ESPN 2K5 Impressions

TRI · Post by **TRI** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 5:09 am

IT is too easy to rush with your QB on passing plays. It is way too easy and it may be a game killer. AT this point all I have to do to win every game is pick any passing play and then pull down the icons and take off running for 5 to 15 yards almost everytime. You do not even have to throw a single pass! GAME KILLER for sure!

TRI · Post by **TRI** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 5:12 am

Now that ESPN NFL 2K5 is finished, I await Madden 2005. Hopefully Madden 2005 will not have any game killing flaws like the QB scramble glitch in NFL 2K5.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 8:02 am

TRI wrote:Now that ESPN NFL 2K5 is finished, I await Madden 2005. Hopefully Madden 2005 will not have any game killing flaws like the QB scramble glitch in NFL 2K5.

None of you guys try the qb scramble game killer on me !!!..........seriously I havent seen it.......Ive just seen qbs pasted all over the turf....I dont doubt what you say....probably havent played the right guy or team yet.........I hate cheese

Now my game killer was last night.........It was ESPNs online servers......I tried a game with Danimal that got shut down by SEGA at halftime due to poor network conditions..........He lives 40 miles from me and has the same DSL service........what up with that?????.......

Then Zeppo says tourny......I think great.......then Sega tells me to go to bed.....Service isnt working.........I go play NCAA instead........

I finally got a good game in later last night.........I dont get why these freaking companies cant get this s*** right...

the messaging system I typed a simple message to danimal and Sega made me delete it due to profanity........which would be fine but the harshest word I used was "have"

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 9:02 am

I've seen a lot of complaints about the servers at the espnvideogames.com forums.

But it's been no problem for me the past two nights. Once it wouldn't log in but I tried it again right away and it worked.

It's just the interface makes finding games harder. Instead of lobbies, they give you a filter/find feature so you get the sense you're not getting all the players available.

Plus they give you a Friends List feature but it's not easy to add people in the list. Seems like you have to play them first and then put them on the list. If they were all in a lobby, you could select a player and add them to your list.

Or, like the search function for the leagues and tournaments, they should have a search function for your buddy list.

No chat of any kind in the lobby is making finding games more difficult.

pacuca · Post by **pacuca** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 10:14 am

Lobbies are the only way to go IMO for online gaming. Especially password protected ones. Friends lists are OK, but I want to see ALL the available players and be able to pick and choose who to play.

pacuca

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 10:16 am

I agree with JRod about the weekly prep. I thought it was a fun feature but it almost reminds me of an old Zork problem. I have to keep punching in commands before I figure out that I have to put the screwdriver in the bucket, light the bucket on fire, unscrew the jeweled egg, and pour the liquid inside the egg on the fire so the bucket explodes and shoots the screwdriver into the troll's eye.

A little hint would have been nice.

I noticed just before I went to bed that there were some tutorials so maybe those will help. But I think the team motivation, training and cohesion elements add a nice wrinkle, and I like that your player ratings can fluctuate from week to week based on this.

With running, one thing I am figuring out is to lay off the A button until I'm through the hole, and that it's often better to charge up first, use a breaking move, than tap A if you break the tackle to get away.

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 10:38 am

XXXIV wrote:.

the messaging system I typed a simple message to danimal and Sega made me delete it due to profanity........which would be fine but the harshest word I used was "have"

Yes this is ruduculous!!!!! Is this a taste of the future???? First of all, you can't use the word "password." I tried to send a message to jimmy talking about pigpen, and the only thing I can think is it doesn't like the word "pigpen." It's unbelievable, this filtration system, it's insane! It's a pure guessing game as to what magic combination of roman letters will prduce a 'profane' alert. And it doesn't highlight or tell you what word or word part is 'profane,' not to mention you can't move the cursor around and erase or change a word in the middle without deleting all the way to it.

Simply ridiculous.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 10:45 am

Well the Xbox version at least has some chat functionality out of game.

Maybe that is why they took out keyboard chat, because of worries about language?

I can use the keyboard offline and even online searching for leagues (and there is some button to report names which are too profane).

Looks like VC's strategy of potential and actual problems is avoidance? Take out keyboard chat so people wont' be offended and complain and take out the ability to use any playbooks online because when people tried to use custom playbooks online, there were divergence errors.

There must have been a vocal minority who complained about these things and ruined it for the rest of us.

dougb · Post by **dougb** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 10:47 am

I like the game a lot but there are a couple of bizarre things I'm seeing in the secondary.

