Several Games Later...

Played several games today, testing out various teams.

I may, stress may, start at AA level. It's not so much a difficulty issue with me, as I beat San Diego State 44-3 with OSU on Heisman, but I do think the players play more to their ratings on AA and with the proper slider tweaks I think I can get it to play how I want. Will that change later? Maybe. But right now my games have been on AA.

The INT issue from the first few games has vanished. I'm chalking this up as officially no longer an issue. I do get picks, as I should, but I have not played a game anything like that first MSU debacle. If you think the INTs are too high on default, change it. That INT slider works.

I played a game today, again with OSU, against Michigan State and won 31-30. The reason I won (in part) was again the silly kick returns. I'm no longer manually returning punts and kicks. I Super Sim them. That's how bad it is.

I really like the fact that when I played the 31-30 game the MSU QB was 25/32...dude was on fire and that was against OSU's defense. However, I'm currently at the half of a rematch game and that same QB is 3/12 with an INT. Pretty cool. We're all over him.

That said, there are things that the more I play the more I think might be real issues that are not just going to go away. The CPU run game isn't very good. I know I am using OSU but even in the games where I used lesser teams the AI struggles UNLESS I refrain from switching players. If I stick to playing my chosen player for the entire play the CPU runs a lot better. But if I switch...it's lights out. He can't get away and most HBs average about 2.5 a carry. Note: I have yet to mess much with the CPU Run and RBlock sliders.

The Ghost Juke cost MSU the win in the 31-30 game. This one is really annoying. MSU was returning a kickoff and found a seam and then raced to the sidelines. He was home free -- gone. All he had to do was outrun OSU backup LB Brian Rolle but instead of just running for daylight he juked no one in particular and allowed Rolle to catch him. I have seen the Ghost Juke about 5 times now. Not good.

I also don't see much variety in the AI offensive playcalling. Deep passes are *rare*. I see them , but maybe 1 per game tops and it is not uncommon to see zero. (By deep I mean 20+ yards in the air.) A lot of dinks, dunks, and 7 yard passes over the middle. Because of this it is hard to tell a difference between playing against, say, San Diego State and Michigan State. The plays all feel similar it's just that MSU is better at running them.

The AI likes to run delayed options with slow ass QBs and it NEVER works. I see this play called by every team and I have yet to see it gain one positive yard.

I don't mean to focus on the negative but I want you guys to see the issues that might have an impact on the games on a regular basis. I am still very much enjoying myself, but these are the flaws that are popping out so take it FWIW.

I think you have to expect issues with every game it's just going to depend on what you can live with and what you can't. I still feel it's the best version on the field (I have not touched recruiting or checked the sim engine or the ranking AI) since NCAA 04, which was in my mind the high point of the series.