EA SPORTS FC 26

This encapsulates exactly what's missing for me. :(

You do have to pass it around for slightly longer on "Authentic", but you aren't causing any holes to form, because the tactical adherence is pixel-perfect.

Thanks for answering.

This was my fear. Either everything is just pure arcade or totally rigid.

Takes so much of the fun away and makes the game feel locked down.
 
Nothing about offline modes, fouls and broken stamina system :/


EA SPORTS FC 26 Version 1.0.3

Gameplay

Made the following updates:

  • Improved kick off defensive positioning:
    • The defending team will now position themselves more compactly for a short period of time after a kick off.
    • Updated positions of defending players prior to kick off for all formations.
    • EASFC Tracker:
    • Kick off defensive positioning sometimes enables unintentional attacking opportunities.Investigating
  • Reduced the accuracy of Acrobatic shots taken right after a Rainbow Flick.
  • Addressed instances of players taking a Trivela Shot at the keeper when it could have been more beneficial to perform a lace shot.
Ultimate Team

Addressed the following issues:

  • Incorrect Bios could have appeared on Gold Player Items.
  • The Season 1 Premium Pass previously required Ultimate Edition players to restart the game to claim it.
Career Mode

Addressed the following issue:

  • After signing a new contract, players could have acted unhappy leading to a notification about a lack of contract offer and eventually leading to a transfer request.
 
is FC26 better optimised? I haven't played since Fifa23 and admittedly I have an old system. All the Fifa's between 16 and 22 played ultra smoothly at the highest settings but I had to set everything low on 23 and it still lagged. I'm not sure why as the previous Fifa's all looked miles better than 23 and the only thing I can put it down to is the hypermotion.
Framepacing is definitely better than in the previous two games, but if your system is really old, I'm not sure whether it'll run ok for you. You could test it with EA Play.
 
It's just so...empty. I'm playing on FUMA legendary, competitive mode, and it really doesn't feel like it. I'm 3-0 up around the 65th minute and just finding myself looking at the clock desperate for the game to end.

I don't think it's helping that I'm playing FIFA 17 on PC at the moment and I'm coming from that and it's genuinely brilliant gameplay.

FC26 feels like a life lesson I got with a narcissistic woman about ten years ago. Outside, truly beautiful to look at. Underneath, just absolutely nothing. Skin deep. Each and every year I'm just sat thinking "how did we get here". I know the answers.

But thinking back to those FIFA 17 days I never could have imagined the state of play we've got now.

And those hypermotion replays are infuriating, not to mention the POV ones. and so many great things don't get any replays at all.
 
You guys using the "Authentic" mode is nerfing the game experience. This is the "Slow" mode problem all over again. The AI cannot cope with Authentic mode at all making it a much easier and simpler game than intended. Switch to Competitive, turn off the "Authentic features" and use the sliders (go to 99 error if you have to). Trust me, if you find the game boring, you will get a better, more exciting game using Competitive.

With some small changes via modding, this game has gone from a 3/10 playing vanilla "Authentic" to 9/10 using Competitive as a base. I am having as much fun as vanilla FIFA 17 or modded FIFA 20. First time in years that I have found the AI actually good. The problem is EA have made a great game underneath all the smoke and mirrors and for some reason don't understand how to make it work or just remove the features that make it great. They are so scared to just go for it and its really causing an issue. I felt like Authentic took parts of the slowest gameplay mods and then put it in there. There's no thought or testing. Just an easier, "slow" game with dumb AI.

//sorry for the rant
Really the personalized gameplay and the realistic gameplay option disabled the game becomes better, it looks like another game, it seems to me that the authentic gameplay is broken even after playing without it enabled, the game became really good, I just need to find a way for the AI to stay more with the ball and exchange more passes, I also increased the marking to 80!
 
It’s worth mentioning that (for PC users) so many parameters of the game can be tweaked via mods. Player mass can be increased to 200kg which really gives them “weight.” Player slowdown and turning distances and speeds can all be modified so players take more time to slow down and turn.
It's just so...empty. I'm playing on FUMA legendary, competitive mode, and it really doesn't feel like it. I'm 3-0 up around the 65th minute and just finding myself looking at the clock desperate for the game to end.

