Are You Capable Of Being Objective About NCAA 13?

[Big FN Deal]

I think this is the question I wanted to ask in an earlier thread but I went about it in the wrong way. We all have certain biases, opinions and perspectives about NCAA Football and collegiate gaming in general so I wonder how much that will influence each persons judgement about this years game.

For example, I believe I am a positive outlook person by nature so there is a good chance I am already bias towards seeing the game in positive light. It is interesting, imo, to try to be honest with yourself and figure out how objective we are capable of being in a given situation.

The fact is no matter how NCAA 13 turns out, there will be some positive, negatives and stalemates, depending on personal perspective. We all know there is still a good 3 months before the game drops and at about 1 week before gameplay info is released, so I want to just talk about people's thoughts on their ability to be objective, considering their perspective on NCAA Football and collegiate gaming in general, not speculate directly about the game or specific features.

Are you capable of being objective about NCAA 13?

[Pokes404]

Re: Are You Capable Of Being Objective About NCAA 13?

I REALLY try to stay objective with this game. I give credit where it's due, try not to exaggerate when being critical of the game, and keep sarcasm to a minimum (it just doesn't accomplish anything).

But I have to be honest with myself, I've become so frustrated with the NCAA series on this generation that I tend to look at everything they do on the more negative side. For so many years, I held onto the hope that "this is the year they finally get back on track and give me the game I'm looking for." Problem is, I had my hopes crushed for so long that I've become jaded and pessimistic in regards to just about anything they say/do, despite that not being in my true nature (I'm generally a glass-half-full kind of guy).

This isn't to say that I just want to bash EA and would look for any excuse to badmouth them. If they released a "good" game, I'd give them credit and jump back on board. I guess what I'm saying is that I'm not giving them the benefit-of-the-doubt anymore. They're going to have to prove it to me first.

[Gotmadskillzson]

Re: Are You Capable Of Being Objective About NCAA 13?

I always am objective when I look at any game. How ever, being that I have worked on video games before, I know BS excuses and lies when I see it. Grant it there some system limitations due to the lack of RAM in these consoles, how ever I know for a fact we should have been much much farther along in this system cycle then we are.

EA Tiborun basically just spent the past 6 years playing catch up to get to the point where they were in 2006. So in essence we lost this generation of production, because of using the time to invent new things, they instead use this entire generation to get back the things we already had last generation.

That makes me wary of the next generation. I don't feel like going another 6 years of playing catch up.

Hopefully they learned from their mistakes this generation and are currently working on a new big STABLE engine for next generation of consoles. Stop using old legacy code that you know is faulty.

Without a strong foundation, you can't build upon it. Which was the problem this generation, their engine was faulty from the get go, which is why they had take damn near everything out of the game that was in last generation and slowly over the past 6 years add those things back 1 by 1.

With that said, I always gave them the benefit of the doubt until I see their game play videos and play the retail version of it. But from a person who is from the industry, I am greatly disappointed in this system cycle that EA Tiborun has had.

They should be much further along....

[JerzeyReign]

Re: Are You Capable Of Being Objective About NCAA 13?

No, I won't be objective about NCAA '13. It has a very short leash with me. Now I'm not one of these "EA Killers" because I've been playing the NCAA series nonstop for awhile now with the last three years being in an online dynasty. The dynasty runs from release until June, well this year its looking bleak as we're starting to slow down because of the frustrations that come with this game, so I can't be classified as a seasonal gamer either.

Give them a chance? Yes, I'm renting the game. But I can't go in being positive when most of the time things they implement don't work properly. Or they aren't perfected or worked on for more than one year (e.g locomotion). The people they bring in to help (GameChangers) only hype the game -- "OMG! They listened." I just can't get down with that.

I hope they can make me smile with this release but I highly doubt it. If they do, hey I'll be glad. If not, ehhh... my expectations aren't that high anyway.

[N51_rob]

I can be but, I don't think I will. EA has burned through every bit of "benefit of the doubt" I have for them. I mean that is assuming I purchase the game, but no I am not going to be objective. But I also won't post most of that here as I like being a part of OS.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus

[walshcav]

Re: Are You Capable Of Being Objective About NCAA 13?

I was having this exact same discussion with one of my best friends who has played NCAA with me since NCAA 98 with Wuerffel on the cover haha. We've gotten it early or release date every year since 2000 and were just so let down with NCAA 12 that it really had us questioning if we would buy another one.

With the new information starting to roll out, we are sending joking texts to one another about the new features when the gameplay still is fundamentally broken (reservation held until April 17th).

I am just sick of the EA football titles being subpar while some of the other games by the SAME COMPANY (FIFA, Fight Night) are so much better than the football titles.

[Elsie93]

Re: Are You Capable Of Being Objective About NCAA 13?

I REALLY try to stay objective with this game.

[fhm_williams]

Re: Are You Capable Of Being Objective About NCAA 13?

I am much more objective and positive with NCAA than I am with Madden.

