Please help me understand

[CactusJunk]

As I voiced in the (now frozen?) "this game owns my soul" thread, I'm having some problems. In case it matters, I'm doing a legacy, starting with LIU, using excellent333's 2008-2009 PS3 rosters that I got off 2kShare.

Most of my problems are like other ones that people note, just magnified. My guys blow tons of layups and gimme shots (easily over 50% missed), my interior guys get swatted at a frustrating rate, I have a very hard time getting decent enough ball movement to either free up guys for open looks or create penetration lanes (which leads to either bad percentage shots or turnovers due to forced passes and strips), inconsistent performance in beating the after-basket press, and generally sloppy and too loose defense. Unsurprisingly, the severity of this varies and I have managed to win a few games and stay close in most (of course Notre Dame whipped me silly my first game of the season).

The lowlight of my struggles came a few nights ago in a holiday tournament consolation game against NJIT. They took a 20-0 lead (or something like that) right off the bat. Basically, after it got to around 12-0 I started doing all kinds of crazy stuff out of frustration, so maybe the rest of the drubbing I took was simply due to half-assed play on my part. My team was rimming out layups, missing both ends of free throws, airballing treys and clanging mid-range jumpers, and I could not get any of my interior guys to consistently attack the basket when they had the ball near the rim (they ended up doing a bunch of soft moves rather than go right at the basket for a lay-in). I also kept giving up steals by trying to force penetration; that's clearly on me, but I was trying to see if anything at all would work to get some points on the board. Of course, NJIT was getting freebie layups (no misses, naturally) on the break off my bad shots and turnovers, killing me inside with all kinds of open cutters, and draining treys at will. I just couldn't take the frustration any more after it got to about 26-4 and had to shut if off, which is something I hate doing. I probably should have just simmed to the end and then shut down, but I was probably about 5 seconds away from a stroke and had to get away from the game ASAP. It was brutal, probably the worst beatdown I've ever taken in a video game, at least from the CPU. The worst part is that NJIT was 0-14 coming into the game and I was 5-7 (4-6 in games I played). NJIT was the nominal home team for the game, but it was being played at UCF.

I tried replaying this game eight more times, just out of morbid curiosity to see whether I could actually win against them. Every time, it was blowout city and I would re-start before finishing to try again. Eventually I just simmed the rest of the game one time after being down a dozen at the half and lost something like 48-33. That was a really ugly first half, something like 28-16.

Now, I move on right after that and play Sacred Heart at home. As I recall, they're pretty evenly rated with LIU, maybe a shade above. I pretty much kicked their tail and ended up winning something like 72-59. I still had many of my usual problems, but not to the horrific extent of every single game I tried against NJIT. My question (after all this labored setup) is: are there some games that it is just predetermined that you cannot win? It's obvious the homecourt is a major factor in this game, but I can't see that realistically applying (at least to such a large extent) in the NJIT game, given the neutral site. It really seemed like, every time I tried playing the vsNJIT game, nothing I did would work and everything the CPU did clicked. Any thoughts on this (or advice for people new to the game and struggling like I am) would be appreciated.

[RubenDouglas]

i know you said you downloaded someones rosterss, but what skill level are you playing at and are you playing with any sliders? meaning whats changed. they may honestly be too hard or set to where they may only work with a user team thats rated in the high 70s to 80s.

ive never felt predetermined outcomes in any game ive played. I can maintain leads through the 2nd half and see the CPU go through zero runs. I can lose games as I let a tie slip away. I felt ive been in every game ive played.


may i recommend AuburnALum's sliders. even setting those to All Conference yields good results, if ALL AMERICAN is too hard... theres nothing wrong with being bad at a game. I dont consider myself good and I enjoy the game with Auburn's settings.

then again, there may be something inherently wrong with the roster ratings of the players to where they dont respond right to the current slider settings.. ive played games with nothing but default 07-08 rosters (the way the developers intended the game to be played). Unless he has the same ratings basis, its hard to say why you have having a tough time.

I would do a quick test.. download a 07-08 base roster with just names, and input AAs slider settings and see how your games play out.

[CactusJunk]

Ruben:

Thanks a bunch for the advice. I've been playing on All-Conference, but I can't give specific details off the top of my head. I think I'm going to do what you suggest with AA's sliders and a base 07-08 roster and see how things go from there. Not to sound like a total idiot, but is there a base 07-08 roster with real names that I should look for?

[RubenDouglas]

im on 360, but it still seems that if you browse by top 100 users or top 100 files, more than likely at least 2 of the top 10 have to do with earlier roster sets. I know on the 360, one of the most popular ones is the first OSversion1 set with the most downloads. Which makes sense since back then everyone was playing the game and garnered the most attention.

With AA's sliders in place, there are games where I too cannot get a bucket to save my life, so I attack the basket and get some FTs. on Default, Fouls are there, but not nearly as well as they should be

[CactusJunk]

Cool ... I'm going to get into this soon. Thanks again.

[warnerwlf98]

This has nothing to do with difficulty, but it seems whenever I try to download someone else's rosters, playbooks, or anything, I either get freezes, or the bug I've seen in versions of NBA 2K - where you score, but no one picks up the ball and tries to in bound it.

The problem goes away once I restart the 360 and ignore the downloaded files, but I'd really like to know if there is some kind of way around it. Thanks.

[RubenDouglas]

Quote: Originally Posted by warnerwlf98

This has nothing to do with difficulty, but it seems whenever I try to download someone else's rosters, playbooks, or anything, I either get freezes, or the bug I've seen in versions of NBA 2K - where you score, but no one picks up the ball and tries to in bound it. The problem goes away once I restart the 360 and ignore the downloaded files, but I'd really like to know if there is some kind of way around it. Thanks.

i think its 100% to do with the settings file. just delete that/ revert back to DEFAULT, and you should be good to go. just remember when you go back to default, AUTOSAVE is turned back on, so just remember that if you are doing something you dont want autosaved or overwritten

[warnerwlf98]

Quote: Originally Posted by RubenDouglas

i think its 100% to do with the settings file. just delete that/ revert back to DEFAULT, and you should be good to go. just remember when you go back to default, AUTOSAVE is turned back on, so just remember that if you are doing something you dont want autosaved or overwritten

Thanks. I'll give it a try.

[CactusJunk]

So far, this is looking to be very good advice. Still using LIU, now with the AA sliders on All-Conference and what I think is a base (with real names) 2007-2008 roster. I had a great game at Temple to open the season - kept it to within four until a few minutes into the second half, at which time they turned on the juice and blew me out of the building. Very believable pace and development to the game. Since I ultimately want to land the Temple job, I was hoping for a better performance (not that that would affect my chances of ever landing the gig, I suppose), but they ultimately did me like they ought to. Second game of the season, I stomped Army on the road. I was up over 20 when I put in the reserves and it end up like a 14 point win. The thing I really like about this roster set is that my favorite player from my aborted 2008-9 LIU team, Kyle Johnson, is clearly going to end up being my favorite on this squad, too. Plus, I'll have him for one more season that I would have with my first legacy.

To this point, the really frustrating stuff seems to have lessened (still there, just not as much) and I'm enjoying things much more than I was. I hope it continues. Thanks again for the advice!