Madden's Sliders And The Lack Of Options Compared To To Other Sports Games

[XtremeDunkz]

So I play all 4 major sport games to some extent (Madden, NHL, NBA 2k, The Show) and each game has its own set of sliders for the user to customize the game they way they like.

The problem is, Madden is lacking in this department and does not seem to care. For as long as I have been playing Madden (Madden 2002) they have had the same exact sliders they have today, give or take maybe 1 or 2.

For a breakdown I will list the total amount of adjustable sliders in each game.

NHL 17 - 129
NBA 2k17 - 122
MLB The Show 17 - 38
Madden 17 - 36 (8 are penalty sliders, so only 28 adjustable sliders for gameplay)

If you go and look at the slider sets available in NBA and NHL, you can literally adjust anything about the game to your liking.

Imagine if Madden had individual sliders per position like:

Safety Hit Power effectiveness
Linebacker jump effectiveness
Spin move effectiveness
juke effectiveness
Kick return blocking
punt return blocking
punt hang time
lob pass trajectory/velocity
bullet pass trajectory/velocity
Wind effectiveness

I could go on and on...

But the options Madden gives us to tune the game are a joke compared to the other sports games out there. They should be pressed to giving us more options to tune the game to our liking.

[DeuceDouglas]

Re: Madden's Sliders And The Lack Of Options Compared To To Other Sports Games

I agree and hope this was something that was looked at with the separate game distinctions. The FG Accuracy slider is pretty much broken, it has no effect until you get to 35 and then everything is a complete shank. There also hasn't been any CPU special teams sliders present in CFM for a while now. It's always been hard for me to distinguish any kind of difference in raising or lowering the pass coverage and reaction sliders as well.

But I'd definitely like to see more options to be able to tune the game. It adds a lot more variables to tweak which is more work playing the game but if they work correctly it's not too hard to pin down a good set and move forward while tweaking along the way. Every game needs them and I don't think there will ever be a sports game that doesn't have to be altered in some form or fashion. Like you mentioned I could come up with a ton of areas that I'd like to see adjustable and hopefully some more options will be an addition along side the separate game settings.

[Mattanite]

Re: Madden's Sliders And The Lack Of Options Compared To To Other Sports Games

Agreed, with so many positions multiplied by play styles multiplied by front office stuff in Madden you'd expect it to have a lot of sliders. For ease of access would you settle for a Running slider that adjusts all sub sliders, but for those who want to, you can click on running slider and tweak the sub-sliders such as juke effectiveness, fumbles, inside run effectiveness vs outside run effectiveness?


Without imported draft classes it would be nice to have a draft class strength slider and a draft class variability slider. One affects the overall general strength of a class and another the level of variability between prospects (essentially, make all 1st rounders safe or boom/bust prospects and bigger variation of strength of class year to year).

[Madden08PCgmr]

Re: Madden's Sliders And The Lack Of Options Compared To To Other Sports Games

I'll disagree.

Let's say in franchise I'm the Packers. Great offense, garbage defense, right? I don't want to be able to slider my way out of that! That's cheap, IMO.

My S can't hit, then he can't hit! My LBs can't cover, then they can't cover. Why should I be able to toggle a few buttons to fix that?

I think sliders are a copout on multiple levels. They either mask a players weakness or a weakness in the game code.

.. But, that's just one mans opinion.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[DeuceDouglas]

Re: Madden's Sliders And The Lack Of Options Compared To To Other Sports Games

I think sliders are a copout on multiple levels. They either mask a players weakness or a weakness in the game code.

I agree with your last line which is why I want to see more. Sliders can mask weaknesses in the game which is huge IMO. Sure you can mask a crappy defense by jacking all your defensive sliders if that's your thing but at the same time it can also help by giving you the tools to truly make your defense feel crappy.

To the opposite of your Packers example, when the Chiefs were absolutely terrible from essentially 2007 through 2012 it was always extremely hard to replicate that in Madden because despite Matt Cassel being a truly awful quarterback, it was still too easy to drop dimes all over the field like he was Aaron Rodgers and I would always have to drop user QB accuracy all the way down to 10 or lower. I know I had it at three one year just to try and make my offense realistically shi**y.

[Outkizast]

Re: Madden's Sliders And The Lack Of Options Compared To To Other Sports Games

I'll disagree.

Let's say in franchise I'm the Packers. Great offense, garbage defense, right? I don't want to be able to slider my way out of that! That's cheap, IMO.

My S can't hit, then he can't hit! My LBs can't cover, then they can't cover. Why should I be able to toggle a few buttons to fix that?

I think sliders are a copout on multiple levels. They either mask a players weakness or a weakness in the game code.

.. But, that's just one mans opinion.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

I think you miss the point on why most people (or ME at least) use sliders. I don't use it to make my team better... If anything, it's usually to make it harder. My goal is to make players play to their ratings. If my safeties aren't tackling, but they have low tackle ratings, then good. No adjustments needed. If I have a safety with 90+ tackle rating and he can't tackle Tom Brady for instance, there is an issue and a slider needs to be adjusted.

I stopped playing Madden before the last patch, because I couldn't get my user controlled QB to be more inaccurate. I didn't like that I was able to put up so many yards and go to the SuperBowl with Goff at QB. I want to be punished for that and feel the need to acquire a better qb. It's all about realism.

