Reading all this is making me feel better and better about not buying the game this year. I'm usually a day one guy, for many years now, and I'm not a guy who hates EA. I've tried for years to enjoy the game for what it is, not what it isn't.
But last year left such a bad taste in my mouth as a solo CFM player, I decided to wait until at least mid September to decide whether or not to buy. Now in mid September I see gameplay is improved incrementally but CPU AI is still inadequate, both during the game and for CFM team management logic. I see offline CFM broken for stats and team logic and no patch yet deployed.
It's just not enough. I wanted to reward the gameplay guys for working to make the game more sim and I don't doubt their commitment or sincerity. But they just have too far to go for the game to be worth my time and be fun for me yet. And CFM is still a mess. Josh Looman has not delivered. And then I look at the strategic game design decisions for franchise modes made by NBA 2K, allowing for full customization and control in MyLeague, and I look at what CFM forces a player to do. . . SMH.
All of this makes me sad, not angry. I like football better than basketball, but I can't go through another cycle of fighting a hopeless fight to make Madden playable as sim in CFM again. Too many years with the same game failings and issues, and I just can't.
I can play Destiny until NBA 2K comes out on October 7th. Maybe I'll try Madden in 2015 sometime once the price drops to $30, if I'm bored, or maybe rotate it in through Gamefly some day. But if the game isn't fun and replayable and deep, it's just not worth the time, no matter the price.