For all the long time NCAA'ers

[FloridaGators11]

First off this isn't a NCAA 13 bashing thread. I love the game and can't wait for the 10th. With that said, I can't help but feel I'm the only one who has experienced what I'm about to say. Every year NCAA adds features and works on graphics and gameplay but yet if you stick in an NCAA from a while back, such as 06 or 07 it seems like the best college football game ever. Highlights on the main screen, menu music (pretty sure I can still sing every word to every song on 06), pressing buttons to get certain types of celebrations after plays, in week suspensions, spring games, hotter girlfirends in RTG when you got better!!! Haha or how about getting your team or favorite player on the cover of Sports Illustrated for that week in dynasty. I guess I just never realized it, but every year they add certain things almost so you don't realize what all they have taken out. And you don't realize it until you go back and play and oldie...anyone else get where I'm coming from? Or am I the only one who likes all the little stuff on the old ones and would take that stuff over the infamous "mascot matchup" or the grand "one-button mode."


And no matter what just rememember: I wana grow up, up to be, be a debaser

[dubvcrazy]

Re: For all the long time NCAA'ers

NCAA 06 was my all time favorite and I would still be playing it if I could get my PS2 back from my little cousins haha. I guarentee you I could sing every song on there as well. Last gen NCAA games were the best and I don't think they'll ever be the same.

[Lawdawg25]

Re: For all the long time NCAA'ers

I really miss the Sports Illustrated covers. Absolutely loved seeing my player on the cover after he had an outstanding week or after having a huge win. The thing they have now just isn't as exciting because it always shows your team and it's not as prestigious as being on the cover of SI.

[Pokes404]

Re: For all the long time NCAA'ers

There were certainly some little things that were great in the old NCAA games, but there are two main reasons I loved the gameplay.

1) The passing system was almost perfect. Not only were the ball speeds and passing trajectories as close to "real" as I've seen in a game (All-Pro Football probably being a close second), but you had so much control over where you put the ball. You could throw an elevated bullet to the backside shoulder if you wanted. Or, you could throw it at your receivers feet if you wanted him to go down for it. And none of this, "turn a curl route into an out route" stuff they're giving us this year. It was a very strong representation of what quarterbacks do in real life. Not to mention, quarterbacks could actually misfire. There was a big difference between your All-Conference, Senior QB and your RS Freshman backup. You really had to change your playcalling when you got a nervous, inexperienced QB under center.

2) Player movement had a real sense of weight and momentum. While the overall player/game speed was too fast (I got bored one day and clocked my running back at a 3.9 sec 40-time!), you could really feel the acceleration, weight, and agility differences between players. If you had an agile back, you could use a defender's momentum against him without even having to trigger a juke animation. You could leave a defender grasping at air just by making a hard cut against the grain (makes me really wish we had this now with the popularity of spread offenses, zone reads, and zone blocking schemes).

There were definitely problems with the old games, but amazingly enough, they had a lot of the basics down better than the new games. I'll give the new games the edge in blocking (the interactions still aren't very good but the blocking AI has improved quite a bit) and tackling (once you triggered a "stumble" animation in the old NCAA's, you could barrel through 8 defenders without them being able to stop you). But still, it really is pretty amazing how solid those games were though considering they were made 6-10 years ago on systems that weren't as powerful.

[LastExit]

Re: For all the long time NCAA'ers

Well said, Pokes.

What I miss from the older games was how loud the crowd got on defense and the function of waiving a defender's arms in the air to amp up the crowd actually working (no evidence of that in the demo). What's more, if you were behind by a large margin no matter how you tried to goad the crowd into getting loud it wouldn't work.....a realistic touch that was nice. When you were playing on the road and the crowd was loud you'd call an audible but the receiver would run the wrong route or you'd get an occasional false start.

