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Which version is the best for PS3?

Bruce Wayne

Well-Known Member
My fatty ps3 finally shit the bed for good. Endless Electronics kept it running for two years after the first YLOD; now the damage is beyond repair. My new ps3 doesn't have the magical backward compatibility that I loved solely because it allowed me to play last last gen college football.

So, which last gen game should I get. I tried '09 and absolutely hated it. I'm leaning toward '14.

However, if these games are truly unplayable, let me know and I will begin searching the pawn shops for a ps2.

thanks.
 

Wooly

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I have not bought this since 2009, and I am thinking I might buy a newer game (one for PS3 console) in case they don't really make them anymore in the future and I want to play some CFB. What is the best PS3 version, especially for running and defense...or is that a laughable question. Any glaring defects in any version, especially to dynasty and recruiting?

Bruce, I see 2013 PS3 listed for 10$.
 

Wooly

Well-Known Member
Do any of the PS3 versions have some kind of off-season training, like in the old NCAA, where I can focus the development of my players?
 

Reel

Off dem Milds and dat Yak
Community Liaison
@Bruce Wayne

no and probably wont ever.

my personal feelings are, while i may not be as well versed in the intracies of college fb like many of you, this used to be one of my favorite games simply b/c i could play as the hometown LSU Bayou Bengals and at one point, Southern University and other SWAC schools. But the game has just been lipstick on a pig for the better part of a decade and just wasnt interesting to me.

With PC gaming, i've started playing games I would've never been exposed to had I stayed strictly console. I love the pricing and overall the practically hassle free approach that comes with pc gaming. Sure, getting set up is probably the most difficult part, well at least it was for me, but i havent had any issues that couldnt be solved with a few google searches.
 

NavyHog

Well-Known Member
Utopia Moderator
NCAA Moderator
My fatty ps3 finally shit the bed for good. Endless Electronics kept it running for two years after the first YLOD; now the damage is beyond repair. My new ps3 doesn't have the magical backward compatibility that I loved solely because it allowed me to play last last gen college football.

So, which last gen game should I get. I tried '09 and absolutely hated it. I'm leaning toward '14.

However, if these games are truly unplayable, let me know and I will begin searching the pawn shops for a ps2.

thanks.

Almost everyone that plays/posts about NCAA 14 on this site are on XBox. With that in mind I will give you my take on the game (I can't imagine that there is much difference between the 2). I would go with NCAA 14 for the following reasons:

- updated rosters. If you are interested in starting a dynasty with the real players there are still people updating rosters
- dynasty play with more challenging recruiting. You can still get Top 10 classes every year, but the CPU AI makes it more challenging then it used to be. If you are in an online dynasty with 6-10 other guys it can be very challenging.

If you love college football, and have always enjoyed console college football (I have going back to my Sega Genesis days) then you will enjoy this. If you are a college football "purist" and pick at every real or perceived weakness of the game then you should avoid it. Personally I mostly play it for the online dynasty play with the opportunity to recruit and build 1 star teams into 6 star teams. The scouting, recruiting and molding my teams around a custom playbook are what keeps me interested and I enjoy the community aspect of the online dynasty by competing with friends.
 

bruin228

Well-Known Member
NCAA Moderator
Yep, was going to say the same thing Navy.

@Wooly, running is the best on NCAA 14 but defense is not very good. Maybe try 12 or 13. There's nothing like the offseason training that you described, though people have been asking for it for a while.
 

worst2first

Well-Known Member
I think I'm going to look for a cheap copy of NCAA 14 and download some rosters just in case I get the itch to play some time in the future.
 

NavyHog

Well-Known Member
Utopia Moderator
NCAA Moderator
Well every version of NCAA Football is slanted towards the offense and I see no appreciable difference in any of the versions when it comes to defense. Basically it is hard as hell to stop a good user from getting 10 yards in 3 downs.

With that being said it is possible to play good defense against another user, but it takes a lot of reps/user games to figure out what works for you.
 

bjc

Butt Naked Wonda
I like defense.
Hey, so do I!

'11, '12, and maybe '13 are your best bets. Personally I'd go with '12. That's the last version of the game that a lot of the old guys played. Travis, Spiker, and others were still playing it until EA released a game-breaking patch, lol. (It was later fixed.)



Of course the people that still play NCAA '14 are gonna tell you to get that, and you will probably have fun with it, but it's atrocious on the defensive side of the ball. If you don't trust me about that, go for it. Defense is just at a massive disadvantage, and for online play that's just too much for me.


