Madden 15

[Inuyasha]

any difference between XB1 and PS4 versions this year?

Does it actually matter at this point? I mean, we could beat the PS4 power supremacy to death again. Maybe we could copy and paste it from another thread?

Pastapadre is saying the XB1 version has a slight edge since it has rumble and brighter colors. OS is saying the opposite, that PS4 is the better version since it plays smoother and has no slowdown. I guess that means both versions are pretty equal. I guess it depends on which controller which online service you prefer.

[Inuyasha]

Just logged into MUT. They're giving a free Richard Sherman card today. I will try MUT offline.

[Inuyasha]

I tried that Guanlet mode and it's pretty fun. If you have kids who play they'll really enjoy it.

I've now gotten use to the great graphics so the gameplay I'm noticing more.

There still are some legacy issues but so far from what I've seen, the major improvements from last gen :

-Seems like ratings matter. Both for team and individual. ON Dline, if I use a higher rated linemen, i get a better chance of sacking the qb. For teams, if I play as the packers, my passing game is much better than say I play as the the vikes.
-CPU offense can be dangerous now. Unlike last gen when the cpu offense could hardly muster a first down, next gen if you play a strong offensive team you'll be in for a challenge on D.

This is for Play Now only. I have not started a franchise.

[Spooky]

is there any way to play with a created team online against a friend? for example if I wanted to make some fun trades or set up a fantasy team, can I use that in an online match that is not ranked against a buddy's fantasy team?

[Inuyasha]

Looks like the fixed sim stats for online leagues
.

[Aristo]

is there any way to play with a created team online against a friend? for example if I wanted to make some fun trades or set up a fantasy team, can I use that in an online match that is not ranked against a buddy's fantasy team?

There really isn't, outside of creating a franchise mode for that exact purpose, which would be a pain in the butt.

EA has doubled down on this Connected Franchise stuff, to the point that a simple Season mode is not even available. But yeah, you ought to be able to create custom rosters and play unranked games versus friends. It what we used to do before consoles were online, and what we did when we played FBPro on the PC in the 90's.

It's kind of a dumb oversight.

[Danimal]

Had a really great game of Madden in my CF last night. My 2nd game of the year going to the 49ers. They struck first pretty quickly and I was down 3-0. Then for the rest of the first half I shut them down and was able to put together 2 drives mixing up my plays because my running game was working. One drive was 14 plays and used up 8 minutes. So I go into the half up 14-3 and think it is on cruise control.

Start of the 3rd quarter I got sloppy and called a corner blitz and Cap hits 81` on a 65 yard connection and it's 14-10. Then my starting Left Tackle got hurt and this is where the wheel came off. We couldn't stop Smith, he was just destroying me and I had no time to pass and S.F had 8 in the box and were blowing up the run.

My lead went from 14-10 to 14-13 then 20-13 then 27-13 with 1:59 left. I had all my time outs so I was able to move down the field and get in with 29 seconds left and 1 time out. Time for the onside kick which I think has worked once in my Madden career. Well I get the kick, hit a quick out and I'm not in hail Mary range. I come out to throw it and they call a time out after seeing my formation (WTF? cool) so I figure I have a TO left I run 4 verts and cross the slot guy and I pick up 20 yards, call time out have 19 seconds left so I have two shots at the end zone. S.F. calls time out again after seeing my formation.

Both attempts were no good and I lost 27-21 but the game was great, everything about it felt authentic except there was only 1 penalty for a late hit out of bounds.

[wco81]

Can you do an online league for one season, with real NFL rosters than this multi-season, draft, develop players over several seasons approach?

Seems like most leagues are set up for the latter approach, because a lot of people want to do online what they've been doing offline for years.

But in Madden 25 at least, there didn't seem to be an obvious way to have leagues with the default rosters only.

[Inuyasha]

I started a franchise mode and the presentation is even better than play now games. They add in little things here and there. One thing I didnt like is when I played they cowboys, they wore their blue uni's at home instead of their whites. You can change the other team's uni's in franchise. Hope they fix it.

[Aristo]

[MizzouRah]

Kicked off my Rams online CFM as Jeff Fischer. Beat the Saints 31-9 but I was down 9-3 at halftime then it became the Tre Mason show. I started without real injuries so I could at least try and have a healthy Sam Bradford.

[Brando70]

I'm only three games in, so a small sample size, but so far the Robo QB has been pretty ridiculous on All-Pro defaults. EJ Manuel, Kaepernick, and Geno Smith have all completed 70 percent of their passes. They haven't thrown for a lot of yards as it's all underneath stuff, so a higher percentage is expected, but they just rarely miss. I think I've seen one bad pass in each game. They only miss if the pass gets picked, tipped, or dropped. This is supposedly something that EA addressed this year.

I also think there's only been one deep shot down the field, too, in those three games. Granted, those QBs are not hurlers, but I'll be curious to see how my next game against Aaron Rodgers goes.

