Regarding NCAA Football Series/EA Sports

[MNHuskerman]

Let me preface my comments by saying, I am an "EA Fanboy" and can appreciate many aspects of the sports titles they put out. I enjoy the games for what they are. But with the NCAA Football series I always find myself wishing for more, and wanting a better product.

Perhaps it's the fact that College Football, in my opinion, is the best sport on the planet. The tradition, rivalry, pagentry and excitement that is College Football is hard to convey to a video game. The excitement that many of us feel when waking up on a Saturday morning and waiting for our team to play is only surpassed by the feeling we get when the ball is teed up and kicked to start the game. So, knowing that this experience is possibly the best in all of sports, perhaps it is simply not achievable for EA to put out an NCAA Football game that approaches the "real" experience of game day. Perhaps our collective expectations should be lowered?

On the other hand, if I look at the collection of EA College Football games, I could pull certain aspects from several games and envision a true "AA" College Football title. If we were able to magically combine the gameplay and extra details from NCAA 06, the graphics (player models, fields and stadiums) from NCAA 11, the recruiting from NCAA 13, and the Infinity Engine 2.0, improved line play, option game and camera angle options from NCAA 14, what a game we would have. I also look at the advantages EA has in "owning" the market, and cannot understand why they do not fully implement the ESPN rights they have? Why do we not have a College Football Gameday pre-game show? Why do we not have a fully functional half-time show? Post game show? Why do we have camera angles that look little like the real thing?

And why does the community have to continually point out the "small details" EA misses that would fully immerse us in their product? I'm talking updated equipment; helmets, facemasks, gloves, sleeves, socks, shoes, etc. I'm talking realistic crowd noise, swells and eruptions on big plays, silence when the away team is beating the home team down, correct band fight songs, cheers and chants. Being able to distinguish the Texas A&M crowd from the Minnesota crowd just by listening for 20 seconds. And for the love of everything sacred, why can't EA give us a fully adjustable camera option like FIFA or that other companies basketball game??? A little extra effort by the EA team in these areas alone would really go a long ways to improving the product.

I could go on longer, but have ranted long enough. I hold NCAA Football 11 at the top of this generation of EA College Football titles because of it's combination of solid, grounded gameplay and incredible graphics (yeah I said graphics and if you don't believe that pop it back in your tray and compare it to NCAA 14). The two main areas I hold in highest regard are graphics and gameplay. When I turn on NCAA 14, I should be blown away by the entire package in comparison to a title over 3 years older! I'm sorry but NCAA 14 graphically is not on the same level as NCAA 11. NCAA 11 has better player models, more realistic color, better grass, better stadiums, better crowds...it's really not close. And for me, that is disappointing. In fairness, I think NCAA 14 may win the battle in gameplay. NCAA 14 is very smooth, and the line play, run game and option game are light years ahead of NCAA 11.

I will be buying and playing NCAA Football 14, but will play it with mixed emotions as I believe EA could put out a truly astonishing College Football game if it wanted to. The Ignite Engine and next gen gives me hope, but I'm not sure EA really believes that NCAA Football can or should be great, and that is where we as a community lose.

[LastExit]

Couldn't agree more on the stuff that continues to not appear in the game that would add to the immersion factor and would help capture the pageantry of college football.

After playing several games with the demo, it drives me nuts thinking - "The crowd sounds just fine......if only they would increase the volume it would be all set." I don't get why this is so hard.....they can make it too loud and let us dial it down with the slider. What's the point of having team-specific chants if you can barely hear them? I really don't get it. What's more is that last year they were getting help from the audio crew from FIFA to incorporate swells and in the demo they didn't build on what they started....they're gone completely. Don't know if this is a demo/retail thing but I doubt it. At this point I would prefer them to use the crowd audio from '09 and call it a day.

That's not to say they haven't made significant improvements with '14....they most certainly have. But I agree in that it's this collection of small things that kills what could really be a great game. They've done it in the past with inferior technology......I played the heck out of older versions on the PS2. Here's to hoping that the new technology being released at the end of this year brings better results.

[falcor1234]

I agree with what youve said. I also agree that its a game where i think we expect to much of the little things. By that i mean it would be to much to fully make a complete college game. Because every team has their own entrance their own chants their own traditions ect. Not like the nfl where its all just about the same. And its not like its 30 teams theres 126. So in that regards i dont think we will ever be satisfied. But i also agree that the crowd needs to be a lot louder. Why is custom sounds so much louder than crowd noise? I never understood that.