It's not make or break, but it's important to me given that the crowd is such a big aspect of college football just as it is in basketball or FIFA. FIFA has the crowd immersion down and you can turn the volume of the announcers off and still have a great time playing it just by how the crowd reacts to the flow of the game. They could be doing so much better with NCAA but up to this point it's an aspect that has been left behind in prior iterations of the game.

[Pokes404]

Re: For all the long time NCAA'ers

Well said, Pokes.

What I miss from the older games was how loud the crowd got on defense and the function of waiving a defender's arms in the air to amp up the crowd actually working (no evidence of that in the demo). What's more, if you were behind by a large margin no matter how you tried to goad the crowd into getting loud it wouldn't work.....a realistic touch that was nice. When you were playing on the road and the crowd was loud you'd call an audible but the receiver would run the wrong route or you'd get an occasional false start.

It's not make or break, but it's important to me given that the crowd is such a big aspect of college football just as it is in basketball or FIFA. FIFA has the crowd immersion down and you can turn the volume of the announcers off and still have a great time playing it just by how the crowd reacts to the flow of the game. They could be doing so much better with NCAA but up to this point it's an aspect that has been left behind in prior iterations of the game.

The crowd was definitely awesome starting in around NCAA 05. I remember coming over to a friend's house while he was playing a game. The TV was turned away from me, but from the rocking crowd noise I said, "Jeeze, you playing in Death Valley or something?" It didn't turn out to be Clemson or LSU, but he was playing in The Swamp at Florida. Point is, I could tell just from the audio he was playing in a big-time environment. If I tried the same thing with the current NCAA games, he could have been playing at Toledo and I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

*No disrespect to Toledo fans intended

[LucianoJJ]

Re: For all the long time NCAA'ers


The option was better previous gen.

[AUChase]

I miss the stadium pulse feature and the celebrations.

The crowd really seemed to be alive.

Sent from my Desire HD

[Hoosier83]

Re: For all the long time NCAA'ers

I like how pokes summed up the old games.
They did have there issues with tackling animations, and the AI was not perfect, but they still play a much better game of football than anything I've experienced this generation.

The passing is so precise. Putting the ball where I want the receiver to catch it (and simultaneously over a LB or CB in a zone) is the highlight of my football video game playing day.

Audibles or hot routes on the road in a big ten stadium are essentially useless. They end up running something the original play or something completely different.

The player movements are so much fun. Using a safeties momentum against him when I'm turning the corner is beautiful. Although, it works both ways, some good backs make me look stupid when using a LB.

The recruiting has me digging deep into the talent pool looking for the 2* with "good" potential. Scouting helps me keep players with "poor" discipline off my team. Finding that cat with "good" potential and "excellent" discipline is like christmas morning.

Enough of my gushing, Game Stop has NCAA 07 for $0.99 on PS2.

[indycolts727]

Re: For all the long time NCAA'ers

Sigh.... I miss back when you'd start a dynasty with a team like Ball State. you'd have 12 people in the stands and just the stadium announcer. by the 4th quarter, as Toledo was beating you by 30-points, 10 of your fans left.

By year three the crowds would grow. Maybe you'd add a ranked team to your schedule and finally get a televised game. If, by chance, a ranked team came in to town and you beat them, the crowd would start to chant "Over-rated..."

I miss the composure thing, too - when you could flick the stick amd see which players were rattled and which werent. Play-action passes to the rattled CB's side were deadly. It seemed like it added more to them game because some players would just have bad days, unlike now where the playes seem like robots.

The good ol' days!

[indycolts727]

Re: For all the long time NCAA'ers

Well said, Pokes.

What I miss from the older games was how loud the crowd got on defense and the function of waiving a defender's arms in the air to amp up the crowd actually working (no evidence of that in the demo). What's more, if you were behind by a large margin no matter how you tried to goad the crowd into getting loud it wouldn't work.....a realistic touch that was nice. When you were playing on the road and the crowd was loud you'd call an audible but the receiver would run the wrong route or you'd get an occasional false start.

