Madden NFL 13 Demo Impressions & Feedback Thread

Honestly everything is exacerbated when playing the CPU. That's why it's nearly impossible to get a good feel about certain things against them.

Either they break alot of tackles

Or their RB's are insanely talented

Or their QB is flawless, etc

Things that happen against them is doesn't really occur much against a user which is why I noted that prior to the write up.

I simply paid attention to things that will translate over into playing a other user as I will not ever be playing the CPU.

When playing another user in All-Madden neither user will be breaking multiple tackles as easily as the CPU does.

Regarding the "guess a play". They brought it back into the game. It hasn't been in the game to my knowledge since 2007 or 2008 I believe. Then you could one guess Run or Pass.
Not sure why it was brought back into the game. Wish that was just a feature of lower difficulty levels or could be turned off alltogether

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Originally Posted by skipwondah33

Not sure why it was brought back into the game. Wish that was just a feature of lower difficulty levels or could be turned off alltogether

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So they could slap the "Better with Kinect" on the box.

Haha

If you have a Kinect, you can call out pass or run commit, right? I just assumed that's why the put it in there.

I don't like it, but I don't like it because it's not implemented correctly. It never has been. If you call run commit the defensive line just destroys the offensive line every time. If you call pass commit, the pass rush also gets there quicker. It's just too over the top.

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Originally Posted by I OU a Beatn

If you have a Kinect, you can call out pass or run commit, right? I just assumed that's why the put it in there.

I don't like it, but I don't like it because it's not implemented correctly. It never has been. If you call run commit the defensive line just destroys the offensive line every time. If you call pass commit, the pass rush also gets there quicker. It's just too over the top.

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+1

Though I don't like it because it's a garbage feature to have. Then on top if the way it works as you said. It's ridamndicous...yes ri-damn-diculous

I could understand a "watch the screen" button but this?

Just another feature to dumb the game down for less skilled players and button mashers

Just HEADS up to NCAA 14... add more sliders!!! (I believe this message will be Rudy approved). Just for fun I put the INJURY SLIDER to 100 and every three or so plays someone was getting hurt. It was great to see. Why NCAA will not add an injury slider is beyond me. In addition, the global fatigue slider works really well also. From my brief time with them (outside of pass int.) I find Madden's sliders to be more effective than NCAA.

Here's a novel for anyone interested.

http://vassets.ea.com/Assets/Resourc...eersManual.pdf

** after reading it... I give EA credit for the effort they have put into the manual but for me it just makes the game feel to set and structured. That seems to be how the whole ccm mode is set up.

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Originally Posted by jaymo76

Just HEADS up to NCAA 14... add more sliders!!! (I believe this message will be Rudy approved). Just for fun I put the INJURY SLIDER to 100 and every three or so plays someone was getting hurt. It was great to see. Why NCAA will not add an injury slider is beyond me. In addition, the global fatigue slider works really well also. From my brief time with them (outside of pass int.) I find Madden's sliders to be more effective than NCAA.

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Exactly. The truth is I don't think the devs are big slider guys and I don't think many community day guys are big slider guys. When I asked the Madden community day guys if the special teams sliders were still global or not, none of them knew! They weren't even checking out the sliders! Why Madden refuses to have human and cpu FG accuracy sliders is beyond me.

I'd actually like to see two slider menus in the future. One called basic sliders and one called advanced sliders where a lot of categories can be adjusted for some of us slider geeks. Things like splitting coverage into man pass coverage and zone pass coverage. DB Knockdowns where you can adjust how easily the balls get knocked down. QB accuracy split into short, medium and deep accuracy sliders. Shotgun run blocking. Kick return blocking. Splitting RB ability/break tackles into different categories like RB speed, juke, stiff arm, spin and truck. I know EA has stuff like this probably built into their tuning files. I'd love to be able to play around with it.

I played couple more games on default All-Madden but changed the threshold to 0 and the game speed to slow. I feel the game plays better on slow with a little less floating, warping, and puppet show physics. I actually could break some tackles with Lynch and Gore in the open field and read the inside running lanes better. Slow speed means less plays in the demo, but at least the game plays a bit better. I still wish the players size mattered and that zig zagging movement all players are able to do would just go away already. I will pass on Madden 13, but at least if the exact same Infinity engine is implemented into NCAA 14 I may have a way to enjoy it (hopefully it is tuned much tighter for next year).

