Questions for those who have the game thread

[Jay-Peso]

how about the stats? last year, if the ball is blocked sometimes it doesn't count as an attempt. and if you try to steal but knock the ball out of bound, you will be penalized by one turnover. are these fixed? thank you.

I don't know about the blocked but I do know that if you trty to steal the ball and it goes out of bounds onyou they do indeed count that as a turnover or atleast the announcer says turnover on James (this happened once though).

[John-John Joe]

Also, Dre, what platform are you using? I heard that there's more slowdown in the PS2 than Xbox version. It looks like Camera-angles is one of the things EA will have to work on for next year.

I play on the XBox which is probably the best choice if you're going the console route. I've already heard some horror stories about the GC and PS 2 version having a bad framerate. No surprise it's the best on XBox, besides having the most powerful hardware of the 3 it was also what EA Canada had people testing the game on.

I agree about the camera angles, time for EAC to step their game up and implement a Custom Camera. You'd never hear another complaint about cameras again!

[Rip32]

I know I was hoping for a camera view like on TV.

[Ninjoid]

Wussup Ninjoid, I do the same thing my brother and yes we're in luck:

- Still have Season Mode for when you get tired of Dynasty.
- All NBA teams can be user controlled
- Yes, you'll be able to choose which games to watch (cpu vs. cpu) and which to play. Also remember, with the new simulation invtervention you can interrupt a simmed game at any point and join in the action!

Thanks Dre - no probs with the other post, I posted it yesterday then I noticed the sticky today.

Thanks for getting back....good news at least for when the pc version is released...Nov 12th is the latest for the UK (PC)

Glad to hear I'm not the only cpu v cpu guru!!

[Oosh]

Q1. Does the ballhandler still face the basket no matter where he is on the court?

Q2. Is the free agency in dynasty mode well and truly fixed? no T-Mac available for the minimum etc

Q3. This sounds like the best basketball game ever created, is it TRUE???

[John-John Joe]

Q1. Does the ballhandler still face the basket no matter where he is on the court?

Q2. Is the free agency in dynasty mode well and truly fixed? no T-Mac available for the minimum etc

Q3. This sounds like the best basketball game ever created, is it TRUE???

1. That's a hard question to answer, I'd never evn gave that any thought.

2. Get back to you on that, I'll have to do some serious simming.

3. The best? Absolutely, though opinion on this game seem to vary around the review circuit. Gamespot felt that the gameplay hadn't changed, I was like WHAT??? Hmmm, all I can say is this is the best most realistic basketball simulation I've ever played in my entire life.

[Ruff Ryder]

Q1. Does the ballhandler still face the basket no matter where he is on the court?

Q2. Is the free agency in dynasty mode well and truly fixed? no T-Mac available for the minimum etc

Q3. This sounds like the best basketball game ever created, is it TRUE???

1. That's a hard question to answer, I'd never evn gave that any thought.

1.) Yes, he faces the basket. He doesn't put his back to it as much as in Live 04.

[pierralban]

Which side are the SG rookies in dynasty, because in the screens I saw, a lot were 6-2 ... ?

[durvasa]

Here are some more questions for which I'm looking for answers:

• Are charges fixed this year? Last year, if you took a charge and the offensive player made the layup, it would count. Does this still happen?
  
• Can anyone confirm if the bug where a blocked shot doesn't count as a field goal attempt is still in the game?
  
• Any wacky substitution patterns by the CPU like last year (star player sits out crucial minutes or misses most of a quarter even though he's not in foul trouble or fatigued)?
  
• Last year, I usually liked to perform all substitutions for the CPU, and so I put CPU substitution frequency down to 0. Still, it didn't work well. I had to switch controllers to CPU to make its substitution which is annoying, and also the CPU would sometimes sub back players on its own even though the setting is at 0! Can anyone test this and see if it works better?

Thanks.

[durvasa]

how about the stats? last year, if the ball is blocked sometimes it doesn't count as an attempt. and if you try to steal but knock the ball out of bound, you will be penalized by one turnover. are these fixed? thank you.

I don't know about the blocked but I do know that if you trty to steal the ball and it goes out of bounds onyou they do indeed count that as a turnover or atleast the announcer says turnover on James (this happened once though).

That's messed up. That's simply a matter of keeping track of which team has possession of the ball. How hard is that?

