Madden isn't meant for offline anymore

[matthewk]

I skipped 18 and 19, played a bit of 17. Decided to pick up 20 after getting the itch for a new NFL game. I've been playing football video games since Madden on the Sega Genesis.

I'm strictly an offline player. What I realize after playing M20 for the past couple of weeks is that I am no longer the intended audience for this game, and sadly there is no other current option for me. M20 feels tuned, programmed, designed, for the online players. Playing against the AI offline feels like a feature they only left in the game because it was already there.

- Tons of fumbles
- AI clock management worse than 20 years ago. Clock management hasn't changed, why can't they get this even mostly right?
- CPU QBs completing 80% of passes for 10 yards per completion no matter who they are.
- No pass rush unless you blitz multiple defenders.
- 70/30 pass/run ration every single game, no matter the team.
- Simulation has almost zero broken tackles while arcade has over 20 per game just for the RB. Where is a slider to find a happy medium?

A lot of the gameplay feels "managed" by the game in order to prevent the user from doing too much, especially on defense.
- No fine-tuning on moving a user controlled LB or DB prior to the snap. Are they trying to hold me back from nano-blitzing?
- No separation or push from user controlled D-linemen.
- Animations that last way too long ans take away my control of a player.
- QBs sensing blindside pressure just because I won a QTE.
- I hate QTE. Even when I win them I usually don't get separation from the blocker.
- Players seem to have different speeds at different times depending on the situation.

I really like the look and feel of the stadiums. The game does look really nice except for some of the graphical glitches going on. I like seeing RPO in the playbooks. There are a lot of really nice things going on, but the "gaming" of the game is just killing the enjoyment for me. It really does feel like the game is tuned with online in mind and tries all kinds of tricks to prevent cheese, which sadly nerfs user control to the point of not being fun, mainly when trying to play defense.

Two separate games would be wonderful. One for online and one for offline vs. CPU. The likelihood of seeing that in my lifetime is about the same as seeing another NFL game on the market. I'm nearing 50, and I'm sad that this feels like M20 may be the last NFL video game I buy in my life. I will never be a MUT/online player. EA has made it pretty obvious that is their sole focus, and no one else even has the option of building an NFL for a player like me.

Sorry for the long rant, but this is a really sad conclusion I've come to.

[GoJags904]

Quote: Originally Posted by matthewk

I skipped 18 and 19, played a bit of 17. Decided to pick up 20 after getting the itch for a new NFL game. I've been playing football video games since Madden on the Sega Genesis. I'm strictly an offline player. What I realize after playing M20 for the past couple of weeks is that I am no longer the intended audience for this game, and sadly there is no other current option for me. M20 feels tuned, programmed, designed, for the online players. Playing against the AI offline feels like a feature they only left in the game because it was already there. - Tons of fumbles - AI clock management worse than 20 years ago. Clock management hasn't changed, why can't they get this even mostly right? - CPU QBs completing 80% of passes for 10 yards per completion no matter who they are. - No pass rush unless you blitz multiple defenders. - 70/30 pass/run ration every single game, no matter the team. - Simulation has almost zero broken tackles while arcade has over 20 per game just for the RB. Where is a slider to find a happy medium? A lot of the gameplay feels "managed" by the game in order to prevent the user from doing too much, especially on defense. - No fine-tuning on moving a user controlled LB or DB prior to the snap. Are they trying to hold me back from nano-blitzing? - No separation or push from user controlled D-linemen. - Animations that last way too long ans take away my control of a player. - QBs sensing blindside pressure just because I won a QTE. - I hate QTE. Even when I win them I usually don't get separation from the blocker. - Players seem to have different speeds at different times depending on the situation. I really like the look and feel of the stadiums. The game does look really nice except for some of the graphical glitches going on. I like seeing RPO in the playbooks. There are a lot of really nice things going on, but the "gaming" of the game is just killing the enjoyment for me. It really does feel like the game is tuned with online in mind and tries all kinds of tricks to prevent cheese, which sadly nerfs user control to the point of not being fun, mainly when trying to play defense. Two separate games would be wonderful. One for online and one for offline vs. CPU. The likelihood of seeing that in my lifetime is about the same as seeing another NFL game on the market. I'm nearing 50, and I'm sad that this feels like M20 may be the last NFL video game I buy in my life. I will never be a MUT/online player. EA has made it pretty obvious that is their sole focus, and no one else even has the option of building an NFL for a player like me. Sorry for the long rant, but this is a really sad conclusion I've come to.