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Originally Posted by WolverineJay

I played couple more games on default All-Madden but changed the threshold to 0 and the game speed to slow. I feel the game plays better on slow with a little less floating, warping, and puppet show physics. I actually could break some tackles with Lynch and Gore in the open field and read the inside running lanes better. Slow speed means less plays in the demo, but at least the game plays a bit better. I still wish the players size mattered and that zig zagging movement all players are able to do would just go away already. I will pass on Madden 13, but at least if the exact same Infinity engine is implemented into NCAA 14 I may have a way to enjoy it (hopefully it is tuned much tighter for next year).

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Yeah IMO slow is the only way to play Madden and NCAA. However, if you want more plays in the demo, during the game go to the menu screen and change the automiatc clock run off. Currently it's set at ten but if you put it to 25 you get a lot more plays.

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Originally Posted by Rudy

Exactly. The truth is I don't think the devs are big slider guys and I don't think many community day guys are big slider guys. When I asked the Madden community day guys if the special teams sliders were still global or not, none of them knew! They weren't even checking out the sliders! Why Madden refuses to have human and cpu FG accuracy sliders is beyond me.

I'd actually like to see two slider menus in the future. One called basic sliders and one called advanced sliders where a lot of categories can be adjusted for some of us slider geeks. Things like splitting coverage into man pass coverage and zone pass coverage. DB Knockdowns where you can adjust how easily the balls get knocked down. QB accuracy split into short, medium and deep accuracy sliders. Shotgun run blocking. Kick return blocking. Splitting RB ability/break tackles into different categories like RB speed, juke, stiff arm, spin and truck. I know EA has stuff like this probably built into their tuning files. I'd love to be able to play around with it.

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I find the special teams sliders not being seperate just weird. The cpu is pretty much automatic from 55 yards out. It was a huge issue for Madden 12 and I suspect will be problematic again for 13. I just wish the people at Tiburon valued USER CUSTOMIZATION. As a consumer let me play the game as I like, not how you think I should.

WTF is going on over at OS? They were very "down" (on OS terms at least) on NCAA and now a "down" Madden demo roundtable. What's up with dat?

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Originally Posted by CLW

WTF is going on over at OS? They were very "down" (on OS terms at least) on NCAA and now a "down" Madden demo roundtable. What's up with dat?

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I think people are seeing now for themselves that the cpu AI is still poor and infinity only has a MINOR impact on the gameplay. Momentum is still off and as they say it still plays like "Madden NFL." A lot of people were expecting an entirely new experience. However, at the end of the day, with Tiburon what you see is what you get. The game play a certain way and things are tinkered with each year. The OS mods/writers seem to have finally come around to being able to see long standing issues with games. I stopped posting at OS a long time ago due to the politics of it all but it is good to see that they are finally a little more open minded about things.

CPU AI will always be poor. It is down right horrendous in NCAA and will continue to be in every game. Which is why I only stick to playing Users. The CPU will never be able to implement that to everyone's satisfaction.

Just like some not liking the Infinity Engine. I honestly believe it has a great impact on the Gameplay. It changes problems that have been in the game for a while. Doesn't fix everything I know but the improvement is very notable. People rather focus on things that happen after plays rather than the big things it fixes like running into the backs of your lineman or simply tripping over a guys stretched leg.

I say they make two different games. Reaching I know but focus on things the normal consumer may like, then another for the ones focused on other aspects of the game. Stick to the core gamer for one, the one who has been with the product since its beginning nearly, then the other to introduce new buyers.

Now to OS...I don't visit the site and when I did just seemed like a bunch of people raging about any and everything. Do they like any game over there? Reminds me of another site....

Total control passing is sensitive but I like it. Honestly, the Infinity engine for me is way too overhyped. I pulled off a sweet juke with Santana Moss this morning. The juke appears to really be affected by the player's agility as well as juke move. Only players with elite skills in that area will be able to use it well. I HATE, HATE, HATE this stupid new replay system which constantly switches angles and all angles are zoomed in. No broadcast angles? That's not TV style or interesting at all.

One tip - turn accelerated clock off completely. The game lasts a lot longer.

On topic of sliders, why don't we have a slider for QB awareness? Only adjusting accuracy doesn't help solve stupid CPU QB decisions on the lower levels.

I will say that I enjoy playing the demo for what it's worth. It's very much NCAA with better animations and tighter zone D. I don't see a lot of infinity as a gamechanger... but... regardless some people do and that's a discussion for another day. However, reading through the CCM manual again, I am liking the mode less and less. I think the concept is excellent but the TWO BIG THINGS that are super GIMMICKY to me are... XP (buying upgrades just seems silly) and GOALS. The goals are good in theory but they just seem so articifial when you look at some of the screens that have been posted. After meeting a goal in practise or a game you then buy player unlocks... for the people talking about realism, I don't get it. Honestly I would rather have the old progression system combined with a practise hybrid system.

