NCAA Football 09 Wishlist

[RaychelSnr]

Operation Sports' Wil McCombs has posted his latest article, an NCAA Football 09 Wishlist.

"For NCAA Football addicts, we are in the thick of perhaps the most painful time of year. The college season is in the books, and last NCAA game is beginning to feel tired. With National Signing day over and done with, we are starting to get anxious to try out the new recruits in an updated version of our favorite sports game.

The trouble is, simply waiting for EA Sports’ offering come July is not always satisfying. Although 08 made some solid improvements for next-gen sports gaming, there were still several issues, ranging from annoying to appalling. What follows are ten “wishes” for this summer’s NCAA title, which, in my mind, would vastly build and improve upon NCAA Football 08."

[TrevJo]

Re: NCAA Football 09 Wishlist

I like the Custom Packages idea a lot.

I'm not as crazy about the ambiance idea as the author. I do wish we'd get new and more in-depth announcer commentary. I absolutely do not want Musburger in the game, I can't stand that clown.

Agree that Campus Legend should go. That feature constitutes simply 2 or 3 achievements that I am reluctant to go after.

He didn't touch on some of my biggest wishes (fixing the horribly slow loading of file lists, the difficulty of getting a challenge in before auto-replay kicks in, and the profile/achievements bug), but all in all a good list.

[Saber]

I would like to see some sort of player momentum that influences movement. It's too easy to cut on a dime which makes it hard (see impossible) to turn a short pass into a long touchdown since all the jukes and spins in the world will still get you tackled.

Formation subs should def. be brought back as I preferred them to the subpackages.

After you begin to get the hang of recruiting it got "bigger" but I'm not sure it got any deeper. For instance I never find myself using the "search for prospect" other than to find the fastest players availible.

Would like them to completely change the kicking game. It's absolute cake. Even the worst kickers/punters make every extra point or avg 40+ a punt.

The AI is still junk. I can run outs all day long vs. the computer and the AI never reacts to it. I'm not talking about play calling as much as I am about the moronic CB who never thinks to try to jump the route. Just follows my receiver to the sideline everytime to push him out for an 8 -10 yard gain. Way to go superstar!

Fullbacks - if they're going to be mentally ********, why are they in the game? Without and option attack, they're nearly a worthless offensive weapon other than to catch short passes. Blocking? Don't bother. They almost never pick up anyone.

Longsnapper. EA has never addressed this position completely ignoring it. Any player can do it and do it equally well.

Speaking of snapping, other than the occasional highsnap (which never seems to matter), each C/QB exchange is perfect. I haven't fumbled the snap once... ever... in any EA game. Ever. If I'm a 270 lb true freshman center playing for a FCS school and I've got a stud DT like LSU's Dorsey, I'm not sure every snap will be a clean one.

Different QBing throwing styles. It's not hard to see guys have different throwing angles, windups and ways they hold the ball (Jeff Tedford guys for instance).

Different RB styles. You're options are simple, you either run with power or spin off everyone. Problem is you can't see a noticable difference from one power guy to another or one speed guy to another. I guess this would be more of a "running style" whether a guy is more of a strider (think Chris Brown from when he played at Colorado or Tony Dorsett at Pitt) or a shorter, choppier steps (Barry Sanders at OKSt).

The ability to tackle a player at any time or knock him down or do something besides bump him. You can't hit a player before the ball arrives (on a passing play) in the NCAA series and do much more than bump him gently off his route. What kind of crap is that? I wanna see snot bubbles.

Double team blocking. You don't block the best defensive linemen in the nation with one player. How come you do on NCAA? And not by choice, but because you have to. Only one player can engage another at a time which is true for everything except gangtackling which is more canned animations than anything else.

Goalline animations - should be a whole new ball game inside the 5 folks. Runningbacks leaping over the pile, offensive linemen trying to get lower than the defensive linemen. Linebackers jumping the meet the runningback. Inside the 5 is almost always money on NCAA regardless of how bad your offense is or how bad their defense is.

Just wondering this - but how hard would it be to get some real life coached back in for at least the BCS? complete with coaching changes... coaching tendencies... ect. If June Jones goes somewhere, they're gonna go run and gun. If Rich Rodriguez goes somewhere... he drops the last game of the season, whines about being treated unfairly a year after getting a raise, and goes somewhere else, and they run the spread.

[Scott]

Re: NCAA Football 09 Wishlist

I'd love to be able to use my school (SFASU) even though we suck in football and recruit against D1 schools.

[Saber]

I would like to see some sort of player momentum that influences movement. It's too easy to cut on a dime which makes it hard (see impossible) to turn a short pass into a long touchdown since all the jukes and spins in the world will still get you tackled.

Formation subs should def. be brought back as I preferred them to the subpackages.

After you begin to get the hang of recruiting it got "bigger" but I'm not sure it got any deeper. For instance I never find myself using the "search for prospect" other than to find the fastest players availible.

Would like them to completely change the kicking game. It's absolute cake. Even the worst kickers/punters make every extra point or avg 40+ a punt.