Well every version of NCAA Football is slanted towards the offense and I see no appreciable difference in any of the versions when it comes to defense. Basically it is hard as hell to stop a good user from getting 10 yards in 3 downs.

With that being said it is possible to play good defense against another user, but it takes a lot of reps/user games to figure out what works for you.
Well I don't know about you but I considered myself a boss on defense and then once people figured out everything that really worked well my defense went to shit no matter what I did. I mean when you play Tampa 2 on third and 30 and the opponent gets the first down on a curl or deep out, something is seriously fucked up.

Plus I kinda got fed up with my QB missing every pass and only completing INTs in that one game. That was seriously the breaking point if there was ever one.
Let me through a little twist in there: which version is best for coach mode? I'm not a thumb jockey.
Heh, you will have to go back to an older title for that I believe. I could be wrong but I believe in reading up on coach mode stuff that the consensus was that an older iteration was good for coach mode.

You can probably find more reliable info on OS. That's where most of the coach mode guys are.
 

TXHusker05

Well-Known Member
NCAA Moderator
I would agree with Navy, I see zero difference between the recent versions. I've given up 0 and 6 points in my last two user games in Bottom Feeder, but I also gave up like 5 billion yards to Best in Powerhouse in a game I won something like 67-50. You can play great defense, but you have to practice it and adapt and frankly, you have to guess, a lot. If you just sit back and try to react, you're going to give up 500 yards. You have to guess, pick up on tendencies and try to force a mistake. Sometimes you'll whiff, sometimes you'll succeed. But honestly, whiffing while taking a risk and just sitting back and trying to react will result in the same outcome so why not try to risk it?

Yes, defense is at a disadvantage, but as the CFB Discussion thread on the other side of the forums shows, defense is at a disadvantage in actually football too. That doesn't excuse some of the bullshit that happens, like safeties just not backing up and all of that, but it isn't any worse for 14 than it was for 13, 12, etc.

Every version of the game has had its quirks. Habib, in your case, a lot of the stuff you did on defense in '13 worked because it took advantage of programming quirks in the game that year, not necessarily because it was sound defensive strategy. '14 has different quirks but you kept trying to do the exact same stuff as the previous version.

Against me, you would always try to widen and walk down safeties so they would be in a position to both get back to cover the pass but help in run D. In '13, that worked because the offense had no way to stress the perimeter. Jet didn't work, bubble screens didn't work, now screens didn't work, speed option didn't work and route mirroring was so prevalent that DBs could line up out of position and still cover outside routes like Corners. In '14, the offense can do all of those things successfully. All the screens work great, Jet works well, Speed Option works well and route mirroring doesn't really show itself much. That forced you to actually keep guys out of the box to cover those receivers... in turn freeing up the interior run game which you weakened by manually spreading your safeties so wide. Once the back got to the second level, he was gone because your safeties weren't home.

Again, not really excusing the game and trying to claim that defense is competent, but it isn't impossible. You just have to figure out the quirks and play on the strengths of your personnel. I should also say that defense in online lobby play is useless. In OD play with adjusted sliders, it's salvageable.
 

bjc

Butt Naked Wonda
Ugh.

lolz dude I didn't do stuff that took advantage of programming. It was more sound defensively than a lot of the crap everyone else runs, and I made it work by playing really good pass defense.

In '14 I had more success running stuff that was not sound and/or "took advantage of a quirk" in programming than I did running realistic defenses, and that got me nowhere. Neither strategies really did anything for me.
Let's also not pretend that half the shit people do on offense is even remotely realistic, brah.

I have no problem with people playing NCAA and if you guys have fun on '14 great, have at it. I just don't get why anyone that has a negative opinion of '14 is met with, "well basically you sucked at the game and got tired of losing." The game is decent offensively. It is anything but decent defensively and I don't see why on earth you even attempt to compare defense in this game to real life. Hell, I don't know why you compare anything in this game to real life.


You could burn me in '13 the same ways you could this year, but people got stubborn last year (and this year, if I got lucky) because they weren't bailed out by overpowered-as-fuck run blocking so they resorted to just panicking and throwing under pressure. Of course I widened my safeties though I mean by default they are usually not lined up properly. I also think saying that all of that stuff you list as not working is a little misleading because, aside from now screens occasionally, all of those worked relatively okay. Safeties have to widen out anyway to account for the slot receivers in a spread set, yet I don't see runningbacks getting ten yards a carry against a two-high look in real life. It's strange how real life is so different from the game... Oh wait.

