Anth James
International
- 22 September 2017
Hey guys! After literally hundreds of tests and refinements I've decided to release my gameplay mod.
I won't list everything that's changed, I prefer people discover things organically as they play, but in general this is a fairly extensive mod with a very large number of changes. A lot of these changes are various balances/fixes for particular gameplay issues, as well as features I've attempted to bring in. I've spent a lot of time on ensuring that the various changes work to create a balanced experience.
Don't expect perfection, FIFA is always going to have its quirks, it's just part of the package, but I've done the best I can with the tools available and I'm pretty happy with the way 23 is currently playing. On release I couldn't stand this game and I didn't touch it for months, so the fact I'm really enjoying it now is pretty surprising to me also!
The overall philosophy behind the mod is -
1. More power to the defensive side of the game.
A big focus is to improve the midfield battle and create a less end-to-end game with a more difficult avenue to goal. I've worked a lot on reducing the ability to too simply 'burst' by a defender, as well as reducing the impact of '1v1' (quite possibly the worst gameplay feature ever added to a football game). There are also a number of positional and behavioural tweaks to help with this.
2. Make everything more alive and free.
This includes controlling the ball, retaining the ball, touches, deflections, interceptions, 50/50s, etc. I want you to have to think more about when and where you do things on the pitch. For example, you now have to think about how fast you're travelling when you receive the ball, or when you decide to sprint there's more risk/reward to losing control of the ball. The 'glue' of the ball sticking to the player is now gone. I don't want this to be just random for the sake of it, but instead purposeful and more open to different outcomes/scenarios across the pitch to increase depth in the game.
3. Improve realism regarding movement and speed, both in regards to players and the ball.
A very large number of changes/balances here relating to animations, speed and general movement to bring about an overall more realistic/varied game pace. Importantly I want the intensity in the fight for the ball to remain. I want it to feel smooth, I don’t want it to feel slow and sluggish as a result.
Regarding the ball, there are many, many changes here relating to speed of passes, shots, physics and passing mechanics also. The result is much more natural feeling and behaving ball than before with an increase in the reliability and consistency of passing. There's now more of a need to use particular passes during gameplay.
4. Player/team individuality
A big part of this mod is related to creating a more tangible difference between different players abilities, both in regards to movement and skills. You will see this reflected in dribbling, skills moves, tackling, passing, turning, shooting - all areas. The error system has been built up and refined over a period of time to show a real difference between players, from elite to lower league.
5. Enhanced realism regarding CPU behaviour
I've worked on minimising the overly 'arcade' style of CPU behaviour. This is in regards to style of play and off ball behaviour. The CPU will no longer play mindless tika-taka and they won't spam skills moves anymore. Instead you will see a more balanced, thoughtful approach (within reason). You will still see skills from certain players - they're just represented more realistically. The CPU also won't rush and jump into as many ridiculous tackles and get themselves sent off.
6. More robust and reliable physicality
There are big improvements in this department regarding the way players interact with each other now. This is not strictly relating to just fouls, this is an improvement which impacts the overall gameplay (and physics) quite substantially. There's now far, far less moments where players will simply 'slide' off each other and not interact realistically in a collision or even just a general dual. Limbs are more solid now, players run into each other properly and you can defend with much more confidence that the interaction will result in a tangible reaction, instead of just going through each other. A good example the increase in physicality is represented in shirt pulling. On default, you could spam the button but very rarely did anything actually happen, just a whole lot of nothing! Now, if you try and pull the shirt of your opponent, more often than not this will result in bringing the player down and a foul.
//////
General notes to consider:
I won't list everything that's changed as so many of the changes interrelate, but a lot of the changes are based around the interactions between players - and the knock on impact this has on many areas across the pitch. The result is a slower, more physical, passing game where player individuality matters, but is hopefully represented in a more subtle way - and where speed/athleticism isn't everything. Happy to go into detail if anyone has questions regarding certain decisions.
It's really important to remember that a lot of decisions made are not solely based around ideological views of football, but instead are needed to be based around the core mechanics of the game we're working with. Some decisions just have to be made for the game itself to be balanced and some ideas of what is perfect have to be left behind.