The AI is still junk. I can run outs all day long vs. the computer and the AI never reacts to it. I'm not talking about play calling as much as I am about the moronic CB who never thinks to try to jump the route. Just follows my receiver to the sideline everytime to push him out for an 8 -10 yard gain. Way to go superstar!

Fullbacks - if they're going to be mentally ********, why are they in the game? Without and option attack, they're nearly a worthless offensive weapon other than to catch short passes. Blocking? Don't bother. They almost never pick up anyone.

Longsnapper. EA has never addressed this position completely ignoring it. Any player can do it and do it equally well.

Speaking of snapping, other than the occasional highsnap (which never seems to matter), each C/QB exchange is perfect. I haven't fumbled the snap once... ever... in any EA game. Ever. If I'm a 270 lb true freshman center playing for a FCS school and I've got a stud DT like LSU's Dorsey, I'm not sure every snap will be a clean one.

Different QBing throwing styles. It's not hard to see guys have different throwing angles, windups and ways they hold the ball (Jeff Tedford guys for instance).

Different RB styles. You're options are simple, you either run with power or spin off everyone. Problem is you can't see a noticable difference from one power guy to another or one speed guy to another. I guess this would be more of a "running style" whether a guy is more of a strider (think Chris Brown from when he played at Colorado or Tony Dorsett at Pitt) or a shorter, choppier steps (Barry Sanders at OKSt).

The ability to tackle a player at any time or knock him down or do something besides bump him. You can't hit a player before the ball arrives (on a passing play) in the NCAA series and do much more than bump him gently off his route. What kind of crap is that? I wanna see snot bubbles.

Double team blocking. You don't block the best defensive linemen in the nation with one player. How come you do on NCAA? And not by choice, but because you have to. Only one player can engage another at a time which is true for everything except gangtackling which is more canned animations than anything else.

Goalline animations - should be a whole new ball game inside the 5 folks. Runningbacks leaping over the pile, offensive linemen trying to get lower than the defensive linemen. Linebackers jumping the meet the runningback. Inside the 5 is almost always money on NCAA regardless of how bad your offense is or how bad their defense is.

Just wondering this - but how hard would it be to get some real life coached back in for at least the BCS? complete with coaching changes... coaching tendencies... ect. If June Jones goes somewhere, they're gonna go run and gun. If Rich Rodriguez goes somewhere... he drops the last game of the season, whines about being treated unfairly a year after getting a raise, and goes somewhere else, and they run the spread.

[bgeno]

Re: NCAA Football 09 Wishlist

Some suggestions off the top of my head:

1. FIX THE TURNOVER ISSUE. I dont care how you do it, just fix it so that my starting runningback doesn't fumble 10 times a season, and so my QBs and the computer's QBs dont throw ridiculous INTs.

2. Fix/tweak the home field advantage stuff. When I called an audible/hot-route late in the play clock against a loud crowd, my receiver would go through this stupid little animation that often forced me to take a timeout. These guys have hand-signals and stuff... I shouldn't have THIS hard of a time getting a hot-route to my receiver. Oh, and bring back the shaky camera... I actually miss it now that it's gone.

3. Expand on recruiting. It's on the right track... it's definitely an upgrade over previous years, but it could still be bigger. And it can be bigger without being longer. Just make it a little deeper. A. I like the idea of having the "rebuilding program" pitch, and other pitches specific to the school type like that. Maybe something like "young/promising coach" too. B. Also, give me the ability to sort recruits by attributes. Say, I'm looking for a power-back, let me sort recruits by "Break Tackle" or "Trucking" or whatever you want to call it so I can see the best power guys first. C. Don't give me all of a recruit's vitals right from the get-go. Maybe give me speed and tackle and catch and stuff, but save some for me to find out somehow. I should have to unlock a recruit's awareness, play-recognition... stuff like that.

4. More off-season stuff in dynasty. GIVE ME SIGNING DAY WITH DRAMA AND SUSPENSE! Give me the Spring Game. Give me The U.S. Army All-American Bowl or the Underarmour High School All-American Football Game. Give me the ability to apply for a medical redshirt (please?). Give me back the three percentage bars to allocate what I'm going to concentrate on this offseason (training vs. recruiting vs. discipline... which of course means BRING BACK DISCIPLINE, but toned down slightly). However, DO NOT GIVE ME OFFSEASON TRAINING DRILLS LIKE IN MADDEN... I hate those.

5. More substitution options. In the form of custom packages (which I LOVED in Madden) and/or formation subs... PREFERABLY BOTH, PLEASE.

6. Better Presentation. This goes without saying. Dont' get me wrong, fix the gameplay first... that should be top priority. But work on the presentation a little while you're at it.

7. More camera angles. I like to be able to see when I'm throwing to the flats, thanks.

8. Get rid of Jump The Snap. This is one of the worst features in NCAA... dear lord, why is this still there?

9. Old Playcall Screen. I gave the new one a shot, but I just like the feel of the old one better. I like the ability to call plays by type (sometimes I'm just looking for a screen play, and I dont care what formation it's in, so this is nice), but give me the three choices with corresponding face buttons.