Come on you can't compare this garbage to real life with a straight face and you know it. It's okay to acknowledge that the defense in this game is garbage.

It's also not like I couldn't stop people, either. I had my share of holding people to 10 points or less. It's just that I got tired of the same crap happening over and over again. It's not a coincidence that each year several (n)Utopians put the game down.



Anyway, to get back on topic, '12 would probably get my vote but I haven't played as long as you older utopians have.
 

Bruce Wayne

Well-Known Member
I'll add a little more information:

i dont play on line and I don't coach mode. Basically I just play dynasty against the computer. I like the game to seem as reel as possible, but I am able to suspend reality; knowing that this is a video game after all. Also, I am not very good at the game, despite having played it for decades, Heisman is a no go for me. I prefer to play with heavy recruiting restrictions and tilted sliders on Varsity.
 

NavyHog

Well-Known Member
Utopia Moderator
NCAA Moderator
I'll add a little more information:

i dont play on line and I don't coach mode. Basically I just play dynasty against the computer. I like the game to seem as reel as possible, but I am able to suspend reality; knowing that this is a video game after all. Also, I am not very good at the game, despite having played it for decades, Heisman is a no go for me. I prefer to play with heavy recruiting restrictions and tilted sliders on Varsity.

In that case I would go with NCAA 14. As I noted earlier the recruiting is more challenging and more realistic (well as realistic as a video game can be!).
 

NavyHog

Well-Known Member
Utopia Moderator
NCAA Moderator
I'm on XBOX, but I think the game is the same.

There is no "training". Once the season is over there is:

- transfers
- 1 week of recruiting (instead of 5 weeks you get 10,000 points to use however you want)
- position changes
- progression (this is where guys go up in ratings)
- cuts
- preseason

There is a skills trainer that you can use to sharpen up your user skills, but it is not tied to your offline dynasty players progression.
 

bruin228

Well-Known Member
NCAA Moderator
Yeah, recruiting is really easy on 14. It's a points based system. You get X amount of points a week and you can spend them on scholarship offers, scouting, and players. Eventually you get them interested enough in your team to make official visits and you schedule them to visit a game or during a bye week. Once you get to the off season, you have a larger amount of points and 1 week to spend it on anyone you haven't signed and there's no limit to how many points you can drop on one guy.

12 and 13 were more laborous but I liked them better I think. Each school has a grade level for certain recruiting aspects. Some are the same for all recruits (Academic Prestige, Conference Strength, Program Prestige) and some differ (Playing Time, I think Playing Style was one.) A school like ND would have As in all the fixed catagories though playing time might be lower since there's more talent. The grades could change too, for instance Conference Prestige was measured by the average of the teams' rankings. Anyway, each recruit had a certain view on each aspect and typically had 3-4 Very Highs. So if you were at Vandy and a recruit had Academic Prestige, Conference Strength, and Campus Atmosphere in his top 3, you had a good chance of getting him. In those games, you recruiting using time. I think you got 15 hours or so and you could spend up to an hour on the phone with a recruit. Each topic took 10 minutes so an hour=6 topics, 30 minutes=3, etc. Then once you got to offseason, it was the same setup over 5 weeks and you made home visits instead of the recruit making a campus visit.

Hope all that rambling makes sense.
 

ZackMills

Have mercy
@Bruce Wayne

With PC gaming, i've started buying games I would've never been exposed to had I stayed strictly console. I love the pricing and overall the practically hassle free approach that comes with pc gaming. Sure, getting set up is probably the most difficult part, well at least it was for me, but i havent had any issues that couldnt be solved with a few google searches.

Fixed for @Reel
 

bjc

Butt Naked Wonda
Speaking of older games someone should play me on 12 if I can find my old copy of it.
 

bjc

Butt Naked Wonda
Speaking of older games someone should play me on 12 if I can find my old copy of it.
Couldn't find '12 but I did find '13 and I'm probably gonna make an OD if anyone wants to join it.

Advances will be very slow obviously, but the difference in play* and recruiting should offer enough interest for a small OD of 2-4 players.

*There is not a big difference, just a little better rush defense, pass defense isn't as bad as it is in '14, and it may be better than '14. Personally '13 is at the very least as good as '14.

