NBA Live 2004 Wishlist
Tue Apr 15, 2003 4:45 pm
As promised, here is the NBA Live 2004 Wishlist. It will also be available in the NBA Live 2004 section when it is up and running. Not all wishes that were submitted were included, as I reserved the right to pick and choose which suggestions to include. Some ideas that would not be possible to implement by the release of Live 2004 were also omitted.
I tried to include as many wishes that could be granted in Live 2004 as possible - suggestions for tweaks/improvements to the current engine, issues that need to be addressed, and other wishes related to what we already have.
Keep in mind that even if your idea has not been included in our Wishlist, if you posted it in the forum, there's a possibility that someone from EA has seen it anyway.
Well, here it is:
General
I tried to include as many wishes that could be granted in Live 2004 as possible - suggestions for tweaks/improvements to the current engine, issues that need to be addressed, and other wishes related to what we already have.
Keep in mind that even if your idea has not been included in our Wishlist, if you posted it in the forum, there's a possibility that someone from EA has seen it anyway.
Well, here it is:
General
- Have injuries occur more frequently
- Call more Flagrant Fouls, but do not have injuries rely on them.
- Bring back the ability to save during a game
- Add more statistics/a halftime report to be displayed at halftime.
- Add real NBA-style boxscores to the post-game stats.
- Ability to save replays.
- Make it possible to have more than one cyberface for one player, so that he can have multiple hairstyles.
- Bring back Halftime Shows
- Bring back the old Press Camera angle, that was present up until NBA Live 2002.
- Show players on bench in warmups, injured players in street clothes
- Show more player reactions outside cutscenes.
- Show replays of great defensive players (blocked dunks, etc)
- Bring back the option of 2D portraits for users with slower PCs
- Less "Courtside Comedy" cutscenes (stealing ball from referee, coach getting mad at player signing autograph etc)
- Show referees on the court during gameplay.
- Have realistic stadiums (United Center, Madison Square Garden etc)
- Differ presentation/atmosphere for Playoff/All-Star games.
- Show players walking to the scorers table, ready to check in
- Ability to disable cutscenes completely.
- Add free throw rituals, such as Jason Kidd's kiss.
- Get rid of the arcade sound effects when you dunk or block a shot. When you watch an NBA game, there is no crashing/glass breaking sound when a player dunks, and no explosion noise when a shot is blocked.
- Have the commentators better react to the gameplay
- Record new commentary for Playoff/All-Star games - more lighthearted, acknowledge it's not a normal game
- Add the ability to designate auto-subs.
- Add the ability to save team strategies so that you do not have to adjust them every game
- Allow the player to set team strategies before the game begins. Perhaps add it as an option on the same pre-game screen that allows you to adjust starting lineups, game settings, select jerseys etc.
- Add a Layup rating. Players with lower ratings would not be able to perform double-clutch/switch hands/reverse layups.
- Bring back the Clutch rating
- Fix NBA Legends' ratings so that they are more in tune with the rest of the players.
- Have more intentional fouls in the last minute. In NBA Live 2003, players will rarely foul to stop the clock, so you can just easily dribble out the clock.
- Make coaches have more of an impact on the game ie. teams with better coaches play better in difficult situations. Could also have an effect on simulated performance.
- Slow down the gameplay. In NBA Live 2003, players move a little too quickly
- Lower the field goal percentage. Players and teams hit too many shots.
- Add sliders for more control over the realism
- When the CPU is down, do not allow it to come back by simply shooting three pointers, which always go in.
- Make Freestyle defence more effective. CPU players will still hit difficult shots when defended closely, at a high percentage.
- Make blocks more realistic. Too many short players come up with blocks, and blocks should not always be batted out of bounds, back to the opposite baseline, etc.
- Reduce the amount of steals, in partciular interceptions. Both the human user and CPU both come up with a lot of lucky steals this way.
- Reduce the amount of power dunks. Add more soft dunks, similar to the ones in NBA Live 2001. Also make it more difficult for players to dunk/reduce the amount of dunks entirely. Definitely reduce the amount of windmills and other spectacular dunks, and make them more difficult for a player to pull off, especially in traffic.
- Add Offensive Goaltending
- Realistic scores playing 12 minute quarters
- On harder difficulty, have the CPU win due to intelligent plays, not by cheating (unrealitic FG%, you suddenly cannot hit a shot, etc)
- Allow importing of college players for the offseason draft.
- Add career stats, including career totals showing the teams player has played for, career highs, etc.
