Madden NFL 15 Update 1.04 Has Arrived, 398 MB

[SECElit3]

Listen, I am not doubting those who say it is the best Madden game they ever played. Overall, Madden was pretty decent UNTIL THIS PATCH. I don't doubt that the quarterback play seems better because they aren't getting sacked as much. Whoopee! I go onto twitch and I see certain guys that were struggling a few days ago, running it up on the CPU with the same settings. The patch has opened up the game in a way that I don't agree with. EA's philosophy is to use the most simple resolution, which costs as little money and time as possible. Instead of sitting down and getting it right.

Examples: Problem: Sacks numbers are too high. Tiburon's solution, instead of fixing the quarterback awareness problem, which was actually the issue, Jimmy rigs the game by changing the blocking Algorithm, which in turn caused issues with the user running game strength. The blocking change didn't even fix the issue. It instead caused an imbalance in the game and created other issues. Something else that would have made sense would have been for EA to lower the speed, block shed, and acceleration ratings of the defense. That was a problem as well

Problem: Sack numbers are too high, even with the change. Tiburon's solution: To LOOSEN THE COVERAGE of the pass defense... Really? When people are already complaining about high QB passing %. Well... Derp! Who's call was that? Funny thing is that sack issue is fixed, but now players still have the issue with high accuracy %... Great fix.

Another thing that made me really angry... Oh and this really burnt my bubble. Uniform fixes (What?) and failure to address issues that really needed to be fixed ie. CPU field goal accuracy, QB Logic, QB Accuracy, Poor Pass coverage to name a few...

It compounds my anger to know that Madden is the only licensed football game. To know that we may never see how a working IR functions, practice squad rosters, working auto-subs, and fatigue in CFM.. Blocked field goals, punts, and great special teams play. To top it off, we may never see a pass interference penalty, or even a BLOCK IN THE BACK. Clipping?

It's the poor leadership decisions that bother me. This guy's only job is to make a decent, true to life football game that mimics what we see on the field. I don't see the passion from the leadership of this team. I don't see the passion from Donny Moore and his rosters, which are still not accurate and we are almost finished with the season. How about females in the stands? Two years in a row... Where is the innovation? Weather that changes during the football game would be a nice place to start.

Done with my rant and back on topic... I haven't finished a season of Madden since 2012, mainly due to changes a patch made. It always seems like the approach to resolving an issue is misdirected, and usually causes more issues than it resolves. Hence, what I saw on the field with the running back stutter. I can clearly see that stutter causes huge holes to develop in the defense. It's only a matter of time before people start seeing it. I didn't really see anything else that bothered me, other than the game play speed which has been tremendously increased. I'm not sure why they did that either. To me, after the patch, the players felt no sense of weight. There were some who mentioned that the true step had changed a bit as well, as in, it was non existent or toned down. I actually watched a guy use the old swerve motion from the old games to navigate a defense last night.

EA has the exclusive rights guys, so I don't expect we will see anything better, barring a huge change of leadership or a drop off in sales. Both, are possible, but it's hard to be optimistic. I feel they are slowly killing off the football genre. I am so damned ready to see what another developer can do, but I can clearly see that won't happen unless Tiburon burns to the ground. (figuratively speaking of course)

[KingV2k3]

Well, when I saw there was a patch trying to download into my PS4, I cancelled it / signed out of PS4 network and, as always, stayed signed out of EA servers...

So:

Imagine my surprise / disappointment when I played DET and saw the WCF patches on their Uni's...

I've suspected something was up with regard to gameplay, but this sealed it...

1) In tuning the CPU passing game, they made the HUM passing game too "open"...sliders are a "push me / pull you" game of proportions and relationships...when they tuned CPU "down" under the hood, the HUM got an uninteded boost...OR when they made the CPU less accurate, the HUM became more accurate...or, likely a bit of BOTH...

2) I agree with SECElit3, that the ball carrier "weight" is back to the "weightlessness" of previous iterations...and the "rag-doll" animations are also back at times.

3) CPU pass distribution seems better...less checkdowns / more deep shots...

4) Although CPU pass coverage is looser, the pass rush is hotter...since the PCV slider controls, both...well...

Overall:

So far, it's not "worse" for me as much as "different" and I would have preferred that they gave me the option to opt out of...

I had my game humming pretty darn "sim" and now it's more "Madden Ball"...

[mrsaito]

So a bit off topic here but how can I avoid these automatic patch installs?

I am a relatively new PS4 owner and my console is usually off net. I hooked up my connection today to download the FIFA patch and got both without even starting either game. I poked around the menus a bit and under 'notifications' I see there is a check box for downloads but this does not feel definitive.

Is there a way to set up my PS4 so that I can control patch content?

Thanks.

[4thQtrStre5S]

Donnie Moore needs to be fired...(I hope I can give that opinion). For one, Awareness and Play Recognition, need to be at a minimum setting to trigger certain actions and reactions. ANything below 70 is useless in game in either category..For Offensive Linemen, awareness at 80 is the minimum for them to stay in their spots and take on defenders as well as the engine of Madden will allow.

It has already been covered how bad speed and acceleration is in game, so I will not beat that dead horse...

It is the ratings and plays that really need to be overhauled and calculated correctly within the Madden engine. The playbooks have to be created using logic; as it is now, the CPU calls the most stupid plays; and many plays, without a high awareness or play recognition level, are completely broken...