These bugs are constantly mentioned on boards like this, and I thought EA people sometimes go through them. They really should make a laundry list of every bug, and make sure all of them are fixed. Particularly these easy ones which would be so simple to fix, and yet are simply aggravating to play with.

[twolvezfanfoever]

I got some questions

-do they still do that funny walk/run when they try to run down the court

-do they have alot more throwbacks in this game

[loadleft]

can someone tell me how and where to select this option

[EGarrett]

The rookie sizes are all over the map this year. I'm not sure I like it because there are indeed lots of 6'1" and 6'2" shooting guards. I even spotted a 6'4" small forward. The development potential is also all over the map, too.

Who would really draft a 6'1" shooting guard with no passing ability and Very Limited potential? No one. But yet the game has him listed as the Project No. 1 pick.

However there are also some giants. I drafted a 6'11" 274 pound small forward and am scouting a 7'0" 239 pound small forward.

I've also seen a few 7'2" power forwards. 290 pounds doesn't seem to be the upper weight limit anymore. I've seen some 292 pound and 294 pound guys. Hopefully we can get some 300 pounders.

Other stuff:

You can make substitutions at any time. The players will check in at the next dead ball and the announcers and pop up graphic will acknowledge the sub. That's cool.

The gameplay is still just too tough for me. I have a very hard time winning on All-Star. I noticed that the computer still shoves you under the basket with the pro hop from time to time, meanwhile your pro hop is useless. This is probably because the computer's pro hop effectiveness is set to 70(!) and yours is set to 0. I changed both.

And, as always, they seem to have randomly shifted the proper release point this year so even your open jumpers, when you work hard enough to get them...will brick.

[cyanide]

The rookie sizes are all over the map this year. I'm not sure I like it because there are indeed lots of 6'1" and 6'2" shooting guards. I even spotted a 6'4" small forward. The development potential is also all over the map, too.

I think part of the reason for the smaller players are because somebody mentioned that players can actually grow. So I'm assuming that these short shooting guards and small forwards will grow a few inches in height during their time in the league. The idea of players growing is risky though.

[Jay-Peso]

Is it just me or.....

Do hairstyles change during the course of the year?

[Spinners]

One new feature i like, that they added this year is...

The substitutions. At anytime during the game you can pause it and you are able to go to the substitution screen, even when it is not a dead ball, timeout, etc. You make your substitutions, then continue playing. Then when there is a dead ball or a timeout or a foul etc, the computer will but you subs in for you. You no longer need to wait for a deadball to put in subs, just put them in and the computer will do it for you at a deadball.

Its a new feature that a really like, but it isnt that major.

[50first]

Is it just me or.....

Do hairstyles change during the course of the year?

either your being sarcastic or you've been playing espn or your smoking something kidding

[EGarrett]

The rookie sizes are all over the map this year. I'm not sure I like it because there are indeed lots of 6'1" and 6'2" shooting guards. I even spotted a 6'4" small forward. The development potential is also all over the map, too.

I think part of the reason for the smaller players are because somebody mentioned that players can actually grow. So I'm assuming that these short shooting guards and small forwards will grow a few inches in height during their time in the league. The idea of players growing is risky though.

I was the person that said that. The guys that grow all seem to be the 18 or 19-year-olds. I've seen 6'1" two guards that are usually 21 or 22 years old and thus have no hope of growing. And even if they did, they'd still be nowhere near NBA shooting guard size.

[John-John Joe]

Here are some more questions for which I'm looking for answers:

• Are charges fixed this year? Last year, if you took a charge and the offensive player made the layup, it would count. Does this still happen?
  
• Can anyone confirm if the bug where a blocked shot doesn't count as a field goal attempt is still in the game?
  
• Any wacky substitution patterns by the CPU like last year (star player sits out crucial minutes or misses most of a quarter even though he's not in foul trouble or fatigued)?
  
• Last year, I usually liked to perform all substitutions for the CPU, and so I put CPU substitution frequency down to 0. Still, it didn't work well. I had to switch controllers to CPU to make its substitution which is annoying, and also the CPU would sometimes sub back players on its own even though the setting is at 0! Can anyone test this and see if it works better?

Thanks.

- Charge and count it bug? GONE!

- Unfortunately, a block still doesn't count as as hot attempt. And yes, almost steals that go out of bounds still count as turnovers.

