NCAA '09 impressions

macsomjrr · Post by **macsomjrr** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:02 pm

Tried to pick it up today but everywhere I called was sold out:( Reading some of Jared's posts though is making me wonder if this game is doomed to teh same fate as those before it. To be shelved due to inexcusable flaws and played only when the need for a quick NCAA fix is needed. Bummer. That punt return video was just horrible, not to mention the failed TD attempt by Miami where the guy just steps out of bounds.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:23 pm

I read enough comments and confirmation by EA devs that certain flaws in the game do exists but it shouldn't deter you from enjoying game. At $60 that's unacceptable so I canceled my preorder and reserved something else.

Today EA devs are undecided what needs fixing and what will get fixed in the patch whenever they plan on releasing it. They are shifting their focus to Madden. I hope Madden is a lot less buggy than NCAA '09.

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 9:50 pm

Played a little more and i still like the game. I didn't play ncaa last year so maybe I just miss the series. I hope the game doesn't turn out like madden 08 for me last year where I played for the first 2 weeks and was done with it.

But I do like the game even though some of the stuff jared posted, esp. the guy going oob, was crap. Maybe I'm a graphix whore and that's what's keeping me in this game. So far the game is F-U-N for me and that's what counts.

Got to also love what they did with the stadiums from the last time I played (07). Really excellent job. And I love great grass textures.

I will probably pickup madden wii instead of 360. Probably just keep ncaa on 360 and madden on wii.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:34 pm

Just watched Jared's videos, and I'm absolutely floored at how pathetic the A.I. logic is. I'd go as far to say they purposely developed it that way to try and make it wide open like college football is. But man, does it look like a poor attempt to create the college football experience.

Thanks for posting these videos. I will gladly take a pass on this game, and wait and see what the "patch" resolves.

Looking forward to Madden.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 10:36 pm

I was on the fence about this one, but Jared's videos have scared me away I think. Some of that is just mind-numbing--the defense practically gets out of your way.

MizzouRah · Post by **MizzouRah** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:11 pm

I passed on this game a long time ago.

My hopes are all on Head Coach.. and if buying the Madden Collector's Edition also gets me a good Madden.. I'll be very happy.

kevinpars · Post by **kevinpars** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:50 pm

This game is still perfect in my book.

Of course, I have been out of town and just got back. Instead of actually playing the game, I am on here reading about it. I guess that is the same mentality that doesn't enjoy seeing his team win because he is worried about how his coach is recruiting.

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:31 am

I am having a lot of fun. Just played 2 good and great games!

First of all, where the hell is the random teams option? I picked my own random teams .

First game : Ball State at Air Force (me)

Lost the game 24-21 but it was very interesting. Ball State just killed me with kick off / punt returns. They scored a td on me on a punt return and got a big gain on me on 2 other returns which set up 2 of their scores. I couldn't run the ball at all vs them and my passing had to be short passes since their CB's just killed by long attempts. They won the game running the ball on me to setup their game winning fg. Good game, could have been more fun, but pretty solid .

Second Game : SDSU (me) at UTEP

What a awesome game! I was up 14-0 in the first half, and got my 2nd td off a int that I ran back for 50 yrds. Also, I had pertty good success running the ball in the 1st half but not much in the 2nd. UTEP came back with an int and a great long drive to tie it up. Then my RB fumbled the ball with 3 min left and utep recovered and kicked the go ahead fg. I thought it was over and went 3 and out but decided to punt since I had my to's. I stopped them and used all my timeouts. Then I got lucky and went for a deep route and my guy beat like 4 defenders and outran them for the win. But then UTEP came back and missed a 44 yrd fg with no time left to finish the game.

So far I like this game, It's just fun. I wonder if i use the more talented teams if it gets more easier. but so far so good.

Here is my vid of the game winning TD for SDSU:

http://www.easportsworld.com/en_US/video/24016

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:19 am

They don't have halftime highlights but do have end game highlights
which is nice. Not sure if this is new or was in last years game.

damnit, it's midnight and I can't stop playing.

Added : well just got my ass kicked by Nebraska 38-10. Their RB was unstoppable. He had 4 td's one that was a 93 yarder. Also, the picked me 4 times.

