Refining our Purpose

Sometimes, when the controllers aren't flying, we can find time to reflect on ways to make things better.  There are a lot of things that could be done to improve the experience, either with specific games or with universal changes across the industry.

Like a boss

BoFC is going to use the time in between rage reviews to give back to the world.  New ideas.  New thinking.  New optimism.

Other people have probably thought of some of these ideas, but we still want to point out where a little extra thought and investment can change the entire experience.

Maybe channelling all of this anger into smart, well thought-out explanations of these ideas will be a force for change in the industry.  Maybe.

Here's to new ideas, and the awesome mustaches and crazy hair that might accompany them!

NCAA Football 13 - Final Take

Read Part 1 and Part 2 of my "review."

Overall, after a few days of playing this, I stand by my decision to not buy it new.  Until EA can show it's ready to put some time, and more importantly, thought, into development, I'm not going to reward them with my money for this franchise - I'll buy it used again.

Score: 4 Flying Controllers

Lots of things to frustrate me, but there's enough here that I won't stop playing.

NCAA Football 13 (Part 2) - Dynasty Mode and a few other things

This is Part 2 of my "review" of NCAA Football 13.  For part 1, go here.

Played through one season on Dynasty mode.  A couple shining stars, but in all reality, it's glitter on a turd made up of a bunch of small things that really take away from a good experience.  Small things, that with a little thought, would really give this game a chance to be played without distraction.  Just some shining examples of laziness and lack of innovation.  This list kept getting longer as I went on:

• Building my coach - these guys still look incredibly unnatural and weird.  Can't EA pull non-football body figures and animations from something else?  Faces should be customizable as well.

• Coach philosophy is still confusing.  Never sure which side to put the slider depending on if I want to run or pass more.  If I slide it towards pass offense, I think it actually makes run offense larger.  And once I get into my dynasty and want to change it, the sliders are different, adding to the confusion.

• Conference realignment.  If I want to dissolve a conference, I should be able to.  Such as the WAC pretty much dissolving after this year.  And EA should have a patch to allow for automatic conference realignment with the moves we know are happening in the future (Boise St and co to Big East, Syracuse and Pitt to ACC).  I tried so hard to get it accurate, but small things like this will not allow me to do it (Sorry San Jose St. and Utah St. - you're still stuck in the WAC).  And it should adopt the playoff beginning in 2014.  Why, when we know how the rules will change in the future, we allow a game to play into the future without making these changes is beyond me.

• On that note, for things we know: If a team is going to be on probation and ineligible for postseason play, build that in.  Make it an option you can set to any team.  In fact, BRING BACK DISCIPLINARY PROBLEMS FOR PLAYERS AND PROBATION FOR SCHOOLS.  This was in previous games!

• Small thing.  When picking your team at the beginning, you can see a team's overall, offense, and defense ratings when they're not selected, but once you highlight it, it only shows you its prestige level, making it a nuisance to have to move it over to the side if you want to see the ratings. Just another UI issue.

• Somehow, without me selecting to, my saved roster with all names was saved over by the default roster, yet still with the save name of my specific roster.  Grrrrr.  At least I realized it very early before even selecting a team in Dynasty mode.

• More UI issues.  Been this way for a few years.  Looking at a roster, the trigger buttons SHOULD switch between positions, but only the right one does.  If you want to go back, you have to hold it down and scroll up.  Used to be you'd just hit the left one.  Instead, the left one is for switching through teams in the same bass-ackward manner.  The shoulder buttons aren't even used here and could be used for switching between teams.  Simple things like this - no thought whatsoever.

• On the schedule when picking games - let me see the date!

• **LOOKS LIKE MARKED IMPROVEMENT ON THE RECRUITING PITCH RATING SYSTEM.  YOUR SCHOOL'S RATINGS MAY ACTUALLY CHANGE BASED ON PERFORMANCE.  EXCITED TO SEE HOW THIS PLAYS OUT.  +1, EA.  +1.**

• And following that, of course, is the coach stability pitch.  Why does every single coach start at 0 years at the school? That's not the case at all!  If you have a problem putting this info in, EA, allow us to change this stat about each coach.  Most of us will given the chance.  Couldn't we change a coach's prestige last year? Doesn't seem like we can this year - and I don't agree w/ some of them.

