Madden 2009 Online League *Renamed*

My understanding is that the league will self contract if a player drops. I have no idea if that affects the Won/Loss records of teams you have faced, or cancels out stats. I'm pretty much in the same boat. The game just isn't doing it for me. Maybe I'm old, and the game is just too fast for me, but I'm already finding that I have no real interest in putting the game in.

It has some cool features, and I really like the possibilities of their version of online league play. But its gameplay is still pretty "meh". I really don't feel like rewarding EA for features over gameplay, so I am probably out myself.

I still haven't broke MLB 2K8 out for awhile. I didn't mean to give up on it, as I was really enjoying it. Just like APF 2K8, I really felt like I owned my wins and losses. Has there been anymore patches or updates? I may have to dive back in as the season winds down and the playoffs get cranked up.

Ironic. I bought Madden to play with people because everyone was all over it.

Oh well, maybe I'll sell it back sooner rather than later to pay off Viva Pinata 2. I'm pretty sure that game won't get flubbed. I'm still having fun with this game. But as I said earlier, my fun is in a very specific scenario. Difficulty turned way down, me ringing up stats and pretending like it's Tecmo Super Bowl. You have more control over your players when the defense is worse.

It looks like we have 3 folks who will be dropping from the league. We are still in the test phase. I myself am having a blast, but it is different, much faster then APF or 2K5 - so I understand the complaints.

Spy,

Drop me as well. I just don't have the time resources to make the games every week. I'll be the one always holding my opponent up, similar to what I was doing in my last season of APF2k8. Good luck!

I can't find it anywhere but I thought I read awhile ago that there was an online feature that balanced out the teams no matter what level you were - am I crazy or is that not in the game? If it is in the game, is it turned on for the league? I know there is the adaptive AI for single play, I thought it was around for multiplay also.

I think Swampy & WiredAsylum's problems could be due to them being stuck with crappy teams; I'm not a juggernaut, I pretty much suck at Madden, but the Browns are rated better than the Chiefs and Bears this year. If there is the feature to balance everyone out, it would be nice to have it in the league.

DSGamer wrote:

Ironic. I bought Madden to play with people because everyone was all over it.

Oh well, maybe I'll sell it back sooner rather than later to pay off Viva Pinata 2. I'm pretty sure that game won't get flubbed. I'm still having fun with this game. But as I said earlier, my fun is in a very specific scenario. Difficulty turned way down, me ringing up stats and pretending like it's Tecmo Super Bowl. You have more control over your players when the defense is worse. :)

I'd say, don't sell it back because a couple of people who are either inexperienced and unwilling to learn or are APF2K players that can't get used to playing a better football game.

DSGamer wrote:

I consider both EA games to be so arcadey as to be really only fun almost like Tecmo bowl games.

Strangely enough, many people, critics of Madden included, consider this to be the better "simulation" of real football than any of the 2K football games.

Even someone in the thread mentioned that fact. (I apologize for not remembering who.) That person, and many others, have said that when 2K5 first came out it was more of a simulation, but that in recent years with new features added to the Madden (to make it more like 2K... like making the quarterback have his feet planted in order to make a good throw) it has become the better "simulation".

And I believe that is true.

Maybe your problem comes from THINKING Madden is an arcade game and then playing it like one, when you should be giving it a fair shot and playing like a sim... like a more realistic sim than any 2K game.

Warning: personal commentary... Sure your running back won't juke or do some crazy almost-parallel-to-the-ground animation and slow down to a near crawl if you simply try to cut left or right on the stick, like all the 2K games I've played. But, their is a juke function in Madden. You just need to push the right-stick left or right.

I push the stick left or right and it doesn't do much. He moves a little bit, the tackle animation happens and at that point the play is over. I have no say in what happens after that. The slant thing... the more I play it's just ridiculous. Yeah, I know NCAA has it as well. But at least in NCAA I can throw other kinds of passes so I'm not leaning on the slant.