[Danimal]

I haven't had a single game where the QB AI has thrown for 70% of their passes. What kind of defenses are you playing? Are you using the secondary adjustments?

[TCrouch]

I started adjusting to the CPU's playcalling style and avoided going Cover 3 or Cover 2 a lot, and limited Geno Smith to 50% in a full 15 minute quarter game last night in a CFM contest. That pass rush is key, and knocking around receivers when they catch the ball. You'll get some drops that way, but there were probably 5 or 6 throws that Geno just sailed out of bounds or way off the mark in that game.

I still think that the QBs can get on a tear too much, especially if the defense is easy to read. I swear, using the Y/Triangle to call a secondary change and pressing Left on the dpad to show blitz screws with them. So many times I'd see him snap the ball and make a hot read or something, even if nobody was coming. He'd chuck it off to nobody in particular, or misread coverages (he threw 2 picks to Charles Woodson, and another that literally went right to Sio Moore with no Jets receiver around. I couldn't even figure out who he intended to throw to).

So I think the more you disguise your defense and don't call defenses that allow easy crossing routes and whatnot, the lower completion percentage you'll see. The flip side of that is I gave up a 47 yard completion, a 30 yard completion, etc.

Can't stop everything all the time, which I'm DIGGING.

[Brando70]

Here are the opposing QB stats for the first three games. The box scores don't track drops, but I know there were a 2-3 in the Jets game and a couple in the Niners one.

EJ Manuel 20-24, 186, 3 int
Kaepernick, 10-16, 201 yards, 1 int, 1 def
Geno Smith, 17-22, 183, no picks or deflections

I probably call more zone defense than man-to-man, so maybe that's part of the problem, but as you can see, I'm not getting killed in yards. It's just that the CPU QBs are hitting every short pass they throw. I am also getting pressure, I sacked Manuel 9 times and had 2 sacks in each of the other two games. They just don't seem to misfire many throws. That's my point about accuracy. There may be a defender in the way or the receiver may drop it, but the CPU QBs appear to be throwing to the exact spot they want almost every time.

Human QB accuracy, on the other hand, seems a lot more realistic. Controlling Cutler, he has a much wider variety of throws. I've drilled some bullets, floated a couple of beauties into my receivers hands, and then also underthrown or overthrown receivers. I love the feel of the human-controlled passing -- my only issue there is that it's clear Madden games WR separation a bit to keep things competitive, but there are enough routes that work that I don't mind.

It's just funny to me that, having not played Madden in two years, the CPU passing seems exactly the same, even though many other facets of the game like running feel substantially different.

And like I said, small sample size. I'm curious to see if playing against Rodgers feels differently -- does he take more shots down the field, for instance.

[TCrouch]

Try going Man and mixing some other coverage types. What you're describing is EXACTLY where they'll light you up when you go zone too much. They get a good presnap read and hit something underneath, ending up with like 80% and not many yards.

I think Geno was 13 of 26 in my game with several misfires having to fit balls around man coverage.

Of course, hit man too much and they throw curls and squares and things that light you up that way, too. The key is to go through their defensive scheme presnap recognition tutorial, because the CPU makes the same reads. CB's 5 yards off with 2 deep? Easy Cover 2 read. 7 yards? Cover 3. They'll see that and hit underneath til the cows come home.

But call a cover 3, then press the left side corner up, roll the safeties to the left? Suddenly you're showing cover 6. They attempt to hit mid-right and suddenly throw into double coverage. Fake the blitz to move guys around and they have a much tougher time figuring out your D presnap and won't get nearly as many easy completions.

[Danimal]

If you're playing a soft zone and they are hitting drags, hitches and flat routes I would expect any NFl QB to complete 70% of their passes

[Brando70]

If you're playing a soft zone and they are hitting drags, hitches and flat routes I would expect any NFl QB to complete 70% of their passes

Probably 60% zone, 40% man. Blitzing out of both. I haven't really used the coverage adjustments much, so I'll try that. I'm going to try and press more, too, to disrupt timing.

I do like that the CPU runs really aggressively and uses mobile QBs. The Niners were relentless in rushing with Gore and Kaepernick -- they both had 100-yard games (CK had a 42-yard run that helped).

[Danimal]

Sorry if my answered sounded short, going on 3 hours of sleep. I agree that the QB's can still be too accurate at times, there still seemed to be some built in "hot streak" that makes them perform unrealistically. I've seen on average 3-4 miss throws a game, especially by bad QB's and I have been taken advantage of deep but mostly in over zero or if I blitz a CB and get caught.

Shading the DB's underneath, on top of inside can help depending upon what is going on. The one thing I've noticed consistently is the game seems to recognize constant play calling on both sides of the ball and will work to exploit it. You have to be creative with calls and adjustments and the problem is often you don't have the time to make the calls you want on defense.

