NCAA 2005

PerryG2480 · July 16, 2004

So far I'm still trying to adjust sliders to get the game to be more realistic. I also bumped the defensive sliders down a little, I was holding the other team to under 20 yards rushing every game. Also, too many passes were getting deflected on both teams. I played Memphis and won 24-17 with Cobbs going for 145 yards and 2 TD's. They only handed the ball to DeAngelo Williams 8 times and threw to him twice??? Strange. I adjusted the sliders a little more, played Southern Miss, and won 17-10. It was a defensive struggle, which was fine. I then adjusted a little bit more, played Arkansas in Fayetteville and lost 20-14. Most of the stats were pretty realistic at that point. I will probably play a couple more, and then start my dynasty.

Anyone else not seeing their created signs when they play?

July 16, 2004

I finally lost in the 4th year of my dynasty. TAMU beat me 14-7 and I had the ball in the red zone with a minute left in the game, but my young receivers were rattled and couldn't catch a ball to save their lives. That game made me so mad I just simmed the rest of the season and went 7-5 and finished #21 in the nation after being #1 before I played TAMU.

I recruted an awesome athlete that had 87 speed, 91 THP, 70 THA, and 72 CTH. But I couldn't put him at QB because I already had 4 and I didn't want him to transfer. So now I have a WR with 91 THP, so I'm going to try out some WR passes with him. Should be interesting.

One thing that I wish was in the game is medical redshirts. My star OLB who was a soph was injured for the season in the first game of the season, so that was just a wasted year of eligibilty since I couldn't give him a medical redshirt.

UNTFan23 · July 17, 2004

OK, for those that have Xbox and Live, list your screen name. Mine is ITEagle03.

meangreendork · July 18, 2004

hmm...recruiting seems easier this year.

even though there aren't as many blue-chip players, winning the NO bowl and going for a perfect season really do count. i nabbed a blue-chip player or two, and a good number of 4 and 3 star players. my only disappointments were in P and WR positions, which didn't get too much play time last season. my first 3 seasons in NCAA2004 were littered with 3 and 2 star players.

i guess the game pays more attention to your play style, record, and teams beaten.

July 18, 2004

Winning makes recruiting a lot easier, and being in Texas makes recruiting even easier. Last off season I got the top 3 CBs who were all from Texas and who ran 4.16, 4.16, and 4.18 forties, which are so extremely unrealistic that it is laughable.

I think I'm going to do a dynasty in Hawaii or Alaska somewhere that will make recruiting very hard.

Got5onIt · July 19, 2004

For people complaining on how easy the game is, you need to switch to Heisman. I'm playing on heisman and can tell you the game is very difficult. The CPU's playcalling is very balanced and as realistic as I've ever seen in a sports game. I'm playing with the default sliders on Heisman but plan to tweak them a bit as the CPU's defensive backs are insanely fast.

My record so far in season one of my dynasty:

Texas - L 21-3

FAU - W 17 -3

CU - L 21-0

Baylor - W 24-7

MTSU - W 13-10

USt - W 17-0

NMSt - W 10-7

ULM - W 14-0

ULL - W 21-10

Idaho - next

ArkSt - next

It was very difficult to play at UT & CU because of the Home Field Advantage. Andrew Smith is my starter with 1600yds passing & Patrick Cobbs only has 720yds rushing through 9 games

MeanGreenBuzz · July 19, 2004

For people complaining on how easy the game is, you need to switch to Heisman. I'm playing on heisman and can tell you the game is very difficult. The CPU's playcalling is very balanced and as realistic as I've ever seen in a sports game. I'm playing with the default sliders on Heisman but plan to tweak them a bit as the CPU's defensive backs are insanely fast.
My record so far in season one of my dynasty:
Texas - L 21-3
FAU - W 17 -3
CU - L 21-0
Baylor - W 24-7
MTSU - W 13-10
USt - W 17-0
NMSt - W 10-7
ULM - W 14-0
ULL - W 21-10
Idaho - next
ArkSt - next
It was very difficult to play at UT & CU because of the Home Field Advantage. Andrew Smith is my starter with 1600yds passing & Patrick Cobbs only has 720yds rushing through 9 games

It is still a passing game. They have not yet learned how to balance pass D and run D so you get the same effect as in a real game. It is easy to pass and nearly impossible to get a good run breakaway for 60 yards.