Just a general comment also regarding movement - whilst animations/movement have been heavily worked on, the changes made are designed more to reflect a deeper simulation than to just be aesthetically pleasing. If we go just down the path of aesthetics, then a whole range of gameplay issues are introduced - so it's important to remember that FIFA is FIFA and we're working with what we're given here.
The '1v1' feature FIFA introduced in 2020 has a massive impact on gameplay and despite all we can do, we cannot magically make this go away. Please keep this in mind when providing feedback.
Everyone plays with different half lengths/has different styles - no one mod is going to suit everyone. I play with 10 minute halves, so naturally if you're playing lower halves you may find opposing attacks are not as potent as you may like. This is something that will never really be balanced for everyone, so use sliders as you see fit. I can't guarantee the balance, but adjust for what works for you.
I always say this, but it's not perfect! I'm just trying to maximise and craft the gameplay files into something that's a better representation of the sport.
///////////
Settings:
- Designed and balanced to be played on the following:
-Default sliders
-Legendary
-Normal Speed (extremely important)
-Competitor Mode OFF
-Player Base Difficult ON.
- Assisted/Semi/Manual - all ok.
Legendary is needed if you want to play with the maximum benefits of defensive awareness and interactions. Other difficulties are fine - but understand there may be some differences in balancing (especially when it comes to CPU defensive behaviour).
- OK to play on ANY Title Update. Simply IGNORE THE WARNING - this gameplay mod does NOT use legacy files.
Hope you enjoy!!
Download (v6.0): https://mega.nz/file/0N03lCDQ#P7vNJgIlwG7MZ4Z6R60lgu-BAWBdarIDmrcLnTMCBXY
///////
Older version (v5.0): https://mega.nz/file/pR0hkKLI#hvv_vCxk2bHvnpVqIMtjHbNPp9E562Jhz5Kg3kZbg3s
Credit: @Paul-v for the excellent modding tools available to us all.
I won't list everything that's changed, I prefer people discover things organically as they play, but in general this is a fairly extensive mod with a very large number of changes. A lot of these changes are various balances/fixes for particular gameplay issues, as well as features I've attempted to bring in. I've spent a lot of time on ensuring that the various changes work to create a balanced experience.
Don't expect perfection, FIFA is always going to have its quirks, it's just part of the package, but I've done the best I can with the tools available and I'm pretty happy with the way 23 is currently playing. On release I couldn't stand this game and I didn't touch it for months, so the fact I'm really enjoying it now is pretty surprising to me also!
The overall philosophy behind the mod is -
1. More power to the defensive side of the game.
A big focus is to improve the midfield battle and create a less end-to-end game with a more difficult avenue to goal. I've worked a lot on reducing the ability to too simply 'burst' by a defender, as well as reducing the impact of '1v1' (quite possibly the worst gameplay feature ever added to a football game). There are also a number of positional and behavioural tweaks to help with this.
2. Make everything more alive and free.
This includes controlling the ball, retaining the ball, touches, deflections, interceptions, 50/50s, etc. I want you to have to think more about when and where you do things on the pitch. For example, you now have to think about how fast you're travelling when you receive the ball, or when you decide to sprint there's more risk/reward to losing control of the ball. The 'glue' of the ball sticking to the player is now gone. I don't want this to be just random for the sake of it, but instead purposeful and more open to different outcomes/scenarios across the pitch to increase depth in the game.
3. Improve realism regarding movement and speed, both in regards to players and the ball.
A very large number of changes/balances here relating to animations, speed and general movement to bring about an overall more realistic/varied game pace. Importantly I want the intensity in the fight for the ball to remain. I want it to feel smooth, I don’t want it to feel slow and sluggish as a result.
Regarding the ball, there are many, many changes here relating to speed of passes, shots, physics and passing mechanics also. The result is much more natural feeling and behaving ball than before with an increase in the reliability and consistency of passing. There's now more of a need to use particular passes during gameplay.