10. Acquire new rivals (and lose dieing ones) in dynasty. This seems like another things that EA could over-do, but it'd be nice. When you switch conferences, or even if you just dont have many rivals, sometimes it's hard to get them scheduled. Let me build rivals.

[Bigdmo9999]

Re: NCAA Football 09 Wishlist

Pretty much all of my gripes were mentioned in that article. I really hope EA can read this, it's so well presented and put together idk why they wouldn't like to read it. I will not buy this game this year unless it fixes at least 8 of those things. I'm sick and tired of EA Shorts and their crappy games. Next gen is really what we've all expected it to be, and there really is no excuse for them other than their laziness, they need to shrink the team of devs and be more fan-oriented and less about the $$$. Like that would ever happen

[MassNole]

I agree with all of that. I used to love this series of games like no other, but EA just lost me last year. I am sure I'll purchase NCAA 2009, I can only hope some of these ideas are implemented.

[jdrhammer]

Re: NCAA Football 09 Wishlist

I have said before that I'd like to see more emphasis on the Freshmen that can come in a make an impact instead of getting buried in the depth chart, but I also miss the Homefield Advantage and shaking screen with the experience factor. Teams that have mostly upperclassmen on the field should have a better chemistry rating or something. Maybe it could help them eliminate on turnovers and such. It would be nice for the AI to be a little better with a team like this. Team Chemistry would be the next feature I'd like to see, not give everydamnbody a 5 pt boost to rape the user.

[J0nnD0ugh]

The best improvement possible for '09 would be for another company to step in & make a game that competes. EA's designers are plain lazy. Perfect example is the create-a-team mode. EA has done nothing to improve this aspect over the last 5 versions. I played one season of '08 & put it down. Didn't even bother w/buying Madden for the 1st time in six years.

[lazyboy]

How about improving practice mode by allowing random plays again. Also bring back drills. I honestly believe folks can improve their skills by doing the drills and pass skeleton.

[Cebby]

Re: NCAA Football 09 Wishlist

In order of reasonableness:

Tier 1: Basic, "WTF did you remove it in the first place" changes

A. Formation Subs: Why do I want my 240 pound speed rusher in on my 4th and 1 goal line packages? What good does my 260 pound power back do me in my shot gun packages?

B. Random plays in practice

C. A realistic turnover engine

Tier 2: Legitimate wants

D. An 85 man roster

E. A spring practice system

F. A real injury system: No more "torn hamstring-out for 2 weeks"; that's not how football works. Instead of 4-5 players out for 8 weeks, I should have (out of a 70 man roster) roughly 5 players out for an extended period of time, 5 that are questionable, and 10-15 with minor injuries that are play-with-able, but effect fatigue, speed, and strength. Allow injuries to build. If a player injures a knee, it's not out of the question that he'll hurt that knee again. Let me go through games with players at 85%.

Tier 3: "I know you're EA, but a man can dream..."

G. A real recruiting overhaul. Not adding 5 extra pitches, but give me a real life ranking system, complete with real scouting. A player playing for the Florida or Texas 5A championship should be more scouted than a player playing in rural Tennessee. Let us watch some film on said players and make us evaluate the situation, taking into account the differences between a player playing Texas 5A and Maryland 1A.

H. Cheating-I know it will never happen and it's not EA's fault, but ain't **** for free.

[DreadedSteeler]

Re: NCAA Football 09 Wishlist

Coach mode with a broadcast camera angle.

[jdrhammer]

I'd like to see the 85 man roster, but I'd rather see the FCS teams with the schedule first.

Something for coaches' integrity I'd like to see installed is: Overrecruiting working against you. If you only have 15 open slots and you sign 25 and cut some old players, and some new, your integrity takes a hit. I'd also like to see the cut players as transfers as well. Maybe have another round of transferable players after recruiting. Then they can go somewhere there is a need.
Juco's need to be separated in the Database. EA needs to research how many are signed and to where.
I would love to see a degree of difficulty factored in to recruiting. If you want to be safe and go for 2* and 3* players earlier on, it shouldn't be as difficult getting them to commit. You should be able to promise things like won't recruit another player...However, if you overrecruit, integrity takes a hit and the guy could de-commit since he's pissed and integrity takes a hit.

As far as gameplay goes, blocking by everyone should be made simpler. The defense should react to getting blocked. When OT's block someone coming of the edge, they should flush them to the outside, knocking them down or off-balance to the point the defender(even if it is the user) loses control and can't make the guy get back on track until he regains balance. This would create a bigger pocket. Same with downfield blocking.

Different style players. Different throwing motions, running styles etc.

More types of players. Still seeing the same players with new names each year.

Body type engine. I shouldn't be able to make a 200 lbs. guy look 250. If a guy is 6'0" 200 lbs, the only thing I can change is his muscle tone levels. I can change his weight and height, but his body grows or decrease with the weight I change. This body editing takes up too much time. This should be done.

Top-notch schools that play for Nat'l titles don't recruit scrubs. They should always sign 3* and up.

[gern]

It's about time they add in a save game mode, so I can save in the middle of a game and return to it later if something comes up. This one seems like a no-brainer to me.