Anyone is welcome to join if ur on xbox. Don't even care what teams you use. I'm open to setup suggestions. I'll probably roll with Oklahoma State, Baylor, or a random small school. PM me if interested.
 

bjc

Butt Naked Wonda
Overpowered as fuck run blocking.
"Better" option play (read: piss poor defensive AI regarding option defense)
Very poor pass coverage (read: poorer than '13)


But if you really like offense, get '14.

I'd go with '13 or '12. Those are my picks.
 

TXHusker05

Well-Known Member
NCAA Moderator
So, two pages and still no consensus. Ima start looking for a ps2.

Don't let Habib fool you, he is giving you the least objective opinion possible. He seems to be forgetting NCAA 13's option defense where 5 players on one side of the field would crash following the back or the pass defense where DBs were running ahead of WRs. The problems he mentions are native to pretty much every current generation version of NCAA. Unfortunately, barring extreme slider sets or an uneven team matchup, the CPU is not going to put up much of a fight in user v CPU games. That goes for pretty much every current generation version of the game.

If recruiting is your thing, I would highly recommend '14. I personally like the recruiting on '14 more. It is streamlined and less dependent on the random call generator from the years before '14. I hated that the CPU randomly picked the topics being discussed with a recruit and you had to hope they picked the topic your team was good at. It did add some difficulty to it, but there are ways to add difficulty to '14 as well. In the Powerhouse OD, we were forced to not have any coach skill upgrades for recruiting which makes it a much more difficult process. Honestly, far more difficult than previous versions. I'm a 6* team in that OD and will be lucky to sign 15 guys after this offseason. As usually, "house rules" in recruiting can help you set the difficulty you want in recruiting.

I know the popular thing on these boards is to shit on all things EA and long for the good old days of NCAA, but I've played every version of NCAA since the game became "NCAA Football" and 14 is by far the best version out on current-gen consoles. That doesn't mean it's great, because it isn't by any stretch and it'll probably piss you off quite a few times, but not any more or less than any other year. If you want to get back to PS2 versions then there are certainly some really good ones in those years, I liked NCAA 07 quite a bit and I think that was the first year it was split between "current gen" and "old gen" consoles. Only came out on 360, Original XBox and PS2. '05 was good too. If I remember right, that was the year Home Field Advantage was introduced and didn't totally suck like HFA does now.

There are plenty of options for you, but when it comes to "current generation" versions, I really would not stray far from '14.
 

NavyHog

Well-Known Member
Utopia Moderator
NCAA Moderator
Yeah Habiber is not very objective

He has always been a hater:oklahoma:

justin-bieber-gold-grill-fill-in-the-blank__oPt.jpg
 

Bmack

IRREGULAR HUMAN USER
Mod Alumni
Using ps3 ncaa 14 for my epic collinsworth dynasty. This should be final selling point.
 

Wooly

Well-Known Member
So this may be a very unnecessary question, but does it really matter who you recruit for the OL and DL in NCAA 2013, or is it just like all the other NCAA games where they all tend to play about the same from 3 to 5 stars. I ask that because I have never owned a PS3 version, and I am used to the 2009 PS2 where I could improve players skills in the off-season to help some players play a little better. Since 2013 doesn't have that option, I am stuck with whatever I recruit to the DL and I want to know if it matters. As for the OL, does anyone know if the pulling guards in 2013 run fast enough to actually get out and block ahead of the RB. They never did on the old PS2 games, so I would create Guards with a little better speed, but keep their other numbers realistic.

Any thoughts?
 

Wooly

Well-Known Member
Has anyone messed around the custom conferences in 2013? Do you have to keep the same number of conferences that come with the game, or can you add or remove them too? I read you can rename them and move teams around.

Also, what happens with the non-BCS bowl tie ins when you mess around the custom conferences? Can they be changed at all?
 

bruin228

Well-Known Member
NCAA Moderator
Has anyone messed around the custom conferences in 2013? Do you have to keep the same number of conferences that come with the game, or can you add or remove them too? I read you can rename them and move teams around.

Also, what happens with the non-BCS bowl tie ins when you mess around the custom conferences? Can they be changed at all?

You do have to keep the same number of conferences. So in NCAA 13, you were stuck with the Big East and the WAC. You have to have a minimum of 4 teams in each conference and at least 1 independent(I've always really hated this part).