I previously posted that there were plays where the safety did not close on the ball when it was lofted up over the middle. I've seen this quite a few times. It just looks like the safety remains crouched down while the receiver goes up for the ball. Sometimes the safety will run forward right past the receiver completely taking himself out of the play. I've also seen the safety go into a backpedal looking back (towards the defenders endzone!) towards the sideline while moveing into the middle of the field. It was almost as if the safety did not particularly care what was happening on the play.

The second disturbing issue are defensive backs covering receivers who circle the receiver during a play. One of my receivers went on a short pattern where they went down the field and then stopped and turned around. On the replay I saw the defensive back circle around the receiver!

Apart from the secondary, does anybody bother blocking on kickoff returns anymore in ESPN. Seems like the player who doesn't receive the kick does not bother blocking anyone.

Best wishes,

Doug

hellbent · Post by **hellbent** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 11:25 am

Regarding the safety issue mentioned by dougb, I can say that I have seen the same behavior by them in my games. They will tend to sit and wait in a zone near the CPU receiver, rather than play tight coverage. It appears to be more of a visual anomaly than the lack of cover skills, at least so far in my experience. The last game, I played against the Jags as the Chargers and picked Leftwich off 6 times and held him to 38% completions en route to a 10-0 shutout ( the only TD coming off, naturally, an INT return ). Not that I'm complaining about playing an NFL game where the defense can dominate for a change

I'll have to play a few more games to see if the INT's drop somewhat for both the CPU and myself, but right now they are running maybe a little high. Thus far the CPU and myself combine for around 6-7 a game. The running game has been impressive so far, with the right amount of big plays interspersed with the classic "3 yards and a cloud of dust" on most runs. It is so nice to be able to follow my blocks without having to just look for a patch of green somewhere in the mess of humanity and pound the speed burst button right after the handoff and hope for the best.

spooky157 · Post by **spooky157** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 12:30 pm

Zeppo wrote:
XXXIV wrote:.

the messaging system I typed a simple message to danimal and Sega made me delete it due to profanity........which would be fine but the harshest word I used was "have"
Yes this is ruduculous!!!!! Is this a taste of the future???? First of all, you can't use the word "password." I tried to send a message to jimmy talking about pigpen, and the only thing I can think is it doesn't like the word "pigpen." It's unbelievable, this filtration system, it's insane! It's a pure guessing game as to what magic combination of roman letters will prduce a 'profane' alert. And it doesn't highlight or tell you what word or word part is 'profane,' not to mention you can't move the cursor around and erase or change a word in the middle without deleting all the way to it.

Simply ridiculous.

And I can't figure out why they wouldn't map the spacebar to one of the face buttons. I gotta go all the way to the bottom right of the keyboard after every word? I think my hand hurt more after typing a little 6 word message than after the 50 lapper at Bathurst.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 1:31 pm

Yes please explaing why I have to type a message, this is Live why can't I just voice message someone?

Why can I just send a friend an invite from the Friends list? Who do I have to go create a game, then call up my friends list, then send the invite?

The interface is God awful.

spooky157 · Post by **spooky157** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 1:40 pm

Danimal wrote:
Why can I just send a friend an invite from the Friends list? Who do I have to go create a game, then call up my friends list, then send the invite?

Isn't that the way it is with all Live games? You have to have a game set up for your friend to join before you can send the invite.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 2:12 pm

spooky157 wrote:Isn't that the way it is with all Live games? You have to have a game set up for your friend to join before you can send the invite.

That is correct.

tsunami · Post by **tsunami** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 4:17 pm

dougb wrote: Apart from the secondary, does anybody bother blocking on kickoff returns anymore in ESPN. Seems like the player who doesn't receive the kick does not bother blocking anyone.

I was thinking the same thing...on every punt or kickoff return I see four or five guys coming at me untouched with no chance of a return. I find myself screaming at my guys to try and at least attempt to block someone...anyone!

I don't know if that can be remedied with sliders.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 5:10 pm

Well the kick return game is preferrable to 2K4 where it was too easy to get a good return. And my kicks are really bad right now, because my timing is more used to NCAA. And Madden will screw it up again because it has a different speed too.

But I haven't given up a return outside the 40 and most of the time, it's been inside the 35 even though a lot of my kickoffs are only going to the 15-20 yard line.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 5:18 pm

wco81 wrote:Well the kick return game is preferrable to 2K4 where it was too easy to get a good return. And my kicks are really bad right now, because my timing is more used to NCAA. And Madden will screw it up again because it has a different speed too.

.

