Madden NFL 11 Blog: Run Blocking Improvements

[at23steelers]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: Run Blocking Improvements

I am going to try and put this into easier terms of my opinion. There is a flaw in the system. You being able to set a slider for a QB's accuracy, is telling the game what the QB's accuracy will be, so it would not be reflected based off his overall. Instead of the QB being reflected off individual ratings, it is currently reflected off of uniform slider settings. For example, if you set QB's accuracy slider to 100, then all QB's will have 100 accuracy, no matter what their rating is. In my opinion, Peyton Manning should have the same accuracy no matter what difficulty you play on. Because at the end of the day, he is Peyton Manning, and should play like Manning. His physical attributes like Strength, Speed, Throwing Power, Throwing Accuracy should be the same across all difficulties. However, the mental attributes, like reading coverages and awareness is what you should be able to set a slider on.

[donnyj86]

Good "Improvements", EXCEPT they are missing simple physics interaction between players. On the counter play, the pulling guard blocks the linebacker directly into another player, and nothing happened.

[lordnate]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: Run Blocking Improvements

This doesn't really tell you anything, because the game was running on rookie. How will that blocking translate versus an All-Pro or All-Madden defense. Also, don't get too excited, they have had a blocking blog for every Madden. At least as long as they have been having online blogs. Blocking was suppose to be fixed in '08, then again in '09, then again in '10, and now in '11. I'll believe it when I see it.

[Only1LT]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: Run Blocking Improvements

Online, you want more of a challenge, you play against a tougher opponent. If you're not as skilled at the game, you play users that aren't as skilled as well. Difficulty is a way to mirror those options if you're more of an offline/franchise type of player.

There is no single perfect difficulty setting because there's no single perfect Madden player. We all have different skill levels, yet we want a challenging but realistic game. I don't agree with how difficulty affects Rookie and All-Madden, personally. I don't like giving bonuses, but changing the frequency of AI updates is perfectly reasonable... it's like playing a user with faster or slower reflexes.

Like it or not, some things have to be made abstract in video games, because they cannot mirror real life. If you want a sim without a need for difficulty settings, play a text sim. Stick skills are meaningless.

Except for the fact that by virtue of having difficulty settings, it is impossible to have a sim at all (any?) levels, because the players will behave in unrealistic fashion on most (all?) of them. This should be obvious.

[Only1LT]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: Run Blocking Improvements

If developers and gaming companies thought like ^ they'd be bankrupt. People with your mind set are the minority. Difficulty levels are needed in all things in video games and life alike. If you can't swim you gonna go jump into nine feet because someone said if you wanna learn this is all we got? Hell no, you're gonna learn in the shallow end get your feet wet and progress. Same concept for video games you get used to the game on the lower levels, then as you learn you move up in difficulty to increase the challenge. It's a very simple concept that people ruin by OVER-THINKING.

Interesting theory, except for the fact that there are MANY games that have only one difficulty level.

[moneal2001]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: Run Blocking Improvements

Interesting theory (not really), except for the fact that there are MANY games that have only one difficulty level.

What games are they. Probably games where what you do doesn't effect the outcome of the game (you can play the same mission over and over again until you get it right), like GTA.

No two gamers have the same skills. I may be a better at the running game than you, just an example. I can average 250 yards rushing on the default sliders. You average 90 yards on default sliders. The sliders allow both of us to tweak our games so that we get more realistic stats. Same with the passing game or any other part of the game with a slider.

[Only1LT]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: Run Blocking Improvements

What games are they. Probably games where what you do doesn't effect the outcome of the game (you can play the same mission over and over again until you get it right), like GTA.

No two gamers have the same skills. I may be a better at the running game than you, just an example. I can average 250 yards rushing on the default sliders. You average 90 yards on default sliders. The sliders allow both of us to tweak our games so that we get more realistic stats. Same with the passing game or any other part of the game with a slider.

You may be better at completing a Gay Tony mission than me too. You might be better at beating Sephiroth than I am. And on and on. There are varying levels of ability for anything under the sun, yet the fact remains that there ARE games that have only one difficulty. I was merely pointing that out to the poster who seems to think that this can not possibly work, when it has been going on since games have been in existence, that's all.

I am not even saying that there shouldn't be sliders in the game. The fact that you need to adjust them to get "sim" results is a clear sign to me that the default settings are flawed though. I don't see how this is not obvious to everyone, but I digress.

My whole point is that I don't think that having the AI behave in an unrealistic manner is the way to tune difficulty. Whether they are moronic to the point that they watch runners run past them, or psychic to the point that they break for balls before your receiver does without even looking back. I am of the opinion that the focus should be on one realistic difficulty level, where things happen as close to real life as they can possibly code it. For anyone that disagrees with this, again, I submit that the devs DO have in mind, one difficulty that they think should be the default, most realistic gameplay. How could they call their game a sim if they believed that none of the difficulties behave in a sim like manner (marketing maybe), so it stands to reason that THEY feel one of them does. I think that they have not done a good job in this regard.

Number two, even if they do have multiple difficulty levels in the game, you will never make me believe that the way it is done now, is the best and only way to do it. That's just my opinion. If you think that this is the best and only way to do it, then we have to just agree to disagree.

[moneal2001]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: Run Blocking Improvements

You may be better at completing a Gay Tony mission than me too. You might be better at beating Sephiroth than I am. And on and on. There are varying levels of ability for anything under the sun, yet the fact remains that there ARE games that have only one difficulty. I was merely pointing that out to the poster who seems to think that this can not possibly work, when it has been going on since games have been in existence, that's all.

