Metascore is 81

>Metascore is 81
>User score is 1.7, and Steam reviews are also mostly negative due to the intrusive microtransactions

What's going on here?

Paid reviews vs honest opinions of cheap faggots.

journalists review the game, players review the experience.

A clique out of touch with its userbase.

Your career mode created player is much much slower to progress and gain stats than in previous version of the game so you've either got to grind like a motherfucker if you want to compete online and kind of even in the single player really or use real money to buy the currency to level up.

>not liking being forced to pay more in a game you already payed 60 bucks for means you're cheap

>want to play a modern NBA game
>2k16 feels needlessly convoluted and realistic
>Playgrounds feels like tries to go too far in the other direction with things like characters you have to unlock in random packs, stupid powerups, big heads etc.

I just want NBA Jam but with a modern roster. Fuck's sake.

>Microtransactions
There is the issue. I don't even like sports games, but no matter the genre, I shouldn't be forced to pay more when I bought the damn game.

I don't know how it is for NBA 2K, but I remembered being pissed as fuck when Dead Space 3s true ending was behind a paywall.

Your character starts with ~60% stats in what he is good at. You only earn VC, the game's virtual currency, through games. They removed the easy difficulty and the ability to shorten single player games. They removed the difficulty multiplier for VC when you play on hard or very hard. If you are benched or suck, which you likely will until you can buy at least 70% in some stat, you aren't earning shit. You can use VC to increase your levels but the costs quickly outstrip how much you earn. Playing online against others and you will find yourself up against people using Per Game boosts bought with VC. You want a different outfit than the default one? Need VC. You made a custom t-shirt that got enough community votes to be made in game? Still got to buy that shit with VC. Sponsored by UnderArmor? Here's three pairs of shoes, buy the rest with VC. Playing MyTeam mode and want to unlock more characters? Use VC for lootboxes with characters and boosts.

The whole fucking game is built around maintaining the value of VC which can be bought with real money.

Live 18 is okay. The RPG system feels a little weird but at least you can't buy XP and you're not useless right out of the gate.

Fucking awful. Grind is long as shit so you can bypass it by paying real money. Doesn't get anymore jewish than that.

every time I turn my PS4 on and navigate around the dash/store theres ads everywhere for coin packs and stuff for these sports games

what exactly is happening here

Kyrie cover.

Pretty much what said

Give them money or you're gonna miss out on fucking nothing

And a godawful story mode

I know i won't get a great answer here but fuck it.

Love NBA - haven't played a 2k game since 16. I never touch online multiplayer. I do like the career be a pro whatever the fuck its called. I know that the basketball gameplay is meant to still be good but is the career progression actually fucked in the face like the user reviews suggest it is? I'm not expecting to be the best player of all time by the end of the first season.

Oh well, there you go. Sounds like a nightmare.

...

I don't see what's wrong with this desu.
This is a f2p mobile game, right?

...

>creating your own player used to be a fantasy to have hilarious, overpowered players
>can't even do that anymore
>in single player

people in charge of AAA studios should literally get AIDS and die of bowel cancer

I was hoping NBA Playgrounds would fill the niche that Jam had, but it just doesn't play as well

This was my biggest complaint with the whole thing. I want to be a super athlete and kill the NBA record books, not be limited in my skill set.

So many great niggers in history in my games like "Shuga Wahls" "Baby Powder", my friends linemen "Da Brick" and "Da Wall" and his 7 foot indian wide receiver "Featha Head"

you know, playing video games for fun. Now I'm supposed to load up a sports game and grind my player for stats. Are they fucking serious?

Normal people playing video games make me sick becuase they just get suckered into doing all this fucking awful shit that isn't even fun. Everyone plays video games now, but 90% of them couldn't tell you why.

game journos don't actually play sports games very in depth, they just scratch the surface, it's usually shiny and "different enough" in the first few hours so that's an easy high score to give.
Fans don't bitch, EA, 2k or whoever don't bitch and everyone moves on with their lives.
Meathead sports fans are going to buy it day 1 no matter what and anyone educated enough wouldn't buy it in the first place anyway

EA makes game modes called Ultimate Team, where you buy packs of "cards" and use them in games against other people.
EA's been all over this lootcrate trend since 2011

wow that sounds like pure fucking cancer.

It's even worse when the player is forced to create their own avatar, with substandard stats, then expect them to compete at the highest level. Either the player just quits, or they spend a fortune making their avatar a mediocre player.

It is.

One of THE most microtransactions filled game in the free market..

Long gone are the day of NBA street.

