10 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 13 (Over NCAA Football 14)

[clemsoncarl]

Inspired by EA Sports' article entitled 101 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 14, I present my own 10 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 13 (Over NCAA Football 14)!

Original EA Sports article here

Background
I keep going back and forth between NCAA 13 and 14, and there are lots of good features about NCAA 13 that people are overlooking, and I have enumerated them here. This is not an attempt to incite a flame war, instead, if we are going to be stuck with only these games for the near future, we need to better understand their strong and weak points.

I actually own both games, and I recommend that others do the same since these are the last in this great series -- NCAA 13 gamers should have NCAA 14, and NCAA 14 gamers should have NCAA 13.

Obvious Weak Points of NCAA 13
*"4 Verticals" money play (but this can be banned with a "gentleman's rule" and in offline play)
*Too many INTs (but this can be easily fixed with sliders)

10 REASONS TO BUY NCAA FOOTBALL 13 (OVER NCAA FOOTBALL 14)

1. Team-specific entrances (such as Clemson's running down the hill!! - Not found in NCAA 14)
2. Realistic injury rate (injuries are exceptionally rare in NCAA Football 14)
3. Realistic fumble rate (rare in NCAA Football 14 and can't be easily fixed with sliders because there's no "Fumble" slider)
4. Fully patched (Many were expecting further patches from EA Sports when NCAA 14 was abruptly canceled)
5. Cheaper (Currently $18 vs. $48 for NCAA 14 on Amazon.)
6. More in-depth recruiting -- You control the specific pitches made to each recruit. This enables you to "get to know" each recruit better and become more immersed in the recruiting process. NCAA 14's recruiting is more statistical and less engaging.
7. Sleek and intuitive in-game menus, not the Windows 8-inspired tile menus
8. No long Nissan in-game commercial
9. No RPG "leveling up" -- You level up the old fashioned way, You earn it by getting better! This is a skill-based game, remember? Don't need to worry about accumulating XP by running up the score either.
10. Erin Andrews! (Although admittedly, only the audio.)

[The JareBear]

Re: 10 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 13 (Over NCAA Football 14)

I agree that coach XP isn't that realistic (IMO) and about the injury/fumbles.

Disagree about everything else. I don't have any issues with the menus, and I can't stand the old recruiting system, made no sense to me.

I also think that NCAA 13 plays a decent game of football, but with sliders and maybe minimal house rules regarding the spread option, NCAA 14 plays fantastic. Since the patch, CPU coverage has been so much better, I haven't seen the DB glitch once.

[jeremym480]

Re: 10 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 13 (Over NCAA Football 14)

10 REASONS TO BUY NCAA FOOTBALL 13 (OVER NCAA FOOTBALL 14)

1. Team-specific entrances (such as Clemson's running down the hill!! - Not found in NCAA 14) I do miss the entrances
2. Realistic injury rate (injuries are exceptionally rare in NCAA Football 14) I don't think I've had an injury through 4-5 seasons in 14. but injuries were few and far between for me in 13, as well. Very frustrating
3. Realistic fumble rate (rare in NCAA Football 14 and can't be easily fixed with sliders because there's no "Fumble" slider) Also very frustrating. This, the injuries and soft coverage's are my three biggest complaints about 14
4. Fully patched (Many were expecting further patches from EA Sports when NCAA 14 was abruptly canceled) Even though it's full patched 14 simply plays better. Plus, the DB Glitch isn't as prevalent in 14. I've actually only seen in two times and that was within the first week of release. *knocks on wood
5. Cheaper (Currently $18 vs. $48 for NCAA 14 on Amazon.) That's certainly a positive for someone who doesn't own either game. the question would be is there enough difference's and pro's in 14 to justify the $30 difference. Ehh, game play wise it's a toss up, however the one area where 14 excels over 13 is the CPU's ability to actually win games. See my sig below. Most of those L's have came to CPU teams. That's never happened to me before in NCAA.
6. More in-depth recruiting -- You control the specific pitches made to each recruit. This enables you to "get to know" each recruit better and become more immersed in the recruiting process. NCAA 14's recruiting is more statistical and less engaging. 14 may be less engaging, but is actually deeper when you consider things like competitive visits, getting locked out, etc.
7. Sleek and intuitive in-game menus, not the Windows 8-inspired tile menus Menu's are much quicker in 14
8. No long Nissan in-game commercial this isn't something that bothers me, but the cut ins by Rece Davis are placed much better in 14
9. No RPG "leveling up" -- You level up the old fashioned way, You earn it by getting better! This is a skill-based game, remember? Don't need to worry about accumulating XP by running up the score either. I'm not a big fan of the RPG element either, honestly.
10. Erin Andrews! (Although admittedly, only the audio.) I'm much more of a visual person.

