Madden Should Bring Back Its PS2 Era Substitution System

[DeuceDouglas]

Re: Madden Should Bring Back Its PS2 Era Substitution System

There might be a very very very good reason why the substitution system hasn't been improved, but if developers don't express the reason the community will continue to yell "They don't care about the community" "They just want the money"

I think it's already been stated on a few occasions that it's not a big enough gripe to incite change but most people won't and don't look at that as an acceptable answer. A lot of people don't care about formation subs and if they view those people as the majority, which they probably are, then there's not a whole lot of reason to change it for them.

[Don Jon]

Re: Madden Should Bring Back Its PS2 Era Substitution System

Just a question, do the higher ups at EA visit this site? Because i've seen so many great ideas like this, and yet madden doesn't seem to feature any. If EA would take at least a couple ideas from the wishlists posted on this site each year, then Madden would be a must buy every year for me.

[Hooe]

Re: Madden Should Bring Back Its PS2 Era Substitution System

Just a question, do the higher ups at EA visit this site? Because i've seen so many great ideas like this, and yet madden doesn't seem to feature any. If EA would take at least a couple ideas from the wishlists posted on this site each year, then Madden would be a must buy every year for me.

Define "higher-ups".

I have seen Rex Dickson - creative director for Madden NFL, I think? - and Andrew Johnson - Madden NFL community manager - on this site with some frequency (relatively speaking).

[Don Jon]

Re: Madden Should Bring Back Its PS2 Era Substitution System

Define "higher-ups".

I have seen Rex Dickson - creative director for Madden NFL, I think? - and Andrew Johnson - Madden NFL community manager - on this site with some frequency (relatively speaking).

Ya that is what I meant. Because i've seen the people with light blue names, and I didn't know what type of control they had over the madden process. But hopefully the guys you mentioned at least take into consideration these ideas

[Hooe]

Re: Madden Should Bring Back Its PS2 Era Substitution System

Ya that is what I meant. Because i've seen the people with light blue names, and I didn't know what type of control they had over the madden process. But hopefully the guys you mentioned at least take into consideration these ideas

Ah, I understand.

The light blue names are EA Sports GameChangers. They are basically (someone correct me if I'm wrong on this) recognized names in the Madden NFL community who have special access to see the game early, release details (after NDAs expire), and gather feedback from their audience to deliver to developers for said developers to action upon as they see fit. GameChangers do not directly work on the game.

Pink names (a different shade of pink from banned users) are people who are game developers, designers, community managers, or otherwise employees of a major sports video game developer. The most visible such person I can think of on OS is Russell_SCEA, a community manager for MLB The Show (presumably) employed by Sony San Diego who posts frequently in the MLB: The Show forums here, but the Madden NFL developers are also here and do show up in posts from time to time.

[MAGboyswifT27]

Good old days with the good old EA.. Well hopefully things get better.. I actually enjoyed last year's title. It's just the small things that need to be fixed..

[Datninja619]

Re: Madden Should Bring Back Its PS2 Era Substitution System

I think it's already been stated on a few occasions that it's not a big enough gripe to incite change but most people won't and don't look at that as an acceptable answer. A lot of people don't care about formation subs and if they view those people as the majority, which they probably are, then there's not a whole lot of reason to change it for them.

Well that sucks. I need to see survey results!!

[RogueHominid]

This is a significant omission from a realism standpoint, I think, because today's NFL is so heavily based on sub-packages on both sides of the ball. So I don't see this as a matter of convenience; I see it as a fundamental strategic part of the game that's not well represented by Madden.

[ajblithe20]

Re: Madden Should Bring Back Its PS2 Era Substitution System

That was the golden age off virtual football. Yes 2k got shot down but it wasn't a horrible thing cause madden was amzing back then..... Until the horrible 360 maddens came. Even to this day madden isn't what it use to be compared to the Xbox/ps2/GC days. I wish they would of ported that version to the 360 and built off that cause the game still struggles in so many areas.

I could be wrong here, but I believe the only thing that would keep them from porting the PS2 version over is because they couldn't do what they wanted with the graphics? It's funny because Madden's graphics still lag behind 2k, NHL, FIFA, and MLB The Show.

[The Gunslinger]

Just another popular feature that for whatever reason has not been brought back. I stopped playing Madden at Madden 25, so I apologize if anything I've placed on this list has been put in Madden 15. Here's some other features that have yet to be brought back from the ps2 era:

-Assistant coaches: remember you could have a OC, DC, and ST coach? The feature even included real life assistants. This feature never made it over to the 360/PS4 versions probably bc of NFL Head Coach being released. But since a new version of Head Coach hasn't been produced in 6 years, why hasn't this feature ever returned? Why am I forced to choose from a pool of generic head coaches in the offeseason instead of being able to choose from real life assistant coaches or the ability to change the name of the generic head coaches?

-Create a stadium

-Create a team

-Create a play

- Editing Rosters in Franchise mode

-CPU v. CPU mode

-Cheerleaders

-Player profiles showing the previous teams that the player has competed on

-In the offseason, tags indicating which players had made the "Pro Bowl"

-Dynamic crowd attendance

-Tony Bruno radio show

-Fan/Mascot cutscenes

-Senior Bowl

[kyle2525111]

I always loved formation subs especially for a wildcat or pistol formation. It was even in ncaa football 14. No clue why they took it out.

