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EA SPORTS FC 26

Played one manager mode match so far (Palace vs Liverpool in the Community Shield).

I've got to say I had fun. You can put some really lovely moves together, cute little passes that would've gone depressingly to the other team 100% of the time in previous years.

Kerkez is a really fun player, played a lovely backheel pass that completely caught out the ai, then later on dispossessed the full back and went on a 30 yard sprint down to the penalty area.

Nice body checks on occasion, would like to see more use of strength in that regard but the animations are pretty good.

It's not simulation football, so you have to manage your expectations. Yes players still skate around and the ball is magnetised. If this is a dealbreaker then you'll be waiting a long time for a good Fifa game.

Last year the 10 hour trial made me feel sick. If they keep authentic mode as it is then it's a serviceable single player experience.

If you can get EA Play for a fiver or even a pound for the trial then give it a try. Everyone has different tolerance levels.
 
First impressions after 1h (Authentic gameplay):

+ Players feel more grounded, less skaty, more weight
+ Graphics and lightning is a bit of an improvement, does not look as cartoony as 25
+ very responsive with some nice new animations
+ defensive AI seems improved, harder to create chances
+ presentation even better than before (pre game intros etc.)

- goalkeepers still glued to the line (I understand it on competitive but on authentic this must be fixed - takes away the joy of scoring a goal if the gk doesnt move off the line)
- game speed is too low for me on authentic, movement of the players (around you) doesnt feel dynamic
- crosses feel very artificial (maybe some settings issue - always very fast and wide)
- graphics still not as realistic as pre 23

Just my first impressions. I think its a lot better than 25 - but that does not say a lot cause I didnt like that at all.
 
Two more observations:
- Absolutely love the goalkeeper save animations. Best I've ever seen in a video game.
- Players getting taken out of the equation after a successful tackle. It's about damn time.
 
I have made two matchs on FUMA, Authentic and Legend.

I didn't expect that. The flow is perfect : not to slow, not to speed. I have seen many stream yesterday and i think the game is too slow but on this version on Xbox Series X, it's good.
There is inertia, better ball physic, always a lack of fault on vanila, but it's really nice.

The CPU can change his strategy : changing slow passes to more dynamic passes with real physics to pass your defence. It's the first time since many years I didn't see that. It's real or I have drink something?

EA FC 26 XBOX Series X Napoli Vs Juventus FUMA Legend Authentic gameplay




EA FC 26 XBOX Series X Bayern Munich Vs Dortmund FUMA Legend Authentic gameplay
 
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DaWolf said:
First impressions after 1h (Authentic gameplay):

+ Players feel more grounded, less skaty, more weight
+ Graphics and lightning is a bit of an improvement, does not look as cartoony as 25
+ very responsive with some nice new animations
+ defensive AI seems improved, harder to create chances
+ presentation even better than before (pre game intros etc.)

- goalkeepers still glued to the line (I understand it on competitive but on authentic this must be fixed - takes away the joy of scoring a goal if the gk doesnt move off the line)
- game speed is too low for me on authentic, movement of the players (around you) doesnt feel dynamic
- crosses feel very artificial (maybe some settings issue - always very fast and wide)
- graphics still not as realistic as pre 23

Just my first impressions. I think its a lot better than 25 - but that does not say a lot cause I didnt like that at all.
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GKs staying on their line is such an odd issue in football games. PES on PS2 had this so perfect, with 2 chip types, low chip and high lob. Yet since PS2 I don't think either game has come anywhere close to how the used to fly out and try to close the angle/dive at your feet.

The options you had to fake shoot, just go round the keeper or dink it over them last second with R1 was such an underrated facet of the game imo. Such a vibe killer in both games when you're through and can just waltz basically to the 6 yard box before the keeper does anything.

The rest of this sounds pretty promising though. The authentic videos I've seen don't look *great* but certainly a lot less ridiculous animations and I think i can deal with that.
 
First (very early) impression - that infra red looking background on the title screen is the cheapest looking thing I’ve ever seen.
 
Pretty good after two games

+ much better AI defence
+ game speed is okayish
+ there is noticable first touch error when it comes to higher passes
+i noticed AI ball controll error when dribbling, i have never seen it before.

- I wish there was more first touch error if we are talking about ground passes
- GK are too perfect sometimes, let's see if GK sliders can fix it
 
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The momentum feels really good. If you keep sustained pressure you can feel the screw turning with every chance.

This is a decent effort, something to build on. For the love of god EA keep this separate from whatever gameplay changes you make for UT. I might actually end up buying two EA games in a month, who could've imagined that a year ago!
 
Are teams in standard support/roles still get fixed on their position without moving a lot? I have been seeing videos where CPU is very passive even when they are losing because the team is set to balanced style.
 
Only thing I'm really glad to see, is that they came back to the visible, "live" rain style, which I love (last time was in 16 I think, I've not played to the last ones, but watching on youtube rain always looked like the match television one where you appreciate it only in close cameras that they adopted from 17 onwards).

Other than that, from the videos ball control/mangetism and inertia is a total, pure disaster, but that was known (no idea if modding could do something to it?). If defenses and AI turns out to be decent enough that they aren't the garbage mechanic movement/behaviour of 21 onwards till now, I might take it for fast football and for some shameless novelty factor.. given that I'll get my dose of reasoned football from older chapters anyway.
 
