When playing Sports games do you......

[Damaramu 0]

When you play sports games do you scout the opposition? Like before the game look at all of their stats so you can maybe figure out some trends and figure out a good gameplan in beating them? Or do you just go into the game and do what you usually do?

 

Oh and I know everyone else gets frustrated when their players play braindead. I hate it when my players drop passes on football games and when my offensive lineman can't hold blocks. Oh and when the game can perform super human feats that I can't do!

That was just a rant I had to get off of my chest.

[the max 0]

Depends on what kind of franchise I'm running.

 

I have two kinds of franchises that I run.

 

There's the 'use your favorite team and just have fun and try to win' kind of franchise. That, I don't scout anyone. Just play.

 

The one I use more than any of them is the 'take a team with high upside and bring them to greatness'. For that, I scout. I try to get matchups, especially against elite teams. Look at stats, numbers, etc. to get an idea of who their best players are and try to get my best on the ice not against them, usually. Sometimes, I have a shut-down player that I try to match against their best players.

 

For instance, in my Thrashers franchise, I've spent over a half-an-hour preparing for my first playoff series against the Flyers.

 

 

 

As for the rant, yes, it bothers me. I've traded goaltenders after one bad game.

[Rendclaw 0]

I am encountering that in my ESPN NBA 2k5 season.

 

It seems that defense does not matter as much. I have been contesting my opponents shots, right up in their faces, jumping right with them and the shot still goes down. I'm not asking for blocks every time and I really don;t want to mess that much with the sliders, but I have been close to throwing my controller during some games.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

When playing my Madden '04 franchise mode I always scout the other team and see who's injured and scope out their depth chart. There have been a few times when finding out who the worse kick returner, or discovering a 90-rated receiver is actually the third wideout made a difference in my gameplan. If a team has a great LB core but poor CBs, I play more 4 WR formations, and vice versa...

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

When I'm playing baseball games, I have the problem that since I know too much, I assume things about players that the designers do not account for.

[Der Kommissar 0]

I do and I don't myself. I spend a decent amount of time scouting my opponent in college basketball games. I usually try to see who their best shooters are, then make sure that I have my double teams on them. Or I wait until the game happens, see who they usually favour giving the ball to, then set my guys to double team them. Of course, sometimes I have done the opposite where I let him get his points, while covering the rest of the team, which leads to such hilarity as their best player getting the "Player of the Game" award, despite my team blowing his team out by 40.

 

I also try to know the team's tendencies in football when I play it. If I know I have zero to worry about from their rushing attack, then I focus on their pass and vice versa. I also know some team's weaknesses from playing with them so much, like Miami being INCREDIBLY susceptible to sacks. If I get my DE's timing down just right, I can get 5-12 sacks with that one player on the second hardest level against Miami, depending how good of a player that I am using.

 

I probably should scout a bit better though, as the computer usually has a few time wasting tricks that I'd love to learn how to stifle, but after facing them enough, I usually get the idea pretty quickly.

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

I am encountering that in my ESPN NBA 2k5 season.

 

It seems that defense does not matter as much. I have been contesting my opponents shots, right up in their faces, jumping right with them and the shot still goes down. I'm not asking for blocks every time and I really don;t want to mess that much with the sliders, but I have been close to throwing my controller during some games.

I just double team the shit out of ball handlers and then switch to one of the guys away from the ball handler so I can pick off a bad pass.

[Guest Coffey]

I don't know. It's weird. It's like, if you play the game on easy, your team just steamrolls any other team. If you put it on hard, however, your team just makes mistakes that you don't have any control over (like facemask fouls in Madden).

 

If you put it on medium, you'll still win every game if you know what you're doing.

 

Basically, I don't think that it's ever got to point where I'd need a strategy. Either I play on hard and get jipped, or I win by a landslide.