I've created a custom D playbook to cut down on choices.

My biggest issue is the QB's do not throw the ball away or scramble enough. Also hitting the deep ball is an issue, coverage is better but still unrealistic on closing speeds. I haven't messed with any sliders at this point as I'm waiting for the 53 man rosters.

[MizzouRah]

One think I really like about the online CFM is I can do tasks while I work and play the actual game when I get home.

[Danimal]

So of course last night I play the Jets in my CFM. Smith has an 80% competition rate but I played 90% zone coverage. I also hit 3 long passes, two of them were for over 50 yards and another was for 30. I hit a goal line fade, and a few other mid passes. Cutler threw for 394 yards and 5 TD's. Anyone who knows my style knows that is abnormal, the Jets D just feel apart.

I couldn't connect to EA servers last night as i wanted to try this Azure slider set everyone is going gaga over.

[TCrouch]

Yeah, I've had all sorts of varied outcomes in my games. Started a CFM with Steve from OS and in week 1, Geno was my personal b*tch for about 75% of the game. At one point, he was 1 for 7 for 9 yards with 2 interceptions. But I couldn't finish drives, and I floated an attempted flag route that got jumped by a safety and run back for a pick six, so suddenly they had some life heading into halftime. I went from up 16-7 to only 16-14 instead, and it was back and forth. He still barely finished barely 50% for the day (14 of 27), but beat my blitz a couple of times leading to his yardage jumping up to 185 yards and a TD.

I wasn't much better against the Jets D with Carr in his first game, going 20 of 31 for 262 and a TD, but with a pair of picks in a game that was close until the end. With under 4:00 to go, I was up only 19-14, when I got a key stop and drove for a late TD to win it 26-14.

In game 2, Ryan Fitzpatrick made a mockery of my defense...or, more appropriately, Andre Johnson did. He was uncoverable. He was a man among boys out there, catching anything and everything, almost always on 3rd and long. It was a game that saw 4 straight 3-and-outs to open it, followed by no stops for a long stretch of time afterward. Fitz would complete something like 14 of 17 to start, and it wasn't until I found a chink in the Texans O-Line that I started getting serious pressure on him, and I was rewarded with a pair of picks at the end of the game on their last 2 drives--both in my territory when I was clinging to a 28-24 lead.

But offensively, I absolutely could not get anything going on the ground. With 99OVR J.J. Watt on the right side of my offense, 94OVR Brian Cushing in the middle, and 92OVR Clowney on the left, every run I tried got blown up by one of those three. So my thought was to start running PA and uncorking some deep heaves when they'd show a cover 1 look.

By the end of the game I was 15 of 19 for 310 yards with 4 TDs (almost all of them long) and 1 misfired-ball pick on a deep out. Just tried to throw it to the outside shoulder and it went high and wide on me--corner backing up into cover 3 barely had to do much to pick it off.

What impresses me more and more each time I play is how much "football" works, and how little joystick jockeying does. I've been through the passing concepts tutorials about 20 times each. Defensive scheme recognition a dozen times, and last night one of my TDs was on my fourth read. Stick passing tutorial to the letter, followed by a seam check and finally the slant coming back across the middle late. Moments like that make me feel like I'm growing as a player.

And I can't convey properly how cool it is to go into every game not knowing whether I'm going to get rocked or win. There are no more 56-10 games for me this year where I can jump to a 4 TD lead and put it on cruise control. I'm fighting and scratching until the final gun in almost every game I play. Once in a while I'll jump all over a team and play uber-cautious to avoid letting htem back into it, and once in a while they jump all over me instead--and then I force stuff and the wheels come off.

But very few games are boring. This is the opposite of most Madden's I've played lately--it gets more impressive the more I play, instead of the annoyances popping up more and more.

[Macca00]

So......I bought this game (XBOX ONE). It's the first Madden game I've bought since Madden 2001 at the PS2 launch and the first NFL game I've bought since NFL 2K5 on the original XBOX.

Needless to say, I am utterly blown away but I am also reminded that I know absolutely f&*k-all about football when it comes to formations/strategies etc The training camp/tutorial thingies have been useful, can anyone point me in the direction of some online resources about football in general?

[Danimal]

So......I bought this game (XBOX ONE). It's the first Madden game I've bought since Madden 2001 at the PS2 launch and the first NFL game I've bought since NFL 2K5 on the original XBOX.

Needless to say, I am utterly blown away but I am also reminded that I know absolutely f&*k-all about football when it comes to formations/strategies etc The training camp/tutorial thingies have been useful, can anyone point me in the direction of some online resources about football in general?

Sure Terry, Myself and a few others. Honestly the tutorials are really good, especially the strategy ones.

Plus check your email, I sent you something a few weeks ago about some stuff.

[ZXLT]

What settings are you guys using? I'm still looking for something that works for me.