I must be missing something after hearing reviews from the closed beta

[ODogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by howboutdat

I would also point this out . Name 5 games that were very high quality and widely considered good games that did not make money ...... You make a high quality game, its going to sell and your going to make money. Franchise is only a part of Madden , not the full game. As i stated earlier we all know EA mindset is get as many people to buy the game as possible. The more whom buy it, the higher the number of people will end up buying MUT coins. It would make sense to put some more of that MUT money into franchise ( since some want to falsely claim franchise does not make them money) and thus draw in more people buying the game and raising the number of people buying micros.

That's why I agree with EA's strategy to improve the core gameplay first and that is what they have done from my time with the beta. The core, on the field gameplay is what has been upgraded and that affects everyone regardless of what mode you play in.

[NFLBULLY84]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

That's why I agree with EA's strategy to improve the core gameplay first and that is what they have done from my time with the beta. The core, on the field gameplay is what has been upgraded and that affects everyone regardless of what mode you play in.

We hear this a lot often times around this time of year. I hope what you are saying is true man!

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by NFLBULLY84

We hear this a lot often times around this time of year. I hope what you are saying is true man!

I get what you are saying, same ole, same ole, but compared to last years beta and even at the end of the year game play, it just doesn't compare, it's night and day, oil and water if they don't touch game play upon release.

I saw a post on Twitter yesterday and I think I will adapt a similar philosophy. If the game play holds from beta, it's time to run to the hills and hide and sink yourself into a Madden coma.

[Therebelyell626]

I won't quote him because I don't want to bog down the thread, but I agree with Deuce 100%.

In my opinion you cannot combine QB1 with franchise mode because they are two different entities. I would even argue the only reason they were even combined to the same engine was to save resources and development time.

I doubt if someone has no interest in franchise mode initially they are all of a sudden going to be compelled to continue on with all of its intricacies just because they finished a seudo career mode. Your either a franchise guy or your not. I appreciate EA trying to funnel more interest into franchise mode with QB1 but I just don't see this happening.

The show tried this with March to October and most of the people I have talked to did one play through of march to October for either A) the ultimate team (diamond dynasty) awards or B) just to try it out and was done with it after one play through and did not continue onwards once they were dumped into franchise mode. The reason we play franchise modes is for the control and team building aspect which was essentially eliminated when playing march to October. I have a feeling that QB1 is going to be much of the same.

[howboutdat]

Quote: Originally Posted by ODogg

That's why I agree with EA's strategy to improve the core gameplay first and that is what they have done from my time with the beta. The core, on the field gameplay is what has been upgraded and that affects everyone regardless of what mode you play in.

Yes i agree with that portion. They have improved the gameplay . I enjoyed the beta at a time when i was honestly debating not buying madden ever again after 19.

That said . The last time they said anything about it , there is a gameplay dev group and a separate franchise dev group. What i dont understand is this misconception they can only focus on one thing at a time.....They clearly have the funds to easily do both and not really hurt that bad .


In yet another year they try to make some claim of some kinda focus on franchise , what was done this year was nothing more than previous years.It was very lack luster.

[jfsolo]

Quote: Originally Posted by roadman

I get what you are saying, same ole, same ole, but compared to last years beta and even at the end of the year game play, it just doesn't compare, it's night and day, oil and water if they don't touch game play upon release. I saw a post on Twitter yesterday and I think I will adapt a similar philosophy. If the game play holds from beta, it's time to run to the hills and hide and sink yourself into a Madden coma.

If we're smart, those of us who are enjoying the game should just hang out in the "How's your Franchise going", "Draft Studs" and if necessary the slider threads.

[CM Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by howboutdat

Name 5 games that were very high quality and widely considered good games that did not make money

Let's start with Psychonauts and work our way out from there.

There are dozens of critically acclaimed games which have great mechanics, interesting stories, or whatever else nebulous metric we're using to define quality other than commercial appeal that don't make money.

Quote:

You make a high quality game, its going to sell and your going to make money.

I suppose the implication here is that Madden is not already a high-quality game, but I would argue that its consistently high review scores over the past decade (with a few exceptions here and there such as Madden 25 XBOX One) and also its commercial appeal are strong arguments that it is widely viewed as a quality game, whatever your definition of quality may be in this case.

[CM Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by ForUntoOblivionSoar∞

I wasn't asking if what they are doing is a good business decision. Drawing people into a particular mode should not be the motivation. Quality should be.

Video games are commercial entertainment products. Their ability to attract and retain users and generate revenue is necessarily part of the assessment of their quality, because if your game doesn't attract eyeballs and buyers, you don't have money to make games anymore. If lots of people buy your game, odds are they aren't parting with their cash out of spite.

There are plenty of other ways a game can be quality, obviously - gripping narrative, Hollywood-level cinematography, innovative and/or interesting gameplay mechanics, tightly-knit user feedback loops, fine-tuned head-to-head competitive balance, etc. etc. Madden's sales pitch is built upon a mix of familiar and innovative gameplay mechanics and head-to-head on-the-field balance fine-tuned over thirty years of iteration, reinforced by several interwoven feedback loops off-the-field (be it accruing XP to upgrade players in Franchise or earning coins and training to get better players in MUT) to keep users repeatedly going back to the field.

That there is NFL authenticity in how those game mechanics and feedback loops are built is secondary, but Madden would stand up on its own mechanically (not necessarily commercially) without the NFL license.

I suppose I didn't answer your original question clearly - yes, I think that Madden is already a quality product (however you want to define "quality" in this case); yes, I think that Madden is offering franchise users in specific fair value for the price of entry despite missing hardcore authenticity details (I believe that your question was leading me in this direction).