Shots Fired by 2k at "other sports games"

[Retropyro]

Quote: Originally Posted by ehh

I admire 2K's commitment to its franchise mode but for as in-depth and feature-heavy as it's been, it's still an absolute mess. They really shouldn't be hyping it up or overly proud of it. I'd rather have a bug-free franchise experience with far fewer features and customization. CFM is shallow and has its bugs but I played seven seasons in CFM in Madden 17. It worked for the most part and I enjoyed myself outside of the scheduling disasters where I'd play five straight home games followed by five straight road games. I couldn't play my second season in my Knicks MyLeague. Some of the goofy stuff I saw... Both Popovich and Steve Kerr were fired after the season. Hornacek disappeared from my team so I hired Pop. During the draft, 7 of the first 9 picks were traded including some absolutely awful deals - trading two guys in the mid 70's for a Top 10 pick. I traded Courtney Lee at the deadline. Lee just completed the first year of his 4/$48m deal and at the free agency portion of the off-season he's a UFA. How is that possible? The built-in draft classes are a mess in terms of appearances. Wacky numbers, accessories, and tons of guys with cornrows like it's the early 2000s. Granted custom draft classes are available, I was surprised at how awful the 2K ones are.

Could not agree more. Great on 2K for trying to push limits, but when it doesn't work then who cares. Madden 17 may not have had any real depth in CFM, but I still put in roughly 1000 hours because the game worked. NBA 2K17, hell I was lucky if the game loaded in under 20 minutes before kicking me back out for an update. By then I didn't even want to play anymore.

[Lexicon]

Quote: Originally Posted by Retropyro

Could not agree more. Great on 2K for trying to push limits, but when it doesn't work then who cares. Madden 17 may not have had any real depth in CFM, but I still put in roughly 1000 hours because the game worked. NBA 2K17, hell I was lucky if the game loaded in under 20 minutes before kicking me back out for an update. By then I didn't even want to play anymore.

The first Franchise run I did in Madden 17, the Saints didn't re-sign Brees and he went to Free Agency. They needed a QB, and I needed to get rid of Kaepernick, so I traded Kaepernick to NO for a 2nd round pick. Kaepernick has a $90m contract in the game. Come Free Agency, the Saints signed Drew Brees. They were carrying two QB's with over $90m contracts. They then proceeded to draft a QB in the 1st Round of the draft.

If both games are going to have questionable team management AI, I'll take the more robust mode and just do what I do anyway, which is control every team.

[Junior Moe]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lexicon

The first Franchise run I did in Madden 17, the Saints didn't re-sign Brees and he went to Free Agency. They needed a QB, and I needed to get rid of Kaepernick, so I traded Kaepernick to NO for a 2nd round pick. Kaepernick has a $90m contract in the game. Come Free Agency, the Saints signed Drew Brees. They were carrying two QB's with over $90m contracts. They then proceeded to draft a QB in the 1st Round of the draft. If both games are going to have questionable team management AI, I'll take the more robust mode and just do what I do anyway, which is control every team.

Indeed. Head Coach 09 was literally the only sports game that I have owned that didn't have wonky AI management or something weird going on. It's a problem that plagues every sport game, to my knowledge. That's why it's all the more important to give us the tools to edit and "fix" things as we see fit as tthey continue to improve in this area. This is also an area that online franchise masks because there are actual thinking humans behind the decisions.

In 2K I remedied the coaches changing by controlling all teams and ONLY signing the coaches to longer deals the first offseason and then letting the CPU handle it from there on. I built my team and just monitored the league for things I didn't deem "sim". That's what it's about.

I played MYGM (which is more restrictive) once and tried to rebuild the Nets. First offseason LeBron is a free agent. I have the money but I know he's not signing with me so I don't try. Thats not "sim". He signs with the Philidelphia 76ers, lol. The worst team in the league. That was it for me. I didn't touch it anymore because that. That, to me, is like Brady signing with the Jaguars. Just no! Experience ruined right there with no way to change it.

I'm sure Head Coach had some issues I'm not aware of but it just engulfed me. Not to get off on a wishlist tangent but that with Maddens current gameplay would be just epic. Rex seems like the type to respond to a challenge strait up, hopefully the powers that be let him.

[DeuceDouglas]

Quote: Originally Posted by Retropyro

Could not agree more. Great on 2K for trying to push limits, but when it doesn't work then who cares. Madden 17 may not have had any real depth in CFM, but I still put in roughly 1000 hours because the game worked. NBA 2K17, hell I was lucky if the game loaded in under 20 minutes before kicking me back out for an update. By then I didn't even want to play anymore.