One thing I noticed in the game that was weird was that when the Nebraska RB had the ball, I watched the cpu players that I didn't have control of on the dline and instead of trying to tackle the RB, they were like running along with him. WTf is up with that. I just noticed it in this game but will try to look for it tomorrow when i Play. It's almost comical. It's like, sure I'll have a nice jog along side of you instead of trying to stop you.

But so far, I like the game. I'm using a 1 - 2 prestige team and getting killed by a team like Nebraska and the way they did it I guess was correct.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:03 am

I was only able to play 1 game last night. It was on AA with Vandy against Miss. State. I won 17-14 and didn't see anything out of the ordinary at all. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad that I picked it up yesterday. I'll put in more time tonight to see if I notice anything but so far so good as far as I'm concerned. I threw 2 interceptions (1 returned for a touchdown but it was totally appropriate

) and I had 1 fumble recovery. That was all of the turnovers in the game. I was in a rush so I could only play 5-minute quarters so we'll see what happens when I bump it up to 7 0r 8 minutes.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:27 am

I must have played 30-40 games of the demo and my first reaction after 2 games last night is WTF happened.

I don't have time to go into everything, I saw a lot of improvements from the demo (screens not automatic, option played better)

But WTF did they do to the kicking game, when I was reading Abner's blog and he was saying the kicking game was broke I was confused and that's because in the demo it's not. In this game it is s***, there is no way this wasn't done intentionally to cover up for something else.

Lets take kick off returns, guys are to slow to get down the field (maybe because they slowed the game speed down from the demo another thing I don't like) but the best part is if you watch the first 10 yards they run down and start to converge on the ball but then they all veer off course to a specific spot on the field. The best part is they don't break from that path until the hit about the 30-25 yard line. This means you can actually be by 4-5 defenders before they break on you.

Punts, no describing it. No one gets off the line and gets downfield and they get stuck on their blocks forever. I have a screen shot from a game last night where I fielded a booming punt and when I got the ball the 2 gunners were stuck on their blocks about 20 yards past the LOS and NO ONE ELSE had gotten off a block. I returned the balle 35 yards before even coming close to a defender.

So my 2 main gripes, I'll get to the positives in another post are game speed slowed down and the worst kicking game ever. If madden has this kick model implemented they better have a patch ready for day one.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 10:40 am

I was able to get in 5 games yesterday.

One game was online with LSU vs bdunn's Georgia squad. The game played very smoothly with The Bulldogs outlasting the Tigers 7-0 in OT.

Then I started a dynasty with Michigan State. Played 4 games 7 minute qtrs on AA...All very enjoyable even though I was only 2-2 as I had two very tough last minute losses.

The first loss at Cal as they kicked a 50 yd FG with one sec to play for the winner.
The second loss was at home vs ND as I Martzed up running out the clock on myself completeing a pass in bounds one yd short of the goaline down by 3

...

The two wins were vs E Michigan and Fla Atlantic ...

As for turnovers ...I was only able to intercept 4 passes in the 4 games with only one going for a TD.
I only had 2 fumbles losing one. The AI didnt have any fumbles(No fumble bug?)

So far the game has been a blast for me.

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 12:49 pm

If anyone wants to play online tonight I'll be on. Want to see how this game plays online.

I was playing 3 min qtrs in my exhib. games and I think I'll keep it that way. Just takes too long for me to play 5 min qtrs. Too bad no in game save or I would have set it longer and played by half's.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 1:15 pm

I apologize if it is in this thread somewhere else, but where can I get "good" rosters? I downloaded a roster off one of my friends last night and FIU has a rating of zero in them.

There's a lot that I like about the gameplay and it's generally fun (obviously I'm going to have to come up with some house rules on special teams because last year's patch wasn't release until what? November?), but I'm *still* getting at least one defensive TD every game (only 4 games so far) on AA. Better than last year's 2 a game though and I haven't messed with sliders yet. Right now I'll chalk that up to a small sample size because I do believe those of you that say you don't see it (and I have been getting a realistic amount of fumbles where some haven't seen any).

The animations are better and the crowd is improved. I'm going to turn off the commentary tonight as it's the same stuff I've been hearing for years and adds absolutely nothing. You'd think by now Nessler would realize that the defensive lineman just jumped offside...nobody on the line moved

I try to cut EA a break, but they make it hard. I don't know why but the logo for "Top selling NCAA Football game" on the cover really bugs me. Why not just "Only licensed NCAA Football game" or something? And touting the Mascot game as a new feature is exactly the kind of sh*t that turns people off. The in game ads are annoying too. I don't mind billboards and such or ads in the stadium, but putting Coke Zero on the audible screen just takes up valuable real estate that could be used better IMO.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:14 pm

Danimal wrote:I must have played 30-40 games of the demo and my first reaction after 2 games last night is WTF happened.

