Madden 18

[MizzouRah]

I've always played 15 w accelerated clock down to 20 seconds.

Thanks, I'll start with that!

[Danimal]

What is the consensus on quarter time? I see most over at OS use either 9 minutes with no accelerated clock or 15 minutes with 15 seconds accelerated clock.

Really depends how fast you call plays. I go with 12 Min and 17 Acc Clock myself. Find a game takes an hour or so with that.

[Danimal]

Oh forgot to mention one of the designers said that the injury slider was tuned for 6 minute quarters so if you're seeing way too many injuries in CFM, reduce it.

[MizzouRah]

Just received the game today. Madden really hasn't had staying power with me for several years, so I hope 18 gives me that football itch again.

Started a play now game 49ers (me) vs Jets on AP defaults, using the sim and novice settings.

Love...

Graphics/animations/lighting
Menus are fast to navigate
injuries
Even as a huge novice player I was able to move the ball on offense and play decent on defense
Love the coach recommended plays, allows me to call plays quickly and choose something different when I want to
Presentation is excellent
WR/DB interaction is the best I've ever seen in a football game as well as running
Sacks are earned by calling the right plays and there were only a couple per team
CPU can run the ball
Drops balls, errant throws!

Gripes...

Not one penalty? Is this some sort of play now issue? I thought on sim we would finally see a realistic amount of penalties?


Overall I really liked my first game, not much to complain about besides the lack of penalties and I know there are sliders for that. I think I'll switch to 15min/15sec quarters in my next game as there seems to be too much time with 20 secs accel (like Danimal said, depends on how fast you call plays).

The game really seems to do somethings I wouldn't know about since I haven't really played deep into a Madden game - per the novice mode. It was very enjoyable and I can't say enough how impressed I am with the Frostbite engine!

Think I'm ready to start my 49ers franchise, do you all play ONLINE or OFFLINE? I guess most play ONLINE so you get patched quicker?

[Danimal]

On 6 minute quarters you can see no penalty's or sometimes 5 or 6 a game.

On longer quarter lengths (10 mins and above) I find default penalty sliders give me on average 6-8 penalties a game. That is an average some games I see 10+ but for me they are still not enough so I bump the sliders on some of them. Thinks like face mask, block in the back and roughing the QB even moving them slightly makes them go crazy. Play with it to get what you like.

[MizzouRah]

On 6 minute quarters you can see no penalty's or sometimes 5 or 6 a game.

On longer quarter lengths (10 mins and above) I find default penalty sliders give me on average 6-8 penalties a game. That is an average some games I see 10+ but for me they are still not enough so I bump the sliders on some of them. Thinks like face mask, block in the back and roughing the QB even moving them slightly makes them go crazy. Play with it to get what you like.

Thank you.. I'm on 15 minute quarters and 0 in my first game. Will start my CFM and see what happens before I mess with them.

Too bad I won't have much time with the game now until Wednesday.

[Danimal]

I'm seeing less penalties in my CFM as well since reading your message

I'm also seeing way too high completion percentages by the QB's . All the Play Now Live games has backups coming in and those were mostly the bad throws. I feel like the AI juke is way over powered in this game as well.

First pact is supposed to make the zone defense a little better and make pressure on the QB upped as well. Not sure why the later needs to happen. After 5 games on All Pro Sim my Bears have 34 sacks and that is without me controlling the D-line.

[TCrouch]

I played a 15 minute quarter game yesterday that had 11 penalties in it. 2 defensive pass interference, 1 offensive pass interference on a screen pass, a facemask, 2 holdings, 2 false starts, an offsides, a block in the back, and an illegal touching on a would-be-TD pass. The WR ran out of the back of the end zone and came back in. Crossed the entire field and caught the TD, and then the flag came out. I thought that was kind of cool.

I've seen CPU QBs be too accurate, and I've felt like I don't know what to call on defense to have any sort of effectiveness. But honestly, I'd rather have that than the ability to slaughter the CPU at will, so who knows.

