Let me start by saying that while I respect the efforts that the NCAA team has made over the years in improving their offering, I simply see too many things that remain unadressed after YEARS of harping on it from myself or many, many other people to really believe that they understand what the problems are.
I am under no illusions that this thread can change that, but I do hope that it offers a bit of illumination to some people, or provides some entertainment to others...I just really, really want to see these issues fixed at some point; and I am not seeing it in the videos released thus far for NCAA Football 10...
Let's start with the obvious...the main default camera angle for gameplay. This simply put has not changed at all since the days of Bill Walsh College Football on the Sega Genesis! It is beyond stale - and while some previous last gen versions allowed you a choice of camera angles, the next-gen 07/08/09 offerings have not. Now, we have heard about Camera Lock for NCAA 10, and that sounds promising...
If I could play the QB position (or maybe the HB position) from the above camera angle, the game may have some more life...especially if I could use these angle in online games...however, I get the feeling that like so many other features over the years, Player Lock is going to be an offline only offering. Maybe I am wrong...maybe we CAN use this feature online and offline to give the game more legs and make it feel less dated and less like "last year's game with new rosters and a few worthless features like SS"...maybe...BUT, even if we CAN do THAT, even if we get 22 unique camera angles (which we won't) and even if those camera angles make the game play totally differently at times (which it won't), we STILL will be left with the following two major game killers:
1) Total lack of negative consequences for running a QB out of the pocket...even if that pocket is formed with better OL-DL animations on the screen!
2) Total lack of real-world physics and physical limitations on player movements when user-controlled (example will be on defense, but this applies universally - QB play, HB running, WR catching, DB coverage. LB gap coverage, etc., etc.).
Let's start with a look at an example of why the OL-DL interaction improvement by itself cannot save NCAA 10.
This formation show the D-line lining up in an obvious pass defense (4th and 8...which is nice to see the -10 for sportsmanship...I hope that goes UP every time someone does it in the same game, so the first time could be -10, the second time could be -20 and so). The ends are clearly showing pass rush by lining up outside the Tackles and the MLB is faking a blitz as well...
At the snap, aside from a lightning quick QB drop, everything looks pretty good...the OT's are engaged in the DE's and the LDE even appears to be "winning" his battle by steering the OT back towards the QB, which becomes clearly evident here:
Now, everything starts to break down and the game is looking an awful lot like NCAA 2009 after this. That DE who is collapsing the pocket on the left side should be reaching for the QB, should be providing the kind of pressure that football coaches crave - he should be disrupting the hell out of this play and forcing the QB to step up and away to the right...but NO! In this example (taken from the EA Sports NCAA Football 10 site itself), the QB is actually able to slowly loop outside of the DE!!! Not only that, but he opens up passing lanes to just about every receiver on the play in the process. Here is what the field view looks like after this nifty little trick (which has been a staple of online play forever):
Instead of forcing the QB to the right, the game simply allows him to escape the pocket to the LEFT! Directly past an oncoming DE! Instead of having to get the ball out through the traffic of the DT's - where a raised hand often results in a batted pass, instead of having to move TOWARDS the opposite DE and putting pressure on the ENTIRE O-line to do their job for a successful play, what we get is simply more of the same...a QB that can magically escape the pocket, has to face no negative consequences for doing so and gets to see open passing lanes in the process.
If this seriously worked, EVERY college coach and EVERY high school coach and EVERY QB coach across the country would be instructing QBs to play this way!!! I defy the developers to find ANY reputable coaches that would purposefully instruct their QB to play like this...to avoid staying in the pocket and staying with his protections in favor of scrambling to the outside as a first choice! This is a fundamental disconnect between the way the game plays (and HAS played for years on end) and the way the sport actually works! This is not news...people have been screaming about this since before their were internet forums dedicated to the game!
I am under no illusions that this thread can change that, but I do hope that it offers a bit of illumination to some people, or provides some entertainment to others...I just really, really want to see these issues fixed at some point; and I am not seeing it in the videos released thus far for NCAA Football 10...
Let's start with the obvious...the main default camera angle for gameplay. This simply put has not changed at all since the days of Bill Walsh College Football on the Sega Genesis! It is beyond stale - and while some previous last gen versions allowed you a choice of camera angles, the next-gen 07/08/09 offerings have not. Now, we have heard about Camera Lock for NCAA 10, and that sounds promising...
If I could play the QB position (or maybe the HB position) from the above camera angle, the game may have some more life...especially if I could use these angle in online games...however, I get the feeling that like so many other features over the years, Player Lock is going to be an offline only offering. Maybe I am wrong...maybe we CAN use this feature online and offline to give the game more legs and make it feel less dated and less like "last year's game with new rosters and a few worthless features like SS"...maybe...BUT, even if we CAN do THAT, even if we get 22 unique camera angles (which we won't) and even if those camera angles make the game play totally differently at times (which it won't), we STILL will be left with the following two major game killers:
1) Total lack of negative consequences for running a QB out of the pocket...even if that pocket is formed with better OL-DL animations on the screen!
2) Total lack of real-world physics and physical limitations on player movements when user-controlled (example will be on defense, but this applies universally - QB play, HB running, WR catching, DB coverage. LB gap coverage, etc., etc.).
Let's start with a look at an example of why the OL-DL interaction improvement by itself cannot save NCAA 10.
This formation show the D-line lining up in an obvious pass defense (4th and 8...which is nice to see the -10 for sportsmanship...I hope that goes UP every time someone does it in the same game, so the first time could be -10, the second time could be -20 and so). The ends are clearly showing pass rush by lining up outside the Tackles and the MLB is faking a blitz as well...
At the snap, aside from a lightning quick QB drop, everything looks pretty good...the OT's are engaged in the DE's and the LDE even appears to be "winning" his battle by steering the OT back towards the QB, which becomes clearly evident here:
Now, everything starts to break down and the game is looking an awful lot like NCAA 2009 after this. That DE who is collapsing the pocket on the left side should be reaching for the QB, should be providing the kind of pressure that football coaches crave - he should be disrupting the hell out of this play and forcing the QB to step up and away to the right...but NO! In this example (taken from the EA Sports NCAA Football 10 site itself), the QB is actually able to slowly loop outside of the DE!!! Not only that, but he opens up passing lanes to just about every receiver on the play in the process. Here is what the field view looks like after this nifty little trick (which has been a staple of online play forever):
Instead of forcing the QB to the right, the game simply allows him to escape the pocket to the LEFT! Directly past an oncoming DE! Instead of having to get the ball out through the traffic of the DT's - where a raised hand often results in a batted pass, instead of having to move TOWARDS the opposite DE and putting pressure on the ENTIRE O-line to do their job for a successful play, what we get is simply more of the same...a QB that can magically escape the pocket, has to face no negative consequences for doing so and gets to see open passing lanes in the process.
If this seriously worked, EVERY college coach and EVERY high school coach and EVERY QB coach across the country would be instructing QBs to play this way!!! I defy the developers to find ANY reputable coaches that would purposefully instruct their QB to play like this...to avoid staying in the pocket and staying with his protections in favor of scrambling to the outside as a first choice! This is a fundamental disconnect between the way the game plays (and HAS played for years on end) and the way the sport actually works! This is not news...people have been screaming about this since before their were internet forums dedicated to the game!
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