Madden NFL 21 Playbooks and AI Gameplay Updates Revealed

[jpdavis82]

Our writers witnessed both positive signs and negative issues from the Madden NFL 21 beta, so...

Written By: Steve Noah

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[SolidSquid]

Re: Gridiron Notes: Playbooks and AI Gameplay Updates

They talk about man coverage but the beta had the return of cbs turning the wrong way in coverage. Hopefully that gets fixed

[simbayless]

Re: Gridiron Notes: Playbooks and AI Gameplay Updates

If the AI truly plays adaptive as avertise it's gonna be a game changer for those that complain (including me)about the difficulty levels being too easy/hard/unrealistic. I have to give props where it's due but let's wait untill the final build.

[jfsolo]

Re: Gridiron Notes: Playbooks and AI Gameplay Updates

There is a lot of good stuff there for the solo player if they've tuned things well of course.

It won't really affect me that much because it's not how I play, but if the CPU is really able to make solid adjustments and decision against heavy blitzing and they don't let the User controlled player cover 2 or 3 routes anymore, I don't think that a lot of Users will know how to play defense.

We'll see in a couple of weeks what changes they made because of the Beta feedback, because one of the problems in the Beta IMO was that the CPU QBs were sometimes getting the ball out too quickly when there wasn't pressure and the receiver wasn't wide open. This led to a lot of interceptions especially for the pocket passers.

They also didn't really talk about adaptive AI for CPU on defense, only more varied goal line playcalling(which was need though). Since they mentioned continued support for AI gameplay post launch, maybe defense can get some more attention.

[Hooe]

Re: Gridiron Notes: Playbooks and AI Gameplay Updates

Make sure you use a variety of defensive plays against AI opponents, or they will start making adjustments to counter; this will drastically improve the strategy in solo game sessions, such as single-player Franchise and MUT Solo’s and make it more difficult to exploit the AI by repeatedly running plays such as Double A-Gap Mid Blitz.

This is exactly what I have been looking for.

With the exception of trips checks for more pattern match coverage types, I honestly think Tiburon has in their work on Madden 21 addressed literally every single complaint I have about Madden 20’s on-field gameplay.

[T4VERTS]

Re: Gridiron Notes: Playbooks and AI Gameplay Updates

Part of me wonders if they had moved all the AI improvements into the franchise section and branded it as a "year of focusing on improving the solo franchise experience" if they could have controlled the narrative better? It wouldn't have appeased the online franchise crowd, however, it may have split the community in a way that made the blowback less on them.

Not condoning EA's actions just thinking out loud here.

[roadman]

Re: Gridiron Notes: Playbooks and AI Gameplay Updates

I read this and it was a lot of nice user vs cpu info in here.

Let's see if it holds out.

[canes21]

Re: Gridiron Notes: Playbooks and AI Gameplay Updates

Everything read well and if implemented properly can completely change the offline experience. I wish I would have read that AI players now make an effort to stop the clock in late game situations like running out of bounds, throwing towards the sidelines more, etc.

What is in the blog is good, though. Hearing that the AI has the ability to max protect or just have a back or TE chip, help in protection is nice. Knowing the AI is supposed to audible now is a good sign. These kind of AI updates are what the offline experience has been needing for well over 10 years at this point and are the types of improvements that do not seem huge, but can make the game feel dynamic and organic every time you kickoff. If opponents in franchise mode finally feel different then that's a big step for the series despite the lack of franchise features added.

I really hope that EA continues to invest into the AI like this. It is desperately needed. A few cycles of this kind of improvement can lead to the AI behaving like a real person, audibling, adjusting, using actual football knowledge, and more. The past 10+, years we've delt with an AI that just picked plays at random with only a run pass ratio influence. We've delt with an AI that had no concept of making adjustments, audibling, etc. If these improvements are finally here and more are to come, Madden will take a step forward as a series.

[PhillyPhanatic14]

Re: Gridiron Notes: Playbooks and AI Gameplay Updates

Live playbooks in theory are great, but having to select them every single game because EA can't get their game to remember our settings in the year 2020 is the absolute worst and makes them a bit useless. Let's hope that's finally fixed.

[roadman]

Re: Gridiron Notes: Playbooks and AI Gameplay Updates

Live playbooks in theory are great, but having to select them every single game because EA can't get their game to remember our settings in the year 2020 is the absolute worst and makes them a bit useless. Let's hope that's finally fixed.

Did you play the beta?

I don't know how this transforms to CFM, but in Play Now, I didn't have to look every game I played to see if Playbooks stayed on.

Once I fired up the second game, I looked, and it was in the on mode.

Let's hope that carries over to franchise.

[PhillyPhanatic14]

Re: Gridiron Notes: Playbooks and AI Gameplay Updates

Love this & definitely saw it in the beta... they are more likely to throw to their best receiver in critical situations and/or when there’s not an obvious open receiver.

Didn't see this at all in the beta. This must not have been in because the AI acted just like they do in Madden 20 - brainless and calling timeouts at predetermined thresholds (60 seconds left, 30 seconds left, etc.). Hopefully this actually in the final build ... For clock-management, AI-controlled teams will be smarter in handling end-of-half and end-of-game situations. The AI will better utilize the game-context to make decisions, such as current score, quarter, play clock, and remaining timeouts when deciding what to do in these critical situations.



This sounds awesome. There was no need to switch defenses in M20 so this would add a lot of depth... AI-quarterbacks the ability to audible to pass concepts that are ideal for attacking certain defensive coverages. This logic will begin to take place after repeated defensive play calls.

[khaliib]

Re: Gridiron Notes: Playbooks and AI Gameplay Updates

AI QB specifically targeting their “best” receiver.

Hoping this is geared more towards favorable matchup consideration vs just by highest OVR.

This would be the perfect opportunity to tie the Adaptive AI mechanism into individual coach AWR/Ability to make them matter.
***Raiders Gruden’s is notorious for failing to adapt to what teams are doing to/against him on both sides of the ball.

Don’t just make the adaptation generic just for feature sake, attach and give it some purpose/relevance within the team management aspect, esp as it relates to being in Franchise.

[Find_the_Door]

Re: Gridiron Notes: Playbooks and AI Gameplay Updates

I don't feel Dallas playbook is accurate in the first place. It didn't change at all last year either really.

[JoshC1977]

Re: Gridiron Notes: Playbooks and AI Gameplay Updates

Part of me wonders if they had moved all the AI improvements into the franchise section and branded it as a "year of focusing on improving the solo franchise experience" if they could have controlled the narrative better? It wouldn't have appeased the online franchise crowd, however, it may have split the community in a way that made the blowback less on them.

Not condoning EA's actions just thinking out loud here.

Speaking for myself personally, I 100% consider this blog to be the real "Franchise update" blog.

Frankly, if EA had released THIS blog before the FOTF/CFM blog, I think the lack of menu mode updates would've gone down a little more smoothly for SOME folks (though certainly not all).

[stunna5303]

Re: Gridiron Notes: Playbooks and AI Gameplay Updates

Cautiously optimistic about this AI stuff. Will wait and see how the Series X version shakes out