I don't have time to go into everything, I saw a lot of improvements from the demo (screens not automatic, option played better)

But WTF did they do to the kicking game, when I was reading Abner's blog and he was saying the kicking game was broke I was confused and that's because in the demo it's not. In this game it is s***, there is no way this wasn't done intentionally to cover up for something else.

Lets take kick off returns, guys are to slow to get down the field (maybe because they slowed the game speed down from the demo another thing I don't like) but the best part is if you watch the first 10 yards they run down and start to converge on the ball but then they all veer off course to a specific spot on the field. The best part is they don't break from that path until the hit about the 30-25 yard line. This means you can actually be by 4-5 defenders before they break on you.

Punts, no describing it. No one gets off the line and gets downfield and they get stuck on their blocks forever. I have a screen shot from a game last night where I fielded a booming punt and when I got the ball the 2 gunners were stuck on their blocks about 20 yards past the LOS and NO ONE ELSE had gotten off a block. I returned the balle 35 yards before even coming close to a defender.

So my 2 main gripes, I'll get to the positives in another post are game speed slowed down and the worst kicking game ever. If madden has this kick model implemented they better have a patch ready for day one.

Here's why the kicking game is broken...

Play the kicking mini-game. In order to make that work they had to revamp the checking game and make the AI very rigid; in the lanes it adheres to and how it holds onto blocks.

The broke the kicking game for a mini-game. It's shocking to say the least.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:38 pm

Wow..just wow

I'll have to check that out.

Honestly the game isn't that bad if you get rid of this problem. I know the roster problem is an issue for people but not a game killer for me. This kicking game however, I don't know.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:59 pm

I've turned to the house rule on the kicking game. Giving it a 3 Mississippi before I take off running.

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 3:41 pm

What are the house rules?

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 3:49 pm

dbdynsty25 wrote:I've turned to the house rule on the kicking game. Giving it a 3 Mississippi before I take off running.

That's not a bad idea, I know people are super siming them, but that just doesn't sound fun. I mean returning a kick has always felt like an accomplishment, now I can do one every game.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 3:54 pm

It is harder with lesser teams. With MSU I was only able to return 1 in 4 games.

Just kick the ball out of bounds when you punt and call for a fair catch on your returns.

Bottom line though is we shouldnt have to make house rules. That the kicking game is so bad is inexcusable.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:00 pm

That's actually not a bad idea at all on any return. I think I am going to try it for interception returns too or maybe no sprint button allowed. I'm not getting too many INT, just too many going the other way.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:04 pm

Leebo33 wrote:That's actually not a bad idea at all on any return. I think I am going to try it for interception returns too or maybe no sprint button allowed. I'm not getting too many INT, just too many going the other way.

Maybe we can pause the game and roll the dice. I would use the Paydirt defensive dice but since not everyone has those. ....1-9 fair catch 10-12 return ....with an INT we would run out of bounds 1-9 and return 10-12.

.....Im laughing but this is serious damn it!

Inuyasha · Post by **Inuyasha** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:08 pm

i think it's nice that there is a difference in teams based on prestige rank. IN previous games, a 2 star team would defeat a 5 star team if you knew how to play the game. This year you can see the gap.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:09 pm

I can definitely see the speed difference I played a game with Miss State to see what I was dealing with for our dynasty and those guys were slower then hell. Then I played Bama and PSU and they were much faster.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:31 pm

Danimal wrote:
dbdynsty25 wrote:I've turned to the house rule on the kicking game. Giving it a 3 Mississippi before I take off running.
That's not a bad idea, I know people are super siming them, but that just doesn't sound fun. I mean returning a kick has always felt like an accomplishment, now I can do one every game.

Two things i'm doing is:

a) I don't use the turbo button

b) During kick offs or punts I select a lineman on the field. I'll wait till the game auto selects the return man. By that time the kick off coverage coverage has closed in on my guy. I'm now getting the ball back between the 29 and 35 yard line.

EA just announced their first patch is complete to fix the roster bug. Should be released in 5-10 days. They're working on Patch#2 to address several gameplay fixes.