NBA 2K18 Swish-All

Starting this thread a little late, but I haven't been on the hype train this year. Still playing NBA 2k16 on PS4, in fact. I'm curious if anyone has impressions and what those are. Is anyone getting this for Switch?

Downloading it for Switch now.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Downloading it for Switch now.

Thanks for taking one for the team. I'm worried about the 30 FPS. I'm worried it's going to be a little twitchy in terms of the controls.

I'm willing to deal with it for the portability (and playing while wife uses tv). If it's bad I can just have two versions.

I decided on PS4. I ultimately decided the same as you, but in the reverse. I'll probably end up with two versions. I can't imagine online play on the Switch being as good as it's been on PS4 (I still get competitive games on 2k16 on my PS4). Mostly because of the critical mass of players on the PS4.

I will want to try the Switch version at some point, but between the above and the fact that I don't have an SD card for it yet I decided to punt on that decision for now.

So far I really like it. The new touch passing is really cool. Or at least new to me. 2k17 may have had it, but I didn't play that version. Had a lot of fun last night playing with the new classic teams. Mainly using Arvydas Sabonis.

Vibration when you're at the right point to shoot is a nice quality of life enhancement. More later.

Just played someone online who used the all-time Warriors (you can use those teams online this year). So corny. Now in addition to watching someone launch half court shots with Curry I get to watch Wilt Chamberlin dominate Matt Bullard when Olajuwon goes out. Or Rick Barry schooling Mario Elie. I might be done with 2k18 online if this becomes the norm.

I tend to play these mainly for the career mode and 2k16 and 2k17 left such bad impressions on me I don't know what it's going to take for me to really want to come back. What's the career mode drama hook this time?

Is your beef with all the silly cutscenes? I miss having a career mode that was mostly text. It got weirdly worse for me once it started to consume my time / insult my intelligence.

A few issues I had that built up into me just not wanting to play any more was my guy starting at insanely low stats so that it was nearly impossible to sink a shot, even when the meter was within a hair's breadth of being "perfect", having the practice sessions take up way too much time for very little payoff, having basic cosmetic items like wristbands or even different socks cost the same currency that you use to increase stats, and the story itself treating your player like an up and coming god of basketball even if your performance is abysmal. I mean in 2k17 I think my guy had a shoe deal by week 3 of my rookie season and people kept talking about sponsorships. I guess I really wowed them in my 10 or 12 combined minutes of play.

Ultimately it came down to the career mode feeling like a freemium game where I was wordlessly being urged to buy one of their $20 packs to get enough currency just to get my player up into the high 70's and heaven forbid I should want my player to have a knee brace or tape around his wrist. That'd cost me at least $5 real money to afford that.

Oh yeah. That sounds awful. I haven't played the My Career mode seriously this generation. I loved this mode in Madden, NCAA Football and other games when it was mostly just text. Once I started having to sit through cutscenes I was out. You reminded me, though, of how awful the early curve on this mode was. Especially the whole business about not being able to sink a shot and then getting low grades for every little mistake you made. Glad I stayed away.

In other words I can't help assess if it's gotten better because I've been out on that mode for a while.

I thought I read that offline career mode in 2k18 didn't have all the cutscenes. But also earn no VC. So I'm not sure how you upgrade your player.

I really want this to be good on Switch.

Hmm, the career mode was my favorite part of 2k16... I do recall picking up some coins on sale and restarting the career with a boosted player - it made it a lot more fun (and realistic). I hope I can do something similar this time. I don't play career mode to really challenge my skills (or lack thereof) - I'm just enjoying making someone good enough so I can eventually sim them into the Hall of Fame.

Stele wrote:

I thought I read that offline career mode in 2k18 didn't have all the cutscenes. But also earn no VC. So I'm not sure how you upgrade your player.

I really want this to be good on Switch.

It's a mixed experience at the moment. The lower frame rate hasn't really been an issue for me, but there's a pretty significant bug in career mode. The audio in game-adjacent cutscenes plays normally but the video plays at about half speed. So the little conversation between your player and your mentor is very awkward. I'm not sure if this is unique to me or what.

Something I hadn't considered is that 2k, since like 2k14, has been strictly cordoned off into online and offline play. If you start a career while connected, you can't make progress while not online. I'm considering getting the ps4 version, and just playing the switch version in offline mode.

