Madden 17

[Aristo]

I'm having issues. I already have it downloaded, so it keeps telling me that it is too early. I finally uninstalled the game and am downloading it again. Ugh!

[Diablo25]

I'm having issues. I already have it downloaded, so it keeps telling me that it is too early. I finally uninstalled the game and am downloading it again. Ugh!

It wasn't available via EA Access but when I went to the game hub and then the store it was there. I haven't launched it yet. Not finished downloading.

[MizzouRah]

It will download, but it won't let you play.. it will say your EA Access account is expired. EA on twitter said it's not playable until midnight tonight.



Might try to stay awake

[Diablo25]

It's working for me now.

[MizzouRah]

I'll try again.. I did read some say it's working now. You playing a game Diablo?

[Diablo25]

Yes

[10spro]

EA was streaming Live early some of the action, visually I didn't noticed much difference but there were talking about some much needed improvements with online games.

[MizzouRah]

Random first impressions...

Opening is Rams (boo) vs Washington in a playoff game. I scored the TD but didn't convert the 2pt (yeah Rams lose!)

Played a 6 min quarters game Chiefs vs Rams - won 12-6

I missed two XPs and 2 FGs.. NICE! the new meter is pretty neat.

AP defaults had some penalties, running and passing are fun. Presentation is maybe the best I've seen in a sports sim in a very long time. Commentary as well, very good with the new 2 man booth.

I typically press A most of the time, but watching the players/coaches interact between plays really gives it a realistic feel to it.

Panning from the blimp camera to see the whole field is neat, fans standing up as you run down the sideline when Charles ran for a nice 30 yard game.

I like the popups that have you press a certain button at times - like RS to juke, etc when you are running a play. They don't always popup but do help a non-Madden vet like myself. You can now set a slider to ON to have the defense always rotate to the offensive play (default is ON).

Will play some more tomorrow.. really has a nice flow to it. Animations are very smooth and not once did anything look unrealistic. (some of the jump ball pass plays are really done well)

Oh... and the UI is very responsive and quick moving around the menus.

[Danimal]

I didn't get to play last night because it was only 1/2 way downloaded after 3 hours.

I did watch the live stream, at least what i could stomach of the people on it. One thing I thought was neat is that you can click the right stick and have a CB come off his man / zone for a scrambling QB. Anyone try this yet?

I noticed in the stream an abundance of hurdle moves going on. Since Madden employees basically all these tourney guys I have to assume this is an over powered move since they were using it so much.

[MizzouRah]

Guess I'll do the owner mode this year and move a team back to St. Louis.

Now to decide which team, Oakland, San Diego or some other team?

[TCrouch]

I played a few online games last night, and I will say "control" has definitely been given back to users on defense, and the CPU defenders are no idiots anymore. Case in point:

CPU Defenders showing smarts:

Reggie Nelson sees the streak coming and jumps in front of it for an easy pick without me doing anything.
http://xboxclips.com/Rockjaw+McGraw/c83 ... 754418c1d1

Khalil Mack plays a hard flat zone. He chucks the WR coming across his face, then immediately jumps the flat route for a pick 6.
http://xboxclips.com/Rockjaw+McGraw/e16 ... aa92b744ac

User Control being a lot sharper:

I took Malcolm Smith and was able to change directions post-snap as I saw my opponent's most glaring read. I could get into the precise position I wanted to to make the play, which was not often the case in 16:
http://xboxclips.com/Rockjaw+McGraw/2df ... 3d1b6b007c

But it's not always guaranteed. With the new ball physics in a second game, with Barry Church in a hook zone, I try to fake the blitz and give him an obvious read, and he plays right into my hands. But the ball actually went right between my hands (not morphed through my body) for the completion:
http://xboxclips.com/Rockjaw+McGraw/69d ... 98e97564dc