[Broncos86]

Re: Are You Capable Of Being Objective About NCAA 13?

I am much more objective and positive with NCAA than I am with Madden.

Objective and positive don't really go together. Being objective is about approaching each game, every year, with a blank slate. Judge it for what it is. Most people here can't do that, whether good or bad.

[Hooe]

Re: Are You Capable Of Being Objective About NCAA 13?

EA Tiborun basically just spent the past 6 years playing catch up to get to the point where they were in 2006. So in essence we lost this generation of production, because of using the time to invent new things, they instead use this entire generation to get back the things we already had last generation.

I'm not sure how you can say that. From graphical, technical, and features standpoints, the current-gen football games have blown the last-gen football games out of the water for at least four years now. I personally haven't wanted to touch the past-gen titles since the 09 iterations came out for a multitude of reasons.

They should be much further along...

Perhaps, but they aren't. A in-your-hands game can't be judged against some ideal hypothetical version of that game, because the ideal hypothetical always wins that evaluation. In order for a game - or anything - to be judged objectively, one must judge it as-is compared to other competing products, which are also judged as-is.

The notion of being objective when judging the relative quality is something is kinda funny to me, too, considering the very nature of judging the relative quality of something is subjective, lol.

[JerzeyReign]

Re: Are You Capable Of Being Objective About NCAA 13?

Objective and positive don't really go together. Being objective is about approaching each game, every year, with a blank slate. Judge it for what it is. Most people here can't do that, whether good or bad.

Can anyone honestly forget about the previous effort when looking at the new one? With no competition the game will always be compared to its previous edition. When you are the only thing on the market you should be expected to surpass the standards not just meet them. Right now the NCAA team is only meeting the standards. '11 looked like it was exceeding the standards (mainly because it played differently than '10) but now we will only get this year and '13 of them meeting the standards. In '14 we'll probably get something fresh. I don't care about getting something fresh if they perfect the current game.

[fhm_williams]

Re: Are You Capable Of Being Objective About NCAA 13?

Objective and positive don't really go together. Being objective is about approaching each game, every year, with a blank slate. Judge it for what it is. Most people here can't do that, whether good or bad.

Right but I wasn't trying to put them together so to speak, I was just saying I can feel objective toward the game while also I can have a positive vibe toward it without effecting the objective view.

Did that make sense?

While Madden makes me to angry to be objective, I'm not so positive toward NCAA that it blurs my judgement.

Hope that clears it up but I understand if not lol...

[dxdude2004]

Re: Are You Capable Of Being Objective About NCAA 13?

I think I do pretty well if I do say so myself. When people talk about LBs jumping 20 feet, I usually figure a misread caused that animation. I try and take human error into account for gameplay "issues." I can't think of any games that don't have even the smallest graphical bugs. I personally think the gameplay in '12 is very well done besides the interesting interactions between O-Line and D-Line.

[soulless pupil]

Re: Are You Capable Of Being Objective About NCAA 13?

I'm not sure how you can say that. From graphical, technical, and features standpoints, the current-gen football games have blown the last-gen football games out of the water for at least four years now. I personally haven't wanted to touch the past-gen titles since the 09 iterations came out for a multitude of reasons.



Perhaps, but they aren't. A in-your-hands game can't be judged against some ideal hypothetical version of that game, because the ideal hypothetical always wins that evaluation. In order for a game - or anything - to be judged objectively, one must judge it as-is compared to other competing products, which are also judged as-is.

The notion of being objective when judging the relative quality is something is kinda funny to me, too, considering the very nature of judging the relative quality of something is subjective, lol.

Ok, judging is subjective. So, to make it objective, lets compare to other companies and games in the industry.
First off, commentary. Why is EA (NCAA football/Madden) just now working on fixing commentary, while other games and companies (including football titles and other EA titles) have had dynamic commentary since 2005? Why is it that a company like Natural motion can make a physics engine in a football title, but EA can't even test out a piece of physics code (minus the pylon physics). Need more examples?

[Broncos86]

Re: Are You Capable Of Being Objective About NCAA 13?

Can anyone honestly forget about the previous effort when looking at the new one? With no competition the game will always be compared to its previous edition. When you are the only thing on the market you should be expected to surpass the standards not just meet them. Right now the NCAA team is only meeting the standards. '11 looked like it was exceeding the standards (mainly because it played differently than '10) but now we will only get this year and '13 of them meeting the standards. In '14 we'll probably get something fresh. I don't care about getting something fresh if they perfect the current game.

Sure, why not? I bought NCAA 12 based largely on how good I felt NCAA 11 was. That was a mistake. It behooves us, as consumers, to not go too crazy in thinking about the last product. You might get burned by a bad iteration, or you might miss a major improvement.

Objectivity in NCAA 13 is about approaching the title with an open mind. That doesn't mean you completely and utterly forget about NCAA 12. It simply means you make your decision on NCAA 13 based on the merits of the game itself; not reputation or pre-conceived opinions.