I don't like the XP either in CCM. I will set it to auto distribute.

I did see Marshawn Lynch execute two spins and break some tackles in the first quarter of a game this morning. Leon Washington came in and juked (didn't work) as well. It does seem as though the Madden cpu RBs try to execute the special moves a lot more than the cpu RBs in NCAA. Maybe someone who has played more NCAA 13 can comment on this but I just haven't seen much personality at all out of the cpu RBs in NCAA the last couple years.

Only thing I enjoyed about the demo was the better zone defense. But there are enough differences between Madden and NCAA that I'm very unlikely to play them both. The Infinity Engine is not what I hoped it would be, and honestly felt like a detriment at times to the running game. Going to be getting Season Ticket and using that to make my decision.

Oh, and souljahbill will love that my starting MLB went out a few plays into my game.

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Originally Posted by Rudy

Exactly. The truth is I don't think the devs are big slider guys and I don't think many community day guys are big slider guys. When I asked the Madden community day guys if the special teams sliders were still global or not, none of them knew! They weren't even checking out the sliders!

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FWIW, the Community Day events are filled with so much going on, and there is so much to check out that you don't get into a rhythm of checking out your normal things. When I was there for NCAA 12, I never once looked at sliders, and even with all the gameplay time I did get, I never called an audible or looked at the hot routes. (Part of this was because a decent amount of our gameplay time was HUM vs HUM on the same console ... didn't want to give away my call with play art!)

Sliders are something I always tinker with, at least a little bit, and, while I don't call quite as many audibles as others, I call my fair share in a normal game. The Community Day events are just so outside "the norm" that you don't look at most of the things you would with a retail copy.

My decision was made the first time I played NCAA '13 with my Season Ticket. The fact that this is by far the best Madden demo they've ever released also helps make the decision a lot easier. The zone defense, smoothness of play, and removal of route mirroring is all I needed to see. It just feels better to me in every possible way.

Since it has been confirmed that coaching contracts are not in the game and only YEARLY EXTENSIONS are available based on completion of goals, I wonder how that will impact CCM and the HUM/CPU experience? I can expect to see some terrible results if things have not been tuned properly. I wonder how many good coaches will get the axe for failing something like milestone goals? Imagine if you go 10-6 and make the playoffs but you get fired because some of your specific weekly goals or milestone goals are not met? I really think coaching contracts should have been built in, especially in cases where injury/circumstance are involved. Also, the goals will be a lot tougher if your team is better. If you love the Packers and choose them in season one but don't meet your goals, you will be fired. Ouch! Outside of my Raiders, you don't see a lot of teams in the NFL who fire a coach after the first season for an average record.

Can you turn getting fired off in CCM?

Maybe I'm just getting old but I preferred playing on Very Slow this morning. The commentary has nice variety but many times is inaccurate. A WR drops a pass and Phil trashes the QB. A RB cuts back and Simms said it was a terrible decision and that the RB should have cut back. I wish Phil Simms wasn't as obsessed about first downs lol. Both Madden and NCAA commentary need to understand that a 47 yard FG is NOT a long FG, at least in the NFL. NFL kickers make that kick in their sleep now. That is never a distance issue unless your kicker is 40 years old. WRs need to do a better job of trying to drag their feet near the sidelines.

I don't know why when I drop my Rush Defense to 25 on All-Pro it drops me to Rookie difficulty. I don't think that matters and was an issue last year but I made it HARDER on myself. That was odd.

Honestly there was a part of me that wasn't sure if I was going to buy Madden 13 initially but I will. I just have to accept that these football games won't hold my interest year round (or even 6 months) like they did when I was younger.

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Originally Posted by Rudy

Maybe I'm just getting old but I preferred playing on Very Slow this morning. The commentary has nice variety but many times is inaccurate. A WR drops a pass and Phil trashes the QB. A RB cuts back and Simms said it was a terrible decision and that the RB should have cut back. I wish Phil Simms wasn't as obsessed about first downs lol. Both Madden and NCAA commentary need to understand that a 47 yard FG is NOT a long FG, at least in the NFL. NFL kickers make that kick in their sleep now. That is never a distance issue unless your kicker is 40 years old. WRs need to do a better job of trying to drag their feet near the sidelines.

