NCAA Football 08 (360): Final Notes
Because I'm, well, insane, I decided to take a look at player progression.The reason I'm insane is that I can't just take a cursory look at anything involving player progression. It's like a disease.
Last year, Dynasty mode was essentially ruined because of player progression issues. Ratings inflation was extreme, and there were so many players rated 95+ after a few seasons that recruiting was relatively meaningless. Too many players at the high end of the ratings scale completely unbalanced the game.
I give Tiburon lots and lots of grief for their football games, primarily because they seem to have absolutely zero idea of what needs to be improved from year to year. If they're five percent away from delivering an absolutely great, Hall of Fame game, they'll improve the next version by ten percent, but it will be the WRONG ten percent every single time.
Because of their track record, I assumed that player progression would still be broken. In fact, the only reason I even took a look was to confirm that it was broken, so that I could shelve any notions I had of playing a Dynasty.
Here's the suprise of the year, though, at least for me: they fixed the damn thing.
Here's how I tested. I took the default player ratings (day one, season one) and manually tabulated (I told you, I'm insane) all the players from each position in three categories: 95 and above, 85 and above, and 80 and above. That's not comprehensive, but it's still enough information for the purposes of this analysis.
I then simmed through seven seasons, which was long enough to get rid of all default players, plus a season or two extra because, like I said, I'm crazy. On day one, season eight, I looked at the player ratings again.
Here, take a look. Offense first. Also, please note that none of the players are counted twice, so (for example) the 85+ category includes players from 85 to 89.
QB--2007--2014
90+: 15--19
85+: 49--38
80+: 100--80
HB--2007--2014
90+: 16--17
85+: 107--43
80+: 110--101
FB--2007--2014
90+: 9--2
85+: 36--10
80+: 55--20
WR--2007--2014
90+: 23--14
85+: 104--57
80+: 183--39
If you think those numbers aren't outstanding, please look again. I think the ratings after seven seasons are far better than the default ratings. There are fewer 90+ players, which means each one is more important, and those numbers should be stable for as many seasons as you want to play.
From here on, I only have 90+ numbers for season one for most positions, because it was mind-numbingly boring to count all this crap up (I did a full count in 2014 because I did it first and still had enthusiasm). You can still see that the distribution in 2014 is excellent, though.
TE--2007--2014
90+: 12--4
85+: ----18
80+: ----33
LT--2007--2014
90+: 20--5
85+: ----11
80+: ----38
LG--2007--2014
90+: 10--4
85+: ----10
80+: ----24
C--2007--2014
90+: 8--1
85+: ----8
80+: ----24
RG--2007--2014
90+: 9--4
85+: ----13
80+: ----23
RT--2007--2014
90+: 7--0
85+: ----5
80+: ----27
Now Defense:
LE--2007--2014
90+: 11--6
85+: ----18
80+: ----45
RE--2007--2014
90+: 12--5
85+: ----14
80+: ----42
DT--2007--2014
90+: 28--12
85+: ----24
80+: ----46
LOLB--2007--2014
90+: 14--8
85+: ----16
80+: ----38
MLB--2007--2014
90+: 16--11
85+: ----11
80+: ----36
ROLB--2007--2014
90+: 19--12
85+: ----24
80+: ----47
CB--2007--2014
90+: 21--12
85+: ----45
80+: ----88
FS--2007--2014
90+: 24--11
85+: ----31
80+: ----30
SS--2007--2014
90+: 18--9
85+: ----20
80+: ----36
Again, those numbers are very, very impressive.
Kickers and punters:
K--2007--2014
90+: 8--1
85+: 14--31
80+: 7--7
P--2007--2014
90+: 4--0
85+: 3--2
80+: 13--7
I think those numbers could mean that a slider adjustment is required in season four or five, but it would be a one-time adjustment only.
Here's one other way to look at some of these ratings--as matched pairs. A few examples:
2014 RE--LT
90+: 5--5
85+: 14--11
80+: 42--38
2014 RG+LG--DT
90+: 8--12
85+: 23--24
80+: 47--46
2014 WR--CB
90+: 14--12
85+: 57--45
80+: 139--88
That is all extremely playable in a long-term sense. It's the best long-term progression system I've ever seen in a football game.
Now, if you're still awake (both of you, raise your hands), here are a few notes on what Tiburon should be working on for next year:
1. Interceptions
2. Collision Detection
3. Head Tracking
4. Suction Blocking and Tackling
5. Between-Play Choppiness
6. Slow-Loading Menus
7. Camera Angles
8. Polls/BCS calculations
Seriously, if they would just work on those issues, this game would be epic. They don't need 200 new animations--the only new animations they need are for head tracking.
Instead, I'm fully confident that they'll announce at least two or three major new features and 300 new animations. If we're lucky, they'll address one or two of the issues on that list.
That's it for NCAA 2008.
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