I don't know. It's not just people bailing here. It's the fact that having played both I'm not happy with how EA made Madden a "sim". They made Madden a sim in terms of stats and games being close. But otherwise the gameplay is rotten. Linebackers leaping 5 feet in the air to pick off long balls. Slants being unstoppable. The game controls making you often feel like you're not actually doing anything, but rather just watching the game. I'm really to the point where I'd rather just turn down the difficulty of one game or the other and just play it like Tecmo Bowl. Ring up stats, break records and just have fun that way, because the ways in which EA made this game a sim are more frustrating than fun.

I step back with the quarterback and I'm practically forced to drop back 20 yards to have enough time (there is no pocket). I scan the field and I find the open man. I throw to him and someone magically closes and picks it off. So I go back to slants. Just sucks. I think it's time to stop talking and polluting this thread and time to go put that pre-order down on Viva Pinata 2.

SwampYankee wrote:

Is this league that is up now a test league or the real deal?

This league is a test league. Pre-season, if you will. The more practice you get in in pre-season, the better you'll be come regular season.

SwampYankee wrote:

What happens if someone were to drop from said league?

I'm not sure. There are built in mechanism to keep the league going, but the specifics are a little unclear.

I recommend giving it another shot.

Go into practice mode and pick a single offensive play (a pass play especially) that you like against random defense. Start on the Pro difficulty level against a moderate defensive team.

Then see how that play is run against different defenses. Get a feel for how the quarterback throws in the pocket and out of the pocket and while scrambling, etc. etc.

SwampYankee wrote:

In my Madden game, again, I felt like I had no control.

Could you elaborate? (here or via PM) Maybe we/I could help you get more control.

DSGamer wrote:

I push the stick left or right and it doesn't do much. He moves a little bit, the tackle animation happens and at that point the play is over. I have no say in what happens after that.

Are you an experienced 2K player? If so, Madden is not 2K. You have to push the stick in the direction you want to go. You don't have to finesse it and push the stick a little.

If you want to run outside left, push the stick almost directly left. There is no need to ease into a turn by pressing over a little then a little more than a little more because you fear the "crazy almost-parallel-to-the-ground animation and slow down to a near crawl if you simply try to cut left or right on the stick".

DSGamer wrote:

But at least in NCAA I can throw other kinds of passes so I'm not leaning on the slant.

Try out routes and corner routes and streaks (if you have a fast receiver or a TE who can catch in the seam) and the over the middle slant/corner-like routes are great and drag routes hot routed to be deeper (Example: on 2nd and five call a play with a drag route, then hot route that receive (Y) to pass the 1st down line (RS-press).)

DSGamer wrote:

Linebackers leaping 5 feet in the air to pick off long balls. Slants being unstoppable.

Some linebackers/CB can jump high. So can some WR. Different players have different abilities. Different teams have different strengths. If they were all the same, it would be like NASCAR. Every position would have it's own height, weight, speed requirement and the only different would be their intelligence and how often they came to the sideline for water.

Slants aren't unstoppable. They are hard to defend, but they can be picked or you can hit the WR and make him drop the ball. And they only pickup short yardage.

DSGamer wrote:

I step back with the quarterback and I'm practically forced to drop back 20 yards to have enough time (there is no pocket).

Actually, Madden discourages you from dropping back 20 yards in this new version. If you do drop back that far, the passing icons disappear. So you better know which receiver you want to throw to.

trowan wrote:

I think Swampy & WiredAsylum's problems could be due to them being stuck with crappy teams; I'm not a juggernaut, I pretty much suck at Madden, but the Browns are rated better than the Chiefs and Bears this year. If there is the feature to balance everyone out, it would be nice to have it in the league.

Yeah, I agree. Nothing can make the game less fun than playing with a crappy team. The only way to 'balance things out', sorta, would be to allow multiple people to select the same team. (There is no feature to make all teams generic, like APF2K is by default.)

Unfortunately/Fortunately Madden is a true NFL simulation. Some players are better than others. Some offensive lines are better than others. Some teams are better than others. Different teams/players have different strengths and weaknesses.

trowan wrote:

I can't find it anywhere but I thought I read awhile ago that there was an online feature that balanced out the teams no matter what level you were - am I crazy or is that not in the game? If it is in the game, is it turned on for the league? I know there is the adaptive AI for single play, I thought it was around for multiplay also.