I REMINISCE, I REMINISCE

If Street came out today you would have to pay for lootboxes to get your nickname and DJ Cucumber Slice would be DLC

Sports games are all like this. MLB the show, the currency is stubs. Want to buy packs for your fantasy team? Stubs. Want to buy cleats that give your player a boost in speed? Stubs. Want to buy the points to improve your player without gear? Stubs. Want that sweet Ken Griffey Jr card? 500,000 Stubs, or $500 Real US Dollars.

Is Football Sim like this?

I just want to be a NBA rookie and then become insanely good as I level up
Unfortunately, that's only possible after like 4 seasons of playing in all the recent 2k games unless I fucking pay for more points

I haven't played Madden since 2013 when Madden 25 came out. But back then the MUT mode had a separate currency than the rest of the game. If I had to guess, Madden, Fifa, and NHL all have a system similar to the 2k or Sony San Diego system

I remember when I wanted another Street. I know now that if that happened it'd just be the product of a monkey's paw.

What a shame.

I was really hyped when I saw Live had a big street mode but all the clothes are lootboxes. I just want new shorts for fucks sake.

which NBA 2k game has the best career mode?

2k16's was pretty fucking funny

>story treats me like I'm fucking Lebron James
>picked almost dead last in the second round of draft, benchwarmer for the nets, never win a single game
>expects you to feel bad for a character dying when they just blackmailed you like ten minutes ago

So was it supposed to be a documentary or something? What was with the interviews?

The ones where you could boost all your stats to 99. Anything past that is garbage.

>character dying when they just blackmailed you
right I completely forgot that one had the fucking Spike Lee story which obviously ended up way too over the top
how's 2k15 and 2k17?

yeah I think so

17 had Michael B. Jordan and an awful fucking gimmick of "Orange Juice" as a name for your character and his.

you literally answered the question before asking it, what the fuck do you mean whats going on

Who the fuck even plays sports games?

You couldn't at the start. That's the point. You slowly progress by playing well.

Which was the first game that introduced those shitty story things in the career mode? I play 2k12 last and it was okay, bu the PC version had game breaking bugs like the play-vision not working, so I had no idea what I was supposed to do.

the story can go pretty much as retarded as it wants to (at least I'll be able to laugh), I just want good gameplay, stat increases that don't stop after 3 hours of playing unless I grind for 300 more hours, and if possible no annoying QTE minigames for training that I have to repeat after every game
that' stuff is usually what turns me off WWE games

I think it was 14.

The NBA 2K games are pretty fun user but the recent installments have been grindy shit

>reviewer gets copy of the game for free with code for 50000 ballerbucks to buy everything

>average joe shucks out 60 bucks and is then bombarded by ads to buy all the things

Hmmm.

17 had the worst gameplay in recent memory. If your character scored more than 10 points you are double teamed as soon as you cross half court and you can just get an assist every time. To its credit, 18 is a lot better and you can create custom characters outside of career mode if you just want to 99 everything.

I'm currently trying to google which 2k game has the least grind and it's hilarious to find comments like "I don't see the problem, I played 10 seasons and had enough points to upgrade everything"
I don't even wanna know how many hours/how much money the kids who actually play the online mode put into the games every year

>introduce dual archetypes this year
>somehow your character is worse with 2 archetypes then last year when we had 1

Who thought that being a role player at the height of your abilites is fun?
Fucking 2 k cunts. Im laughing at their fucking faces everytime they try to act like they are "esports" now

I don't reference youtubers but Chris Smoove had this same complaint on how 2k is trying to go the esports route.
it's fucking retarded and I honestly thought the dual archetype would mitigate the limitation. Boy was I wrong

Live has the least grind in modern memory but it's way too easy to get 30+ points a game and every single clothing item is lootboxed. I'm a wing scorer and dunking all over two defenders at a time. The coop boss fights are a nice addition though to get non pvp online play but no one knows shit about basketball and just shoots like crazy against bosses and gets stuffed every time.

>If your character scored more than 10 points you are double teamed as soon as you cross half court and you can just get an assist every time
Is this the only problem? Cause I'm quite happy using that retarded AI tactic to be a teamplayer

based smoove at least he isn't sucking 2k off like every other guy that plays this game

It's the biggest one I remember. You also get subbed out and lose the game a lot if you play on higher difficulty. That may be because I was on the Bulls but I would get a 15 point lead and get subbed in the 4th quarter and then we would lose by 10.

lel, guess I'm not gonna play on the highest difficulty then

>the Bulls

Journalists play the game for a few hours, the 1.7 user reviews are from putting more time in to it.

