How far away are we?

[Pacman83]

Take video games for what they are...Video Games. Its not that serious, there's always something to complain about honestly. While some things are more obvious than others, when those are fixed there'll be more but that's games--especially how much more complexed they're getting.

[Jump]

Quote: Originally Posted by C the Lyte

Never. Expectations have become too unrealistic for Football sims. Sim fans will never be completely satisfied. I'd like to compare it to a decent paying job. It's nice to have one. You make decent pay, can pay all your bills and still have $ for fun, but you still think you deserve more no matter what. EA is in a no win situation. M 11 can absolutely topple M 10 (which I still think is a very good game) in every phase and be the greatest yet, and still the sim crowd will be extremely disappointed and critical.

I agree that there will always be complaining by some sim fans(and the complainers are always the loudest), but I think that the majority would be satisfied if Madden was at the level of Fifa/The Show.

I think people have a right to complain when the game still, in a lot of areas, lags behind a 5 year old game(Madden 05) that was made by the same company.

[seriousluboy83]

It's gon be a long time coming dude...long time coming

[foolish813]

Quote: Originally Posted by Cantgetright69

How far do you think we are from seeing game play being mastered and franchise mode being extremely deep? With unlimited replayablity?

We better be damn close!!! With the money I fork over every year, loyaly, I expect the some loyalty in return.

[BezO]

For what I would consider perfect, 3-5 years, so I voted 2-3. I think it will take at least until the next generation of systems. The foundation of the game needs to be redone, for real this time. The fundamentals of the game have to be vastly improved... physics/footwork, blocking, tackling & the defensive play calling have to be addressed.

[wsu_gb23]

this game will never be good as long as there is license exclusivity. EA has no reason to put a ton of resources into the Madden series as long as it keeps selling year after year.

[BezO]

Quote: Originally Posted by C the Lyte

Never. Expectations have become too unrealistic for Football sims. Sim fans will never be completely satisfied.

I like to see these types of posts. They make me laugh the loudest.

Why is someone with a different standard considered unsatisfiable?

Quote: Originally Posted by C the Lyte

...EA is in a no win situation. M 11 can absolutely topple M 10 (which I still think is a very good game) in every phase and be the greatest yet, and still the sim crowd will be extremely disappointed and critical.

As a sim fan, I will be satisfied when the game is sim. And by sim I don't mean "realistic" difficulty & scores. It's a football game. When players move, interact & think like football players, the game will be sim. Until the AI, physics/footwork, tackling mechanics, blocking interaction, defensive play calling system and available offensive & special teams plays are brought up to a respectable level, the game ain't sim.

And I know "respectble level" is subjective, but as someone that has played & coached, my standard is probably higher than most. But if you're only matching the knowledge & expectations of those that don't know the game, your game is not sim.

Sim & difficulty are 2 different things. The game doesn't have to be hard to be realistic. So satisfying the sim crowd won't alienate the casual crowd.

[C the Lyte]

Quote: Originally Posted by spankdatazz22

While I agree there are a lot of people who have unrealistic expectations, my problem with Madden would be meeting what I consider base expectations. There's just no way we should be able to look at the older football games as doing things better. Not at this point. And football is the only next gen genre you can say that with - basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, fighting, driving games are either at or have ascended past what their older counterparts were. With Madden there's little to no talk of individual matchups - it's all broad concepts. There really isn't much distinctive about offensive linemen in the game. Or defensive linemen, other than maybe the superstars. And that's MAYBE. It's a game where ball trajectories still aren't right. Where improvement needs to be made in OL play/DL play/WR play/DB play/presentation/franchise just to bring it on the level of what was done years ago. I know it sounds like a broken record but it's true unfortunately, and is the source of frustration for many. Sports games in other genres have progressed more, so there's disappointment that the game representing the biggest, most popular sport hasn't (at least in the US). Maybe four years ago, it's understandable given a lot of sports games struggled with the next gen transition. But it's hard to have that same understanding six years later. Even with the situation being what it is, Madden/NCAA really are given the benefit of the doubt more often than not. It's the most popular sport and they have complete exclusivity, so I'd think there would be even more scrutiny than there is. If the basketball games had players averaging 42pts a night in franchise mode, there'd be constant complaining. Or players regularly smacking 70+homers in a baseball season. Instead I see a lot of people showing understanding and patience. I think M10 can be a fun game and is definitely an improvement over all the other next gen Maddens. And in some ways better than last gen Madden (gang tackling for example). But there are still many areas you can point to where it's not, and that's hard to take given the situation with exclusivity

Agreed. In your list of needed improvements, add kicking difficulty. I am not saying this game is great, it isn't. I am just saying next year's should be marginally better. And even so, the sim crowd (especially here on OS) will gripe even more. I still play Madden 06 from time to time. But even it was far from perfect. You have money plays that constantly work, speed is the ultimate rating, and as you progress in franchise mode, salary cap is ridiculous (almost non-existant). But other aspects of that game did work better (i.e. man align). Improvements were made on M 10 as apposed to Madden 09. 09 was just atrocious.