Next-gen impressions

[cavs4872]

Fellas, I might've found the new wave: WNBA online - 3v3 matchmaking, non-cheese gameplay with predetermined builds, meaning everyone is on an equal playing field and you don't have to upgrade anything... this is a dream. Only issue is my first match only had two real people. I made a max height/weight center and had a 16 & 10 double-double but we lost though.

Edit: Actually, it looks like progression is done simply through a leveling system and there's no VC... awesome.

[[Q]]

Yup, if I was playing the game that is exactly what I would play: a mode that does not use VC

[Andrew]

The fact that The W doesn't utilise VC demonstrates that a career mode could function perfectly fine without it. Glad to hear that it's fun, hopefully a few more people get on it as the weeks go by, so that the online scene is bustling.

[jmmontoro]

That's exactly the online I wanted for years, somewhat like FIFA, real matchmaking instead of queueing, progression instead of pay to win. I wonder if this inclusion is a test of some sorts or if it's just the misogyny acting up.

[cavs4872]

Misogyny might be too strong of a term, but you're in the right direction.

Interestingly enough you can also earn VC from this mode, probably just for cosmetic purposes which is another great move.

[Andrew]

I think that's always going to be the elephant in the room with the WNBA content. Obviously if one isn't interested in it then they aren't interested and that's fine; plenty of other modes and content to choose from. However, you do see some remarks about it that are problematic to say the least.

[myk13]

How are people liking Next Gen 2k? I usually ALWAYS buy on PC because of the mods but I got my PS5 today and need a game. I heard it doesn't play anything like last gen. Does anyone who has it on Next gen and PC have a breakdown on which they prefer? I would guess the PC version is comparable to last gen.

[[Q]]

That's exactly the online I wanted for years, somewhat like FIFA, real matchmaking instead of queueing, progression instead of pay to win. I wonder if this inclusion is a test of some sorts or if it's just the misogyny acting up.

TBH I think they first included WNBA to basically out do Live who had done it first.

They couldn't easily integrate women into the regular career mode so they had to put it in a separate mode and may have accidentally created the best new mode in years

[Andrew]

How are people liking Next Gen 2k? I usually ALWAYS buy on PC because of the mods but I got my PS5 today and need a game. I heard it doesn't play anything like last gen. Does anyone who has it on Next gen and PC have a breakdown on which they prefer? I would guess the PC version is comparable to last gen.

The PC version is a port of the PS4/X1 version, so yeah, it basically falls under the Current Gen banner as far as versions of NBA 2K (obviously PC as a whole is neither Current Gen or Next Gen). No differences, except for the modding capabilities and size of the audience where the online scene is concerned.

I'd love to hear some more Next Gen impressions before my PS5 arrives and I can join in on that myself, but TRIIIAD has posted some here that you might want to check out: viewtopic.php?p=2029183#p2029183

Looking around basketball gaming Twitter, it seems that people are noticing a difference in how it plays, even if a lot of the gameplay footage doesn't look that different to Next Gen. The way player movement feels has been cited as a difference, and I've seen a couple of people mention that shooting feels better as well. One difference with the latter is if you don't hit the target window at all, you'll miss completely, whereas there's still a chance of making a shot on Current Gen in that scenario.

[ThePointForward]

Quick question for next gen: how's input lag in online modes?
It used to be pretty egregious compared to really any online game on the market.

[jmmontoro]

Misogyny might be too strong of a term, but you're in the right direction..

Is it though? They make a city but keep women out. There's no excuse for it, they built a "brand new" game, they could've easily separated the career character from the city character.

[sticky-fingers]

SOFTDRINKTV's review :

phpBB [video]

[cavs4872]

Misogyny might be too strong of a term, but you're in the right direction..

Is it though? They make a city but keep women out. There's no excuse for it, they built a "brand new" game, they could've easily separated the career character from the city character.

Fair enough.

Quick question for next gen: how's input lag in online modes?
It used to be pretty egregious compared to really any online game on the market.

Haven't noticed any.

[cavs4872]

I've finally unlocked the City; for those not in the know, you have to play on a three-court boat dock and level up to Pro 1 before you can enter the City... honestly the beginning area feels like the full online area for last gen (it doesn't have the stores and stuff though). Obviously as everyone feels, the City is overwhelming albeit cool. It's gonna take a while to explore but there's a map with legends and a very helpful waypoint feature.

I'm sort of puzzled why the City is locked to begin with... it's pointless; I could see if you started off on the courts of your beginning affiliation and each time you level up a portion of it opens up but it's nonsense to restrict it behind a decent grind (it's not that bad) and then just open the entire thing up - for me I want to explore it first before I start playing games: the City is new... I've been playing basketball all my life.

That's all I have to report for now cause like I said, this is overwhelming and will take a decent while to acclimate with.

Edit: I echoed this previously in the general gaming thread, but there are so many next-gen games I wanna play (both Spider-Man's, CoD, Astro's Playroom, Planet Coaster, Gears 5 and so on), but once again I'm just gonna end up sinking all my time into 2K cause there's so much to do.

Also, the skateboard is free... looks like I won't need Skate 4.

Finally, one of the more notable features is everyone can shoot-around on the court until the final person joins (Park)... very cool. Got into one game... decent lag but not unplayable, which I guess is reasonable given everything going on. Played on the Knights court which looks very nice and proper with its stone brick and shrubbery.

