So the ESPN wipes, replays, graphics, etc., don't count as part of ESPN integration? It's been something the community begged for for years, and yet now people slam it. Can't have it both ways. We don't have the in-game ticker updates, admittedly, but the EA pregame show was never really anything beyond what it is now (blurb about stadium, who is playing who, talk about a player). If you miss digital Lee Corso putting on a mascot head that much, more power to you, but I personally don't see that as something important.
Moving on, everything information-wise from the Sports Illustrated / Athlon magazine feature is still there with the exception of the generated magazine covers; it's all there via the Dynasty Wire feature (which can use photos from the actual games you play rather than putting player models in some random pose). I honestly don't really miss the pre-generated covers and the SI "label" for the feature, but if that one thing makes or breaks the entire presentation of dynasty mode for you, well, that's your opinion and you are entitled to it, but again I don't think it's a fair one.
NCAA never had medical redshirts last-gen, so if you are still comparing last-gen to this-gen then bringing this up isn't really a fair point.
The discipline feature was pretty poorly-executed, IMO; there was no way to differentiate a clean-cut player from a troublemaker, and I often found it was the guys labeled as "good guys" who got into the most trouble. The feature really didn't work as intended, basically, and I basically ignored it personally.
The FCS schools I grant you ought to be in, but in last-gen NCAA their only function was to replace the generic FCS schools. That is, the FCS season didn't run along side yours, FCS schools never recruited, FCS schools never graduated players, FCS players never transfered, etc. Would I like to see the FCS schools come back? Sure. Do I think it's a significant loss to this year's Dynasty Mode compared to how they were previously implemented? Absolutely not.
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Gameplay has done nothing more than regress from where it was, and where it should be. You bring up Pro-Tak, which I will grant, was a good idea and helped the game, at first glance. In reality Pro-Tak is nothing more than a weird gimmick that actually hurts gameplay, becuase once Pro-Tak takes over, all players lose momentum, the AI does not recognize whether the player is on offense or defense, just that there is a player in position X.
Next you bring up o-line;d-line interactions. Yes this has been improved from the last-gen games, but is still lacking when compared to a game like ESPN NFL 2K5. In EA games the linemen must engage each other and from there they just grapple. They don't push or shove, just shuffle their feet. Also, many of the blocks, are not even genuine blocks, rather, if the blocker clips the shoulder of the defender, they motion shift both players into an artificial block, something that is not common in ESPN NFL 2K5. (I will grant that there is some motion shifting in 2K5 but it is not as prevelant as in NCAA Football and Madden. |
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Foremost, any football game 2K has made has no place in this discussion, you were comparing last-gen NCAA to this-gen NCAA. Mentioning the 2K games in the EA games forums technically isn't allowed by the OS ToS anyhow, so be careful.
Sticking strictly to the EA games, it's night-and-day obvious that the player interactions on last-gen simply don't compare, IMO. There was no such thing as a two-man tackle unless two tacklers approached at just the right angle to cue a canned animation. There was no such thing as a pocket from which to pass. I don't agree with your criticism of Pro-Tak that players lose context of their situation; I've never seen such happen.
Unfortunate that you've never used TeamBuilder, as it's easily the best create-a-team function that EA has put together. It's not perfect (I want them to put in more number fonts and more generic stadium options, personally), but it's much better than anything else we've had from EA to this point. It most definitely is a justified selling point for anyone that likes to create his or her own football team, but maybe it's not a selling point for you specifically.
I'm also guessing you've never played in an online dynasty if you don't think that that feature is important. It's not important how EA implemented it, the fact is they did, and it is one of the most popular and successful features in the game. If you are going to nitpick on implementation, certainly how EA handles Online Dynasty is much more sound than how they handle Online Franchise in Madden NFL.
03-09-2011, 01:09 PM