I don't think it's helping that I'm playing FIFA 17 on PC at the moment and I'm coming from that and it's genuinely brilliant gameplay.

FC26 feels like a life lesson I got with a narcissistic woman about ten years ago. Outside, truly beautiful to look at. Underneath, just absolutely nothing. Skin deep. Each and every year I'm just sat thinking "how did we get here". I know the answers.

But thinking back to those FIFA 17 days I never could have imagined the state of play we've got now.

And those hypermotion replays are infuriating, not to mention the POV ones. and so many great things don't get any replays at all.
Shame the Frosty folks never spent time decrypting FIFA 17 so we can’t have mods.
 
Authentic gameplay is a joke and a marketing gag. Makes everything just slower and sluggish. Thats not what I want when It comes to realism. Old PES wasnt slow and felt 100 times more like real football than FC26. Authentic should be driven by physics (ball and players) and not the same broken engine just slower.
 
Authentic gameplay is a joke and a marketing gag. Makes everything just slower and sluggish. Thats not what I want when It comes to realism. Old PES wasnt slow and felt 100 times more like real football than FC26. Authentic should be driven by physics (ball and players) and not the same broken engine just slower.

Must admit I am slowly subscribing to this view too after playing a few more games last night with Authentic mode switched off.

In theory, Authentic mode is a great idea but there is something seriously flawed about how it impacts the reactions and responsiveness of the game when applied. I understand it aims to create a more realistic pace, but it loses too much in terms of the overall feel of the game.
 
You need to make some tweaks to have a more realist CPU with more speed. It's too slow by default.
They haven't made the same mistake that "simulation mode" on FC 25.

This year, you can do something with the sliders.
I only need now more faults like I have on FC 25.
 
You need to make some tweaks to have a more realist CPU with more speed. It's too slow by default.
They haven't made the same mistake that "simulation mode" on FC 25.

This year, you can do something with the sliders.
I only need now more faults like I have on FC 25.
Fouls is the thing harder to achieve. The average in a FC game is 1-2, while in a match you have 10-12 fouls. I understands the gameplay lead don't want to stop 20 times the flow of the game in 10 minutes, but at leat 5/6 is a good number.
Sliders can do not so much as the are gameplay choices to limit the number of fouls.
ATTRIBUTES:
The average of standing tackle is 65/70 for all the central midfielders in Top 5 league, it is hight coz is a value that is used in the ovr rating formula, but is not ok when it is the role that should have most of the battle in midfield.
I understand an high standing tackle for central defenders to avoid penalties, but the rest of player should not have an high rating.
GAMEPLAY:
Also the CPU don't retain the ball much to give time for you to come to them and make a contrast to have a foul or, when you have the ball, they don't come to you to get the ball, they stop, like, in front of you to contain, giving enough time and space to pass to someone else.
You can even walk on sidelines and no one try to steal you the ball, that could be ok, because you're too far from the goal to be danger, but still you have to gain the possesion of the ball.
SLIDERS:
Right now the line is not high enough to make battle in the midfield, the marking is too low for cpu to press to you, and short pass are the safe way for passes in a crowded part of the field.
The ball is too magnetized, making the pass error slider just a thing that you random percentages to fuck completely a pass, or make it perfect, to grey zone. Same for ball control, sliders make it perfect or 6 touches just to control a slow pass coming from 10 meters.
 
I've tried sliders from several people, a gameplay mod too, but for me now the custom sliders with authentic gameplay turned off were the turning point. The problem with authentic gameplay is in the physics of the ball and the players. Players seem to have a magnet on the field that leaves their movements limited. The ball doesn't flow and gets very stuck, something that looks much better with gameplay turned off. For me, it was a new game for the better!
 
Authentic gameplay is a joke and a marketing gag. Makes everything just slower and sluggish. Thats not what I want when It comes to realism. Old PES wasnt slow and felt 100 times more like real football than FC26. Authentic should be driven by physics (ball and players) and not the same broken engine just slower.
Not only that it's not realistic, it's not fun either. I still keep authentic features on but i started using custom sliders instead of authentic sliders. It's very half baked and the CPU cannot play properly with those sliders.
 
