FIFA 09 Discussion Thread (Old)

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Re: FIFA 09 Discussion Thread

According to my sources they used this as the foundation for the net physics:
brick_wall.jpg



I must say it looks like your team AI is positioning pretty good and helping you out in defence. He is probably playing in low difficulty too which means they are even better on world class. Goalkeepers look really bad, but that might be because of the options being set too.
 
Re: FIFA 09 Discussion Thread

Looking good, but as mentioned, those aerial collisions look as if they can get extremely frustrating! The jostling reminds me of Winning Eleven!
 
Re: FIFA 09 Discussion Thread

Milanista said:
Looking good, but as mentioned, those aerial collisions look as if they can get extremely frustrating! The jostling reminds me of Winning Eleven!
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Yeah, lots of things remind me of PES5, in a good way (player stumbling after header, the shots have more power and are a bit more realistic). Right now this looks really solid. At this moment I'm worried about them doing too much so they offset the balance they seem to have. ;)
 
Re: FIFA 09 Discussion Thread

I really like the response/reaction times and first touches. Tackling looks good to and it looked like he mistimes a standing tackle and got penalized for it... me like. And the AI seems to be doing quite a bit of sliding tackles, how I have waited for this! Still waiting to see the CPU do skill tricks though.
 
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Re: FIFA 09 Discussion Thread

The directional leg animation is quality, the fall looks so realistic :DD
 
Re: FIFA 09 Discussion Thread

Body models looks much better, transitions and animation really silky, collision physics great. This should be a hell of a game.
 
Re: FIFA 09 Discussion Thread

A New King? FIFA 09 Next-Gen Preview



Posted by Carl at 17:06




It’s been three years since the launch of the Xbox 360 and the beginning of a new generation of consoles. With so much promise this generation has produced some killer titles in other genres but unfortunately for football fans, it has been an agonizingly long three years and we are yet to see a game that truly represents the sport we love in true next-gen fashion. There have been many brave attempts but they have all fallen short, in some cases very short. Whilst EA have made the biggest strides (will the FIFA series please stand up), most purists still felt that the game lacked soul and suffered from crippling response times. But looking on the bright side, it was enough to make most football fans snap it up and enjoy the plethora of options ranging from Be A Pro to a joyous online experience.





Based on the response from the community and the fans following the release of FIFA 08, the development team here at EA Canada led by David Rutter have been striving to build on the advances of FIFA 08 and eradicate all the problems to produce the most advanced and rewarding football gameplay experience. Whilst Winning Eleven/Pro Evolution Soccer maintained its crown in the PS2 days, the crown is truly up for grabs this time around as Konami continue to struggle with next-gen football development. EA realise this and believe me when I say, are pulling out all the stops to make sure they are sitting in the throne come October 2008.


This week we had the pleasure of trying FIFA 09 on both PS3 and Xbox 360 in early build format. We were treated to a presentation to highlighting all the aims of the team as well as the major changes in the game. The development team had four core objectives:





Highly Polished Core Gameplay
Customisation
Be A Pro: Seasons
10 vs. 10 Online




Objective 1: The heart and soul of any football game.





The primary objective of an impressive, rewarding and addictive gameplay experience is a challenge for any game developer but even more so in the sports genre as games have to feel like the real life sport. Konami were very successful at getting the right feel in the last generation. Forget all the talk about 250 key gameplay improvements because to be totally honest you guys only care how it feels and plays, right? FIFA 09 plans to achieve this by focusing on core elements of gameplay such as Responsiveness, Dribbling, Trapping, Off The Ball and First Time Actions. These have all been drastically improved when compared to FIFA 08. This game truly responds to your every move, to the extent that you will no longer fell the frustration you did in FIFA 08 when it would take 2 seconds to turn once you receive the ball. No more running along tracks… trust me if your pass is too short the player will make the attempt to stop short and collect it all this under your control and depending on your response-time, not that of the game! As soon as you dispatch a glorious Xavi style through ball your striker is onto it but you also have the ability to control his movement so as to cut or change direction once he reaches the ball. This is further boosted by the dribbling system that put a smile on everyone’s face!





The biggest hooray came as soon as people got their hands on it and realised this game had no response-time issues period! Dribbling in this game is a joy to the extent that I even heard W.E.N.B’s Editorial Director Suffwan Eltom whisper under his breath “This plays like Winning Eleven Carl, Its so smooth and responsive”. Remember, that coming from a self-confessed Winning Eleven/PES lover, damn it I wish I had recorded that on my Dictaphone! I think what really sealed the deal for him was the fact that players even use the inside and outside of the boot and even more skilled players can control it with much more accuracy and less taps that is evidently clear. What impressed me even more is the trapping system that doesn’t take half an hour to bring the ball down anymore like it used to in FIFA 08. It responds to your every action and movement allowing you to feel that you are truly in control of what your player is doing onscreen. Whereas in FIFA 08 players usually took three touches to control the ball, in FIFA 09 it can take either one or two depending on the players skill/technique attributes. So, no more having the ball stolen from you by a defender before you even know you have received it. Now you can receive the ball and instantly carry on in your attacking play without feeling like you are waiting for a London Bus.