[Danimal]

Yeah I've seen a lot of penalty games, i was kind of joking. The QB ability to put the ball perfectly in space in crazy but again my first game was against Matt Ryan (more on that in a second) my 2nd game was Winston, 3rd game Big Ben (who was a paltry 73%, he was 76% on the year) then Rodgers.

Now a majority of those throws are to wide open receivers so I expect those to be completed but the touch of some of the AI QB's is really spectacular to see when it happens. However it is nice to see them not be able to sling it across their bodies. Big Ben tried to roll left and throw a fly pattern and the ball was 20 yards short and picked off. I haven't tried adjusting sliders at this point but I think they think that is bugging me is every game is a shoot out, at least so far.

Now on that Atlanta game, they ran for 264 yards against me. Most of that was because of crazy spins and jukes. I'm already tired to seeing a guy spin or juke by 2 defenders and seeing that stupid animation where the guys reach back for him. I'm wondering if setting tackling to conservative will result in less missed tackles.

In the second game Tampa ran for 164 yards on my Bears but in the 3rd game I held Pittsburgh to 19 yards rushing on 16 attempts. In that game I played to shut down the run the whole game and set my secondary to match up by speeds and also to play the receiver at first then switched to swat ball.

I like all the different options and working with them and seeing their affects. IDK how to put it, the game just feels more video gamey this year at this point. This is without messing with any sliders except injury.

[MizzouRah]

I hope to get another practice game in tonight or tomorrow for sure. I want to wait until maybe this weekend before starting my CFM (I always seem to wait, wait, wait until the regular season starts and a new roster comes out, but I'm diving in this weekend for sure).

The most fun I've had so far is in the passing game. It just feels right to me finally.

[Danimal]

Couldn't connect to EA servers last night so decided to play Longshot and next thing I knew it was 1 am. This is a pretty good mode even if the story kind of make you go WTF at some points but I don't know if I want to see them expand on this or not. You clearly couldn't make a full game out of these little mini games as I already find them tedious.

[Wilk5280]

I swear zone defenses are pretty much broken right now. I've been mostly been playing online H2H and if you don't get quick pressure on their QB you can forget about getting a stop on D. You can know what the player is going to run, call a D specifically designed to stop what he's called, and he'll still have WR's running uncovered in zones you called D's to defend. It's pretty f'ing frustrating right now online.

[MizzouRah]

Lost 30-17 Preseason Game 1 vs the Chiefs playing with the 49ers.

I still have not seen 1 penalty called, so I guess I need to bump them up. Other than that, game has been refreshing. Had a couple injuries, signed Darrelle Revis who is instantly my #1 CB. Our defense should be good, but offense will be hard to come by.

For a game that's so deep.. it's nice I can auto certain tasks to keep the game moving along.

Enjoying it thus far!

[Aristo]

I swear zone defenses are pretty much broken right now. I've been mostly been playing online H2H and if you don't get quick pressure on their QB you can forget about getting a stop on D. You can know what the player is going to run, call a D specifically designed to stop what he's called, and he'll still have WR's running uncovered in zones you called D's to defend. It's pretty f'ing frustrating right now online.

I'm not having near that problem. I set the D to look pass and user a DL. I also will often set the D to Underneath, and QB contain if the QB scrambles a lot. Pressure on the QB is he most important factor when it comes to QB inaccuracy. I rarely use any other pre-snap adjustments.

I will admit that it is hard to get QB pressure without usering a DL or blitzing LB. Worse, this year if you used a DB, he doesn't move brilliant you move him. I think that hesitation isn't being caught by gamers, and it is affecting their pass defense.

[MizzouRah]

It's nice to see the CPU actually have a running game. Bringing down Jamaal Charles is quite a chore.

[MizzouRah]

Had some really goofy CPU punts that go high in the air and about maybe 15 yards and then I catch it and get hit right away.

