6 weeks into my first Madden 11 franchise

[JMD]

I wanted to wait for the regular season to end to have the most recent rosters before I started my Chiefs franchise. After 6 weeks I feel the game is playing quite nicely. Game play wise with the correct slider settings EA has this game playing a fairly decent game of football.

A few things that really annoy me though are:
1. When watching a replay the play selection screen should not come on screen until the replay is over. When it appears it block the replay.

2. This game really needs a halftime show with live action highlights from my game and other games around the league, with commentary. The Extra point at the end of the week is decent but it needs to be expanded a great deal. Why EA won't just look at what 2k5 did and expand on that is a mystery to me.

3. Challenging plays - again I hate to bring up that other 7 year old game but 2k5 had a much better challenge system. The Madden system needs to be improved.

4. Refs on the field. When there is a penalty we should see the ref on the field throw his flag. I'm not sure if Madden 11 does this , if so I've not seen it.

5. Opening cut scene of all teams doing that same foolish chant. Please remove this, only one team in the NFL does this and if you're not a Saints fan it just seems ridiculous.

6. Gus Johnson = Overkill. This guy is really annoying after only a couple games. I'd much rather have the dull Tom Hammond over this guy. Hopefully EA can get him to act like a normal announcer and not over react to every single play. I've had to turn the play by play off and it really kills the experience.

[Vikes1]

Re: 6 weeks into my first Madden 11 franchise

6. Gus Johnson = Overkill. This guy is really annoying after only a couple games. I'd much rather have the dull Tom Hammond over this guy. Hopefully EA can get him to act like a normal announcer and not over react to every single play. I've had to turn the play by play off and it really kills the experience.

I guess it's just another case of Tiburon over adjustment, imo.

I've watched [listened] to several Madden '11' videos, and can kinda tell that I too in short order, would start to get a bit irritated listening to Gus overdoing the excitement bit. Tiburon really did go from one end of the spectrum to the other, going from Tom to Gus.

[Sausage]

Re: 6 weeks into my first Madden 11 franchise

I wanted to wait for the regular season to end to have the most recent rosters before I started my Chiefs franchise. After 6 weeks I feel the game is playing quite nicely. Game play wise with the correct slider settings EA has this game playing a fairly decent game of football.

A few things that really annoy me though are:
1. When watching a replay the play selection screen should not come on screen until the replay is over. When it appears it block the replay.

I have remedied this by choosing "Gameflow" for picking plays, but as soon as the replays are done, I press X to open my playbook similar to conventional

2. This game really needs a halftime show with live action highlights from my game and other games around the league, with commentary. The Extra point at the end of the week is decent but it needs to be expanded a great deal. Why EA won't just look at what 2k5 did and expand on that is a mystery to me.

I agree

3. Challenging plays - again I hate to bring up that other 7 year old game but 2k5 had a much better challenge system. The Madden system needs to be improved.

Can't disagree here

4. Refs on the field. When there is a penalty we should see the ref on the field throw his flag. I'm not sure if Madden 11 does this , if so I've not seen it.

I have seen this, but it may have been NCAA 11

5. Opening cut scene of all teams doing that same foolish chant. Please remove this, only one team in the NFL does this and if you're not a Saints fan it just seems ridiculous.

LOL

6. Gus Johnson = Overkill. This guy is really annoying after only a couple games. I'd much rather have the dull Tom Hammond over this guy. Hopefully EA can get him to act like a normal announcer and not over react to every single play. I've had to turn the play by play off and it really kills the experience.

I like him, the commentary overall needs to be stitched better and with more banter in between plays. Too many deadspots throughout the game and even after TD's they say nothing. Kills immersion during an intense game.

[mjhyankees]

Re: 6 weeks into my first Madden 11 franchise

Agreed...I could probably add to the list
1. Lineman hip - bumping each other after their team just screwed up (like a penalty or fumble or something)
2. the ref on a special teams penalty saying "repeat 4th down" even though change of possession has occurred.
3. Madden 10 had a better pregame (which was very little but at least not Identical for every team).
4. Collinsworth saying before every game that the 2 QB's are the the important matchups....that is so lame - I really ahve to crucify the game on this.....you couldn't mix up the positions from game to game at least even if he still says (these two guys blah blah) for everyone?

That said...having the most fun since Madden 08 on gamecube (and madden 7 was amazing for me - then again it was my first).

BTW also p'd off that I can't build new stadiums for teams without relocating and changing the name.....I wanted the Vikes out in the cold again!

