Madden NFL 15 Developer Livestream - Presentation and Graphics

[SECElit3]

Man, I'll be honest. That looks nothing like the game we saw several weeks ago! The first live stream grabbed my attention, where as this one, is just kind of meh. This is exactly my fear with EA. For some reason, this company has a tendency to just screw things up. The first thing I noticed that changed from the last to this one, is that the colors in the first stream were much more vibrant. This one seems to have that NCAA 12 look to it. The colors look much more washed out. The example photo JP shows of the pre-game, demonstrates perfectly what I am referring to. Also, It looks as if they have shortened the replays. Why on earth would they do that? Furthermore, the variety in camera angles doesn't seem to be there.

This is really scary, because it takes me back to 13. Remember real time physics? The demo played completely different from the release version. Here we go again maybe? EA hyping a game that is nothing like what they actually release.

[OhMrHanky]

Quote: Originally Posted by SECElit3

Man, I'll be honest. That looks nothing like the game we saw several weeks ago! The first live stream grabbed my attention, where as this one, is just kind of meh. This is exactly my fear with EA. For some reason, this company has a tendency to just screw things up. The first thing I noticed that changed from the last to this one, is that the colors in the first stream were much more vibrant. This one seems to have that NCAA 12 look to it. The colors look much more washed out. The example photo JP shows of the pre-game, demonstrates perfectly what I am referring to. Also, It looks as if they have shortened the replays. Why on earth would they do that? Furthermore, the variety in camera angles doesn't seem to be there. This is really scary, because it takes me back to 13. Remember real time physics? The demo played completely different from the release version. Here we go again maybe? EA hyping a game that is nothing like what they actually release.

Didn't it? I think 13's demo was the best gdam demo madden has EVER put out. And, I enjoyed 13 overall, but after getting the full game, or maybe after one of the patches, it played different. I remember early in my gameplay (either in the demo, or before the 1st patch), the trajectory of the ball in flight was fantastic. I could lob it, I could bullet it, I could slightly lob it. Then, suddenly, one day, the ball was tethered again! No more trajectory. Mostly flat throws all the time.
So, yeah, I am a little concerned here, too, man. Give me the beta version, baby!!! I don't think I want the finished product! lol. I mean, really, do they make an amazing game EVERY YEAR? Play it for awhile, get things tuned just right, make an amazing simulation game. And, then, right before release, some jacka$$ says, "ok, boys. Put the crap back in. This is Madden dammit! Not some quality game!". lol

[capa]

Something was amiss for sure. Also, why do I get the feeling that we will be tweaking sliders to fix the 8 Ints and 10 sacks per game situation?? Hope I am wrong...

[Kramer5150]

Quote: Originally Posted by OhMrHanky

yeah, i don't know what happened here. I have been pretty positive about what I've seen thus far for Madden 15, and the last feed really seemed to show some quality stuff. But, in this feed, the gameplay killed me a little. I am all for incompletions and dropped passes from time to time on open players, but I think I saw 3 or 4 wide open drops that just didn't look realistic. I'm hoping to be able to slider out the appropriate amount of drops, but this particular video stream has me worried. And, I don't want too many Ints like we saw in 25, but here again, a couple of wide open easy Ints that are just dropped. This is where they need to have the QB throw the ball differently. If the player is covered, have a quality QB throw it where NOBODY can catch it. Then, u don't need a botched int animation. So, the animations are still a bit off. I'm still liking the overall gameplay I'm seeing compared to 25, but something in this vid stream just felt a little off. As to the actual purpose of the feed, presentation, I'm not totally sold on it, either at this point. They're getting closer with the replays, but they are still zoomed in too much, so you don't see the whole play or get a better feeling of what happened in the play. And, I have to say, with the whole cinematography talk going on, the actual replay shots are from cameras attached to someone's foot or something. WAY TOO LOW ANGLE for my taste and too low angle for a real game. Replays, and the game in general, are shot from a somewhat above the field of play looking down kind of angle which shows you more of the field, and simply put, is what you really see on Sunday, so I'm not sure what all the low angle footage is about and was in the last 2 games, so I'm not feeling that. They show a replay from field level a few times, and you can't really see the play because the angle they're choosing must GO THROUGH people to see the player with the ball, so idk, this needs work. It is better, but they're still off. And, speaking to the emotion. Here again, they're moving in the right direction with individual player emotion after the play. HOWEVER, what is up the Jags head coach after a HUGE sack by his team? What does he do? Does he celebrate with his Defense? Does he pump his fist as if to say, "Hell yeah!!! Way to sack him, boys!!!" NO, he does not. Instead, he shakes his head in disgust as if his QB was just sacked. So, I don't even know what to say about that. They're still having trouble giving the proper emotions. I just don't understand that. My team sack qb = my head coach happy, other head coach unhappy. My team qb get sacked = my head coach unhappy, other head coach happy. That just doesn't seem like very complicated AI logic to me, but madden still struggles with it. I think this game will be better than 25, and will be one of the best maddens yet, but I think I'm going to have to mess with sliders to get it working appropriately.

Holy wall of text Batman....

[SECElit3]

Yeah, the more I watch this stream, the less excited I get for this game... looking a lot like Madden 25. Something, just doesn't look right. They have either made some changes, or this may be an earlier build. With that said, if this is the actual release product, I may pass. Even the ball trajectory looks more arcade like. Player movement looks terrible. I don't really see how anyone could look at the first stream, then this one, and defend it.

The replays look a lot like the replays in 13. I certainly hope the presentation guys aren't modifying the replay angles to try to show off the graphics.... I am afraid that is what they are doing. I fear that doing so, will make the replays, which are a huge part of what makes presentation feel authentic, dull.... Uh Oh

[TheBleedingRed21]

Either my eyes are bad or I'm not picky (or both) but I don't see all these issues some of you are bringing up. It looked the same as the others besides the washed out colors and looked really good.

Good news is since Xbox one gets the game first, we should get plenty of hd videos to tell us what we need to know before release.

[Cowboy008]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheBleedingRed21

Either my eyes are bad or I'm not picky (or both) but I don't see all these issues some of you are bringing up. It looked the same as the others besides the washed out colors and looked really good. Good news is since Xbox one gets the game first, we should get plenty of hd videos to tell us what we need to know before release.

Will people be allowed to share videos?

[DNMHIII]

Quote: Originally Posted by SECElit3

Man, I'll be honest. That looks nothing like the game we saw several weeks ago! The first live stream grabbed my attention, where as this one, is just kind of meh. This is exactly my fear with EA. For some reason, this company has a tendency to just screw things up. The first thing I noticed that changed from the last to this one, is that the colors in the first stream were much more vibrant. This one seems to have that NCAA 12 look to it. The colors look much more washed out. The example photo JP shows of the pre-game, demonstrates perfectly what I am referring to. Also, It looks as if they have shortened the replays. Why on earth would they do that? Furthermore, the variety in camera angles doesn't seem to be there. This is really scary, because it takes me back to 13. Remember real time physics? The demo played completely different from the release version. Here we go again maybe? EA hyping a game that is nothing like what they actually release.

That was my exact thought when I saw this stream. The Colors are so washed out giving the players a flat/cartoon look and the play art looks massive on the field and that's exactly what NCAA looked like. The first stream graphics looked great and very vibrant compared to this last stream.