Madden 2025 Wishlist

[ODogg]

I know that since i'm an EA "plant" and absolutely love Madden 24 that people might think I wouldn't have much to add, or perhaps even nothing.........but although I love Madden I am not under a delusion of areas in which EA could vastly improve the game.

Here's my list:

1. Weather - We need variable weather, random weather, and in regards to when you select the weather we need snow on ground, light snow, medium snow, heavy snow and blizzard, ditto for rain.

Also, weather needs to affect the game, as it did the Cowboys/Giants game where it was nearly impossible to throw at times. They do have players slip on occasion but more work is needed in this area, a lot more.

2. Special teams play - More types of special team plays. They did add some in this year so they obviously know this area needs attention so that's good.

3. More camera angles + a custom camera angle. We need at least double the amount of camera angles.

4. A halftime show with highlights from other games being played.

5. Penalty slider needs fixed to allow for none or a crazy amount.

6. Add in more real NFL penalties that are missing from the game.

7. AI, true AI, in regards to player behavior and coaching decisions. Wouldn't it be great if you could dramatically tell the difference in CPU coaching?

8. Different skill levels for offense, defense, special teams and kicking. With this being enacted I could play All-Pro for offense, All-Madden for defense, All-Pro for special teams and Rookie for kicking, for example.

9. The sound - EA needs to really have someone help them with the audio. Playing MLB The show and then Madden is a hugely stark comparison. Madden escalates the crowd way too quickly, doesn't hold the high point long enough and then dissipates the crowd very quickly, which leaves one with the sub-conscious idea that you are playing an NFL game in front of a high school crowd.

They also need to just adjust the sound to have more bass and fullness. I know it's not my system settings for my stereo because, as I said, other games like MLB The Show have good, robust sound. EA's often sounds tinny and almost as if the sample size is far too low.

Also, crowds at an NFL game are like a large ship, they turn slow, they hold status quo for a long time, they amp down slow. Now there are some exceptions, say a particularly vicious play in which everyone immediately gasps, but for the most part I have done some thinking on this and think the sound problems EA has is largely because it's small time crowd sound and poor sound sampling at that.

10. We do not need more cutscenes because most of us, myself included, tend to skip them, sometimes when we don't even mean to. What we do need however is in-engine reactions that used to be a cut scene. This will make it feel much more realistic instead of having cut scenes ala videogame style as it is now.

That means instead of having the play happen and then the camera cuts to a close up of two players who are jawing with each other, that we would instead have the play happen and those two players jaw at each other but in the actual scene you are watching without any cut-away.

11. Fix the amount of a replay that we can have, at least on the PC. I've had some really crazy plays like a kickoff, fumble, TD, ie a play that lasts a good bit longer than typical plays, and then go to replay and the play only goes back so far and so you can't add half the play to the replay to show anyone! This needs fixed.

12. Give us an NFL 2K style option for our defense, one where we can call defensive lineplay, linebacker play and secondary play. Make this a toggle though so people can still play the old way. I would probably use both. Sometimes I am more cerebral in how I approach a game, other times more action oriented. Giving us a choice of either way to call our defensive plays would be a boon I think. It was one of the things I miss most from NFL 2K.

[ODogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by sadler

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[ODogg]

Quote: Originally Posted by PhillyPhanatic14

From easiest to most ambitious... Option to demand a trade in Superstar Option to choose weather in franchise games New relocation stadiums Something to make franchise feel alive. Seasons feel pretty dead and disconnected from the rest of the league. Wear and tear progressive injury system in franchise

It's threads like these that can show just how great social media and these forums can be. Because I read your list and not a single one matches the 12 I put below.

And yet your list are all great ideas for EA to implement. If EA Madden developers still read this forum much I am positive it's threads like this that they mine for ideas to put on the whiteboard.

[KSUowls]

1 - Get rid of scouting in franchise as well as coaches. They are useless in the current iteration, and EA seems married to at least one of these systems (coaching). So don't bother wasting drive space on them.

-Tongue and cheek answers aside, both of these systems need to be rebuilt from the ground up. The 'new' scouting system isn't fun, and it is definitely isn't engaging. The coaching skill tree (cheats as I call them) seems to be someone's baby at EA it is a system that just won't go away despite being generic and linear. It's one of the things that make it so easy for people to criticize the company for claiming the "simulation" football license. There is a huge opportunity in Franchise to make staff development matter from your coordinators to your scouts. Implementing an attribute system as well as making coaching styles really matter would both go a long way to making Franchise more engaging and bringing differentiation across teams and staffs.

2 - Delete everything in the current presentation code and rebuild it from scratch. I wouldn't mind a new broadcast team as well, but at least give them some lines that are both accurate, interesting, and relevant to the virtual world that you are in.

