there's anyone around me. EVERY miss is seen as a 'bad shot' and it drains my teammate grade. I've had a few times where i pump faked, the defender jumped and then i put up what should be an easy shot but i miss and get hit with the bad shot message. It's NOT a bad shot, it would be bad if I DIDN'T shoot in that situation. Then there's the usual, the ball flying out of my hands, players dancing circles around me, smaller players grabbing boards right beside me, i went 0/8 in FT's my last game, it's just depressing to play but still manage a double double in points and rebounds each game.

I just unlocked the first family flashback where you play as your grandfather in the 80's and get special rewards for beating certain challenges, such a great addition.

I also love the Streetball tourney in the city that's fully solo and you collect players to make a better team, great court atmosphere.

I'm mad to get an into an affiliation to start earning rep and rewards but also because the spin the wheel is locked into you join the affiliation, absolute scum move by 2K

Lastly, badge regression is very controversial this year, use it or lose it (goes back to bronze) but if you find yourself in a game against someone with a style where you don't get to use certain badges, you get punished for it, awful system.

Like above, there's a fantastic game underneath, it's just a pity 2K bosses have no interest in letting the players enjoy it.

Potential-Monke

Shame. Another year I'll skip so.

Doodah7

Frankly, it sounds absolutely awful!!! Why would anyone pay money for this? A good, decent basketball sim is BURIED beneath micro-transactions, artificial capping of abilities, gate-keeping and superfluous fluff that is irrelevant to the game.

Of course they have a monopoly, the NBA itself and the teams don't care as long as they get their royalties and the usual dumb, American games' buyer laps it up year after year.

Of course it is not the only sports game to be a sh1tshow: it is the same with Madden - no innovation for YEARS. MLB The Show has not made the true big jump to current gen consoles and FIFA is the same rehash and FUT-obsessed cash machine it has been for a decade.

Ugh!!!