Thursday, July 17, 2008

NCAA 09 Sliders: Initial Info

If you want to know how difficult it can be to work with the NCAA sliders, look no further than the QB Accuracy slider. I did some preliminary testing this afternoon, and here's a brief summary.

First off, it's a hybrid slider, affecting both accuracy and throwing power. As an example, if you set the "accuracy" slider to 100, quarterbacks can throw a pass 70-75 yards. That's not just quarterbacks with high throwing power--that's guys with popguns for arms, too, which makes me wonder why there's even a rating for arm strength.

Lower that "accuracy" slider to 0, though, and the longest pass goes from 75 yards to 32-35 yards. WTF?

Yes, it makes the quarterback less accurate, and almost comically so if it's set to 0. Their passes can go so wildly off target (literally, 20-30 yards) that it's completely ridiculous. And again, there's very little difference between the top-rated QB's and the worst.

However, if you don't min/max the accuracy slider, and set it to 60, quarterbacks can still throw 60-65 yards, but they're not as accurate, and I did see a difference between high accuracy and low accuracy ratings.

Like I said--it's screwy.

I also tested a few kicking sliders, because inaccuracy in those sliders drives me particularly crazy, and here are some recommended settings:
FG Power: 55 (both CPU and Human)
Punt Power: 40 (both CPU and Human)

Please note: the field goal accuracy and kickoff power sliders have been removed because it has been proven (and I confirmed this morning) is that the CPU sliders aren't having an effect. Changing the Human settings changes both.

I didn't see this last night because I adjusted the CPU slider to a certain point, then adjusted the Human slider to what I thought was a match in terms of kickoff distance, but I didn't go back and test the CPU again (because it had already been tested). However, since the sliders are FUBAR, that adjustment to the Human setting also adjusted the CPU's kickoff power as well, which means they still don't match.

Well done, Tiburon.


I don't have a Punt Accuracy setting--I'm just leaving it at the default (50) for now.

By the way, the Digital Sportspage Blog has some excellent, thorough explanations of the kinds of widespread gameplay issues people are seeing, and there are videos as well. If you're interested in the game, they're well worth reading.

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