The point that I was making is that I may be better at completing the Gay Tony mission than you but the game doesn't hurt you for not being able to do it, you just start it again. Madden does hurt you for being worse at running or passing or even defense, unless you like to restart a game every time you have a bad play. That is the reason for different difficulties and sliders.

[Only1LT]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: Run Blocking Improvements

The point that I was making is that I may be better at completing the Gay Tony mission than you but the game doesn't hurt you for not being able to do it, you just start it again. Madden does hurt you for being worse at running or passing or even defense, unless you like to restart a game every time you have a bad play. That is the reason for different difficulties and sliders.

There is no difference. If you are not good at GTA you will die until you get good enough to complete the mission. If you are not good enough at Madden, you will.... lose, (OMG, how terrible) until you are good enough to win. You know, kind of how it is now. Believe it or not, there are people that have to work their way up to be able to beat rookie. Should they have a super rookie mode to accommodate them?

The bottom line is that there is no difference between this and any other game. You play until you attain a level of proficiency that allows you to pass a level, or win a game. Absolutely the same.

This is off topic though, so I'm done. You can try and make a special case for Madden, or for sports games in general, but there really is none. Trying to do so is, to borrow from a previous poster, "over thinking".

[BezO]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: Run Blocking Improvements

Nice try but the sole purpose of the "Rookie" difficulty is to make it easier for the user. Simply put the sliders are in the user's favor and severely handi-cap the CPU A.I.. If you want the sliders even where both sides react equally I suggest you request a vid done on All-Pro.

IMO, difficulty should not effect CPU AI. I think difficulty should effect the effectiveness of user stick moves, being more lenient with the timing. I think it should help the user perform up to player ratings.

For example, help the user break tackles even if they don't use the controls. Same with shedding blocks. Make throws, jukes, ect effective even when the user's timing is off with the controls.

With the new play calling feature, maybe call a better game for users on the lower levels.

[PocketRocket]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: Run Blocking Improvements

IMO, difficulty should not effect CPU AI. I think difficulty should effect the effectiveness of user stick moves, being more lenient with the timing. I think it should help the user perform up to player ratings.

For example, help the user break tackles even if they don't use the controls. Same with shedding blocks. Make throws, jukes, ect effective even when the user's timing is off with the controls.

With the new play calling feature, maybe call a better game for users on the lower levels.

Gotta disagree with the bold part of the statement. There are certain things that should increase or deccrease depending the difficulty level. The AI is one of them. The CPU should make stupid mistakes when on rookie, rather that reducing things like speed, agility, strength, breaking tackles, and route running shouldn't move. Things that should change should be, PRC, catching, awareness, stamina, and pursuit should take a hit.

In a nutshell, in my opinion, players should not be stronger and faster when increasing the difficulty level, they should make less mistakes, and adjust quicker as the difficulty increases. On rookie, there should be more blown coverages and missed assignments, more dropped balls and teams should wear down quicker.

[Obelysk]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: Run Blocking Improvements

My question is, will the Elite NT demand to "keep" the double teams? In other words in the video I see the guard and center double the DT but then one of them disengages and goes after the LB. So will a guy like Vince wilfork demand to "keep" both lineman occupied because he is an elite NT/space eater?

[shttymcgee]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: Run Blocking Improvements

My question is, will the Elite NT demand to "keep" the double teams? In other words in the video I see the guard and center double the DT but then one of them disengages and goes after the LB. So will a guy like Vince wilfork demand to "keep" both lineman occupied because he is an elite NT/space eater?

I know that this is something that alot of people have been harping on, but in all honesty, that's not really the way it works. Yes, some noseguards are better than others, and some certainly do demand extra attention, but if you guys watch some film, you would see that even these players do not get doubled all the time, nor do they make combination blocks up to the next level impossible. The whole idea behind zone plays is predicated on combo'ing blocks up to LB's and secondary people, teams don't scrap the schemes, most adjustments require the center to chip on the shade, instead of going to the three if the nose is in some sort of 1-gap alignment. The main reason that these guys are effective in the run game is that you can't get them moving laterally, but it is my belief that the edge players and the 3 technique tackles play a much greater role in stopping the run. To each his own, I guess.

[shttymcgee]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: Run Blocking Improvements

IMO, difficulty should not effect CPU AI. I think difficulty should effect the effectiveness of user stick moves, being more lenient with the timing. I think it should help the user perform up to player ratings.

For example, help the user break tackles even if they don't use the controls. Same with shedding blocks. Make throws, jukes, ect effective even when the user's timing is off with the controls.

With the new play calling feature, maybe call a better game for users on the lower levels.

I kind of feel that the player should have more time to react at the lower levels, in effect, slowing down the reactions of the CPU. However, you are obviously entitled to your opinion.

One of the cd guys (i think) responed to me in a different thread and alluded to the fact that this delayed reaction isn't present at the higher levels. Remember, the video was chosed to highlight the blocking assignments, not defensive reaction. I thought the video did a pretty good job of showing that, but it would have been nice to see the same play ran against more than just one defense.

[Only1LT]

Re: Madden NFL 11 Blog: Run Blocking Improvements

It was a pretty popular belief that the run blocking vids were on the Rookie difficulty level. I think that Ian might have tweeted to that same effect.

In the Live Chat today though, it was... insinuated, for lack of a better word, that the game was on All-Pro. Here is the quote:

<table><tbody><tr valign="top"></tr><tr valign="top"><td>Madden NFL Dev Team:
I captured the videos myself during normal gameplay. I ball on All-Pro but you can successfully run any of those plays just as illustrated in the blog on any skill level. But of course the frequency plays developing just as they are drawn up on the board will be different on the different skill levels. </td></tr></tbody></table>
Not sure what to think then. Was it on Rookie or All-Pro? If that was All-Pro, someone got some 'splainin to do lol.