[HozAndMoose]

Quote: Originally Posted by MNHuskerman

Let me preface my comments by saying, I am an "EA Fanboy" and can appreciate many aspects of the sports titles they put out. I enjoy the games for what they are. But with the NCAA Football series I always find myself wishing for more, and wanting a better product. Perhaps it's the fact that College Football, in my opinion, is the best sport on the planet. The tradition, rivalry, pagentry and excitement that is College Football is hard to convey to a video game. The excitement that many of us feel when waking up on a Saturday morning and waiting for our team to play is only surpassed by the feeling we get when the ball is teed up and kicked to start the game. So, knowing that this experience is possibly the best in all of sports, perhaps it is simply not achievable for EA to put out an NCAA Football game that approaches the "real" experience of game day. Perhaps our collective expectations should be lowered? On the other hand, if I look at the collection of EA College Football games, I could pull certain aspects from several games and envision a true "AA" College Football title. If we were able to magically combine the gameplay and extra details from NCAA 06, the graphics (player models, fields and stadiums) from NCAA 11, the recruiting from NCAA 13, and the Infinity Engine 2.0, improved line play, option game and camera angle options from NCAA 14, what a game we would have. I also look at the advantages EA has in "owning" the market, and cannot understand why they do not fully implement the ESPN rights they have? Why do we not have a College Football Gameday pre-game show? Why do we not have a fully functional half-time show? Post game show? Why do we have camera angles that look little like the real thing? And why does the community have to continually point out the "small details" EA misses that would fully immerse us in their product? I'm talking updated equipment; helmets, facemasks, gloves, sleeves, socks, shoes, etc. I'm talking realistic crowd noise, swells and eruptions on big plays, silence when the away team is beating the home team down, correct band fight songs, cheers and chants. Being able to distinguish the Texas A&M crowd from the Minnesota crowd just by listening for 20 seconds. And for the love of everything sacred, why can't EA give us a fully adjustable camera option like FIFA or that other companies basketball game??? A little extra effort by the EA team in these areas alone would really go a long ways to improving the product. I could go on longer, but have ranted long enough. I hold NCAA Football 11 at the top of this generation of EA College Football titles because of it's combination of solid, grounded gameplay and incredible graphics (yeah I said graphics and if you don't believe that pop it back in your tray and compare it to NCAA 14). The two main areas I hold in highest regard are graphics and gameplay. When I turn on NCAA 14, I should be blown away by the entire package in comparison to a title over 3 years older! I'm sorry but NCAA 14 graphically is not on the same level as NCAA 11. NCAA 11 has better player models, more realistic color, better grass, better stadiums, better crowds...it's really not close. And for me, that is disappointing. In fairness, I think NCAA 14 may win the battle in gameplay. NCAA 14 is very smooth, and the line play, run game and option game are light years ahead of NCAA 11. I will be buying and playing NCAA Football 14, but will play it with mixed emotions as I believe EA could put out a truly astonishing College Football game if it wanted to. The Ignite Engine and next gen gives me hope, but I'm not sure EA really believes that NCAA Football can or should be great, and that is where we as a community lose.

That right there is why this series will never live up to my expectations. I just cant make a game feel like i did watching this game.



Thats one of the best games i have ever seen. Even playing that rivalry in the game isnt the same. I love NCAA games. Ill but 14. But no matter what. NCAA will never be perfect. And if EA somehow found a way to show that tradition, rivalry, pageantry and excitement. They could put any price tag on the game and id buy it.

[merchant1874]

Agree with a lot you have said.

I do think the graphics this year are the best since 11 though. 11 is the only copy I have kept and play it now and again. The graphics and Models are great but I hate the filter affects of the light. It has a weird hue.

This isn't the greatest fix but regarding the crowd I turn crowd noise right up and field noise, commentary etc down to 90 ( although you can mess about with this) then I turn my TV sound up.
Voila better Croud noise.

[berad88]

Quote: Originally Posted by merchant1874

This isn't the greatest fix but regarding the crowd I turn crowd noise right up and field noise, commentary etc down to 90 ( although you can mess about with this) then I turn my TV sound up. Voila better Croud noise.

To go along with this I just want to say I have heard a lot of people complain about the crowd noise not being good. In my opinion the crowd noise is very good but the default commentary is way to loud and it drowns out the crowd. I actually turn commentary down to 60 and leave everything else at default. I can still hear the commentary with no problems and the crowd seems much louder and more alive when it needs to be.

[The JareBear]

I think a lot of people would rather have to turn down crowd noise than automatically max it out like I do every year. They really need to go overboard in that one aspect to satisfy everyone IMO.

[Sundown2600]

Why buy a game knowing you're gonna play it with mixed emotions? Personally I'm just not relating to that and have a hard time understanding this way of thinking. Are you buying the game because you feel you 'need' to have a college football game? Are you buying it because the good outweighs the bad in your opinion? I'm asking these questions seriously with no sarcasm and I don't want you to think I'm attacking you because I agree with a lot of what you wrote. I'm just confused about how a person would be willing to purchase something that they know they will not be 100 percent happy with.

In my case I love the effort that the dev team has put into the infinity engine and locomotion improvements, but I know if the CPU playcalling and inconsistent sliders are not fixed in the retail version I will not purchase the game. I can't deal with that when there are other games in my library that give me 100 percent satisfaction every time I play them. This is why I don't understand your reasoning and the reasoning of many others that buy the game for the sake of buying it. Help me understand lol.