I played NCAA and 2K5 online last night and went back and forth.......wow!!!!!!!!...Did I get a head ache..........not to mention the quarter and a half of retardation of my senses

Alan_Bernardo · Post by **Alan_Bernardo** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 12:06 am

tsunami wrote:
dougb wrote: Apart from the secondary, does anybody bother blocking on kickoff returns anymore in ESPN. Seems like the player who doesn't receive the kick does not bother blocking anyone.
I was thinking the same thing...on every punt or kickoff return I see four or five guys coming at me untouched with no chance of a return. I find myself screaming at my guys to try and at least attempt to block someone...anyone!

I don't know if that can be remedied with sliders.

Isn't it odd how two people playing the same game can see two different things. My experience with kickoff and punt returns is that I have almost too much room to run. It's rare that I'll fail to return a kickoff past the 20 and on punt returns, I at least get 10 yards a pop.

I am using different sliders than the default, so that may be the reason for the discrepencies.

Alanb

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 12:48 am

I usually have the same problem with kickoffs, but I was able to run one back today in the third game of my franchise, so maybe I'm getting better. What's more frustrating is my place kicker's absolute inability to put one into the endzone. Even on Max, I can only get it to the five, if the wind's with me. That just doesn't seem right for an NFL kicker.

azmark · Post by **azmark** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 2:10 am

geeze..it is only a game..and a very good game at that..i wish there were a lot more things added to the game..but regardless of the price and all..it is the best video football game I have ever played..and I am old school here as far as video games . There are always people bitching about db's not doing this or that...or bad running game..and yes..there may be bugs in the game..but what game does not have bugs..Temco had bugs..as did madden for the playstation..as did George Walsh game for nintendo...guess all I am trying to say is..it is easy to knock a game like this for all the shortcomings.....but there is so much..and a lot to praise it for. In my opinion..it raized the bar on sports games..cant wait till espn hocky game comes out.. Flame me if you want..but I do think that this game is a work of art...I guess i am over selling espn game..but I do think it is what I wanted from a game like this tweny years ago..

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 9:38 am

I think almost everybody likes the game........They are just pointing out what could have been done better.....What they would like fixed.......Thats what we do here......discuss sports games....Its a sports games forum....

Zeppo · Post by **Zeppo** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 11:02 am

Slumberland wrote:I usually have the same problem with kickoffs, but I was able to run one back today in the third game of my franchise, so maybe I'm getting better. What's more frustrating is my place kicker's absolute inability to put one into the endzone. Even on Max, I can only get it to the five, if the wind's with me. That just doesn't seem right for an NFL kicker.

Actually slumber, IMO that is much closer to the reality in the NFL than what happens in the game with the better kickers. Hall and Janikowski practically put it through the uprights on the kick-offs, and that's just not right. These days in the NFL they do whatever they can to try to keep touchbacks from happening, and the result has been fewer touchbacks since the K-ball thing started. I seem to remember even RL John Hall having trouble kicking into the endzone with any regularity.

GTHobbes · Post by **GTHobbes** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 11:03 am

tsunami wrote:
dougb wrote: Apart from the secondary, does anybody bother blocking on kickoff returns anymore in ESPN. Seems like the player who doesn't receive the kick does not bother blocking anyone.
I was thinking the same thing...on every punt or kickoff return I see four or five guys coming at me untouched with no chance of a return. I find myself screaming at my guys to try and at least attempt to block someone...anyone!

I don't know if that can be remedied with sliders.

I returned a punt for a TD last night with Ricardo Colclough (sp?), the Steelers' 2nd round draft pick this year. I don't think I did that all last year. My kick off returns vary greatly...one time last night I was tackled at the 16. Another, I got out to the 34. Default sliders.

FloridaGators · Post by **FloridaGators** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 11:19 am

Has anyone put the game speed to Fast? I like it there, as I did last year. It doesn't seem too fast or arcady, seems about right to me.

FloridaGators · Post by **FloridaGators** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 11:21 am

These are the gameplay sliders I am using and I'm getting great results so far. I originally started with a guy named SFDan from another site and tweaked them, so credit to him, and to me for tweaking them.

Game Speed: Fast (this is my preference, not Dan's, it's not too fast, I think this mimick's the NFL's fast pace)
9 Minutes All Pro (Simulation 8 minutes)
All settings are from far left.
Sub out 70%
Sub in 85%

Human / Comp
Blocking 30 / 40
Passing 15 / 20
Running 25 / 35
Catching 30 / 35
Coverage 20 / 25
Pursuit 25 / 25
Kicking 15 / 20
Tackling 20 / 20
Fatigue 5 / 5
Fumbles 22 / 22
Ints 22 / 22

PENALTIES (these are from the default setting)
Clipping ALL THE WAY LEFT
Neutral Zone +12
Def Pass Intf +3
Off Pass Intf +10
All Others +10