• Also, the playing style pitch.  Great in theory, but if you play 5-minute quarters (default setting), you'll never get the kind of stats to make you competitive.  Even if your team is in the top 10, you might still find yourself at the bottom of these stats.  And some of the stats are very unclear as to what they actually represent - might be nice to have a little explanation, EA.

• In game, same as with RTG - if I'm a coordinator, let me watch the part of the game I'm not controlling uninterrupted!  Going to a different screen and having to hit a button to watch each play separately really disrupts the flow.

• What I do like is the addition of the studio updates.  Just found out about some big upsets happening on the first Saturday of the season.  However, Rece Davis's lines sound so canned and robotic that even Siri sounds more human and natural.  Also, like I mentioned before, it would be great if it could show video highlights.  All of these simulated games DO have stats, so detailed as to say when certain scores happened.  Why not just show what the play would have been?

• Just tried running the option.  Good thing it was against a terrible team - I meant to pitch it.  Years of muscle memory have taught me to hit a certain button to pitch it.  However, that easily accessible button is changed to accommodate the Heisman/RTG mode's slow-down-time feature.  Who makes a button only usable for one specific game mode?  Missed tackle resulted in a TD.  Lucky me.

• Video freeze/framerate issues at the beginning of each game.  This isn't major - could actually just be my xbox.  But it wasn't like this with previous versions.  If this is widespread, does a developer see this happening but say, "Hey, maybe nobody will notice? Or if they do, they'll let it slide?"  

• Instant replay review.  Ref's mouth still doesn't even remotely sync with what he says.  He continues moving his mouth a few seconds after finishing what he's saying.  Also, during the replay, everyone was running pretty much on their ankles - the grass doesn't correspond too well with where the actual player models interact with the ground, so their feet are running on something below the top of the grass.  Just like with the above, how is this ok? I remember going to a movie when I was young - a DuckTales movie - and the audio was all messed up and couldn't sync to the video.  Everyone was pissed, and the theater gave everyone a rain check.  Never ended up going back and seeing the movie, though - I think my parents probably used the raincheck for a date night.  Why can't we all get pissed when a game isn't up to par?  It's a small part of the game, yes, but a distracting one.

• Just a thought: if you're a head coach in dynasty mode, maybe at some point you should be able to vote in the coaches' poll.  Would be a fun little thing to add.

• Coaching carousel:  let me see ALL jobs that are opening up instead of just a couple at a time.  I may be holding out for a specific job (Florida), but get other offers before it.  I'd like to know if it will actually be opening up (sadly due to a firing because UF gets no love in this game this season).  Really, it's annoying to get offered a job, and you take it, but then you find out another one opened up that you more than likely would have been offered that you would have preferred more.

• More coaching carousel.  When I'm offered a contract, and I can see the roster, don't show me players that won't be there when I take the job.  Those seniors are graduating.  Don't try and lure me with players that won't be there.  Also, let me see the school's grades on things.  No coach would should walk into a job without knowing the full situation.

• Coaches who aren't hired after being fired should be retained in a pool for future years (depending on age).  See: Mike Leach, Terry Bowden.  These generic coaches that start popping up are just meh.  Also, it should be able to have old players turn into coaches - ones that maybe didn't get drafted can become an OC or DC after a few years.

• Coaches with different styles shouldn't be that common like it is here.  I run more of a pro-style offense.  I utilize a lot of running to set up the pass.  Don't offer me the OC job for an air-raid offense head coach.  We will not mesh.

• In game, I'm seeing some terrible coaching decisions with clock management.  If I'm working to run out the clock, the opponent has no timeouts, and now the AI is in charge of special teams on the punt, why did it snap the ball with 25 seconds still on the play clock? That could have cost us the game!