It's not make or break, but it's important to me given that the crowd is such a big aspect of college football just as it is in basketball or FIFA. FIFA has the crowd immersion down and you can turn the volume of the announcers off and still have a great time playing it just by how the crowd reacts to the flow of the game. They could be doing so much better with NCAA but up to this point it's an aspect that has been left behind in prior iterations of the game.

Completely agree about FIFA. FIFA seems to get better and better every year. I love the new defensive controls they added this year... they added a great new feature, but left alone everything else that makes the game solid every year. I love college football way more than I do soccer, but unless NCAA 13 brings something big to the table this year, I'm skipping it and just continuing on with my FIFA career mode. Never thought i'd pass on NCAA but that's what it's come to this year. FIFA makes me jump up and scream at the TV (for good and bad) just like NCAA used to. And 8'll be the first to admit that I'm terrible at FIFA.. it's just more fun to play.

[Playmakers]

Re: For all the long time NCAA'ers

The option was better previous gen.

isn't it amazing that EA has yet to get the option to work anywhere near the way it did 6-7 years ago....

Also lets not forget players somehow had different playing styles even without all the added ratings we get today.

I remember a guy like Woody Danztler (Clemson) actually playing like a mobile QB right out of the box without having to do tons of edits to him.

[joeblackis]

Re: For all the long time NCAA'ers

First off this isn't a NCAA 13 bashing thread. I love the game and can't wait for the 10th. With that said, I can't help but feel I'm the only one who has experienced what I'm about to say. Every year NCAA adds features and works on graphics and gameplay but yet if you stick in an NCAA from a while back, such as 06 or 07 it seems like the best college football game ever. Highlights on the main screen, menu music (pretty sure I can still sing every word to every song on 06), pressing buttons to get certain types of celebrations after plays, in week suspensions, spring games, hotter girlfirends in RTG when you got better!!! Haha or how about getting your team or favorite player on the cover of Sports Illustrated for that week in dynasty. I guess I just never realized it, but every year they add certain things almost so you don't realize what all they have taken out. And you don't realize it until you go back and play and oldie...anyone else get where I'm coming from? Or am I the only one who likes all the little stuff on the old ones and would take that stuff over the infamous "mascot matchup" or the grand "one-button mode."


And no matter what just rememember: I wana grow up, up to be, be a debaser

I totally agree.
It is annoying as hell when they remove content from the game never to be seen again...wtf? Plenty of space on the disc for ALL of the stuff over the years to be included.

I still want that fieldgoal takendown animation after a big win.

Oh remember when you could actually get close to block a punt or a fieldgoal??

[TheShizNo1]

The option was better previous gen.

I play 07 religiously. I completely disagree w/ this. At least now you can read the DE. There are no reads in the last gen version. You get the fastest QB and RB you have and hope you get to the outside before the defense does.

The game also plays too damn fast to be able to read an option defender anyway.

[TheShizNo1]

I like how pokes summed up the old games.
They did have there issues with tackling animations, and the AI was not perfect, but they still play a much better game of football than anything I've experienced this generation.

The passing is so precise. Putting the ball where I want the receiver to catch it (and simultaneously over a LB or CB in a zone) is the highlight of my football video game playing day.

Audibles or hot routes on the road in a big ten stadium are essentially useless. They end up running something the original play or something completely different.

The player movements are so much fun. Using a safeties momentum against him when I'm turning the corner is beautiful. Although, it works both ways, some good backs make me look stupid when using a LB.

The recruiting has me digging deep into the talent pool looking for the 2* with "good" potential. Scouting helps me keep players with "poor" discipline off my team. Finding that cat with "good" potential and "excellent" discipline is like christmas morning.

Enough of my gushing, Game Stop has NCAA 07 for $0.99 on PS2.

I'm always afraid to scout b/c that's points I could be using recurring guys. How do you go about recruiting? You made add another element to this game for me