We NEED to be able to CONTROL our CCM!

[Skyboxer]

Re: We NEED to be able to CONTROL our CCM!

The gameplay info does look good (when the game comes out will be the real test). I also really like what the gameplay team has worked on. I was just responding and commenting on CFM the past few years.

And for me, gameplay and franchise go hand in hand. I don't do H2h Play Now, or any online stuff. Purely offline CFM. So both are important to me.

Well I guess what I'm saying is.. for me If CFM is great... but the gameplay is lacking and everyone plays the same.. what's the fun of doing roster moves etc... trying to build up a team.
"Just target Speed" has run it's course with me.

So yep they go hand in hand.. I just need the hand that holds the gameplay to work a little harder first

Hopefully with this year and going forward we'll get the best of both and I can have a SP experience that satisfies me.

[gr18]

Re: We NEED to be able to CONTROL our CCM!

Again, I am speaking purely to offline CCM.. but something like allowing rookie name changes should obviously be put in online CCM as well.

They could obviously make this happen... So we as a community should make sure it does. Whether it comes in a patch or comes right out of the gate, I think this would do wonders to making our CCM's much more enjoyable.[/QUOTE]

My friend, I certainly share your frustration and am still playing Madden 12 as a result. However, you need to understand that the lack of customization in next generation Madden is due to the fact that there really is no more offline franchise. Offline and online are joined at the hip from a programming standpoint. As soon as EA went in this direction, offline franchise was doomed. I wrote the following post 2 years back if your interested. See below..

Reply

Madden 12 King Of Current Generation For Offline Franchise

When Josh Looman was brought on board to become senior designer for Madden 12, I was excited. Looman's previously work on NFL Head Coach 09 and several past generation versions of Madden, including 05, were generally well-received. The end result was a game that was stable, fully-featured and with reasonably intelligent CPU AI. Customization was left in the hands of the end-user which was represented by custom playbooks, fully functional gameplay sliders, and the ability to fully edit rosters. In other words, the game could be tailored to an individual's liking. However, Madden 13 put an end to much of what made 12 such a great game with the introduction of "Connected Careers Mode". While the reasoning behind making such a change seemed solid, the end result was a game filled with bugs and removed features. Madden 25 has seen even more egregious errors, including disappearing players. Attempting to lump both offline and online players in the same boat has not proven to be successful and, in my opinion, truly marked the end of the road for those wishing to play this game "sim-style" offline.

In Madden 12, everything worked. While custom playbooks took some patience, they were a welcome addition and finally usable in franchise mode. The CPU AI was fastly improved and reacted to what the user was attempting to do with regards to playcalling. While I didn't use the gameflow feature, the gameplan experience was welcome. Having plays grouped for situations and having them come up at the appropriate times was a great addition if used properly.

Each team had it's own dynamic gameplan which made each game you played against the CPU feel quite different. The Giants would pound the ball and attempt to beat you with playaction while the Dolphins relied heavily on running the ball from the wildcat formation. The addition of dynamic player performance allowed for the top players, especially those on a hot streak, to really stand out above the rest. Throw at Revis in tight coverage and it's likely 6 points the other way.

Complete player editing was possible. As a Cowboys' fan, you could draft a quarterback and name him Troy Aikman if you wished. You could also change names and numbers of players on opposing teams. Ratings could be altered as well. In other words, the user had complete control of roster editing.

Sliders were fully functional and allowed the user to fine tune the game. By tuning the user side sliders only down to a total of 300 points, gameplay was as realistic as possible for a sports video game, without seeing warp-like animations from the CPU.

While Madden 12 was not a perfect experience, free agent bidding was poorly designed, it was a very playable and enjoyable game. So much so that I am still playing it. For that, I am truly thankful to the folks over at EA Tiburon.

The reason "Connected Careers" was born was so that both offline and online players would equally benefit from any feature additions and improvements. In theory, a great idea. However, the reality is that this game plays offline far different from online. Horrible playcalling from the CPU resulted with regards to offline franchise mode. Also, the removal of some of the slider groups made the game even harder to tune. The secondary, especially with regard to zone defense, is highly ineffective. Players appear rooted in the middle of their zone responsibility and have little awareness to receivers coming in to their area.

A number of problems with the saving of gameplay settings have also been reported. The simple ability to have situational substitutions save is also missing. Who wants to have to constantly set their substitution packages every single game? Simple common sense was sorely lacking here.

Player name editing has been removed. Why? Well, the good folks at EA decided that you and I have no imagination whatsoever and introduced fake twitter feed comments and background stories to enhance the role-playing experience of the game. With regards to presentation, wouldn't it have been more important to simply make sure that the correct team was shown celebrating a Super Bowl victory?

I believe that the direction that EA has decided to go has alienated the offline franchise mode player. While Josh Looman's hard work on Madden 12 makes it still an enjoyable game even now, EA's vision for the future of this series is clear. It's all about online, fluff, and an arcade play style. Being that Josh Looman is the current lead designer of "Connected Careers" mode, it's a direction I didn't see coming. As a result, EA hasn't seen my money coming for the past two editions of Madden.

