Current Gen Demo 8/24

[Wolfy03]

Coming 24th of August

[Andrew]

I wonder what it's going to be this year: an old school demo with a couple of teams, a MyPLAYER Builder like last year, or a head start on the story as with the various iterations of The Prelude.

[sticky-fingers]

Is it really a tribute to Kobe ?

BTw from french bball site, it seems that theres no demo for PC.

[Andrew]

From memory, NBA 2K9 is the only PC version that's received a demo. So no surprises there.

Given the preview image and release date of August 24th - 8/24 or 24/8, depending on one's local date format - it probably will involve Kobe. Perhaps a new classic team, if one has been added in tribute.

[sticky-fingers]

they probably affraid modders could turn the demo into a full game

[ilja23mia]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4IZEUy3p6o

if this is real this gone be wild guys!

[Issy]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4IZEUy3p6o

if this is real this gone be wild guys!

Looks really fake,

At 0:21 there is a ESPN scoreboard while it belongs to EA Sports and we have seen that in the Current trailer, the scoreboard was the same.

How people can waste their time doing this.

[Andrew]

People love the attention they get with clickbait.

phpBB [video]

Admittedly the NBA Live 20 stuff didn't age well, but my point still stands. Also, I'm referring to the video's creator here, not ilja23mia. This stuff is very common and can be convincing at times, so never shoot the messenger.

[Wolfy03]

phpBB [video]

[TGsoGood]

Kobe never played in those new Nike jerseys, it looks a little odd seeing legends in those. Not a big deal tho.
Demo seems underwhelming.

EDIT
So I was able to sit down and quickly record my thoughts on the roll out of the Demo

phpBB [video]

[zondac12]

i played the demo on my ps4 pro and to me, i'll wait until next gen comes out to buy the console version.

[Dee4Three]

I will have a demo review/impressions video up on youtube tomorrow.

I have mixed reactions to it, but I think you guys will like the video.

[bluejaybrandon]

Extremely unimpressed with 2k21. This could have easily been a roster update and “start today” with the 2020-21 schedule. They want to cash in on a whole new group of MyPlayer and MyTeam players willing to spend on microtransactions now and later in Next-gen.

A lot of the general public blindly follows 2k into the next years game, but I think this is the first time there is serious backlash. I stand by the statement that if you have the ability to download 2k20 mods, there is next to no reason for you to buy 2k21. Shoes, player likeness updates, etc. are all done better by mods than 2k21.

[[Hyperize]]

I'm surprised that it feels noticeably different... a little more smooth.

Frankly, I'm tired of annual releases this point; it's an outdated cash grab and needs to go away. All this stuff could be updated... I'm fine with next-gen releasing, but we really only need a new game once every two years at this point. I know it's obviously not gonna happen, but still...

A lot of years I don't plan on getting the latest release but something always ends up suckering me in... that has yet to happen.

[Dee4Three]

Here is my NBA 2K21 demo gameplay impressions and review

I go over:

+The Positives/Improvements
-The Negatives/Needs work
+What I expect on PS5
+What I WANT for gamers on PS5
+Includes 2K14 X1 footage highlights of my brother vs I

phpBB [video]

[mp3]

Again like last year iam disappointed that they only have a fixed amount of play now games available to play, I am not a fan of My Career, I have nothing against the mode or the people that play it I've just got bored of it playing it since day one it was brought to 2k so the demo doesn't have a very long shelf life for me sadly.

[Dee4Three]

Again like last year iam disappointed that they only have a fixed amount of play now games available to play, I am not a fan of My Career, I have nothing against the mode or the people that play it I've just got bored of it playing it since day one it was brought to 2k so the demo doesn't have a very long shelf life for me sadly.

I agree with you... not sure why they put a limit on games to begin with, when there is already a limit on teams and content in general.

I like what NBA Live 19 did with the Demo, it had a lot more replay value it seemed, and they added more teams to it and patched it a couple times. 2k could still do that but I doubt they will, considering they are a week from the official release.

I was surprised that they gave us the option of playing true 5 on 5, real game atmosphere gameplay, with 4 team choices, considering in the recent past all we got was 2KU scrimmage gameplay, and a couple myplayer games.

[mp3]

I was talking about the game limit on twitter with my mate and we thought maybe they didn't want people finding bugs after continuous gameplay? Who knows?

Question about the release of 2k21 though, will they just have 2k20 rosters without the 2021 rookies since they won't of been drafted yet?

[Dee4Three]

I was talking about the game limit on twitter with my mate and we thought maybe they didn't want people finding bugs after continuous gameplay? Who knows?

Question about the release of 2k21 though, will they just have 2k20 rosters without the 2021 rookies since they won't of been drafted yet?

I think the rookies will just be added via a patch, like they did with MyTeam for 2K20 (added LaMelo, etc). That is something they can easily do now, so I am sure that's not a concern.

