NBA 2K20 Gameplay Blog

[Rudy]

A lot of really good stuff in here.

[Rudy]

I loved the switch in 2K18 away from an animation based movement system. I like hearing quickness matchups and foot planting will be better but still a little nervous. I like the defensive direction indicator and how it’s ratings based. Upgraded dribble moves, signature dribbles and extra finishing moves sound great but I suck at that stuff lol. Big men are going to be more restricted in some things too.

Overall an impressive list of changes.

[Rudy]

Other stuff:

Switch defence may be good as I get annoyed when I don’t know what my teammate is doing and give up an easy dunk:
And for you simheads, we’re also giving you manual switch controls. Simply hold the Swap Player button or double flick the right stick to call for a switch and manually override your coach’s screen defense strategy.

Transition Defense got some love and you can walk up or protect the paint.

[Rudy]

From Da Czar on OS on how cpu no longer has perfect releases:

I like this change A-lot actually. It just means that every shot the AI shoots is no longer a perfect release. Before, if the AI perfect shot release had them shoot 50% form a certain area on the floor. Now, there is a variance to their shot release just like with a human so sometimes he has an early release and that 50% shot is only 40% for him on that particular possession.

The AI's timing is worse on lower levels so you can make more defensive mistakes and not pay as much. As you raise the level of play they get more accurate with their release timings. It is a dope change IMO.

https://forums.operationsports.com/f...1&postcount=27

[Rudy]

Czar tweeted that the new custom plays/play action buttons can be quickly mapped to the same buttons. Makes for quick sets of custom plays.

[Rudy]

Can’t spam turbo this year now. Part of the new motion engine.

[Rudy]

Can’t spam turbo this year now. Part of the new motion engine.

[Rudy]

No auto combo dribble moves. I’m not sure exactly what that means.

Each flick of the RS is a single move, no more auto-combos. Curry's behind back wrap is now a standalone move (Sprint Trigger+RS down.) So you manually do last year's Curry combo this year by doing the tween right into the behind back wrap. You pick one size-up sig pack.

— Mike Wang (@Beluba) August 5, 2019

[Rudy]

Yes. You can choose whether it's by hands, at your feet, or off. The feet meter fills all the way left to right, similar to 2K17, and the by hands meter is a little smaller than last year. You can also select your green release effect (quick flash, water splash, or paint splat)

— Mike Wang (@Beluba) August 5, 2019

Anklebreaker is still the main badge for more effective stepback dribble moves... new badge called Space Creator for more effective stepback jumpers.

— Mike Wang (@Beluba) August 5, 2019

Per Take-Two earnings, NBA 2K19 is now the best-selling game in the franchise to date, with nearly 12 million units sold-in. Recurrent spending also grew 140 percent. The cacophony of complaints about microtransactions didn’t seem to affect the bottom line at all.

— mattbertz (@mattbertz) August 5, 2019

There are always new animations added. A few rebounding badges: "Rebound Chaser" helps chase down long rebounds, "Worm" helps get around boxouts, "Box" makes it tougher for worms.

— Mike Wang (@Beluba) August 5, 2019

[Rudy]

Some new stuff that i don't think has been mentioned yet
-Deep Hooks badge, for players like Kareem
-Space creator or stepback badge
-Green releases visible to everyone
-3 new rebounding badges, Rebound Chaser for long boards, Worm for getting around boxouts, Box makes it harder for Worms to get around
- OP takeover animations reduced or removed
-Slippery Offball badge
-Clamps for Perimeter Lockdowns, Post Move Lockdown for Post Lockdowns

[Rudy]

Today's game is all about changing speeds. The stop and go game is critical and it was one of the big focus points with the dribble style system this year. You should feel the difference immediately between Conley and Westbrook with first steps, stops and overall feel on the LS https://t.co/3WBh2I6gDe

— Scott O'Gallagher (@ScottOGallagher) August 6, 2019

[Rudy]

Microwave badge changed to hot start.

Microwave was redesigned and changed to Hot Start. If you have this badge and can knock down your first jumper, you get a boost to your shot ratings for a period of time. the more shots you can knock down w/o missing, the longer you keep your boosts.

— Mike Wang (@Beluba) August 6, 2019

Layup rating will matter more this year. Contested layups more affected by ratings.

[Rudy]

I guess they added offensive sets/options into the pause menu now. That will be nice to not have to do certain things on the fly.

Also the speed of the players in the open court will be very noticeable between slow and fast. I used to put the min/max settings at 80/20 to help but this year we shall see.

Initial gameplay thoughts on #NBA2K20 Mind you we only played Lakers-Clippers, Nothing about myplayers. https://t.co/b8EuZAk3UO pic.twitter.com/teh52TmP9x

— Charlie (@CB13) August 7, 2019

[Rudy]

Quick note about shot timing in NBA 2K20. Penalties for poor timing get stricter the further you are from the hoop. Yes, layup timing is in the game but poor timing in close doesn't hurt you too bad. But bad timing on 3's will lead to a lot of bricking. 🧱🧱🧱

— Mike Wang (@Beluba) August 7, 2019

[Rudy]

2K takes shot at EA in game lol.

[Rudy]

Interesting stats on how easy it is to get a green shot in 2k19. No penalty if wide open but 90% chance removed if smothered.

In 2K19, wide open was 0%, Open was < 20%, Lightly between 20-65%, Heavily between 65-90%, Smothered was >90%

— Mike Wang (@Beluba) August 7, 2019

[Rudy]

Here is a YouTube video of impressions from a skilled player I guess. I found it OK. I really don’t like video commentaries because they aren’t that well laid out or organized. Just rambling. Much prefer written impressions.

[Rudy]

Cant spam block button and will be able to draw fouls more this way.

spamming won't do much good, we hit defensive impact hard as you're coming down from a block and also it's easy to draw a foul as a shooter if the blocker jumps early. you still need to time your blocks correctly to be successful on defense.

— Mike Wang (@Beluba) August 13, 2019

[Rudy]

A summary from Dirk on OS about the Czar video

Summary from this video.

1. Czar doesn't work on the servers. (Ronnie does).

2. Dribble gods will have to use weight and timing. The 27 motion styles will make it hard to 'master' dribble moves.

3. It's not all turboing everywhere. The example used was turboing off screens will make your movement harder to control and wider. Changing speeds will be huge.

4. Dribble hand offs smoother, but they haven't been able to get the guy to hand off and screen.

5. The new system is not flawless. It's a first year implementation.

6. You will not only feel the difference between bigs and smalls, but between different types of smalls.

7. Players will need to learn how to use the 3 defensive inputs. The auto square up is gone.

8. Bumping into a ball handler is not going to work as often.

9. CPU in transition is lethal.

10. You don't have to spend as much time in protect. Less on ball steals from CPU.