That's fine, but I only responded to what you did in fact write.
I also don't see how what I said can be honestly dismissed as just an "airing of grievances". You mentioned some aspects of the game pertaining to progress which objectively don't hold up well to the scrutiny of visual evidence, I simply mentioned that reality and referenced the existence of visual evidence.
I feel you're wrong also. It's a basic afterthought feature that's not innovative, and I highly doubt many people use it casual or otherwise. I'd love to see their data on it to be disproven.
You're also wrong that Madden is the only game doing it. You may want to check out PES, it has one too. I also remember Backbreaker having one. Farther back, I remember Blitz The League having one. This isn't new.
 |
Quote: |
 |
|
|
 |
Originally Posted by CM Hooe |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The biggest problem that simulation sports games have on a mass scale is barrier to entry. You have plenty of people who try to play these games who don't understand the sport the game is attempting to represent. They don't know what "hike" means, much less what the proper blocking technique on zone blocking run is. The game developer has a responsibility to teach the user not only the mechanics of the game in question, but also how to effectively use those mechanics to overcome challenges and accomplish feats in the game, and Madden NFL is (again, as far as I know) the only simulation sports game actively engaging this duty.
For example, I don't have an intricate knowledge of basketball, soccer, baseball, or hockey like I do football. As such, even though I recognize that NBA 2K / FIFA / MLB The Show / NHL are doing great things individually as games, I can't begin to enjoy these games because I don't know how to play them and the game makes no effort to teach me how to play. Reasonable minds can beg to differ about how much fault is mine vs the game dev's with respect to how much knowledge I should have brought to the table before starting the game in a demo setting, but the end result is the same - I don't buy the game because I don't understand it and therefore I don't enjoy it.
Madden so obviously going out of its way to teach the mechanics and strategies of football to those who don't have the slightest clue what is otherwise going on is important because it grows the audience of the game and it increases the quality of online competition, which is a net positive for the game's core online modes of Ultimate Team and Connected Franchise. Skills Trainer will also benefit tournament players as the game continues to drive towards authenticity in gameplay and the various exploits and nano blitzes stop working. Heck, the drills are useful even to me, the simulation-style player, because I enjoy partaking in the relevantly devised drills; "practice using Smash against Cover 2", "learn how to use the Curl Flats concept", "how to use the Mills concept against Cover 4", etc. etc.
While Madden Skills Trainer is probably of no value to many people on this board, apparently you included and that's fine, it is objectively important to improving the quality of the game and community long-term. It is perhaps the singular feature in simulation sports games where Madden is far ahead of its peers and leading by example, an example which other sports games absolutely should follow.
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
It's good that you're now prefacing it with as "far as you know", you seemed rather certain in the original post
My disagreement isn't about its usefulness, it has some obviously, and we agree on that extent. I just don't think it's worthy of the level of praise you've assigned to it, that's all. But you're entitled to you're opinion, I think it's okay for me to disagree?
I feel like the things Madden gets praise for now--things like this--are things that wouldn't have even been discussed much if at all during the golden age of football gaming because they would've been seen as the miniscule things they are when compared to all the innovation we were getting during that time.