[RavensFan2k3]

Re: 6 weeks into my first Madden 11 franchise

I wanted to wait for the regular season to end to have the most recent rosters before I started my Chiefs franchise. After 6 weeks I feel the game is playing quite nicely. Game play wise with the correct slider settings EA has this game playing a fairly decent game of football.

I agree with this.

A few things that really annoy me though are:
1. When watching a replay the play selection screen should not come on screen until the replay is over. When it appears it block the replay.

Its annoying, but atleast the replay continues once the play selection screen comes up, so to me its not that bad.

2. This game really needs a halftime show with live action highlights from my game and other games around the league, with commentary. The Extra point at the end of the week is decent but it needs to be expanded a great deal. Why EA won't just look at what 2k5 did and expand on that is a mystery to me.

Agree 100% to this.

3. Challenging plays - again I hate to bring up that other 7 year old game but 2k5 had a much better challenge system. The Madden system needs to be improved.

Again, I agree 100%.

4. Refs on the field. When there is a penalty we should see the ref on the field throw his flag. I'm not sure if Madden 11 does this , if so I've not seen it.

Yes, this really bothers me. I remember playing Madden 98 on Sega Saturn and the refs threw actual yellow flags on penalties during plays. Also the chain gang is terrible. There is no chain, thye hardly come out to measure, and they are often in the wrong position...like they dont always move with the action. I'll get a first down and they'll still be back somewhere else.

5. Opening cut scene of all teams doing that same foolish chant. Please remove this, only one team in the NFL does this and if you're not a Saints fan it just seems ridiculous.

Lol, it is kinda annoying.

6. Gus Johnson = Overkill. This guy is really annoying after only a couple games. I'd much rather have the dull Tom Hammond over this guy. Hopefully EA can get him to act like a normal announcer and not over react to every single play. I've had to turn the play by play off and it really kills the experience.[/QUOTE]
Commentary has never been great, and I could see how its difficult to make good, so IDK what to say about this.

[JVM]

Re: 6 weeks into my first Madden 11 franchise

Someone say the correct slider settings? Is someone saying there is a set of slider settings that corrects all the flaws in this game? If yes, please enlighten us with this amazing set of sliders.

[bwburke94]

Re: 6 weeks into my first Madden 11 franchise

The challenge system is fine IMO, as long as the AI doesn't decide to screw the player over. It's improved in the last three years.

[JMD]

Re: 6 weeks into my first Madden 11 franchise

Someone say the correct slider settings? Is someone saying there is a set of slider settings that corrects all the flaws in this game? If yes, please enlighten us with this amazing set of sliders.

What I mean by Correct Slider Setting is, every year I buy Madden on launch day. Form that day until the end of the regular season I play exhibition games against the CPU and during these games I constantly tweak the sliders to get the game to give me the challenge I'm looking for. On the all pro setting right out of the box I can easily win every game, so I need to play a bunch of games while tweaking the sliders to get the game to fit my style and skill of play.

Also I never post my slider set. I believe one mans sliders will not work for another. We all have different styles of play and different skill levels as well as different levels of football knowledge. So someone who has only been playing Madden for the past couple years would most likely hate my slider set as the CPU would be winning all the time. Just as someone who is more skilled then me would find the game to easy. I do my best to try and get the A.I. to mimic what I watch on Sundays, you can only do so much with sliders though, some issues are in the programming such as poor clock management and so on.

I use the Chiefs , always have, and so far , I'm at week 7 , I've had one blow out and the rest came down to the end of the game to be decided. I'm in first place in the AFC West at 4-2 , I got killed by the 49ers and lost to the Colts in O.T.

[JVM]

Re: 6 weeks into my first Madden 11 franchise

What I mean by Correct Slider Setting is, every year I buy Madden on launch day. Form that day until the end of the regular season I play exhibition games against the CPU and during these games I constantly tweak the sliders to get the game to give me the challenge I'm looking for. On the all pro setting right out of the box I can easily win every game, so I need to play a bunch of games while tweaking the sliders to get the game to fit my style and skill of play.

Also I never post my slider set. I believe one mans sliders will not work for another. We all have different styles of play and different skill levels as well as different levels of football knowledge. So someone who has only been playing Madden for the past couple years would most likely hate my slider set as the CPU would be winning all the time. Just as someone who is more skilled then me would find the game to easy. I do my best to try and get the A.I. to mimic what I watch on Sundays, you can only do so much with sliders though, some issues are in the programming such as poor clock management and so on.

