My NBA Live 2004 wishlist - by Kq

[Santiago Roza (Kq)]

Well, this is my wishlist for Live 2004. As always, I've tried to keep it real, with suggestions I think are important (no 3D modeled celebrities in the crowd or cheerleaders, no dunk contest, only useful stuff).



GENERAL

- Bring back some simple front-end options that were in Live 2001 and were removed with no reason (like "restart - select other teams" inside a game, or "restart - select other players" in a 1-on-1, or sorting any stats column just by double clicking on it).

- The idea of the "skill markers" (3pt, defensive lock, dunk, etc.) is OK, but it needs much more depth: some important skills are not marked, and THEY SHOULD. The ones that MUST be there are: "great scorer" (how come a player who doesn't have the "3" but has a FG rating of 95 has no marker?) and "great passer" (I really could use knowing which one of my players has that skill, especially when the computer is intercepting passes all over the place!). Some other ones that could be useful are "quick player" and "inside scorer" (for big men who don't have a great FG rating but can score in the paint).

- Things that are ALMOST PERFECT and shouldn't suffer major changes: the post game, the freestyle moves, the graphics and animation, the "patchability" of the game... well, I guess you know what you did good.



GRAPHICS

- The idea of having the eyes separate from the face and having different eye colors is OK, but you should fix that weird zombie look they have in the frontend (which curiously doesn't happen inside a game).

- Some additions could be welcome, although I personally don't care much about them (3D crowd, 3D cheerleaders, whatever...), but make sure you don't push the hardware requirements too far just for these things... and if you do, there should always be lower detail settings that allowed decent gameplay while resigning some of those extras. And remember to OPTIMIZE THE CODE this time please...

GAMEPLAY / CONTROL

- The general gameplay needs some improvement (realistic -slower- pace, real blocks -not all swats-, fix the offensive rebounds, etc.), but is mostly OK.

- We need more freestyle capabilities with the keyboard (if you add just one jab button separate from the spin one, we could perform freestyle stuff not only from the triple threat position... some of us DON'T LIKE GAMEPADS!). You should also bring back from Live 2001 the possibility to control two players with the keyboard (why did you take that out?).

- An interesting innovation in the gameplay would be having "cancellable dunks" like the ones some game (NBA Hangtime?) had: if you push the button you go for the dunk while you keep it pressed, but if you release it the player will throw the ball and try the layup. This could really come in handy and add a realistic option, cause in real life a player can always choose to release the ball when he's in the air (if all the latest Lives have given us the chance to pass the ball while we're in the air, why shouldn't they give us the chance to shoot it?).

EDITING / PATCHING

- Bring back the custom team creation features: Just like in Live 2000, when it was possible to create them INSIDE the game (with their custom uniform based on the team colors, without the need for external art, so we can make DBF-based custom leagues with no art downloads). This isn't really hard to implement, and would really improve the creation of non-NBA patches (NCAA, Euroleague, National Teams, etc.) which mean free money for EA (by expanding markets).

- About player creation: you HAVE to add many more hairstyles (at least 20-25 of them, EACH ONE in five colors: black, light brown, brown, blond, reddish), and some more default faces (at least 5 per skin color, and they should look like real people).

- Document some ratings a little bit (SCOREAREA, DUNKPACK). And you really should make them more transparent (why should I edit some player's RANGE or DUNKPACK outside the game with my DBF editor, if the game is gonna alter it automatically -without giving me the option to choose- every time I edit the player's ratings or anything else inside the game?). The possibility to edit those ratings directly inside the game (like you did with PRIMACY) would be nice, and make things clearer. You should also document the console commands (every other company does it, why don't you?).



This is all I can think of. I know there are some areas that I haven't covered (sound, franchise, etc.) but I didn't notice anything that really should have changed there. Anyway, many others will have their wishes about that, so why should I bother...

[LegoSHAQ]

Good overall wishlist....

The idea of the "skill markers" (3pt, defensive lock, dunk, etc.) is OK, but it needs much more depth:

I agree and they need to fix the bug where a player gets "on fire" (where their marker flashes) and is then subbed the new subbed in player continues to be "on fire"??? I would like also the ability to turn these skill markers off for people who want more of a challenge.. it is good when you first start to play the game because you can see who is good a 3's and who is a good blocker or dunker etc.. but for more advanced players it is more fun if you don't nesecarily know this information about a player.. If I see a 3 icon on a player I know he is going to most likely make the open 3... it makes the game a bit too predictable.. you try not to do it but you end up using those icons to dictate your game play.. Just wanna be able to switch them off so I have to learn for myself who can take the three and who can block the shot... instead of having icons always telling me..