July 19, 2004

Heisman is definitely awesome. The computer is very balanced and has long sustaining drives. It really keeps you off balance and it is an accomplishment to stop the computer.

I am using some tweaked sliders that a lot of people are using on MaddenMania, and it is pretty realistic.

Gakusei · July 19, 2004

I've decided to exchange my copy for ESPN NFL 2k5. After playing it for this past week, it just doesn't feel right to me. The running game isn't very realistic, and the game's way of altering the difficulty is by upping the computer's OL or DL to the point where they rip through my OL/DL like tissue paper. The composure ratings also kind of bite since everyone online is a top 25/BCS team with a stadium that takes the ratings down to the point where nobody catches anything and the running can't penetrate the way it should.

It also feels to me like the game is outdated. The graphics are poor, and god are the announcers irritating. I've had segments where they've repeated the exact same sentiment (No noise from this crowd...it's no longer rowdy in here...the noise level has sure died down) for 10-15 times.

Maybe I was expecting too much...shrug.

meangreendork · July 20, 2004

Yeah...there are those online people that take the fun out of going online. The composure system is more an advantage for the home team, but that was the objective behind making it. I think there should be some sort of restriction system that prevents or at least give incentive to playing more balanced online games. You can love Rutgers to death, but God forbid you take them against LSU.

Btw, you exchanged it for ESPN's game? Isn't that like, $20? I hope you got some money back for it.

Coach · July 20, 2004

You can turn the HFA off, and adjust sliders to fix the run game/line problems. I toyed with it for a couple of days and found some sliders I really like. I wouldn't trade the game in without giving the sliders a shot. I have a GC, so obviously I don't go online with it, but if I did, I would only play people I knew because I can imagine how annoying the cheesers must be. I get mad at people who abort games at Yahoo checkers, so I'm glad I don't have to put up with it with NCAA. As for the announcers, I can't stand Corso in real life much less the game, so I always have it turned down and listen to the radio. It's too bad you are giving up on it in less than a week, I am really enjoying it more than any other year.

July 20, 2004

Adjust the sliders, that's what they are there for.

After finding some good Heisman sliders, this game is really the most enjoyable football game I have played since Madden on the Genesis. Just like in real life, anything can and does happen on Heisman in this game. Sometimes I dominate, sometimes I get stomped, and sometimes I have games that come down to the final posession and are real nail biters.

Edited July 20, 2004 by e-bone

Zeke · July 20, 2004

I have played the game enough where I can now comment on things. First of all, I do think it is a little too much of a rehash of the same game. That doesn't make it not a great game though. I have never played the game online before but the game is taken to a new level when played online. It really adds a new level of fun. Their is the occasional cheater, but for the most part I have found my online games enjoyable (even though I have a losing record). I just got a good roster file today and that has me pretty excited. The call Cobbs "Cobb" and I have heard them say "Moore" for Kevin Moore. Home field advantage is pretty cool. Only once have I had the place shake at Fouts, and we were playing A$M then. Running is still too hard. Sliders are something I will toy with in time.

Gakusei · July 20, 2004

Believe me I toyed with the sliders. I just couldn't come up with the right combination to where the gameplay felt right. As far as giving it enough time, I'm enrolled in 1 course this session, so I've already played the game 40+ hours.

I went to EB and made my preorder for ESPN NFL 2k5 (and ya, I got money back on the deal), and am now looking forward to that quite a bit. NCAA is a good game and all, I didn't mean to bag on it that hard. To me it just feels really unfinished, especially since EA puts so much time and effort into Madden. NCAA just feels a bit old and there are some balance issues, imo. I had fun in my 40 or so hours with it, I just felt like ESPN would be taking up the majority of my time the next couple months, so there's no reason to hold onto NCAA.

meangreendork: When you use a non-BCS team online, your rankings skyrocket if you take out a BCS team. I was ranked about #4500, and beat a #9 Michigan, taking me to #1200 something.

