Alright Boyz, Here We Go!!! NCAA Football 2009 impressions thread

[Kodos]

WRs and linebackers on the OL is comical. Nice job, EA!

[Sun Tzu]

Speed is the great equalizer in this game. In the RFL, I don't have much talent on the offensive side, but my HB has a rating of 94 for speed, and I have a couple WR's who can outrun a decent amount of CB's. Even if my O-line was trash, if I lined up against a team with a 91 OVR rating but they had mostly 89/90 SPD players at the skill positions, I would have a good chance of winning 9 out of 10 times. It's when you go up against teams like OSU who have the speed and the talent that it's tough. You really have to call all the right plays at the right time, plus have a bounce or two go your way.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Sun Tzu

Speed is the great equalizer in this game. In the RFL, I don't have much talent on the offensive side, but my HB has a rating of 94 for speed, and I have a couple WR's who can outrun a decent amount of CB's. Even if my O-line was trash, if I lined up against a team with a 91 OVR rating but they had mostly 89/90 SPD players at the skill positions, I would have a good chance of winning 9 out of 10 times.

Totally agree (*hugs his 99 SPD HB in EBFL*)

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by Balldog

Some scumbag beat the CPU 165-7 in my online dynasty, granted it was a I-AA team but so much for a "sim" league. I should've never gotten rid of the 360, so could play in the FOFC league.

I gave this guy shit for his score, he says "yeah I know, I felt bad for them cause they couldn't stop me." Then looking at the box score, his starting QB threw 13 TD passes. Someone says thanks for playing sim, he says you are welcome.

Anyway, I bought a 360. I'm joining FOFC league(s) only.

[CleBrownsfan]

Anyone have a problems with Int's in the game? Any given game I throw 3-4 Int's (some are my fault - others, eh) and I pick off the CPU 3-5 times a game - and a lot of my picks are pick sixes. As for sliders I use the following

HEISMAN SLIDERS (7 min quarters)

OFFENSE HUM CPU
QB ACC 40 35
PASS BLK 25 0
WR CATCH 30 0
RB ABLTY 55 70
RUN BLK 90 100

DEFENSE HUM CPU
AWR 70 45
KNKDWNS 40 10
INT 0 0
BRK BLK 20 0
TKL 55 20

any thoughts?

[Eaglesfan27]

I have too few interceptions in my game as long as I keep QB accuracy for the CPU at 50 and human no lower than 40. With the QB accuracy being related to power (stupidly), the CPU just tries to throw too many passes that are too soft if CPU accuracy is less than 50.

[Tigercat]

One day EA will perfect the incompletion. In real life 50%+ of incompletions are passes where QBs lead a WR too much (overthrow, usually into the turf or sidelines) or too little (underthrow, into the turf). I just hope one day this will happen on a regular basis in NCAA, instead of nearly every incompletion being a drop reception, a drop interception, or a tipped ball.

[MJ4H]

Anyone know anything about the Wii version? I'm considering picking up a used copy and am only interested in the dynasty mode. I'm not interested in any other aspect. It would be nice to know if there was an ability to grab screenshots or videos, though.

[Phototropic]

Originally Posted by Tigercat

One day EA will perfect the incompletion. In real life 50%+ of incompletions are passes where QBs lead a WR too much (overthrow, usually into the turf or sidelines) or too little (underthrow, into the turf). I just hope one day this will happen on a regular basis in NCAA, instead of nearly every incompletion being a drop reception, a drop interception, or a tipped ball.

The frustrating thing is it almost works. I have a QB with 80 accuracy who skips several passes a game, but he is so ridiculously off target (to the point of throwing at wrong receivers) that I'm scared to air it out.

[RainMaker]

I wish skills would have more of an impact on a player's ability. As others have said, speed is all that matters. I only recruit for speed, especially at the skill positions.

[MizzouRah]

So I beat Oklahoma as Sam Bradford is out for the season and then Texas Tech beats me... two weeks later and 2-6 Texas A&M come to town and beat us to completely ruin any chance I had at a NC.

Two years down, year 3 coming up.

I'm not sure I'll get NCAA 2010 because NCAA 09 is just that damn good.

[Young Drachma]

Ok, so I'm hanging out with my brother for Thanksgiving and he's got PS3. Who wants to tell me where I can download some updated rosters with real player names?

