NCAA Football 14 Blog - Breaking Down the Gameplay

[Big FN Deal]

Quote: Originally Posted by Crimsontide27

Let me be very clear in stating that the same engine you are seeing in this generation titles is the same engine going into the next gen titles, just slightly tweaked. There is no "magic sauce" that is going to happen with the next gen titles, it will just be more of the same. For example, Madden for the next gen systems are already going through internal alpha stages and has been playable for a few months already. If you are going into next generation expecting to be blown away, please curb your hype meter now. Better graphics, lighting, overlays etc are coming, but there is no revolutionary change to the AI, physics etc..

This cant be right can it Crimson? EA has already confirmed they are only working on 10-15 titles for the new consoles and they will all be running on Frostbite engines, right? EA football games don't currently run on that engine do they?

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...post2044904404

[BenGerman]

I think Ben's quote that people are talking about is a good example of why EA's football series are so far behind in terms of overall simulation quality. I also think they severely underestimate the so called "casual" audience.

I use this example all of the time, but I'll invite friends over -- friends that don't necessarily share my passion for sports gaming -- and you know what they say when we play a game like NBA 2K13 or The Show? "Wow, that's crazy. It almost plays like a real game of basketball/baseball".

Getting closer to a real life simulation is a trend that both casual gamers AND hardcore gamers can appreciate. If they are that worried about it, give us options for us to decide. If they want to be great, give us options.

[Swamp Swagger]

Well at least FSU fans can still be happy they get what seems like a A+ every year no matter what.

On a serious not though ill probably but just for the IE 2.0 because I never bought Madden just played the demo an season pass thing. Will make NCAA kinda new I guess

[DJ]

I try to not get too worked up over these games but the news so far has been pretty underwhelming. Of course, I understand this is a transition period as developers start preparing for their PS4/720 launch titles. And, there's the stark reality that with the yearly development cycle, sports games just don't change all that much year-to-year.

I traded in a bunch of games recently and have enough credit/coupons to get both NCAA and Madden without spending any money. I'll likely get both games and try and enjoy them for what they are and hope there are no game-crippling issues.

[SageInfinite]

I guess I'll never understand this "appeal to the masses" when it comes to EA/Tiburon. They make the only licensed football games. The masses have no choice, if they want to play football videogames it's EA/Tiburon or nothing. Instead of dumbing down the experience and the player they should be making the game as realistic as possible and finding ways to educate the gamer on the sport and how to apply it to the game, and give the options/sliders to tailor the game for younger audiences or non serious fans. If the masses wanted this fast arcade action pick up and play stuff NFL blitz and NFL street would still be around and they would be outselling the "sim" games, which to my knowledge has never happened.

You will always have people who complain, the greatest sports games this generation people bitch about them everyday, but they at least strive for realism for the most part. The same way they program fumbles into the game could be applied for botched snaps. I hate it when my 3rd baseman bobbles the ball and misses the easy out at first on MLB The Show, but at the same time I love it because it's realistic. Why is Tiburon so afraid of this? Why can't they force realism on us instead of forcing their way of doing things? IMO it just boils down to lazy development. I hope it changes next gen.

[BezO]

Quote: Originally Posted by thelasthurtknee

might be showing my age here but it was the same way last gen. ps2, ea did the same and so did us as the consumer. i know alot of guys say 04 was one of the best but it was a pure arcade football game. half the routes didnt work, the players were so huge compared to field. you couldnt run half the routes or run plays...

I don't remember if '04 or '05 was my last Madden purchase, but I definitely jumped on 2K's bandwagon around then. 2K's football games definitely revealed exactly what was missing from Madden. It wasn't perfect, but they covered most of my, "Why doesn't Madden do this" list.

For clarification, I purchased '08 and returned it.

Quote: Originally Posted by thelasthurtknee

06 was ok and then 09 was really great on ps2 but still all lacked any kind of ai or sense of realism. this gen, early on was a great article about the ai capabilites of the 360 and ps3 and after that i knew we would have a hybrid all gen. to weak of AI to really create a football sim so they kept alot of who the older more arcade style from last gen, so we still have alot of canned animations instead of a flowing game...

It ain't the systems. Much of what folks are asking for has been done in other games. You eluded to your age, and I see your OS join date. You might remember EA saying PS2/XBox couldn't support gang tackling. Unfortunately for them, they said that the year 2K implemented it.

