NCAA 09 Patch #2 Available --- Impressions Here

[Spanky]

I recommend it. And I'm one of EA's biggest critics. It was fun and immersive before the patch, despite its many serious flaws, and the patch appears to have remedied most of them. If you're a college football fan, you should get it, and not just because it's your only college FB gaming option. I can't yet speak for dynasty mode, and I don't play on-line, but otherwise it's a very fun experience.

[K_rob11]

Quote: Originally Posted by NBA2k8 CHAMP

Go ahead and get Madden bro you wont be dissapointed.I have them both and I'm not dissapointed even though the PS3 patch hasn't released

I know I will end up getting it eventually (I always do)...I am a MUCH BIGGER NFL fan than I am a college football fan...but I am having so much fun with NCAA 09 this year (in my online dynasty)....if I am not playing my dynasty games, I am busy working on our league website.

If madden's online leagues were an actual online Franchise Mode (like ncaa) however....i would probably have it by now... ....but yeah, I will probably get madden 09 eventually.

[sportyguyfl31]

Quote: Originally Posted by crques

Of course, the cpu didn't run the ball enough in my opinion. I think they had 18 carries for 68 yards. During a drive in the 3rd Qtr, they actually ran 3 straight times for about 25 yards total but then went back to the passing game. I do think that I would have given up at least 100 yards rushing if they had ran maybe 10 more times, which was encouraging to see. For me Devine had 24 carries for 210 yards (including a 90 yarder) and White had 12 carries for 84 yards. I completed 18 of 25 passes for 270 yards with 1 Int. The cpu completed 27 of 38 passes for 390 yards and 1 Int. Overall I was pleased with the changes I saw in gameplay. The score and yardage were still pretty high but WVU does put points on the board and Nebraska's defense wasn't that good last season. I'm anxious to try more games over the weekend to get a better feel for the patch. I did walk away from my game last night with a much better feeling about the game than I had a few days ago and think that with some minor slider adjustments, this game might actually keep me away from the PS2 version more than I thought it would.

With the improvements, this is still my greatest frustration. I'm trying to get teams who actually should be running the spread option to run it properly. It's a major major wart for me.

My last game out, Matt Grothe of USF had 20 yds on 20 carries.
I'm not sure if it is just the programming logice that is making those difficult, but I'm still trying.

The game is playing better, and I really hope that with the sliders working I can put in some time over the weekend, and actually have to worry about Tim Tebow and Pat White, running the offense well.

If I cant, this is going to be strictly a online dynasty game for me.

[rudyjuly2]

Quote: Originally Posted by jaa1980

Anyone else seeing flashbacks to last years NCAA problem, INT's, i put human and cpu INT sliders to 0, and still many picks a game. Any suggestions? Other than that a huge improvement!!!

Drop the defensive awareness slider. That will help but also make the passing game more dangerous and lead to higher completion percentages.

[LAKE4742]

Glad to see the game is marginally better, post patch. I....am tradin' in madden for NCAA today! I just like the total package better. And the gameplay is better, IMO. Woo-hoo!!!!!!!!!! IMO, people who say madden is better are blind!!!!!!! The players don't even jump!!!!!!!!!!!! One of my biggest gripes-can you tell? Is it just me, or isn't jumpin' a very important part of football?!

[justblaze09]

This is all Sony has to do

To: CDowns
From: Sony
Subject: NCAA Patch

You can put it up now


But nope, Sony are lazy hags and cant type in 5 words

[Pared]

Quote: Originally Posted by slim_pickens

No still feels to easy. Unfortunately football isn't king anymore feeling a lot more excited about the hockey, basketball and soccer games coming out. Head Coach is good though.

Completely agree. It's been this way for a few years.

[crques]

Quote: Originally Posted by sportyguyfl31

With the improvements, this is still my greatest frustration. I'm trying to get teams who actually should be running the spread option to run it properly. It's a major major wart for me. My last game out, Matt Grothe of USF had 20 yds on 20 carries. I'm not sure if it is just the programming logice that is making those difficult, but I'm still trying. The game is playing better, and I really hope that with the sliders working I can put in some time over the weekend, and actually have to worry about Tim Tebow and Pat White, running the offense well. If I cant, this is going to be strictly a online dynasty game for me.

I plan to play Florida tonight and see how their offense looks, post-patch. The last time I played them Tebow had less than 10 carries for about 15 yards. He had about 15 carries against me on the PS2 version with close to 70 yards if I remember correctly. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I see some differences in the run against running teams and QB's but I guess I'll have to wait and see.

[Keyser Soze]

Well let me say this about the patch/game and series having owned and played every game since Wuerffel was on the cover.

1- this is the best overall game they have made thus far period.

2- game needs a lot of house rules to tone down glaring AI issues to make game playable/enjoyable if you want any sort of sim experience. if you like winning 122 - 7 then this is not needed for dynasty play

3- although its the best game yet, it was the most bugged game that I have played in my whole life out of the box, let alone in the series. i am shocked that EA even claims to play/test this game

4- there are a few gameplay issues that really need addressed in a big way or we can fully expect next year to have new massive issues with new features. Suction blocking, lack of AI responding to vision, lack of intelligence in CPU play calling, zero learning curve of any kind (can call same play every time for entire season and CPU doesn't care), pursuit angles, attributes meaning something other then speed

5- presentation could use a HUGE boost. Come on EA, you own the licenses, do more with them. bring back pre-game excitement. have michigan come out and slap the banner, etc....

6- i would never recommend this game to a friend who is a gamer but not a huge college football fan as it simply has too many problems and i don't believe would be fun at all

7- this game is only as good as you make it to be. its not an awesome game on its own but does have the potential to be

8- i do NOT like the direction the series is heading as it doesn't seem to have a direction. every year they seem to add a new feature/gimmick, take one away and bring back one form the last generation. because of the game play issues in #4, every new feature seems to cause new problems

9- i would strongly suggest that if EA does indeed employ people who claim to be play testing this game, I would check in on them every now and then to see if they either (a) don't show up for work at all (b) are actually playing other games entirely as they don't like this game (c) are stoned out of their minds and unable to see major problems that all of us found within 1 hour of turning on our game

10- i know this ties directly into game play but i would really like to see the focus of next year be game BALANCE. i would like to see everything simply balanced so that ratings matter, and schemes matter. balance the darn game to be more sim like with default (50) sliders so that sliders could be used to OPEN THE GAME UP not balance it. it sure seems that everything is backwards in this regards. balance pass vs. run. balance PA versus drop back passing. balance SG vs under center. sure, all of them have their strengths and weaknesses but there needs to be more balance so that the same set of sliders don't lead everyone to do the same thing to optomize performance because the game isn't balanced.

so to conclude, this game is faaaaaaaar superior to 2004 (the title that most everyone seems to love and reminiss about) as it should be since its 2009, but its no where NEAR where I would have thought the series would be at had you asked me back when I was playing 2004 to immagine what NCAA 2009 is like. I would have envisioned a much, much, much better game and better AI package by now when you compare it to other games these days. I know NCAA is never going to feel like you are playing a HUMAN when playing a CPU but I would have at least thought that we would have moved beyond randomization with zero AI or calling a D directly based on my play call or audible by now.... but we haven't and that is sad IMO. Heck, simple chess games have existed for years and years that are based on strategy.

[ab2c4]

One thing I noticed last night and I know others have mentioned it, but whenever the cpu tries to run the option it ends up either being a no gain or a tackle for loss. That really stinks because whenever I play an option oriented team I know I am going to shut them down.