Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

[kjcheezhead]

Re: Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

I screwed up. The numbers I provided were for Madden 07:

http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=madden+nfl+07

No idea why I typed Madden 10 other than it was early in the morning when I posted it. My point is still the same though.

Yeah, hard to point to any one thing for the drop. I'm sure the console change made a difference. Most gamers would also admit Madden' s quality was at its worst from 06-09, along with a lot of other games as developers seem to struggle with that generation leap. The game lacked even commentary for the first few years.

With Madden 10, they tried to go SIM on the field and casuals/tourney crowd complained the game was too slow, rocket catch was gone etc. Sales dipped a little further that year, so a case can be made that there is a large crowd that likes the game less SIM. Bare bones franchise also disappointed the hardcore so Giantblue' s opinion could be valid as well.

Long story short, there were a lot of mistakes and factors contributing to sales decreasing during the 06-10 period. It's easy to spin several different ways. I think it all played a part one way or another.

[jpdavis82]

Re: Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

Not realpy crazy about the goal ticker, I would have much preferred an CFM News/stats/scoreboard ticker, but I can see why they went this route. Not a game breaker or anything, but is be nice if they made it toggleable for those of us that would like to keep xp and progression under the hood. I don't mind the XP system because it seems to work fine for CPU teams for the most part, I just like to keep a hands off approach to my own team's progression.

The XP and goal ticker feedback is optional, not sure if that's what you meant or not. As far as progression of players, it still uses the XP system. I personally don't think many will find the goal ticker and xp feedback in game that distracting.

[cowboy_kmoney]

Re: Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

It's over for Madden. I Kant see a future for this team if they will just out anything out. Wow We are in need of 2K or somebody to get the Licence and make a game for real football lovers.

[Gosens6]

Re: Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

It's over for Madden. I Kant see a future for this team if they will just out anything out. Wow We are in need of 2K or somebody to get the Licence and make a game for real football lovers.

It's not over for madden, and it probably never will be. This game will continue to sell, and sell fairly well this year and into the foreseeable future.

You have to realize this new generation of gamers that they're marketing to really could care less about a franchise mode and all the realistic aspects we crave.

We're in the MUT and online generation. The majority of guys don't care about playing offline against the cpu, it seems even online franchise guys are in the minority these days.

Madden isn't a true to life NFL sim, and it probably never will be. EA is catering to the online generation, and if those guys are happy and buying the game, nothing is going to change.

I think Skyboxer said it best. Accept the game for what it is, a football game modeled after the NFL, with elements of realism sprinkled in, or stop buying and disappointing yourself.

[brza37]

Re: Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

It's not over for madden, and it probably never will be. This game will continue to sell, and sell fairly well this year and into the foreseeable future.

You have to realize this new generation of gamers that they're marketing to really could care less about a franchise mode and all the realistic aspects we crave.

We're in the MUT and online generation. The majority of guys don't care about playing offline against the cpu, it seems even online franchise guys are in the minority these days.

Madden isn't a true to life NFL sim, and it probably never will be. EA is catering to the online generation, and if those guys are happy and buying the game, nothing is going to change.

I think Skyboxer said it best. Accept the game for what it is, a football game modeled after the NFL, with elements of realism sprinkled in, or stop buying and disappointing yourself.

And the biggest factor why Madden will never die is that it is the only licensed NFL game. The NFL is so popular that any game, no matter how buggy or broken it may be will still sell millions of copies year in and year out if its the only choice on consoles. You could put an NFL logo on Shaq-Fu, call it Madden 16 and it would still sell a million copies.

EDIT: And to be clear, I'm not saying Madden is completely buggy or broken or comparing it directly to Shaq-Fu. I'm just stating the fact that any game with an exclusive NFL license will continue to thrive as long as the NFL and console video games are popular.

[cthurt]

Re: Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

It's not over for madden, and it probably never will be. This game will continue to sell, and sell fairly well this year and into the foreseeable future.

You have to realize this new generation of gamers that they're marketing to really could care less about a franchise mode and all the realistic aspects we crave.

We're in the MUT and online generation. The majority of guys don't care about playing offline against the cpu, it seems even online franchise guys are in the minority these days.