I use the Chiefs , always have, and so far , I'm at week 7 , I've had one blow out and the rest came down to the end of the game to be decided. I'm in first place in the AFC West at 4-2 , I got killed by the 49ers and lost to the Colts in O.T.

I discovered a few things trying out sliders, testing during exhibition games and pre-season games is not the same as testing during the regular season. The sliders are always giving an easier game during exhibition and pre-season games than regular season.

I watch lots of replays and experiment quite a bit. The higher you go up in level the more the game cheats and makes some of your top-notch players at times appear like dummies. You can stack your team with top-notch players at every position including backups and test this for yourself.

By the way, last night I continued my franchise and lo and behold Ngata got a sack! This was on All-Pro level sliders, that is, higher than 10 but lower than 15 for Human sliders. So now Ngata gets a sack and guess what happened, he gets injured! He sacked the QB and tore something while the QB was unhurt.

I got so mad I turned injuries off. I'll probably turn it back on, maybe. I looked at all the teams and saw at least five teams with no one on the injury list--I have 2 players on the list, one out for the season. I think I'm in week 9 or 10 of the season. My next game is against the Jets and I'm expecting another key injury with injuries on. Since I want to test that prophecy, I will turn injuries back on.

Anyway, glad to hear you found sliders that limit the flaws in this game. Me, I can't stand to see top-notch players play like mediocre players at all, meaning, I want players, all players, to play like their ratings suggest.

[ScarletnGray33]

Re: 6 weeks into my first Madden 11 franchise

..........

[Evan_OS]

Re: 6 weeks into my first Madden 11 franchise

..........

What? ......

[JVM]

Re: 6 weeks into my first Madden 11 franchise

What? ......

נראה שאין לך את החיים

I can ask the same question.

[evad]

Re: 6 weeks into my first Madden 11 franchise

About the challenges, I'm running an offline franchise with the Browns. Last night I played the Steelers. I was up by 14 in the 4th quarter with 6:00 left. The Steelers are facing a 4th and 15, Ben drops back in the pocket and finds Ward on a slant for 15 yards. The game quickly shows that it is a first down before the measuring animation starts. After the measuring shows it is indeed a first down, the Steelers head coach throws the red flag to review the spot.

The rule on the field was overturned and the Steelers lost possession of the ball.

[stp2081]

Re: 6 weeks into my first Madden 11 franchise

About the challenges, I'm running an offline franchise with the Browns. Last night I played the Steelers. I was up by 14 in the 4th quarter with 6:00 left. The Steelers are facing a 4th and 15, Ben drops back in the pocket and finds Ward on a slant for 15 yards. The game quickly shows that it is a first down before the measuring animation starts. After the measuring shows it is indeed a first down, the Steelers head coach throws the red flag to review the spot.

The rule on the field was overturned and the Steelers lost possession of the ball.

Mike Tomlin was like "hell no we better not get a first down!"

[marktwain77]

Re: 6 weeks into my first Madden 11 franchise

So far I am enjoying the franchise, but I also put myself into it mentally, which makes it more enjoyable.

What I mean by that is that I engross myself in it by pretending like it's the real thing and I really AM running my team (The Bills). I can almost hear the snarky post-game shows when I lose a close game. I wish the game gave more presentation cues/depth in this area so that it wasn't as necessary, but it works.

I'm in year 3. I simmed years 1 and 2 to focus on drafting players. It's the 2012 season, I started playing every game, and I'm 5-3. I do like that you notice a HUGE difference in playing with a team of scrubs (2010 Bills) vs a decent team (my 2012 Bills).

I've had a lot of really good games so far. Last night I came back to win on the final drive 2 games in a row. Then I had an insane game VS Miami.

They were up 20-7 on me late in the game. I come back to take a 21-20 lead with about 1:30 to play. On my kickoff I hammer their return guy, he fumbles, and I return it for a TD. Game over, right?

Well, since I was now up by 7, I went for 2 to try to make sure the game was over, since 7 or 8 is still a 1 score game. I miss. No big deal, though, my D is good and they don't have much time!

Well, not so much, they convert THREE 4th down plays, score a TD on 4th down, tie it up and we go to OT.

I win the toss, promptly fumble the opening kickoff. they recover, kick a FG, and win. And I cannot WAIT to get revenge AT HOME in a couple of weeks!

See, I am anticipating that game in my own mind because I want payback. It would be cool if the game somehow brought up past games between two teams to add to the presentation, but I'm not sure it's possible.

BTW, being able to see the results of EVERY game ever played in my franchise by any team is pretty cool, especially the past Super Bowl winners!