Manual vs CPU catching

[grunt]

Quote: Originally Posted by wwharton

manual catching is cool. it lets you see some animations that you wouldn't normally see. and i also think it DEFINITELY helps to try to pick off passes yourself rather than leaving it to the cpu. but on offense, doesn't matter too much. it does make it easier to catch more stuff in traffic i'm sure and makes the game more interesting to you, however if you focus on not passing to guys who really aren't open then it doesn't matter too much. i rarely manually catch on offense and i have Boller in both of my active leagues, throwing to Ravens WRs in one of them and he's a top 5 passer in both. tddyc is a beast on D anyway but i promise you his success in the passing game has more to do with throwing to the right people than manual catching. with the team he has (for those that don't know, i happen to be in the same league and know the guy very well) his wrs would make plays anyway. he's a master at making the right decision. now i don't doubt that it's helped your passing game or even that it makes the game more challenging but in competition it also makes it more risky when i can have the same success by not doing it and run more of a risk of screwing up a play at times when i do. see what i mean? i just wish that there was a big difference in the success rate of catching balls if you do it and it's just too easy to be successful passing without doing it at all. on the top levels that shouldn't be the case.

We need to scrimmage.

[wwharton]

and you know that is not a problem my friend

[sportsgeist]

I haven't manually caught a pass in a football videogame since playing Madden on the Sega Genesis. I run my offense like in real life and most of my pass plays are based on timing. So usually my receivers are open and there is no need to take control of them before catching the ball. I do however take over when the receiver looks like he won't make it the ball but other than that I let the CPU do the catching.

You really don't have a choice in First Person Football though.

I would like to see the better receivers get better at catching tipped passes (defenders catch tipped passes all day in this game), sideline and back of the endzone catches. Some of the sideline catches the better receivers make in real life can't be done in current games. I mean they don't keep their feet inbounds as much as they should. I've seen it countless times where your top receiver will get one foot inbounds and just when you think the other foot will make it the player slides a half yard before putting their foot down out of bounds.

[Kruza]

Quote: Originally Posted by grunt

Manual catching help me with run after catch (RAC). For some reason when I throw the ball on slants and post the wr catch the ball more into his body instead of in stride. When I manual catch the ball I can control the wr and have a better chance running after the catch. It does make a diffrence, not everytime but maybe 30% of the time. I seen and done things manual catching that I couldnt do cpu. Afro we just come to a diffrent conclusion. I play in OSFL, DSP Blog League, and the Playmaker leagues and I played against a player that manual everything from defense to catching. It does make a diffrence but if you dont do it all the time how can you say it doesnt make a big diffrence. I think you have to do it over 90% of the times to see the diffrence. Peace

I'm one of those people who choose to manually control everything. I think I even played you about 2 weeks ago in a DSP Blog League game (Rams vs. Packers).

And what Afroman is saying is definitely valid in regards to manual control vs. CPU control in this game. Catching the ball manually isn't as necessary in this game as it was in past ESPN/2K games. It's actually not a bad idea to let the CPU handle it, though I still recommend those to at least switch then press the catch button whenever the ball is thrown to a medicore/bad receiver. Anyway, it's more of a preference thing for me to manually control everything as opposed to having any meaningful reasons why.

Kruza

[NYG_Meth]

I'd say I manually catch 85-90% of the time, only letting the computer do it on screens and other short passes.

[jdros13]

Quote: Originally Posted by sportsgeist

I haven't manually caught a pass in a football videogame since playing Madden on the Sega Genesis. I run my offense like in real life and most of my pass plays are based on timing. So usually my receivers are open and there is no need to take control of them before catching the ball. I do however take over when the receiver looks like he won't make it the ball but other than that I let the CPU do the catching.

In Madden back in the mid '90s, manual catching was basically cheating. I know, I made a lot of money playing the other guys in my fraternity with point spreads. You could always complete passes by tossing it out to the WR, and then stopping the WR and jumping about 5 yards from where the pass was supposed to land.

My hand-eye coordination is not as good anymore, and I tend to just let the cpu catch it for me now. To me, the challenge in games now is reading the defense and finding the soft spot and timing the pass so it finds the reciever when he hits that spot. On some long passes where you lead the WR I will switch over to try and get him there, but I'd say 95% of the time I just let the cpu catch it...

[jdros13]

Quote: Originally Posted by Afroman4ever

Your obviously nowhere near understanding what I'm talking about. Its ignorant responses such as yours that take for granted the person posting may just have some overall knowledge on the subject being discussed. Unlike some people who highlight problems with games...I thoroughly play the game and break it down to make certain my comments carry some level of validity. If you are unable to participate in the discussion w/o your stupid comments then you may simply want to consider moving on. Go back to the EA boards???...All you did was show your own ignorance. In ESPN..no matter what the speed rating is the pursuit is waaay off. Everyone who plays online allows the cpu to pursue..Its the only way to make the tackle. Champ Bailey could be chasing a Fullback and the FB will lose Champ in the DUST errytime...If you don't see that then maybe we are not playing the same game and I need to get your copy.

Afroman is dead on accurate on this. Unless you are using a turbo controller, the AI defenders are much faster than you can possible push the turbo button. The AI can catch up much faster than a human can.

[TheBandit]

Personally, I usually just switch to the receiver and hit "Y" when the ball comes. Same for defending passes. I'll move the receiver and go for the catch if I have to, but it's still a bit awkward. I've also discovered the best way to do this without causing a stutterstep is to hold the direction you want him to go before you make the switch.