Moostache's Community Day Impressions

[silver540i]

Quote: Originally Posted by The Soldier

No, football is a completely different way to approach a game than any other sport. There are many unique positions with unique AI in football. In basketball and baseball, there are not. For all due purposes, every player on a basketball court is the same person with different attributes and different settings. In football, a QB and OL have to have completely different animations and thought processes.

I'm not going to fill up this thread with our going back and forth, but my comment stands and I'm pretty sure its accurate. The "other" sports titles are closer to greatness than EA's title's. Hence, its a frustrating love-hate relationship I have with Madden and NCAA. Every year they fix something is a year that other things go unfixed or un-added. You disagree?

My comment isn't a simple EA bash. Its more like an expression of frustration when I read how great AI blocking will be and how cool new tackling will look as I play it ON MY ONE PLAYABLE CAMERA ! lol.

[Moostache]

Quote: Originally Posted by silver540i

I'm not going to fill up this thread with our going back and forth, but my comment stands and I'm pretty sure its accurate. The "other" sports titles are closer to greatness than EA's title's. Hence, its a frustrating love-hate relationship I have with Madden and NCAA. Every year they fix something is a year that other things go unfixed or un-added. You disagree? My comment isn't a simple EA bash. Its more like an expression of frustration when I read how great AI blocking will be and how cool new tackling will look as I play it ON MY ONE PLAYABLE CAMERA ! lol.

I don't want to give false hope, because I am reasonably sure that only one camera angle is playable, but there is a different camera angle used in the Campus Legend mode (one that is actually pretty damn good from the little bit I watched) and the replays have multiple different angles too (sidelines, press box, endzone, reverse endzone, wire and a couple more).

In head-to-head games I did not see any option available to use a different camera, but I did not try any single player games, so it might be possible to play from those other cameras in single player mode (but certainly not in online games or head-to-head games)...

[Rocky]

All I need to know is one thing:

Is suction blocking still there? If suction blocking is still there, there is no real QB pocket.....it's that simple.

I am sold on this game, but if that is still in the game it's gonna be a major dissapointment.

[therizing02]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rocky

All I need to know is one thing: Is suction blocking still there? If suction blocking is still there, there is no real QB pocket.....it's that simple. I am sold on this game, but if that is still in the game it's gonna be a major dissapointment.

Did you read the impressions? He said that the blocking has been completely overhauled and fixed. I'm pretty excited about it.

[Brandwin]

Quote: Originally Posted by Methlab

Online will be a cheesefest again, you can tell by his comments. Pass.

Don't play with random cheesers. online games will always and I mean ALWAYS have stuff you can exploit.


Thanks for the preview. I can't wait!

[Rocky]

Quote: Originally Posted by therizing02

Did you read the impressions? He said that the blocking has been completely overhauled and fixed. I'm pretty excited about it.

No, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm pretty excited about the blocking logic as well, but that's completely different from suction blocking. Suction blocking is when the DE runs right into the lineman and is stuck there in an drawn out animation.....that really has nothing to do with the blocking LOGIC which is fixed.

I really haven't read a clear answer on this.

[Moostache]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rocky

All I need to know is one thing: Is suction blocking still there? If suction blocking is still there, there is no real QB pocket.....it's that simple. I am sold on this game, but if that is still in the game it's gonna be a major dissapointment.

A fair enough question, but the blocking is completely differnt this year. There are still some elements of the older blocking present, but suction blocking is not something I saw a lot of or noticed.

I did notice a very specific play that saw a DE and OT engaged and the animation showed the DE actually head tracking the ball carrier and trying to shed the block. Whether or not that happens frequently enough is up to debate. DE and OT interaction still needs more work IMO. I think the interior line blocking is vastly better (especially pulling guards, double teams, RB blocking on passes, and so on), but the outside players are not quite right they play too "flat" at times - and by that I mean that the DE does not attack the outside shoulder of the OT consistently and the OT does not force the DE (or LB) up the field enough. A "pocket" is formed, and at times it is impressively better, but at other times it is too 'flat'.

What I did not see at all (though I'm sure it might happen at some point) was teh horrifically bad type of suction blocking that would literally pull you defender into a blocking animation. The OL players actually do a much better job opf pursuing the man to block instead of just running to a spot and picking their ***. Of course, I also did see one pass play that the LG literally watched a LB blitz through and did nothing...but all of the details (time of game, score, down and distance, "motivation rating", etc.) escape me. It did not happen frequently and that was definitely an improvement over years past.

[nxt]

Quote: Originally Posted by Moostache

A fair enough question, but the blocking is completely differnt this year. There are still some elements of the older blocking present, but suction blocking is not something I saw a lot of or noticed. I did notice a very specific play that saw a DE and OT engaged and the animation showed the DE actually head tracking the ball carrier and trying to shed the block. Whether or not that happens frequently enough is up to debate. DE and OT interaction still needs more work IMO. I think the interior line blocking is vastly better (especially pulling guards, double teams, RB blocking on passes, and so on), but the outside players are not quite right they play too "flat" at times - and by that I mean that the DE does not attack the outside shoulder of the OT consistently and the OT does not force the DE (or LB) up the field enough. A "pocket" is formed, and at times it is impressively better, but at other times it is too 'flat'. What I did not see at all (though I'm sure it might happen at some point) was teh horrifically bad type of suction blocking that would literally pull you defender into a blocking animation. The OL players actually do a much better job opf pursuing the man to block instead of just running to a spot and picking their ***. Of course, I also did see one pass play that the LG literally watched a LB blitz through and did nothing...but all of the details (time of game, score, down and distance, "motivation rating", etc.) escape me. It did not happen frequently and that was definitely an improvement over years past.

Thanks for the impressions Moose. On the defensive side of the ball (and with the improved blocking that you and others have mentioned), did you notice a difference on getting pressure on the QB. I read someone's review/impressions from community day (I don't remember who) that said getting pressure on the QB with your front four was more difficult. In fact, there were times that the QB seemed to be sitting back all day. Did you notice any of this? What was your impression?