NCAA 09 Gameplay Issues (response from EA)

[AuburnAlumni]

Quote: Originally Posted by maddog75

Issues that need to be fixed to make this a great non frustrating game 1. QB being an all star no matter the team Defensive Handicap 2. DL pressure Defensive Handicap 3. blitz effectiness Defensive Handicap 4. sliders making a difference 5. LB zone coverage AI Defensive Handicap 6. CB going for plays and batting balls more Defensive Handicap 7. kick and punt return being more realistic Defensive Handicap And of course fixing the roster issue. Fix those or the main 4 and you will have a great game.

See a trend here? This statement by EA months ago....

"People think that because we say 'wide open gameplay' this means the defense will be handicapped...and that is just not the case."

This is an example of a bold faced lie. Plain and simple.

[Phobia]

Quote: Originally Posted by AuburnAlumni

See a trend here? This statement by EA months ago.... "People think that because we say 'wide open gameplay' this means the defense will be handicapped...and that is just not the case." This is an example of a bold faced lie. Plain and simple.

Add Pursuit angles in that list = DEFENSE HANDICAPPED

[maddog75]

Quote: Originally Posted by Phobia

Add Pursuit angles in that list = DEFENSE HANDICAPPED

I see your sig says no more All pro football 09 that sucks wasn't aware of that while it wasn't actual teams it was a very fun game with the best realistic movements of any game I played since espn nfl 2k5. That was a fun game.

This Ncaa 09 has some great run game animations and gang tackling at times.

[davin]

After a week with the game, this is my summary of problems and what I feel about them.

CPU QB AI: Robo QB. This is quite a challenge for me to describe. I've recently had success with some new sliders, with the CPU QB having below a 60% completion percentage, but every time I try new sliders it seems to work for a couple games, then changes.

Pass Rush: Again difficult for me to describe. I usually can get pretty decent pressure, some games a lot. However the OL just DESTROYING the DL is just bogus. I've seen my entire line pancaked by a FCS team. I will also include blitz effectiveness in here, or lack thereof. When everybody is getting pancaked the blitz is just pointless. In most cases, blitzing will kill you every time on defense.

Kick/Punt coverage: Completely broken. I just sim this now or fair catch if I forget.

LB Zones: I chose a cover 2 zone in a 4-3 formation that put the MLB in a zone with the center being about 9 yards from the LOS. The pass is thrown to where he should be, and is completed to a wide open guy. Where is my LB playing his zone? With the safeties 20 yards downfield. And what is my MLB rated? 97 overall with 87in zone coverage.

Sidelines: Is the CPU aware of them? I've seen at least 10 cases where a RB catches the ball in the flat, nobody on him. He has about 15 yards to the sideline. And bolts right to the sideline to go out of bounds. The CPU also doesn't try to force me out of bounds with pursuit angles which has already been shown in a lot of videos.

CPU Option Game: When I see Juice Williams run with the ball, I'm not surprised. When I see Threet take off on the option, I'm a bit worried. When I see a pure pocket passer with about 58 speed try to dominate with the option game, I am really worried. The CPU enjoys the QB Choice play. It is a good play if you have a fast QB. However they are running it most often with a really slow QB. Then they start to lose hope in the running game because their QB has 10 carries for -20 yards.

CPU playcalling. It is not rare for a cpu to believe it needs to throw to beat me. To prove this point, they may not call a run for the first 20 or so plays. The startling fact: that was Wisconsin. I do not understand why the CPU hates the run games even when it is working. Evan Royster was tearing me to shreds, in the second quarter he had 50 yars on the quarter and I couldn't stop him. So what does the CPU do in the third? Call two runs the entire quarter in a 3 point game. PSU loses by a lot due to incompletions/interceptions.

Dynasty rosters: What is with the CPU and recruiting? In year 2 I looked at the rosters for a couple teams: Ole Miss, Indiana, Oregon, and Miami. What do they all have in common? They have EIGHT QBs on the roster. Eight. The number of teams who have more than 6 runningbacks is much higher than just those 4. Also, the CPU seems to hate recruiting TEs or something. I have seen a number of schools who employ their tackles as TEs (among them Wisconsin, who uses their TE pretty well). Why does the cpu just not recruit the TE position? I have trouble recruiting fullbacks but there aren't a lot of fullbacks compared to TEs.

