EA's NCAA Football 14 Catch-All

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IMAGE(http://espn.go.com/photo/2013/0402/play_fsuts_600.jpg)

*Release date: July 9, 2013.

*News:

NCAA14 is getting the Infinity Engine, v2.0. This will be the same version as Madden 25.

A lot of emphasis has gone into revamping option play.

Some info is available at the following ESPN preview or Polygon preview.

Disclaimer: Previews are usually overly-glowing, often with little resemblance to the final product. See virtually every one written for Aliens: Colonial Marines.

More...

New engines always worry me.

Leroyog wrote:

New engines always worry me.

Yup. Although, at least this one had a year in Madden to identify the uglies.

Still, I don't want NCAA to just be Madden with a different skin.

I'm sure I am going to get the game, but I'm pretty wary, as well.

The engine in Madden last year reminded me a little of the engine 2K used. The 2K engine was great, but it wasn't built for the college game. It was very much about drop-back quarterbacks, making reads, etc. I played the 2K college game (back when I think it was actually Sega) and it was basically the NFL game re-skinned. I hope that isn't the case with NCAA. I'd be interested in seeing them get past the issues plaguing the aging engine they're using while still making it resemble college football.

Then there's this.

A bit more information on the presentation. Some nice shots of the in-game info as well as the new menu interface. Let's just say it's MUCH better than the damned 3D ESPN interface:

IMAGE(http://web-vassets.ea.com/Assets/Resources/Image/ncaa-football-presentation-1.jpg)

There was also a gameplay post on the blog last week. Some stuff about the new engine in there.

What I really want to know is if they will have playoffs in the game? I know they're not officially happening until 2014, but well, when you have that year in the game name, shouldn't it be there for your 2nd dynasty season?

If there are no playoffs I might just skip this year and wait for 15, when they have to be there.

firesloth wrote:

A bit more information on the presentation. Some nice shots of the in-game info as well as the new menu interface. Let's just say it's MUCH better than the damned 3D ESPN interface:

IMAGE(http://web-vassets.ea.com/Assets/Resources/Image/ncaa-football-presentation-1.jpg)

This is really exciting, actually. I know something like this shouldn't be exciting, but that interface was so confusing, cumbersome and unnecessary. Might pick this year's game up between these changes and the adoption of the Infinity Engine. I wonder how well the engine will be able to handle the option, the spread and other dynamic offenses. I really liked where Madden was headed last year, the goofy slow-mo issues aside. It was weird from a cosmetic perspective in slow motion, but at game speed I feel like it looked and played far more realistic. Closer to the 2k series, honestly. I just wonder if they can get it to handle QB scrambling and the like.

Since most of the people here posting (so far) are the same as the general College Football thread, I wonder how many of you actually play other teams in this game?

Simply put, I cannot play any team other than Cal, and I refuse to lose when I play Cal, so there's a lot of resetting. Watching fUCLA or stanfurd take an interception against me to the house was just too painful to watch. Ultimately I decided that its not worth my $60 to pay for this game where I only play one team, and the only good game is the game I win (a lot like my real college football fandom).

I would seriously pay $30 for a game that I can pick any one team to play, and I can turn on a setting (I guess its like going to easy difficulty) where I win every game by at least 50 points and I humiliate my opponents (esp. stanfurd) by rushing for 400 yards and passing for 600 yards a game. I would play that over and over again.

Just now noticed in that menu the Ultimate Team thing... so are they doing something like FIFA? But how can you do that without real players?

Carlbear95 wrote:

Since most of the people here posting (so far) are the same as the general College Football thread, I wonder how many of you actually play other teams in this game?

I do about 50% of the time. I'm an Oregon State fan, but I find their brand of football to be pretty boring overall. It's a typical West Coast Offense not very different from the professional game. I tend to prefer teams with running QBs, option teams and other oddities like that. So I will play with the Ducks, Nevada, Michigan or any other team that has an unconventional QB or offense at a given time.

Carlbear95 wrote:

Since most of the people here posting (so far) are the same as the general College Football thread, I wonder how many of you actually play other teams in this game?

Well the group of guys on 360 have a 2-star dynasty league I think, where they pick a mediocre team and try to build them up. Although some most? years that lets Jayhawker still play as Kansas. :p

Carlbear95 wrote:

Simply put, I cannot play any team other than Cal, and I refuse to lose when I play Cal, so there's a lot of resetting. Watching fUCLA or stanfurd take an interception against me to the house was just too painful to watch. Ultimately I decided that its not worth my $60 to pay for this game where I only play one team, and the only good game is the game I win (a lot like my real college football fandom).

I think I might have tried playing with one of the brand new schools when there was an achievement tied to it or something. But yeah, mostly I play Louisville. And mostly I go undefeated. Although I tend to only play on Veteran, not All-American or Heisman. Although I have occasionally tried AA once I get used to the game each year and done ok. Still it stresses me out more when I feel like I might lose, and the point of a game is to have fun, not cause stress. So yeah, I find it much more fun to win on Vet than to lose on a tougher level.

I don't do too much resetting, although I've been known to when I start a game, throw an INT or fumble, or the CPU throws for a 60 yard bomb over my head somehow when I'm almost always in a pass coverage defense... I definitely had some ESPN Classic games through the last couple years where I made last second comebacks or stops, or even went to OT a few games. Those close losses have been some of the few I've accepted.

Another reason I'd like playoffs. I could take a loss and not ruin my season.