Quote: Originally Posted by dghustla

There is always a group of "this games sucks before I played it" on this board. Which is fine. But some of the post to me seem like ppl expect this game to be as real as football on Saturdays and that will never be the case. Ben Hamiular had a great point in his ign video. he said "fumbled snaps happen in real life, but if you fumbled a snap in the 4th quarter down 7 in your opponents redzone you wouldn't like that gameplay and would hate us for adding that." No matter what EA adds there are certain groups of ppl that will say, the line will never block perfect enough, the socks are not long enough, The numbers are too big, the jersey color is not right.

Hamiular shouldn't try to speak for folks. What is he basing that off of? What game had fumbled snaps that folks complained about?

Do they remove all fumbles? Do they remove dropped passes? Bad passes? At what point do they ask, "Do you want to play football?" It's sports. Sh!t happens.

Quote: Originally Posted by dghustla

I'm not saying their latest offering was perfect. But they are making progress. Ppl talk about the glory days of PS2 and all these older football games as if they were without glitches and flaws. The difference back then was that there was very limited online play and there was no youtube and ebook to help ppl learn glitches and money plays to circumvent the A.I. You had to find that on your own.

Nobody said any of that. Some just liked those games more.

Quote: Originally Posted by dghustla

This is directed at ppl bashing the game before they've played it. based on a few pictures, a hype video and second hand accounts from a limited version played over a month ago. Whenever someone posted a positive experience they immediately post the negative or say "EA told them to say those things". You asked for middle ground. What about revamped option play, improved blocking assignments, foot planting, improved impact/momentum system, true fatigue system, a realistic speed burst. But then when someone post those things the next response is "well they should have been in the game, fatigue is not a feature". There was a post on the previous page giving great insight into zone blocking at the college level. I admire the knowledge that poster provided but is that a realistic exception at this point in time? For the a game to be able to compute that many variables and then represent them correctly? Hand placement, pad level, multi-tiered reactions, shoulder direction etc. No football has ever had blocking that authentic.

How long have you been playing Madden? Can you not look at a still and recognize an animation/scenario? Can you not see a vid and recognize something they didn't fix? The pics & vids are here for us to discuss. Folks use there experience with the game to dissect these pics & vids. Come release, most educated guesses end up being correct. When you're looking for certain things, their presence or absence is quite noticeable.

There's a select few that complain about desired features being added. I think it's odd, but you have to remember how far behind other simulations this game is. Folks are frustrated. Adding something this year that another game had 8 years ago can be exciting or frustrating.

[BA2929]

Quote: Originally Posted by SageInfinite

Why can't they force realism on us instead of forcing their way of doing things? IMO it just boils down to lazy development. I hope it changes next gen.

I hate to say it, but not everything you, or anyone on here, hate about EA is due to lazy development. That seems to be the trend around here actually. Hate something EA does with the NCAA franchise? They're just lazy.
The "masses", as you call them, have the most money to spend. EA wants to make money, so they make the masses happy. It's not laziness, it's EA out to make a profit and they don't want to make the masses mad. They'd rather make the hardcore mad and lose out on 3% of their sales if they stop buying. If they make a center/QB combo muff up a snap late in the game there are about 5% of us who would say "that's just football". The other 95% would moan so much about it EA would just patch it out.

The masses make the world go 'round. Especially when money is involved.

[SageInfinite]

Quote: Originally Posted by BA2929

I hate to say it, but not everything you, or anyone on here, hate about EA is due to lazy development. That seems to be the trend around here actually. Hate something EA does with the NCAA franchise? They're just lazy. The "masses", as you call them, have the most money to spend. EA wants to make money, so they make the masses happy. It's not laziness, it's EA out to make a profit and they don't want to make the masses mad. They'd rather make the hardcore mad and lose out on 3% of their sales if they stop buying. If they make a center/QB combo muff up a snap late in the game there are about 5% of us who would say "that's just football". The other 95% would moan so much about it EA would just patch it out. The masses make the world go 'round. Especially when money is involved.

Eh sounds like bs and a copout to me. Just my opinion. I don't think any dev is lazy at Tiburon, not questioning their work ethics, but the way they go about things and implementing them in game, comes off lazy to me.