[Mr.Papercut]

Re: Madden Should Bring Back Its PS2 Era Substitution System

Just another popular feature that for whatever reason has not been brought back. I stopped playing Madden at Madden 25, so I apologize if anything I've placed on this list has been put in Madden 15. Here's some other features that have yet to be brought back from the ps2 era:

-Assistant coaches: remember you could have a OC, DC, and ST coach? The feature even included real life assistants. This feature never made it over to the 360/PS4 versions probably bc of NFL Head Coach being released. But since a new version of Head Coach hasn't been produced in 6 years, why hasn't this feature ever returned? Why am I forced to choose from a pool of generic head coaches in the offeseason instead of being able to choose from real life assistant coaches or the ability to change the name of the generic head coaches?

-Create a stadium

-Create a team

-Create a play

- Editing Rosters in Franchise mode

-CPU v. CPU mode

-Cheerleaders

-Player profiles showing the previous teams that the player has competed on

-In the offseason, tags indicating which players had made the "Pro Bowl"

-Dynamic crowd attendance

-Tony Bruno radio show

-Fan/Mascot cutscenes

-Senior Bowl

Create a stadium was until Madden 12, assistant coaches were until Madden 12, CPU vs CPU was until Madden 12, tags indicating PB players was until Madden 12, Player profiles showing their former teams was until Madden 12, Editing rosters was until Madden 12... See where I'm going?

Ever since they introduced this Connected Careers crap in Madden 13 have things really gone back. I remember building a stadium for my LA Rhinos relocation team, appointing Brian Schottenheimer as my coach and appointing Rex Ryan as my DC after he was fired by the Jets in my franchise. Madden 12 had basically all of those franchise things we sim-gamers crave about, but for some unknown reason EA decided to go forward with Connected Career/Franchise-thingy which still to this day isn't anywhere close to Madden 12's Franchise mode, which had basically everything to make it deep and most important of all, enjoyable. I've always wanted to travel to E3 or somewhere like that and ask directly what the hell are they thinking at Tiburon.

[Hooe]

Re: Madden Should Bring Back Its PS2 Era Substitution System

Create a stadium was until Madden 12, assistant coaches were until Madden 12

I'd like to call out these two things, because it's my opinion that they weren't strong features to begin with as they were previously implemented and I don't miss them.

The implementations of coaches in previous versions of Madden was a bad afterthought leftover from a shallow game design mechanic initially created in Madden NFL 2004. Coaches statically affected attributes of certain position groups, never evolved over time, didn't affect player progression, didn't have any sort of personality, or really weren't special at all. They were the equivalent of a Madden card. It was really incredibly weak game design, especially compared to how, say, NCAA Football 14 handled offensive and defensive coordinators. There was no compelling reason to not just hire the coaches who gave the best attribute bonuses and then never worry about coaching staff ever again.

Create a stadium also wasn't very good IMO. I can't remember creating a stadium in Madden which didn't look entirely generic. The number of pieces available was too few to make the stadium truly look like my stadium, and EA never really fleshed out the feature after its initial addition in (I think?) Madden NFL 08 on the then-next-generation consoles.

My point here - on these two things specifically, was the way it was so good that it is actually sorely missed? Keeping things in the game just for the sake of it can sometimes prevent a game from moving forward.

(Understandably, the mechanic leaving the game ought to be replaced by something better, and in the case of assistant coaches specifically, that's where Madden has erred, as they aren't back in the game yet; at the very least with Owner mode there are a number of unique stadium choices available).

[NoFlyZoneAzCards]

Re: Madden Should Bring Back Its PS2 Era Substitution System

Definitely would like to see some of the old features from previous maddens in all upcoming madden games 1. I would love to see the college players as character faces instead of seeing a player that is already on a team in the game just ruins the whole draft for me seeing two to three faces exactly the same on one team just ridiculous 2. like to have the old progression from older maddens 3. Defensive assignments 4. Instead of picking your skill level to play at witch just gets stupid sometimes do the old my skill level where it adjusted to your skill level so im not throwing 7 INT a game 5. Crowd realislm

[Mr.Papercut]

Re: Madden Should Bring Back Its PS2 Era Substitution System

I'd like to call out these two things, because it's my opinion that they weren't strong features to begin with as they were previously implemented and I don't miss them.

Sure they sucked for the most part, but they were still in the game. I admit, I didn't understand how former players as coaches would have such a great effect on the team's attributes. For example I had Michael Turner as my OC when he retired and he had +5 on BCV, elusiveness, juke move etc. My point is, wouldn't you rather have them now in the game in the same state they were in Madden 12? Sure the attribute boosts etc. sucked and were somewhat unreal but it's the same thing with the confidence they introduced, just maybe more permanent. Stadium builder was rather lifeless, but they should've just build on it rather than abandon it completely along with the real staff. The connected career mode they replaced franchise mode with was incredibly and horribly bare in sense of the features. And it still is, you can't watch a CPU vs CPU match, have real staff or build a stadium.

The problem with all this is that they could've built easily on what they already had, but they ditched them altogether. Custom stadiums are in there sure, but it's getting boring already. If you wanted to have a realistic CFM stadium wise, you would have to relocate 3 teams just in the beginning of the save, and the options are very limited. I don't want Chargers playing in the dome or in an alienship-like stadium, nor do I wan't teams over time having similar stadiums. Again, they could've built on what they had but they decided to take several steps back.