I don't know if anyone else already talked about it. But usually EA was known for getting at least the atmosphere and chants etc. right. But since a few years ago even that is not true anymore. I just watched this video (shout out to @Matt10).



And at 00:14 you can hear Borussia Dortmund Chants ("Borussia! Borussia BVB!"). In a game between Arminia Bielefeld and Fortuna Düsseldorf... And I remember having similar experiences when I played EA FC 25. For example you would hear Juve Chants in a match with AC Milan etc. This just shows once more, how lazy the development of this game got. Like I said, Fifas strength over PES used to be an authentic atmosphere and I really can't remember that back in the "good old days" you'd hear chants from teams not involved in the match. Imagine trying to get pumped up for your team in Career Mode and then you have to hear fan chants for other (rival) teams.. Even if the gameplay was good, this would be a game breaker for me.:D
 
I think you're going the wrong way by focusing on competitive mode. You'll be impacted, as in other years, by the changes demanded by FUT players in the next patches, whereas by working on authentic mode, apparently this won't be the case.
 
I've tried sliders from several people, a gameplay mod too, but for me now the custom sliders with authentic gameplay turned off were the turning point. The problem with authentic gameplay is in the physics of the ball and the players. Players seem to have a magnet on the field that leaves their movements limited. The ball doesn't flow and gets very stuck, something that looks much better with gameplay turned off. For me, it was a new game for the better!
That's where I'm feeling as well. It's just a bit "soft" with the authentic gameplay On. With it Off, it feels like past iterations - and with that comes some of the old issues, but we've overcome them through the years.

The biggest issue on both gameplay Authentic On/Off is the defensive line not being engaged past the halfway line and part of the build-up. However, I do feel that the sliders are more reactive, or adhered to, with authentic Off compared to On. Something to dive into of course.
 
Has anyone noticed an improvement of teammate CPU defenders effectiveness (making tackles and pressing call) with authentic versus competitive (defenders running away from the ball)?
 
Has anyone noticed an improvement of teammate CPU defenders effectiveness (making tackles and pressing call) with authentic versus competitive (defenders running away from the ball)?
In my experience here it's the opposite lol in authentic gameplay the defenders run away from the ball and in custom with authentic mode disabled it has been much easier to deal with the defense! I think we will have a good game this year with authentic mode disabled and with correct custom sliders, I think the problem at the moment is to make the AI defense more reactive, more compaction of the players on the lawn and make the AI less direct and work the ball more, but I think with mods or some correct sliders we will have a beautiful game!
 
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Here is one of the problems with this game, you have to choose, animations VS slow pace + clunky animations

from operationsports forum
For the progress of these sliders it's really important to realise that by raising sprint speed to 38 it creates a massive discrepency between how players move. There seems to be 2 sprint speed slider thresholds in the game that directly effect the sprint animation:

- 35 Sprint Speed is the slider threshold DISABLES the sprint animation for ALL players (this is why it's use for authetic)
- 44 Sprint Speed is the slider threshold that ENABLES the sprint animation for ALL players

Anything in between these values and there will be players who can sprint, and others that can't. For example, setting it to 36 I belive would "unlock" the sprint animation for the quickest players in the game who have maybe 85+ sprint speed. You need to go all the way to 44 SS to unlock the sprint animation for players with sprint speed below about 55.

I have tested this extensively as I wasn't happy with how players just jogged on the authetic sliders and didn't actually sprint. I'm also willing to make a video to prove this, but honestly it should be really obvious within the first 5 minutes of playing this 1.5 version of the sliders. Just try chasing a fast winger who can now sprint with a defender who who's bit slower and can't spint because his stats don't "unlock" the sprinting animation.

Respectfully, the sooner the set can commit to either 35 or 44 sprint speed the better and faster the progress will be. Personally I think 44 SS with 46 Acc plays much better than 38 SS + 50 Acc. I don't really care about stamina being used slightly less to have players move in a much more realistic way. You can still manage players who get tires as you see fit and the CPU still makes subs regardless, so it makes little difference and the trade-off is there. Also shorter halves use more stamina, which has been the case for years so I'm not sure why keeping Acc so high is important? Maybe it has other impacts on gameplay that can be clarified but personally I don't see it.