Try some slider sets and lower tackling to get more RB realism in the running game. Its the ugly truth but if u wait a few more years then maybe either madden gets it together or another company can bring real football simulation to the table.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[powercord55]

Madden is never going back to offline style play, waiting for that mythical day is like waiting for Metallica to release an album on cassette again (and I say that with sadness as I’m an offline only guy)

[Jr.]

The X-factor stuff makes it pretty obvious the game is designed around single, individual games, not the flow of a season. The X-factor DL end up with 30+ sacks routinely, because they're designed to get sacks every game. If you play a MUT game and Aaron Donald doesn't get at least one sack for you, you probably think he's worthless. So the game is now designed to showcase him.. meaning he needs to be able to get a sack or 5. This sucks when it comes to a CFM, because he ends up with 30-40 sacks since he's getting multiple nearly every game.

The same thing goes with the enforcers on defense needing to get big hits and force fumbles to make an impact, the crazy WR catch animations of the past (remember the one-handed ODB catch that you saw literally every game from a few years ago?), and QB's being unstoppable.

The game isn't designed to replicate the flow of a season and provide realism over a long period of time. It's designed to showcase the elite talent every game because the vast majority play single games over and over with no accumulation stats necessary.

[Hushroom]

Get the PC version and download Sabo's mod. Your mind will be changed.

[booker21]

Quote: Originally Posted by matthewk

I skipped 18 and 19, played a bit of 17. Decided to pick up 20 after getting the itch for a new NFL game. I've been playing football video games since Madden on the Sega Genesis. I'm strictly an offline player. What I realize after playing M20 for the past couple of weeks is that I am no longer the intended audience for this game, and sadly there is no other current option for me. M20 feels tuned, programmed, designed, for the online players. Playing against the AI offline feels like a feature they only left in the game because it was already there. - Tons of fumbles - AI clock management worse than 20 years ago. Clock management hasn't changed, why can't they get this even mostly right? - CPU QBs completing 80% of passes for 10 yards per completion no matter who they are. - No pass rush unless you blitz multiple defenders. - 70/30 pass/run ration every single game, no matter the team. - Simulation has almost zero broken tackles while arcade has over 20 per game just for the RB. Where is a slider to find a happy medium? A lot of the gameplay feels "managed" by the game in order to prevent the user from doing too much, especially on defense. - No fine-tuning on moving a user controlled LB or DB prior to the snap. Are they trying to hold me back from nano-blitzing? - No separation or push from user controlled D-linemen. - Animations that last way too long ans take away my control of a player. - QBs sensing blindside pressure just because I won a QTE. - I hate QTE. Even when I win them I usually don't get separation from the blocker. - Players seem to have different speeds at different times depending on the situation. I really like the look and feel of the stadiums. The game does look really nice except for some of the graphical glitches going on. I like seeing RPO in the playbooks. There are a lot of really nice things going on, but the "gaming" of the game is just killing the enjoyment for me. It really does feel like the game is tuned with online in mind and tries all kinds of tricks to prevent cheese, which sadly nerfs user control to the point of not being fun, mainly when trying to play defense. Two separate games would be wonderful. One for online and one for offline vs. CPU. The likelihood of seeing that in my lifetime is about the same as seeing another NFL game on the market. I'm nearing 50, and I'm sad that this feels like M20 may be the last NFL video game I buy in my life. I will never be a MUT/online player. EA has made it pretty obvious that is their sole focus, and no one else even has the option of building an NFL for a player like me. Sorry for the long rant, but this is a really sad conclusion I've come to.