Then, on offense, if you can diagnose the coverage quickly, the windows can be hit for big plays. It's not as simple as "throw jump ball" or "throw drag" every play anymore. The windows are so much smaller. I had to lead the ball out and up, get it over the head of the nickel back (who would likely have been within reach of the ball had he been a better player), and away from Honey Badger to have a prayer. But when it works, it leads to fist-pumping in my gaming chair:
http://xboxclips.com/Rockjaw+McGraw/fe5 ... 75422c57f5

And then...the jukes. My goodness. Zeke Elliott broke an ankle on this play, but I didn't want to rub it into my opponent's face when the game was over as soon as I got a first down, so I didn't score.
http://xboxclips.com/Rockjaw+McGraw/52b ... 6bdd1c2e64

All of that from 2 online games last night. And on defense, if you see a gap, you can shoot that gap. There weren't any instances where I got magically grabbed and sealed when I had an opening. But I overran some holes and gave up a few plays. But the running game was locked down against both Adrian Peterson (9 carries, -2 yards), and David Johnson (12 carries, 7 yards) in online play.

Plus, some things that WILL happen this year...a lot:

QB fumbles. The days of waiting until the last minute to throw the ball are done. If you are trying to throw when getting hit, you will have the 'empty palm?' fumble going on. I counted at least 5 last night between myself and my opponents.

There will be a LOT more picks. CPU defenders are no longer idiotic, and the windows for "open" receivers just got a lot smaller. And if the CPU gets to the ball, it's not dropped nearly as often. I got 8 picks last night in 2 games. And I threw one when I double taped a RB checkdown and it went over his head, where the CPU LB easily snagged it.

Missed Extra Points will be a thing, at least early on. We had 3 in my 2 games, and 2 missed field goals. Oddly, we crushed them from 53 and 57 yards, but missed some shorter, easier ones.

So far, the improvements won't jump out on the screen to you unless you played THOUSANDS of games of 16 (I did). It only took one quarter for me to see the improvements here, but as with all sports games...let's see what it has a month from now. I still played 16 all the way up until this past weekend, but it had a few glaring issues in online play. Toss plays were money (not so in 17), jump balls were too powerful (remains to be seen so far, but I counted 7 last night and gave up zero completions on them with the new swat feature), and defensive coverage was braindead. It took all of 1 quarter for me to see those changes.

If there are any specific questions on things, I'd be happy to ramble (as always). With regards to the hurdle, that is mainly a counter against guys who love to dive. If you use A to wrap tackle, it's just going to get the ballcarrier hurt. I had a few hurdles against me, but I kept flipping them head over heels with an "A" wrap tackle, and they stopped doing it.

[Aristo]

I'm jelly.

I'm one of the folks that pre-ordered the game, so I can't the play the trial.

[TCrouch]

I'm jelly.

I'm one of the folks that pre-ordered the game, so I can't the play the trial.

I did, too. Had it preloaded and everything.

All I had to do was go to my installed games, click the "start/lines" button and then go to game page, and hit the "Free Trial+" icon last night to start playing.

[Aristo]

I'm jelly.

I'm one of the folks that pre-ordered the game, so I can't the play the trial.

I did, too. Had it preloaded and everything.

All I had to do was go to my installed games, click the "start/lines" button and then go to game page, and hit the "Free Trial+" icon last night to start playing.

Yeah, I'm not getting that option when I go to the Game Hub, just launch game. Then it tells me I'm too early. Of course now, even the EA Access app doesn't show the game anymore.

[TCrouch]

Hard reset if that's the case. Somebody else I know had that same problem.

But if you pin it to your installed games, then hit start>go to game hub. Then See in Store, it should have play/preorder and free trial.

If it does not, hard reboot so you get the green screen. That fixed it for another friend who had the exact same issue.

[Aristo]

Oh, I've done the hard resets, uninstalled and redownloaded both Madden and EA Access twice, and noting has worked.

I did just use the code for a free month of EA Access on a dummy account I just created today, and that worked perfectly. I can't play under my gamertag, but I can play under this one, which is fine. I was planning on a second account to farm some gold and such for my MUT team this year.

