NCAA 14 open thread

Submitted by Philbert on

The game has been available for 14 hours now and wanted to see what the rest of you were thinking so far. 

EA suckered me into the season ticket a few months ago so I have been playing it since the 5th and have had a pretty positive experience. I'm one of the die hards that plays on Heisman and destroys teams by 70 with the likes of Toledo and UTSA. I had always felt that the past games were a little glitchy but overall a "good" experience. So far this years game has a lot of promise but I'm seeing some glaring holes while playing the CPU. I created my own playbook filled with I-form, pistol, and shotgun with a ton of read options. It's really fun to run but its becoming almost to easy. Just for kicks I played and entire game with toledo against bama running variations of the read option. Had 650 yards rushing and won 42-10. I found that to be a joke. 

I have noticed it to be more difficult to run out of the power. Last year there was a money play out of ifrom twins where it was a power to the opposite side of the twins and if your fb lead through the lb or saftey, you were gone. That sequence is gone now but counters seem to have a little pop to them. 

Passing is still a pain but doable if you know what your looking for. Short underneath routes are high percentage still. The deep ball seems more difficult to hit this year but I haven't messed around with that very much as I have been playing with the option to much to care yet. I'm not going to comment much on this.

Defense has been a lot harder vs the CPU and I've had more then a few, "I probably shouldn't whip my controller off the ground" moments. The Blitzs don't hit home nearly as much as they use to. CPU no huddle offense gives you absolutely no time to change forms or call press coverages. The ball carrier recovery feature is cool to watch unless its when your saftey is on an island and a TE just runs through him like a Mac truck. Overall its more realistic but the hair pulling moments are going to drive me nuts for the time being. 

I have lightly skimmed over the dynasty so far and thought it looked pretty good and like the new concepts but I haven't dove in yet. I'm waiting for the Operation Sports rosters to come out before I go hard into that. 

Whats your thoughts so far? Like? Dislike? best cover are ever? (answer is yes) Whats your money play (formation and primary reads) any rosters that are worth downloading yet?

add me on psn if you would like: Poshea49

 

BigTex

July 10th, 2013 at 10:03 AM ^

I downloaded this roster, but it seems to be incomplete for Michigan with only a few players named (if I recall correctly, just QBs).  Is this still a work in progress, or am I missing something...aside from the names of all the other players?

Thanks for the heads up though...

ixcuincle

July 9th, 2013 at 9:50 PM ^

Okay...had some time to play some more Ultimate Team. 

The team I have compiled is so bad they got blown out by Miami (14-0, 31-6 the second time) in the weekly challenge twice.  Arian Foster gets hurt every time. Ryan Tannehill is my starting QB, and Mark Sanchez is the backup.  

I think I might have to practice some more before I try those challenges...or make some kind of improvements to the team. I shouldn't be this bad at the weekly challenges, on Varsity mode. That Miami team is damn good. 

samdrussBLUE

July 9th, 2013 at 11:43 PM ^

Heisman difficulty with everything else default (50 for sliders, AI). And game speed as fast as possible and its still a touch too easy. Has anyone played around with the sliders and have levels that they like in terms of difficulty and reality?

Avon Barksdale

July 10th, 2013 at 12:00 AM ^

Personally, I think this is the best one yet. As it should be. Graphics are better. I haven't had a 90 inch vertical from an eight foot LB yet.



Seven Nation Army and pre game stuff is more fine tuned. I've been impressed thus far.

MGoManBall

July 10th, 2013 at 8:19 AM ^

Played my first online game last night. Got beat. It was a little laggy though so every time I'd go after the ball as a db the game wouldn't react in real time. 

Still an awesome game and the first one I've gotten since 2009.

MGoBlue96

July 10th, 2013 at 11:08 AM ^

the demo, but I have reading on a couple other sites about how defense (run defense and zone passing defense in particular) is severly lacking regardless of sliders or difficulty  being used. That was the one aspect of the demo I didn't like, the run game seemed to be completely overpowered on both sides. Even on Heisman I was easily getting 5+ yards a pop against Alabama's D using VT on Heisman.  Many aspects of the demo felt like an improvement, but I think I will wait and see what more people have to say about defense in the game, and if EA balances things more with tuners/patches. Can't really enjoy the game if every game turns into a scoring fest, and good to great defenses don't show any teeth regardless of slider or difficulty adjustments.

At this point I have been dissapointed too many times by NCAA Football this gen,(last year was the first year I waited for a price drop before buying),to rush out and buy it right at release. It just seems like EA works in extremes, they finally improve the poor run blocking logic and option game, but may have gone overboard and made them overpowered.

MichiganMan1999

July 10th, 2013 at 7:10 PM ^

This is offtopic somewhat because i can't strt a thread but I was just wondering how you and your buddies set up your OD? Curious what is the best way for a long term one to start in terms of starting team stars, coordinator vs head coach, users in same conference vs different conference, if in different conferences do you play user games, do you stay with same program or bounce around jobs, and if you bounce jobs do you stay in same conference as other users? My buddies and I are starting one and I was just curious what the best would be for a good, long term dynasty