I realize only a couple of these are fixable with a patch, but please fix the top 4 or 5. I am having some success with some new sliders, but I did with the last set, and the set before that. Then after a couple games I don't know what happens but the cpu will just destroy everything in their wake with the passing game. And I'm not talking about Texas Tech, I am talking about Stanford @ OSU putting up 31 in the 4th quarter going 25-25.

[Illustrator76]

I also think that the CPU option game needs to be added to the very important list. Whenever I play against teams that run the option, they are TERRIBLE! These games are way too easy as 3 and outs aren't very difficult to come by. Usually the CPU QB will run towards the line of scrimmage, then SIDEWAYS of the line of scrimmage, then BACKWARDS (eventually getting tackled for a nice loss). What's even worse is that usually the QB will get tackled before he even has a chance to pitch the ball to an open running back. The CPU logic on options seems to be waaayyy screwed up, as the CPU QB runs as if he has a freakin' nuclear bomb in his hands rather than a football. This is a big issue because it makes playing against teams like Va Tech and Air Force way to easy and totally pointless.

[ZB9]

if they fix the effectiveness of good defensive linemen against the offensive line, and the ability to get more consistent push into the backfield...the QB completion percentage will probably drop quite a bit.

The defensive line is the root of the problem on D in this game imo.

[dregnus]

Guys, I don't know if you saw this or not in the other board:

Quote: Originally Posted by TheFuture15

I think you should probably give NCAA a second look. The wildfire knee-jerk reactions have definitely subsided and it's nearly unanimous that everyone is enjoying the game (which I honestly have to say being at EA, it's been like 4+ years since I've seen such positive reactions for NCAA). Also, the roster editing issue is going to be patched as soon as possible. I don't want to try and sell you the game, but I think you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't buy the game on the opinion of a relatively small amount of people without trying yourself. Maybe a rental first or something...

This is from Ian, the same developer who was in this thread some 20 pages ago and actually seems to have viewed the videos AuburnAlumni posted, which displayed glaring flaws in the defensive line pass rush.

The only thing that I can assume is that either A) The developers are not paying attention to any of these complaints or B) They are paying attention to these complaints, but they know they Madden suffers from the same ones or C) Everyone is so happy that they can put up 50+ points on offense slinging the ball around that no one seems to care. Yes, NCAA 2009 is a highly rated game. Which, in my opinion, just seems like the reviewers failed to due diligence or it came from people who gasp, have never watched a game of football.

The Madden crowd, while I've never been a part of it, is much more hardcore than we are. They'll notice that that the defensive line generates zero pressure, that defenders don't play threats in their zone, they don't respond to the ball in the air. Basically, they will realize that the entire defense is handicapped.

If this is really how the game was designed to be...just tell me and I'll write to EA to get my $60 back, not purchase Madden and stick to playing Call of Duty.

[dave374]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheFuture15

I think you should probably give NCAA a second look. The wildfire knee-jerk reactions have definitely subsided and it's nearly unanimous that everyone is enjoying the game (which I honestly have to say being at EA, it's been like 4+ years since I've seen such positive reactions for NCAA).

Anything I write here will cost me infraction points.
And I'm probably gonna get one anyway ... so:

Wildfire knee-jerk reaction? Over 500 posts in this thread in 5 days says otherwise.

Everyone is enjoying the game? Let's put that one to a poll.

Broken sliders, catastrophic rosters, robo QB ai, horrid pass rush, linebackers who suddenly lose 25 to 30 speed rating points the second it's a pass play, superhuman cpu kick and punt return games, superhuman (again) kickers who can make 55-yd FGs regularly, etc...

Other than the above mention flaws, yes it's the best football game Ea has produced in five years.

This is not a personal attack on Ian. It is just an observation of the game and his comments about it.

[Phobia]

Whats worse is we can't get a reply as far as what is going to be addressed in the "gameplay patch".

By the way, Odogg Where are u buddy?

[dregnus]

Quote: Originally Posted by dave374

This is not a personal attack on Ian. It is just an observation of the game and his comments about it.

I wasn't either. I thought it was pretty commendable in the opening days of this thread that he was responding to the issues as well as he did. He even went as far as to say (paraphrasing since I don't want to find the quote) that 2 out of 4 defensive linemen on their back on every play had nothing to do with wide receiver speed

But to say that our reactions are wild-fire knee jerk reactions is honestly just ignoring the facts. Either the game is "broken", as in its not intended to play this way, or its not broken, in which case most of us just wasted $60.