NCAA Football 12 Preview

[Dr Death]

Quote: Originally Posted by ChaseB

Sorry brudda, didn't really mess with new plays much so didn't see if a shovel pass is there. As I said in the preview, I actually threw a ball past a LB's head and he didn't react. The developer I was playing with (Ben Haumiller) was noticeably displeased about that and the tuning with reactions and so forth seems to be ongoing because of the other coverage changes that were made in this year's game. But, no, I didn't see the leaping linebackers, although I personally made a fantastic leaping swat play with my safety on a deep ball. Oh yeah, and speaking of leaps, NEW DIVING CATCHES. I'm looking through my notes and realizing that was something I probably should have mentioned. Saw two of these new animations, and they looked good. One of was a catch where the player fell down to the field to make the catch, and another was near the sideline.

Thanks for the answers!

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by ch46647

I did read that. However, I wasnt sure if this was just an extension of "Pro-tak" or not. I am not a fan of the pro-tak system they developed. It looks good on occasion but for the most part it just looks like players morphing into a canned group hug....

Then you need to go to the IGN video thread.

Double hit tackles are in the game.

[tweezy90]

chase could you actually tell a difference in the crowd compared to last years game??? reading that they went out and recorded the sounds to all the stadiums has me really excited...any team specific chants in the game??

[WildcatDawg]

Chase - what about option teams not recruiting mobile qbs? Did they fix that? A couple years into dynasty and many option teams just fall apart because they only recruited pocket qbs.

[COACH WEBB]

FSU will get our revenge on these guys this season!

[RGiles36]

Thx for answering my question Chase.

[ChaseB]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

Consecutive hit tackles are sort of what you alluded to in the article. The expression bowling pin tackles has also been used. It's when one tackler wraps you up and other tacklers in the same area fall over like tumbleweed.

Right, that's what I thought, I perhaps should have just used different jargon. Anyway, yeah, I didn't see many of those wild scrum sequences where guys are just falling all over. I'd say it was most noticeable on kick returns where there were a couple times where guys got blown up without it turning into a mess. I feel like what maybe happened once or twice was an extra guy would get there and have no reason to get involved so he'd just sort of stand around. I'm sure what ideally would happen is he at least pushes on the pile etc. rather than just staring, but it certainly looks better than the SNIPER ON THE GRASSY KNOLL! stuff.

And, again, it's not perfect either. They're still tuning it, and there was at least one instance where one player slightly sucked into another for a tackle attempt.

Quote: Originally Posted by volstopfan14

Chase can you tell me anything about Tennessee's team entrance?

There was a sizzle trailer with just entrance after entrance in it that I saw that seemed a bit different from the sizzle trailer released to the public. I do remember the Tenn. players banging on a T but can't recall beyond that. From what I gather, I think if you are a "major" school with a worthwhile entrance, it probably will be there. But I'm not that familiar with Tenn., so what's significant about it that would perhaps stop it from being in the game in its "true" form?

Quote: Originally Posted by ch46647

Chase, you did mention the crowd noise got some attention. Is it dynamic to what it going on the field? Is it much louder and more exciting then previous years? EA football games have always struggled with the "Ebs and flows" of a real crowd. That is why it sounds so generic and not exciting.

I can't speak for sure about the dynamism of the crowd throughout a game yet, but, in general, the crowd was a major focus. The only real info that I can 100% confirm and talk about is how they captured different audio levels to better show off the loudness of one stadium vs. another. I agree with your assessment though of why it has sounded generic in the past.

Quote: Originally Posted by Scrapps

Chase, appreciate the info. Did you happen to find out anything about the possibility of new camera angles? Anything at all?

You know this is my bad because I know it's a big deal to folks. I just plain forgot to ask about camera angles you could play from.

Quote: Originally Posted by DubTrey1

Tremendous write up. Thanks for the info. Chase, one quick one - on the gameplay side of things, how did the flow and feel of the game differ from 11? Did you notice the CPU calling blitzes every other play? CPU offense ? Notable things?

Played against a human so can't say. Haumiller seemed to enjoy sacking me though.

Quote: Originally Posted by Legend Killer

I'm just wondering will we see any gameplay footage today or will it be a while before we can see some??

It won't be from us because no footage was allowed to be captured there. So if it comes from anyone, it will be from EA.

Quote: Originally Posted by ch46647

I did read that. However, I wasnt sure if this was just an extension of "Pro-tak" or not. I am not a fan of the pro-tak system they developed. It looks good on occasion but for the most part it just looks like players morphing into a canned group hug....

I think Pro-Tak is here to stay for now. They might try to rename it or something to sort of get away from some of the "stigma" that some fans feel is attached to it now, but I think you'll just see a progression of that engine. Having the players able to come in from every angle for tackles does clearly help.

Also, at the end of the day, they want to be a game driven purely by physics-based interactions, but as their stance has always been, they want to do it right and in a way they think looks good.

Quote: Originally Posted by BlueNGold

Here's a gameplay question I forgot to ask in my post, if it can be answered: How is the DB/LB pass defense? Are we still going to see those super-swats we've seen in the past, or is that more realistic now? Also, this kind of ties into the first question, but is pass trajectory changed at all? I think that probably played a big part in the super-swats.

I made a good swat attempt on a fly route with my secondary. I didn't feel like it was a super swat, but I assume you're more talking about when the CPU does it versus when a human does it?

The trajectory question is a good one where I think the data is inconclusive for now. I was more doing a vertical-style passing style while playing, so there were not too many passes over the middle. I don't recall any pass being swatted down at the line though. Linebackers slapped away a couple throws, but they were not of the jumping swat variety.

Quote: Originally Posted by blkprince04

good write up chase, everything sounds good so far, i was expecting some sort of gameday feature i guess that will be in ncaa13....great article.......

Yeah, I want to expand here that the developers reallllllyyyyyyy wanted that in this year, but they just ran out of time in terms of squeezing it in. While it's a bummer, perhaps it's better that way than doing it half-arsed like the Madden halftime show from the past.

Quote: Originally Posted by shanew21

Does the CPU AI actually scramble this year? Do running QBs exist?

Good question. I asked about it that issue, and Ben did say tendencies and players acting like they should is a bigger focus this year. Again though, I played a human so can't talk about first-hand thoughts on the topic.

[COACH WEBB]

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