4. Player/team individuality
A big part of this mod is related to creating a more tangible difference between different players abilities, both in regards to movement and skills. You will see this reflected in dribbling, skills moves, tackling, passing, turning, shooting - all areas. The error system has been built up and refined over a period of time to show a real difference between players, from elite to lower league.
5. Enhanced realism regarding CPU behaviour
I've worked on minimising the overly 'arcade' style of CPU behaviour. This is in regards to style of play and off ball behaviour. The CPU will no longer play mindless tika-taka and they won't spam skills moves anymore. Instead you will see a more balanced, thoughtful approach (within reason). You will still see skills from certain players - they're just represented more realistically. The CPU also won't rush and jump into as many ridiculous tackles and get themselves sent off.
6. More robust and reliable physicality
There are big improvements in this department regarding the way players interact with each other now. This is not strictly relating to just fouls, this is an improvement which impacts the overall gameplay (and physics) quite substantially. There's now far, far less moments where players will simply 'slide' off each other and not interact realistically in a collision or even just a general dual. Limbs are more solid now, players run into each other properly and you can defend with much more confidence that the interaction will result in a tangible reaction, instead of just going through each other. A good example the increase in physicality is represented in shirt pulling. On default, you could spam the button but very rarely did anything actually happen, just a whole lot of nothing! Now, if you try and pull the shirt of your opponent, more often than not this will result in bringing the player down and a foul.
//////
General notes to consider:
I won't list everything that's changed as so many of the changes interrelate, but a lot of the changes are based around the interactions between players - and the knock on impact this has on many areas across the pitch. The result is a slower, more physical, passing game where player individuality matters, but is hopefully represented in a more subtle way - and where speed/athleticism isn't everything. Happy to go into detail if anyone has questions regarding certain decisions.
It's really important to remember that a lot of decisions made are not solely based around ideological views of football, but instead are needed to be based around the core mechanics of the game we're working with. Some decisions just have to be made for the game itself to be balanced and some ideas of what is perfect have to be left behind.
Just a general comment also regarding movement - whilst animations/movement have been heavily worked on, the changes made are designed more to reflect a deeper simulation than to just be aesthetically pleasing. If we go just down the path of aesthetics, then a whole range of gameplay issues are introduced - so it's important to remember that FIFA is FIFA and we're working with what we're given here.
The '1v1' feature FIFA introduced in 2020 has a massive impact on gameplay and despite all we can do, we cannot magically make this go away. Please keep this in mind when providing feedback.
Everyone plays with different half lengths/has different styles - no one mod is going to suit everyone. I play with 10 minute halves, so naturally if you're playing lower halves you may find opposing attacks are not as potent as you may like. This is something that will never really be balanced for everyone, so use sliders as you see fit. I can't guarantee the balance, but adjust for what works for you.
I always say this, but it's not perfect! I'm just trying to maximise and craft the gameplay files into something that's a better representation of the sport.
///////////
Settings:
- Designed and balanced to be played on the following:
-Default sliders
-Legendary
-Normal Speed (extremely important)
-Competitor Mode OFF
-Player Base Difficult ON.
- Assisted/Semi/Manual - all ok.
Legendary is needed if you want to play with the maximum benefits of defensive awareness and interactions. Other difficulties are fine - but understand there may be some differences in balancing (especially when it comes to CPU defensive behaviour).
- OK to play on ANY Title Update. Simply IGNORE THE WARNING - this gameplay mod does NOT use legacy files.
Hope you enjoy!!
Download (v6.0): https://mega.nz/file/0N03lCDQ#P7vNJgIlwG7MZ4Z6R60lgu-BAWBdarIDmrcLnTMCBXY
///////
Older version (v5.0): https://mega.nz/file/pR0hkKLI#hvv_vCxk2bHvnpVqIMtjHbNPp9E562Jhz5Kg3kZbg3s
Credit: @Paul-v for the excellent modding tools available to us all.
Last edited:
No pressure, no requirement to further test you Guys mods. Btw what controls the crossing of the AI? Which Values in the Editor Tool are having an impact? Me also didn´t think it´s a single button. When I last time look into the gameplay related section via Editor Tool there are a bunch of Values and settings. Hard enough to understand them all and find the best combos which effects what.