Overall Improved NBA 2K14 A.I.

[gavincandance]

Hi, new here. Just finished my '13-14 Houston Rockets Association offline.
- 82 Game Season (Play 1/3 to 1/2, Sim the rest)
- 11 Min. Qrtrs
- Player locked on Point Guard all season

Never have I been so happy and willing to play a 44 minute game after 44 minute game. I found an awesome improvement in CPU trading (15+) amongst themselves while playing. Not ridiculous big name-trades, but sensible small to medium trades that were very realistic. In February at the trade deadline, I saw a good 6-7 trades from teams that were doing poorly that just made me smile. Even in-game, when in past NBA 2K's your teammates would idle in a corner if you're handling the ball, in 2K14 I found my teammates not only swimming through off-screens and backdoor cutting, I even noticed them gesturing me to make a play at one corner or pass to an opposite wing.
The best part of this, I think is that our fluidity didn't happen instantly, I had to trial-and-error favorite plays until literally my teammate A.I.'s knew my play tendencies and predicted what I would do next. I don't know what and how much work went into A.I. this year, but it's leaps beyond last year's.

I got all the way to the Finals, but ... Heat 4 - Houston 3
Heartbreaking Game 7 Loss to Miami at their house
Here's some season stats:
- J.Lin (Me) : 16/3/9 and 1.5 steals
- J.Harden : 22/4/7 and All-NBA 3rd / All-Star
- D.Howard : 23/13/3 and All-NBA 1st / All-Star / Defensive PoY
- Record : 63-19
- Miami's Record : 65-17 (inc. 30 game win-streak)
- Coach of the Year : McHale
- Worst Team : Kings
- CPU Trading : About 15+ trades throughout the season

tl;dr : I think this year's Association Mode is the best and most realistic sports mode I have ever played.
I don't mean to show off, just share my teammate A.I. experiences. I've been hearing alot of gripes on def. / passing / etc.
Has anyone else noticed this much realism?

Hope I didn't bore everyone w/ my 1st post. Happy Holidays and cheers!


P.S. Example of improved NBA 2K14 A.I. - I was trying to run a play for Harden on the left wing, but there was also a mismatch down-low on my Center. So, Harden started waving his hands and walking a little out-of-bounds telling me to go to the Right Wing. He basically took himself out of the play so I wouldn't pass to him. So, I went right, found the mismatch, easy score. All thanks to my A.I.-controlled Harden!

[Andrew]

P.S. Example of improved NBA 2K14 A.I. - I was trying to run a play for Harden on the left wing, but there was also a mismatch down-low on my Center. So, Harden started waving his hands and walking a little out-of-bounds telling me to go to the Right Wing. He basically took himself out of the play so I wouldn't pass to him. So, I went right, found the mismatch, easy score. All thanks to my A.I.-controlled Harden!

I actually think that's a flaw in the AI, Harden calling for the ball while also standing out of bounds; that's certainly happened to me a few times.

[r3z0nate]

Sorry, I don't share your enthusiasm. I realize some of the changes were added to make the game more like a "real" NBA game but the random screw ups seem to happen way more on passes I make and players on my team. From last year, I never had fast break turnovers and passes so laughably bad by a player with 99 for passing. I've watched players have position in the post watch passes go to the player guarding him.

I've also gotten sick of Myplayer faster than ever before by the complete stupidity of my teammates. Durant and Westbrook pass the ball back to me when I'm doubled and they have wide open shots, almost waiting until the clock is below 5 to shoot... which brings me to the CPU and the shot clock. Standing around until the clock is about to expire happens almost every other play. I started Association but this might be the last year I bother with the series

[gavincandance]

i actually think that's a flaw in the AI, Harden calling for the ball while also standing out of bounds; that's certainly happened to me a few times.

Mm, I wished I saved the replay. I don't think it was a flaw. I was coming from the top of the key to his left corner where he was, so in essence I'm the one who screwed up by getting to close in the corner with him. That's why I took the sign of him taking himself out of the play and waving me to the right as an improvement. I'll try to screen it if I come across it again.


and @ r3z0nate : I think I know what you're talking about. I experienced that early on when I first started 2K14, but I found that switching to a better camera and pre-leading (lol?) my directional passes with my analog gave me a better handling on my passes. Alot of my fastbreak passes are really wobbly, physics-driven passes not like a processed animation.

I use a custom slider file on All-Star but with severely reduced shot success, defensive awareness, and improved offensive attrib. I have games with huge blowouts but also a mix of OT and 5-7 pt games, but that's also because my team is statistically ranked well around the league.

[Andrew]

I still think that's giving the AI way too much credit. With the amount of times I've had players stepping and standing out of bounds for no good reason at all, my feeling is that your situation was happy coincidence.