ALL online "ranked" and "league" games are played on the All-Pro difficulty setting. "Unranked" games can be played at Pro and, I believe, Rookie. I don't think it will use your custom settings online.

Personally, I don't think that would be very fair, at least not for ranked games. Maybe the commish should have that option in league games and the players should have the option in unranked games... but I don't think it's in there this year.

Spy,

Drop me as well. I just don't have the time resources to make the games every week. I'll be the one always holding my opponent up, similar to what I was doing in my last season of APF2k8. Good luck!

The leagues don't work like that. You have to play everybody once so you could potentially play as many games as there are people online. It's more of a tournament system than season.

Not going to respond in full, Dan. I don't agree with most of what you said, because, well, I played the game quite a bit and my experience was completely different. Slants are unstoppable. Especially for the CPU, which is kind of the big problem since it means I can go to that play all day if I suck.

I really don't know how else to say it except to echo what Swampy said. I don't feel like I'm in control of the players or the game. And I bought NCAA yesterday and prefer the atmosphere of that game, so I'll be trading in Madden. Sorry. It's okay to like it. And it's okay to give it a try and not like it. I gave it the old college try and ended up preferring the college game. So I'm not even being a ranting 2k fanboy here. I'm keeping NCAA 09. Just bowing out of Madden. Thanks for offering the advice, though. I'm out.

...of this thread

I played both Madden, and 2K and can play them both, any time you want you can invite me to a game. It dosen't take much to learn Madden, you knock 2k but you did lose to Ruthlessmuffin, and he has been playing Madden all of 2 weeks. The Graphics on Madden are great, there are also great things with the game play. But there are way to many interceptions, when a guy jumps 30 feet from the side line to pick of a ball that is just plain stupid. When you throw a ball to your back toward the side line and you can't keep him in bounds again this is stupid. I like to play with complete control of my players I wouldn't exactly call this a better football game. It's just the only one with the real players, everybody knows that if 2k put out a download of more players, we would never even come to play Madden. As for the league play online talk about garbage, one there is no schedule, you just play everone two who ever sends the invite is the home team it's not random. Ea can't even compete with 2k when it comes to it's league play. I can honestly say the College football game, had a better online season it's Dynasty, mode kills Maddens, league play. One other thing if John Madden, wasn't a part of this game, nobody would even play this game it would just be another EA crappy game, the Monopoly of the Video game world..

I will say that one reason I'm keeping NCAA is because the Online Dynasty feels much better than Madden's leagues. My brother, his friends and I are playing an Online Dynasty. I'm stoked about that. Watching my team move up the rankings, competing for the Heisman, all that good stuff.

To each their own. Madden takes some significant time to learn and practice in the practice mode especially on offense. You also need to know your offensive playbook well. You need to know how to hot route and defensive playmaker. You alos will get much further if you know how to pass lead and know how to recognize different defenses (at least if a person is in man or zone). I hate to see anyone quit, but I know all about the frustration Madden can bring.

DSGamer wrote:

I will say that one reason I'm keeping NCAA is because the Online Dynasty feels much better than Madden's leagues. My brother, his friends and I are playing an Online Dynasty. I'm stoked about that. Watching my team move up the rankings, competing for the Heisman, all that good stuff.

Man, if you ever want another player in that league I'd love to play. Every NCAA league I join craps out after 2-3 weeks.

divorced wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

I will say that one reason I'm keeping NCAA is because the Online Dynasty feels much better than Madden's leagues. My brother, his friends and I are playing an Online Dynasty. I'm stoked about that. Watching my team move up the rankings, competing for the Heisman, all that good stuff.

Man, if you ever want another player in that league I'd love to play. Every NCAA league I join craps out after 2-3 weeks.

I'll let you know. It's my little brother's call, but I'm sure he'd be happy to have more players.