- They've done a fabulous job with the sub patterns this year. I haven't had to switch to the cpu's side and fix their sub patterns once. I'll still keep an eye out for it though...

[Jase23]

Hi all u lucky dudes with the game.

How do injuries look this year? have you had any in game? have you had players out for weeks in dynasty mode??

What kinds of incidents cause injuries?

Thanks in advance.

[Spinners]

I only had 1 injury in my dynasty so far. I was driving to the basket with Jalen Rose and went up for a layup and got fouled. He then limped off the court. He had a knee injury and was injured for 10 days. He was not playable for those ten games. My friend had Artest injured but he could still play with him.

[Jase23]

Nice, thanks for that. I like having injurries... makes dynasty more real and you have to use your bench guys more.

This makes me happy.... too bad i have to wait until probably mid November for it to come out on PC here.

[durvasa]

Here are some more questions for which I'm looking for answers:

• Are charges fixed this year? Last year, if you took a charge and the offensive player made the layup, it would count. Does this still happen?
  
• Can anyone confirm if the bug where a blocked shot doesn't count as a field goal attempt is still in the game?
  
• Any wacky substitution patterns by the CPU like last year (star player sits out crucial minutes or misses most of a quarter even though he's not in foul trouble or fatigued)?
  
• Last year, I usually liked to perform all substitutions for the CPU, and so I put CPU substitution frequency down to 0. Still, it didn't work well. I had to switch controllers to CPU to make its substitution which is annoying, and also the CPU would sometimes sub back players on its own even though the setting is at 0! Can anyone test this and see if it works better?

Thanks.

- Charge and count it bug? GONE!

- Unfortunately, a block still doesn't count as as hot attempt. And yes, almost steals that go out of bounds still count as turnovers.

- They've done a fabulous job with the sub patterns this year. I haven't had to switch to the cpu's side and fix their sub patterns once. I'll still keep an eye out for it though...

Dre, I got the game a few days ago for Xbox. I've checked the stats after getting my shot blocked, and it DOES count as a shot attempt. Maybe sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Also, I believe even blocking a shot out of bounds will count as a turnover against you. It shouldn't have been very difficult to keep track of which team has possession, so there really is no excuse for this bug.

For me, the substitutions have been one of the big annoyances in gameplay. I'd prefer not to have to manually do all the substitutions for myself, so I put the slideres for substitutions at around 35. I suspect that the subtitution AI only takes Fatigue and Fouls into account when deciding substitutions, which isn't good. In more than a few games, key players (like Yao or Shaq) have been subbed out in the closing minutes of the game. Also, the starters don't start the second half, even though this is the convention. You haven't noticed these problems?

Another thing. You mentioned before that the Marv will say a created player's last name instead of his jersey number if his last name is in the audio database? I created Shaun Livingston for fun just to check this out. Since there's a Randy Livingston in the free agent pool, I assume his last name is in the audio database. But Marv would call him "Livingston" and instead used his number. Am I doing something wrong?

[Spinners]

Randy Livingston's name might not be in the data base. I was playing with the Bulls and scored with Andres Nocioni and instead of saying his name they just said "Number 5".

[MaD_hAND1e]

Is the CPU catchup on fastbreaks still annoying? Is it just as bad as last year on the hardest rating (which is where I usually like to play)?

How many assists does the CPU get? Is it really low?

Is CAP significantly improved over last year?

If you create a player with a name that's already in the game, will the announcer say it? Haven't gotten anyone to answer this question yet.

Cpu assists? To be honest, it varies. When I played the Nuggs Andre finished with 8 assists and 2 turovers, while Terry had 2 assists and 5 turnovers in my game against the Mavs.

Create a player is very starnge indeed. How do I explain this? Ummm...okay....While it is true that they have way more options such as picking your nose, ears, facial structure, etc. there isn't a huge difference between all of your options. Put it like this, by the time I finished changing damn near everything the final product didn't look all that different than the default face I started out with. To their credit, they have some great body types.

If you create a player with a name in the audio data base, not only will Marv say his name but the announcer when being introduced!

lol sorry... but that just stood out

Has anyone tried scouting rookies in dynasty yet? or played against a rookie in training camp?

Also, in the off-season training camps, is it still just cut-scenes?