"a voice crying in the wilderness"

[southernbelle]

before i follow the trail blazed by john the baptist and (more recently) winston churchill, i do want to say this is simply opinion and discussion is welcomed.

here it is... we are all addicted to ncaa games and EA is abusing that addiction. first, lets just skip past the usual insults and homers and take on the merits of my argument.

addictions go through stages: the salad days, the denial days, and the isolation days. my addiction to NCAA has the same timeline. however, what identifies my relationship with NCAA as an addiction can be summed up best: it takes more and more (time, money, game enhancements) to give me marginal satisfaction. each year, i wait, willing to skip work, to get the new NCAA. what does the new version have? some updated rosters and various enhancements.

and EA is taking full advantage of this addiction. they see us gamers as buying the game year in year out, regardless of what they put in it. is there goal to make a great game or is it to make just good enough of a game to keep us coming back year after year.

i have no proposals. i am an addict. discussion, please.

[rudyjuly2]

That was about a 9/10 on the weird scale. I love playing the game but have only gotten into the NCAA version the last two years. From how the game has evolved from '04 (which everyone apparently loved), to '05 which included HFA, to '06 which added in season recruiting to '07 which added a bunch of new debatable features including momentum, I would say the gameplay and features have been changing significantly with each yearly iteration.

I love playing '07 and only wish I had more time to play it. I have posted my complaints about the new features which I dislike in the wishlist section. Feel free to do the same. By far my biggest two complaints with this game is the very arcadey "jump the snap" which I refuse to use and the horrible new kicking system where nobody misses. They need to have an option to turn off jump the snap and they either need to go back to the old kicking meter or keep using the R-analog stick but add a drift to the kick direction arrow like 2K had to add some challenge to the game. Good kickers would have a slower drift. Hopefully EA will program kickers to miss (on all levels with sliders that work).

[southernbelle]

Quote: Originally Posted by rudyjuly2

That was about a 9/10 on the weird scale.

haha - that was worth the post... thanks for the reply. is a weird post, i admit.

[ehh]

Quote: Originally Posted by southernbelle

each year, i wait, willing to skip work, to get the new NCAA. what does the new version have? some updated rosters and various enhancements.

That's where you and I differ. Once EA got lazy and/or complacent a few years back I stopped getting excited and definitely stopped skipping work to get the game. And I haven't bought Madden since '04.

But I love NCAA '07 on Xbox, it's definitely the best version of that console generation. I'm still playing the game pretty regularly, I think I'm in 2016 in my dynasty where I've gone from Penn State to Connecticut and now to Colorado. However, I was very skeptical to get the game and didn't purchase it until about a week after its release.

[mattmc]

Is there any truth to the ps2 being basically maxed out on what they can add? And that maybe p3 Would begin a direction.

[ehh]

Quote: Originally Posted by mattmc

Is there any truth to the ps2 being basically maxed out on what they can add?

In terms of graphics, probably. Definintely not in terms of gameplay though.

[rudyjuly2]

Quote: Originally Posted by ehh

In terms of graphics, probably. Definintely not in terms of gameplay though.

Totally agree. 2K5 had gang tackling and a better blocking/physical interaction engine over two years ago. Further presentation upgrades like halftime shows are all possible. Fine-tuning gameplay is always possible. I find the actual gameplay in '07 (without jump the snap) is very good.

[southernbelle]

Quote: Originally Posted by ehh

That's where you and I differ. Once EA got lazy and/or complacent a few years back I stopped getting excited and definitely stopped skipping work to get the game. And I haven't bought Madden since '04. But I love NCAA '07 on Xbox, it's definitely the best version of that console generation. I'm still playing the game pretty regularly, I think I'm in 2016 in my dynasty where I've gone from Penn State to Connecticut and now to Colorado. However, I was very skeptical to get the game and didn't purchase it until about a week after its release.

yeah, i agree with you in the implication that if i had walked away at a proper time, i would be blown away by ncaa 2007. i guess i need to be more specific in the criticism of the EA machine v. this very excellent game, ncaa 2007. maybe i am just way off - maybe its just a function of how sports games evolve...