What's weird is, after I play for awhile, I swapped to my account, and large Madden tile, for the game I had just quit out of on my other account, said that the trial was already installed. I clicked on it, and then it ells me I'm early. No freaking dice.

I'd be more bummed, but Prominence Poker just dropped two days ago, and it is a damn fine poker game, which we were lacking. Pure Hold'em is pretty awful. The best part is that PP is free, and unless you really feel the need to play in the highest buy-in games or buy an entire wardrobe for your character, I see no reason to spend a dime going forward.

So I just spent last night doing that. But then, I love a good poker game. Between the 10 hours on my other account and PP, I'm sure EA will get this sorted in time to play some this weekend. If not, I expect some sort of freebie from them.

[dbdynsty25]

I'd be more bummed, but Prominence Poker just dropped two days ago, and it is a damn fine poker game, which we were lacking. Pure Hold'em is pretty awful. The best part is that PP is free, and unless you really feel the need to play in the highest buy-in games or buy an entire wardrobe for your character, I see no reason to spend a dime going forward.

It's awesome!

Madden is pretty damn good as well. But PP is gonna get most of my XB1 time until Forza Horizon 3 comes out anyway.

[MizzouRah]

Wow... Madden 17 has definitely been a surprise for me. I did play Madden 16 for a season, but it kind of got stale after the initial season.

It kind of has that NCAA 14 one more game feel to it so far. The commentary is really exceptional this year and I already had an update to it so I guess they will keep adding as the season goes on!

[Lancer]

It kind of has that NCAA 14 one more game feel to it so far.

BINGO!

This game is super fun.

They opened up big plays in all-pro for both CPU and Human. Last year I hardly got big plays on ALL PRO but I'm seeing a lot this year ala NCAA series. Running the ball is exceptionally rewarding.

[Aristo]

So my main account is in. I'm not sure if the this is resolved, or if I lucked myself into a workaround. I played some DC with my dummy account last night, and when I was done, I just signed out of my account and into my main one. When I did that, the game was still going, and it told me I had 10 hours left.

I have not had to start with my second account when I played this morning. Some reports are that they fixed it. Some people are still claiming they are not able to play. But I have 20 hours of Madden left to play before Tuesday.

And yeah, the game is pretty great.

[TCrouch]

I fired up SOFL (I took the Steelers because I was getting screwed up having so many Oakland teams). I'll send you an invite if you want, Tom. Not looking to advance or do anything until it officially comes out, though.

[Aristo]

I fired up SOFL (I took the Steelers because I was getting screwed up having so many Oakland teams). I'll send you an invite if you want, Tom. Not looking to advance or do anything until it officially comes out, though.

Cool. Sign me up!

I was kind of bummed that I got kicked out of the other one. I wanted to see some final stats. Did you guys play the playoffs, or just kill it?

[MizzouRah]

BINGO!

This game is super fun.

They opened up big plays in all-pro for both CPU and Human. Last year I hardly got big plays on ALL PRO but I'm seeing a lot this year ala NCAA series. Running the ball is exceptionally rewarding.

Yeah went from a wait.. to take my 10% off via EA Access and digital d/l.

San Diego heading to STL

[sportdan30]

Game is great and the commentary is phenomenal.

Just saw this posted on twitter.

Mike Chase ‏@MikeChase27 46m46 minutes ago
@pastapadre Just heard the commentary mention the Ravens watching Phelps win the 200m Gold. Insane


There was a downloaded commentary update yesterday. I saw one clip where the announcers talked about how smart it was for Romo not to play in the first pre-season game.

[Aristo]

Game is great and the commentary is phenomenal.

Just saw this posted on twitter.

Mike Chase ‏@MikeChase27 46m46 minutes ago
@pastapadre Just heard the commentary mention the Ravens watching Phelps win the 200m Gold. Insane


There was a downloaded commentary update yesterday. I saw one clip where the announcers talked about how smart it was for Romo not to play in the first pre-season game.

Yeah, I played a game against the Rams and they mentioned golf's less than stellar performance the first preseason game.

If they could just upload real life stats for the game's presentation, it would be damn near perfection.