some comments

[Morningstar]

I've been a reader here for a while, but never bothered to sign up (until I noticed that someone mentioned you can keep track of updated posts by registering.. that was some real motivation to do so right there )

Anyway, I thought I'd post some thoughts about this year's edition that I haven't really seen mentioned yet

While the help defense this year is awesome (switching is done much more intelligently this year), it's frustrating to see that computer defenders are really inadequate in fastbreak situations... in a 2 on 1 or 3 on 2 break, the computer defender in the lane will often STOP defending on-ball to run and defend the trailer.. I don't know if you guys have experienced this as well

while dunk variety is displayed mostly in breakaway dunks, it's pretty awesome to see that while most of the dunks done in traffic are usually the same two or three dunks per dunkpack, that each of the dunkpacks have subtle differences in the same dunk (example,.. dunkpack 10 and 12 both use two-handed tomahawks, but they're both a little different) it's refreshing to see after the previous lives had dunkpacks that mostly built off of each other, with a couple of distinct classes (where all the big man dunkpacks resemble each other, same with little man, and dunker, etc)

Defensive awareness is a thing of beauty; it's awesome to see JYD actually bring energy to the court with his hustle.. with good speed for a big man and his defensive awareness, he resembles the JYD of real life more than ever this year... i think the new steal animation probably has a lot to do with this effect, too

jeff van gundy looks terrible. same with carlos delfino (what were they thinking?!)

about the blocking problem; I think it's really not so bad except for a few things. Blocking is too much a function of height, but this is the same problem as in the past. It makes blocking jumpshots with people tall at their positions (dermarr johnson, josh childress, tim thomas, etc) too common, but this is something we've had to deal with every year... it's a little worse this year, but I think I mostly have reasonable numbers from this
I think the problem lies in the new animation inside with weak-side blocking, when the offensive player enters a sort of layup kind of motion while being pushed forward by the impending weak-side blocker.. I think the amount of occurrences of this is the only reason interior blocks are made worse.

point guards. i think the point guard problem is actually a lot better this year than in past years.. i'm not playing ridiculously hard defense (i don't like to play max effort against the computer.. i like realism more, and hated having to play max effort defense against 2004 pgs in order to get them to shoot somewhat reasonably), and my opposing point guards are usually taking 7 - 13 shots on average, which makes me much happier. the thing is.. i don't mind if iverson goes off on me for more than that, but i definitely have had a problem with some pgs on teams that should NOT be doing that. In particular, brevin knight on the bobcats took way too many shots.. i suspect that if there isn't anyone with a high primacy rating on the team, the pg still dominates when he shouldn't. this still bothers me a little, but again, this problem is a lot better

i think that's it for now.. i'll add more later as i think of them. this game has totally exceeded my expectations. i was sort of disappointed by the videos when they first came out.. but the game (and the post! the post game is awesome) is so much better than any other nba live.. i'm totally sold.

oh, one last thing, even though it's already been said..
reallreallyreally need the player progress graph

ok, time for class

[cyanide]

Excellent post! And good to see that you're participating in the forums I'm aware of the defender going after the trailing man instead of the streaking ballhandler, but I haven't mentioned it yet. Glad you brought that up. For everything else, you're right on the money

[3dfxrain]

I bought the game yesterday.

I'm very impressed with Live 2005. Very stable.

I enjoy watching the new animations on court in a 5 on 5 game and the Dunk Contest animations.

I'm overwhelmed by the games quality and thats a great thing to know. EA's done very well with Live 2005.

[ZipBreak]

some more observations here...

* most of the attributes are now being used when you play. Aside from the defensive awareness mentioned above, offensive awareness also gets displayed prominently (at least in AllStar, where all your players do their thing). Guys with high offensive awareness can get themselves open for buckets. It's even better because different players do this differently. The wing players use screens, and the low-post guys fight for position in the post.

* fastbreaks are great! I think most of the folks having problems with this one are those who try to lob pass to a distant receiver. What you really need to do is try to pass to someone with a high passing attribute, and is in a good position to re-fire an outlet pass. I try to do this all the time, and it works fine. And when your break is foiled, don't get frustrated, it happens sometimes IRL, so just prepare for a half-court set.

* Rebounding: Rebounders will get their boards by setting up properly, and not by the CPU cheesily bouncing the ball their way. No more Claxton hogging the boards, or anyone else who is either outsized, outmusled, or simply not a rebounder picking up boards easily. OREBs are hard, but doable. Try trading for a guy with high OREB, and you'll be happy when he's in the game as he'll be doing his thing.

* Dribbling. Animations and distributions are much more realistic. Shaq will no longer cross you over like he used to. If a player can hardly dribble, then you can't force them. Much more realistic this way. And the CPU knows how to freestyle! It's actually great trying to defend AI when he's crossing you over. And have you seen players' ankle get broken and they hit the deck? It sure looks realistic to me.

* Injuries are now handled better. In 04, I turned Injuries to 100 and did have more injuries in-game, but they have healed as soon as the game is over. This year, the game REMEMBERs who got injured in the game and generates the consequences as soon as the game is over. In my last game, I had Curry tried to dunk on Ben, and injured him (Ben) in the process. He was out for the game. Back in the dynasty screen, seems that Ben got a serious leg injury and will be out for some time. This also happens to your players so beware if you drive too much.

* Oh, and rookies are a lot better. You have an incentive to risk drafting young guys as they can grow! It's also feasible to draft low-rated guys now since the training works quite well. I once signed an undrafted rookie (strong draft) rated 45 in the off-season. After the preseason training, he was 52! He became 60-something after a couple of years (with training of course), and is definitely serviceable. note, though, that the player's potential DOES have a bearing on training. Those with excellent potential improve the most points, and the most often. At least in my experience so far.

* Also, in case no one have noticed yet, you don't get inundated with rated 40+ and below undrafted rookies as they get deleted before the season starts. This is important to know if you're contemplating signing that undrafted teenage player with low ratings! However, if those players have played at least one game with any team, and are quite young, then they stay in the list.

* Shot-blocking works fine for me. The thing is, I seldom shoot contested shoots. I use screens or quick passing even for jumpers. Oh, I do have shot-blocking set to 10 for me and the CPU, so it's probably why it's working alright. I think I only have a double-digit shotblocks on two occassions -- in one of them, we played Miami, and Shaq (Miami), Chandler (Chi) and Curry (Chi) had blocks galore as the wing players kept penetrating. Aweful fun game though.


About all I can think of right now, and it's quite long already so...