Some claim that EA Tiburon is simply lazy. With no competition, it has been claimed that the initiative to create a solid game just hasn't been there. I would somewhat agree, however I do think it's more about simply being misguided as to how important the actual gameplay experience is for hardcore NFL football fans. Prettier graphics promised in future generations of this game, background storylines, and a new feature added here and there will not make up for the fact that these appear to be invoked at the expense of the core, fundamental basics that have been the foundation of this game, going back to the last generation.

Was Madden 12 king of this generation? Well, we will all have our opinions on that. One thing we're all likely to be in agreement on is that this series has been a major disappointment throughout the entire current generation as a whole.[/QUOTE]

I remember this post and am caught in the same situation of playing '12 on last Gen because I didn't buy a new console.I haven't been inspired by the direction of the current take on a franchise mode and all the concessions that come with it.

[Hooe]

Re: We NEED to be able to CONTROL our CCM!

I generally fall in the "bring back player editing" side of things, but for fun, a devil's advocate argument:

The ability to edit any and every player in the league, especially player ratings, is "not sim".

Discuss.

[Skyboxer]

Re: We NEED to be able to CONTROL our CCM!

I generally fall in the "bring back player editing" side of things, but for fun, a devil's advocate argument:

The ability to edit any and every player in the league, especially player ratings, is "not sim".

Discuss.

My only argument is ratings are subjective. They already lock down rating editing for online ranking games etc..which is fine.
I feel we should be able to edit players for use is CFM online or off.

One year I edited all LB's jump(NCAA I believe) and it effectively removed the super jump from LB's and allowed for over the LB head throws.

Guess in a nut shell is it gives us the ability to rate players how we feel they should be and possibly get more gaps in between players (Elite vs Standard) along with fixes game issues (LB Jump)

Finally... Options are good....

[MajorSupreme]

Re: We NEED to be able to CONTROL our CCM!

I generally fall in the "bring back player editing" side of things, but for fun, a devil's advocate argument:

The ability to edit any and every player in the league, especially player ratings, is "not sim".

Discuss.

It would only not be "sim" if you abused it. I want to use FBG ratings in my CFMs, but can't because of the draft classes. I'm cool with not letting us change names, no skin of my bones. I honestly prefer the made up rooks in contrast to real players. I also have no qualms spending a week going through each and every rookie, drafted and undrafted, and learning a way to rate them all based on the FBG method.

[Yukon46]

Re: We NEED to be able to CONTROL our CCM!

I generally fall in the "bring back player editing" side of things, but for fun, a devil's advocate argument:

The ability to edit any and every player in the league, especially player ratings, is "not sim".

Discuss.

Well let's see what is missing from editing in the CFM era.
And what is Sim ... ? Realistic ?

We can not edit:

Players Names: EA's names or names the user makeup, neither are really sim. (unless let's say I make up the name Dak Prescott for a Top QB prospect... more realistic ?)

Players Height/Weight: If you start seeing a bunch of 6'0 255 lb NT's in draft classes (or numerous other examples in this department)...
users being able to fix them is.... More Sim/realistic?!

Players Color/Head Style/ Body Sizes: Numerous examples in this area too.... users being able to edit and fix such problems... More Realistic.

Players Ratings: This is the only one I would say is in question... but I think you would also have to believe that EA's method of Rating and everything involved with rating is.... Sim. (I dont think many do)



If they wanna keep their Lock on Names and Ratings for another year...or whatever...... fine !

But EA needs to open up the other options....
Height / Weight / Skin Color / Head Styles and Body Sizes needs to be in the limited editing of CFM just for a fail safe to fix the problems that have plagued Madden and their random draft classes.

[bucky60]

Re: We NEED to be able to CONTROL our CCM!

I generally fall in the "bring back player editing" side of things, but for fun, a devil's advocate argument:

The ability to edit any and every player in the league, especially player ratings, is "not sim".

Discuss.

True it's not sim. But it doesn't prevent sim either. I want "realistic realism" WITH full customization. CFM is going in that unrealistic direction, so I already won't get a CFM that I want.

So I guess I'm saying, RPG/Goals/Stats is "not sim" either.

[Hooe]

Re: We NEED to be able to CONTROL our CCM!

So a lot of people are missing the point to my hypothetical.

I mentioned nothing of any existing game mechanics, functionality, or quirks and have no interest in indicting any of them as "sim" or "not sim" for the purposes of this question. My assertion was simply that the ability to play God and change player ratings outside of the context of the normal game for any reason at all was "not sim".

Put another way: I'm not interested in custom draft classes, the XP progression mechanic, EA Sports' procedurally-generated draft classes, or FBGratings for purposes of this question; they are out-of-scope.

I'm trying to figure out what's more valuable, the game being "sim" or allowing the user total control.

[gr18]

Re: We NEED to be able to CONTROL our CCM!

I find editing ratings during a franchise,like M12,allowed me to circumvent things such as the super jumping linebackers,like Skyboxer mentioned,and defensive tackles block shed ratings by globally editing the position and not having the incoming draft classes pretty much make it a moot point.Problems that come with the game that you can adjust to make better.