• Off season, it shows when players get drafted now.  That's cool, especially because it affects your Pro Potential grade.  Same problem with playing style, and with having any players eligible for awards: it's based on stats.  This means, if you play all the games, and don't do full 15 minute quarters (who has time for that?!?), you won't get anyone drafted high (or at all...).  Example: I just had an 87 OVR QB at ULL.  We went 11-1.  He set the record for QB rating (195 or so).  But his total number of passing yards, completions, TDs, etc - far less than anyone else at his position.  So my playing style for a passing QB is still a D.  And he went undrafted.  Will Blaine Gautier actually go undrafted?  We shall see - perhaps he is one of those college QBs that could never pass muster in the NFL.

• Whoops!  When setting up an on-campus visit, everything's all nice and color coded to help you choose the right activities.  During the off season, when you're setting up in-home visits, it doesn't match this year's style - still has last year's layout.  LAZY!!

Seriously - that's a lot of things that could be better.  Maybe some aren't feasible - but I think if someone just put in a little extra thought, they could plan for these things when putting in new features.  A lot of new stuff gets added, but it doesn't make it much better when things still don't make a lot of sense.

NCAA Football 13 - First Take

I've been faithfully buying the NCAA Football franchise since probably around 99 or 2000 (though I didn't buy 2005 for some reason).  I've said before that NCAA 2006 was the best in the franchise.  And after NCAA 12 came out, I stuck by that, and said I would not give EA any more money towards the NCAA Football franchise.

So I bought NCAA 2013 used.  Waited a few weeks.  Didn't preorder, so I wasn't awarded with extra Heisman players to use in the Heisman Mode.  Oh no.

Glad I waited.  Glad EA did not get my money.

As I play, I'll keep a running, updated log below of all the issues I encounter.  Things that are broken, things that make no sense, and things that I think would make things better.

• I'll be brief on visuals.  Nothing has improved in years.  Crowds still look terrible and repetitive.  Sidelines look even worse.  Populate the sidelines more.  You know what?  Why not have your actual teammates on the sideline instead of just random players in uniform.  They show up in the nice little cut scenes, but that's it.  Any nobody reacts to a player or ball coming to the sideline, or into the endzone.  It all looks great from the blimp view, but once we get down to field level, it feels so cheap.  How many players are on a football team?  I feel like just enough for maybe the first string by watching everyone run out at the beginning.  It's like a History Channel reenactment of some epic battle using only 20 people.  You know what it's SUPPOSED to be like, but this comes up incredibly short.

• Ok, not so brief, as there are more things I keep thinking of.  The fields still look terrible.  So you added grass last year.  Great.  The art in Road to Glory high school games, and I'm assuming it does the same for Create-a-School, looks terrible.  Might as well have put those letters on an 8-bit machine or into a pixel editor in ResEdit (c. 1994).

• The lighting on the score at the end of a game is way off.  Can barely see any of it.  Did you spend all your time on animations for the Nissan and Sparq logos flying in and out that you didn't do this?

• Speaking of Sparq - it's just thrown into RTG with no real effect on anything it seems.  Here's your number based on how you've done, but that's all.  But were' still going to leave a big Sparq thing in the drop down menu as one of the options to click...oh wait, you can't click it.  It's just there.  Highlight it as you go through the menu, but there's nothing to do with it.  I feel like Officer Barbrady should show up when you highlight it saying "Nothing to see here.  Move along people."  There are a few other menu items like this as well.  WHY?!

• We've had the same zombie-looking players for how many years now?  The face models need updating.  Emotion looks forced if it's there at all.  Nobody looks like they're trying.  Why can't we just customize a face instead of scrolling through 50 of them?

• Is a visor supposed to fit onto a Schutt Ion4D helment like that?  Just wondering - it looks odd.  There's a gap on the side between the end of the visor and the beginning of the helmet.  Part of your peripheral vision would not get the benefit of the visor - probably pretty distracting.

• The physics engine is nowhere near better.  Tackling players still seem to latch on from irrecoverable distances.  As a running back, you'll get stuck on a lead blocker and not be able to go anywhere.  The slightest bump may knock you over.

• Running the ball just doesn't work right.  Want to run it to the outside with no lead blocker?  Great, so long as your goal is to be bumrushed by an OLB or DB who never falls for a fake or misdirection.  Want to run up the middle? Better not get your knee caught on the butt of your OL - you won't go anywhere, and a DL will suddenly pounce on you like a cougar from Red Dead Redemption.  The animation looks the same.  Scenery is better in RDR though.

