NCAA Football 10 Blog: Season Showdown: Show Your Skills

[countryboy]

LOL....for people that don't give a rat's behind about a feature, you guys sure are talking the hell out of it.

But I do have a question, and I'm sure I'll get an answer. I've seen this posted quite often on this forum...but how does the implementation of Season Showdown equate to poor gameplay? What does one have to do with the other?

I already know the answer...and it will come in the form of "time spent"

I said it somewhere else that I'm a little disappointed just because it feels like the game is geared towards the younger crowd this year. The majority of on-line players who want to worry about their rank are young kids. This feature is geared heavily towards them to run up the score and get more credits. It says it has that little "sportsmanship" category but I wonder if it takes into account what I just said. I highly doubt somebody's sportsmanship rating will mean they play fair.

[4solo]

YESSS! They finally added the the stat tracking, space taking, so we can't have better gameplay, or realistic atmosphere, or....(just too much stuff to name), casual gamer attention getting, so my whole fam will want to sitdown and answer college triva questions together (esp DAD), so we can have braging rights b/c we kicked the **** out my rivalry by earning more credits b/c i punted on 4th down, over hyped minigame!

You guys read our minds! Can't Wait. WTF!?!?

[thmst30]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

LOL....for people that don't give a rat's behind about a feature, you guys sure are talking the hell out of it. But I do have a question, and I'm sure I'll get an answer. I've seen this posted quite often on this forum...but how does the implementation of Season Showdown equate to poor gameplay? What does one have to do with the other? I already know the answer...and it will come in the form of "time spent"

I'm going to give you a different answer. The implementation of Season Showdown further proves the direction that the NCAA team has decided to go. Instead of doing like Madden and focusing on absolutely nothing but pure realism and actual football, they continue to work on fluff (thats what SS is to me). So in regards to gameplay, if the majority of what the NCAA team seems to be doing is to add fluff and go a more casual based route, then how can any of us expect the gameplay to be significantly better (read, more sim-like) than 09,08,07,etc. So it's not so much the time spent on SS to me, it's the whole viewpoint and direction of the dev team that it demonstrates. That's why people are the most upset.

[countryboy]

Quote: Originally Posted by thmst30

I'm going to give you a different answer. The implementation of Season Showdown further proves the direction that the NCAA team has decided to go. Instead of doing like Madden and focusing on absolutely nothing but pure realism and actual football, they continue to work on fluff (thats what SS is to me). So in regards to gameplay, if the majority of what the NCAA team seems to be doing is to add fluff and go a more casual based route, then how can any of us expect the gameplay to be significantly better (read, more sim-like) than 09,08,07,etc. So it's not so much the time spent on SS to me, it's the whole viewpoint and direction of the team that it demonstrates. That's why people are the most upset.

but we've heard of the gameplay improvements (pocket forming, OL/DL interaction, pursuit angles, amongst others). I just don't see how adding something like SS automatically equates to arcade gameplay.

In my eyes, Season Showdown is no different then TeamBuilder and Campus Legend, which are things I consider built for a more casual audience. Yes, I understand that TeamBuilder will be used by diehards in regards to online dynasty and such, but in my opinion its a casual feature.

.02

[J-Unit40]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

but we've heard of the gameplay improvements (pocket forming, OL/DL interaction, pursuit angles, amongst others). I just don't see how adding something like SS automatically equates to arcade gameplay. In my eyes, Season Showdown is no different then TeamBuilder and Campus Legend, which are things I consider built for a more casual audience. Yes, I understand that TeamBuilder will be used by diehards in regards to online dynasty and such, but in my opinion its a casual feature. .02

Agreed.

People who think Madden is going to be "the most realistic football video game experience ever" are probably going to be disappointed. The game is still going to have the same EA feel. It's pretty much the same engine with add-ons and improvements (which NCAA already has except PRO-TAK).

[rudyjuly2]

Quote: Originally Posted by countryboy

but we've heard of the gameplay improvements (pocket forming, OL/DL interaction, pursuit angles, amongst others). I just don't see how adding something like SS automatically equates to arcade gameplay. In my eyes, Season Showdown is no different then TeamBuilder and Campus Legend, which are things I consider built for a more casual audience. Yes, I understand that TeamBuilder will be used by diehards in regards to online dynasty and such, but in my opinion its a casual feature. .02

Season Showdown does not automatically mean poor gameplay. But it does indicate some things.

1) They lack the direction and focus I would prefer.
2) They allocated serious resources to this mode rather than spend it elsewhere - like formation subs, in-game saves, and the new qb ratings.

The new QB ratings Madden is getting DO impact gameplay. OMT directly said in an earlier thread (when I was really bitter about not having the QB ratings) that they didn't do the QB ratings because they didn't have time to implement it due to focusing on other things. I'm going to assume SS was one of those. So yes - Season Showdown has led to inferior gameplay. That doesn't mean bad gameplay but it could have been better if they chose to spend their time more appropriately.

[rudyjuly2]

Quote: Originally Posted by J-Unit40

Agreed. People who think Madden is going to be "the most realistic football video game experience ever" are probably going to be disappointed. The game is still going to have the same EA feel. It's pretty much the same engine with add-ons and improvements (which NCAA already has except PRO-TAK).

I hope you are right and that the NCAA gameplay isn't inferior to Madden (or at least close). But yesterday's interview didn't sit well with me.