Madden NFL 25 - PS3/360 Impressions

[WolverineJay]

Okay wow! I took all night simming through to see the Rams play in their new stadium and in week four of pre-season the game freezes. It's a hard freeze and my system is totally locked. Unbelievable! I haven't saved anything because this was just a test dynasty. This royally sucks!

That does suck big time. I had same thing happen last year with my test dynasty in NCAA 13. I started up a quick Dynasty with Army played 2 games and decided to recruit before saving and shutting down for the night, bad decision game hard froze on me while scouting. I lost my dynasty and some of my good will towards 13 in the process. I saved every chance I could get after that, but truly stinks when you're excited to see something then game pulls the rug out from underneath you.

[WolverineJay]

Just a side note but you can edit players BEFORE your first pre-season game (season 2).

Edit as in player ratings? Position changes? Or just equipment?
If you can edit ratings that is huge for me, HUGE.

With the Rams I moved them to LA. However, in season two I was not able to begin relocation again because the stadium is brand new. You will need to let the stadium deteriorate to below 20 (and it's currently at 99). You can probably move your team again but it will take a long, long time. Sorry.

I thought I read an article during E3 you can override that in the options menu and relocate anytime. If not that sucks and ruins my plans.

[jaymo76]

Edit as in player ratings? Position changes? Or just equipment?
If you can edit ratings that is huge for me, HUGE.

No you cannot edit ratings at anytime. Player positions are also only available in the offseason. Physical appearance can be edited at anytime though.

I thought I read an article during E3 you can override that in the options menu and relocate anytime. If not that sucks and ruins my plans.

I have "everyone" on for relocation, which is the highest level. However, it didn't let me move the team again so I'm not sure.

[jaymo76]

There are a ton of dropped hum passes in this game. Any contact across the middle and it's 50/50

[jaymo76]

Really annoying when the sideline reporter says my player is gone for the game and then he is back a few plays later.

[jaymo76]

Alright it's far too late so I am going to bed. One last thing though: way too many high rating players in the FA pool.

Okay, overall I am really enjoying this game. Yup there are lot's of issues but it's a pretty fun game (with the right sliders) and the owner mode, while having a lack of sustained depth is still a worthwhile experience.

[Rudy]

Alright it's far too late so I am going to bed. One last thing though: way too many high rating players in the FA pool.

Okay, overall I am really enjoying this game. Yup there are lot's of issues but it's a pretty fun game (with the right sliders) and the owner mode, while having a lack of sustained depth is still a worthwhile experience.

Madden and most sports games have always done a horrible job with the FA pool. I will edit these guys in a custom roster before I fire up my first franchise.

Great impressions Jaymo! I heard injuries were too high although I know you love injuries. Any thoughts on that from the actual in-game engine vs. the sim engine?

[SmoothPancakes]

Yeah, I ran into some seriously awful lag last night. First the menu lag is ugly. It's manageable, but damn does it make everything take forever. Then when I got to season 2 in my "sim" owner mode save, yeah, I think I got to week 4 of the preseason, when just about every action I made in the game start causing it to completely freeze for 5-10 seconds at a time. It'd go back to normal, I'd advance the week or something, and it'd go right back into a solid freeze. I called it a night shortly after that and just straight up shut down my 360, didn't even bother to dashboard out of Madden first. If that lag and freezing is going to continue being an issue whenever you get to season 2 (or beyond) that could be a game-killer for me.

[SmoothPancakes]

I also may need to look at someone other than Denver for my owner mode in the future. Things were going good season 1. Started off 8-1, hit a little bit of a rough patch and finish 11-5. Beat Kansas City in the Wildcard, but lost for the second time to the Patriots in the Divisional round (Super Bowl was Seattle dismantling New England 31-13 by the way). Got into the offseason at end of year 1, and Peyton Manning retired, leaving my very potent offense being led by Brock Osweiler. He's a decent QB, but with him starting, we got off to an 0-5 start in year 2 before I shut things down last night.

Something tells me we're looking at a repeat of Joe Paterno in the last two or three NCAA games, with a majority of people seeing Paterno retire at the end of the first season. I expect we're gonna see the same thing here. A majority of people will see Peyton Manning retire at the end of year one, with almost everyone else seeing him gone by end of year 2. In that case, I might look at starting with a different team. While Denver is in great shape otherwise, having maybe one good or great year and then be right back in rebuilding mode with a lack of Peyton Manning at QB, I might opt for an up-and-coming team that has some solid, young talent, especially at QB, that I can work with and try and build up a team around within a year or two.

Otherwise, I'm gonna be forced to sit there jumping from free agent QB to free agent QB while hoping I can somehow draft the next Peyton Manning from a draft slot anywhere between #10 and #30.

[Rudy]

If it's any consolation Smooth, in M13 Peyton hung around for at least 3 more years for me one time while some guys retire a lot. I do think it was random (to a degree) last year.

[Rudy]

Some good foot planting in Madden retail. Ray Rice is controlled by the cpu too.