Off the ball actions and animations are a joy to watch on screen and have you saying “Did you see that mate!” over and over again. Players point where they want the ball, shout for passes and I’m pretty sure I even saw Torres turn around and put his arms in the air when the pass to him was played way too long. Animations in this game have come a long way and the way that they are linked with motion capture and in-game actions is truly exemplary. The addition of stretching animations, when trying to stop a ball reaching an opponent or going out of play are a life-saver especially if you misplace a pass along the backline! You can now prevent corners and instead end up with thrown-ins against you. Try to save hopeless passes by your team-mates… It just oozes with new animations. Heading has come a long way as a result of improvements to the Collisions system that we will mention later on. There is a much wider range of animations introduced that will make each header that players compete for look different especially when they will all land differently. It also depends on the strength of the player going for the header, how you time it and whether the player over-commits or not. I remember Gary Paterson, the lead creative designer and gameplay man for FIFA 09 telling me that they have tons of motion capture that they have not touched.





Picture this, there is a player on the floor and he is in your path whilst you are sprinting through. Outcome? Your player jumps over him and carries on his run. In one instance I was playing against a French lad whose player had just fallen over and kept possession of the ball whilst on the ground. Ref blows his whistle and awards me the free-kick due to obstruction of play. In another game against Dave Witts from SweetPatch.tv, I even saw David Silva get taken out after releasing the pass and get up and push the culprit whilst the action on-screen continued due to the advantage rule. We both sat there in awe! The ball shielding system in FIFA 09 has also undergone work in order to improve it and make it more rewarding and true to the game. Shielding is now more effecting when protecting the ball from an opponent and will lead to better possession. No more struggling to hold the ball up field with Berbatov while you wait for the Cavalry to arrive from midfield. If you get really excited you can hit the right analogue and push the defender back, although we have been warned it often leads to a foul against you.





Collisions, well where do we start! Say good-bye to scripted play that repeats itself over and over. Referred to by the team as physical play and attributes this truly is one of the highlights of FIFA 09. To put it simply it must be played, not just seen on a video, but actually played and felt to understand how good this system really is. Built from the ground up you will no longer see un-realistic slide tackles and players going through other players and just knocking them over. EA went to the extent of hiring real football players to motion capture the dives and falls for the collisions in FIFA 09 and in some extreme cases they had to get stuntmen that didn’t mind getting clobbered and going down hard. The system deals with all the player collisions in tackles, during jostles and headers. The outcome is calculated based on momentum, foot placement, physical attributes and point of contact. This will results in the player falling or stumbling in a certain fashion. In FIFA 08, a tackle comes flying in and the player either falls to ground in a generic fashion or stumbles losing possession and disrupts your play without getting a foul. In FIFA 09, the type of fall, intensity of the fall and direction of the fall are all determined by the direction of movement, contact from another player, whether it hits a trailing leg or standing leg and most importantly physical attributes and momentum. All very complex physics involved in doing some very difficult maths sums! But the outcome is near to real-life falls and stumbles on-screen that looks incredible.





The new jostling system is an absolute joy. Gone are the days of players running beside each other and the faster one zooming past without a battle. Closely linked to the collisions system now, wingers are defenders or strikers and defenders really have to battle shoulder to shoulder to get ahead or gain possession. The animation is super and you can see arms going up and elbows appearing. Shoulder barges as well as legs coming in the way. True to life the players react, I was watching a Spain vs. Italy game and saw Torres jostling with Materazzi for a good 15 yards before he won the battle and hit the turbo to cut into the area.





There’s one more thing that I’m sure you all want to know, Goalkeepers. Given the amount of time we were given to play the game and that we were playing a very early beta/late alpha version we couldn’t really notice any major flaws in goalkeeping. Although they do now punch when instructed to do so. The Goalkeeping logic has been re-written from scratch, now giving them the ability to have a better sense of their defensive line. They now also try to correct any incorrect decisions they make. For example if they dive early and/or in the wrong direction they will stick their legs out further or try and change direction in order to rectify or try to reach the ball.





Objective 2: Customisation





This year sees the introduction of the custom team tactics giving players the freedom and ability to truly control the tactics and mentality of their team. Many tactical parameters such as specific location on the pitch, mentality of each position, specific actions for each position and the list goes on and on. These tactics can be simulated (based on the real-life teams/clubs) or pure fantasy. What’s even more exciting is that you can upload your tactics to EA Locker where it will be available to the masses. So go on, create an unbeatable tactic/formation and make yourself an instant FIFA Idol! EA are hoping that this new tactical freedom offered by the new customisation system will start a community of tactics from around the world with varying playing styles. The tactics are divided into three distinct disciplines; Defensive, Attacking Build-up and Attacking Chance Creation. We were so eager to play as many games as possible we didn’t venture into the tactical aspect of things so much. Can you blame us?!