- Have injuries occur more frequently
- Improve the simulation engine so that bench players play realistic minutes and average realistic numbers.
- Bring back Player/Rookie of the Week/Month awards in NBA News. Show other stats in NBA news such as winning/losing streaks.
- Give second round draft picks a chance at being good players, and have more steals in the draft. Guys like Nick Van Exel and Cedric Ceballos were/are both good players who were selected in the second round.
- Add the ability to trade for draft picks.
- Make free agency less random, eg. have team's success/player's role/playing time play more of a part in his decision to re-sign.
- Allow players to entertain offers, meaning that if a player refuses to sign, he might change his mind.
- Make contract size independant from contract length.
- When a highly rated player leaves his team for free agency and no other teams can offer him a large salary, have him re-sign with his current team.
- Have rookies develop in weight (or even height if they are drafted out of high school). It would be extremely cool to draft a 6'9" 205 pound high school kid and have him be 6'10" 215 the next year.
- Ability to select the length of a Franchise up to 25 years, or play an unlimited amount of years.
- Ability to un-retire players within the first year of their retirement. Might be a way to correct an early/unexpected retirement, having the option to coax a player into playing one more year.
- Better jersey number assignment after drafting a player or making a transaction. Maybe a dialog box that allows you to specify new numbers, or have the CPU assign one. Prevent duplicate numbers from occuring on CPU teams.
- Bring back the multi-team trade option. However, you should be able to specify players going from CPU teams to CPU teams - each team would have to agree to the trade of course.
- Bring back the Cancel/Confirm Trade dialog box. It allows the user to see if a trade would be accepted, so they can make a few trade scenarios before eventually deciding to complete a trade.
- Similarly, bring back the "(Team) feels this would make them too weak at (position)" dialog box. This allowed you to alter the deal so that the CPU would be more willing to accept the deal. Much better than simply "(Team) is not interested in your offer". Though CPU teams shouldn't always be interested in offers.
- Add a Trading Block feature, so both user controlled and CPU teams could shop players/designate players who are available.
- Make teams "aware" of a player's value. Make it more difficult to acquire superstar players/key players.
- Add an injury bar that determines whether a player can play or not. The bar would decrease as the result of minor and major injuries, as well as a lot of minutes played.
- Abililty to hire/fire coaches
- Add the ability to sign free agents more than once in the offseason. The Trade Players, Re-Sign Free Agents and Sign Free Agents should remain available until you start the next season.
- Add a Hall of Fame and NBA records
- Allow more editing of player accessories. You should be able to give any player (created or pre-existing) any accessory from shoes to headbands.
- Bring back the Custom Team feature, with the following changes:
- Ability to designate custom team as a regular NBA team, All-Star team, or special team. Special team would basically be the old format of custom teams, while the other classifications speak for themselves. Of course, since it's a created team, it would be deleted when the rosters are reset, no matter what the classification.
- Ability to specify uniforms worn - custom made ones (selecting colours, etc), individual NBA team jerseys (so you could create All-Star/All-Rookie/All-Sophomore teams), or perhaps some generic ones.
- More generic custom team art. Simple "NBA" logos, a basketball going through a hoop, etc. Do not make the team logo automatically show up on the jerseys. This way, you could make a custom East All-Stars team from the 80s that would use the East All-Stars logo, but would have a red or white jersey with the 80s style NBA All-Star logo on it. Basically, just a little more customisation.
- Allow trading for an empty roster slot
- Bring back the old "Restore Rosters" feature, where all transactions and created players are wiped. Make it possible to reload the default rosters.
- Ability to edit the default All-Star teams (which would save patchmakers a lot of work
). Also have the ability to "Select New All-Stars" when playing an exhibition game with the All-Star teams. These changes, unlike editing the default teams, would only be temporary. - Bring back the ability to disable automatic roster re-ordering.
- Find some way to make it possible to implement changes from a roster update into a season that's already started (hey, it doesn't hurt to ask )
- A better generated schedule when selecting more or less than 29 teams in Season/Franchise mode. Have the option of selecting an 82 game season no matter how many teams, as this would be useful for old season roster patches. Also, allow saving of custom season formats, which could be distributed with old season roster patches.
- Allow the editing of a player's contract length and size in the Edit Player screen.
- Make weight independent of body type
- Allow editing/create-a-coach.
- Add a better practice mode, eg. ability to practice free throws, 5 on 5 pickup games, etc.