Haven't really tested the rest of values from the set, but I'll report back once I have a bigger sample size.
 
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In my experience here it's the opposite lol in authentic gameplay the defenders run away from the ball and in custom with authentic mode disabled it has been much easier to deal with the defense! I think we will have a good game this year with authentic mode disabled and with correct custom sliders, I think the problem at the moment is to make the AI defense more reactive, more compaction of the players on the lawn and make the AI less direct and work the ball more, but I think with mods or some correct sliders we will have a beautiful game!
Strange because it seems the driver to create 1v1 defending was to make the game “harder” for competitive players. Authentic mode it seems is for people like us who want a single player simulation unlike “competitive” players who are just abusing the game to score the most goals, with no regard to how actual football is played.
 
Strange because it seems the driver to create 1v1 defending was to make the game “harder” for competitive players. Authentic mode it seems is for people like us who want a single player simulation unlike “competitive” players who are just abusing the game to score the most goals, with no regard to how actual football is played.
As you said, the game gets very "heavy and stuck" in authentic mode, which makes delivery and marking difficult! It seems to me that the idea of authentic and valid mode is interesting, but it still lacks refinement. It seems that the authentic mode team is small and was launched in a hurry. My vision is this at the moment!
 
Here is one of the problems with this game, you have to choose, animations VS slow pace + clunky animations

from operationsports forum
Yeah, I'll say that post has caused a bit of a splitting of hairs with our discord slider testing group because exactly as you say, it's about what individuals choose for their game. Do you want slower pace? Then you may have to sacrifice proper stamina depletion. Do you want faster pace, or a more confident CPU, you may have to raise Sprint to do so. Want players to never have a chance of jogging animation - raise sprint, but the feel may be a lot faster with a 44 sprint at 50 acceleration compared to a 44 sprint at 46 acceleration because you also want proper stamina depletion.

This is the problem with EA and their addition/removing of options, then throwing in different variables that affect the overall experience. I don't even think the intent is to customize in that sense, but it's just another example of trying to run before you can walk. Instead of building off of the base gameplay from FC24 (relevant to what they were doing more recently), they changed body types and physics that were paired up with tactic defining gameplay. It's not surprise there are comments about it feeling empty because you're not moving defenders around or setting up overloads, you're really not even playing the sport - it's just pass around and cross, or pass forward and shoot.
 
Yeah, I'll say that post has caused a bit of a splitting of hairs with our discord slider testing group because exactly as you say, it's about what individuals choose for their game. Do you want slower pace? Then you may have to sacrifice proper stamina depletion. Do you want faster pace, or a more confident CPU, you may have to raise Sprint to do so. Want players to never have a chance of jogging animation - raise sprint, but the feel may be a lot faster with a 44 sprint at 50 acceleration compared to a 44 sprint at 46 acceleration because you also want proper stamina depletion.

This is the problem with EA and their addition/removing of options, then throwing in different variables that affect the overall experience. I don't even think the intent is to customize in that sense, but it's just another example of trying to run before you can walk. Instead of building off of the base gameplay from FC24 (relevant to what they were doing more recently), they changed body types and physics that were paired up with tactic defining gameplay. It's not surprise there are comments about it feeling empty because you're not moving defenders around or setting up overloads, you're really not even playing the sport - it's just pass around and cross, or pass forward and shoot.
Trust me, there is no difference between acceleration 44 and acceleration 50 when it comes to stamina depletion, i tested it today and you will always end up with 55-75% stamina depletion. Sweet spot is sprint 44 and acceleration 44. Higher acceleration is another game breaker because it makes players less grounded and they lack of weight.
 
Trust me, there is no difference between acceleration 44 and acceleration 50 when it comes to stamina depletion, i tested it today and you will always end up with 55-75% stamina depletion. Sweet spot is sprint 44 and acceleration 44. Higher acceleration is another game breaker because it makes players less grounded and they lack of weight.
I'm not going to take a position on this, but I also don't like blanket statements because the game is so subjective to the game's context. For example, I played the same 41 in-game minutes to gauge on sprint/acc 44/46 and 44/50. The latter was more depleted at that time than the first. That follows the logic I expect. Is it a whole bit more? No, but to say there's no difference is just leaving the door open for response, which is another reason I don't use absolutes. I've learned that for every statement made, another statement can be made to refute it - that's why personal preference is given more room than arbitrary values.

