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Now maybe I am alone in this, but I love the hell out of Franchise mode. Perhaps there are others out there like me that loathe playing online and just like to sit around a veg for 27 years of team building or maybe not. Either way, this year FM has taken a giant step backwards. Or at the very least lots of little steps.
I don't normally like just making lists, so I will try to avoid it, but it may be a good place to start with this issue. I will hit a subject and then list the issues that either have never been addressed or have, for some unknown reason, been removed when they were already working or fine.
Lets start with at the beginning.
For the last few years, in order to get an accurate representation of the NFL, you have had to control all 30 teams. The reason? No ability to edit coaches.
For the last 5 years the 49ers have ran a 3-4. For the last 2 years, with Mike Singletary as a coach, they have run a 3-4. Green Bay and Mike McCarthy run a 3-4. Miami runs a 3-4. Denver. etc.
Now last year, if you picked one of these coaches, you had to go change their scheme to a 3-4 to get the correct production out of your players. That is fine, but what if you don't pick that team? Turns out the Ravens are back in a 3-4. Yet the default in the game is a 4-3. Which is why Haloti Ngata gets 22 sacks from a DE position, when he should be getting 4 or 5 as a DT/End. (NOT a NT, a discussion for another time)
OK, so on to my point. Last year, you take control of all 30 teams and just deal with a very slow offseason. No big deal. This year however, two things have changed that have made this infuriatingly frustrating to do.
-The ability to set CPU/User for each team you are controlling is GONE.
-The ability to set Offensive/Defensive schemes for each coach is GONE.
Now, when you pick 3-4, it is universally set for all teams. When you move the slider to a run heavy offense, it is universally set that way for all teams. What?
So now, you have the Patriots running as often as the Dolphins or Niners. The Saints now pass as often as the Ravens. C'mon now.
Now when you control each team... they are all universally CPU or USER, you can not select individually which teams the CPU has control of in the off season for specific tasks. I.e., I used to be able to set the Raiders to Human control for everything, set the Vikings for Human control on just free agent signing and set the Titans to all CPU control. This year? They are all either CPU for a specific task or all Human, meaning you have to either control every team you picked or give up complete control.
This is a huge step backwards by just omitting a feature that was already there for what seems to be, no apparent reason.
Next up is the coaching. Why was one of the best features of franchise mode taken out years ago and never returned? I am talking about the ability to CHANGE TEAMS. Sticking with one team for the duration of FM is nice, but since the salary cap gets ridiculously easy to manage, it is also boring as all hell. Yet years ago you acted more like a GM/Head Coach and could sign with a new team and build them up as your old team crumbled from the heights of glory. Now THAT was rewarding and made FM far more entertaining and fun than it is today.
Back to the current version. What happened to the coaches pictures in the off season staffing mode?
I know what Rex Ryan looks like and if I have him take over as head coach of the Browns, I want to see his face, not a black silhouette. Seriously, this is an easy one. It was there last year... why is it not there this year. Another step back.
(And on this note, if you are going to have Terrel Owens start coaching... use his profile picture that is already there saved on the game's disc.)
Salary Cap. Look, by year 5 the cap is a joke. You can have every draft pick signed for 7 years, (Something that never happens) and every good player you want on your team and be 20 Million under the cap. It is ridiculous. Simple rule: More salary cap space, more salary wanted by the players. It seems to me that this is literally a math problem.
Another issue that isn't really a major concern, but for the last couple of years has bugged the CRAP out of me is the off season stadium options, or lack there of.
Vandelay Bank and TeeMaker Auto whatchit can't sponsor ever damn stadium. I mean, christ, product placement is everywhere in this game, EXCEPT for the place where it is the most visible in real life.
Stadium/Team relocation. This is great because, eventually the Jaguars will move to LA or the Chargers will move to Anaheim or what ever... but you can't just MOVE the team. You HAVE to make a new team. What? Ever heard of the Raiders? The Colts? The Rams? Teams move without changing anything other than their city. It happens quite often actually.
Which brings us to the third part. My gawd, with all the downloadable doohickeys, you would think that someone in the last five years would make a logo pack so I can stop making the Vipers or Centurions every time I decide to relocate a team.
And now the fourth issue in this symphony of ineptness. Could I please just build a new stadium without having to relocate? I swear I remember this being a feature at one point. How many new stadiums have we seen built in the last couple of years... The Cardinals, Cowboys, Giants/Jets. The Bears got a remodel. The Niners have a stadium in the works and I am sure I am forgetting some. THESE TEAMS DID NOT HAVE TO RELOCATE TO GET A NEW STADIUM.
PLAYOFF STATS. Pretty simple. 30 years of playoffs adds up to a lot of freaking games. (330 if I'm not being a ******)
A list of Super Bowl winners... I KNOW that used to be there.
Rivalries that change. If I am stomping the Raiders as the Chargers for 15 years straight, that is not a rivalry. Yet if that same Chargers team has gone 2-2 in the playoffs against the Ravens 4 years in a row, THAT is a rivalry. Being in a division with another team does not make a rivalry. Think the NFC West of the 80's. No rivalries there. Now thing 49ers/Cowboys in the 90's. THAT is a rivalry.
Stats.
More coaches.
NO VALET TRANSPORTERS IN 2011 PLEASE.
Finance options that actually have an impact (like they USED to if I recall correctly)
I really want to go one here, but I feel like I am just rambling at this point.
I also understand that not every single feature can be addressed every year, but these are issues which I feel have been overlooked or just flat out ignored, for years now.
I also saw the Cummings interview in which he just recently said that FM is going to be addressed. I hope this is the case.
Just a little love for the franchise mode please.
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09-02-2010, 04:39 PM
