Should I buy NBA Live 08?

[jamon51]

Being a PC NBA Live player, I've visited NLSC since virtually the beginning, but rarely participate in the forums due to the low quality of most discussions. But I'll give it a stab here (after I've just insulted 90% of you), in the hopes I get the 10% of mature forum users to respond.

Normally I buy every other year's Live, starting with 99, then buying 2001, 03, 05. But I didn't buy 07 because everyone agreed it was a pretty bad version.

Now I look at NLSC's poll on 08 impressions, and 08 pretty much is even across the board--everyone is evenly split over whether it's great, good, okay, not good, or terrible. That doesn't help.

I really enjoy 2005, but I've pretty much played it to its fullest extent.

I've heard people say that 2007, patched up with the community patches, is actually a pretty good game. I don't mind finding an old copy of 07 and patching it up, but I was really looking forward to some of the new features in 08. Now I hear that EA passed up the PC version with some of these features.

Please don't turn this into an EA or 2008 bashing thread. My question is this:
1. Should I buy 08?
2. Should I buy 07 and patch it up?
3. Should I stick to 2005 and wait for 09 to come out?

Thanks guys.

[bjm111]

Same question here. It looks great, But that broken sim engine is a huge turn off. Is the sim engine really that bad??

[nextnba]

I have 08 and it's unplayable until an ai patch is created to resolve the one pass to star player shot bug. So 05 is still much better than 07 or 08. Don't waste your money on 07, the pg domination is annoyiong as hell..the patch doesn't really resolve it...

[TheMC5]

No, do not buy Live 08. Even on X-Box 360 (the only version I've played), it's a pretty sub-par game. And until a decent sim-engine patch is released, dynasty is virtually unplayable on PC. there also seems to be the usual amount of stupid bugs and oversights in gameplay. It'll probably take about 6 months of patching before 08 is playable. Go with 07 and get all the mods/patches, as it actually a decent (not great) game with those installed.

Also, don't let people dissuade you from buying 07 due to the supposed "point guard domination". Eliminating the PG domination is just a matter of jacking up your user defensive sliders, and actually knowing how to play defense. I've never had a problem with PG domination after I got the sliders right.

[joejam999]

Also there is a patch that pretty much solves the PG problem for 07. 07 with patches is a good game like TheMC5 said plus you can get it for cheap on amazon.

[jamon51]

Awesome, thanks guys. Appreciate the input. I'm thinking I'll go with 07.

[jamon51]

Okay, folks--I bought 07, installed the patches (official patch, Jimmy's 9.7 patch, etc) and the point guard is still waltzing in for layups or passing ahead for fastbreaks way too often. I've played a lot of NBA live, so I don't think it's a problem with my defense sucking. It is annoying....

TheMC5, I'd love to get your sliders and some tips on how you stop the PG--I'll certainly try them.

Thanks!

[TheOtherAI]

the ps3 version is a decent version.the pc one is the worst basketball game ever realesed

[fjccommish]

NBA Live 08 isn't worth the money.

The sim engine, even with some fixes posted here, is terrible.

The AI is ridiculous.

The game appears to have not been play tested, and to have had changes to AI (in the AIACT file) slapped in without much care.

The PC port looks like the work of one guy given about a week to port and adjust. It's a very amateur effort.

[Patr1ck]

jamon51, here is an easy way to get that pg to pass/setup a play. The only problem is that it is tedious. However, when you do it enough it will become second nature to you.

As soon as you can, after the pg receives the ball, he will make one of these decisions.

-Run towards the baseline. This is the indicator that the pg is trying to go coast to coast.
-Jog towards the top of the 3 point line to setup a play.

If he is jogging toward the top of 3 point line, you don't have to worry about stopping his drive, he will stop and setup a play. First thing I want to say is never push towards the pg, you will almost always end up behind him leaving him with and open lane. When he runs toward the baseline, you want to get up to him as quick as possible and trigger the 2-player animation where your defender is "riding" the ballhandlers drive. Once you do this, you want to make sure you are pointing your left analog stick in the same direction that the pg is going, and then rotate the left analog stick of your controller towards the ballhandler's dribbling hand. You will notice his drive will start to angle in that direction. You can also try using turbo or tapping turbo or the defensive stance button. I'm not sure if either has any effect because I've been able to stop pg's from driving without it. If you "win" this battle a few other things can happen.

-The pg will move towards the top of the 3 point line, setting up a play(Yay) or he will pass to a perimiter player, who will most likely try to drive himself, or in some cases put up a quick shot.

-The pg will perform a crossover and you will need to change directions quickly and initiate the defensive-drive animatoin again and perform the same circular motion with the left analog stick towards his new dribbling hand.

-Instead of a crossover, the defensive-drive animation will just stop and the pg will try to continue his drive, but will usually come right for you. I usually tap the analog a bit towards the basket at this moment and the pg will bump off me(sometimes more than once) and after that he will setup a play or pass.

There is also a spin animation where th epg changes direction, but you can do the samething that you do after the crossover animation.

That's pretty much it. Summary - initiate defensive-drive animation, rotate left analog towards dribble hand, alternate between turbo and defensive stance buttons during animatoin, when animation finishes,don't push towards defender, but tap towards basket.

[jamon51]

Awesome, Pdub, I'll try those tips. I figured out a few things just by playing, namely that I couldn't "push" him back. I'm waiting for my new gamepad to arrive (I bought it with the money I saved by buying 07 instead of 08), so I'm limited to the keyboard for now. I'll keep you guys posted how I do. The gameplay fixes do help a little I think. Last game, Randy Foye shot 22 times (in a 5 minute quarter game) and their PF, Rashard Lewis, (it was a fantasy draft franchise) shot 4 times. That's kind of rough. But I'm sure I'll get it soon enough.

EDIT: by the way, I installed the SUM and wow, I love the new look! Also, that annoying splash screen that shows between whistles is much easier on the eyes.

[jamon51]

Okay, I'm still pretty bad at this...I'm sure I'll get better as I go, but Keyon Dooling getting 16 shots out of the team's 54 total (with the other point guards chipping in a good part of it) kind of frustrates me. Seems like they could just have released an official patch that dealt with this. Don't they play this game? Or do they just play the other versions of it?.... Strange.