The Equalizer in Madden 16.

[DJazzyJefff23]

Today, I'd like to talk about the Equalizer in Madden 16, if you believe that it exists, and why or why not?


For those unfamiliar, the equalizer is pretty much the responsible party for the most wacky, inorganic crap you see in a game. Whether it's your high-rated defense playing like Pop Warner level children against much lesser competition, or your WR's while outmatching the CB's, can't get off the press or seem to have any separation, to name just a couple of circumstances.

The equalizer, from what I've read, is pretty widely accepted in MUT, and I honestly believe that it is also evident in CFM to some degree.

The reason I bring this up today, is because I haven't seen any prior posts directly covering it, and quite frankly I'm tired of seeing my highly-rated team get outperformed by lesser rosters. I'd like to hear some of your opinions and experiences as well, whether it be from MUT, CFM or just H2H.

This thread is purely for civil discussion, I'm not looking to start a riot. If you think I'm crazy, feel free to tell me why.

[Cajungodfather]

The Equalizer in Madden 16.

I think it is definitely there. Even in a 32 man CFM you can see it, especially on the road on all madden. Against the CPU, it's noticeable, the opposing offense can't move the ball what so ever, then suddenly, the qb turns into tom Brady, and WRs are making sick one handed grabs.

I've seen and been a part of so many second half turnarounds, it's crazy. I mean, 20-3 heading 5 minutes left, the opponent has 150 yards of offense. Then they score, kick off, you do one play and fumble, next play wr is wide open for a Td. Not is just a one possession game with 3.5 minutes left. No way you pick up the first being forced to punt just before or right at the 2 minutes warning, giving the other guy a chance to win. And he will...


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[DJazzyJefff23]

Re: The Equalizer in Madden 16.

I think it is definitely there. Even in a 32 man CFM you can see it, especially on the road on all madden. Against the CPU, it's noticeable, the opposing offense can't move the ball what so ever, then suddenly, the qb turns into tom Brady, and WRs are making sick one handed grabs.

I've seen and been a part of so many second half turnarounds, it's crazy. I mean, 20-3 heading 5 minutes left, the opponent has 150 yards of offense. Then they score, kick off, you do one play and fumble, next play wr is wide open for a Td. Not is just a one possession game with 3.5 minutes left. No way you pick up the first being forced to punt just before or right at the 2 minutes warning, giving the other guy a chance to win. And he will...


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Haha... All-Madden. That mode is painful enough without the thought of an equalizer.

Oh man, I hadn't even thought of that. The amount of times my players get stopped in their tracks with just one man (usually a CB) to beat, is hilarious. Doesn't matter if I'm running with Lynch, or Percy Harvin. They need 2 yards, they get 1, like clockwork.

[Hooe]

Re: The Equalizer in Madden 16.

You mean "comeback code" or "comeback logic"?

The developers have repeatedly stated it's not in the game.

[bcruise]

Re: The Equalizer in Madden 16.

As usual I fail to understand why people would play on the highest difficulty level - the level where the CPU overperforms its ratings - and then proceed to complain that the game is being unfair to them.

I see the so-called "comebacks" as the CPU simply regressing to its mean according to those over-boosted ratings. Nothing more. For me at least, it can happen in the 1st quarter as easily as it can in the 4th.

This isn't NBA JAM, and games don't have those switches anymore.

[DJazzyJefff23]

Re: The Equalizer in Madden 16.

As usual I fail to understand why people would play on the highest difficulty level - the level where the CPU overperforms its ratings - and then proceed to complain that the game is being unfair to them.

I see the so-called "comebacks" as the CPU simply regressing to its mean according to those over-boosted ratings. Nothing more. For me at least, it can happen in the 1st quarter as easily as it can in the 4th.

This isn't NBA JAM, and games don't have those switches anymore.

Same. I feel like you're asking to get abused on All-Madden.

I play on All-Pro, usually with custom sliders.

[DJazzyJefff23]

Re: The Equalizer in Madden 16.

You mean "comeback code" or "comeback logic"?

The developers have repeatedly stated it's not in the game.

Well comeback logic would mean the team is actually in need of a comeback.

I see nonsense happening early in the 1st quarter, so I wouldn't say this is a "comeback" thing.

[LowerWolf]

Re: The Equalizer in Madden 16.

I'm usually an All-Pro guy, but I started a new franchise on default All-Madden about a month ago and have found it pretty fair so far. It's hard, but it's supposed to be hard.

[roadman]

Re: The Equalizer in Madden 16.

I play on all pro sliders with variances in the penalty sliders and I don't see much of the "wonkiness" playing out in many games in my CFM.

At least, not enough to make me notice, turn off the game and start all over again.

Best year of game play in Madden in a long while.

[Senor Tortilla]

Re: The Equalizer in Madden 16.

I play a lot of CFM, again on All Pro with custom sliders, and I usually don't feel anything like this until the two-minute mark hits, no matter the score.

I can't rush the QB, DBs zones and man are wide open, and the CPU always makes the sideline catches to stop the clock, I've yet to find a way to come close to stopping it.

I'd like to think that it is my mind playing tricks on me, or maybe my team is just tired, but it seems to happen pretty consistently inside two-minutes.

[roadman]

Re: The Equalizer in Madden 16.

That does happen in my CFM and when it does, sometimes I'm able to hold off the opponent or sometimes I'm not.

If I can't stop the CPU, I try to call a timeout to slow down their momentum.