Coach: You can turn off HFA for dynasty and quick games, but not for online games as far as I can tell. That makes going up against one of the big teams at their stadium virtually impossible. Granted it's that way in real life, but it still gets old. Glad you're enjoying it, it's a good game.

Zeke: Wow, I never got Fouts to shake. I went 6 seasons undefeated in dynasty and the best I ever got was about 6 bars on the crowd noise.

meangreendork · July 20, 2004

I'm still in season 2...I guess you guys are simming some of your games? I figure Fouts won't shake much simply because of stadium size. It really stinks, too because I remember the crowd noise at the Baylor game being unbelievable. You don't need 50k+ fans to rock the other team's minds.

I agree with this game being a little unfinished; the speech at a UNT home game opening is funky, and the commentator programming should've been revamped. I wonder if this really is the same team that works Madden, and if so, is their development time shorter?

Coach · July 20, 2004

Coach: You can turn off HFA for dynasty and quick games, but not for online games as far as I can tell. That makes going up against one of the big teams at their stadium virtually impossible. Granted it's that way in real life, but it still gets old. Glad you're enjoying it, it's a good game.

Yeah that would get old because I'm sure nobody plays with teams not in the 25 toughest places to play.

HFA will be off for our tournament for sure.

Edited July 20, 2004 by Coach

July 20, 2004

The kicking meter in Heisman is driving me crazy!

PerryG2480 · July 20, 2004

I know it can be discouraging. I just now found a set of sliders on All-American that I like. I don't play on Heisman because the kicking is too hard. I just soup up the All-American level so that it's difficult. A lot of you guys are way ahead of me, I'm just now getting into the third game of my first season on my dynasty!

Gakusei · July 20, 2004

I wonder if this really is the same team that works Madden, and if so, is their development time shorter?

The developer for both is Tiburon, but I doubt it's the same team. Honestly the problem is that there aren't any competitors for EA's NCAA game, and it doesn't sell nearly as much as Madden does. EA just tweaks the game, adds a couple features to it, and throws it into production.

Hopefully next year they'll revamp the whole engine.

untbowler · July 22, 2004

Anyone who has a PS2 how hard is it to set up the adapter and system for online play? I am thinking about picking up the network adaptor this weekend and try to play some.

PM if you have any information.

Thanks

meangreendork · July 22, 2004

shouldn't be too complex. ask bryan316, he should still have his.

UNT_92_Fan · July 23, 2004

Been holding off on commenting about the game until i actually got a shot to play the dang thing...working and all that crap is killin my social life....I love this game and so what if some of it isn't realistic....Its a video game....Me and MrStrange05 just played two classics tonite....decent teams and we racked up the top two games on my system....fun times....triple overtimes, last second comebacks....fun times....I am trying to link my PS2 back online...but even if i dont get it hooked up...anyone in denton wants to let me show u how it is done...jk...holler at me on PM....

GabeGMG · July 25, 2004

The network adapter is very easy to use, just snap it onto the back and hook it up to your router or modem, whatever you use..and it should work fine. I use mine in a Sunbelt online football league

PerryG2480 · July 27, 2004

I just beat NMSU at home 17-10 in overtime after being down 10-7 late in the fourth quarter. I converted a 3rd and 10 on a draw play to Cobbs where I was able to juke and get out of bounds to stop the clock and keep the drive going. I completed a pass across the middle to Howard to get down to the 25 yard line with less than five seconds left. Called time out, and let Bazaldua do the honors. Cobbs scored in OT, and Early had an interception on 2nd down to seal the game. So much fun...scored over 1100 points on the greatest games score!

Tonight I'll take on a 6-1 (ranked 59th in the nation) UL-Monroe team, should be a good one. They're ranked 5th in the nation in total offense per game.

Edited July 27, 2004 by PerryG2480