[Danimal]

I swear zone defenses are pretty much broken right now. I've been mostly been playing online H2H and if you don't get quick pressure on their QB you can forget about getting a stop on D. You can know what the player is going to run, call a D specifically designed to stop what he's called, and he'll still have WR's running uncovered in zones you called D's to defend. It's pretty f'ing frustrating right now online.

They are bad, it is a confirmed issue and what is in the upcoming patch. Play a CFM for any length of time and look at the comp percentages of the QB's you'll be lucky to find any under 70%. Couple of weeks and they should be fixed.

[Danimal]

Patch out

HDR Support (Assume this is only for PS4 Pro and not XB1S)
General Stability fixing various crashes and softlocks
Fixed issue with Steelers; crowd ‘Terrible Towels’ appearing black or grey
Online Head-to-Head Quarter Length changed from 4 minutes to 5 minutes
Fixed an issue around MUT Squads players receiving the incorrect rewards when teammates leave the session early
Improved a small framerate drop when the ball is snapped on PS4
Tuned scaling of the football to be slightly smaller
Fixed an issue where Points were purchasable in Trial
Fixed Button functionality to be correct: [CROSS] button does not function when attempting to load a MADDEN PROFILE

Gameplay
Zone Coverage tuning to increase ‘Break-on-Throw’ times
Tuning to decrease effectiveness of Ball Carrier special moves
Fixed issue around Coaches standing in the middle of the field when re-starting MUT Challenges
Tuning to increase blocksheds in run defense vs. Gun Inside Zone plays
Tuning to slightly increase pass rush when QB holds onto the ball for longer times in the pocket
Fixed an issue with sideline characters not reacting appropriately to big plays

Franchise:
Fixed incorrect Chargers/Giants week 5 game on the schedule
Fixed issue around schedules recording incorrectly when using Play Now Live for Preseason Week

[pk500]

Where's the adjustment in the patch for the Bills REALLY sucking this year instead of just their usual amount of suckage?

[Danimal]

Where's the adjustment in the patch for the Bills REALLY sucking this year instead of just their usual amount of suckage?

That's built into the game

I already saw some videos of the improved zone defense, that is going to make the game more challenging and bring these crazy completion percentages down. I'm also really glad the nerfed the juke moves.

[Aristo]

FYI, HDR is, indeed, enabled for the XB1 S. Just verified that it is active.

And Arrowhead looks damn amazing in the early evening, and is just a stunning effect on the game. One which we will all acclimate to and never really notice again soon enough.

But seriously, it looks great. Makes watching the pregame worth it.

[Danimal]

FYI, HDR is, indeed, enabled for the XB1 S. Just verified that it is active.

And Arrowhead looks damn amazing in the early evening, and is just a stunning effect on the game. One which we will all acclimate to and never really notice again soon enough.

But seriously, it looks great. Makes watching the pregame worth it.

Did you have to do anything in the settings? How did you verify it was enabled did it just say so on the TV?

[Aristo]

No, at least on the One S, it just detects whether your TV is in HDR mode and enables it. I have not seen an HDR setting in any of the games.

The way I verify it, at last on the Sony x900e, is by using the remote to change picture settings. I leave it set to set to default, which means it just kicks in when content dictates it. But I can switch to Off, and it changes the screen. I can also switch between Default and HDR10, and there is no change in the picture. If you put it in HDR10 mode and play content not in HDR mode, it looks pretty bad.

I have also verified games the other way, like Ori, that I thought was in HDR, but isn't. When I switch from default to HDR10, it looks terrible, but from default to off changes nothing.

I wouldn't mind an optional small watermark indicator that would tell me the mode is active without having to go through that, but I'd still end up turning it off once my curiosity about a particular game is satisfied.

[Danimal]

I'm just asking because I'm at work but that is exciting it is supported on the XB1S as they didn't mention they were doing that.

[Teal]

Haven't played a Madden game on the xb1 before. Got the EA pass, and downloaded the trial. That's damned impressive. Wow. I wish to hell it was an NCAA game, but oh well.