Better Gameplay? Observations

[SECElit3]

Hi guys,

I've doing some testing with the game recently, specifically with the tuners and patches. I was hoping some of you might try some of these suggestions and share your opinion on how they effect the game-play.

Now, I have been playing this game religiously since it released. Quite frankly, I love the game. That being said, I found more enjoyment in the game-play before the patches and tuners. So, after hours of building slider sets, testing, reading, tweaking, and seeking input from the community, I considered giving up on the it. After finding myself unable to discard the game, due to love of football, I made the decision to take my testing "back to the drawing board."

I began by removing all of the patches and tuners and testing without them. I also set all of my sliders back to default All-American with the game speed at slow. Immediately, I noticed a difference. Passing with no patches or tuners was extremely simple. Quarterbacks were extremely accurate and I observed no true touch or loft on the ball; the ball moved too fast. Running the ball to the outside was much more effective than with the updates, and there was little to no pressure by the front four. Defensive backs seemed to mirror the WR routes and always be in position to cut in front of the pass. Last but not least, super jumping linebackers were in full effect. It is amazing to me the problems the game had when it was released.

We all know that EA released several patches and tuners for this game. The first, was a tuner made available on release day. The notes for the tuner mentioned some game-play improvements so I am assuming that tuner fixed the above passing issues. So when did the updates begin truly effecting the game-play? It is my assumption that the second patch was the culprit. While I did enjoy the visual effect of the dirty jersey, I believe this patch was the one that sent the game-play into a downward spiral. The third patch, did improve the game-play a little, but fell far short from taking the game-play back to pre-patch 2.

Most of you know that this is something I have been at for quite sometime. I have released 3 slider sets with multiple updates. Not one of those sets provides the game-play I am getting now. I found that deleting the patches, while keeping the tuners, provides the absolute best game-play this game has to offer... but don't take my word for it. If you are someone that can't live without the dirty uniforms, these suggestions are not for you, but if you are someone that can, I would strongly suggest clearing the patches from your system. It is odd that the tuners seem to have a more positive effect on the game-play versus the patches having a negative effect.

I am currently playing with the following settings and am loving this game more than ever: I would love to hear your feedback and observations.

All-American (All patches removed) (Kept Tuners)
Quarter Length 8 min
Default Threshold
Game Speed Slow

All Sliders default with CPU RBA set to 90

No other changes made with the exception of coaching sliders. I have attached them below.

As always, thanks for everything!

[theSpungo]

When building your slider sets, do you take into account CPU stats? One of the things I care about most are league stats and finding a slider sets to deliver good gameplay in my human vs. cpu match, but also realistic league-wide stats.

For instance, I'm liking your sliders (with a few of my own tweaks) for the gameplay, in fact the games are a lot of fun. However, my stats are a bit too good when compared to the rest of the league.

I'd like more of a challenge to get the most NCAA passing yards in a season, almost more so than having a fantastic game experience.

[playguitar90]

By default, do you just mean 50?

Also, I know I go to my storage device and press Y to clear the cache or something, which will delete all the patches (and tuners, I'm assuming) for the game. It won't be a problem to re-update the other games, that only takes a few minutes, and a few button presses.

My question is how do I get the tuners without the patches?

[SECElit3]

yes, 50 with the exception of CPU RBA. The tunes are separate files that cannot be removed by clearing the cache. Clear your cache and you should be good.

[SECElit3]

Yes, stats are important to me and I do take them into account when testing the slider sets. However, understand that any slider suggestions I make, suit my play style. It is up to the user to tweak them to provide a game that accommodates his or her needs.

Slider sets are nothing more than suggestions.

[playguitar90]

Quote: Originally Posted by SECElite3

yes, 50 with the exception of CPU RBA. The tunes are separate files that cannot be removed by clearing the cache. Clear your cache and you should be good.

Its only patches right? No game saves, etc....and it will affect my gameplay in dynasties, etc that I have already started?

This seems interesting, I really want to try it. Do the patches affect the recruits' ratings in dynasty, etc or is that the tuners? I'll get back here tomorrow after I try this.

[theSpungo]

Quote: Originally Posted by SECElite3

Yes, stats are important to me and I do take them into account when testing the slider sets. However, understand that any slider suggestions I make, suit my play style. It is up to the user to tweak them to provide a game that accommodates his or her needs. Slider sets are nothing more than suggestions.

I understand they're merely suggestions, but the stats should be the same in everyone's dynasty -- as realistic as possible -- and shouldn't change from user to user.

Do changing sliders have any effect on CPU stats? If so, would it be possible to get a quick write-up on which sliders can have the most affect when attempting get certain CPU statistical results?

[playguitar90]

Okay...here I am, after playing a game with Tennessee at home against Oregon, 7 Minute Quarters. I may have lowered the speed threshold a click or two because I normally play with it at 0. It's more fun that way to me. Game speed normal. Sorry if I didn't follow all of your rules :/

I cleared my cache and took no conscious steps to delete the tuners, so I think I did something right. The one REAL big problem I have with this is the lack of XBOX live. It makes sense not being able to play the Xbox Live game, but it doesn't make sense to me that I cannot connect and chat with my friends at all . That's ALL I do on XBOX. Is there a way to get around this???

Okay, now to the gameplay. I lost 42-28, me scoring a garbage time pass to Luke Stocker for the TD as time expired. The game was in the rain and was sloppy on both sides.

Matt Simms threw 18 completions of 38 attempts in the game, with 3 touchdowns and one pick. His total passing yardage was 308. These aren't inflated stats: I just had to pass a whole lot to keep up with Oregon. He fumbled twice on sacks, which I actually really liked. Oregon took both back for TDs, though, which really was a killer. I felt like the LB's jumped a whole lot to break up my passes, which was really the only complaint I have about the passing game with these. My wideouts only really dropped passes when they were hit, or because of a tough catch in the rain. I had my runningbacks drop one or two, but that's realistic. Lobbing the ball seemed more effective, as I could get over defenders with a nice pass. I could really control the underthrow and overthrow with the stick. Matt Simms isn't really an elite QB, so it is realistic that he missed alot of the kind of passes I threw. Play action worked when I had set up the run, but I was still sacked like 4 times. Play action from the shotgun was not good, but I didn't try to set up shotgun draws AT ALL, which makes good sense. I only really threw long passes because of the alarm I had due to the Oregon fumble recoveries, so my WR's mostly had 15+ yards per catch

My starting runningback, Poole I think, had 21 carries for 75 yards. I got a bunch of 2 and 3 yarders, and every so often I'd go for 8 or 10. I didn't have one run where I broke away from the D, even with the slightly lowered speed threshold. My other guy Oku had like 4 or 5 carries for twenty-something yards. In my dynasty I have my sub in-sub out real high so I can spread it around more.

I usually sim the D, but I played a few drives. They had an equally sloppy game on both sides of the ball, but those two fumble recoveries really made the difference. My DL was stopping James for 2 and 3 yard gains frequently, but then Oregon would hit their stride and pass and run right past my guys. I got two picks on Darren Thomas.

My punts seemed to be a bit shorter. There were no FG tries. The XBOX live thing might kill it for me, as much better as this gameplay was. Maybe I'll just save NCAA for times where my friends aren't on lol. Definitely improved the gameplay. Could use tweaks here and there, and I think if you can come up with a good slider set for these, I think youve squeezed out the best this game can offer, which is pretty damn good!

And also, just want to make sure, the lack of patches won't affect the dynasty updates etc like recruit ratings and in season progression, right? I couldn't take that. The game itself, such as advancing between weeks, was also WAY faster.