Responses in red.

[buckeyebaggins4]

Re: 10 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 13 (Over NCAA Football 14)

you missed the biggest one; STADIUM SOUNDS ACTUALLY WORK

[malky]

Re: 10 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 13 (Over NCAA Football 14)

While I actually might agree with you, there is one small little tiny tiny little issue that makes 13 a disaster:

IT FREEZES ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and this is after the patch, so I actually wouldn't know how good 13 is because of the constant freezing, and don't care to go back and be frustrated again, so I'll stick with 14.

[Clemsonpanther]

Re: 10 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 13 (Over NCAA Football 14)

Play NCAA 12.

[clemsoncarl]

Re: 10 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 13 (Over NCAA Football 14)

Thanks for the feedback, especially the in-depth responses from jeremym480.
I keep wavering between NCAA 13 and 14 because each has its own good and bad points. I am tempted to give 14 another look after your feedback.

I admit that injuries are still too few in NCAA 13. Another thing is that they (almost) always seem to happen to the ball carrier or someone who was involved with the ball. No injuries seem to happen away from the ball (ie. OL or DL).

One thing about switching between NCAA 13 and 14 is that the controls are slightly different, particularly for running the option.

Clemsonpanther, you mentioned, NCAA 12. It's been over a year since I played that, and I've forgotten what it's good and bad points were....

[Clemsonpanther]

Re: 10 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 13 (Over NCAA Football 14)

bad of 12

Ahtletes are useless
There are psychic DBs (but they can be made rare with sliders)
I dont play with injuries so I don't know about that
The option almost impossible to run
The graphics arent as pretty as 14, but are good enough to play with
Custom playbooks have a few unremovable plays


Positives
Defense is stellar
You get to play with past players
Passing is a CHALLENGE
Real life team entrances
Good and bad teams are more varied to play against
Games are more varied (not always shootouts)
Defensive coverage is useful
Recruiting is harder
More playbook plays
I could go on and on.

[sXeInYoFace]

Re: 10 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 13 (Over NCAA Football 14)

NCAA13 has assisted tackles and properly tracks pass deflections. Everytime I deflect a pass, it gets counted as a tackle in NCAA14. The pass rush is too dominate in NCAA14 in my opinion. The quarterbacks scramble far too much in NCAA14 resulting in way too many sacks also. Penalties actually occur in NCAA13, not as much as I would like but far more than NCAA14. I prefer NCAA13 but that is just me.

[Peacefrog]

Re: 10 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 13 (Over NCAA Football 14)

If NCAA 13 had the menu loading speeds of 14 (especially in regards to recruiting in Dynasty), I'd never play another game. But as it is, I'm playing the inferior 14 recruiting because I don't start to doze off by the time it loads all the screens when calling 25+ players.

[goroyals]

Re: 10 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 13 (Over NCAA Football 14)

Play 2000, 2004, 2006, and 2010 too.

[Clemsonpanther]

Re: 10 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 13 (Over NCAA Football 14)

Play ncaa12 yall!

[JrueToTheGame]

Re: 10 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 13 (Over NCAA Football 14)

The quarterbacks scramble far too much in NCAA14 resulting in way too many sacks also.

I don't have 14, but this is a huge problem in 13. In fact it's my least favorite thing about 13, and makes playing against scrambling QB's just a ridiculous experience. I thought I read this was fixed in 14. No?

Oh God no…lol

[BleedGreen710]

Re: 10 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 13 (Over NCAA Football 14)

I would try going back to an older game.. but I just cant leave behind these amazing running controls and infinity engine. Its the only football game I ever played where I always feel like anything can happen. And a lot of the things people mentioned on here can easily be fixed with sliders. I used to see way too many sacks too, so I upped the pass blocking slider and what do you know.. it made for less sacks. Amazing isn't it? lol

[raneman85]

Re: 10 Reasons to Buy NCAA Football 13 (Over NCAA Football 14)

11 & 13 for me and I will probably pick 14 up soon as the price drops. Although I did notice Madden 25 has dropped lower. I don't know if 14 is a better game than Madden or if it's because it's the final NCAAA version. I always seem to go back and play earlier versions of NCAA over Madden regardless. I've played 14 but I'm still favoring 13. Sometimes it's hard to replace old friends.