Truly Done

I am with you... Done, truly..

In fact, the only reason came back after M'19 was b/c of COVID....e.g., I picked up '22 for XBOX ONE to have a time-burn.  Then my XB-1 started quivering -- so picked up a XB X from the Company -Store (Microsoft Alum) as the console was hard to come-by -- and I saw a deal for me.  While I was was not thrilled with Madden 2022 -- specifically Offline Franchise Mode -- I figured, I would wait until the price dropped and get an X/S version as the only game I play.. new system tire kicking -- and I was pumped to try this Field Sense upgrade... Worst case,  the prices of a couple cigars.

Well -- I was wrong. To be clear, the on-field game play was nice (still too many silly glitches) -- but that was the fun part. Everything else, not so much.  If this was 1999 to 2003 or so -- that would be OK.  But let's be real, the development of Franchise Mode items is not THAT complex. Namely, we are not talking about physics and dynamics of football and live simulation of 22 players+ other AI.  We are talking basic UIs, menus, business logic...30 years to get it right?!?!   EA punted on really investing in the Franchise Mode long, long ago... The navigation system is horrible and JV, does not breadcrumb well, has users jump (fall) all the way out and back to go to next list items, M'23 Depth Chart --very stupidly gets "updated" when settings say, never update my Franchise, and on-and-on. And so many good things removed, with fewer good items added.  And for the status-quo, There are far more bugs, glitches, anomalies, and just plan annoyances in 23 in contrast to '22 -- which is fundamentally insane -- since the systems is largely the same -- and 4? 5? updates later for M'23 -- too much is still broken... bad ... but this error are of the fatal nature... which an unrecoverable low.

Specifics for EA,

I first ran into data corruption while saving in Madden 2022.  IMO view as an old guy with a half-century of dev background -- corruption on saves should be treated as a P1 issue (hotfix level stop) -- e.g.,  highest of priorities... for any application, any.  It still took EA months to address it in M'22, and I'm not even 100% sure it was fixed...  Lot's of gray on that.  I know the corruption seemingly went away -- but for me it was after multiple M'22 seasons of forcing simulations through after ~ year 8-10. Namely, if I could get to year 12-14 -- the corruption seemed to have stopped --  maybe it was fixed in M22's last update -- hard to tell given the timing which was the case (fixed or luck).

Forward to Madden 2023 -- the Year of Madden -- and the corruption is back... worse than M'22 (or it never left). I first ran into M'23 corruption after the December mess for Online/Connected Franchise... which did not effect me .. but ka-boom after that update, my Offline Franchises bellied up-corrupt around Christmas... again..  I habitually save football-week saves after each Franchise week to limit my exposure (crazy I developed that habit, right?).  Of little help after week 10.  The only way forward, after week 10 or 11 --  sim continuously through to after the Super Bowl, then duck-and-dodge the OC bug by firing him; and then resume with the Off Season.

• M'23 generally was prone to crash on exit of a live game (week 10/11 through the Super Bowl) -- (kaboom - every saved game would be trash after week 10 or 11)
• With Fast Resume enabled, -- and never exiting -- same result -- crash while exiting game would be eminent W10 thru SB, and all saves (manual or auto= trash)
• Generally could sim 1 week at a time, but not always. After any crash --,  opening a save confirmed corrupted files.
• Only way forward, sim week to week with some risk (hope I make to to SB) or sim-through to the SB (inclusive), fire the OC, and resume the week after the SB.

What a drag, and waste..., and not even referencing litany of other repeat or new bugs.  This has drained the last bit of Madden life from me-- after decades -- and I have gone a step further and banned my kids from EA-Anything too. This is my exhale moment after seeing the post.

As last ditch, I played off-net; I deleted the game, all data -- and reinstalled. I've forged through forced-sims-- enough years -- forfeiting the 'fun' for which I purchased the game.  The time and effort I spent placating the less than mediocre interfaces -- where I spent way-way-way too much time suffering the crud flows (by EA design) and the bugs and issues rampant -- has been easily the greatest void of time in the Madden UI/UX experience. I pressed on, but gassed.

I was holding out for maybe 1 last  M'23 update.  Moving on after so long... Pointless hoping for some new result. and I am not a foolish person. M'23 added a few few good things from prior, but EA has long been needlessly eroding my joy. The rinse and repeat of mediocracy was old by '19 for me; but not addressing fatal bugs was the stake, dagger, straw, (insert euphemism of choice) that did it for me.

Truly Done Too..