I don't know why when I drop my Rush Defense to 25 on All-Pro it drops me to Rookie difficulty. I don't think that matters and was an issue last year but I made it HARDER on myself. That was odd.

Honestly there was a part of me that wasn't sure if I was going to buy Madden 13 initially but I will. I just have to accept that these football games won't hold my interest year round (or even 6 months) like they did when I was younger.

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That's becoming true of myself as well. Now, I still play NCAA and Madden for the calendar year but I usually now take several months off for each game. The type of immersion for the "offline franchise guy" like me just isn't what Tiburon has historically done well. At this point I need something more to hold my interest. Plus, I have been playing these type of football games for a decade and basically at the heart of it, they are the same game over and over year after year.

As to the rookie difficulty comment... it's just a bug. Don't worry about it though because the difficulty is NOT rookie even though it says it is. I haven't tried very slow but I do enjoy the game on slow.

For me, I just wish editing and play any game were available. That would Make Madden a sure buy. Right now though until season ticket proves me wrong I am still leaning towards no buy.

I'm not going to deny that playing the Madden 13 demo on slow hasn't made me at least think about renting the game to see how the Infinity Engine has been tuned up. My main problem with Madden 13 is the Connected Careers mode just don't feel it is for me at all. I will miss everything that was added to Madden 12 Franchise too much so I'm passing on buying it. Here is hoping EA Tiburon understands their monumental gaffe in my eyes by removing all the cool aspects of Franchise that I enjoyed in Madden 12. If Madden 14 gives me everything back from Madden 12 with improved player movement, true OL/DL and WR/DB interactions, more stat overlays, highlight shows at half-time and post-game, in studio score updates from around the league with highlights, and improved player AI then I'll be back to getting both NCAA and Madden(next gen here I come hopefully, lol).

There are certainly omissions from this new franchise mode that bother people to varying degrees but I am interested in the new scouting system and the new FA system. Last year's FA e-bay system was a huge disappointment to me. So was the scouting as it did very little to help you and you got NO basic info like 40 times that all GMs should have available. I felt scouting was a complete waste of time and that hurt the draft. Plus, the few kids I was able to scout for true ratings always ended up with worse ratings than projected. It just seemed like almost every first rounder was worse than what they said while there were quite a few gems in the 3rd and 4th round. I honestly felt I should just trade down last year and acquire a ton of mid round picks because my 3rd round pick was just as good as my first rounder.

I have read almost no info on the new FA system other than it is a recruiting style bidding system. Nobody has said if it works well or not. They are having one final community day to test the new CCM mode so maybe we'll get more soon.

Just played the demo.

Meh.

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Originally Posted by Rudy

There are certainly omissions from this new franchise mode that bother people to varying degrees but I am interested in the new scouting system and the new FA system.

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:+1: That's why I'm planning to get Season Ticket, so I can try that.

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Originally Posted by Rudy

There are certainly omissions from this new franchise mode that bother people to varying degrees but I am interested in the new scouting system and the new FA system. Last year's FA e-bay system was a huge disappointment to me. So was the scouting as it did very little to help you and you got NO basic info like 40 times that all GMs should have available. I felt scouting was a complete waste of time and that hurt the draft. Plus, the few kids I was able to scout for true ratings always ended up with worse ratings than projected. It just seemed like almost every first rounder was worse than what they said while there were quite a few gems in the 3rd and 4th round. I honestly felt I should just trade down last year and acquire a ton of mid round picks because my 3rd round pick was just as good as my first rounder.

I have read almost no info on the new FA system other than it is a recruiting style bidding system. Nobody has said if it works well or not. They are having one final community day to test the new CCM mode so maybe we'll get more soon.

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Here is an upload from Tradition... it's MOST of the draft. I haven't watched it all but you get the idea.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoTsH...ure=youtu.be&a

Holy crap what a bunch of cheesers all these users are my goodness they went ahead and practically stole every 1st rd pick from the CPU teams. How embarrassing to put it nicely lol these guys are really going out of their way to do a sim nfl draft there, NOT. 1st, 2nd, and 4th pick of RD 1 went to the User of the Ravens lol and he took 2 MLB's. Its like watching my brother draft giving backups and mid round picks for 1st rd selections, lol terrible trade logic. Minus the unbelievable cheese of the Users I think the draft works fairly well though with Tweets and generic player info by Wingo. However, we never got to see the draft recap or how each of these unscouted players turned out to be rated so still a lot of unanswered questions about the drafts.

