Wayback Wednesday: A Forgotten NBA 2K14 MyCAREER
This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at a forgotten NBA 2K14 MyCAREER game.
I’ve been having a blast with MyCAREER in the PlayStation 4 version of NBA 2K14 since I revisited it a couple of years ago to write a retrospective. I got hooked on it after giving NBA 2K14 PS4 a second chance following an uncommonly negative first impression, and it’s become one of my favourite basketball video games. It’s why I’m currently in my sixth season in that MyCAREER, with an eye towards somehow, some way, playing through to the current day. Truly experiencing an NBA career is far more fun than grinding and worrying about the online meta!
However, while that specific game is a fairly recent kick, it wasn’t actually my first foray into MyCAREER in NBA 2K14. When it was released, I did begin a new MyCAREER in the PC version of NBA 2K14, intending to continue the fun that I’d had in NBA 2K13. That didn’t come to pass, as I struggled to enjoy the game, and didn’t warm up to NBA 2K14 until almost a decade later. I did keep the save file though, and it was interesting to revisit it now that I have a more positive view of NBA 2K14. Let’s take a look back…way back…
Whenever I talk about NBA 2K14 and MyCAREER, I feel that some back story is necessary. NBA 2K13 was the first game in the series that I really got into at launch, as the addition of right stick dribbling made it far more accessible to a long-time NBA Live fan like me. It was also the first year I really came to enjoy MyCAREER. I’d been intrigued by My Player in NBA 2K12, but only played a few games before moving on. With a fresh new experience to enjoy and gameplay that appealed to me, I eagerly played through my entire rookie season on twelve minute quarters. As the release of NBA 2K14 loomed, I fully expected to continue the fun in a new game.
Unfortunately, it didn’t happen. A mix-up with the online store where I pre-ordered NBA 2K14 PC delayed me from getting my hands on a copy. Despite the similarities to NBA 2K13 – and indeed, some improvements – something about the gameplay felt off. As I’ve previously discussed, I also soured on the game when some 2K reps, and even a few developers, gleefully took some mean-spirited jabs at NBA Live 14. It’s not that they were wrong in their assessment, mind you, but it felt rather childish and unprofessional. As disappointed as I was in NBA Live as a long-time fan of the series, those swipes led to me approaching NBA 2K14 with an admittedly hostile attitude.
On top of that, I wasn’t truly ready to move on from NBA 2K13. It’s the New Game Blues that many of us experience every now and again. I’d grown attached to NBA 2K13, making it tough to vibe with its replacement. It’s comparable to the annoyance of a frequently-used social media platform or app changing its functions and layout. Obviously, I was also keen on the MyCAREER game I already had going, which was now halfway through Year 2. I didn’t relish the thought of starting over from scratch with an underpowered player. I’ve done that a few times in the years since, and that part of MyCAREER is never enjoyable. If anything, it’s only grown worse over time.
Nevertheless, I had a new game to play and cover for the NLSC, and I wanted to give it a chance. And so, I started a MyCAREER in NBA 2K14 PC. I was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves, which unfortunately didn’t help. Now, I don’t dislike the Timberwolves as a team, and they had some decent players to play with that year. The problem was that I’d become quite fond of the Denver Nuggets and their players, after spending a season and a half with them in NBA 2K13. I’d liken it to starting fresh at a new school, or maybe the transition from primary to high school. All similes aside, these factors resulted in me putting the game on ice, and never picking it up again.
Until now, that is! Revisiting my NBA 2K14 PC MyCAREER save all these years later, I was surprised to see that I’d played the first ten games of the season. I’d forgotten that I made it that far, to the point where I managed to replace Ricky Rubio as the starting point guard. It was actually my first year creating a point guard; I was a shooting guard in NBA 2K13, but a season-ending injury to Ty Lawson moved me to point, where I discovered my love for playing the position (and racking up assists). In hindsight, it’s odd that the Timberwolves drafted me when they already had Rubio and Luke Ridnour, and stranger still that I’d taken Rubio’s starting role within ten games.
That’s often the way it goes in MyCAREER though, even if your numbers aren’t great. The numbers I posted through the first ten games of that MyCAREER were nothing compared to what I’m putting up on PS4, though 7.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 5 apg, 1.6 spg, and 0.9 bpg isn’t too shabby for a point guard playing just 23.5 mpg. My Overall Rating of 65 aside, it’s not unthinkable that virtual Rick Adelman might get the idea that I’m the team’s point guard of the future instead of Rubio. Attacking the basket allowed me to shoot 49.1% from the field, but I was struggling from downtown, connecting on just 30.8% of my shots. I was also shooting an unreliable 66.7% from the free throw line.