- Add more Legends to the Legends Pool and Decade All-Star Teams.
- Allow players to choose whether a player's first or last name goes on his jersey. This way Yao Ming could be listed properly and still have "Yao" on his jersey.
- Add Dunk Contest, Three Point Shootout, and Rookie/Sophomore Game
- Retain ability to choose jerseys, but automatically designate alternate jerseys on Sunday games.
Last edited by Andrew on Wed Apr 06, 2005 9:30 am, edited 2 times in total.
Tue Apr 15, 2003 10:32 pm
This is a very good list, but it is still missing one thing that I would have liked to see on it.
Tweaking of the rookie ratings. So that there are no more guards with speeds and quiknesses under 75 or rather 80. A little man is always faster and quicker then a big man. It has always bugged me that at the year 2010 you can a allstar caliber player with speed of 60 and quickness of 50. It just is not realistic. In order to become a all-star, you need overall athleticism (like t-mac, kobe, mail man, shaq, david robinson etc.) which lays the foundation of a solid baller. All the games biggest players are fast and furious and play off of their athleticism.
Otherwise a very good list indeed. The second round surprises was a very good point indeed. I never draft a second round pick (in live 2003) unless I have lots of roster space and my pick is in the top 3.
The rookie stat fixing is kind of implemented in the surprise section though. But it should have been mentioned anyway.
Tweaking of the rookie ratings. So that there are no more guards with speeds and quiknesses under 75 or rather 80. A little man is always faster and quicker then a big man. It has always bugged me that at the year 2010 you can a allstar caliber player with speed of 60 and quickness of 50. It just is not realistic. In order to become a all-star, you need overall athleticism (like t-mac, kobe, mail man, shaq, david robinson etc.) which lays the foundation of a solid baller. All the games biggest players are fast and furious and play off of their athleticism.
Otherwise a very good list indeed. The second round surprises was a very good point indeed. I never draft a second round pick (in live 2003) unless I have lots of roster space and my pick is in the top 3.
The rookie stat fixing is kind of implemented in the surprise section though. But it should have been mentioned anyway.
Tue Apr 15, 2003 10:43 pm
That's the problem with compiling the Wishlist, there's always a few very good points that are brought up/remembered just after it's been submitted.
Wed Apr 16, 2003 4:50 am
Add free throw rituals, such as Jason Kidd's kiss
I was thinking that too. It would be good for some of the legends, like Rick Barry's underhanded free throw.
Wed Apr 16, 2003 5:28 am
The wishlist is well presented and covers all of the important issues so thanks for doing it Andrew 
I hope they do fix the unexpected Retirement thing, in a knicks season i was doing Allan Houston retired at the age of 32
Also good point about the numbers given to rookies, iam currently in a game now with the raptors and they have 2 rookies one with 76 and the other 98. It would be cool if they did have the coach's fired if the team is losing, its not realistic having the same coach for 10 years.
one last thing, bit late now but in franchise mode for the cpu not to completely change there roster in one season.
anyway thanks again to Andrew and everyone who contributed to the wishlist
I hope they do fix the unexpected Retirement thing, in a knicks season i was doing Allan Houston retired at the age of 32
Also good point about the numbers given to rookies, iam currently in a game now with the raptors and they have 2 rookies one with 76 and the other 98. It would be cool if they did have the coach's fired if the team is losing, its not realistic having the same coach for 10 years.
one last thing, bit late now but in franchise mode for the cpu not to completely change there roster in one season.
anyway thanks again to Andrew and everyone who contributed to the wishlist
Wed Apr 16, 2003 8:39 am
A good comprehensive list...unfortunately...and I hate to sound ungrateful...but I have an issue with the way it was presented.
The wishes aren't placed in order of importance. The consensus most important wish...the trading of draft picks...is buried deep in the middle of the document under the franchise section where someone skimming it most likely won't even see it.
Without any type of organization by importance...the document is going to be nearly useless to anyone who doesn't take the time to sit down, pore over every suggestion and weigh the merits of each. I don't expect anyone from EA to do that.
EA knows that they won't be able to add a fraction of the things listed here...so we need to let them know what few things we REALLY want so that they can include those first (and feel pressured to do so.)
This would be something to keep in mind for future wishlists. If this requires more manpower to organize the ideas...I'd be glad to help.
Hopefully that doesn't sound too unappreciative...thanks for the effort and the access to EA Andrew.
The wishes aren't placed in order of importance. The consensus most important wish...the trading of draft picks...is buried deep in the middle of the document under the franchise section where someone skimming it most likely won't even see it.
