[Discussion] your personal assessment of Madden 22

can't remember a game being this rough at launch but i do like a lot of the additional features they've added. i didn't play last years game. 

constant crashing from the staff screen. 

losing games/stats/staff points that were all there before exiting the game.

the inability to trade a RT from the trade screen it goes RG/LT. the only way to trade one is to trade him from his player screen. 

all plays seem to end with the player getting forward progression yards. if you get inside the 3 it's a touch down if you run it up the middle.

i wish you could set gameday goals and they would stay that way until you changed. mostly because this is were i see most of my crashes. 

screens are very sluggish and slow.

you still can't skip the end game cut scenes, even if you manage to hold the A button to get a full circle. give me a strip down mode with no cutscenes please.

This is how sad your product is EA. Be ashamed. Be really ashamed

https://youtu.be/vEHWQwEZCWg

[EDIT: copied thread title of previously standalone thread to the top of the text]

This is what happens when a company cares only about fattening up their wallets and not cares about putting out a game for the customers and it is clear and blatant that EA takes no pride in any product they put out and no one is held accountable.

I just can't believe this game you put out and call it football.  Nothing I hate more is too make a bunch of rules in a league I try too call Sim but this game is just so enjoyable from a pure football mind.  The rolling of the QBs.  The none pressure you get from Elite Pass Rushers.  I know for a lot of you're consumers, they like this Madden Street Game.  Because clearly this ain't football.  Its street ball.  The ability too manipulate the AI in this game is unreal. The greatest sport in America and you can't get this right.. This game has been horrible for years but you finding more ways too make it worst.  I'm not a guy who right any post but I surely going too make it my last because I just given up on y'all.  I'm hoping sooner vs later you guys, either find new people too work on the game or sell the license too make a football game.  This franchise is worst than any title game that comes out ever year.  Please do the people that love football and sell this game too guys that just know what they doing..  I love football!!! Like really love it... And I only comeback too play this game for that particular reason and its terrible

I see a lot of people complaining about madden 22 on the internet so I wanted to start this to see what other people thought were some positives and negatives to Madden 22 to generate a stable, constructive discussion on things we're enjoying and things we don't like so much, constructively.

Positives

• Another year and it seems like they've really refined the player movement system, from the past 2 years I think they've made it easier and more intuitive to move the players in a realistic manner.
• QB accuracy/throwing seems to be a little better this year, I have had more passes overthrown and out the back of the endzone instead of being underthrown every time. I hope this can continue to be refined.
• They added depth to franchise and have a base to build out more.
  
  • They've added a lot more stats, even if they aren't the next gen stats they have a lot more info about yourself and the other team as you plan for weekly strategy

Negatives

• Hearing a lot about bugs, now I have been relatively ok, but it's always tough to hear.
• They didn't add an OL/blocking mechanic additions after last years DL animations were added. Would be cool to be able to play every position in the NFL, meaningfully.
• Creation zone is still lacking.
  
  • Lack of change to create a team, no new changes and/or depth was added to this portion.
  • Create a player still hard to rely on CPU but full control lacks immersion

I know there's a lot more and I hope people can have a meaningful discussion about Madden 22!

Thanks for making the game and allowing us to play it

While I think some have unreasonable expectations and will not be happy until EA customizes the game to their exact personal liking, I do think their is reasonable expectations and criticisms of EA when those expectations are often not met on a yearly basis. Sometimes it seems less of a resource issue and more of careless or even exploitive issue.

I am mainly an offline franchise mode player who has purchased the game upon its release date since 2012. I'd say, at least in the past few years, it seems (key word... SEEMS) that EA takes advantage of its customers by using their labor and diligence to identify the bugs in their Madden games. The past few years, I pretty much waste my time the first month or two trying to start a long-term offline franchise. The reason I say this is because, upon initially starting my franchise and playing my first season, I notice plenty of bugs that could have been prevented if EA had members of its team simply play a season of offline franchise mode. And, to be clear, these are not personal preferences I'm talking about, but rather clear bugs. Below is an example of some of these bugs:

-Game saving issues

-Inaccurate score recording following the game, sometimes resulting in wins being recorded as losses

Players stats not always being credited throughout the season (I play as much to set records as I do to win games. When I can't break a record due to stats being frozen at week 15, it's frustrating)

-Player scenarios constantly repeating or being inaccurate (Deebo Samuel talks to the coach every week); Alex Mack still discusses his early retirement in a Bears uniform with Shannahan after being traded away.

-Random crashes

-Multiple players above 30 on your team retiring early week after week, regardless if they just signed new long-term contracts in real life.

The above examples are just some of this years issues upon release. I have experienced many more in the past. I believe EA does a good job with some things, but flounders in other areas. While I personally don't expect EA to be perfect, and some bugs and issues can fly under the radar, I do believe the bugs upon release are obvious and could have been prevented with something as simple as EA playing its own game. I do not want to waste the first month or two of playing Madden on doing EA's job for them. I lose valuable leisure time in a life that allows me to have little of it, at times. I'd rather start my franchise and continue it without having to start from scratch several times in the first month or two. 