• The option still doesn't work.  It's hyped as one of the "improved" features this year, too.  The AI has no idea how to run it, so if you're a RB in Road to Glory or Heisman mode, you're SOL.  Expect losses almost every time.  And if you're the QB in this situation, the pitches still don't always work right.  And none of it looks natural at all.

• In Road to Glory, why auto-generate names for everyone if I've already got a roster full of names?  Now I'm playing in an alternate universe with the same teams but everyone has names I've never heard of.  So much for getting me prepared for the season.  Probably won't play RTG much longer just because of this, unless the game mode is really that enjoyable.

• On this subject, a few more RTG thoughts.  If I want to watch a play, let me continue to watch the whole time while I'm not on the field instead of having to pick to watch EACH play separately.  If I'm the player sitting on the sideline, show it from THAT view.  Make it really feel like I'm at the game.  At least, as far as I can tell, the right playbooks are used when you go to a college team now.  But man, the playbooks in the high school level are quite monotonous.  Maybe that's how they should be?

• Speaking of cameras in RTG, what about when you're actually playing?  If I'm running a route one direction, and the ball is thrown the other, I NEVER get to see what happened.
• Why can we not get video of a simulated play, yet? If you watch it, you can see it.  But if you simulate it, that play is lost to history.  If this is the case, is it actually that the outcomes are different from each other depending on which method you used?  I've done a fair bit of simulating and watching in the past - I feel like this is indeed the case.  Offenses seem to fare better when you simulate - meaning the gameplay doesn't allow the offense to work that well, even controlled by the AI.  Too bad.  I'd love to be able to get highlights from a specific game that was simulated during my season, or if I simulated a specific play, and it turns out someone returned a kick 97 yards, I'd like to go back and watch that.

• Why, when I've become the starting RB, am I still on the field goal block team?  Why am I still returning kicks?  You really don't give real coaches any credit.

• Position battle.  Cool idea.  Except it was not a battle at all.  Once I got 700 arbitrary points, I had the position.  I should be able to see how my competition does.  Go play for play.  I bet he would have beaten me - he's got a higher OVR.  I don't deserve to start after 3 games as a freshman RB at a 6-star caliber school.

• Why should I be punished in practice or games because of a bad play call or a great defensive play?  I lose 7 arbitrary coach trust points because I lost yards.  What was the play call? A screen pass that was busted as soon as I caught it.  Or an option play that tossed me the ball when someone was right next to me.  Or just really good defense stuffing me a yard behind the line.  If I were a coach, I'd lose confidence in my runner if he didn't run straight at that line of scrimmage and try to barrel through them.  Maybe if he was continually ineffective I might lose confidence, but not if on one play he lost a yard.

• I was a 5-star recruit.  I got the achievement for it.  Didn't get the reward for being a 5-star recruit in my Legend Score.  I've come to expect things like that to happen.  Like in Mass Effect 3 when I got the achievement for helping the colonists on Eden Prime, but not the in-game recognition.  

Controller hasn't flown from my hand yet, but it could happen soon.  Briefly popped up at one point, but wasn't a projectile.

More to come as I play.  I only started playing last night, and have only done one exhibition game and a bit on Road to Glory.  Dynasty mode will be a bigger test.  Lots of things that I've had issues with in the past, but there seem to be a lot of improvements EA is touting.

Why?

Because there are too many times when I'm playing a game and something that happens makes no sense.  It's all the little things in a game that keep tacking on and infuriating me more and more.  It's not that games are hard.  In fact, far from it.  I enjoy a frustrating part of a game if it's a challenge, not because the gameplay is horridly designed.

Why does nobody take the time to test things?  Why does nobody take two steps back, look at what they've made, and then say, "Hmm, you know, it would make a lot more sense if we did this?"  There are too many small things, and some glaring things as well, that would really go a long way to making games better.

The biggest culprit, at least in my experience, has become anything with the letters E and A stamped on it.  Electronic Arts, you wonder why your stock price keeps plummeting?  You keep alienating your core with every passing release.  Let this be a log of why.

Other developers and publishers, take note, too.

image via nerdsraging.com