[jaymo76]

Yeah, I ran into some seriously awful lag last night. First the menu lag is ugly. It's manageable, but damn does it make everything take forever. Then when I got to season 2 in my "sim" owner mode save, yeah, I think I got to week 4 of the preseason, when just about every action I made in the game start causing it to completely freeze for 5-10 seconds at a time. It'd go back to normal, I'd advance the week or something, and it'd go right back into a solid freeze. I called it a night shortly after that and just straight up shut down my 360, didn't even bother to dashboard out of Madden first. If that lag and freezing is going to continue being an issue whenever you get to season 2 (or beyond) that could be a game-killer for me.

YES, it's not just you. There is a terrible lag in this game. Moving between screens is like experiencing glaciation up close. The game starts quick but CFM is deathly slow.

[jaymo76]

I also may need to look at someone other than Denver for my owner mode in the future. Things were going good season 1. Started off 8-1, hit a little bit of a rough patch and finish 11-5. Beat Kansas City in the Wildcard, but lost for the second time to the Patriots in the Divisional round (Super Bowl was Seattle dismantling New England 31-13 by the way). Got into the offseason at end of year 1, and Peyton Manning retired, leaving my very potent offense being led by Brock Osweiler. He's a decent QB, but with him starting, we got off to an 0-5 start in year 2 before I shut things down last night.

Something tells me we're looking at a repeat of Joe Paterno in the last two or three NCAA games, with a majority of people seeing Paterno retire at the end of the first season. I expect we're gonna see the same thing here. A majority of people will see Peyton Manning retire at the end of year one, with almost everyone else seeing him gone by end of year 2. In that case, I might look at starting with a different team. While Denver is in great shape otherwise, having maybe one good or great year and then be right back in rebuilding mode with a lack of Peyton Manning at QB, I might opt for an up-and-coming team that has some solid, young talent, especially at QB, that I can work with and try and build up a team around within a year or two.

Otherwise, I'm gonna be forced to sit there jumping from free agent QB to free agent QB while hoping I can somehow draft the next Peyton Manning from a draft slot anywhere between #10 and #30.

My simmed year one Manning, Brady, Gonzalez, Seymour, Moss and Palmer all retired. My bigger concern tough is that the cpu cuts a lot of quality talent. There were 14+ 79ovr or higher players left in the free agent pool after free agency. That's nuts! They should be in the sixties or lower.

By the way Smooth, Dalton was cut and Ryan was NOT resigned at QB... you will have options for the right price.

[jaymo76]

Madden and most sports games have always done a horrible job with the FA pool. I will edit these guys in a custom roster before I fire up my first franchise.

Great impressions Jaymo! I heard injuries were too high although I know you love injuries. Any thoughts on that from the actual in-game engine vs. the sim engine?

Honestly injuries with a high slider and a 50 slider don't see very different IMO. Right now in my online Rams (maybe test) franchise in week two I have four players out. Most are 1-2 week injuries or all game injuries but it will be tough as Bradford is out 8 weeks. Clemens is my backup so we will see how it goes. Right now we are 1-1 and in tough.

P.S. Rudy, I know it's not your thing but I really encourage you to try out owner mode. You can skip the stuff you don't like but it adds a lot more options to the game.

[SmoothPancakes]

My simmed year one Manning, Brady, Gonzalez, Seymour, Moss and Palmer all retired. My bigger concern tough is that the cpu cuts a lot of quality talent. There were 14+ 79ovr or higher players left in the free agent pool after free agency. That's nuts! They should be in the sixties or lower.

By the way Smooth, Dalton was cut and Ryan was NOT resigned at QB... you will have options for the right price.

Brady?! The hell? They really need to work on the retirement logic in this game.

And your simmed year was MUCH kinder to you than it was to me. The highest rated QB come free agency in my simmed year, Chad Henne. Nothing against Chad Henne, but Brock Osweiler was still better rated than him, so Osweiler ended up the starter. Maybe it was just an odd year between retirements and free agency.

I may fire things up again in a little bit and try it again. I've got my initial save back at week 1 of season 1 with Denver, I'll probably make a serious trek through it and see how things go. It'll also give me a chance to see if that 5-10 seconds long game freezing lag every time you enter or exit menus or advance the week returns at some point in season 2 or if it was just a very, very freak occurrence last night.

[countryboy]

question:

Can you turn relocation off in franchise mode?

[Rudy]

question:

Can you turn relocation off in franchise mode?

I hope so. Is that just an owner mode thing or is that for all modes?

[countryboy]

I hope so. Is that just an owner mode thing or is that for all modes?

I believe its just an owner mode thing Rudy.

Its a great idea don't get me wrong, but its not something thats for me.

[SmoothPancakes]

Yes, you can turn it off. Options for relocation are Off, Normal (default) and Everyone On (or whatever exactly it's worded as).

[jaymo76]

Yes, you can turn it off. Options for relocation are Off, Normal (default) and Everyone On (or whatever exactly it's worded as).

Everyone means that you can move a team even if they have a decent stadium. Plus what is great is that you can change the settings at anytime. After I move I may turn it off. However, once you see a team has plans of relocating you can take over another owner (of the team that wants to move) and squish their plans. Sadly, I figured this out to late with Oakland.