The game seems good to me, except for the animations and balls passing through the feet, I found it more rhythmic, I also liked the GK, and there is a lot to change in the sliders new options, it is possible to make FIFA very playable, for those who like FIFA it is a good game, for those who like Pes, they certainly will not like it very much!
 
Yes the gameplay is the big focus this year, there are some nice new animations to be fair. Once again the variety of goalkeeper diving animations is awesome and it really adds impact seeing the keeper palm away a low drilled shot.

You can ping some lovely moves together. Is it completely realistic? No. Does it feel satisfying? Definitely. Tapping through ball button with someone like Wirtz and having him play a disguised ball through the defender is really nice.

Also haven't felt cheated by the ai yet. Playing on legendary difficuly.

Player ID is also something you can really feel. Players also have a different impact depending on the opposition. Salah had an anonymous game for me against Crystal Palace, then next match against Bournemouth he was completely unplayable.

I'm wondering how much of this is down to the dynamic opposition toggle when you set up manager mode, but I don't really care because it works. Every match you need to feel out who is going to be your most impactful player, and that adds genuine novelty to single player.

Haven't had any random events yet, I have it set to medium. If I don't get one soon I'll change it to high in my next save.
 
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FC26 Review after 30 minutes:


Animations even if slower look terrible as compared to last good FIFA w.r.t animations (FIFA 23)

R1 dribbling is still broken where you can literally control a single player while performing it and destroy the Legendary AI defence. (Defence is definitely tight but they still bow down to R1 dribbling easily)

Opposition AI intelligence: Scored 1 goal against Everton and just passed the ball in my own half, they didnt press a single time. This is game breaking bug cause opposition AI isnt match context aware (that they are losing). Inspite of EA's claim of improved context awareness BULLSHIT!
(Please remember in FIFA 23 and before, if opposition AI was behind by a goal they would start team pressing after 80th minute and if by 2, start pressing after 70th minute)

Overall, I appreciate they have taken steps to have a separate authentic mode gameplay for OFFLINE audience but for folks like me who see above granular details, Authentic mode will need FAAAAR MOOOORE LOVEEE from the devs!
 
Bravez said:
Waiting patiently for @Chris Davies impressions before I do something unheard of.
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Oh very much the same as the beta, mate - an improvement in many ways but still frustrating moment-to-moment.

I tried my first in-person multiplayer game earlier, on Authentic, and God do the headers make me sad.

Literally. They make me so sad. Every header feels, and looks, so completely physically impossible that any immersion you managed to build up pops like a bubble.

The ball changes physics on a whim - with headers it's a balloon on a string that flies pixel-perfectly to target. When it's back on the ground it moves at a rate of knots.

The ball is never free - you never half-intercept a pass and create a free ball... It's physically impossible. You intercept it perfectly, or the target player receives it perfectly.

The physics, and the trajectory, all have "forced accuracy" to make the gameplay slicker, so there's no consistent "feel" where you know what button press length will result in what power... because it's all automatic (even on manual).

The ball is genuinely more on-rails than it is in most of the FIFA PS2 games. For as long as that's the case, I'm out. It's still enjoyable, but not as a football game - as something in-between.

They are going in the right direction, but they've only just turned the car around, and they're 100 miles from realistic yet (and I just don't know if they will have the remit to even go as far as modders will take this game, let alone go further).
 
Chris Davies said:
Oh very much the same as the beta, mate - an improvement in many ways but still frustrating moment-to-moment.
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Well that has dampened the mood somewhat :LMAO: For the first time in a long time I'm really craving a football game. I enjoy eFootball but there is just nothing to keep my playing for more than a couple of games.

The fact that it's an improvement gives me a little bit of hope.
 
Well it's never going to be simulation football is it. It never has been since it's inception in the 90s.

I love PES as much as all of you, but it ain't coming back. So you find happiness where you can. As it stands this game has novelty in the single player and it's new. That's an improvement on what we've had in recent years. A starving man does not complain when he is handed a bowl of gruel.

Is that worth a purchase? Probably not to a lot of you, but I'll keep playing the trial and then decide whether to pull the trigger.
 
I hate the ball and passing physics. They pass the ball as if they were playing with a balloon. Also, it seems there's lack of body weight, strength and inertia.
All that combined, makes the movement much more longer than IRL. And this is weird, because I understand they're copying the physics from real data taken with movement sensors.

 
ElChachoCoudet said:
I hate the ball and passing physics. They pass the ball as if they were playing with a balloon. Also, it seems there's lack of body weight, strength and inertia.
All that combined, makes the movement much more longer than IRL. And this is weird, because I understand they're copying the physics from real data taken with movement sensors.

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This doesn't look particularly bad to me.
 
I had two games. It's not bad but I did not have fun.
Physics is too much streamlined. There is lack of physics interactions with players due they are always too much far from the player who has the ball.
First touch is still too much realible.

Player individuality seems noticeable only when it comes to Speed and dribbling/agility.
Too much from the game is streamlined and/or watered down by gameplay core design choices.
Passing accuracy, body strenght, off the ball positioning are all nullified by how the game require to be played.

They should remove 1vs1 allowing players to stay closer to opponents and improve ball physics.
They should remove Sam Rivera too lol.
 
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