Any Madden OOTB Versions Worth Playing?

[picker19]

I just dusted off my old M17 disc and played Out of the Box (OOTB). While it has its bugs and needs some tuning, it was nice to again play a game where the CPU is challenging on All Pro without needing to change any sliders. Seems that was the last version of Madden I played where I actually felt the CPU could beat me at anytime on AP.

So it got me thinking if there were any other OOTB versions of Madden between M18 and M21 that are worth getting the disc and playing. Not expecting perfection, obviously...who would with OOTB. But something similar to M17 OOTB where there are no game-killing bugs and default AP is fun and challenging without needing to get slideritis.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[da_centa_fielda]

I can't recall. But I think many of them were fun before patches. The thing is that's what gaming used to be. A game came out, it had flaws, but you learned to deal with them and found enjoyment with it.

Now when games come out, everyone and their mama has a complaint and patches changes the game for everyone even if you didn't want it. Which in turn breaks other things.

[KingV2k3]

I've been playing the OOTB version of M21 since release.

As a result, things like glitches in the formation sub menus and the QB "Dropback Issue" are things that I've read about happening after various patches, but haven't experienced.

QBs also take off and scramble effectively on OOTB, which also appears to be hit and miss with patched versions.

As long as there's no overwhelming "gamebreaking" issue with OOTB versions going forward, I'll prob just stick to those in the future as well.

This is the first year I've committed to that and it's be a relief to not have to rebuild settings, etc. whenever a patch drops and it's intended and unintended consequences take hold.

[picker19]

Quote: Originally Posted by KingV2k3

I've been playing the OOTB version of M21 since release. As a result, things like glitches in the formation sub menus and the QB "Dropback Issue" are things that I've read about happening after various patches, but haven't experienced. QBs also take off and scramble effectively on OOTB, which also appears to be hit and miss with patched versions. As long as there's no overwhelming "gamebreaking" issue with OOTB versions going forward, I'll prob just stick to those in the future as well. This is the first year I've committed to that and it's be a relief to not have to rebuild settings, etc. whenever a patch drops and it's intended and unintended consequences take hold.

Glad I read this, because I was considering purchasing a digital copy of M21 after the March patch, which is now going at 50% off. I heard that there were lots of franchise issues with M21. Aside from what you noted above, any other "major" issues you found with CFM? Anything that has been patched that you wish was in OOTB?

Frankly, my main concern is gameplay challenge on AP default. I play coach mode, and as I said in my OP, the last time I played a challenging version of default AP was with M17 OOTB and M16 (final patch). Since then, AP default seems way out of whack and not tuned well and/or not a challenge. Not sure what settings you play on, but if you have a take on gameplay challenge on AP, I'd love to hear your perspective. Thanks.

[KingV2k3]

Quote: Originally Posted by picker19

Glad I read this, because I was considering purchasing a digital copy of M21 after the March patch, which is now going at 50% off. I heard that there were lots of franchise issues with M21. Aside from what you noted above, any other "major" issues you found with CFM? Anything that has been patched that you wish was in OOTB? Frankly, my main concern is gameplay challenge on AP default. I play coach mode, and as I said in my OP, the last time I played a challenging version of default AP was with M17 OOTB and M16 (final patch). Since then, AP default seems way out of whack and not tuned well and/or not a challenge. Not sure what settings you play on, but if you have a take on gameplay challenge on AP, I'd love to hear your perspective. Thanks.

I only followed what the patches supposedly addressed casually, as I had already made the decision to go patch free this year.

As a result, I'm not really "missing" anything that's been reported.

Most of the patches seem to address things that previous patches broke.

I'm finding the OOTB version to be as challenging as Madden often ends up being.

You have to make a few minimal adjustments to "balance" the game between HUM and CPU as usual, but it's not to far off "as is".

Unfortunately, I play HUM v CPU / Offline / Single Player CFM, so there's likely some variation in result versus Coach Mode that I'm not aware of.