Is madden building on a broken foundation?

[Broncos86]

Quote: Originally Posted by Burk94

I think they have a lot to fix. It looks like their animations are basically the same as last year. That's the problem I've always had with madden every year I pay $60 for one new feature and a roster update.

I highly recommend reading about Madden 12 first, instead of simply watching videos.

http://www.pastapadre.com/2011/05/21...-features-list

[jobforacreebree]

Quote: Originally Posted by Broncos86

I highly recommend reading about Madden 12 first, instead of simply watching videos. http://www.pastapadre.com/2011/05/21...-features-list

I agree here. It does "sound" astounding within the scope of the game mode updates. I'll just have to wait and see if it plays as well as it sounds on paper.

[spankdatazz22]

Quote: Originally Posted by Broncos86

I highly recommend reading about Madden 12 first, instead of simply watching videos. http://www.pastapadre.com/2011/05/21...-features-list

Isn't that a little backwards? "Don't believe your eyes, better to believe what [someone's] telling you". There hasn't been a year where Pastapadre hasn't talked of Madden in positive terms, even '06 which had practically no redeeming qualities outside of the bump up in graphics. While he may have gotten a bit more critical I wouldn't trust his word (or anyone else's) as gospel. People should allow that these are works in progress, relative to their release date

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by spankdatazz22

Isn't that a little backwards? "Don't believe your eyes, better to believe what [someone's] telling you". There hasn't been a year where Pastapadre hasn't talked of Madden in positive terms, even '06 which had practically no redeeming qualities outside of the bump up in graphics. While he may have gotten a bit more critical I wouldn't trust his word (or anyone else's) as gospel. People should allow that these are works in progress, relative to their release date

Did you click the link?

Pasta wrote one sentence of the whole article and EA supplied the factsheet. I disagree this article is about Pasta and more about him relaying the information. Nothing more, nothing less. No need to shoot the messenger.

[mojo6911]

Quote: Originally Posted by 43M

Some of those things arent up to par, but the only one Id say is "broken" is penalties, because they are virtually non existent for some reason.

Broken means that they either don't work at all or do not work as intended. Penalties have been broken/non-existent since it came out on the 360.

Quote: Originally Posted by 43M

Ratings are not broken. Do they affect the game like they should? Not all of them, but the ratings system has improved drastically. It always makes me laugh when people say last gens ratings were better when they were definitely not.

It is funny you say this, as there are multiple videos where people have subbed Tom Brady in at CB and Tom Brady is able to jump routes and stay with Anquan Boldin. You may ask what the relevance of this is. The relevance is that a 60 ranked CB who is fast can perform like a 99 ranked CB. This shouldn't be the case at all. The only rating that matters in Madden is speed.

Quote: Originally Posted by 43M

I Robotic running game doesnt mean its broken....it doesnt feel natural, I agree, but its definitely not "broken"

Doesn't that mean it is broken? Weight, physics, momentum have no effect. I saw a vid of M12 where the RB was running in snow and zig zagging all over the field with no noticeable effect. Even in the SNES days, snow effected the running game.

Quote: Originally Posted by 43M

Line interaction is far from perfect, but again, its much better than it has been in the past and not broken at all.

It is broken. Often times there is that terrible animation where lineman are just standing around shuffling their feet. This should never happen. The dline doesn't interact properly and this, in essence, makes it broken.

Quote: Originally Posted by 43M

WR/DB interaction...to a point, AT TIMES, you could make a case that its broken, so I wont harp on that. But this years game looks like it improved on it a bit.

We both agree. Broken.

Quote: Originally Posted by 43M

Online franchise may be lame, but its far from perfect. Tons of people still enjoy it.

No real stats. Limited settings. NCAA's online dynasty is a million years ahead of them. 2k5 had full ESPN stats on a website you could view at home. It is 2011 and we still don't have it?

Quote: Originally Posted by 43M

Not sure what you mean by sidelines.

The sidelines don't have real players. They don't even look like they are from the same team. It is some dumbed down scripted animation every time.

[BezO]

IMO, yes, Madden is building on a broken foundation. But I also feel opinions vary with preference and how deep a gamer's football knowledge goes.

Is the defense completely broken? Depends who you ask. Ask the guy that doesn't know how a coordinator constructs schemes each play and the answer may be no. Ask the guy that knows coverages, stunts & blitzes are called separately in a complimentary way, and the answer is yes, it's broken.

IMO, Madden has programming that is not based on football knowledge. Defensive fronts are a combination of gap assignments, contain assignments & reads. Many of us can see that defenders are not assigned to gaps. We all know that defenders have no contain assignments unless you call a limited number of plays. And most of us can see that d-linemen head towards the o-lineman assigned to block them instead of reading or playing a gap. So, is it broken?

Do you know the goal of a stunt? Are stunts broken in Madden?

[Only1LT]

Quote: Originally Posted by spankdatazz22

Isn't that a little backwards? "Don't believe your eyes, better to believe what [someone's] telling you". There hasn't been a year where Pastapadre hasn't talked of Madden in positive terms, even '06 which had practically no redeeming qualities outside of the bump up in graphics. While he may have gotten a bit more critical I wouldn't trust his word (or anyone else's) as gospel. People should allow that these are works in progress, relative to their release date

I agree with this to a point.

I think that people should feel free to form opinions from videos, good or bad. Everyone does it. I also believe though that people should also read all of the information that is available for the game, and in conjunction with the videos, make an informed opinion.

If you know all of the changes that are planned for the new Madden, you know better what to look for in the vids to see if they really make a difference. Take the collision system. If you didn't know that they proclaimed to have eliminated suction, is that something that you would really notice being absent from a Madden 12 video? Highly doubt it.

I'm not saying to believe, or not believe all of their press releases, but if you know what they are claiming to have accomplished, it makes it easier to tell through videos whether they succeeded or not.

To me, that's an important component of making an informed decision.

[Icarus2k9]

Quote: Originally Posted by BezO

IMO, yes, Madden is building on a broken foundation. But I also feel opinions vary with preference and how deep a gamer's football knowledge goes. Is the defense completely broken? Depends who you ask. Ask the guy that doesn't know how a coordinator constructs schemes each play and the answer may be no. Ask the guy that knows coverages, stunts & blitzes are called separately in a complimentary way, and the answer is yes, it's broken.

This is a good point. I'll admit my NFL knowledge will always be fundamentally poor as a Brit. I've watched it on TV for a decade now and get a feel for good play or good players, but couldn't tell you about the ebb and flow of playcalling or a million and one other things.

I can appreciate from you all here that there are a lot of issues with the game and the ones I spot annoy me because, well, if I spot them then they must be bad (I'm thinking the line interaction more than anything).

But despite my emotions going up and down constantly over these games, they are making proper strides year on year to scrap those broken elements and bring in stuff that works. I'm hoping the massive Offline Franchise overhaul will help me ignore any of the bad stuff that still crops up and let me enjoy this game for a long time.

Meanwhile, everyone on here who actually knows what's going on, please keep pointing out what needs to be done on my ignorant behalf and avoid just simple bashing. I can appreciate a proper discussion on whether the foundations of Madden are antiquidated to the point of stupidity, but it doesn't really achieve anything apart from completely writing off a game (and it crops up weekly at least). But the threads on exactly how the LBs should be setting up in the run game, or how Madden needs to adjust ball trajectories and why and all this technical stuff? Bring it on

\end cautiously optimistic yet pointless ramble.