[TheBleedingRed21]

Re: Madden's Sliders And The Lack Of Options Compared To To Other Sports Games

I'll disagree.

Let's say in franchise I'm the Packers. Great offense, garbage defense, right? I don't want to be able to slider my way out of that! That's cheap, IMO.

My S can't hit, then he can't hit! My LBs can't cover, then they can't cover. Why should I be able to toggle a few buttons to fix that?

I think sliders are a copout on multiple levels. They either mask a players weakness or a weakness in the game code.

.. But, that's just one mans opinion.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

That's the point he's making.. you adjust it how YOU want. So you don't want to make your team great with sliders? Simple, don't use them or do what 99% of people do with sliders and make it more of a challenge that you can't obtain with limited settings.

[Hooe]

Re: Madden's Sliders And The Lack Of Options Compared To To Other Sports Games

OP forgot the XP payout adjustment sliders in Franchise mode, which dramatically affect the experience in that mode. Bumps the total count into the 40s or low 50s; still not as many as other games, but more than previously indicated.

Regardless, though I personally found Madden 17 to be a reasonably well-tuned game, it'd be nice to see more end-user customization options in the game for people who want to optimize their gameplay experience.

[XtremeDunkz]

Re: Madden's Sliders And The Lack Of Options Compared To To Other Sports Games

I'll disagree.

Let's say in franchise I'm the Packers. Great offense, garbage defense, right? I don't want to be able to slider my way out of that! That's cheap, IMO.

My S can't hit, then he can't hit! My LBs can't cover, then they can't cover. Why should I be able to toggle a few buttons to fix that?

I think sliders are a copout on multiple levels. They either mask a players weakness or a weakness in the game code.

.. But, that's just one mans opinion.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

You are completely missing the point of sliders.

Sliders are not used to "make my team better" they are used to tune parts of the game that you feel aren't done correctly out of the box.

In Madden the wind has way too much of an effect one way or the other. In Madden Linebackers can cover way to much ground and can jump way too high. As a consumer we can't change that. In other games, you can. Below I have posted screenshots of just some of the slider options in NBA and NHL that help make the games feel as realistic as possible.


NBA

Spoiler

NHL

Spoiler

[XtremeDunkz]

Re: Madden's Sliders And The Lack Of Options Compared To To Other Sports Games

OP forgot the XP payout adjustment sliders in Franchise mode, which dramatically affect the experience in that mode. Bumps the total count into the 40s or low 50s; still not as many as other games, but more than previously indicated.

Regardless, though I personally found Madden 17 to be a reasonably well-tuned game, it'd be nice to see more end-user customization options in the game for people who want to optimize their gameplay experience.

Eh I tie those in with progression/regression sliders that the other games also have in franchise mode. I didn't count them either. Sliders that effect gameplay only.

[TheBleedingRed21]

Re: Madden's Sliders And The Lack Of Options Compared To To Other Sports Games

Eh I tie those in with progression/regression sliders that the other games also have in franchise mode. I didn't count them either. Sliders that effect gameplay only.

Agreed. You can't count the xp sliders as gameplay related imo. Same way you can't count NBA or NHL sliders that irrelevant to actual in game gameplay.

I would love to see an expansion on sliders, however, the sliders we have now don't really seem to work as intended unless they're intended to not have much impact, so i really think the ones we have now need to be fully working and wider range of effects when adjusted.

[JoshC1977]

Re: Madden's Sliders And The Lack Of Options Compared To To Other Sports Games

Madden used to have more sliders but they condensed them a few years ago...the problem is that the effects got rolled into one slider. So, the fumble slider is a combo of the fumble slider and the old Running back ability slider. Things like this make the game way harder to tune things properly.

I would like to see more granularity on the sliders...but maybe not to the extent of nhl. EA also needs to do a hard restart with the game coding, get rid of the gameplay effects of other unrelated settings.

Until that is done...I'm not toying with ANY sliders/settings moving forward...imo, they currently do more harm than good. I know this may not be the conventional point of view....but the months of aggravation is just not worth it to me.

[Madden08PCgmr]

Re: Madden's Sliders And The Lack Of Options Compared To To Other Sports Games

As I said, just my opinion.

I'm a Madden vet. I understand very well that sliders have HAD to be used to correct issues. But in my experience, sliders just trade one set of issues for another.

I prefer The Shows dynamic difficulty which adjusts to how I'm playing.


Sent from my iPhone using Operation Sports

[SteelerSpartan]

Re: Madden's Sliders And The Lack Of Options Compared To To Other Sports Games

I really want a press/jam success slider......plus a bunch of new press/ jam animations so it isn't as easy to read if your wr is going to win the battle

[DeuceDouglas]

Re: Madden's Sliders And The Lack Of Options Compared To To Other Sports Games

I prefer The Shows dynamic difficulty which adjusts to how I'm playing.

I remember when Madden tried this. It worked okay but it seemed like it was overly sensitive. After a while it just became a constant back and forth of destroying the CPU and then getting blown out. It was a good idea in theory but it was one of those things that I think was gone the next year and never received any time to develop.