[Josiphos]

Re: The Equalizer in Madden 16.

I think the equalizer is real. Or maybe it's better called, The Script

Each game has a flavor, wether it's fumbles or penalties or inability to run/pass. I think there's also a script where "things don't go your way" and you have to fight through it (almost exclusively a road game thing).

The two minute boost is totally real as well. It's like every CPU guy has the clutch trait. I can count on one hand the times I've stopped the computer on a two minute drive, regardless of how crappy they are. Everyone turns into a team of Rice, Brady, Sweetness and Gronk under two minutes.

Now, it is possible to stop them and those are very memorable. I still fondly remember stopping Marshawn Lynch at the 1 yard line, after he dragged half my team 5 yards when only up by 5 in the last few seconds of the NFC championship game. I also remember another Year, intercepting Wilson with 30 seconds left to seal a playoff win.

Then again, I had Rodgers drive 80 yards in 35 seconds with no timeouts (felt like I had no one on the field) to tie it, then win the overtime coin toss and drive 80 yards AGAIN in 3-4 plays to win it....😡

[charter04]

The Equalizer in Madden 16.

I'm not sure what it is but, there is built in momentum for sure. It doesn't happen every game but, it's real. Usually it gives the advantage to the home team. In the 4 seasons I played in the 32 man online CFM I played in we called it HFA.

We used custom All Madden sliders. In user v user games you don't have an All Madden boost because your both the user. So it's not just because we played All Madden.

I had lots of games where you could tell the game was letting you play. No boost just best guy who made fewer mistakes won.

Other times you can clearly tell there was a boost. I benefited from it and had it go against me. All 32 of us saw it. When I had the boost I could win very easy. Nothing went right for the other guy. It's crazy. We all hate those games. Win or lose. It's not fun when the boost kicks in.

So long story long. There is something there. Something that gives a momentum boosts. I do not notice it every game though.

[imraged]

Re: The Equalizer in Madden 16.

I think the equalizer is real. Or maybe it's better called, The Script

Each game has a flavor, wether it's fumbles or penalties or inability to run/pass. I think there's also a script where "things don't go your way" and you have to fight through it (almost exclusively a road game thing).

I'm fairly certain it's something along these lines. Playing on all-pro against the CPU I've had games where my defense dominates even great offenses but there are some games regardless of opposition that I just can't get a stop.

I even had a 60-something overall QB with only decent WRs go for 400+ yards on me once. I've noticed that in games like this the CPU will be in the perfect offensive playcall nearly every play (corners vs man coverage, flood vs cover 3 or 4, etc.).

[Hooe]

Re: The Equalizer in Madden 16.

I mean, let's apply some rational thought to the idea of games being scripted (even though the developers have also stated multiple times that this doesn't happen either). Who benefits from EA scripting game results?

The competitive e-sports community? No, they are directly harmed by it. Competitive players want complete autonomy over their success and failure; they feel if they put their guys in the right positions to beat an opponent's play, those players should execute every time. A script saying "no, I've randomly decided you are going to lose 75% of the time this game" flies in the face of this.

The "sim" community? No, they are also directly harmed by it. Sim players want players who play to their ratings. They are more fault-tolerant with respect to their AI if the experience is authentic to what they see on TV. They still want some ability to make adjustments if they see a particular concept is troubling their team, and they still want a fair shake in games they play online against human and/or CPU opponents in online leagues. To that end, scripting the result to unilaterally favor one team or the other doesn't benefit these guys either.

The Ultimate Team community? No, they too are also directly harmed by it. Ultimate Team players want to build the best team possible. To earn better players, they need to win games and solo challenges. If they lose games and solo challenges, they lose contract resources without receiving as many coins in return, harming their ability to improve their team and limiting their ability to retain their current players. To that end, scripting the games would add an artificial pain point for these players. They don't benefit either, they get frustrated, they stop playing, more importantly they stop buying packs, and EA stops making money.

The "casual" community? No, they don't see a benefit either. The casual community of Johnny Walmarts wants to be gifted Madden on Christmas, play it on rookie or pro, and take his favorite team to the Super Bowl, regardless of his level of understanding of football as a sport. Scripting game results doesn't help this player; if he loses, he gets frustrated because the game is too hard, turns it off, and starts playing Call Of Duty instead.

The developers? No, scripting game results doesn't make their job any easier. It's hard enough for the developers to get all their code behaving for the many one-on-one and two-on-one player interactions which independently drive the game. How much harder do you think it would make their jobs to write scripts which simultaneously control the interactions 22 players with each other while maintaining the illusion of user autonomy? I would venture to guess much harder, personally.

This isn't to say I haven't seen weird stuff in Madden. Of course I have. I've had my pass defense ripped apart by CPU Adrian McPherson. I've seen CPU Tom Tupa lead a comeback drive to win against one of my friends in a franchise season game. Madden at its core is driven by dice rolls and randomness, and such results can and will happen. On a long enough time line, bad players will get good dice rolls, sometimes many times in a row. These sorts of results also need to be possible, because bad players have good games in real life - Kelly Holcomb and Jeff George both threw for 400+ yards in real life at least once, and Geno Smith has finished games with passer ratings of 158.3 and 0.0 in his career.

Especially in a single-game setting, randomness can and will happen. Scripting and choreographing of game results, however, doesn't exist, and it never has. The developers say it doesn't first of all, but even if you don't believe their word on it, the idea that they would do so is easily dismissed because doing so benefits no one.