Essentially there is a collective of interwoven issues that have to be treated as a whole and balanced as a whole with full focus on the fact that a move in any direction causes an equal and opposite reaction - this is basic physics...This is basic life...

There is more than one way to fix the game, EA/Tiburon is choosing to do none of the things that fix the game..Making a new engine is the most expensive, I assume; but EA/Tiburon may want to stop being money hogs and pay for an engine made by a company that specializes in making high quality physics based engines; there are a handful of top notch engines out there...

[StefJoeHalt]

Quote: Originally Posted by 4thQtrStre5S

Donnie Moore needs to be fired...(I hope I can give that opinion). For one, Awareness and Play Recognition, need to be at a minimum setting to trigger certain actions and reactions. ANything below 70 is useless in game in either category..For Offensive Linemen, awareness at 80 is the minimum for them to stay in their spots and take on defenders as well as the engine of Madden will allow. It has already been covered how bad speed and acceleration is in game, so I will not beat that dead horse... It is the ratings and plays that really need to be overhauled and calculated correctly within the Madden engine. The playbooks have to be created using logic; as it is now, the CPU calls the most stupid plays; and many plays, without a high awareness or play recognition level, are completely broken... Essentially there is a collective of interwoven issues that have to be treated as a whole and balanced as a whole with full focus on the fact that a move in any direction causes an equal and opposite reaction - this is basic physics...This is basic life... There is more than one way to fix the game, EA/Tiburon is choosing to do none of the things that fix the game..Making a new engine is the most expensive, I assume; but EA/Tiburon may want to stop being money hogs and pay for an engine made by a company that specializes in making high quality physics based engines; there are a handful of top notch engines out there...

I agree with most of what ur saying but am only going to touch on one part of ur post that is extremely important in my eyes..play calling..it's down right boring..and it's based on "boring" gameplans..just check the playbooks..most or if not all do not use 50% of the Playbooks as it is..then as an example look at 3 and long calls..almost if not all are some version of 4 verts..these gameplans need to be completely reworked and I believe that will provide a better game play in general without any other changes


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[4thQtrStre5S]

Quote: Originally Posted by StefJoeHalt

I agree with most of what ur saying but am only going to touch on one part of ur post that is extremely important in my eyes..play calling..it's down right boring..and it's based on "boring" gameplans..just check the playbooks..most or if not all do not use 50% of the Playbooks as it is..then as an example look at 3 and long calls..almost if not all are some version of 4 verts..these gameplans need to be completely reworked and I believe that will provide a better game play in general without any other changes Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

EXACTLY !!! That right there could make a world of difference..

[SECElit3]

Quote: Originally Posted by 4thQtrStre5S

Donnie Moore needs to be fired...(I hope I can give that opinion). For one, Awareness and Play Recognition, need to be at a minimum setting to trigger certain actions and reactions. ANything below 70 is useless in game in either category..For Offensive Linemen, awareness at 80 is the minimum for them to stay in their spots and take on defenders as well as the engine of Madden will allow. It has already been covered how bad speed and acceleration is in game, so I will not beat that dead horse... It is the ratings and plays that really need to be overhauled and calculated correctly within the Madden engine. The playbooks have to be created using logic; as it is now, the CPU calls the most stupid plays; and many plays, without a high awareness or play recognition level, are completely broken... Essentially there is a collective of interwoven issues that have to be treated as a whole and balanced as a whole with full focus on the fact that a move in any direction causes an equal and opposite reaction - this is basic physics...This is basic life... There is more than one way to fix the game, EA/Tiburon is choosing to do none of the things that fix the game..Making a new engine is the most expensive, I assume; but EA/Tiburon may want to stop being money hogs and pay for an engine made by a company that specializes in making high quality physics based engines; there are a handful of top notch engines out there...

OR pay a guy that is good at what he does. Have you ever followed this guy's tweets? I literally scratch my head and put my head in my hands. I've been saying that he is a huge part of what is wrong with Madden. The Beckham increase is a prime example. By increasing his spectacular catch rating to 99, DM is saying that Beckham is one of the best flashy" pass catchers of all time.... right.

The Madden rating system is all wrong.

[SECElit3]

Quote: Originally Posted by KingV2k3

Well, when I saw there was a patch trying to download into my PS4, I cancelled it / signed out of PS4 network and, as always, stayed signed out of EA servers... So: Imagine my surprise / disappointment when I played DET and saw the WCF patches on their Uni's... I've suspected something was up with regard to gameplay, but this sealed it... 1) In tuning the CPU passing game, they made the HUM passing game too "open"...sliders are a "push me / pull you" game of proportions and relationships...when they tuned CPU "down" under the hood, the HUM got an uninteded boost...OR when they made the CPU less accurate, the HUM became more accurate...or, likely a bit of BOTH... 2) I agree with SECElit3, that the ball carrier "weight" is back to the "weightlessness" of previous iterations...and the "rag-doll" animations are also back at times. 3) CPU pass distribution seems better...less checkdowns / more deep shots... 4) Although CPU pass coverage is looser, the pass rush is hotter...since the PCV slider controls, both...well... Overall: So far, it's not "worse" for me as much as "different" and I would have preferred that they gave me the option to opt out of... I had my game humming pretty darn "sim" and now it's more "Madden Ball"...

Sorry bud, I know the feeling