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TroyF · 08-29-2008, 03:00 PM

I have played out 20 complete games at full15 min qtrs so far, so something is right with the game.

Yup

Bottom line it is fun to play, the draft is fantastic, the scouting is really well done.

Yup

Further bottom line it is riddled with bugs and the workaround list needs its own prima guide.

Meh

Passing is WAY too easy. Pretty much every QB for any human control team can throw for 4,000 yards. I had Brady Quinn throw for the second most yards in history and pretty much every post I have seen has their QB throwing for 4,000+ yards. I don't even like to throw the ball preferring an old school run first philosophy, but...

Passing is too easy and running is too hard. But. . . some of this just has to do with the ratings of certain players. Quinn actually has pretty solid ratings and potential. (Alex Smith does in the game as well)

Running is WAY too hard - 2.5 yards a carry is not good.

All I can say here is that you are doing something wrong if you are talking about your offense. The CPU's running game? I talked about it above. Frustrating to be sure. Bur yours? Run behind your best blockers. Make use of the play action pass. Make sure 7-10 running plays are ones you have mastered. Running the ball just isn't that hard for the human team if you have a good line and you are calling the right plays. (Clevelands line in good. I think a healthy dose of Jamaal trap plays would eaisly get you 3.8 to 4.4 yards per carry. This isn't me being a fan boy, it's me running the ball in the test games and having success.

Fumbles are out of control - 5 a game on average.

No question. It's been widely reported.

Kickers can't make field goals beyond 29 yards and not only do they miss they come up 10 yards short. junior football kickers are better than this.

Adjust the kick power slider. Akers hit a 48 yarder for me last night. I think the accuracy is still a bit off and I may tweak it post patch, but it's not annoying at all once the kick power has been raised.

You can't call plays in 2 minute offense (it runs no huddle and calls the exact same play over and over without any option to audible)

They are changing this after the patch. Why it was ever allowed to go this way pre patch was beyond me. I have another problem with it that most people haven't talked about. Let's say there is 1:10 left in the half and I have the ball at my own 15. I'm just going to try to run the clock out. But it'll start the no huddle and run my running play up the middle causig me to take a time out to stop it. This was messed up badly and I'm glad it will be fixed.

Starting QB's play on the kickoff team which is a minor annoyance until they get hurt and then it becomes a major annoyance. Although no worries your scrup backup will throw for 300 yards a game anyway.

I missed this one. I just looked at my stats in three different test careers and no starting QB has a tackle. None has ever been injured either. (shocking thinking about it, but I've yet to have a QB go down)

Injury bug, salary bug

Will be fixed, will be fixed. Both have easy workarounds.

The GM portion of the game is a blast to play and very well done. But if the bugs force me to sim games rather than play them out, and there is a 15 year cap - why wouldn't I just play FOF? I really want to love this game, it is so close to being great, but in typical EA fashion they screw up just enough of it to drive you crazy.

I agree with some of this. But I'll be honest here. If this game only had a sim module and I could only go 15 years. . . I'd still put in 50+ hours with it. The offseason and draft are that fun.

To be fair, most of the bugs are on the patch list, but as with all EA things, I will believe it when I see it.

I dunno. EA is a huge company. All their parts aren't equal. This Head Coach team put out an incredible game and has been responsive. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until they prove they don't deserve it.

Also I was already forced to scrap one season and start over because of the injury bug and I am afraid that I will need to do it again in order to benefit from the patch.

From the op sports boards, they said save games were not altered and the fixed would be in place for any career, pre or post patch. That could be wrong, but that's what I've read.

Yes all games have limitations, and this game is light years ahead of the crap that was the first Head Coach. But the mounting list of issues here is disheartening.

Disheartening for some I guess. I guess it's a matter of expectations. Mine were somwhere between a sliver of paper and the floor. What I've got has blown me away. Are there problems? No question. Even after the patch, there will be some things I'll be frustrated with. Frustrated enough to put the game down? No way.

I know we should all know this by now, but seriously what is EA's beta testing policy, let one guys 5 year old play it for 30 minutes and then consider it gold?

Even further bottom line - the fanboyism on the OS boards is off the charts. anything pointing out the obvious errors is shot down with a flood of fanboy nonsense. The guys over there are so ecstatic that the developers actually respond (which is so uncommon with EA) that they overlook the fact that while they have talked about a patch, they have yet to produce anything. I am an admited fanboy on the OOTP forums, but that is because Markus has an almost 10 year track record of listening and addressing bugs. EA has an even longer record of counting their money while making the evil laugh sound.

Look, EA just came out with their best football game in years. They went back to the drawing board after the disaster that was NFL Head Coach #1 and created a game that is incredibly FUN. I'll say that word again, because it's important. . . FUN There has yet to be a perfect sports game made. Was Tecmo Bowl perfect or realistic? No, but it sure as hell was fun. How about FM? Does it do a perfect job of managing real world soccer? No, it doesn't. It's the single best text sim of all time and there are parts of it everyone would like to see tweaked or improved upon.

Are the issues you bring up about head coach serious? Yeah, they are. Especially the CPU running game. That's a critical fix that needs to get into place. They also need to extend the career to 30 or 40 years. And the things they said need patched do in fact need fixed. All of that said, the game is a ridiculous amount of fun. Head Coach is now in the top 10 for console games I've ever played. I doubt seriously that I'll put more than 45 minutes (total) into any other video game until NBA2K9 comes out. And even then I'll alternate between the two.

There are bugs and for some people they may be game killing bugs. I perfectly understand that. (I've been complaining about OOTP for years while others enjoy the game) EA may be the devil. . . but they nailed this one.