Last year the speed regression was a problem and people don't want to see things like first round picks that turn out to be sub par,like a Mark Sanchez,automatically become one of the elites within a couple of years.

[bucky60]

Re: We NEED to be able to CONTROL our CCM!

So a lot of people are missing the point to my hypothetical.

I mentioned nothing of any existing game mechanics, functionality, or quirks and have no interest in indicting any of them as "sim" or "not sim" for the purposes of this question. My assertion was simply that the ability to play God and change player ratings outside of the context of the normal game for any reason at all was "not sim".

Put another way: I'm not interested in custom draft classes, the XP progression mechanic, EA Sports' procedurally-generated draft classes, or FBGratings for purposes of this question; they are out-of-scope.

I'm trying to figure out what's more valuable, the game being "sim" or allowing the user total control.

I didn't miss your point. I'm just not sure of the validity your point has with allowing full editing.

And my answer was, you can have BOTH.
1) Changing ratings can make the game more sim
2) The option of changing ratings doesn't mean someone has to change ratings.

Not sure why this is an either/or.

EDIT:

I thought it was valid bringing up XP. It's a more valid question if you are looking for what's more important, sim or control/customizing. Because RPG/XP/Goals is an either or thing. Where roster editing is a choice.

[khaliib]

Re: We NEED to be able to CONTROL our CCM!

So a lot of people are missing the point to my hypothetical.

I mentioned nothing of any existing game mechanics, functionality, or quirks and have no interest in indicting any of them as "sim" or "not sim" for the purposes of this question. My assertion was simply that the ability to play God and change player ratings outside of the context of the normal game for any reason at all was "not sim".

Put another way: I'm not interested in custom draft classes, the XP progression mechanic, EA Sports' procedurally-generated draft classes, or FBGratings for purposes of this question; they are out-of-scope.

I'm trying to figure out what's more valuable, the game being "sim" or allowing the user total control.

The answer to this is what is "Sim"?
Because what it is to one gamer, may not be for another.
Basically, the functionality is being moved from the decision of "one" person, to that of many.
Both are playing God, if you will.

Then, what is the point of having Total Control?
Which will vary also.

The end game should be to "Put the best gaming experience in the gamers hands"!!!
So whatever that involves, would be what's more valuable.



My 2 cents not directly related to your question:
Although most replies on this topic deals with visual corrections, the main purpose is to adjust the ratings to the "Thresholds" that push animations to play out during gameplay, moving gameplay to animate in a better "Sim" fashion.

Animations are lost and/or simply don't animate out do to how Donny has the ratings weighted and how high he sets generated players to enter CFM at.

In fact, I would go as far to say that the "Sim" experience folks speak of/desire, is achievable if the community is given full access to this functionality, as it's been proven with many videos.

[Sheba2011]

Re: We NEED to be able to CONTROL our CCM!

I generally fall in the "bring back player editing" side of things, but for fun, a devil's advocate argument:

The ability to edit any and every player in the league, especially player ratings, is "not sim".

Discuss.

Asking a question like this is dangerous my friend. Some people will see it as an attack on what they consider 'Sim' players. I get your overall point tho, if the game was 100% life like there would be no way to change a rookies name. If Mike Zimmer looks at his roster and says "Captain Munnerln? There's no way that's a real name!, C;mon EA!!" He cant just go into a computer and change it. If he doesn't like the fact that his MLB is undersized he can't adjust his weight/height.

[StefJoeHalt]

Re: We NEED to be able to CONTROL our CCM!

So a lot of people are missing the point to my hypothetical.

I mentioned nothing of any existing game mechanics, functionality, or quirks and have no interest in indicting any of them as "sim" or "not sim" for the purposes of this question. My assertion was simply that the ability to play God and change player ratings outside of the context of the normal game for any reason at all was "not sim".

Put another way: I'm not interested in custom draft classes, the XP progression mechanic, EA Sports' procedurally-generated draft classes, or FBGratings for purposes of this question; they are out-of-scope.

I'm trying to figure out what's more valuable, the game being "sim" or allowing the user total control.

Trying to answer this question by ur guidelines is driving me crazy lol..cause by trying to answer u, u made ur point..yes def not "sim" within the realm of the question..however outside of ur guidelines this mode/editing can be def used for "sim" to correct issues within..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hooe]

Re: We NEED to be able to CONTROL our CCM!

If Mike Zimmer looks at his roster and says "Captain Munnerln? There's no way that's a real name!, C;mon EA!!" He cant just go into a computer and change it. If he doesn't like the fact that his MLB is undersized he can't adjust his weight/height.

This is the full extent of the point I'm trying to make.

I want to know if people care about this particular point. Given that full player editing is not something which has traditionally been included in the Madden NFL games (it was in a couple versions on 360, but I don't recall full player editing being in any of the PS2 games), I'm guessing EA does in-fact care about this point, particularly in an online Connected Franchise setting.

[Arrowhead21]

Re: We NEED to be able to CONTROL our CCM!

I would consider my thought out edits to be more realistic and thus more "sim" than any of the seemingly random generated stuff madden does