Goal #1 (in the first few seconds), goal #2 (2mins 40 seconds), goal #4 (3 mins 45 seconds)... Even Haaland's "power shot" clip from earlier. They're all absolutely identical. So bad it almost looks like a bug, but it's the complete and total lack of AI. How do the eSports guys not get bored?
You know what? I almost understand them.
When the result is more important than fun/realism, you just don't care.
I mean, do you remember in FIFA 12-15 where there was the
"LB+A pass back on kick-off then the LB+Y driven pass to the forward on the run" issue?
The defenders wouldn't track the forward running towards the goal, and if you timed the pass properly to avoid getting caught offside it would be the forward 1 on 1 with the keeper every single time.
Do you recall anyone in FUT avoiding it because
"man it's just sooo overpowered"? I don't.
Playing manual I would not be able to do that, but of course I quite always got matched against people using assisted, and boy how many of those goals I conceded.
Just another example: we're almost the same age if I recall correctly (38 yo here) and we've both played, probably, Virtua Striker 2 in our teenage.
Well, the very first version of Virtua Striker 2 had a sort of bug where shots from way out would often get a strange curve, completely deceiving the goalkeeper who would just not save them.
Once you got the hold of it (where to shoot from, where to aim at, how much power to use) you could score two or three of them per match.
In the following iteration (VS2 '98) that was fixed, but another bug was introduced allowing you to score from 40+ metres consistently, with the ball hitting the lower part of the post and going in because of poor (very poor indeed) positioning by the keeper.
Again, you should have known to perform the shot properly but with some practice it almost became a no-brainer.
Do you think people at the arcades would refrain from using them? No way.
We even had matches in which we decided we would
only score using them: we did that for fun/banter, only against friends, and upon agreement of course (now I still play VS2 from time to time but don't find these "shortcuts" fun anymore), but there were kids constantly doing it as a means to win matches.
I think it's what happens to the FUT crowd nowadays: find an overpowered move, exploit it until it gets patched,
if it gets patched just find another one, exploit it again, rinse and repeat.
It's sad, I know.