NCAA Football 12 Blog - Dynasty Tuning and More Details on Coaching Carousel

[Tengo Juego]

There was more about Coaching Carousel than Dynasty improvements.

[JMUfootball]

Oh, nice. Another coaching carousel blog...weird.

Sitting back reading these pages of comments, splff has already posted exactly what's on my mind.

I am extremely disappointed in the lack of effort put into dynasty mode this year. In a way it's almost sobering to realize what a rut this game was in, for a 2012 game to be gloating about many "new" fixes that

1) should have been implemented correctly the first time
2) were either already in previous versions, or
3) should have been added by now after about 7 editions of this game on current gen. It's 2012, this gen of consoles is almost over.

I mean really, ...was it not possible in previous versions to maybe implement correctly that programs should recruit players that match their system? And so CPU scholarship offers were broken in '11...no biggie, we all make mistakes, but don't tout fixing this error as a "significant improvement to recruiting"

[flustercuck]

It's funny, EA has no chance...if they didn't explain what they've fixed everyone would complain about it. They explain what they've fixed and people complain about it. Very funny.

[JMUfootball]

Quote: Originally Posted by flustercuck

It's funny, EA has no chance...if they didn't explain what they've fixed everyone would complain about it. They explain what they've fixed and people complain about it. Very funny.

No, it's a matter of how the fixes are explained.

Up until recently I preferred PC games to consoles. In the lexicon of the PC gaming world, developers use the term "fixed bug where"

As in, when a patch is released for a game, you will see a list like:
"-Fixed bug where player would clip through the wall"
"-Fixed bug where AI was unresponsive"

etc, etc.

The yearly installments of NCAA, and Madden, are basically just patches on the same game. And yet, whenever a new version is released, bug fixes seem to be introduced as new features. There's no honesty or transparency that a programming mistake or half hearted attempt was made in the first place. In some cases (and I think this year's NCAA will be one of them, just my opinion) the developers have so many bugs to tweak, and minor things to correct that could have been done correctly the first time, that few new additions are actually made.

It's OK, it would be difficult to expect a whole new game every year, especially with EA having no competition and thus no real need to be innovative. My main complaint is it's just a little insulting the way these fixes are usually presented, and old scrapped features are re-introduced as new as if we forgot.

[buckeye02]

Ive come to the conclusion that complaining about every little thing doesnt really get you anywhere. No video game is perfect especially now that its extremely difficult to make games today because of the vast technology. I always try to see the positive side of everything before i look at the negative. Doesnt mean that i agree with everything EA has done over the years. I'll probably be staying off of the forums after the game is released and enjoy myself.

[canes21]

Quote: Originally Posted by Block-O

Ive come to the conclusion that complaining about every little thing doesnt really get you anywhere. No video game is perfect especially now that its extremely difficult to make games today because of the vast technology. I always try to see the positive side of everything before i look at the negative. Doesnt mean that i agree with everything EA has done over the years. I'll probably be staying off of the forums after the game is released and enjoy myself.

Yea, I hated NCAA 10, but I think it was because I looked at the problems it had way too much. When I got NCAA 11 I really enjoyed it, but then I started to repeat the previous year's story and started to dislike it more and more because I looked at everything and found something wrong with it. Took a little break from the game and started to just play the game and have fun while focusing on what it did and I probably enjoyed those 4 seasons I did like that more than any other seasons I ever played in any football game.

The only problems that still bothered me in that dynasty was the zone defense and K/P recruits. Now that they fixed those, I will probably have a hard time putting 12 down if I play it like I did the end of 11.

[buckeye02]

Quote: Originally Posted by canes21

Yea, I hated NCAA 10, but I think it was because I looked at the problems it had way too much. When I got NCAA 11 I really enjoyed it, but then I started to repeat the following year's story and started to dislike it more and more because I looked at everything and found something wrong with it. Took a little break from the game and started to just play the game and have fun while focusing on what it did and I probably enjoyed those 4 seasons I did like that more than any other seasons I ever played in any football game. The only problems that still bothered me in that dynasty was the zone defense and K/P recruits. Now that they fixed those, I will probably have a hard time putting 12 down if I play it like I did the end of 11.

The K/P problem was a huge problem. I wouldnt label that as a minor, or little thing that was wrong. EA has addressed that it has been fixed, so this should be the best NCAA Football game they've come out with to date...if...everything they've added works properly.

[willIam9387]

Quote: Originally Posted by JMUfootball

No, it's a matter of how the fixes are explained. Up until recently I preferred PC games to consoles. In the lexicon of the PC gaming world, developers use the term "fixed bug where" As in, when a patch is released for a game, you will see a list like: "-Fixed bug where player would clip through the wall" "-Fixed bug where AI was unresponsive" etc, etc. The yearly installments of NCAA, and Madden, are basically just patches on the same game. And yet, whenever a new version is released, bug fixes seem to be introduced as new features. There's no honesty or transparency that a programming mistake or half hearted attempt was made in the first place. In some cases (and I think this year's NCAA will be one of them, just my opinion) the developers have so many bugs to tweak, and minor things to correct that could have been done correctly the first time, that few new additions are actually made. It's OK, it would be difficult to expect a whole new game every year, especially with EA having no competition and thus no real need to be innovative. My main complaint is it's just a little insulting the way these fixes are usually presented, and old scrapped features are re-introduced as new as if we forgot.

I really don't see any lack of effort this year by EA in the development of NCAA 12. The new additions to me are numerous and from my reading of the blogs the developers it seems as though they are implemented well. It's not a lack of resources or preoccupation with correcting previous mistakes that might limit their capacity to add new features, it's the fact they have a yearly franchise in NCAA 12 that is a cash cow. Also it's important to follow a three to four year cycle, so the addition of the coach carousel this year will be complemented with more refinements to this feature such as coach ratings.

I like the foundation EA has laid for this year and future iterations of the series. I think a lot of people playing dynasty mode will be pleasantly surprised this year by the coach carousel, which if it actually plays like the blog says should be a fun and compelling mode which will hold my interest for quite some time.