[phoenixrising 0]

One thing I like about NCAA 2005 is the matchup stick where you can see how good each player is in comparison to his opponent. This allows me to see who I can take advantage of, and where the strengths of my team are. Sometimes I will look at the opponent beforehand and look for weaknesses, but the matchup stick allows me to do it on the field. I look at my line and decide how I will run the ball. If I have a good center and a guard I'll run HB Iso straight up the middle, if I have a good tackle it's toss/off tackle time. In the passing game I'll look for mismatches and take advantage, especially if I have a good reciever on a bad corner. On defense I usually look at the recievers - I'll give up short gains but I hate giving up long plays so if I have bad corners on a good wideout I will double team more.

 

About the dropped passes - big problem on NCAA 2005. I moved the WR Catching bar almost up to maximum and moved QB Accuracy up, and it seems to have cut down. Still, any throw with a defender within five yards is a 50/50 shot if the reciever holds on to it. Also the batted ball system seems to work against me a lot, as the defense usually has about six guys around the ball, and take out my guy so they can intercept it. Then again I've had several INT's off of batted balls so I really can't complain.

[Damaramu 0]

That's another thing that bothers me about NCAA. It seems that the defense can be 50 yards down field and my reciever is wide open so I'll let the ball fly and somehow about 4 defenders will be on him by the time the ball gets there. It drives me nuts.

[Guest bigm350]

I don't scout anybody and just play like I always do. NCAA 05 is so easy on All-American level, that I have to bump it up to Heisman level, and that's playing with teams like North Carolina, or Michigan State.

[Damaramu 0]

I had a 6 year dynasty with SMU on All-American. That was cool taking them from nothing to having the longest winning streak in history(63 games).

Now even though they have high prestige I'm trying to bring Notre Dame back to prominence.

 

I like playing with OU since they're my favorite team but then again it's boring b/c they and USC and teams like that are already good and there's no challenge to bring them to the top.

[Guest bigm350]

Right now, even though I'm using Michigan as my dynasty, I usually play 3-4 games every week in my season with different teams and simulate games I know Michigan will win. It seems less repetitive and you can play other big games, between teams that are rivals or whatever.

[Damaramu 0]

Man I think we need to dig up the old NCAA 2K5 Dynasty thread.....or start a new one.

[Guest bigm350]

Man I think we need to dig up the old NCAA 2K5 Dynasty thread.....or start a new one.

Sounds good. I think my overall record against the CPU is 138-2.

[Damaramu 0]

Mine's like 28-0 on this one. Yeah I played those season as SMU but I simulated all conference play b/c well.....it's the WAC(i think) and that's boring.

[Guest bigm350]

Yeah, the WAC is boring. When Boise State is your conference's top team, you can't help but laugh.

[Der Kommissar 0]

Has anyone ever tried taking Baylor and trying to make them a prominent team? I have considered it, but I am not sure I have the patience to try to turn around such a bad team in such a tough conference. In NCAA 2004, I believe they are actually worse than a few division I-AA teams that I could bring up.

 

Yeah, the WAC is boring.

 

C-USA isn't much better. I don't face Louisville in my UAB dynasty, but I do have to get bogged down facing crappy teams like Army, Houston, Tulane, Memphis(who strangely suck in this game), and Southern Miss(who has basically been lost in the shuffle.) Cincinnati is supposed to be decent(a , but I squashed them in my last outing, TCU is not hard, just REALLY boring, and South Florida is average as best. Ah well. At least I have my non-conference schedule to keep things interesting.

[theintensifier 0]

I definately scout teams.

 

In Football games, if the opposing team has a few star players like the Colts, I'll put my top CB on Harrison, along with a secondary CB, and then put my fastest / strongest LB on James, along with another stud on my defense.

 

I do the same in Basketball games, like if I was playing the Lakers of old, I'd double team Shaq the entire game, same goes with Kobe. I'd put my two best defenders on them, and usually get the steal.

[Red Baron 0]

For Football I do some scouting. I'll usually check on who's injured on the opposing team, to see their strategy, and their strengths and weaknesses.

 

If the team has a weak D-Line, I'm gonna run the ball more up the gut, and being able to scramble. Also with a weak D-Line, I'm able to stay in the pocket for a good time.

 

If the Linebackekrs are hurt, I'm not going to worry about LB's blitzing. With that, I can either dump some slant routes, or some nifty curls to catch them off guard. With this, I can also run to the left or right (or both depending on the weakness).