Without any type of organization by importance...the document is going to be nearly useless to anyone who doesn't take the time to sit down, pore over every suggestion and weigh the merits of each. I don't expect anyone from EA to do that.
EA knows that they won't be able to add a fraction of the things listed here...so we need to let them know what few things we REALLY want so that they can include those first (and feel pressured to do so.)
This would be something to keep in mind for future wishlists. If this requires more manpower to organize the ideas...I'd be glad to help.
Hopefully that doesn't sound too unappreciative...thanks for the effort and the access to EA Andrew.
Wed Apr 16, 2003 9:04 am
You must be a slow reader, it took me less then 10 minutes to read the entire thing, and this is time that developers get paid for. They have brainstorming sessions where they think up new ideas like this that last hours.EGarrett wrote:Without any type of organization by importance...the document is going to be nearly useless to anyone who doesn't take the time to sit down, pore over every suggestion and weigh the merits of each. I don't expect anyone from EA to do that.
I just thought of this idea, snooze you los I guess. I hate seeing the players ratings get so high, having a bunch of backup players that are 91 overall, when really 84 should be the best backup you've got. NO ONE SHOULD BE RATED HIGHER THAN 96-97
Wed Apr 16, 2003 1:03 pm
Point taken EG, in the past there has been a "Most Common Wishes" or "Top 10 Wishes" section. I probably should have done that, placing the most wanted wishes at the top. I don't know about trading draft picks being the consensus top wish though - that would probably be slowing down the gameplay/reducing FG%. But trading draft picks and other improvements to Franchise Mode are definitely among the most wanted wishes.
But trading draft picks and other improvements to Franchise Mode are definitely among the most wanted wishes.
Wed Apr 16, 2003 9:29 pm
You must be a slow reader, it took me less then 10 minutes to read the entire thing, and this is time that developers get paid for.
And how many of the 80+ suggestions from the list do you remember off the top of your head without rereading it? How many do you expect a developer to remember?
The longer a list is...the less emphasis is placed on each individual point. That means that the things we want most of all are less likely to be seen if we bury them in a list with 82 other things that the developers have no chance of implementing. Make sense?
Reading speed has nothing to do with it...it's reading comprehension. Regardless...I read and write extremely fast.
They have brainstorming sessions where they think up new ideas like this that last hours.
And from all those sessions...how many new features were implemented between Live 2002 and Live 2003? Two or three. Think about that.
Wed Apr 16, 2003 11:35 pm
Trading draft picks in the NBA... Is todays topic...
First of all they are traded pretty much the same way that money is... It is a one time bonus that does not add to the current roster value for a team. Draft picks are usually traded in addition to a trade involving real players. Or trading several draft picks from the duration of several years for a single player etc. The problem in the real life is the cap space. Because the other team always ends up getting more filling to his cap.
The thing in Live 2003 which pretty much ruined the entire free agent game was the salary.ini file... The players asked for way too high salaries and thus all the teams were easily over the cap. Now if you factor a trade that heavily lies on the salary cap... Well you just can't make a deal... Because the other team will be over the cap space... You see at what am I getting???
And forget about trading draft picks from several years during a season... That just is not possible or concievable at the moment.
The draft pic would be best used a deal sweetener... If you want to trade your overall 90 veteran for a overall 86 youngster or for a yougnster and a first round draft pick. Or here's a realistic trade for you: You trade you veteran and your first round pick for a rookie and a good second team man. To get the salaries to match even close...
And I'm saying that EA needs to fix the salary.ini file before even dreaming of putting draft picks on the trading block...
But there's still things I've been brain storming about... You see the rookie stats as soon as they are drafted. Well they should be based on what they are expected to know by stats from college or high school or international arenas. Then the real stats would be uncovered at start of the season. And there should be atleast two sign free-agent phases in the off-season, so you could check out your draft and then release them to sign the boys from the old team if it would appear prudent. Or just make the team roster larger for the offseason period, so you could actually have like 20 players on your roster in the off-season and the cutting it to 15 when entering season. And there should be an easy way to take guys that you've realeased back to your team, maybe via the realease a player screen, or the manager statement screen where you see the players you have waived...
But that's just too late... Hope atleast some you enjoyed reading this...
First of all they are traded pretty much the same way that money is... It is a one time bonus that does not add to the current roster value for a team. Draft picks are usually traded in addition to a trade involving real players. Or trading several draft picks from the duration of several years for a single player etc. The problem in the real life is the cap space. Because the other team always ends up getting more filling to his cap.
