@
aderow Thanks for the reply. I agree with a lot what you've said. I lack the discipline to do selective quotes so I'll just respond in a random way as points come to me.......
As you've said the licences are the biggest sell so it's not a case of the coders doing the coding and the licensing people dong the licensing, it's the whole approach to the game from both the game producers and consumer which is focused on style over substance. And the reason game producers (and other industries) have done this is because they can dispense with quality by dangling shiny branding in front of people (see also the fashion industry, reality TV and politicians).
On the AI the issue is not so much trying to recreate a human like opponent but actually more fundamentally working from a basic understanding of what makes a real life football match challenging.
A real life football match is not challenging because the referee is the guy from Escape to Victory or because the laws of physics only operate in favour of the opponent. The main reason a player who would ordinarily be able to hit cross bar from the half way in training misses an open goal is because of pressure. In real life that pressure comes in part from not being able to see behind you and not knowing what your team mates are doing. Those things are less of an issue in a computer game where you've got a helicopter view and control all 11 players. So the pressure needs to be ramped up and rather than the game simply overriding commands, the player needs to be forced into making mistakes because of pressure.
Here we see the issue with the lack of fouls. In real life (speaking as an Italian defender) fouls are used to put pressure on opponents. Therefore, the lack of fouls and a biased referee are not the tools to create a challenging experience. Forcing players to overcome disrupted play or to master set pieces is how to create a challenging
A related issue is the GK. I said above the GK does not leave his line sufficiently. What I meant from this is that I can often get to the 6 yard box before slotting the ball home and the GK has made no effort to leave his line. It used to not be like this. There were games where GK's would come out and you could go around him. This impacts so many things:
a) the positioning of the defence which should be further up the pitch with the GK acting as a sweeper;
b) forcing the player to put a through ball in that narrow gap between the defence and the GK;
c) introducing a physicality to the GK which then could result in GK's getting injured or sent off.
This I will selectively quote (don't know how to do it properly....):
At the same thoough I've gotten more penalties in a month and a half in 2020 than I got in 3+ years of 2017. I've definitely had at least 10 at this point. Getting fouls (though I still wish there were more) and penalties isn't a problem for me. Pogba missing all of them is a problem though lol. I've only had 2 penalties scored by my AI teammates. Both by Fred.
Please tell me how you've won penalties!
I have yet to win or concede a penalty in over 100 matches!
I have managed to win and concede lots of free kicks on the edge of the box but, inside, nothing.
Actually now that I haven't got the hang of it I'll selectively quote another:
At the very least they can adjust the timing window for where something would be a header or a volley. For years I'd watch my player go for a diving header instead of just smashing it lol
Surely (on a PS controller) O = volley shot, X = volley pass, [] = headed shot and /_\ = headed pass. I mean seriously, this is Street Fighter logic!
Good talk.