[Young Drachma]

Also, massively disappointed that they got rid of the create-a-school feature. I don't know who these yahoos are trying to appease, but the mascot game isn't more important than a feature that surely made a lot of fans happy.

[MizzouRah]

WOW!

Beat Oregon St. 62-52 in the holiday bowl and although in two years I haven't hit one goal, the AD of Missouri offers me a 4 year extension!!!

I guess two 11-3 years will do that for ya... I'm really excited about next year though!

[dervack]

I'm in year 3 of a 6 year extension with the Air Force and the 5-star QB came in rated an 84. I figure I will play out this extension, with him graduating and then see what else is out there. Maybe take over someone like Kentucky in the SEC. I still don't see myself trading this in anytime soon.

[Groundhog]

Hmmm. Maybe I need to quit being lazy and cart my PS3 upstairs to get the patch for this game and give it another try. I was looking forward to this nearly as much as I was CH2K8, but I've only logged about 4 hours total time with NCAA Football 09 in the months I've owned it, mostly because I just wasn't happy with it out of the box.

[vex]

Don't really feel like reading all 34 pages...is '09 that much of a step over '08? Worth buying this late in the game or just wait until '10? Grazie.

[Sun Tzu]

yesh

[Kodos]

While it's not great by any means (too many bugs), it is much better than '08.

[RainMaker]

What sliders are you guys using?

[Cuckoo]

I haven't posted here, but I agree completely with MizzouRah. This game has held my interest longer than any I've had in a long time, and I'm still playing it (put down Madden some time ago). I had '08 on PS2, so it's hard for me to compare between generations since '09 next-gen is such a big step forward.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

What sliders are you guys using?

Front Office Football Central - View Single Post - RFL slider poll

At least RFL and EBFL are using these,I used it in my single player dynasty as well.

[Radii]

I have been itching to play more NCAA09 than just the couple games per week I get in the online leagues, but every time I go to resume my NC State Dynasty the thought of the O-line and recruiting/dynasty issues bug me enough that I just play something else instead. Even if I never play another single player dynasty again though I've still gotten more out of this game than any NCAA/Madden version ever.

[Phototropic]

I'm almost through 5 seasons of an online league. I've not seen the issue of other positions playing oline, but there has been a drop off in the ratings. I would suggest using some house rules on recruiting relative to team prestige to keep things balanced. With that said, I've not had an easy time on defense because of weaker olines.

The base roster I used was very accurate, but the ratings were much higher all around than the new recruits coming in. I'm hoping things will balance out now as all of the original players will be gone.

[MizzouRah]

I don't think it's buggy at all... especially after the patch.

I played about 3 games of NCAA 08.. imho 09 KILLS 08.

I let the CPU do most of my recruiting, I just like playing my games.. Maclin is a beast and I'm so happy he decided to stay for his junior and senior years!

I play on AS defaults with CPU running and run blocking up. I'm not messing with anything else until I win a Championship.. which might be never.

Finally landed my first 5 star recruit last season, a HB from North Carolina.

I'd say it's approaching one of my favorite games of all time.

[MJ4H]

Anyone know anything about the Wii version? (anything useful, not just that it is missing useless modes which is all the reviews say)

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

I don't think it's buggy at all... especially after the patch.

I played about 3 games of NCAA 08.. imho 09 KILLS 08.

I let the CPU do most of my recruiting, I just like playing my games.. Maclin is a beast and I'm so happy he decided to stay for his junior and senior years!

I play on AS defaults with CPU running and run blocking up. I'm not messing with anything else until I win a Championship.. which might be never.

Finally landed my first 5 star recruit last season, a HB from North Carolina.

I'd say it's approaching one of my favorite games of all time.

Most of the bugs only affect online dynasties. The offline modes are relatively bug free.

[Radii]

I started a campus legend career with a MLB, I've never tried campus legend with a defensive player. i ended up making the state finals, getting 5-8 tackles per game and a couple sackes in the playoffs. I had offers from every team in the top 25, I'm a 79 rated freshman, 2nd string behind a 88 rated junior for Oklahoma.