The thing in Live 2003 which pretty much ruined the entire free agent game was the salary.ini file... The players asked for way too high salaries and thus all the teams were easily over the cap. Now if you factor a trade that heavily lies on the salary cap... Well you just can't make a deal... Because the other team will be over the cap space... You see at what am I getting???
And forget about trading draft picks from several years during a season... That just is not possible or concievable at the moment.
The draft pic would be best used a deal sweetener... If you want to trade your overall 90 veteran for a overall 86 youngster or for a yougnster and a first round draft pick. Or here's a realistic trade for you: You trade you veteran and your first round pick for a rookie and a good second team man. To get the salaries to match even close...
And I'm saying that EA needs to fix the salary.ini file before even dreaming of putting draft picks on the trading block...
But there's still things I've been brain storming about... You see the rookie stats as soon as they are drafted. Well they should be based on what they are expected to know by stats from college or high school or international arenas. Then the real stats would be uncovered at start of the season. And there should be atleast two sign free-agent phases in the off-season, so you could check out your draft and then release them to sign the boys from the old team if it would appear prudent. Or just make the team roster larger for the offseason period, so you could actually have like 20 players on your roster in the off-season and the cutting it to 15 when entering season. And there should be an easy way to take guys that you've realeased back to your team, maybe via the realease a player screen, or the manager statement screen where you see the players you have waived...
But that's just too late... Hope atleast some you enjoyed reading this...
Sat Apr 19, 2003 5:18 am
the only 2nd round draft pick that was useful in any nba live series for me was Varejao Anderson in the 2001 draft patch with next year's rookies. (His growth from a 68 overall to a 85 was mostly the argentinian patch developer's own will) it was fun to see him rise up
Sat Apr 19, 2003 10:31 am
Abililty to hire/fire coaches
thats a good one i would like to see that introduced into the game, they need to get the coaches and staff into the game, i also like the idea of havin injured players sit it out on the bench in normal street clothes, another idea would be to have like camrea man behind the baskets, pretending to take pics forthe media that would be good!!![/quote]
Sat Apr 19, 2003 4:28 pm
Found this amusing
nbalive.com wrote:Brand-new Commentary: Over 5,000 new lines keep the commentary fresh throughout the entire LIVE season.
what nbalive.com should of wrote:Brand-new Commentary: Over 5,000 new lines keep the commentary fresh for about 19 days.
Sun May 04, 2003 3:54 am
The only thing missing unless i missed id was to actually have injuries while playingthe game instead of just whenu simulate, good wishlist, not to long and important things mostly.
Sun May 04, 2003 3:02 pm
That's what I meant with the "injuries occuring more frequently" item, but I agree, I could have expanded on that a little. Still, it's been frequently mentioned and some members of the team do read the board, so hopefully it'll be there regardless. 
Sat May 17, 2003 6:41 pm
Man andrew..great job on that wishlist. Looks like EA listened to more than a few of them..which is a big change. I can't think of one thing that is missing from that list.
I'm willing to bet that full all-star weekend will be in live 2005...mark my words. Well considering how EA are improving this game... they worked on innovations for live 2003(freestyle)....gameplay for live 2004(sliders and dynasty)....extras for live 2005(dunk competition e.t.c). If i'm right, EA will reign again with the most accurate basketball video game.
I'm willing to bet that full all-star weekend will be in live 2005...mark my words. Well considering how EA are improving this game... they worked on innovations for live 2003(freestyle)....gameplay for live 2004(sliders and dynasty)....extras for live 2005(dunk competition e.t.c). If i'm right, EA will reign again with the most accurate basketball video game.
coaches
Wed Jun 11, 2003 7:29 pm
Abililty to hire/fire coaches
to elaborate the idea: in LIVE series human player is a coach, a GM, etc. So in a dynasty mode this same human player (yes, YOU) should be weighted by his/her team's last season's performance. Because every team has a pre-season goal: get to the playoffs, defend the title, etc. If you, as a GM and coach, manage to meet that goal - you stay with team, or even get some candies. If you fail - you're fired! When this happens, several other teams approach you with an offer to take the GM/coach position - and you choose one. If your team performed really bad - you get to coach the worst team of the previous season. With one bad season you can lose all your dynasty's creations and try it with another team within the same franchise. That would be a good challenge and would give some purpose.
