Open Letter to Ian / EA

[Flamehead]

Original post was very well articulated.

[mgoblue]

I disagree that Madden IQ is worthless. I'm using it and it's keeping my games pretty damn fun. With the DLC eventually you'll get CPU sliders, so that should fix that issue.

I just don't understand the hate on Madden IQ. Sure, the test itself blows, but if you let the game find your sweet spot after 10-20 games it's pretty effective.

[MJenness]

Quote: Originally Posted by mgoblue

I disagree that Madden IQ is worthless. I'm using it and it's keeping my games pretty damn fun. With the DLC eventually you'll get CPU sliders, so that should fix that issue. I just don't understand the hate on Madden IQ. Sure, the test itself blows, but if you let the game find your sweet spot after 10-20 games it's pretty effective.

IMO, if by FUN you mean close, the you are spot on. However, I fell the downfall of the "liquid AI" (if others remember, this is basically the same thing) is that I don't believe it takes into account the strength or weakness of the team you are playing.

What I am trying to say is if I play a marshmallow team one weak, and bowl them over as I should, the difficulty gets ramped up for the following game (which MAY be against a powerhouse team)and I can suddenly do next to nothing against them (which isn't very realistic, either)....or vice-versa.

Therefore, the AI is constantly TRYING (and failing) to play catch-up to what is happening, with no accounting for strength or weakness of your opponent. Just my thoughts....

[umd]

Quote: Originally Posted by MJenness

Therefore, the AI is constantly TRYING (and failing) to play catch-up to what is happening, with no accounting for strength or weakness of your opponent. Just my thoughts....

which kind of ties into the whole uselessness of player ratings argument...which is a whole different can of worms.

[BrianFifaFan]

Quote: Originally Posted by chargerrich

Ian, First let me preface this letter by stating that many (most) of us football game fans realize that you and your team work very hard to at least try and capture your vision of what Madden should be. Most of us also realize that bugs happen in all games, and that the game cannot and will not be perfect to everyone regardless of what features are implemented, removed or tweaked. There will always be a minority complaining, its just a matter of volume. The hope here is to provide a clear understating of the problems with this years version. In addition, I am certain that you (and EA) also realize that since you have cornered the market (another topic for another discussion not here) that we, the gamer, will put up with a tremendous amount of frustration because we love football and do not have any other options. With that said, some of the issues with the game do seem so woefully inadequate and obvious that it is hard to not think that if there were others options and competition, that EA would have made sure that these "issues" were stamped out before launch. I believe the majority of your consumers would prefer that some of the pointless "gimmicks" in the game like superstar mode and madden IQ were scrapped and that time and effort better used to correct game stopping issues like the freezing, removing some of the obvious bugs that many caught in the first game or two of play and improving the game-play. However I believe that some features like Madden IQ were designed to bring in the most casual of players thus widening your target audience which probably conflicts heavily with what some developers probably wanted (marketing versus development). Unfortunately this was done at the risk of possible alienation of your core audience, most of which consider the "dumbing down" of the game as a step backwards. The bottom line is that sports games in particular have a wholly unique sales and development cycle that allow the game to be re-released each year with (hopefully) improvements and upgrades that warrant purchase. This cannot be said for nearly any other game genre. Can you imagine if a game like Halo had, by 2008, already released 9-10 versions that did not change the story at all but instead just upgraded the graphic effects or maybe adding a weapon? But I digress. This sales cycle is obviously possible because of roster updates which gives EA the ability to resell the game with hopefully enough new features to justify the price. But when the game feels like a step back from previous versions, one simply asks "how long it takes" to get the "GAMEPLAY" right? I would love to see a true poll asking how many consumers would prefer a deeper and fixed franchise mode (complete with something better than the atrocious AI that currently exists) over superstar mode. In closing its about priorities and giving the customer a reason to love the game more each year. On that score, EA has unfortunately failed but the consumers and fans continue to take it with no alternatives, hoping that "next year will get it right". Thank you for your efforts and good luck on 2010.

I really liked this post. Posts like this are what make OS a better place to be than any other site. Thank You, Brian

[mgoblue]

Quote: Originally Posted by MJenness

IMO, if by FUN you mean close, the you are spot on. However, I fell the downfall of the "liquid AI" (if others remember, this is basically the same thing) is that I don't believe it takes into account the strength or weakness of the team you are playing. What I am trying to say is if I play a marshmallow team one weak, and bowl them over as I should, the difficulty gets ramped up for the following game (which MAY be against a powerhouse team)and I can suddenly do next to nothing against them (which isn't very realistic, either)....or vice-versa. Therefore, the AI is constantly TRYING (and failing) to play catch-up to what is happening, with no accounting for strength or weakness of your opponent. Just my thoughts....

I see what you mean, but I guess I think that over time you play enough games so that single game won't be a big percentage of your total games. I see it as that being 1 out of 50 games. I just blew out Buffalo in my franchise and it didn't majorly up all my stats. I had almost 200 rushing yards and a bunch of passing yards and still didn't go crazy on the IQ. I understand the issue in theory, but hasn't popped up for me yet.

[sois]

Quote: Originally Posted by MJenness

IMO, if by FUN you mean close, the you are spot on. However, I fell the downfall of the "liquid AI" (if others remember, this is basically the same thing) is that I don't believe it takes into account the strength or weakness of the team you are playing.

Unfortunately, unless Ian tells us one way or the other, we will never know if it accounts for opponent strength. You say it doesn't, but I feel it does.

Back to the topic at hand, I disagree with the OP in this regard. This feature, Madden IQ, if implemented properly is the best part of this years Madden. I love it.

[SA1NT401]

In the begining, i actually liked the Madden IQ. But after several more games, it is just not a true evaluation of your skills.

Like so many have said prior, in 1 week i play the falcons and i blew them out 38-16 (i was the browns). The next week, i had to play the cardinals and i could do next to nothing against them. Sacked me like crazy, averaged 2.2 yds per carry and had 135 TOTAL yds while Arizona had 388 yds and Leinart was A-mazing. I lost 36-9 at home...Ummm....NO. The next game, it compensates and i KILL the Steelers 42-13 (Big Ben was still 24-27 267 1 Td 2 INTS so he threw 1 incomplete pass)

While i like the challenge, CPU sliders let me find my OWN sweet spot to the point the game and TEAMS play like ACTUAL football. The proof is in the dummy profile fix and that you can FIX the CPU weakness' / Strenghts.

IMHO...EA needs to Scrap the following:
1-SS mode. Why have it when MAYBE 5% even bother with it?
2-Madden IQ. If not scrap it, just have it as an option
3-Numerical player ratings. You know they are useless EA.
4-The current engine itself. We know it is the SAME one from 2001 only tweaked. This is the cause of ALOT of the gameplay issues themselves.....


Just give us a better game PLEASE! Madden is SO full of potential and 09 WAS a step in the right direction, but there are still SO many claring shortcomings that have been there for YEARS now and have gone 100% untouched. (1 example...players running out of bounds has been there for 9 years now...9!)