SpyNavy wrote:

To each their own. Madden takes some significant time to learn and practice in the practice mode especially on offense. You also need to know your offensive playbook well. You need to know how to hot route and defensive playmaker. You alos will get much further if you know how to pass lead and know how to recognize different defenses (at least if a person is in man or zone). I hate to see anyone quit, but I know all about the frustration Madden can bring.

Everything you just said applies to APF, as well. In fact, there is a far deeper playbook available in APF. While there are default playbooks, there are hundreds, if not more than a thousand of plays to choose from. There are hot routes and the ability assign a player to a certain receiver or RB on the fly. You have to have to learn the defenses to pass well. I key on the safeties to read the zones I am facing.

Seriously, every single thing you wrote aqbout is in APF, but you also have much better control of what is happening. Te main issue I had with Madden was that the ball travels far to quick. that's why the INTs feel so cheap. In APF, you have time to take control of a defender, and make a play, or fail. In Madden, you just wait for one of your LBs or S to jump up and snag an INT. but if the game had not hard coded an INT for that throw, the LB or S will not budge, and there is no time to take control of him.

How anyone can compare run blocking in Madden to APF is beyond me. It is a thing of beauty to run outside, or even off tackle, and watch the holes develop. In Madden, they just pop open, or they don't. There is no feel to the play developing.

I still think both games are just arcade versions of football, but APF delivers more rewarding gameplay. Madden 09 is far better than any version in recent memory. I enjoyed the game, but it just got old. APF is over a year old, and every game still feels fresh, even though half the players on the field are generic.

I don't begrudge anyone wanting to play Madden. I really wanted to enjoy finally playing an NFL game. But it is frustrating to see people lay out why Madden is "deeper" by listing features that were in 2K5.

I apologize if I was the one who steered this thread toward a Madden vs. 2K debate.

This is truly a "to each his own" situation.

I could give you the laundry list of things that make the 2K football games virtually unplayable for me, but it wouldn't change your mind about 2K or Madden.

Yes, there are problems with Madden. (There are problems with 2K as well.)

Yes, they have similar features, some of which first appeared in 2K. (I don't think Spy was trying to imply that those features weren't in 2K.)

"Control of your players" is a matter of opinion. You are entitled to yours, and people are entitled to agree with you. I will not deny you that right or begrudge you for having a different opinion than mine. Personally, I feel like there's a lot less control in 2K - fewer WR routes, fewer hot routes, fewer audibles, fewer defensive plays, less control of the ball carrier when you're running. (That last one is 100% my lack of stick control - not the game's fault.)

Yes, if you don't like a game (for whatever reason) it's going to "get old" pretty quick. APF2K8 got old for me after about 3 games. 2K5 got old for me after about 6 games... at least the opponents were different enough to keep it interesting a few games longer.

I hate to see people go too. I was only trying to offer advice that might make playing Madden fun enough to keep you guys in the league.

To be honest, I wasn't going to buy Madden this year because I hated 2006, only played 2007 5 or 6 times (on the PC) vs. Grumpicus, and didn't care for 08 (on the 360) all that much - mostly because I didn't have any people I knew to play against.

But, after reading this thread, seeing all the interest, I'm REALLY glad I did. The guys I've played with so far have been really cool, good competitors, and excellent sportsman. I can't wait to play more games with you guys.

Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge anybody also for playing Madden, I like the game and will continue to play it. It's all a choice. I don't like that somone who thinks we are inexperienced, and unwilling to learn or are APF2K players that can't get used to playing a better football game.We just prefer to play APF2k I was willing and did learn and I'd say I'm doing pretty well and so is Ruthlessmuffin doing pretty well now can he try and do the same with APF2k before he makes that statement, I would think not. We are on Season 3 about to start cause our crappy game has had leagues since it started maybe, Ea will get this right next year. A Better game, I don't think so my opinion it's all it has is the players.

frankiemumbles wrote:

Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge anybody also for playing Madden, I like the game and will continue to play it. It's all a choice. I don't like that somone who thinks we are inexperienced, and unwilling to learn or are APF2K players that can't get used to playing a better football game.We just prefer to play APF2k I was willing and did learn and I'd say I'm doing pretty well and so is Ruthlessmuffin doing pretty well now can he try and do the same with APF2k before he makes that statement, I would think not. We are on Season 3 about to start cause our crappy game has had leagues since it started maybe, Ea will get this right next year. A Better game, I don't think so my opinion it's all it has is the players.