Sprint/acc 44/46:
Mua62g.png


Sprint/acc 44/50:
wXKhBm.png


And again, I don't agree with the higher acceleration makes them less grounded. Here's a raw stream that started using 32/65 sprint/acc from last week, eventually finishing in lower accel values. It was just some chaos/stress testing at the time. In terms of feel, it wasn't off the mark at all. In fact, it shows how authentic features On may be masking some sliders impact/adherence.



In the end, it's what is relative to what is being used to balance the values. A higher marking, a higher aggression tactically, the emphasis to sprint is greater with a higher sprint value, etc. Context matters, and that's how we navigate within all these variables and the sacrifices they require for something close to a footy game. Arbitrary values serve as thresholds, but sometimes the game just needs more sample size and feedback - or sometimes we need to get out of the weeds and just accept that one size won't ever fit all.
 
To be sure, I have the utmost respect for all of your opinions, but to me, Competitive (non-Authentic) feels like the same old crap from FC25. Players slide around the pitch in seemingly random directions, ping-ponging balls to and fro. But authentic is a breath of fresh air. Itfeels much more like a real match. To be fair, it’s a far cry from FIFA 17 or 14 yet this is the game we have.
 
I'm not going to take a position on this, but I also don't like blanket statements because the game is so subjective to the game's context. For example, I played the same 41 in-game minutes to gauge on sprint/acc 44/46 and 44/50. The latter was more depleted at that time than the first. That follows the logic I expect. Is it a whole bit more? No, but to say there's no difference is just leaving the door open for response, which is another reason I don't use absolutes. I've learned that for every statement made, another statement can be made to refute it - that's why personal preference is given more room than arbitrary values.

Sprint/acc 44/46:
Mua62g.png


Sprint/acc 44/50:
wXKhBm.png


And again, I don't agree with the higher acceleration makes them less grounded. Here's a raw stream that started using 32/65 sprint/acc from last week, eventually finishing in lower accel values. It was just some chaos/stress testing at the time. In terms of feel, it wasn't off the mark at all. In fact, it shows how authentic features On may be masking some sliders impact/adherence.



In the end, it's what is relative to what is being used to balance the values. A higher marking, a higher aggression tactically, the emphasis to sprint is greater with a higher sprint value, etc. Context matters, and that's how we navigate within all these variables and the sacrifices they require for something close to a footy game. Arbitrary values serve as thresholds, but sometimes the game just needs more sample size and feedback - or sometimes we need to get out of the weeds and just accept that one size won't ever fit all.

:APPLAUD:
 
Another good example of what I mean about EA, and in this example FC players themselves, looking at "quick fixes" rather than actual fixes that make a good, organic, unforced gameplay model.

We had the "kick off goal fix" earlier this week, which simply makes the AI defenders defend for 30 seconds and then go back to being bollards...

And now this request (see second line):

3acfomvO_o.jpg

Do you not think that the better fix would be to make passing important - even necessary? Rather than pointlessly rewarding people for taking a pointless action?

If you don't need to pass - even in the 11v11 game, "Competitive" or "Authentic" - do you not realise there's a MUCH bigger issue here? A combination of pass accuracy and passive defences?
 
Another good example of what I mean about EA, and in this example FC players themselves, looking at "quick fixes" rather than actual fixes that make a good, organic, unforced gameplay model.

We had the "kick off goal fix" earlier this week, which simply makes the AI defenders defend for 30 seconds and then go back to being bollards...

And now this request (see second line):

3acfomvO_o.jpg

Do you not think that the better fix would be to make passing important - even necessary? Rather than pointlessly rewarding people for taking a pointless action?

If you don't need to pass - even in the 11v11 game, "Competitive" or "Authentic" - do you not realise there's a MUCH bigger issue here? A combination of pass accuracy and passive defences?

Feels like this is what happens when a significant section of your player base doesn't understand the sport from first principles.

EA FC has become the COD of sports games maybe. Where people who don't play any other game do play EA FC. And have no idea or interest in how it should play. They just know what doesn't feel good sometimes.
 
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