Objective 3: Be A Pro – Seasons





Based on the massive success of the Be A Pro mode following its introduction in FIFA 08, EA realised that this mode needed to be built upon, especially in the single player mode. So, you pick a real-life player or create a custom one, and play over four full seasons building up points during each game by performing well. The aim of the game is to break into the National Team and become a National Legend.





Objective 4: Be A Pro Online – 10 vs. 10





Given the unprecedented success of this mode online EA naturally wanted to expand upon this. Last years 5 vs. 5 mode was played exclusively by 40% of FIFA 08 players. In English, that means 40% of people who played FIFA 08 online ONLY played Be A Pro. That’s quite a statistic. This year its 10 vs. 10 and it’s gonna be a massive hit.





Further Points:





The AI in FIFA 09 really has been improved, we still felt some niggles here and there but given that this is an early build that is understandable. In one game against Everton at Professional level I lost 6-0, and I was Roma! I can’t begin to imagine how difficult Legendary is. The AI controlled players seem to have a better sense of awareness and better reactivity. However, at the same time they make mistakes like humans do, and don’t put away every chance. The Manager mode has seen very little work this year to the disappointment of most fans. This is in both next-gen and the PC versions of FIFA 09. Although the developers did let us know that they realise the fans request to have a much deeper manager mode with improved features and depth. Refereeing is another plus this year, and I felt it many times during out play-test. The refs seem more on the ball and more responsive. We loved the advantage rule as it was applied time and time again and action brought back to the foul when the advantage is lost. There was a match or two however where the decisions seemed a bit erratic, but these things will surely be ironed out for the final release. The graphics in FIFA 09 are also significantly better. We were sceptical that they would be improved based on the screenshots we had previously seen. However, there is a significant improvement which is even more evident in the PS3 version.





Many other improvements that we haven’t mentioned include the ability to completely customise the controller to your preference with each individual button. This includes separate selection for Defending and Attacking controls. This can be done at the main menu or during the pause menu. Featured this year is a much better network matchup system that will setup matches with a higher success ratio with regards to team preference and connection quality. The disconnection rules this year will also see a significant drop in the number of “cheaters” online who pull out that network cable! In the first 3 minutes there is no penalty for disconnection. In minutes 3 -5 there will be given a DNF and finally any quitting after 5 minutes will lead to a 3-0 loss and a higher DNF value. For the realist’s, home and away fans sit in the correct locations in the relevant stadiums. No more away fans in the Kop!





So there you have it, my personal full in-depth take on FIFA 09 for the Xbox 360/PS3. Trust me when I say that footie fans are truly in for a treat this year. This game is going to fly off the shelves. At the end of the day grown men (including myself) cried as we needed to play for longer! For a more detailed discussion be sure to tune into the Inaugural FSB Podcast that goes live late tonight and don't miss the exclusive FSB interview with David Rutter.





All the best,




Carl Freedman
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Re: FIFA 09 Discussion Thread

Quick free kicks are still veru much missing, resetting position is slow and kills the beauty of the game.
 
Re: FIFA 09 Discussion Thread

They look identical to next gen to me. They look kind of loose like in next gen but when the ball hits it, it turns to a brick wall.

It was a pretty good read what Carl posted but he was very quick to say that all errors would probably be ironed out. The total lack of more information on BAP season again confirm that it's shit and is built as a "game/challenge" like I said in a previous post. I'll probably buy live gold again if people from this board plays a bit of Team BAP.
 
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Re: FIFA 09 Discussion Thread

Read on Fifa forums that guy said in first video that Demo will have 6-7 teams and include online.

Pretty decent for demo considering before we only had 2 teams and no online. :))
 
Re: FIFA 09 Discussion Thread

Bingham67 said:
Read on Fifa forums that guy said in first video that Demo will have 6-7 teams and include online.

Pretty decent for demo considering before we only had 2 teams and no online. :))
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Hopefully it'll be at least 2x6 mins or something so we can play a normal paced match to feel our way around, in the shitty 2x3mins of previous demos you feel forced to play fast to try to win.

santiago said:
Thanks anyways ;)
You're doing a awesome work with the "mirrowing" XD
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No problemo :) Waiting for the last 2 mirrors to finish so I can reboot to test a new 160gb hard drive I bought off Ebay for my 360, when I come back I'll start a youtube upload going, judging by last night it'll take about 90 mins to upload and 90 mins to verify, really shitty performance from the site these days.
 
Re: FIFA 09 Discussion Thread

the fifa 08 demo had 6 teams

anyway it will prob be 2 min halves for online so pretty shite although fun to play a human player instead of cpu and theres no reason to quit! or so 1 hopes
 
Re: FIFA 09 Discussion Thread

Placebo said:
Hopefully it'll be at least 2x6 mins or something so we can play a normal paced match to feel our way around, in the shitty 2x3mins of previous demos you feel forced to play fast to try to win.
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Ye hope get more time was rather frustrating with old demos. :))
 
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