Totally off-topic but I opted for a max height/weight Paint Beast... sometimes I can be insanely dominant and a walking double-double (literally feel like Shaq out there with that standing dunk maxed) but man, it hurts to not be able to space the floor on offense. I was initially going to create a stretch four but decided against it as I've had great dominance with this build in the past (I'm the type of player that will brick open shots).

[Andrew]

I'm sort of puzzled why the City is locked to begin with... it's pointless; I could see if you started off on the courts of your beginning affiliation and each time you level up a portion of it opens up but it's nonsense to restrict it behind a decent grind (it's not that bad) and then just open the entire thing up - for me I want to explore it first before I start playing games: the City is new... I've been playing basketball all my life.

The online scene in NBA 2K has been cultivating a somewhat elitist atmosphere for a few years now, and honestly, I feel that Rookieville is part of that philosophy. It does seem counterproductive given that The City is this big new feature they want people to check out and get into, but it is a very familiar approach of having to earn our good time and basic features in MyCAREER.

Finally, one of the more notable features is everyone can shoot-around on the court until the final person joins (Park)... very cool.

See, this is the kind of stuff they should be doing more of. They could've and should've been doing it on Current Gen as well, but I'm glad to hear they're at least addressing long-standing issues, like standing around for a long time. Being able to actually do something while waiting for enough people to join in on a Park game may sound like a small thing, but it's actually quite significant that they've finally addressed the big problem with Got Next: it's wasted time doing nothing, if you have to wait more than a minute for a game to get going.

That's the kind of stuff that I want to hear about in developer blogs, not that there's umpteen new clothes shops in which you can waste your VC on overpriced cosmetic items. That's the stuff that makes me think they're actually doing something about enhancing the gameplay experience, and not just adding bells and whistles, or ways to push the recurrent revenue mechanics.

Appreciate the impressions! Hopefully not too much longer now before my PS5 arrives and I'm able to join in.

[cavs4872]

To further add to my previous post, I am really starting to dig the City: the prospect of traveling decent distances (by skateboard) to go to different and unique courts is very cool in my opinion: it makes the world feel breathing, open and MMOish (there are also random people you can take quests from -- I wish they used current and former players, coaches, commentators and other personalities for this).

Finally, one of the more notable features is everyone can shoot-around on the court until the final person joins (Park)... very cool.

See, this is the kind of stuff they should be doing more of. They could've and should've been doing it on Current Gen as well, but I'm glad to hear they're at least addressing long-standing issues, like standing around for a long time. Being able to actually do something while waiting for enough people to join in on a Park game may sound like a small thing, but it's actually quite significant that they've finally addressed the big problem with Got Next: it's wasted time doing nothing, if you have to wait more than a minute for a game to get going.

That's the kind of stuff that I want to hear about in developer blogs, not that there's umpteen new clothes shops in which you can waste your VC on overpriced cosmetic items. That's the stuff that makes me think they're actually doing something about enhancing the gameplay experience, and not just adding bells and whistles, or ways to push the recurrent revenue mechanics.

It also doubles as a great opportunity to just take an unoccupied court if you want to shoot-around which brings me to my next point... there's no personal property/practice court for your MyPlayer? It has to be somewhere and I'm missing it. Now that the City is a thing, I'm shocked they aren't offering different levels of personal property purchasable with VC. Pretty soon 2K will just become a subsection of GTA Online.

[Andrew]

I'm wondering if they removed MyCOURT in favour of having to buy a basketball and rent courts upstairs in the Gatorade Gym. If so, shame on them, because that's dirty.

[cavs4872]

Oh, there's a court upstairs? I'll have to check it out. I actually considered going there but just thought it was all the exercise equipment and stuff.

Everyone also comes with a basketball by default; same with a skateboard (I'm assuming this isn't something I got for buying the Mamba edition).

[Andrew]

That's not so bad if you get a basketball for free...although, it makes me think that in NBA 2K22, it won't be (same deal with the skateboard). We've seen that happen before; things being free one year, only to have a large price tag the next.

Anyway, if you have a basketball, you can rent courts for private games upstairs at the Gatorade Gym, for a small fee. I still find that a bit on the nose, and even more so if they have actually removed MyCOURT, but it is there to check out.

[cavs4872]

Yeah, it's bullshit: the starting price is 20 VC per half-hour... it's like why. Also I believe the basketball is only tied to your first player if you make multiple like me.

The one bonus about traversing the big city is that the spawn is your affiliated park so if you're ever far away the loading time on next-gen is so quick that you can just leave the mode and return... it's actually quite incredible that the loading time for the City is only about a second long.

[Andrew]

I've seen it defended on Twitter ("It's not that much!"), but it's the principle of the thing, especially if it has completely replaced a free alternative like MyCOURT. 2K has also previously demonstrated that they'll try to push their luck and take an inch when given a mile, so I remain leery of them putting price tags on anything like that.

The loading times do sound awesome. That was something that disappointed me about the PS4/X1 generation, actually. The loading times were better than the previous generation, but it wasn't a huge jump, certainly not as big as they made it sound at the time. That at least seems like it's going to be far more convenient moving forward.

[jmmontoro]

Like many other microtransaction games, at this point it's not 2Ks fault, it's the gamers fault.

[cavs4872]

It took me all this time to realize the Under Armour Cages are no longer a thing?

[Andrew]

I saw someone mention that on Twitter. I'm not surprised, I don't think they were ever that popular. I know I only went there if there was VC on offer in the Daily Bonus (which of course is presently still glitched on Current Gen).

[ThaLiveKing]

that's what Da Czar was saying before the game launched on next gen. the best online game play would be WNBA online lol