The goal for a team should be set by AI basing on team's rating and stuff.
Justush
Thu Jun 12, 2003 4:20 pm
That's a new one - the possibility of the player being fired if they can't effectively run the team. Still, sports sims aren't really suited to the "Game Over" scenario, so if this was implemented, perhaps it would be best left as an option that can be toggled. In a sports game, it's important that a user can setup the game to be as complex or basic as desired.
Mon Jun 16, 2003 7:33 am
Lots of good suggestions, but I doubt EA will even listen. I've been playing NBA Live since the very first Lakers vs Celtics on the Genesis over 10 years ago. I've been coming to NLSC for the past 5+ years and I see the same things asked for every year that don't get addressed.
I remember in 1996 or so, the option to auto-sub was always on. We kept pleading with EA every year in a wish list to save our profiles so that auto-sub and our other settings would be saved and loaded automatically depending on what profile we picked. Year after year, this didn't get fixed, auto sub stayed on. What do they do for NBA Live 2003? Instead of saving our defensive strategies, auto sub, and other options to a profile, all they do is just make auto sub off by default. It took years just to get that, and that's not even a real solution. It's just a workaround.
Same goes for the asking for more injuries/having injuries not occur just on a flagrant push foul. How many years have you guys asked for this already? I'd like to see better fouls implemented like pulling someone's jersey or wrapping them up while they are going up for a layup instead of trying to push them which doesn't even work everytime.
As for commentary, I'm ready to accept that's forever going to be bad and inaccurate and I'd much rather they spend more time tweaking the gameplay then the announcing.
I don't know how many years that's been in NBA Live. The computer AI is horrible and if they are losing all they do is jack up 3s. They don't even play intelligent D. They will have a wide open shot under the basket and they will make a beeline right out to the 3 point line to do a fadeaway turn around 3 over 2-3 people and it goes in??? How about swinging the ball to the open man at least?? In this year's version I notice they don't even have to be losing and they don't run any real offenses. When you play the Lakers, their offense should run through Shaq and Kobe and those 2 players should get 20-30 shots a game each. HOWEVER, Derek Fisher constantly brings the ball up the court and just immediately launches a 3, even if he's being double teamed. And if you are playing Superstar, the 3s go in almost every time no matter what unless you block the shot. And since the computer is so stupid, he shoots shots that are easily going to be blocked so you end up with 20 blocks a game (and on superstar, those 20 blocks are probably all of the misses the computer had).
I'd like to see on Superstar level a smarter computer opponent, rather then 1 who just makes almost every impossible shot there is. Things like passing out of the double team, finding the open man, and swinging the ball around or running pick and rolls and give and gos.
Speaking of cheap AI, on Superstar, when I miss a shot, I'll notice the computer purposely send their guys on a fast break but that my computer teammates won't even care and will let them run by and get easy dunks. But when it's my turn to fast break, a lot of times my guys will stop and come back to the perimeter instead of going in for a layup.
Also, I think everyone will agree how ridiculous the blocks are. Not only do they occur far too often, but 90% of them are all monster rejections that fly all the way across the court. Tmac can pretty much shoot over anyone in the league but when AI was guarding me, I got blocked everytime they both jumped at the same time. AI is at around 8 inches shorter and is not exactly known for his blocking ability.
In real life, players like Tim Duncan, Kobe, Mcgrady can hit shots with people in their face trying to block them even if both people jump at the same time. In NBA Live 2003, even with 5 feet of separation between 2 people, you can still get blocked. In the next version, they should have partial blocks, swats, and least often, monster swats.
One thing I didn't see in the wish list is modifying of the Fantasy draft option in the game. I don't know if anyone here plays Yahoo Fantasy NBA but, say there are 10 teams drafting. The team who picks last in the first round will pick first in the second round and then this order keeps changing each round until the draft is finished. In the current game, the team that picks 10th in each round will pick 10th for all 12 rounds and that makes the 10th team have a big disadvantage.
Also I'd like to see the ability to throw bounce passes, or if that's too difficult, at least make the computer determine when a bounce past or lob pass is most effective. All my teammates constantly do is try to throw chest passes that get intercepted when it would be smarter to throw bounce passes. Also, the computer's defenders being able to intercept passes with their backs turned to me is very stupid and unrealistic. How many times have you been double teamed and you try to swing it to the open guy on the other side of the court and a guy in the middle not even facing you sticks his arm up in the air and the ball sticks to him like glue and he steals it?
