Your favirite NBA Live this generation

[RicoLaguna]

Live 19 over 18. Player models, animations and gameplay is more fluid

[youvalss]

Went back to Live 18. Tweaked my sliders, a few little roster edits and started a new franchise with the Pistons, currently we are 1-5 after a massive loss at Golden State.

Warriors ball movement must have been among the best I've seen in a video game. Almost every second possession they were able to get a good shot. Curry with 40+, Durant with 27, Thompson close to 20, Iggy and Green with huge defense and rebounds, I had no chance. It was a clean win for them, no cheating, just textbook basketball combined with superstars. Also played great defense on us.


Griffin with 33, rest of the guys low teens and below. Our defense wasn't good enough either. You are not beating the Warriors playing like that.

[youvalss]

Played a road game vs the Lakers last night. The AI in this game is just amazing and so much more realistic than what I am seeing in current titles. Lakers ran isolations for Isaiah Thomas, moved the ball for open shots, contested my shots whenever I dared to get in the paint, took advantage of mismatches (I actually heard someone yelling "Cat in the house!")...so much more!

I'm telling you, if you edit rosters and tweak your sliders, you are getting an experience that could make gamers with the other game envy. It's just brilliant, too bad EA never edited the default rosters to reflect this. The NBA portion here is, I dare say, the best I have seen in a video game. But EA decided to market the online/my player stuff and don't even know how to tweak their own game to show greatness. Or maybe they intentionally make the game play less realistically so it doesn't appeal to the "wrong crowds".

[youvalss]

Played a road game vs the Bucks a few nights ago. Had zero chance of winning. Freak was unstoppable with 41 points and 11 RBS, shot 18(!) FTs (I need to tone down his Draw Fouls attribute, way too high). Bledsoe had 23 and Middleton 17. On our end there wasn't much hope, Griffin was the only one carrying the team but was in foul trouble like some other players, and our defense was nowhere to be found.

Last night we played the Pacers on the road and our guys took out the frustration on this poor team. Our defense destroyed them, held them to 87 points at 32% from the field while we scored 120+ points, shut down Oladipo and we moved the ball so well that they couldn't keep up with us. Hopefully we can build some momentum and find a way back to .500 record because we are currently 11th in the East early in the season.

[youvalss]

Had a crazy game on the road vs the Celtics 2 night ago. Started pretty close game but we took off in the second and our defense choked them. Kyrie was having a terrible game for most of the night, and at some point we were up by 20 in the 3rd. Then momentum shifted and they started a huge comeback, but we kept fighting. In the 4th they really came back and Kyrie was suddenly making 3s left and right, drawing fouls and making tough shots. Suddenly they are down by 2. We pull ourselves together and manage to pull a tight win 98-95.

Kyrie had a rough night overall - scored around 30 but shot about 11/31 from the field. Brown with 17 and the rest of the guys weren't dominant but contributed together. Griffin with close to 30, Drummond with 15 pts, 21 RBS and 3 blocks. Both teams shot under 40%, so there were a lot of rebounds to grab. I was just happy to get a road win, and now we are 9-9 after a few more wins.

[CalvennW]

I recently installed both Live 18 and 19 on my PS5 and what I experienced surprised me. Live 19 improved in regards to animations but became more scripted in my opinion! The graphics compared to 18, though better in some aspects was a downgrade. Why the hell did EA back away from what they had going with 18? 18 just plays better all around minus the new animations in 19. Better overall lighting, well defined player models that better depicted the true size of their real life counterparts (except certain players with overly broad shoulders), sweat details, and very dynamic and energized player movements not to mention a surprisingly competent AI on both sides of the ball! I am saying all this after playing 2k21 and 2k22 on PS5.

This game, Live 18, still captivates me more than any bball game to date!

In 18, players look and perform more athletically! The motion was very fluid. Just an impressive game after all this time! It obviously would benefit greatly through further refinements like better individualization of players (signature, etc) and other AI improvements. Still have to give props here!!

The 2k games have also improved since their next gen transition (had a hard time getting engaged prior) but I truly wish EA had remained in the game and found a way to really build off the very solid foundation of Live 18 and 19 to some degree. Basically blend the best of what both games had to offer and ensure to receive critical feedback from the community regarding those key components that needed to remain from both games. Once that's accomplished, then they can look to modernize and improve the game even further with those strengths in tact!

What are your thoughts? I wish I could transfer rosters in 18 with all the players currently in the league represented.

[CalvennW]

To be more specific, even though Live 19 cleaned up some issues from 18, it added a slew of new issues and just appears more gimmicky. That overused and broken dribble slanted walk up from the backcourt and the canned instances of animations is simply excessive and takes away from core aspects of the game. Live 18 is more true in this regard and presents a more physical game with better defense. I could go on but I now realize some of my initial oversights with Live 19.

[youvalss]

Assuming I'm not replying to a bot...Yes, I agree, 18 is better than 19. I personally can't stand 19's player models and skin tones are dull. Don't forget that EA lied about 19's graphics, go back to the first screenshots of players released early on (the ones in the darkness, if I remember) and see what they did. Also hate 19's commentary. Liked it early on, but after a short while I couldn't stand it.


18 to me plays just right with great pace and feel. Also think 18's controls are more responsive and shooting a jumpers feels so good!


One thing that hasn't been fixed on that generation is PGs hardly getting tired. You can play a full quarter with the other players getting orange energy bars, and your PG would be still mostly sollid green just slightly lighter. I am not sure if it's just the user or also CPU, but they do sub out their PGs. Never thought about it before but I might tone down every PG's stamina 20 clicks or so.


Too bad there are some canned animations, especially around the basket/in the post, and some of them also carry an automatic foul as well. Also hate that celebrations are part of the dunk animations. No matter who performs these dunks, it's always the same celebration. They need to separate it from the dunk itself. They must have mo-capped the dunks and kept the entire sequence with the celebration. Bad move.



Overall 18 is my favorite Live game and might just be my favorite overall.