 

If they have a weak secondary, I'm going with a 3-Wide or a 4- Wide, and force them to play man 2 man. If they keep playing a dime or nickel formation, I can go for the pass, or fool them and go for a delay or counter run.

 

If the offense is hurting, I know what to expect. If its a weak o-line, I'd blitz more than usual, though I gotta know the QB is, or else i'm going to get burned.

 

My run defense game is pretty damn solid, only giving up 67.3 yards a game (both user and humans).

 

My pass defense is questionable. If they have a weak wide receiver core, I can hold them down to about 115-130 a game, though if they have one solid receiver, I will give up a few key plays. What burns me the most if I'm using a zone coverage with 3 man out. It's not that they get the first down, but its those 5-8 yard gains they get.

[NoCalMike 0]

I've never had the need to scout the system's AI. It just usually isn't hard enough. However, online, I always look at their mix of run/pass % because it is usually telling of how they will play the game. Also I look early for patterns and "bread n butter" plays they are using, so I can quickly adjust.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Yeah, the WAC is boring. When Boise State is your conference's top team, you can't help but laugh.

The MAC gets pretty bad after you've had a couple of seasons of recruiting under your belt.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I had a 6 year dynasty with SMU on All-American. That was cool taking them from nothing to having the longest winning streak in history(63 games).

Serious question for everyone -- doesn't it ever get boring winning all the time? I'm not sure how many of you tweak your sliders, but I have mine to the point where my games are pretty realistic. Now granted I just went 13-3 in Madden this year, but about 5-6 of the games I won were by a TD or less, and there were a few games I didn't think I'd pull out. To me, that's more entertaining than winning 100 straight games and winning 20 Super Bowls. In fact, in the four franchise years I've played, I've only won the big game once. Hopefully, I'll win it this year, although I'll be facing in the AFC Conf. Championship the last two teams to knock me out of the playoffs...

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

I usually only lose 1 game or go undefeated but I usually have 5 or 6 close calls during the season and have to usually pull a few games off in overtime. But all of my recruitment goes into defense so no one really moves the ball well against me and I just manage to pull clutch plays when I need to. I've had tons of games that have ended with me making a goal line stand with my defense to keep the game winning TD out.

[Red Baron 0]

I went undefeated in my last season, but in my second season I'm 2-3, so it balances.

[Damaramu 0]

Well I keep the sliders at normal b/c I'm not a very good play caller. Usually I call some alright plays but most of the time my talent saves me and I get lucky. But I take WAY to many chances and can call a stinker now and then.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

My defense also leads the NCAA in injuring QBs. Every season I usually severely injure a QB in 5-7 of my games.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

If I don't win a football game by at least fifty points, chances are I won't play it again for a long time. My draw is to see how bad I can destroy an outmatched opponent.

[iggymcfly 0]

The lack of proper competition is definitely a problem with a lot of sports games, specifically NCAA 2005. The difference between All-American and Heisman is so vast that I have a really hard time getting a good game. After I went undefeated and won a national championship on All-American, I started to get bored, and I stopped playing for a while. After not playing for a month or so, I found that I was still able to win by 30 or so points. So, I switch it up to All-American, and all of a sudden it's impossible to find an open receiver, and I'm down 31-0 at halftime. Then, I switch the difficulty at halftime, and I end up only one possession short of making the comeback. It's just too big of a difference.

 

Of course the thing that really annoys me is that when I'm stuck at college with my shitty TV, the color never looks remotely right, no matter how many hours I spend fucking with it, and it pretty much ruins video games for me. For instance, no matter where the color's set, or how low the brightness/contrast are, the floor's always a shiny bright white in NBA Live, and there are a lot of spots either way too bright or way too dark on NCAA. If it doesn't bother me so much that I quit playing, it at least hurts my eyes, and I find that I play about a tenth as many video games when I'm here, as I do when I'm home with a decent TV, or as I did last year when my roommate had a nice one.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I just grab the controller and play. About all the scouting I do is looking at my opponent's ranking and win-loss record.