I may go back to my NC State dynasty and look over the rosters to see how bad they are for other teams. I know ratings degrade over time but I'm more worried about O-line depth, etc. I'm in 2017 and have won 2 national titles in a row, I think I've won my last 30ish games in a row going back to 2015. I know a little more about the game now to make things more fair(never call option runs being rule #1).

Another option would be to start a new dynasty with more restrictions from the start to build up, and trying to pick a team at a more severe disadvantage than even NC State... worst team in the nation in a major conference, etc. Baylor? I definitely don't want to let the CPU completely take over recruiting. Maybe require myself to only use quick calls?

[Senator]

QUESTION:

Not that anyone probably has a PS2 anymore, but we do. NCAA2008 had a cool feature where you played high school football somewhere and then was given a scholarship somewhere based on your success. The PS3 and XBOX offered this, but the PS2 did not. Does any diehard out there know if the NCAA2009 for the PS2 offers the high school opening?

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by Senator

QUESTION:

Not that anyone probably has a PS2 anymore, but we do. NCAA2008 had a cool feature where you played high school football somewhere and then was given a scholarship somewhere based on your success. The PS3 and XBOX offered this, but the PS2 did not. Does any diehard out there know if the NCAA2009 for the PS2 offers the high school opening?

I'll try to check today.

[Senator]

thanks

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by Senator

thanks

You basically just go to a summer camp - run through some drills then allocate the rating points you earned during the drills. You then get scholarship offers based on your OVR.

[Senator]

Want to make sure. So, on the PS2 for 09 you DO NOT go through picking your high school and playing playoffs before going to a college based on your performance.

Maybe it is time to upgrade to another system.

[Balldog]

Originally Posted by Senator

Want to make sure. So, on the PS2 for 09 you DO NOT go through picking your high school and playing playoffs before going to a college based on your performance.

You are correct, you do not do the high school thing like you do on the PS3 and 360.

[JonInMiddleGA]

So apparently you have to be at least 13 y/o to play EA games online?

Sucks to be my son, who just spent half his remaining Christmas cash buying a second copy of NCAA 09 (he already had it for PS2) so he could finally play h2h online (which seems to be the overriding reason he wanted a 3rd gen system in the first place).

At no time do I ever recall hearing this mentioned anywhere before and it's even relatively difficult to Google up anything about it.

[cartman]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

So apparently you have to be at least 13 y/o to play EA games online?

Sucks to be my son, who just spent half his remaining Christmas cash buying a second copy of NCAA 09 (he already had it for PS2) so he could finally play h2h online (which seems to be the overriding reason he wanted a 3rd gen system in the first place).

At no time do I ever recall hearing this mentioned anywhere before and it's even relatively difficult to Google up anything about it.

Is this for Xbox Live? If so, when he registered, he probably clicked on the "I am under 13 years of age" box. This flagged the account for COPPA compliance, meaning they can't collect his personal information unless you or your wife allows it. There should have been a message sent that asked you for permission to allow him to register and play online. You might want to contact support to get him activated.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by cartman

Is this for Xbox Live? If so, when he registered, he probably clicked on the "I am under 13 years of age" box. This flagged the account for COPPA compliance, meaning they can't collect his personal information unless you or your wife allows it. There should have been a message sent that asked you for permission to allow him to register and play online. You might want to contact support to get him activated.

Actually, I went through all of that - having to register for a silver account myself in order to verify him for online play on his gold account and finally had to give up & remove nearly all of the parental safeguards (friends only, approval required for friends list, video, audio, etc) to finally get things to work okay. But since then he's played COD:WaW online already, the two board games last night, the online (live play) demo for some other shooter earlier today.

Best I could tell from the limited Google info I could find, this is some sort of restrictions on EA's part (or at least seemed to be). A user in the UK had recently posted the same problem with FIFA 08 and their 12 year old. As for EA I've tried their support section, their FAQ, and their forum and can't even get a hit for "age" or "age limit" or "age restriction" or much of anything else.
(about as worthless an excuse for online support as I've seen in recent memory IMO).

It just seems f'n nuts that there's a scenario where a kid can blow shit up into little pieces but can't play football online.

[cartman]

It's not EA, it the government. It's COPPA (Child Online Privacy Protection Act).