I think the same could be said for Madden though. Stuff might work but it works in a way that is more in line with the vision they've created instead of what you might logically expect. Practice squad eligibility worked, but it worked using wrong eligibility rules. Game planning worked but if you're playing a CPU opponent the data in which you're encouraged to base your game plan around absolutely didn't work. Regression works as intended but in such a way that makes the league feel robotic and completely lacks any kind of organic or dynamic possibilities. Players receiving tens of thousands of XP and upgrading DEV traits for winning awards again works as intended but is completely backwards in terms of how players actually develop. I could go on and on. So while everything might work, it all works in a very counter-intuitive manner which I would argue is just as bad as not working at all.

And Madden has had a lot of the same issues with what was listed. I was able to trade two mid-70's backups and a first round pick for Aaron Rodgers this year. AI teams drafting 5 QB's in the first two rounds. Madden has also eternally had issues with how rookies look whether it be aircraft carrier shoulder pads, skinny legs, or tons of incarnations of Ronnie "Sunshine" Bass popping up in every draft class. Both have their issues but one huge difference is that one has a ton of depth and authenticity while the other has very little to speak of.

[Lexicon]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lexicon

The first Franchise run I did in Madden 17, the Saints didn't re-sign Brees and he went to Free Agency. They needed a QB, and I needed to get rid of Kaepernick, so I traded Kaepernick to NO for a 2nd round pick. Kaepernick has a $90m contract in the game. Come Free Agency, the Saints signed Drew Brees. They were carrying two QB's with over $90m contracts. They then proceeded to draft a QB in the 1st Round of the draft. If both games are going to have questionable team management AI, I'll take the more robust mode and just do what I do anyway, which is control every team.

I should also add that the other issue with this is that I wouldn't have known Drew Bress left the Saints (which would be an incredibly huge story in real life) until Free Agency popped up if I hadn't been looking for a trade partner on my own, which just goes to show how bad immersion is in Madden's Franchise Mode.

[Toupal]

Quote: Originally Posted by Lexicon

I should also add that the other issue with this is that I wouldn't have known Drew Bress left the Saints (which would be an incredibly huge story in real life) until Free Agency popped up if I hadn't been looking for a trade partner on my own, which just goes to show how bad immersion is in Madden's Franchise Mode.

That right there is an example of why CFM is failing to me.

Something as simple as a news feed is non-existant. Drew Brees after my first season signed with the Chargers (again). The Chargers had Philip Rivers still, as well as drafted a QB in the first round (who I turned into Lamar Jackson).

I didn't know that Tom Brady retired after my first season, until I played the Patriots in year 2 and was curious why Jacoby Brissett was their only QB with Matt Barkley.

You are clueless as to what is going on in the league around you because Madden failures to deliver a good news hub.

[Crimsontide27]

There used to be a huge amount of internal and external competition and bantering between multiple companies. Folks used to take jabs at each other through emails, tradeshows, etc.

I know a lot of people didnt see what went on behind the scenes, but the competitive nature between most people involved is what got ALL games to continue to inovate and push the envelope for bragging rights.

Contrary to some peoples beliefs, the game dev community is pretty darn small and most devs on competiting platforms / systems / titles know each other and are usually friends that compete with one another to outdo the other.

This is what is lacking so much the video game sports world now. The lack of ability to push each other has critically injured the sports game market.

[sir psycho]

Quote: Originally Posted by Toupal

That right there is an example of why CFM is failing to me. Something as simple as a news feed is non-existant. Drew Brees after my first season signed with the Chargers (again). The Chargers had Philip Rivers still, as well as drafted a QB in the first round (who I turned into Lamar Jackson). I didn't know that Tom Brady retired after my first season, until I played the Patriots in year 2 and was curious why Jacoby Brissett was their only QB with Matt Barkley. You are clueless as to what is going on in the league around you because Madden failures to deliver a good news hub.

Absolutely, this is what kills franchise as much as anything for me. When Madden 05 came out, it really felt like you were part of a living league with the Tony Bruno show, the newspapers(both national and for each individual city), as well as the pDA feature. Was it perfect? No, but it was great for the time, and if it had been continually been improved and built upon, we could have a great franchise mode now(13 years later!).

And it's not just Madden that they are taking a shot at, the NHL series franchise mode is just as bad if not worse.