- Things that are ALMOST PERFECT and shouldn't suffer major changes: the post game, the freestyle moves, the graphics and animation, the "patchability" of the game...

I think the patchability can still be improved heaps.. In 2003 it is a pain to patch the menu logos etc.. because they don't use the custom art option.. they should be like the in game graphics.. It should also be easier to patch things like adding more shoes to the game. Why have a set number of shoes the game has and make it difficult to add more? They should make a folder where we can just add shoes and then they are available in the game.... The patchablility of 2003 was a huge improvement on 2001 but I hope 2004 is also a huge improvement on 2003...

We need more freestyle capabilities with the keyboard

YES!!! This is a big flaw in the PC version... and shows that the freestyle stuff was designed for consoles.. I don't understand why they can't do it like the freestyle control in THPS series.. That uses the right analog stick the same way but ALL the freestlye moves are also avaliable on keyboard by using certain keys.. most keyboards have two sets of arrow keys.. one set of direction keys and then the set on the numpad.. why can this represent the right and left analog sticks like THPS does.. it works well on keyboard.. I hope EA realise this..

you HAVE to add many more hairstyles (at least 20-25 of them, EACH ONE in five colors: black, light brown, brown, blond, reddish),

Agreed but again I am going to use THPS3 as an example (its customisation is fantastic) ... This could work with hair or jersey, shoes etc... colours. What THPS does is you select the style of the hair you want and then you select the colour.. and it has three colour sliders.. one for Red Green Blue .. this means you can have hair of ANY colour.. from dark brown to light blonde to purple if you wish..

Bring back the custom team creation features

I was really dissapointed when this wasn't announced in the list of "key features" I am hoping they are holding it for a big announcement closer to the release date...

[Andrew]

Great list, and some great additional ideas from David. Hopefully, we'll see at least some of these in place in the final product.

[cocobee]

How about? A trophy room or retired jersey room for our dynasty mode?

[Snowhawk]

just to add a few things to kq's nice list

Ability to choose auto subs from outside the game and keep it a global setting
Do not remove anything from the current versions, so far so good, just tweaking and a few additions should work
Better interface for music and work on the menu/audio transitions
Play Maker
Better statistical analysis besides XX is on a 12-0 run...
Ability to use joypad for menu navigation on pc version
Seasonal Fatigue (Played 2 56 game seasons @ 7 min qtrs in which Traylor didn't suffer any fatigue)
Save game at some point in the middle of a game, perhaps at end of qtr or half
In multiplayer games, have fake camera motions for some of the freestyle moves, if you jab step, have the camera make a jab step
Practices in franchise mode, this can affect player attributes / fatigue / and introduce actual ingame/practice injuries (Philly fans will have the option to have AI stay home instead of attending practice )
Perhaps a second cd dedicated to commentary/audio (Throw it down big man, throw it down!)

Future ideas for 2005
Implement Owner mode, we have player, coach, and gm, having complete ownership of the clippers might yield players staying more than 3 years...
Expansion of All-Star weekend
Summer Olympics (highly doubt because of liscencing issues)
Summer Leagues
Adding user created players (via in-game) to the nba draft

this is all I can think of, perhaps andrew or one of the moderators can make one major post that has the complete list, and as more ideas are brought up, they can be added to the main list (i've already seen too many references the non-essential slam dunk)

[Metsis]

Well, boys... It's always hard to break it to you guys. You are a little late with all of these wishes. The official NLSC Board wishlist has been sent already and you can read it in the "Wishlist section"...

Some wishes are pretty unimportant and the game itself has so many flaws that I'd like them to work on them first before adding anything too trivial.

The game needs a solid base to really grow on.

[Snowhawk]

Well, boys... It's always hard to break it to you guys. You are a little late with all of these wishes. The official NLSC Board wishlist has been sent already and you can read it in the "Wishlist section"...

Some wishes are pretty unimportant and the game itself has so many flaws that I'd like them to work on them first before adding anything too trivial.

The game needs a solid base to really grow on.

agree, anything they dont add last minute this year can be used as part of next year

maybe we can rename this thread for 2005

[Andrew]

Well, boys... It's always hard to break it to you guys. You are a little late with all of these wishes. The official NLSC Board wishlist has been sent already and you can read it in the "Wishlist section"...

Well, I for one am aware of that. I think most of the lists now are basically "Hope this is in Live 2004", rather than suggestions for EA. It's unfortunate that some ideas come along a little too late - there's things that occurred to me pretty much as soon as I'd sent the Wishlist in.

[JuanDV]

Nice list man