Children's Online Privacy Protection Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sony recently got a pretty hefty fine for collecting info from those under 13 without authorization, so it's not surprising that companies are being more careful about it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

But surely COPPA doesn't require them to make it damned near impossible to find the info and once you do find some to write it in a nearly indecipherable fashion.

When I logged on as me & went through the creation mode, sure enough in the mouse type of the agreement was a confusing explanation about the procedure (by fax or mail) to authorize users under 18 (or 14 or 13, depending upon your jurisdiction) to participate in online activities. But from that there's very little info about how/where to contact them to get the form to fill out, nor is it clear due to some wording on down the section whether it would actually do any good to go through the process since EA (loosely quoting here but pretty close) reserves the right to restrict certain areas from users under 18/14/12.

edit to add: It appears that I've found a phone number for EA support, we'll see if that does any good.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Okay, talked to a live human at EA (just say "operator" during the voice menu & it transfers you).

The form I needed to fill out is from XBox not EA ... but the support guy indicated that XBox wasn't really enthusiastic about helping them with anything. His advice? Lie about the kid's age & just set him up a new account making sure to have him be over age 13.

Did that, declined the gold offer & was given a free one month trial for his new tag. About all we'll lose is his achievements on Fallout 3, so I guess all's well that ends well enough.

So now then, back to NCAA09. I found the AA sliders that seem to be the preferred FOFC settings but what roster set should we be looking for again?

I got the ones from locked tagged "ExtremeGamer" as recommended at Free NCAA Football 09 Rosters Downloads for Xbox 360 PS3 PS2 and Other Consoles (which I found a referral to at pastapadre.com). But his site also refers people to NCAA Football 09 & NCAA Basketball 09 at ncaa Strategies which lists a roster set in the "Fairdale Kings" locker ... and I have no idea which is better, worse, or if they're the same set or what. Or is there another set that is the FOFC favorite that I can easily download without having to ask someone to go through the hassle of adding us as friends,etc?

Thanks in advance.

[MizzouRah]

I use Fairdale Kings...

[Eaglesfan27]

You don't have to have someone as a friend to use their roster set. I have Fairdale Kings' roster set uploaded to my gamertag. You can easily download his tag or mine. My tag is Eaglesfan27.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Thanks guys, heck of a learning curve for us oldtimers. I'm finally getting adjusted to having a TV that doesn't have rabbit ears though, so there's probably some hope

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Thanks guys, heck of a learning curve for us oldtimers. I'm finally getting adjusted to having a TV that doesn't have rabbit ears though, so there's probably some hope

Have heart Jon. I went through this same process (minus the child) about two months ago and had to ask most of these same questions. It takes some time, but it does get easier.

[MizzouRah]

Us old farts are always welcome to help!

[cartman]

Operation Sports revisited NCAA Football '09 to see how well the patches improved the game.

NCAA Football 09 Postmortem - Operation Sports

Their sentiments seem to echo what those of us here have been saying, that the game is pretty damn good after the two patches.

[Radii]

There was a featured article the day before with a wish list for NCAA 10. The only disappointing thing to me is that the poor defensive pursuit angles aren't explicitly mentioned as one of the big gameplay flaws, or needs for improvement in the 2010 version

[BrianD]

Originally Posted by Radii

There was a featured article the day before with a wish list for NCAA 10. The only disappointing thing to me is that the poor defensive pursuit angles aren't explicitly mentioned as one of the big gameplay flaws, or needs for improvement in the 2010 version

That is one of my biggest disappointments with the 09 game. I always feel like I should run out of bounds when a tackler has a good angle on me but chooses one that will never work.

[Butter]

After 1 1/2 seasons with Clemson and another half with Ohio State, I feel like I am about ready to unleash my high quality skills on another FOFCer, or in an online league.

Any FOFC run leagues with openings? Or anyone want to take me on via online over the next couple of days?

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by cartman

Operation Sports revisited NCAA Football '09 to see how well the patches improved the game.

NCAA Football 09 Postmortem - Operation Sports

Their sentiments seem to echo what those of us here have been saying, that the game is pretty damn good after the two patches.

I wouldn't put too much stock in what they write. They do have a bit of an EA bias. They missed some of the most glaring gameplay flaws.

I agree the game is better with the patches, but it sucks it took two. I'm getting tired of sports games treating release date like the launch of a beta. Both 2K and EA do this now.