NCAA Football 2008

Globetrotter · Post by **Globetrotter** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 9:50 am

I am breaking down....I think I am going to go buy it.

Is it fun and does anyone in the Columbus area or anywhere have the names?

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 10:55 am

I've played a few games online, and it is fun, of course. I'm 2-1. Bumped off Florida & Oklahoma St. with BG. The lone loss was against Florida, I was down 21-7 in the first half when my stupid internet connection dropped and I got disconnected, but it counts as a loss

I ordered a transfer kit of eBay to get the names, but it hasn't arrived yet. I won't start my dynasty until I get the names entered. It sucks, nobody has that stupid thing locally. I went to 5 or 6 EBGames/GameStop places and BestBuy, Wal-Mart, Target, Meijer, etc.

BourbonFalcon · Post by **BourbonFalcon** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 12:23 pm

Does the '08 version have an updated Doyt? What about Freddy Falcon?

BGSUFootballFan · Post by **BGSUFootballFan** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 12:42 pm

The game is awesome. The recruiting alone is worth the money. Also the gameplay is more difficult. I used to crush the CPU on Heisman last year with BG. So far on my dynasty I'm 1-3 on All-American. Yup, I lost to Temple. I had to change a few things on AI like Interceptions so that there wasn't so many on both sides. I also made it easier for both sides to run the ball and more difficult for me to pass and catch. I love it so far though!

No the Doyt isn't updated and our mascot isn't on their either. The Doyt just NOW got done, how could you expect it to be on there?

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:06 pm

They fell just short of their hopeful total with revamping the stadiums. The Doyt is one of about 15-20 that is not fully rendered in this year's game. They expect to have all of them rendered perfectly next year.

There is no Freddy either, and that still baffles me. There really is no reason why they don't have every mascot in the game.

Still, I don't much care. Give me the gameplay and the dynasty mode and I'm happy. I've putzed around with recruiting and it looks PHENOMENAL. It's going to take a lot more time to do your dynasty this year, but looks to be worth it, so much more in depth and realistic. I refuse to start my real dynasty until I get the correct names though. I like to export my draft classes to Madden and I'll want the real names for that.

BGSUFootballFan · Post by **BGSUFootballFan** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:11 pm

It takes me just as long to recruit for 1 week as it does to play a game. But I wouldn't have it any other way really. The recruiting is so much better this year than in years past that I don't even know how to describe it!

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:13 pm

BGSUFootballFan wrote:It takes me just as long to recruit for 1 week as it does to play a game. But I wouldn't have it any other way really. The recruiting is so much better this year than in years past that I don't even know how to describe it!

I'm with you. I used to simulate half my games anyways, just to get to the offseason quicker. I expect I'll be using the "Simulate rest of game" feature often this year. I'll start the game, if I can get a decent lead I'll just sim the rest to get back to the recruiting trail

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:21 pm

What are the big improvements in recruiting?

BGSUFootballFan · Post by **BGSUFootballFan** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:23 pm

hammb wrote:
BGSUFootballFan wrote:It takes me just as long to recruit for 1 week as it does to play a game. But I wouldn't have it any other way really. The recruiting is so much better this year than in years past that I don't even know how to describe it!
I'm with you. I used to simulate half my games anyways, just to get to the offseason quicker. I expect I'll be using the "Simulate rest of game" feature often this year. I'll start the game, if I can get a decent lead I'll just sim the rest to get back to the recruiting trail

Yea thats another good point about the simulating thing. I used it against the AA team and it worked great. I love how its exactly like gametracker and you can watch it play by play. Also you can join in at any point if need be. But I was up 28-3 at half and simulated the 2nd half and it came out to 59-10, which was about right on!

Did I mention the recruiting is so much better this year, that I think about it all day long with a big smile on my face?

hammb · Post by **hammb** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:34 pm

1987alum wrote:What are the big improvements in recruiting?

I haven't yet started my real dynasty but what I've played around with, it just feels more realistic this year.

Essentially you do most of your recruiting during the season. You target 35 prospects at the beginning of the year. There are about 10-12 different "recruiting sells" that a coach has. You are rated on the quality of each sell depending on your school's reputation, coach's reputation, etc. It's stuff like, "Produces Pros," "Campus Life," "Location," "Tradition, " etc. If you're a mid-major like BG obviously you're not very highly thought of in most of those areas.

Then each prospect has his own opinions on each of these sells. Some he thinks are important, some not so much.

Now, instead of recruiting points you have 10 "hours" each week to call the prospects and pitch them these different high points of your campus. Essentially you spend the early weeks trying to figure out what makes each recruit tick, then you spend the later weeks trying to put the hard sell on the attributes that you're good in and the recruit deems important. If you get the recruit to like you enough you can invite them into an on campus visit, where you can then choose which aspects you want to sell them on during their stay.

Towards the end of the recruiting period you can also make promises to the recruits such as playing time, division wins, etc. If you go on to live up to those promises your reputation as a coach goes up, if you don't live up to them your reputation goes down.

It's pretty crazy because if the recruit is not very interested in your school he can actually hang up on you and not even give you an opportunity to try and sell your school on these attributes! In the past the recruit never said, "Thanks, but no thanks." That appears to be a major part of this year's recruiting engine.

To put it simply recruiting is far more realistic and light years more in depth this year than it was in year's past. The best part of the game, got better.

Globetrotter · Post by **Globetrotter** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:40 pm

I love the recruiting but it sounds time consuming and like I have mentioned before I am starting school in the fall. I was planning to play about a game a week for a release....I wonder how realistic that is.

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 2:37 pm

hammb:

Thanks for the detail. It sounds like a major upgrade!

I was always frustrated during off-season recruiting when I'd have a highly rated kid who had BG listed first, by a lot, and then, come the end of recruiting, they didn't make a decision. I mean, you'd figure you're cruising along and have this stud locked up and then, bang, nothing.

zeket10 · Post by **zeket10** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 8:41 pm

Has anyone played it on PS2 and is worth buying on PS2

falconfroelich · Post by **falconfroelich** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 10:58 pm

After my first season w/Michigan I had the no.1 class. I had five 5*, seven-teen 4*, and two 2*. My class was sick! I think I had at at least one kid for every position. I like how its harder to land prospects that are not interested in your school of choice.

I am still waiting for the day where they will let me cheat. I want to have some of my players take the recruits out to a party, pay the athletes, give them a job where they don't have to show up...something were you can take a risk. If you get caught you pay for it harshly.

BGFalconfromCincy · Post by **BGFalconfromCincy** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 11:33 pm

zeket10 wrote:Has anyone played it on PS2 and is worth buying on PS2

I have, its worth buying it