Madden isn't a true to life NFL sim, and it probably never will be. EA is catering to the online generation, and if those guys are happy and buying the game, nothing is going to change.

I think Skyboxer said it best. Accept the game for what it is, a football game modeled after the NFL, with elements of realism sprinkled in, or stop buying and disappointing yourself.

This is so true, its more likely guys like us will stop buying the game before Madden will stop selling the game, it sucks being part of the minority but it makes sense for Madden to focus on what really sells their game and for now that's the MUT stuff. I cant wait for the MUT movement to get old so they can get back to the meat and potatoes of the game the franchise mode.

[therealsmallville]

Re: Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

17 years ago, Madden '99 debuted. "The Year of the Cyber Athlete". Granted, they were a year behind NFL Gameday in the 3D model department, but they introduced something so revolutionary that I'm not sure any sports title has surpassed yet (not speaking in quality here, but in "Holy #%#% I can't believe this exists!")...that revolutionary feature was called "Franchise Mode".

It was bare bones, of course, and it only went 15 seasons if I recall. But for the first time ever you had full control of your team, the players, their contracts. You had FA and the draft. It was amazing, it was groundbreaking, it was VISIONARY.

Yes, they had stiff competition then, and yes Gameday played more fluidly. But the Madden think-tank invented something huge, and it was built on iteration after iteration until the debut of the 360, all the while improving the on-field game as well. Back then, resources didn't need to be "focused" on this area or that; every area just got improved, like it was their job or something. They attempted to create a realistic front office experience, and Madden 99 was a damn fine first attempt.

What happened to the creative drive at EA? I hear talk of "we want the casual gamer", and "our primary concern is giving gamers what they want! Have some XP!", when the focus SHOULD be on "we have this amazing technology. Our predeccessors set a bar, but we can do better."

Yeah, I know there's no competition for Madden...but why did that kill the drive to create something amazing? It's killed the drive of every developer on the staff since 2005...I just don't get it. EA hasn't just sacrificed realism with floating XP animations and half-baked CFM modes...they've sacrificed drive and motivation.

To me, those are the biggest losses Madden has experienced in the last decade.


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[roadman]

Re: Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

I feel it's misdirected drive and motivation.

This is based on their telemetry, numbers and the decision makers.

All they need to do is come out with options to choose from. Deep involved NFL Franchise mode or the quick COD type franchise mode.

It's all about spending the resources to do it.

[zoom zoom]

Re: Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

17 years ago, Madden '99 debuted. "The Year of the Cyber Athlete". Granted, they were a year behind NFL Gameday in the 3D model department, but they introduced something so revolutionary that I'm not sure any sports title has surpassed yet (not speaking in quality here, but in "Holy #%#% I can't believe this exists!")...that revolutionary feature was called "Franchise Mode".

It was bare bones, of course, and it only went 15 seasons if I recall. But for the first time ever you had full control of your team, the players, their contracts. You had FA and the draft. It was amazing, it was groundbreaking, it was VISIONARY.

Yes, they had stiff competition then, and yes Gameday played more fluidly. But the Madden think-tank invented something huge, and it was built on iteration after iteration until the debut of the 360, all the while improving the on-field game as well. Back then, resources didn't need to be "focused" on this area or that; every area just got improved, like it was their job or something. They attempted to create a realistic front office experience, and Madden 99 was a damn fine first attempt.

What happened to the creative drive at EA? I hear talk of "we want the casual gamer", and "our primary concern is giving gamers what they want! Have some XP!", when the focus SHOULD be on "we have this amazing technology. Our predeccessors set a bar, but we can do better."

Yeah, I know there's no competition for Madden...but why did that kill the drive to create something amazing? It's killed the drive of every developer on the staff since 2005...I just don't get it. EA hasn't just sacrificed realism with floating XP animations and half-baked CFM modes...they've sacrificed drive and motivation.

To me, those are the biggest losses Madden has experienced in the last decade.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And those of us playing FPS FBPro were amused by what console gamers called "revolutionary."



"Oh cute, they are still controlling players with controllers. How adorable!"