Agree with you in all you just said. Hopefully some indie fill the gap for Offline sim players.

[hyacinth1]

its pretty much all sports games not just madden.

[htown5933]

Quote: Originally Posted by matthewk

I skipped 18 and 19, played a bit of 17. Decided to pick up 20 after getting the itch for a new NFL game. I've been playing football video games since Madden on the Sega Genesis. I'm strictly an offline player. What I realize after playing M20 for the past couple of weeks is that I am no longer the intended audience for this game, and sadly there is no other current option for me. M20 feels tuned, programmed, designed, for the online players. Playing against the AI offline feels like a feature they only left in the game because it was already there. - Tons of fumbles - AI clock management worse than 20 years ago. Clock management hasn't changed, why can't they get this even mostly right? - CPU QBs completing 80% of passes for 10 yards per completion no matter who they are. - No pass rush unless you blitz multiple defenders. - 70/30 pass/run ration every single game, no matter the team. - Simulation has almost zero broken tackles while arcade has over 20 per game just for the RB. Where is a slider to find a happy medium? A lot of the gameplay feels "managed" by the game in order to prevent the user from doing too much, especially on defense. - No fine-tuning on moving a user controlled LB or DB prior to the snap. Are they trying to hold me back from nano-blitzing? - No separation or push from user controlled D-linemen. - Animations that last way too long ans take away my control of a player. - QBs sensing blindside pressure just because I won a QTE. - I hate QTE. Even when I win them I usually don't get separation from the blocker. - Players seem to have different speeds at different times depending on the situation. I really like the look and feel of the stadiums. The game does look really nice except for some of the graphical glitches going on. I like seeing RPO in the playbooks. There are a lot of really nice things going on, but the "gaming" of the game is just killing the enjoyment for me. It really does feel like the game is tuned with online in mind and tries all kinds of tricks to prevent cheese, which sadly nerfs user control to the point of not being fun, mainly when trying to play defense. Two separate games would be wonderful. One for online and one for offline vs. CPU. The likelihood of seeing that in my lifetime is about the same as seeing another NFL game on the market. I'm nearing 50, and I'm sad that this feels like M20 may be the last NFL video game I buy in my life. I will never be a MUT/online player. EA has made it pretty obvious that is their sole focus, and no one else even has the option of building an NFL for a player like me. Sorry for the long rant, but this is a really sad conclusion I've come to.

Man, I feel you.

I've played since I can remember - way, way back. Started with the Atari and 3 man football.

So, for me, all the Madden hate through the years was just crazy. I've almost always thought the game was decent to great. I'm very much into making sure I have realistic stats - QB's averaging around 65%ish completions, QB's averaging around 8ish yards an attempt, RB's averaging around 4 to 4.5 yards per carry, both user and CPU getting anywhere from 0-5ish sacks, depending on the teams, both CPU and user averaging 0-2 or very rarely 3 INT's, 120ish plays per game, decent number of penalties, etc.

I've always been able to use sliders to get these types of results fairly consistently. Not last year. I'd get a good game, but it seemed like I'd have 3 or 4 BS games in between the good ones.

This year, I've been pleasantly surprised. After seeing potential early, I went through a brief period of frustration but have since been getting good games for the most part. There's definitely still the occasional BS game, but not too often (for me).

There's still the game where the QB has 80% completions or a RB breaks off a huge run and his yards per carry is insane (or even the game where it seems predetermined for him to average nearly 10 yards a carry). There's even the occasionally start to the game where there's two sacks on the opening possession. But, these are semi-rare for me. I've also had games where the QB completion percentage is in the 50's, RB's yards per carry is in the 1.5-2.5 range, there is maybe one sack each, etc.

I use the Cowboys, on All Pro, with some slider adjustments. I'll post them later and hopefully they'll help give you better games.