Kehama wrote:

A few issues I had that built up into me just not wanting to play any more was my guy starting at insanely low stats so that it was nearly impossible to sink a shot, even when the meter was within a hair's breadth of being "perfect", having the practice sessions take up way too much time for very little payoff, having basic cosmetic items like wristbands or even different socks cost the same currency that you use to increase stats, and the story itself treating your player like an up and coming god of basketball even if your performance is abysmal. I mean in 2k17 I think my guy had a shoe deal by week 3 of my rookie season and people kept talking about sponsorships. I guess I really wowed them in my 10 or 12 combined minutes of play.

Ultimately it came down to the career mode feeling like a freemium game where I was wordlessly being urged to buy one of their $20 packs to get enough currency just to get my player up into the high 70's and heaven forbid I should want my player to have a knee brace or tape around his wrist. That'd cost me at least $5 real money to afford that.

Well, if your issue was the Microtransactions, I've got really bad news for you.

I thought it was bad enough in 2K17, personally. If/When I grab 2K18, I'll do what I did last year, which is stick pretty much exclusively to the MyGM mode. I haven't come across a game with a MyCareer mode that really stuck with me long-term yet.

Prederick wrote:

Well, if your issue was the Microtransactions, I've got really bad news for you.

Reading that article caused me to think that publishers should start posting "Minimum purchase price" and "Recommended purchase price" just like system requirements. Sure, you CAN buy NBA 2k18 for $60 but if you really want to enjoy it you should probably buy it for $100.

Using aggressive free to play micro transaction tactics in a $60 game is pretty low.

Kehama wrote:
Prederick wrote:

Well, if your issue was the Microtransactions, I've got really bad news for you.

Reading that article caused me to think that publishers should start posting "Minimum purchase price" and "Recommended purchase price" just like system requirements. Sure, you CAN buy NBA 2k18 for $60 but if you really want to enjoy it you should probably buy it for $100.

I take a little issue with the article. This isn't supposed to be a six hour game that people play over the course of a week and move on from when the next big release comes out. This game is supposed to last the hardcore fans until next September. The article states you would need to play approximately 200 games to reach an 86 overall rating. An 86 is a top 30 player based on the launch rankings. These are 20 minute games. How fast are you supposed to become top 30? A couple weeks?

I got my guy from 60-73 before playing his 10th game (you earn VC from other modes, including franchises). At 73 I am easily getting double doubles and having a very positive impact on my team's play. I would certainly prefer if the game didn't have microtransactions, but I don't think it's fair to say the game isn't fun if you don't buy them.

Blind_Evil wrote:
Stele wrote:

I thought I read that offline career mode in 2k18 didn't have all the cutscenes. But also earn no VC. So I'm not sure how you upgrade your player.

I really want this to be good on Switch.

It's a mixed experience at the moment. The lower frame rate hasn't really been an issue for me, but there's a pretty significant bug in career mode. The audio in game-adjacent cutscenes plays normally but the video plays at about half speed. So the little conversation between your player and your mentor is very awkward. I'm not sure if this is unique to me or what.

They patched this bug out sometime last week, if it was keeping anyone on the fence. Still loving the game, but Stardew Valley has been cutting into my time considerably.

I really like this game. I started out hating it because of all the turnovers. I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why I was so bad at this game vs. every other version. I've played basically every version of 2k since the Dreamcast. I missed 2k17 because last year was insane personally, but otherwise I play it every year. And I mostly play online, where there's lag and still don't have trouble with it. In fact I've been playing 2k16 up through getting 2k18, because I didn't like the way 2k18 played.

Finally out of frustration I switched the camera mode back to "2K mode" after years of playing in "Broadcast Mode". Instantly this game became a lot better. All the bad passes I was making faded away once I could properly see the passing lanes. I started playing with the Bucks online. That's a really fun team to play with. Notably when Antetokounmpo shifts over to PG. Running the pick and roll with him and Maker is really fun.

Anyway, now I'm back into this game in a big way. I play 1 or 2 online matches every night and I might give the Switch version another try. I bought it and downloaded it, but haven't played much of it yet.

Has anyone spent time comparing this to NBA Live 18? That one is on sale on the PS4 until Tuesday for $30. From the reviews, it seems like the career mode is better and less reliant on microtransactions to avoid the grind.

dewalist wrote:

Has anyone spent time comparing this to NBA Live 18? That one is on sale on the PS4 until Tuesday for $30. From the reviews, it seems like the career mode is better and less reliant on microtransactions to avoid the grind.

Not I. 2k’s gameplay has basically captured me. I don’t see myself switching unless Live radically improves and 2k loses a step. The way 2k handles is simply preferable to meat this point.