I'm giving up on ESPN.

[RoyalBoyle78]

Quote: Originally Posted by ronnyballgame

I love ESPN, the gameplay is unreal, but there are kickers(not the acutal position) that are making my mind wander towards Madden, but Madden's holds me back until I see something on here with impressions. I like franchise, and Madden has that big time, but I dunno, I am so confused!

TCrouch has been giving impressions basicaly all day yesterday, where have you been.

There are to many big issues that I just can't deal with in franchise mode. Sorry I gave the game that I onced love so much enough time. Sorry

[Greenevol]

I loved the gameplay (with some tweaking here and there), but the broken franchise mode killed it for me.

Ill keep it though.

Its the most realistic looking, and has the most impressive presentation, that ill keep it around for a quick game or two.

Why couldnt VC figure out how to fix thier franchise mode instead of trying to get Carmen Electra in the game?

[ChiTownKid]

Quote: Originally Posted by Heelfan71

I just don't see how that is cheese. Does your team have a bad OL or something? Have you tried putting a player in motion for an extra blocker?

When you shift your DE over three yards so that he comes in unmolested because the OT can't pick him up, that's cheese.

The only conventional, strategic answer that I can think of would be to run up the gap that this creates. Unfortunately, it's usually done on the weak side, and, if your opponent is running a 4-3, or wosre, a Bear/46, then that gap will close quickly without the aid of the strong-side blocker. Unless you use a team with an extraordinary HB, which I don't (Bears), you quickly find that you have no options to combat it.

[ChicagoChris]

Quote: Originally Posted by FootballForever

TCrouch has been giving impressions basicaly all day yesterday, where have you been. There are to many big issues that I just can't deal with in franchise mode. Sorry I gave the game that I onced love so much enough time. Sorry

Waiting for the fiorums to come back up is where most of us have been,

Look, if you don't like ESPN, state the reasons why. The gameplay of the DB ai is all personal opinion.

Someone line up the beefs you have with the game. We all know that the trading is whack in franchise but you can work around this.

Do you guys not believe that when Madden drops next week there will not be huge issues? If you dont believe it, i have a very buggy, slow *** version of NCAA 2005 to sell. I also have Madden 2004 with the import bug too.

The little nitpicks with ESPN goes to show how good it actually is.

[Greenevol]

I can live with the awful trading, especially since its toned down a bunch if you turn off preseason games.

What kills me about the franchise mode is the draft logic of the AI. Its been beaten to death on here, but its a game killer for me. Also the salary cap increases unrealisticly, so if you even have a shred of common sense, you can sign everyone you want easily.

Also, i never thought that not having the NCAA classes would be a killer, but im having a real hard time choosing between Joe Schmo#1 and Joe Schmo #2. Its just not immersive.

That said, if i want a quick game, or im playing against a buddy, ill be playing ESPN. Its got unbelievable gameplay and presentation.

And maybe its just a personal thing, but it galls me that Steve O and Carmen Electra keep calling me, but the AI picks nothing but Tackles and Halfbacks in the first round of the draft.

VC has converted me. Even though Madden will probably spend more time in the Xbox this year, ill be pre ordering ESPN next summer.

[ChicagoChris]

Quote: Originally Posted by Greenevol

I can live with the awful trading, especially since its toned down a bunch if you turn off preseason games. What kills me about the franchise mode is the draft logic of the AI. Its been beaten to death on here, but its a game killer for me. Also the salary cap increases unrealisticly, so if you even have a shred of common sense, you can sign everyone you want easily. Also, i never thought that not having the NCAA classes would be a killer, but im having a real hard time choosing between Joe Schmo#1 and Joe Schmo #2. Its just not immersive. That said, if i want a quick game, or im playing against a buddy, ill be playing ESPN. Its got unbelievable gameplay and presentation. And maybe its just a personal thing, but it galls me that Steve O and Carmen Electra keep calling me, but the AI picks nothing but Tackles and Halfbacks in the first round of the draft. VC has converted me. Even though Madden will probably spend more time in the Xbox this year, ill be pre ordering ESPN next summer.

Agreed. It annoys me to no end that game companies spend $$ and time on dumb features (Celeb phone calls, Mascot games, cards) and miss obvious flaws. I love ESPN and think it is the best ever but cmon man, how do you miss the trade issue. I can work around it but we should not have to.

[RoyalBoyle78]

Quote: Originally Posted by ChicagoChris

Waiting for the fiorums to come back up is where most of us have been, Look, if you don't like ESPN, state the reasons why. The gameplay of the DB ai is all personal opinion. Someone line up the beefs you have with the game. We all know that the trading is whack in franchise but you can work around this. Do you guys not believe that when Madden drops next week there will not be huge issues? If you dont believe it, i have a very buggy, slow *** version of NCAA 2005 to sell. I also have Madden 2004 with the import bug too. The little nitpicks with ESPN goes to show how good it actually is.

I don't want to sound like im the guy bashing ESPN cause thats not the case, I still think the game is good, here it goes, these are reasons why the game bothers me much.

1. the trade issue, yes, yes we know that we can turn the preseason games off and weekly prep, but on the ohther hand we shouln't have to turn any options off in a game because Sega/VC screwed up. I like to play my prseason games and weekly perp is cool(but I have to turn it off), because I can't stand the trades.

2.The good old clipping bug, yes I know turn clipping off, again we should not have to turn options off in a game because of the developers missed these bugs.

3.Ending the half on a penalty glitch, I have played several games and im on offence and the computer gets called for a penalty and the half with no time left and the half ends without replaying the down, wich is not supose to happen. In the NFL you get to do the play again, you can't end the half on a penalty caused by the defence.

4. Again in franchise mode, when drafting players the AI picks very dumb and unrealisitc picks that make no sence at all. ex. Chargers drafting a running back with like the 4th pick in the draft when they have LT. Come on guys.

these 4 bugs bother the hell out of me and they should have at least been looked over by ther developing team but I guess they weren't, yes these are game killers for me cause I love to play in franchise mode and these problems hurt the game for me, so you wanted some reasons and I gave you 4 big ones for ME. Ive playeed Madden over ther years and never seen problems in there franchise mode like this before, thats why Im getting Madden and trading in ESPN. Agree or disagree with my its all good. Guys we are all differnt and it may bother me more then you, thats why we have our own opinions about the game, some things work for you and some don't work so good for others.

[spankdatazz22]

I don't understand the logic of trading in a game for a small amount of money myself. I guess if you think your gameplay experience in ESPN is only worth $10, then you should've traded it in long ago. I STILL have NCAA 2004, because I didn't see the wisdom in trading in a game for so little money that obviously has more gameplay value than what EB or Gamestop is willing to give me.

I'll admit to looking forward to Madden since everyone's saying it's so great - I want to judge it for myself. I'm not a big franchise person, so what ESPN has is daunting to me. But the lack of player interaction REALLY sticks out to me in Madden - the one-on-one tackles, lack of head tracking, etc. just grate on me after a while. Perhaps this new Madden AI is all that it should be; it's probably easier to mask good db ai if players aren't looking in certain directions. But for me, I'm more about immersive gameplay - and ESPN portrays realistic player interaction like no other game out right now. For me, that's worth a helluva lot more than $10 - even if only to look at occasionally.