08-29-2008, 03:00 PM	#452
TroyF Coordinator Join Date: Oct 2000	I have played out 20 complete games at full15 min qtrs so far, so something is right with the game. Yup Bottom line it is fun to play, the draft is fantastic, the scouting is really well done. Yup Further bottom line it is riddled with bugs and the workaround list needs its own prima guide. Meh Passing is WAY too easy. Pretty much every QB for any human control team can throw for 4,000 yards. I had Brady Quinn throw for the second most yards in history and pretty much every post I have seen has their QB throwing for 4,000+ yards. I don't even like to throw the ball preferring an old school run first philosophy, but... Passing is too easy and running is too hard. But. . . some of this just has to do with the ratings of certain players. Quinn actually has pretty solid ratings and potential. (Alex Smith does in the game as well) Running is WAY too hard - 2.5 yards a carry is not good. All I can say here is that you are doing something wrong if you are talking about your offense. The CPU's running game? I talked about it above. Frustrating to be sure. Bur yours? Run behind your best blockers. Make use of the play action pass. Make sure 7-10 running plays are ones you have mastered. Running the ball just isn't that hard for the human team if you have a good line and you are calling the right plays. (Clevelands line in good. I think a healthy dose of Jamaal trap plays would eaisly get you 3.8 to 4.4 yards per carry. This isn't me being a fan boy, it's me running the ball in the test games and having success. Fumbles are out of control - 5 a game on average. No question. It's been widely reported. Kickers can't make field goals beyond 29 yards and not only do they miss they come up 10 yards short. junior football kickers are better than this. Adjust the kick power slider. Akers hit a 48 yarder for me last night. I think the accuracy is still a bit off and I may tweak it post patch, but it's not annoying at all once the kick power has been raised. You can't call plays in 2 minute offense (it runs no huddle and calls the exact same play over and over without any option to audible) They are changing this after the patch. Why it was ever allowed to go this way pre patch was beyond me. I have another problem with it that most people haven't talked about. Let's say there is 1:10 left in the half and I have the ball at my own 15. I'm just going to try to run the clock out. But it'll start the no huddle and run my running play up the middle causig me to take a time out to stop it. This was messed up badly and I'm glad it will be fixed. Starting QB's play on the kickoff team which is a minor annoyance until they get hurt and then it becomes a major annoyance. Although no worries your scrup backup will throw for 300 yards a game anyway. I missed this one. I just looked at my stats in three different test careers and no starting QB has a tackle. None has ever been injured either. (shocking thinking about it, but I've yet to have a QB go down) Injury bug, salary bug Will be fixed, will be fixed. Both have easy workarounds. The GM portion of the game is a blast to play and very well done. But if the bugs force me to sim games rather than play them out, and there is a 15 year cap - why wouldn't I just play FOF? I really want to love this game, it is so close to being great, but in typical EA fashion they screw up just enough of it to drive you crazy. I agree with some of this. But I'll be honest here. If this game only had a sim module and I could only go 15 years. . . I'd still put in 50+ hours with it. The offseason and draft are that fun. To be fair, most of the bugs are on the patch list, but as with all EA things, I will believe it when I see it. I dunno. EA is a huge company. All their parts aren't equal. This Head Coach team put out an incredible game and has been responsive. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until they prove they don't deserve it. Also I was already forced to scrap one season and start over because of the injury bug and I am afraid that I will need to do it again in order to benefit from the patch. From the op sports boards, they said save games were not altered and the fixed would be in place for any career, pre or post patch. That could be wrong, but that's what I've read. Yes all games have limitations, and this game is light years ahead of the crap that was the first Head Coach. But the mounting list of issues here is disheartening. Disheartening for some I guess. I guess it's a matter of expectations. Mine were somwhere between a sliver of paper and the floor. What I've got has blown me away. Are there problems? No question. Even after the patch, there will be some things I'll be frustrated with. Frustrated enough to put the game down? No way. I know we should all know this by now, but seriously what is EA's beta testing policy, let one guys 5 year old play it for 30 minutes and then consider it gold? Even further bottom line - the fanboyism on the OS boards is off the charts. anything pointing out the obvious errors is shot down with a flood of fanboy nonsense. The guys over there are so ecstatic that the developers actually respond (which is so uncommon with EA) that they overlook the fact that while they have talked about a patch, they have yet to produce anything. I am an admited fanboy on the OOTP forums, but that is because Markus has an almost 10 year track record of listening and addressing bugs. EA has an even longer record of counting their money while making the evil laugh sound. Look, EA just came out with their best football game in years. They went back to the drawing board after the disaster that was NFL Head Coach #1 and created a game that is incredibly FUN. I'll say that word again, because it's important. . . FUN There has yet to be a perfect sports game made. Was Tecmo Bowl perfect or realistic? No, but it sure as hell was fun. How about FM? Does it do a perfect job of managing real world soccer? No, it doesn't. It's the single best text sim of all time and there are parts of it everyone would like to see tweaked or improved upon. Are the issues you bring up about head coach serious? Yeah, they are. Especially the CPU running game. That's a critical fix that needs to get into place. They also need to extend the career to 30 or 40 years. And the things they said need patched do in fact need fixed. All of that said, the game is a ridiculous amount of fun. Head Coach is now in the top 10 for console games I've ever played. I doubt seriously that I'll put more than 45 minutes (total) into any other video game until NBA2K9 comes out. And even then I'll alternate between the two. There are bugs and for some people they may be game killing bugs. I perfectly understand that. (I've been complaining about OOTP for years while others enjoy the game) EA may be the devil. . . but they nailed this one.