[mcavner]

EA's NCAA College Football. My favorite game ever. There are other older games which I get nostalgic about, but NCAA Football is the game I want back that I know I'd play for hours and hours and hours. Not even close for me.

It's a funny thing, as gamers we complain about it when a yearly title comes out and "all they did was update the rosters and the uniforms"... well to be honest I'd be happy right now if all they did was keep supporting the game with uniform updates. Half the time the gameplay tweaks don't end up making the game better. You look at the trade-offs in dynasties in something like FIFA where they add the 'real time' animations for trades but you lose a bunch of actual options from the game in making those trades (e.g. initiating a cash AND player deal), or the running game in Madden where, inexplicably, the CPU backs seem to be turning back into the defender to initiate contact rather than running to open space. It doesn't feel like a game like NCAA 14 is 5 years behind. Which indicates that the last 5 years of development has not gone in directions that I, as a gamer, really appreciate and prefer.

It's clear I'm a dinosaur... as I was playing Madden 19 in "All 22" camera view I realized it was basically the same as NCAA 14 with a few new animations and then the cutscenes. And I don't like the way the gameplay is affected by the triggered animations and I have little patience for the cutscenes which I button mash to roll past as fast as I can because they're the same dozen I've been watching as I play my offline dynasty in its fifteenth season.

I think my real hope for offline dynasty gamers like myself is that EA and co. figure out how get us involved in microtransactions. Clearly we're not going to be considered until we're of real value to game companies and that means value added beyond point of purchase sale. I am so down for paying for uniform packs and new stadiums and whatever else they can nickel and dime me for AS LONG AS the dynasty modes (not these Long Shot movie things - played about 3 minutes of the Madden 19 one, which is the first time I've even clicked on one of these and realized quickly this is not for me) keep improving and the options to customize and tailor my gaming experience aren't chipped away at in the name of cinematics.