Madden 16 Impressions

[skipwondah33]

Skip, it's really simple. You just make the R-stick more sensitive. I think NCAA 14 worked well that way. Plus separating sliders from cpu and human in franchise also helps. There is no good reason to not fix this. It's beyond easy imo. I assume that golf games using analog don't result in every swing being a hole in one or right around the cup.

EA has it all wrong. Kickers rarely miss in real life because they are short. If they miss the kick is wide.

Yes NCAA's work that way.....and is still easy to kick. Not sure what slider we are on for it but they are still easy. I missed a kick earlier in the season at home (BYU). Only reason I missed? Because the goal posts are white and the fan section behind the goal posts had on all white shirts so I couldn't see where I needed to kick the damn ball . Also tried to kick a 55 yarder and didn't get full power. That same slider also has CPU kickers shanking PAT's.

That isn't the reason why there aren't hole in ones due to the analog swing, a number of reasons even with perfect swings.

Still wouldn't expect many misses with an analog sensitive swing. Even if at 0 and a Golf Club type kick I still wouldn't expect you or I to miss many. Just IMO something that can't be made difference making difficult for a user, don't know maybe I am wrong.

Putting Ice over the meter may help....even though don't think Ice the kicker has helped me in an NCAA game yet

[Rudy]

I actually preferred the old button meter method of the past to the R-stick.

[skipwondah33]

I actually preferred the old button meter method of the past to the R-stick.

That was the one that had people pissed lol. At first if you missed the accuracy portion by a little no telling where that thing would go. The lag certainly didn't help...even had some in offline I heard. Which on All-Madden moves at the speed of light damn near if I recall.

[steelerfan]

I've never played NCAA 14 so I can't comment to how it is. Skip, I'm sorry but it is possible. The kicking sliders, beginning in like NCAA 11 or 12, became screwed up because the recruit ratings were awful.

Like Rudy said, if the right stick is sensitive enough it will work no matter how good you are.

[gschwendt]

I make 99% of my FGs that aren't too short... that's even when I set the FG Accuracy slider to 5 and only look at a players power (not accuracy). I've never had a problem missing FGs wide, typically just short when I'm over-estimating my kicker.

To me, it should be similar to PGA TOUR. By that I mean, in NCAA, you only have to press down then up, doesn't matter what your stick does between the two. However, in PGA TOUR, it tracks your stick movement... NCAA should follow that and if you don't have a smooth down then up in a straight line, then it effects based on your kickers rating.

[skipwondah33]

That's the thing I don't even think it's about being good, it's just muscle memory and repetition. I'm not the Madden FG guru but I play the game enough that developing a pattern isn't difficult.

In the Golf Club every swing of mine is identical in the way that I flick the analog stick. No swing feels different but at random times the result will be a mishit. Still out of 100 swings there may be 5-6 mishits tops on drives. Even less with irons. This is on Hard swing difficulty. And if you haven't played it that game takes swing sensitivity to another level.

All it took was repetition, which I assume would be the case even if kicking FG's was the same way. Maybe tying the harder you move the stick forward could be for power. Which is why I'll need a new controller just to play TGC.

Again you guys are the slider gurus, so it may be possible. Just not sure how Madden can incorporate in to make a difference out of the box. Variable slider changes every kick so you don't know the difficult beforehand maybe? Not showing the wind meter so you don't know which way it's going. Not having a meter at all. These are some of the things I did on Tiger Woods PGA to make it difficult.

I suggested to Pasta Padre 4 versions ago as he was giving some info to the Devs on adding suspense or whatever to kicking FG's in different stadiums. Said make kicking a FG in Heinz Field on the open end like the real thing. Variable wind directions without showing the wind meter is what I told him.

[Rudy]

Hiding the wind meter doesn't make sense. Every kicker knows which way the wind is blowing. More sensitive sliders AND have ratings matter more is important. In the Show I can use pulse pitching and even though I can time it perfectly the result isn't perfect. Just give me a higher chance at success based on my ratings. EA needs to move to that. NFL kickers are great but they still miss over 20% of their kicks at 40-49 and those are all misses wide.

[skipwondah33]

Just trying to think of some ways. None of it will still matter, outside of us using Playstation Move Cam and trying to kick the FG ourselves.

Completely neuter the sliders, ratings and you still won't miss wide.

Exaggerate the result of the slightest mishit, accuracy portion down to the tiniest nanosecond and have those hitting the tunnel section of the stadium....then FG's could be difficult.

Edit: Golfers also know the wind, but EA allowed you to turn that off so you couldn't see the severity of which it was blowing. Maybe make those goal post wind socks really mean something.

[PSUEagle]

How's everyone doing. Bought a PS4 along with the new Madden and actually like a lot of what I've seen: I'm somewhat surprised (in a good way).