You can't change the non-BCS bowl tie ins either. (I'm assuming you mean games like the Cotton Bowl and the Holiday Bowl)
 

Wooly

Well-Known Member
How does a Teambuilder team affect dynasties? Can you use a Teambuilder team either offline or online? If you use TB team in a dynasty, but you are not connected online when playing, does that screw anything up, like a user team vs a TB team in offline mode? Any other glitches I should know about with TB teams, either user controlled or CPU controlled?
 

nowitsourtime

Well-Known Member
The last version I owned was NCAA 11 but I've played pretty much every iteration at least enough times to get a feel for the gameplay. That being said, from a pure gameplay perspective, I like NCAA 12 the most. While the Olympic high jumpers disguised as linebackers can get annoying sometimes, there is still a decent semblance of defense which I have not seen in 13 or 14.

Recruiting in that game is still tedious though so if that's a huge factor maybe you want to go with a new version then.
 

Wooly

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info. I actually like the week by week postseason recruiting style, but then I have not really played a PS3 version of the game, so maybe it's different there. (I did play NCAA 2010 PS3 for a few days once, enough to get a sense of it and it seemed similar, but that was 3 years ago and my memory is fuzzy).


My main interests are:
1) Gameplay - where my defense matters and line play in general matters (I know, I know don't bust out laughing, I just mean the best by EA standards :crying:)
2) Custom conferences - where teams will play where I tell them to play (that means you Notre Dame into the Big 10+2+2....)
3) Glitches or problems with TB teams in custom conferences
4) Recruiting - Not tediousness, just if it works well enough. Of course what I really want here is if I can take the files to the NCAA editor and customize it, but I think those files are hard coded on the disk, and not in the game save. I was a nerd about creating my little NCAA escapism world when I used to play, and sometimes I need some more escapism in my life again to balance the stress.
5) Being able to export the data (rosters, depth charts, ratings, recruit ratings, etc) to an excel program.
 

tgcmarshall

Dropped Interception
Defense is much better in 13. I still play 14 because that's what my online dynasty friends want to play but I enjoyed 13 more and don't like defense on 14. There are a lot of things broken about it that don't make sense.

I enjoyed 12 as well but once the bugs were fixed in 13 that has ended up being my favorite on the ps3/xbox360 consoles. I play on xbox by the way.

I know you mentioned that you'll play the CPU but here is a user game of 13 with a lot of defense played in it.

 

Wooly

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the video, I appreciate it. I just ordered NCAA 2013 for the PS3 a couple of weeks ago, since it was 10$. I don't actually own a PS3 :laughing:, but I thought I might borrow one from a friend sometime. I got a little impulsive for a week there and got into the idea of playing football again for about a week, then remembered I don't have any time for it anyway. When fall comes I might play while I watch a game or two, but real life and being a dad take all my time really, as it should.
 

Wooly

Well-Known Member
No chance of that. Minecraft has taken over this whole generation, soon there will be no other games but Minecraft. Assimilate or be destroyed.
 

tgcmarshall

Dropped Interception
Ha! My boy is 11 plays plenty of Minecraft with his friends. My 9 year-old daughter plays too. My boy loves football though, so he was interested in playing it by the time he was 7. He's been in our online dynasty since NCAA 12. He holds his own pretty well. I'm scared to see how good he will be when he gets a little older and understands the game better.
 

hammer2fall

New Member
worst2first said:Let me through a little twist in there: which version is best for coach mode? I'm not a thumb jockey.

I've really enjoyed 14 for coach mode. There are some sliders on OS-NCAA 14 Legacy Coach Mode Sliders-by johnnylawdog and miamikb2001 (they used to post around here, they may still do) that I think are great. I would post a link but I don't know if that's allowed.
 

Bruce Wayne

Well-Known Member
worst2first said:Let me through a little twist in there: which version is best for coach mode? I'm not a thumb jockey.

I've really enjoyed 14 for coach mode. There are some sliders on OS-NCAA 14 Legacy Coach Mode Sliders-by johnnylawdog and miamikb2001 (they used to post around here, they may still do) that I think are great. I would post a link but I don't know if that's allowed.

This is nutopia, everything is allowed...even posting pictures of prolapsed assholes.
 

bjc

Butt Naked Wonda
@tgcmarshall we've got an OD about to start between me, PSUEagle, and bruin. Welcome to join if you'd like. It's on '13, and we're still in the preseason. PM me for more info if ur interested.
 
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