Although I was playing better than my ratings through those first ten games, I do remember it being a struggle. Interestingly, the offline Skill Points in NBA 2K14 PC’s take on MyCAREER are far stingier than the offline version of VC on PlayStation 4, and upgrades are more expensive. I went ahead and played Game 11 – my first as a starter – and was quickly reminded that I can’t do everything I’m used to doing in Year 6 of my game on PS4! Without maxed-out ratings and the top level Signature Skills I’ve purchased in that version, I couldn’t dominate and control the game as I normally would. Despite a strong start, I failed to fill the stat sheet, though we did get the win.
I also realised that in 2013, I’d been playing with Camera Relative control settings, which wouldn’t have helped. Switching to the Absolute setting made it slightly easier, but my underpowered player still felt sluggish and outmatched. It’s actually made me appreciate the longer journey to becoming a starter in the PS4 version. While it does feel somewhat contrived given that it’s a predetermined story beat, it does actually ease you into a bigger role much more effectively. By the time I was starting in my PS4 MyCAREER, I’d been able to sufficiently upgrade my player. I was definitely thrown in at the deep end playing big minutes as a 65 Overall in NBA 2K14 PC!
Another interesting difference – and a factor in making the game more challenging – is that my NBA 2K14 PC MyCAREER predates my experience in trying to optimise my build for online and offline play alike. I’m using animations that sort of resemble how I shoot and dribble in real life, and they aren’t necessarily the most effective moves to equip (or again, what I’ve become used to playing with). It does have advantages over the PS4 version though, including a practice court I can freely shoot around on, and the ability to save multiple copies of the career. That facilitates experimentation that isn’t really feasible on PS4, not to mention the added security of a backup save file.
Ultimately, I put aside that MyCAREER game in favour of picking up my Chicago Bulls Dynasty in NBA Live 06 PC. It was the right move at the time, but I’m glad that I had the presence of mind to keep the MyCAREER save file in NBA 2K14 PC, as I’d done in NBA 2K13. By that point, I’d carelessly lost too many save files not to realise that there might be a chance – no matter how slim – that I’d want to return to it at some point. Dusting it off to play another game all these years later, with fresher eyes and far more experience with MyCAREER, definitely made holding onto it worthwhile. The starting role helped, too. It was probably the most fun game I’ve had in that save!
With that being said, could I continue playing it? Possibly, but I’ll admit that I’m not too inclined to do so. I’m having too much fun with my PS4 MyCAREER, where I’m maxed-out and creating highlights alongside Terry Hanson, on the road to my sixth consecutive championship. Playing a single game reminded me of how frustrating it is to be a lower-rated player, especially when you’re accustomed to a more powerful avatar. I could always hack the save file in order to speed up my progress, but my experiments with hacking NBA 2K13 and NBA 2K17 impressed upon me how empty that feels. I’m not in any rush to start over from square one, but I don’t want a shortcut.
Still, I’ll keep that save file, along with its backup. There may be a time when I want to play a game for the sake of comparison, or content creation. Since I’m probably not going to take it as seriously, maybe I will hack it to try to create a fun scenario. If nothing else, it’s good to have for posterity; a reminder of how far I managed to get, how a new MyCAREER game can go awry despite the freshness of a clean slate, and the simple fact that I did try to get into the mode long before I came to enjoy NBA 2K14. After all, it’s not like it’s taking up limited space on a small memory card, which is what sadly ended up nuking some of my old saved games for NBA Live.
My brief foray into MyCAREER in the PC version of NBA 2K14 wasn’t nearly as eventful and storied as my ongoing game in PS4, making it a forgotten attempt to step into the shoes of an NBA player. Who knows how far it would’ve gone if I’d had a better first impression of the game, or if I’d still be playing through multiple seasons on PS4 today if I’d sunk hours into the PC version back then. My new appreciation for NBA 2K14 helped me to break some unhealthy basketball gaming habits, so in that regard, I’d say it all worked out for the best. All the same, it’s fun to look back at a game that ended abruptly, and the road not taken as a promising young Timberwolf.
The post Wayback Wednesday: A Forgotten NBA 2K14 MyCAREER appeared first on NLSC.