It's funny: I haven't played Notre Dame at all in this year's game. Part of the reason is that they were very good in the game. I haven't found it as fun to beat the CPU to a pulp after so many years playing this game. I don't like the way the computer so obviously cheats on Heisman difficulty, so I've just played with sliders and the lower settings to make it a more challenging game.

This year I've been in two online dynasties with Iowa and Indiana.

I play Kansas a lot, but it helps that they are fun to build up. But I have played with SMU a ton, as I really liked the run and shoot offense with a bruising RB. I also played a ton with both Navy and Georgia Tech, as it was fun learning the option offense, even if it just isn't done as well as it should. Because the offenses are so different, there is a lot of fun just booting up and playing as other teams.

Originally the 2-Star was not just two star teams, but also from non-AQ conferences, which made it more interesting. But we have moved on from that. It's mostly just about finding teams that have something interesting to them.

All that said, I play as Kansas 75% of the time, at least. If they were a ranked program, it would probably be less, though.

As for NCAA 14, I like the UI, but I'm surprised they went with the Metro look. I'm a fan of it, but it seems to be a lightning rod for complaints.

As for NCAA 14, I like the UI, but I'm surprised they went with the Metro look. I'm a fan of it, but it seems to be a lightning rod for complaints.

Perhaps they figured they can't get more complaints than they did with the UI from this year's game!

I agree – I really like to play 2* teams. It was very interesting last year when all the teams were from non-AQ conferences. Eventually you reach the point where you readily outshine your conference-mates, though. Maybe we should go back to that next year. I've really liked playing IU, though!!

I pretty much play LSU all the time, but I'll take a loss. I play not on the highest difficulty, but the next one down from that. I really appreciate my victories then and learn from my losses.

I didn't have a massive problem with the old look, but I'll happily take the new one and try it out. As long as the action on the field is fun, I don't really care about the UI. That is, unless we are talking about the NBA2K series. Whoever designed that should just be shot...

Maybe we could do the 2-Star non-AQ dynasty, but we have to move to an AQ conference when we get to 4-Star status.

EA games are always bad, but the amount of time and number of times I have to hit A or Start before I can even get to the menus in NCAA 13 is ridiculous. And then, yep, the menues are really annoying, and laggy as it is saving constantly.

The difference when logging in to play MLB 2K13 is ridiculous. You nopt only get to hte menu quicker, but it is that Metro type UI, with a box for my current franchise (which tells me my record, what place I'm in, and what game is next), MLB Today, and some other boxes. While using the RS to bring up the longer menu iss still a little weird, it is at least quick and consistent.

Although, as bad as NCAA's Dynasty menus are for lag, NHL 13's league stuff is 100x worse. Maybe literally. It is a pain to look at anything, and it gives you almost no good info.

Another video released today. Mostly between play stuff, I guess. New animations, player voices, etc.

The post-play celebrations is not the work I care about. I think they need to focus less on that. Maybe they could finally get crowd noise up to par with where it was last generation.

Looks fun. I like that they are changing stuff up, even if I liked the phone call system.

Coach XP sounds interesting. But then that just means it's another thing they can sell DLC boosters for. :p

Stele wrote:

Coach XP sounds interesting. But then that just means it's another thing they can sell DLC boosters for. :p

True, but I like the way we have been able to easily turn off boosts in our dynasty. I've never spent a dime on boosts in NCAA and it has had no effect on gameplay. That's more than I can say for the NHL series, which destroyed Be A Pro.

1-2 seasons of Be-A-Pro on easy will unlock all your +5s. It's easy. :p

As for this "new" NCAA stuff, I think it looked better on Madden 13

I haven't bought a football game in...well, I may never have bought one. But I love football and I love video games, so I'm considering picking this one up for the Johnny Football Heisman factor.

Does EA ever update player ratings during the season, or do they just make a forecast and that's that?

What? There are no players in the game. The NCAA would get in trouble for that. :p

Generally the starting lineups of teams are closely matched. Maybe players purposefully from the wrong town but the right state, and fudged height or weight or something. Just enough to keep them from getting sued.

But after a couple days or week of release, some guys will rename all the rosters, and upload it for everyone to download and have the real players in the game.

There is no EA support for roster updates, as that would be too blatant. We just roll with whatever seems to be the most accurate set about a month after release.

There are some guys that do update rosters based on performances, which are cool to download for Play Now games. But you can't use them to update a dynasty that is already started. Although you can always go in and pimp out anyone you want in a solo dynasty.

Jayhawker wrote:

There is no EA support for roster updates, as that would be too blatant. We just roll with whatever seems to be the most accurate set about a month after release.

There are some guys that do update rosters based on performances, which are cool to download for Play Now games. But you can't use them to update a dynasty that is already started. Although you can always go in and pimp out anyone you want in a solo dynasty.

Like that time Fed took his QB for A&M and pimped him out? He ran all over the field, throwing touchdowns, running for touchdowns and won the Heisman as a freshman. Ridiculous.

Exactly like that.

Edit: Congrats to the Beavers on last night's win, DSG. They played a great game.

I will say that QB like Manziel are fun as hell to play with in the latest NCAA games. Throwing on the run and escaping pressure are both handled really well.

A QB that can take off and pick up 12-15 has pretty much the same effect as they do in real life. When facing one, you really need to avoid man coverage, and set your defensive tendency to stopping the QB scramble. But guys like Manziel will still make you pay.

You should grab the current game on the cheap, get used to the controls, and then join us for a dynasty for NCAA 14. We will probably roll both a favorite school dynasty and a two-star non-AQ dynasty where we try to build up a smaller school. As always, playing Goodjers is better than randoms. Although I think the game plays the solo game pretty well, too.

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