Madden's franchise mode was, and is, honestly, the weakest part of their game. It has always been terrible. Seriously? Ticket prices, hot dogs, custom stadiums? You are talking about why I avoided it like the plague.

[Hooe]

Re: Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

I've always seen Owner Mode as pretty frivolous as well.

I suppose it's appropriate to have a mode for a step above coaches to manage hiring and firing of coaching staff, but I personally have no interest in managing the macro-economics of my team unrelated to football operations. I don't care about concession prices, parking space prices, or what have you.

I think I'd rather there be a distinction between the General Manager and the Head Coach, to be honest, with the GM responsible for player personnel and the head coach responsible for getting the best players the GM finds onto the field.

[therealsmallville]

Re: Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

And those of us playing FPS FBPro were amused by what console gamers called "revolutionary."



"Oh cute, they are still controlling players with controllers. How adorable!"



Madden's franchise mode was, and is, honestly, the weakest part of their game. It has always been terrible. Seriously? Ticket prices, hot dogs, custom stadiums? You are talking about why I avoided it like the plague.

I believe there's a rule regarding discussion of other football games in Madden threads. You should probably keep the topic on track instead of talking about FBPro, and be amused somewhere else


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[oneamongthefence]

Re: Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

I think it's sacrificing immersiveness more so than realism. Its hard to be immersed when everything comes down to a number. Scouting is just numbers, ratings are numbers, goals are just more numbers. We used to have scouting reports for drafts and scouting reports for upcoming teams. There used to be a morale system. Players were more or seemed like more than numbers. It's realistic to see players as numbers since that's what most gms and owners do. Stats and production but its also a very dry way to look at it.

[ggsimmonds]

Re: Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

I've always seen Owner Mode as pretty frivolous as well.

I suppose it's appropriate to have a mode for a step above coaches to manage hiring and firing of coaching staff, but I personally have no interest in managing the macro-economics of my team unrelated to football operations. I don't care about concession prices, parking space prices, or what have you.

I think I'd rather there be a distinction between the General Manager and the Head Coach, to be honest, with the GM responsible for player personnel and the head coach responsible for getting the best players the GM finds onto the field.

Coming from someone who enjoys owner mode, in its current implementation, yeah it is completely frivolous.

It needs to matter somehow. Granted that presents challenges with the NFL. In order to make it matter you may have to sacrifice realism/accuracy.

Personally I want the mode to be as deep as it can be, but I am primarily a PC gamer who started out playing the old school SimCity games so I am probably not the typical Madden gamer in that regard. I love me some numbers and graphs (that have meaning and a tangible effect)

[MelR2000]

Re: Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

This is so true, its more likely guys like us will stop buying the game before Madden will stop selling the game, it sucks being part of the minority but it makes sense for Madden to focus on what really sells their game and for now that's the MUT stuff. I cant wait for the MUT movement to get old so they can get back to the meat and potatoes of the game the franchise mode.

MUT is a card game designed to get you to buy more and more expensive cards to build some fantasy team to beat other fantasy teams, right? A way of fleecing more money from their customers it would seem. Are there any stats on how many or how much people play MUT? I for one have never played MUT.

[zoom zoom]

Re: Madden 16: Is Connected Franchise Sacrificing Realism? (Roundtable)

MUT is a card game designed to get you to buy more and more expensive cards to build some fantasy team to beat other fantasy teams, right? A way of fleecing more money from their customers it would seem. Are there any stats on how many or how much people play MUT? I for one have never played MUT.

They definitely want you to buy more cards. But the reality is, the more cards you buy and the better your team is, the higher level of league you end up in, so that you are still finding really tough opponents. Spending money on cards just to make your team better is a waste of time.

Further, the are more solo challenges than you will ever have time to finish. You don't ever have to play MUT online.

You can enjoy the heck out of the game if you never spend a single dime on packs. You might, however, have to buy contracts if you fail to accumulate enough gold to buy them from just your winnings. But I don't mind paying some for the mode, because it is really well done and fun to play. And with the promotion/relegation system for online play, you tend to find a lot of players at your level, and the games are a blast.

It is better if you can move up two levels, as you can avoid they people just screwing around.

There isn't any actual fleecing. The mode is fun and well run.