What makes franchise mode immersive for you?

[TheDelta]

Quote: Originally Posted by mojo6911

Like I said before, they have had MORE time developing Madden on the 360/PS3 then they did with Madden 2005 and it is still inferior to a game we had 7 years ago in every way, except graphics.

Huh? I thought Madden was a game a year for quite some time now so how do you think they had more time in any specific year? A single year is a very short cycle for a game.

At that, time doesn't really mean much, money and manpower is the deciding factor here. A team of two dozen professionals can do more in half a year than two amateur programmers will get done in two years, so just saying "they got more time so the game should be better!" is a bit naive.

And you're missing the point. Back in '05, they didn't have an exclusive license so they had competition. There's no better motivation to put money into your product than knowing that if your product is worse than the competition, well, maybe people will stop buying your game... no such worries for next-gen Madden. It's the same with FIFA, do you really think that without PES coming out each year and competing against it, we'd have seen the same amount of work invested in the game?

[SmashMan]

Quote: Originally Posted by mojo6911

Madden came out in late 2005 on the Xbox 360. There is really no excuse why in 6 years other sports franchises have left Madden in the dust. The depth, gameplay, graphics, franchise/dynasty modes of games like NCAA, NBA 2K, NHL, FIFA, etc.

Madden has had problems with depth of the game, I agree. The gameplay differs from person-to-person. I have immensely enjoyed the last two Madden games more than the previous versions of this generation. There are definite areas I would still like improved, but that's a topic for a different thread. Madden's graphics...also subjective. I, personally, think they've looked good. My main gripe was the physical size of the players, and that appears to have been addressed in '12. I'm happy with the graphics. Franchise/Dynasty has clearly been disrespected this gen. No excuses. They clearly...clearly didn't have people that cared until '10 when Looman was added to the 'next-gen' team. It's taken a few years to destroy the old crap and lay the groundwork for a (seemingly) good franchise mode. Am I happy that it took a few years? Not really, but I won't let that temper my enjoyment of the features that are coming this year.

Quote:

Back when there was some competition (2004), we had the two greatest NFL games ever. It is sad that video game football peaked 7 years ago.

Did it peak due to competition, or direction of the development teams? You could argue either; but I'm afraid that's also a topic for another thread.

[TheDelta]

Quote: Originally Posted by SmashMan

Did it peak due to competition, or direction of the development teams? You could argue either; but I'm afraid that's also a topic for another thread.

Well competition is obviously not the sole factor guaranteeing a brilliant game.

But in the absense of competition, a game that caters to a unique target group which will buy pretty much no matter what (and let's be honest, football fans do want their new game every year), it's pretty much guaranteed that no company will invest more money than absolutely necessary into a game. It will sell anyway, so why bother?

[Argooos]

Not sure where this thread has ended up, as I have only read the first page, but I agree with the original poster's list. Yes, none of the things on the list would add much in terms of functionality, but they would certainly make franchise mode more immersive and fun.

Immersion for me is a mixture of in-depth customizable features, and lots of fluff like highlight shows and draft previews - all the stuff you see when you watch the NFL Network.

[cullen2k1]

What if they just had something simple like Random Events. Maybe 3-4 times per season and a couple times in the offseason you could have something like a newspaper spiraling toward the screen as breaking news. Then you click a button to read the news and you find out about a random player doing something that can affect something in the franchise. I can think of a ton of examples off the top of my head. I'm going to click a program to select random NFL players to give you a feel for how it could work...

FB Owen Schmitt PHI: abruptly retires due to "losing his love for the game"
Result: Obviously Schmitt goes on the retired players list.

OT William Beatty NYG: suspended by the team for 1 game for controversial remarks made on Twitter.
Result: Beatty unavailable for your next game

QB Jason Campbell OAK: reports to camp overweight.
Result: decrease to speed, stamina, injury and agility

WR Jerrel Jernigan NYG: holds out of training camp due to contract dispute
Result: decrease to awareness, route running

QB Pat White FA: decides to give it another shot and comes out of retirement
Result: White is added to the Free Agent pool

OLB Kawika Mitchell NO: sprains ankle in pickup basketball game
Result: Mitchell injured for two weeks

OLB Daryl Washington ARI: trained with Jerry Rice in the offseason
Result: Now has the "High Motor" trait

RB Jahvid Best: an anonymous teammate was quoted as saying Best has been "dogging it"
Result: confidence and consistency both drop to one star


... there is no limit to the amount of scenarios they could use. All they would have to due is tune the frequency to make some of them more rare. They could even make some of them funny. It would add some surprises.

I also agree that the position battles in preseason were always entertaining for me. I'd like to see those return. It would also be cool to see certain injuries leave lasting effects such as a QB suffering a torn labrum will lose points off his THP permanently.

[SeahawkNMD]

I didn't go through the whole thread but I just read a snippet of this in another thread: That Josh Looman has said restricted free agency would be easy to put into the game but they haven't for whatever reason.

I was wondering if restricted free agency has ever been implemented in a sports game before. I don't even know how the other leagues implement restricted free agency in real life but the it's not all that complicated in the NFL and I think it would be a great addition to Madden and add real offseason immersion for me.

[mojo6911]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheDelta

Huh? I thought Madden was a game a year for quite some time now so how do you think they had more time in any specific year? A single year is a very short cycle for a game.

On last gen, every year they built onto the game and by 2005 they had every aspect nearly perfect.

On current gen, every year they seem to add and subtract useless gimmicks. It is like they have been stuck in the mud. After playing Head Coach 09 last night, it seems like they are taking franchise in the right direction.

[TheDelta]

What does that have to do with anything? If anything, that makes my point. You claimed they had more time now than what they had 05, which is simply wrong. They had one year to make a game, not more, not less.