So, am I the only one who is frustrated to no end by the custom playbook feature? A million duplicate plays and formations that could be eliminated in favor of more unique formations/passing concepts, no way to order plays themselves, that star rating system that makes it virtually impossible to basically start from scratch, etc. I posted a way to fix the problem on OS, but I'm going to guess it'll fall on deaf ears.

I've got to give you guys over here props: you got the NCAA team to mostly fix the feature after NCAA 12. It wasn't 100% perfect, but it was pretty good and through a couple workarounds I found I was able to make playbooks pretty much exactly how I wanted them in a couple hours time. You would think they would let those guys port that over to Madden (and make improvements beyond that) but I guess not...

[gigemaggs99]

Numerous ways.

Have the wife do the kicking for you but only after an argument.
Close your eyes and use your left hand, keeping the right one off the controller. This will affect distance and accuracy.
Stop using a real kicker, go into the depth chart and make the worst lineman your kicker.
Never kick a field goal. Field goals are for pussies.

LOL

[jaymo76]

I don't need a special teams overhaul. What I do need for special teams is:

1. formation subs.
2. return of the squib kick.
3. awareness of when the cpu is doing an onside kick.
4. seperate cpu and human sliders.

[bdoughty]

I don't need a special teams overhaul. What I do need for special teams is:

1. formation subs.
2. return of the squib kick.
3. awareness of when the cpu is doing an onside kick.
4. seperate cpu and human sliders.

Might add, special teams blockers with the ability to hold a block for more than a millisecond. Not expecting TD's every other return but this is an area that has been broken for some time.

[Rudy]

Might add, special teams blockers with the ability to hold a block for more than a millisecond. Not expecting TD's every other return but this is an area that has been broken for some time.

Yup. I don't know if I've seen a return go past the 30 yet for the CPU and I'm not much better. A kick return blocking slider would help if they can't tune this correctly. CPU returners don't even seem to try and make moves.

[skipwondah33]

I've returned 2 kick returns both 98 yards for TD's and a nice 75-yd punt return for six already. Those were all in my first 10 games or so against other people. Nearly took another kick and punt back but my guys both ran out of gas near the end.

Almost had one returned one me as well but Heyard-Bey ran the guy down in the last 40 yards.

Haven't played CPU so can't verify that.

[bdoughty]

Online

This is offline, against the CPU. It has been awful for years.

[skipwondah33]

This is offline, against the CPU. It has been awful for years.

Gotcha

What I really like about this year's version is the variation in speed. Fast guys don't get walked down from behind as much unlike last year's version. Or have the trip tackle from 5 yards away.

This definitely allows for kick/punt returns.

[Rudy]

I will say this for those that are sitting on the fence. If you have generally liked Madden in the past you will like this game. By far the biggest upgrade is to the passing game. Everything else is very similar but the passing game is a big improvement. In the past contested balls were wins for the DB 99% of the time as they would just knock them down. Now it's an unpredictable event where the WR can win and you see a cool play. If you have a matchup with a big WR on the outside, lobbing a high pass or throwing a fade route are very realistic options now. Couldn't do that last year at all. Furthermore the cpu QBs are a lot better. They throw the ball away on covered screens and take shots down the field. I've been burned by the cpu deep ball more in this past week than probably all of my time in Madden 15. A very nice improvement.

[Rudy]

I've read a lot of people saying sliders were improved. I don't think so. Penalty sliders yes but gameplay sliders no. The game is better tuned on default this year except for pass rush. I think that's why people are saying they don't need to tweak much but it doesn't mean the sliders work better. I've reduced my pass block down to zero and I still have good protection on all-pro. The sliders are still pretty weak imo, especially blocking. About the same as last year.

[CLW]

I've read a lot of people saying sliders were improved. I don't think so. Penalty sliders yes but gameplay sliders no. The game is better tuned on default this year except for pass rush. I think that's why people are saying they don't need to tweak much but it doesn't mean the sliders work better. I've reduced my pass block down to zero and I still have good protection on all-pro. The sliders are still pretty weak imo, especially blocking. About the same as last year.

Yeah I think its safe to say there is virtually zero pass rush in this year's game. The only way I've seen pressure is by blitzing and/or user controlled d-lineman beating the offensive lineman and even then you have enough time to make a read and throw.

[jaymo76]

Yeah I think its safe to say there is virtually zero pass rush in this year's game. The only way I've seen pressure is by blitzing and/or user controlled d-lineman beating the offensive lineman and even then you have enough time to make a read and throw.

It's a no win though because without the toned down pass rush you cannot see the wr/db interactions play out. In this case they "robbed Peter to pay Paul..."