It's kind of hard to describe this next point I'd like to make. When you are posting up someone on superstar and your back is to the basket and them, they can reach in and poke the ball away. But instead of the ball flying away from you like it should, it flies through your body and backwards towards the guy defending you???
I wish they would also implement little floating shots like the ones Gary Payton and Tony Parker do all the time so little guys can drive the lane and not get blocked. They have a running layup now but that's not the same.
I probably have so many more things I'd like to say but I know I've made this post very long already and apologize for that.
I remember in 1996 or so, the option to auto-sub was always on. We kept pleading with EA every year in a wish list to save our profiles so that auto-sub and our other settings would be saved and loaded automatically depending on what profile we picked. Year after year, this didn't get fixed, auto sub stayed on. What do they do for NBA Live 2003? Instead of saving our defensive strategies, auto sub, and other options to a profile, all they do is just make auto sub off by default. It took years just to get that, and that's not even a real solution. It's just a workaround.
Same goes for the asking for more injuries/having injuries not occur just on a flagrant push foul. How many years have you guys asked for this already? I'd like to see better fouls implemented like pulling someone's jersey or wrapping them up while they are going up for a layup instead of trying to push them which doesn't even work everytime.
As for commentary, I'm ready to accept that's forever going to be bad and inaccurate and I'd much rather they spend more time tweaking the gameplay then the announcing.
On harder difficulty, have the CPU win due to intelligent plays, not by cheating (unrealitic FG%, you suddenly cannot hit a shot, etc)
I don't know how many years that's been in NBA Live. The computer AI is horrible and if they are losing all they do is jack up 3s. They don't even play intelligent D. They will have a wide open shot under the basket and they will make a beeline right out to the 3 point line to do a fadeaway turn around 3 over 2-3 people and it goes in??? How about swinging the ball to the open man at least?? In this year's version I notice they don't even have to be losing and they don't run any real offenses. When you play the Lakers, their offense should run through Shaq and Kobe and those 2 players should get 20-30 shots a game each. HOWEVER, Derek Fisher constantly brings the ball up the court and just immediately launches a 3, even if he's being double teamed. And if you are playing Superstar, the 3s go in almost every time no matter what unless you block the shot. And since the computer is so stupid, he shoots shots that are easily going to be blocked so you end up with 20 blocks a game (and on superstar, those 20 blocks are probably all of the misses the computer had).
I'd like to see on Superstar level a smarter computer opponent, rather then 1 who just makes almost every impossible shot there is. Things like passing out of the double team, finding the open man, and swinging the ball around or running pick and rolls and give and gos.
Speaking of cheap AI, on Superstar, when I miss a shot, I'll notice the computer purposely send their guys on a fast break but that my computer teammates won't even care and will let them run by and get easy dunks. But when it's my turn to fast break, a lot of times my guys will stop and come back to the perimeter instead of going in for a layup.
Also, I think everyone will agree how ridiculous the blocks are. Not only do they occur far too often, but 90% of them are all monster rejections that fly all the way across the court. Tmac can pretty much shoot over anyone in the league but when AI was guarding me, I got blocked everytime they both jumped at the same time. AI is at around 8 inches shorter and is not exactly known for his blocking ability.
In real life, players like Tim Duncan, Kobe, Mcgrady can hit shots with people in their face trying to block them even if both people jump at the same time. In NBA Live 2003, even with 5 feet of separation between 2 people, you can still get blocked. In the next version, they should have partial blocks, swats, and least often, monster swats.
One thing I didn't see in the wish list is modifying of the Fantasy draft option in the game. I don't know if anyone here plays Yahoo Fantasy NBA but, say there are 10 teams drafting. The team who picks last in the first round will pick first in the second round and then this order keeps changing each round until the draft is finished. In the current game, the team that picks 10th in each round will pick 10th for all 12 rounds and that makes the 10th team have a big disadvantage.
Also I'd like to see the ability to throw bounce passes, or if that's too difficult, at least make the computer determine when a bounce past or lob pass is most effective. All my teammates constantly do is try to throw chest passes that get intercepted when it would be smarter to throw bounce passes. Also, the computer's defenders being able to intercept passes with their backs turned to me is very stupid and unrealistic. How many times have you been double teamed and you try to swing it to the open guy on the other side of the court and a guy in the middle not even facing you sticks his arm up in the air and the ball sticks to him like glue and he steals it?
It's kind of hard to describe this next point I'd like to make. When you are posting up someone on superstar and your back is to the basket and them, they can reach in and poke the ball away. But instead of the ball flying away from you like it should, it flies through your body and backwards towards the guy defending you???