-Emphasize a tv broadcast style atmosphere from the commentary team, visuals on screen, half time show etc...
-Bring more stats, visuals, audio, etc in terms of stats and stories about individual players and teams to the main menu. Think the Tony Bruno Show or what the 2K games have done with a weekly show. Not going to continue rehashing things which were talked about in Chase's article and the associated thread a couple of weeks ago, but basically just bring more immersion to franchise on the field and in the menus.


Honestly...these two things would make Madden a must buy very year for me and would more or less fix my complaints with Franchise being soulless. Both are pretty big lifts, but the gameplay is in a pretty good spot right now (obviously there are still issues). I just find it really hard to care about my franchise because the presentation sucks and the coaching/scouting system is terrible.

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3 - Rethink the approach to player ratings. I would love to see a shift in player ratings such that the bell curve moves to the left. Leave the outliers where they are, but just create more separation between Justin Jefferson and Chase Claypool. Instead of gimmicks like Superstar/x-factor abilities (can't remember what they are called), create separation between players by creating bigger variances in their attributes rather than these arcade style powerups.

-This would likely necessitate the creation of some new player attributes. It would also certainly need to have draft logic reworked. It always seems like generated draft classes come in with higher rated players than the real rookies of any given Madden iteration.

4 - Pre-draft starting point for Franchise. I think it would be really cool if we could redo the current year's NFL draft with whatever team we select. As a Falcons fan, maybe I trade up and get Bryce or stay at 7 and take Jalen Carter instead of a running back. Give me that opportunity to start in the offseason before we ever even get to the pre-season.

5 - Simulate real life stats during simulation. This one really baffles me that they can't make simulated game stats be more in line with real NFL football. Low priority, but it would be very much appreciated with the other changes.


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The above are all heavy lifts to varying degrees (except maybe #4). These are general improvements that I would like to see.

-Fix defense. Zone always seems to be broken in some manner.
-Penalty sliders that work.
-Let me select Kickoff/Receive at the start of each game as well as the direction, not a default menu option
-More weather! One of my favorite things since the dawn of Madden was to play in the elements. The more extreme conditions just don't seem to exist though.
-More relocation options. The team did a good job with adding places like Tokyo and Melbourne this year, but the team names and uniforms just don't match. The closest thing to a team name that matches a Tokyo based relocation would be the Dragons. Nothing else remotely fits and the uniforms are pretty meh to imo.
-Universal editor
-Tune the gameplay for "simulation mode" to a higher speed threshold. I imagine that sliders would be easier to figure out if the settings didn't assume an ultra fast gameplay by default.

[PhillyPhanatic14]

After playing more, the #1 thing I want next year is more variables for progression and regression. Every rookie should not get better just because they're young. Every older player should not get worse just because they're old. I want to feel like there's a reason to sign a 27-30 year old FA instead of playing a rookie.

Look at the Eagles starting LBs right now... 27 yr old Nick Morrow. 28 yr old Zach Cunningham. Both average to below average players. In Madden I'm never playing those guys. I'll play a 21-24 year old with a much lower OVR because I know they'll progress and eventually be better. These mid tier players in their late 20's need to have a purpose in the game.



Another thing - this is something FIFA has and to be clear FIFA sucks at implementing this, but they do have it in there - Owner Expectations. Give us objectives that we need to hit as a Coach/GM. If we're a team that's rebuilding, maybe that is developing young talent. If we're a team that's competing then it needs to be achieving a certain # of wins or playoff wins. In real life, the Chargers and Cowboys are firing their coaches this season if they don't have playoff success. I want to feel that pressure in Madden. There needs to be something on the line.

The Coach/GM cutscenes are already in the game from FOTF and the "look at this crappy mid round player and scout them" scenario that's in week 10 or 11 every season. Take those cutscenes and make them performance expectations at the beginning of the season, evaluation mid-season, and final evaluation at the end of the season. I would love for my coach to get fired and I have to find a new job somewhere else in the league because I didn't get the job done.

[NoleFan]

Make super sim speed an option in settings or make normal the default as it was when this feature was introduced on M17


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[oneamongthefence]

I'm a simple man so I want scenarios for the CPU along with integration into the news feed.

Progressive fatigue to work for the CPU.

More extreme scenarios such as holdouts.

Injuries that have long term consequences with ratings hits especially to the injury rating.

Weather. I love snow games. Madden snow games are pathetic. Also foggy conditions would be cool as well.

Actual opponent scouting reports.

Scouting should be more text based.

A small one would be traits should be dynamic again.

Some more franchise specific presentation elements. Halftime show, post draft analysis/grades, a ton more cutscenes for pre game and post game for regular season, playoffs and Superbowl.

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[NoleFan]

Quote: Originally Posted by oneamongthefence

Scouting should be more text based.

I'm probably in the minority but I miss the pre-Madden 22 scouting where I was just scouting all the scheme fit folks with 3 button presses. I at least felt more involved. Though having your scouts do it since Madden 22 is more realistic.

I think a good way to do it would be the have the current way but give the user the ability to set their board and then the scouts would evaluate the guys on the board.