I think another fair criticism is that EA seems to not always pay attention to the basics or simply gets fixated on certain ideas for their game. You do not have to reinvent the wheel. You can utilize the features and concepts of other games such as 2K, NFL Fever, Older Maddens, etc to create the best game possible. Look at games such as Modern NBA 2Ks to see how well they utilize customization, legends in franchise mode, legendary draft classes, etc. Look at older games such as NFL Fever to see how well they incorporate things such as in depth records, create a team, retired jerseys, etc. Look at older Madden games to adopt and include their best features.

I am not as critical of gameplay as others are because I think simulating reality perfectly is tough to do; however, some animations are abused (such as the one-handed catch). I don't understand why certain animations are abused, especially when catching the ball. There have been some really good animations in past Maddens, especially for deep two-handed catches, that were great. New animations should add to the variety of past animations, not supersede them. Then you have a game that's not so boring and predictable. Sometimes simply adding rather than replacing is the best way to go.

I do understand that for things such as likenesses EA cannot control. Players need to be willing to get their faces scanned in order for their likenesses to be in the game. maybe EA can find better ways to make it more convenient for NFL players to be scanned, but this is just speculation, as I have no idea what they actually set-up for the players. If the players are not scanned, they get one of the generic heads provided in the game. I see videos complaining about Madden not getting the likenesses correct for some players. I those people were paying attention, they would realize that EA doesn't build the likeness, they scan it. So people are ridiculing generic heads attached to players that did not take the time to get a face scan.

I also understand that EA has to abide by what the NFL allows them to put in the game. This may prevent certain customizations and modes; however, I cannot see how this would matter for offline modes. How a user customizes their purchased game should not fall on EA. Team and uniform editing offline should not impact anything. Same thing with customizing divisions and conferences. If its offline, why would the NFL care. It doesn't impact their image. They cannot control what everyone does. I can commit a crime in a 49ers hat and film it, but how would that be the fault of the NFL or reflect on them poorly?

I have no problem with EA owning the exclusive rights to NFL simulation games, as long as it is the best possible game. If they built the game to be the best regardless if they had competition or not, people would be too satisfied to care whether or not it owned the exclusive rights. 

It seems like Madden has members who are passionate about producing the best possible product, but their superiors don't allow that passion to impact the game fully. EA seems to have a business model that sets out to own the exclusive rights to best benefit their profit, not their customer base. It's not a customer centered business model. If it was, it would not need exclusive rights because it would be so good and so customer based driven by customer feedback and request that no other game could complete with it and exclusivity would not matter. 

Madden isn't a bad game. And people love pro football, so they'll continue to buy EAs exclusive product regardless if it answers most of its customers wishes. When you own exclusive rights, money talks more than customer request. They game merely needs to be playable, as there is no other way to play pro football simulation. As long as the quality of the game is good enough to bring in a certain quantity of dollars, we will continue to see much of the same.

The small changes we've been seeing are an improvement, but this game could be so much better than it is. In my opinion, if EA cares as much about its customers as it does about its profit, they will put more into this game or open it up for other companies to adopt a more customer centered approach to creating a pro football simulation game. 

I'll take it a step further, maybe the NFL, who claims to care so much about its fan base, should stop signing exclusive deals altogether. Having to settle for one provider, such as DirectTV and EA, to get your football fix, seems rather selfish and exploitive of an association that claims to care about its customers but then limits its customers' options for access to their product. 

This is BS year after year we get a worse and worse version of madden they are too busy making the game look good and futuristic that u can’t run the ball, throw the ball, snap, run after the ball without animations. It’s ridiculous I didn’t pay 60 dollars or watch madden I want to play it the players should move in the direction of the stick not juke to 7 different sides then move in the direction I point it. 

STOP TRYING TO MAKE THE GAME LOOK GOOD, TRY MAKING IT PLAY GOOD THEN MAKE IT LOOK GOOD! 

No-one should buy this game, but sadly they have a MONOPOLY over football video games so u don’t have a choice if u want an updated roster. 

MADDEN STOP WASTING OUR TIME AND MONEY AND MAKE US A GOD DAMN FOOTBALL GAME NOT JUST DANCE!

Thank you, 

This was probably pointless 

This is very fair, constructive criticism. I have posted earlier that it seems the loyalists who buy into early release are basically paying EA to beta test before mass release.

It's sad people forget the roots of gaming are in pick-up-and-play users who just want to have fun. When you ignore your roots, the tree dies.

The bugs, soft freezes and crashes are a real thing this year. But it's not just Madden. I play sports games across the board, and it's everywhere. NBA 2K is a notable exception, but they make enough money off micro transactions they have the resources to get out front.

I think the real issue may be a lot of game developers are still figuring out how to write software compatible with next-gen consoles, and the pandemic isn't helping that.

I'm not giving these guys a pass. If you say your game can do X, Y and Z you shouldn't release it until it can. And you CERTAINLY should not brush aside thousands of people complaining about the same problems by telling them to "power cycle their consoles" or "unplug extra accessories." I mean, c'mon.

But yeah, this is a real problem because people who had their lives or wallets disrupted in the past 18 months still dig in to buy these games, so they shouldn't have to deal with this extra frustration.

I would prefer EA consolidate or eliminate certain features/modes (staring at you, FoTF) to get more quality than throw stuff at the wall and see what stick.

#ignoretheroots, and the tree dies ... Guys who can offer constructive opinions like this are the roots