And yeah, the game limit thing could be for a lot of different reasons. They could also want people to not get early burnout on the game, making it so they are still excited for the actual release, and are as ready as they can possibly be to put time into it.

[mp3]

Yeah I guess so too.

One thing is clear tho, once you play the demo going back to 2k20 you see just how bad skating and defense is in the game.

[Andrew]

Dee and I went into further details with our impressions of the demo in Episode #338 of the NLSC Podcast, for those who enjoy audio content. Incidentally, it's also available on YouTube.

I have some mixed feelings after playing the demo. It does feel like there's some more polish with footplanting and movement, but also some moments that feel and look a bit awkward. I don't think the current motion system has panned out the way 2K wanted, and the fact that it's not being ported over to Next Gen is promising (though of course, there's no guarantee that that version will be remarkably better just because it's "built from the ground up"). It has a familiar feel, for better or worse. As I've been able to enjoy NBA 2K19 and NBA 2K20, warts and all, there's nothing in that regard that completely turns me off the game.

The bigger issues for me are the new shooting and dribbling mechanics. I'll start with the shooting. I can appreciate that there's a learning curve with the change, but it also feels unnecessary. I prefer NBA 2K17's approach to stick aiming than what they've gone with in NBA 2K21. I'm more inclined to stick with the button, but there are problems there as well. It feels like too many non-Green releases miss, though some of that may be me needing to get use to the new meter and its release window. Beluba has stated that they're making the meter bigger with the perfect release point clearer, and that's a good move as I believe it would definitely help. So yeah, I'm not a huge fan of the shooting mechanics, but there is a learning curve there and I might be able to get used to it in time.

I don't like some of the subtle changes they've made to dribbling. The moves are fine, I like size-ups and so forth, but I really dislike how they've switched simple crossovers from left and right movements on the stick to up left and up right. It means that simple moves require more precision and less straightforward movement to pull off, which to me is counter-intuitive. Same goes for behind the back dribbles, which used to be straight down on the stick, but are now down left or down right. It strikes me as unnecessary changes to the basic controls; they could've made the other changes to dribbling without doing that as well, and at this point, it's working against our muscle memory for a somewhat artificial learning curve.

Along with the shooting, it smacks of "Well, we need to do something to make Current Gen feel a bit new, so we'll change up the shooting and dribbling controls". Of course, it also strongly hints that this is how things will be on Next Gen, and that's maybe a much bigger concern. I don't know about it being the right direction for shooting and dribbling, but with that being said, I'll give it a chance. Incidentally, when it comes to "more complex movements for basic moves", I've had similar complaints about NBA Live's dribbling over the past generation. Simple moves should require simple movement of the stick, while more advanced moves should require more complex or less staightforward stick movement.

It doesn't look like they've done much work with the pie charts and balancing builds. It's definitely nice not having to worry about the Quick Draw Badge for shooting, but the combination of ratings and Badges and how you get them by min-maxing here and there still feels clunky. I expect there are still going to be OP builds, builds that are good for offline but not online, builds that are going to be good for online but not fun to grind offline, and builds that are complete garbage (and it won't be clear in the test game, because it's more of a curated scenario). Probably no worse than last year, but I'd be surprised if it's remarkably better. All a moot point if server quality and a lack of matchmaking continue to be an issue, too.

Beyond that, it's a shame that the demo is such a limited taste with its five quick games and one-and-done test game with any build that you create. It's not surprising of course, but whenever we're limited in what we can experience, you can't help but wonder what's being hidden. It is worth noting that the demo is an older build though, and things like the size of the shot meter, as well as the ability to Green Release from the backcourt, have been/will be patched in the full version. Like Dee said in his video, NBA 2K21 is shaping up to be a game that you can probably enjoy if you liked NBA 2K21 and are open to the changes they've made, but if they're too off-putting or you were expecting a bit more, it's probably going to be a letdown. As for me, I'll give it a go, but I wouldn't rule out going back to NBA 2K20 and finishing up some business while I wait for Next Gen. Once again though, if those dribbling and shooting mechanics are the same on Next Gen, NBA 2K21 might turn out to be kind of a bust year for me.

[[Hyperize]]

I think imma hold out for next-gen... I actually have no plans on getting next-gen (I mean, Spider-Man looks nice but I didn't even complete the PS4 version); I'll probably just pick up 2K once something actually sells me on a new console. Part of me isn't ready for next-gen though... we're getting old.

[Andrew]

I'm looking at getting the version of the PS5 with the disc drive, so that it can at least replace my PS4 on the shelf without displacing those games. As was the case for me with PS4, I'm not that interested in any launch titles apart from NBA 2K21, so it's a long-term investment that'll probably be used for PS4 games more than anything else in the short term.

[ThePointForward]

Hey at least you should get better loading times and performance (at least no framerate dips) with the PS5 even if you play PS4 games.

[Andrew]

That's true. The only issue would be transferring saves/data over, unless there's going to be a convenient way of handling that.