Journalists also have to be careful what they say about certain games, if the game is reviewed too poorly they might lose access to games from that company in the future or not be granted interviews with people from that company, etc. WWE 2K18 barely seems to function properly at the moment, but I doubt the review scores from journalists will reflect that.

i miss being able to become an NBA God
sim engine is terrible
MyTeam is a money sink
MyCareer is a money sink
servers are trash as fuck
I wouldn't be surprised you have to pay VC to unlock game modes in 2k19

As someone that only owns 2k17 because of AJ Styles, Nakamura, and Goldberg can you tell me what 2k18 is supposed to have to make it better? Because I mean if it has GM mode or a shitload of arenas for exhibition, or bringing back showcases or any other real story mode besides this "make a CAW and spend fifty hours slumming on NXT before you become a midcarder for life afterwards" horseshit then I'll buy it bugs and all.

what's the funnest position for career mode? I'm thinking something like SG to go fast and cheese the 3 pointers

I love Smoove

Haven't played a 2k since 14, what's it like now?

if you like shooting i'd recommend a 6'5 Sg with 3pt/Playmaker or Playmaker/3Pt. I know it's not the most efficient combo out there but I have fun with it

gotta pay an additional $50 just to play on Park

it's not my particular favorite, but in the last NBA game I played (which was ages ago), shooting guards could basically do everything the best, and 3 point throws were easy as fuck compared to actually trying to get past the defense inside

I've downloaded and deleted 2k16 off my PS4 like four times this week since I keep wanting to play a basketball game but every time I actually go to play it I realize it's too sim-y for my tastes and I'd rather play damn near anything else.

Park?

The exact same with even more grinding
Online game mode

You can't do everything nowadays with the new system. You are a role player at best. with attributes in the high 80's in what you specialize in. Everything else will be in the 60's

On top of that they nerfed the shooting percentages so having 90 in three point shooting comes out at about 40 %

It's always been the SG or C for me. I just create an elite scoring SG or a defensive powerhouse C and wreck shit.

Yeah even black people (their core playerbase) have come out and said this game is shit, people are moving to NBA Live 18

>with attributes in the high 80's in what you specialize in
I'm fine with not having 99 in everything, but high 80s is the top you can reach? so you can't even become one of the best players, statistically?
yeah strangely enough, the most fun things I can imagine are either being the tiniest or the biggest dude around

Being the best statistically is not possible at all since that would be fun. You could have 3 point shooting in the 90 if you go for a solo archetype on 3 pointers for example but that would leave everything else in the 50-60's. Even midrange shooting goes only to a high 70 irc as a "sharpshooter".

well I don't know about balance since I don't play online, but surely it should at the very least be possible to become as good as, say, Michael Jordan

I know you are fucking with me at this point but i really wish they would just seperate MyCareer and Online

why would you think that? none of my posts have been jokes or attempts to troll you
what's the point of playing a NBA game if you can only become a kind of good player?
I mean for all I know, high 70 as a sharpshooter might still mean you always make your shot if not opposed, I haven't played the game yet

Let me put it like this your ceiling is not Mj it's Kyle Korver and im talking about a 36 year old Korver not a young one

oh well I guess that kinda balances out if you take player ability vs the AI into account

Yes that's true but it's very boring because you have to do the same thing over and over again to be effective. there is no way to mix up your game because you simply don't have the stats for it.

so you can't even be Vince Carter? (sorry if this is an outdated reference, I'm incredibly out of touch)

You can actually get good dunk ratings if you choose driving as an archetype. Altough I wouldn't say Vince Carter was just a dunker.

>Altough I wouldn't say Vince Carter was just a dunker
that's exactly my point.
>so you can't even be

You can be good at one thing, decent at something else and suck for every other basketball related skill

how could any one human possibly possess the skills to jump high AND throw good free throws?

Played the series since 2k13 and so I knew what to expect in regards to micro transactions and I think the game itself is great.

It’s easier to get badges this year, your stats seem less capped this year and if you know what you are doing you can make a really good player and dunk on everybody in the park (I made a lightweight 6ft7 shooting guard sharpshooting shot creator).

Bought the shaq edition on Switch with the pre-order bonus and you got 100k VC to bypass 80% of the grind and it’s a blast honestly

Basically tried to fuck over their user base by making leveling extra slow, and earning money twice as slow as the last game. Trying to force players to spend real money to get better gear, shots, dribble moves etc...... basically more loot box pay to win bullshit.

huh, looks like most people prefer a PG in 2k17, probably because you're the one actually doing shit instead of trying to get your teammates to pass the ball to you

Modern video gaming happened. All games are trying to pull this shit lately.

>tfw used the VC glitch to get to 89

Did the career mode ever get good?
It was so atrocious in the demo that I decided right then to cancel my pre-order and just play 2k17 instead.

its corny and stupid as fuck

*teleports behind you*
OH DJ WHATUUUUUUP

>indicators of a free W