Definitely a lot more immersive with the draft. I hope we get enough scouting points this year. Not enough last year imo.

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Originally Posted by WolverineJay

Holy crap what a bunch of cheesers all these users are my goodness they went ahead and practically stole every 1st rd pick from the CPU teams. How embarrassing to put it nicely lol these guys are really going out of their way to do a sim nfl draft there, NOT. 1st, 2nd, and 4th pick of RD 1 went to the User of the Ravens lol and he took 2 MLB's. Its like watching my brother draft giving backups and mid round picks for 1st rd selections, lol terrible trade logic. Minus the unbelievable cheese of the Users I think the draft works fairly well though with Tweets and generic player info by Wingo. However, we never got to see the draft recap or how each of these unscouted players turned out to be rated so still a lot of unanswered questions about the drafts.

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Yeah I am a ittle worried by the trade logic. Offering up a 3rd and 5th rounder over the next two years and throwing in a 72 ovr Mark Ingram and you get a top ten pick? Really??? That's just bizarre. There also has been a lot of concern that pick 1 is a WR and pick 2 is a TE. Overall I think the draft looks 100 times better BUT I do wonder how effective it will be.

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Originally Posted by Rudy

Definitely a lot more immersive with the draft. I hope we get enough scouting points this year. Not enough last year imo.

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I find it strange/concerning that there are ZERO videos of scouting. Has it not really change? Is it broken? Why no videos yet???

I was a bit worried seeing a WR and TE taken in the top two as well. That is rare. Especially with a QB going #3. People will almost always trade up or reach for a QB. With the success of a WR like Calvin Johnson and all these TEs (Vernon Davis was taken #4 or #6) it's possible we could see this happen. As long as they are studs I can live with it.

I haven't seen much of the offseason stuff either. Shopmaster did tweet that free agency is really good and that you will lose out on free agents to the cpu (unlike last year).

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Originally Posted by jaymo76

I find it strange/concerning that there are ZERO videos of scouting. Has it not really change? Is it broken? Why no videos yet???

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There's videos of scouting. I posted one around E3. Check the second post of this link.

Another one from Tradition Sports specifically ALL about scouting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DasjMW-rzg4

Practise mode also from Tradition Sports. I'm not really big into practising to gain xp due to MY time restrictions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCK-wfEedkU&list=UU2JEB7Mc1X4_e2H74XH1azQ&index=2&feat ure=plcp

I don't think 2000 points for scouting is enough. Last year it was too restrictive and I sure hope we can have info on more than 20-30 prospects when there are 250 kids that get drafted. Especially since we don't get basic numbers like 40 times and bench. Last year you had decent info on less than 20 kids imo and it all felt like a waste since it was barely useful.

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Originally Posted by Rudy

I don't think 2000 points for scouting is enough. Last year it was too restrictive and I sure hope we can have info on more than 20-30 prospects when there are 250 kids that get drafted. Especially since we don't get basic numbers like 40 times and bench. Last year you had decent info on less than 20 kids imo and it all felt like a waste since it was barely useful.

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I agree 100%. The scouting process last year was a joke and it made the draft almost pointless. Far more information needs to be known about far more draftees for 13.

I totally agree 2000 SP is a joke especially when some of those attributes have to be scouted multiple times to get the true rating, lol. I know Madden 12 scouting was unrealistic in that you only got 60 guys to scout during the year with mostly asinine ratings revealed like blocking attributes for defenders, but Madden 13 seems to have made it nearly impossible to get half that many players scouted during the year. Note to EA Tiburon there isn't 1 player drafted in the NFL that each team doesn't know the basics physical attributes on and college stats. So it seems yet again the User will be flying blind into the NFL draft, thanks. I know we haven't seen or I haven't heard about off-season scouting so maybe there is a senior bowl, scouting combine, pro days, and individual workouts section that allows for more scouting than the measly bit you get in-season. However, knowing EA Tiburon I doubt we get auto scouting for any of those if they are in the game at all.

I had tweeted Madscientist about that (he has the retail version) and he agreed that the user has a lot less info in the game than a real GM has in real life. I know that was also a big complaint from one of the first community days. The guys were begging for more points. I do think that was 2000 points per week and I hope we get a lot more points in the offseason. Why not even make it an option? If I want to double the points to make it easier for me why not let me do it? Unfortunately the Madden devs have decided you will play this mode exactly how they want you to play it - no extra scouting, no editing players, no ability to play games other than your own, etc.