It is an interesting perspective to see fan response from the developer's eyes. He mentions kind of being "damned if you do, damned if you don't". I kind of see where he's coming from in a lot of the game aspects, especially finding the balance between creating a sim game vs. an arcade game. I noticed a few comments from yesterday about how people would skip this year's game based off of one screenshot. I mean, come on...
Is Greg the guy that reviews the football games????? At the end of the video he says "the game is getting too real" and "i like to just put a WR and TE and drop back and throw a 50 yd hail mary"
Well if that didn't solidify why people don't listen to those reviews, then I don't know what else will. I truly hope that the developers don't listen to those type of people.
Procedural awareness ? Oh God I hope that means the scrambling QB and returners on special teams don't run directly into defenders anymore and actually try to AVOID being tackled. Last year in the beginning that had scrambling QBs done right, then they broke it with their patches to the point every time the QB tried to scramble he went directly into the defensive tackle.
But anyway, nothing pissed me off more then to punt the ball, they would have all this space to the left and to right of them and they would just run up the middle into 3 defenders.
My favorite part was the mention of hand fighting and procedural awareness so players are aware of other players when moving through traffic. Hopefully this transitions to the WR/DB interactions too. Least favorite part was the end discussion about that dreaded "balance" of "fun" vs realism, please just let that notion go, realism IS fun in a sim. The straw man of an unexpected fumble in a big game as a reason for capping capable realism should stop. Fumbles and mishaps period are a part of football, so there needs to be variety in a football game, not just oversimplified win/loss.
For example, there can't be just two shotgun snap animations, one that playsout for a high snap over the QB and one for a successful snap. There needs to be several types of snaps ranging from ideal to potentially disastrous. In a basketball video game with passes and lobs for dunks, there are variations of these things in-game so when one of these result in a complete mishap, ie pass flying well over the intended targets head, it seems dynamic and organic, not like a win/loss dice roll.
For all the strides they seem to be making that "fun" balance POV is still holding EA football games back from being as good as the top sports sims, imo.
I can't disagree with anything you've said. I also feel that more realism is fun. I think though the conflict comes into play when execs see the potential to market beyond us/the hardcore. I imagine some suit, fresh from a board meeting or marketing/sales mtg., stops by and says something like, "Ben, how can we expand our demographic and increase sales? The hardcore players are locked in. How can we make it less intimidating for the casual crowd to jump in." Then you get the developers trying to balance arcade "fun" with sim realism.
You guys have to realize that he has a point. We demand realism to the T with every sports game we play no matter what it is, but most guys/girls aren't hardcore sim players. Most people are casual buy Madden every year because they want to sling it around type people. We make up a small group of the people that buy this game and/or Madden. We are just the more vocal goup
One interesting thing I saw in this article, is there is going to be a stamina meter per play and stamina is going to play a bigger role throughout the game. Hold on to that sprint button every play and you wont have any energy in the 4th.
I get they want to balance fun versus realism. In light of that, I think botched snaps would be fun and part of the game. On of my best memories in football gaming was watching a snap sail over my quarterbacks head in APF 2k8. I only seen it happen once and didn't even know it could happen. It was shocking to see. It would be okay to add if it rarely happened and there was an option to turn it off. Although poor snaps could making recruiting and who you play at center more interesting.
I get they want to balance fun versus realism. In light of that, I think botched snaps would be fun and part of the game. On of my best memories in football gaming was watching a snap sail over my quarterbacks head in APF 2k8. I only seen it happen once and didn't even know it could happen. It was shocking to see. It would be okay to add if it rarely happened and there was an option to turn it off. Although poor snaps could making recruiting and who you play at center more interesting.
Agreed. Would mean you cannot just plug and play any player at Center.
I think the casual crowd will buy it regardless of it becoming more "sim". I think it's a copout to keep saying they have to appeal to the casual crowd because for the most part, those people go with the flow anyway. It's one of two football games on the market, both made by EA. It's not like they have a choice if they just wanna sling it around with some friends.
Also, there are ways to remedy the problem he cited in the botched snap argument. It would just be something never done before in football games, which seems to be something they are afraid to try. Innovation.
Instead of pressing x to snap the ball. How about you have to use the analog stick, sort of like how you use the stick to shoot free throws in NBA 2k? If you aren't smooth with using the stick, then there is a greater chance that you will botch the snap. QB awareness and C attributes would tie into how precise you have to be when bringing the stick back to snap the ball.
A system like that could also factor into OL penalties like false starts, so it's not random. It's based on you being patient and precise with your stick skills every snap.
Now some will argue that pressing x is just easier and better, but I think if it got implemented, people would roll with it just like they roll with everything else.