Madden 20 Beta CFM Impressions

[Sphinx]

Quote: Originally Posted by timisone

I get what your saying. 2k a bigger company than EA? They add stuff to there franchise every year. They have even add different franchise modes every year.

That's a good question. I am not sure the size of 2k, I believe their parent company is take two? Truthfully is more about the size of the team and their internal timelines they use when trying to implement new features while still including regression testing to make sure a new feature doesn't break a part of the game. Plus I think the big advantage that a 2k has over Madden is their code is newer. So they could add new features and probably get away with a smaller team to do so. But this is all speculation on my part. It could be as simple as an executive at ea doesn't see value in CFM. Who knows? I do think they're going in the right direction this year.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Operation Sports mobile app

[megacity1]

There are so many little things that I love in 2K that I wish Madden could implement. I hope to see better stat tracking some day. I hope to see the "Scenario Engine" turn into the Twitter/story feed that runs in 2K.

Also, while we are a ways away from getting a coaching carousel, maybe being able to edit the coaches could be a way to go. At the very least, you can name them, kinda edit their appearance, and choose the play books they run with. I think that would be a happy medium to getting coordinators into a head coaching spot.

As I read things about the beta testing, I still have no wavered on purchasing the game and I'd be kidding myself if I said I was not going to get it haha At the end of the day, I need my football video game fix even if it isn't blowing me out of the water.

[Hova57]

I thought the beta did well with improving the pass rush. That probowl overwhelmed me at first wasn't sure if I was gonna like it. But with normal teams it's dope.. also shifting line and ID mike works well on good dlineman as long a blitz isn't coming from short side.

CPU playcalling on both sides of the ball was better. CPU jumped routes or got to the QB on repeated play calls by me and on offense it tried to run its scheme.

One of the few things I didn't like was cross routes you lose the CPU but tinkered with pass coverage and reaction seemed to have helped some.

I hope they keep alot of the elements from the beta, last yr beta seemed ok and they completely stripped everything away by time the retail came out.. #MAKETHEMADJUST

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

[JoshC1977]

I'm a total franchise guy on Madden. I don't like EA's approach to offline MUT and I have zero interest in playing online. But truthfully, I could care less about what they add in terms of "new features" within franchise mode right now because the core issues have been something much deeper.

There ARE two cores for any franchise mode:
1. Gameplay with player and/or team differentiation (i.e. how different are they and how much do ratings stand-out)
2. Franchise "lifecycle" (how players develop, how new ones are created, how teams evolve over time, etc.)

No sports game has both of these core items nailed-down. (NHL failing on the gameplay, MLB on the lifecycling, and Madden/FIFA/2k on both).

You can have the best menu screen franchise mode out there, but if the gameplay is mediocre, it's a problem. Now, with the setup I used on M19, the gameplay wasn't bad as many seem to think it was (but the games typicallly lacked personality). The beta gameplay took everything up numerous steps. Even given that the NFL is a shamelessly pathetic copycat league, the stuff the EA team did with the X-factors and playbooks definitively gave teams a different feel.

What does this mean? It means I am going to spend more time looking at my opponent for the week, studying their roster, looking at who their stars are. With the (hopefully) greatly improved roster ratings spread, all this gets amplified more, with studying matchups and so on. I want to care about my training drills (for the first time ever) and think about which drill I want to run based on matchups (and not just 'which drill gives me the ideal XP gains'). I want to be so nervous of facing a guy that I am trying to figure out how to stop him before I start the game. This is the most "organic" form of franchise immersion - where the gameplay drives how vested you become in the mode. That's the biggest core fix that needed to be done and between the addition of X-factors and the general improvements to the gameplay, they may very well have gotten there.

They could have stopped there and it would have been a greatly improved franchise mode on those merits alone. But, they did more; they enhanced the draft classes (pro tip: stop using customs if you REALLY want immersion), Free Agency looked quite a bit better, real contracts made it more challenging to navigate. Player development was quite a bit different in terms of how quickly guys advanced a level (which will likely be key with spread-out ratings). And heck, we haven't even talked about scenarios yet...because we really don't know how deep they will run. All this stuff hits to core number 2...franchise lifecycling.

Now, Madden 20 could really take a major step forward in both areas and if they do, would be the first sports game franchise to be solid in both. With those core areas in place, it will allow them to consider adding all the ancillary crap people seem to beg for without the core items actually in-place.

I'm not a fortune-teller, so I don't know if it will unfold this way. But...from my time on the beta and based on what we know about the game, I think this is a very possible outcome.

[Executor]

Quote: Originally Posted by JoshC1977

they enhanced the draft classes (pro tip: stop using customs if you REALLY want immersion)

Simple question here, Josh: Why? What makes the new draft classes special? (I did no play the beta...)

[JoshC1977]

Quote: Originally Posted by Executor

Simple question here, Josh: Why? What makes the new draft classes special? (I did no play the beta...)

My understanding is that they did a lot of work really tweaking the types of players generated, adding variety in player types and so on. In the beta, I saw some cool stuff like projected 1st rounders drop hard core as well as projected mid-rounders scout to 1st round.

As far as that immersion statement, that is not specific to this year's edition...just a general statement....

[roadman]

Great post, job, agree with everything.

I had to gameplan and think more of my opponent during the beta more times than I ever did in the past.

[mtmetcalfe]

Quote: Originally Posted by JoshC1977

My understanding is that they did a lot of work really tweaking the types of players generated, adding variety in player types and so on. In the beta, I saw some cool stuff like projected 1st rounders drop hard core as well as projected mid-rounders scout to 1st round. As far as that immersion statement, that is not specific to this year's edition...just a general statement....

Josh
Do you have any concerns with the balance of superstars/xfactors? The two things I’m referring to:
1. Players don’t loose xfactor.
2. I played the beta and 5 years in to a franchise there was already over twice as many superstars and xfactors then in year 1.