I wish they would also implement little floating shots like the ones Gary Payton and Tony Parker do all the time so little guys can drive the lane and not get blocked. They have a running layup now but that's not the same.
I probably have so many more things I'd like to say but I know I've made this post very long already and apologize for that.
Mon Jun 16, 2003 11:10 am
There's no need to apologise for a long post. It's always good to see people taking an interest in forum topics.
As I've said before, pessimism is understandable, but we have had some wishes come true. Consider Franchise/Dynasty Mode, a regular item in the early Wishlists (as multi-season mode). Also consider all the little things - restrictions on in-season trades, a rookie draft, free agency. Then you've got things such as the ability to have less than 12 active players. There's actually been more additions that have featured in the Wishlists than it appears.
We're still waiting on things like dunk contests, but if the previews are anything to go by, NBA Live 2004 is going to be much more realistic, which is basically the biggest wish this year. I admit, I'm biased in that I run the NLSC, but I remain optimistic about Live 2004, based on what I've read thus far.
Lots of good suggestions, but I doubt EA will even listen. I've been playing NBA Live since the very first Lakers vs Celtics on the Genesis over 10 years ago. I've been coming to NLSC for the past 5+ years and I see the same things asked for every year that don't get addressed.
As I've said before, pessimism is understandable, but we have had some wishes come true. Consider Franchise/Dynasty Mode, a regular item in the early Wishlists (as multi-season mode). Also consider all the little things - restrictions on in-season trades, a rookie draft, free agency. Then you've got things such as the ability to have less than 12 active players. There's actually been more additions that have featured in the Wishlists than it appears.
We're still waiting on things like dunk contests, but if the previews are anything to go by, NBA Live 2004 is going to be much more realistic, which is basically the biggest wish this year. I admit, I'm biased in that I run the NLSC, but I remain optimistic about Live 2004, based on what I've read thus far.
Mon Jun 16, 2003 4:34 pm
quote]
As I've said before, pessimism is understandable, but we have had some wishes come true. Consider Franchise/Dynasty Mode, a regular item in the early Wishlists (as multi-season mode). Also consider all the little things - restrictions on in-season trades, a rookie draft, free agency. Then you've got things such as the ability to have less than 12 active players. There's actually been more additions that have featured in the Wishlists than it appears.
We're still waiting on things like dunk contests, but if the previews are anything to go by, NBA Live 2004 is going to be much more realistic, which is basically the biggest wish this year. I admit, I'm biased in that I run the NLSC, but I remain optimistic about Live 2004, based on what I've read thus far.[/quote]
I admit a dunk contest would be fun but I'd much rather they implement things like better AI. The computer constantly running straight for the 3 point line and shooting 3s even when double and triple teamed has to be stopped. I think they use the same AI each year. A smart computer opponent who is challenging but doesn't cheat would be ideal.
As I've said before, pessimism is understandable, but we have had some wishes come true. Consider Franchise/Dynasty Mode, a regular item in the early Wishlists (as multi-season mode). Also consider all the little things - restrictions on in-season trades, a rookie draft, free agency. Then you've got things such as the ability to have less than 12 active players. There's actually been more additions that have featured in the Wishlists than it appears.
We're still waiting on things like dunk contests, but if the previews are anything to go by, NBA Live 2004 is going to be much more realistic, which is basically the biggest wish this year. I admit, I'm biased in that I run the NLSC, but I remain optimistic about Live 2004, based on what I've read thus far.[/quote]
I admit a dunk contest would be fun but I'd much rather they implement things like better AI. The computer constantly running straight for the 3 point line and shooting 3s even when double and triple teamed has to be stopped. I think they use the same AI each year. A smart computer opponent who is challenging but doesn't cheat would be ideal.
Tue Jun 17, 2003 10:09 am
I'd take improved AI over a dunk contest too. I just used it as an example of something that's often asked for.
Tue Jul 15, 2003 3:15 pm
Id Love to see ejections and fight modes like in nhl video games where theys have the players stop the game and the person that hit the other drop sticks and fight.
Wed Jul 16, 2003 6:23 pm
Fights aren't as frequent in basketball though - no need to put them in. I doubt the NBA would ever allow it.
Thu Jul 17, 2003 10:50 am
They should, add a push button (like in previous live) and implement the NBa LIve 96 style of game for Arcade play (When slamming into a person sent them flying)