Frankie, I agree with you and all, but maybe you should have sobered up before posting!

Jayhawker wrote:

My understanding is that the league will self contract if a player drops. I have no idea if that affects the Won/Loss records of teams you have faced, or cancels out stats. I'm pretty much in the same boat. The game just isn't doing it for me. Maybe I'm old, and the game is just too fast for me, but I'm already finding that I have no real interest in putting the game in.

It has some cool features, and I really like the possibilities of their version of online league play. But its gameplay is still pretty "meh". I really don't feel like rewarding EA for features over gameplay, so I am probably out myself.

I still haven't broke MLB 2K8 out for awhile. I didn't mean to give up on it, as I was really enjoying it. Just like APF 2K8, I really felt like I owned my wins and losses. Has there been anymore patches or updates? I may have to dive back in as the season winds down and the playoffs get cranked up.

Don't want to hijack - a quick response - Yes, they have patched and the rosters have been updated post trading deadline.

Thanks for being understanding Spy. Trowan, you have a point but speaking personally it goes beyond that. Joking about my age aside, I am getting older, and some games just push my ability to process. And even my "finger speed" if you will. Sure, If I had the Pats I would do better but it would be less me and more the team / game, and with my limited gaming time, I would rather spend it playing games that I feel rewarded more by. I'm not dumping on Madden, 20 years ago I would have loved it. Hell, 10 years ago. But NOW, I am working on the farm until darkness makes it impossibleto keep going, after doing 9 or so hours at my regular job. So I am looking to maximize my enjoyment, so I have cut a lot of games that years ago I would have committed time to.

Make sense?

SwampYankee wrote:

Make sense?

Makes total sense (although you are making me feel old since we are the same age approximately).

Hey, I'm only 33 and I'm already making decisions like this. I spend 8+ hours a day working. I have a few hours a week to keep my software development skills fresh. I see a personal trainer twice a week. I'm working hard to get in better shape and train for triathlons. I like spending time with my wife and friends. I skateboard, I spend time reading books on religion, self help, Buddhism and trying to become a more relaxed and centered individual. I have so many things going on in my life that "practicing" for a video game doesn't even register. This is my constant struggle right now, actually, with skate. I love the game, but it requires you to stick with it. Otherwise you get rusty and coming back to it you have to learn things all over again. I just can't do that anymore. My gaming time is at a bit of premium. So the game has to be fun, with little to no practice involved.

I gave up sex to free up more time. Actually that was involuntary.....

Wait...shared too much?

SwampYankee wrote:

I gave up sex to free up more time. Actually that was involuntary.....

Wait...shared too much? :)

Haha!

"Was that my outside voice?"

Bad idea. Giving that up, that is. You can always buy a new game.

SwampYankee wrote:

I gave up sex to free up more time. Actually that was involuntary.....

Now I know why Jarhead has been so crabby lately.

I say, this subject has gone on long enough, let's just play games and have fun.

I *was* against injuries, but now I'm for. And if you injure Peyton Manning for SpyNavy, let me know and I'll paypal you $10.

/I kid. I'm against.

So are people still playing through the "season" on this? I had an interesting experience this AM. I played APF 2k8 and I was awful. I've been playing a decent amount of NCAA 09 and I really like it. Really really like it. So I'm having second thoughts (huge surprise) about whether I passed judgment on Madden 09 too quickly. I have zero interest in the franchise. I actually prefer NCAA 09 and the college season more. So I was just curious if people were still playing head to head games in the running round-robin league. Is playing that way satisfying? etc.

Gameplay-wise I prefer APF 2k8. But I think I played enough NCAA 09 (and maybe it's only the patched NCAA, so take this all with a grain of salt) to where I started to turn the corner on the gameplay and actually get used to how it played.