FIFA 10

I have just read this on the EA Forums, posted by Xoar. Its one of the best posts ive read about the pressure problem in fifa.


Why the pressure buttons must go - Why they mar a great game


This is meant as a second part to a trilogy of threads based on core problems in FIFA. The third will address a wider range of issues, whereas the previous two are quite specific. The first in the series. The first, of course, was this still continuing ball of anger known as:

Why the assists must go - why they mar a great game

This topic is on an issue which should hopefully be less controversial (it's not so much about choice) but nonetheless at least as significant. This is hardly a new comment - a lot of people have said this and will continue to say it: the pressure buttons are a huge problem. It's obvious why - in our fast-food generation we want more for less, we want to put in tiny effort to get out far too much - which is why in this game defending can be done in lalalalamost automated lackadaisical way - as soon as a player receives a ball - especially if it's in the air - hold down A, or B, charge into them, somehow get the ball as they foolishly bumble around trying to control it.

The response most people use, unsurprisingly, is to pass, and to pass, and to pass, which leads to a huge propagation of the ping-pong-passing tactic so lamented on this forum. So, this single problem, the pressure, has a massive effect on the balance of the game.

I have the fortune of being privy to a better-than-the-norm sample of people to play against. I play on manual and thus use the manual filter - and people who do use the manual filter tend to be of a mentality which does allow proper football to be played. Football where we're not seeing 100s of tackles being put in within 12 minutes. It is on these occasions which you can see what a wonderful game FIFA can be. Balanced, tactical, beautiful.. but unfortunately for me, and everyone else not everybody on manual plays this way. A lot do - thank God - bulalalala incredible the change when you play against someone who does. Suddenly you have no time on the ball - every time you try to run past a player you'll get massacred off the ball unless you are using a strong player - they will make ridiculous tackles. You pass the ball remotely long, and you will lose it every time as a robot player speeds into do some kind of matrix trapping whilst your player stands their admiring the 3D grass.

The game becomes choppy, scrappy, and horrible. You have to play fast, and you have to be opportunistic. Worst of all is when their strikers pressure your defenders. One small piece of bad luck (or a pseudo glitch) where your defender for whatever reason controls it badly, and slam, a steroidal Imbrahimovic slams into your defender whilst the other defenders scoff and laugh whilst the striker paces into a 1 on 1.

Don't get me wrong. Pressure does exist in football, and pressure should continue to exist in FIFA.. but it needs to be dramatically rebalanced. Pressure in football is usually applied to .. pressure a player. Not to tackle him, but to pressure him. To make him make a mistake. To close down his options... in FIFA... pressure is used primarily, and secondarily to tackle, to tackle, to tackle. Of course, you'd think that if a player was constantly accelerating to charge to a player every three seconds, he'd be half dead and useless quite quickly. Not in FIFA. In FIFA, fatigue still remains a small, semi irrelevant part of the game. I occasionally make substitutions when my winger's (poor old Arshavin and Rosicky - I'm a gunner) energy bars start to decrease but I'll only bother with this in extra time. I only do it to entertain myself - I've never noticed it making a remote difference.

The problem is fundamentally that tackling is far, far too prominent in this game. Tackling is actually NOT the bread and butter reason for a turnover of possession in football. Interceptions and misplaced passes are just as much. In this game, you can often see 40 tackles apiece in a 12 minute game. How ridiculous.

The automation is part of the problem. I see a lot of quite effective players who I swear don't even know what the left trigger DOES in defence - even though it really should be your primary defensive button. I bet a lot of them don't know your player actually tackles without you pressing A, and B, either. In fact, I'd say that the game is just as realistic whether you use the A/B (X/O) buttons or not. Even if you didn't use them at all - you'd be playing an as realistic, if not more realistic game than what FIFA 10 is if you use them. The game would be far better off if A (X) was changed to be the make-a-tackle button - and not have it run towards the player at all. I swear that's how it used to be in FIFA.. you know, when it was supposedly unrealistic (and defending actually was... kinda more realistic?!).

The attacking in this game has it's problems - partially because of the assists - partially because of the pressure - and a lot because of a whole array of other stuff... but the defence in this game is terrifically bad.

It's not thalalalala ineffective - it's thalalalala ineffective where it should be effective and effective where it should be ineffective. Tackling needs to be toned down. Interceptions, and blocking, perhaps needs to take a slight upping. Mainly, some real ability to cover a man needs to be introduced... At the core of this issue is the pressure - and this is my way of showing what I feel about this.

Someone's a little slow. LOL
 
There's a game within FIFA 10 that is utterly brilliant and reminiscent of PES in it's prime. However, in PES 5/6 you were rewarded for playing it properly. In FIFA, you're rewarded for not playing it properly.
 
There's a game within FIFA 10 that is utterly brilliant and reminiscent of PES in it's prime. However, in PES 5/6 you were rewarded for playing it properly. In FIFA, you're rewarded for not playing it properly.
You mean playing assisted?
 
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exactly, fully manual is a totally different game, as I said on the official FIFA forums, although most people on there think im talking bollocks lol
 
There's a game within FIFA 10 that is utterly brilliant and reminiscent of PES in it's prime. However, in PES 5/6 you were rewarded for playing it properly. In FIFA, you're rewarded for not playing it properly.

thats where the frustration comes in. At it's core the game really doesnt need much work.
 
The solution is easy Either you make AI able to adapt so that the assisted players cannot just continue to look for patterns to exploit. Or you make Assisted more heavily based on stats like PES.
 
--- THE WAY ASSISTED PASSING WORKS AND THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND CHANGING IT ---------------

Debates have raged about Assisted play. Most people err too much on one side of the fence or the other. Either 'Assisted passing goes', or 'it stays because what makes the football realistic'.

In FIFA's case, neither side is correct.

Assisted play has to stay. Of course it does. Manual play is pretty hardcore as it requires so much dexterity to play effectively, and most of the people who pay their money don't have the patience to put up with the learning curve.

I don't think manual players even mind that so much. What really annoys them is that there are hardcore FIFA gamers who use all assisted because it is significantly more powerful than manual or semi control settings. These are the people that usually play FIWC. These are the people who use horrid formations because they've sussed the gameplay flaws. These are the people who use ping-pong passing, who exploit that always going forward is far more effective than going sideways or back. FIFA 10 does a great job of convincing people that they can play it howwever they want, but when one playing style vastly trumps all others and all teams play the same way offline, this veil of freedom of choice burns away. What is the benefit of passing it around in midfield, trying to spread the play, when all the other player has to do is pass diagonally or forwards directly to the striker and face the defence head-on or play a perfect throughball for a one on one chance?

Meanwhile, these types of player almost always use the pressure buttons extensively, because they completely trump any efforts we might make to try and skip past a player who is supposed to be too committed to the tackle to be able to adjust to quick footwork. This only promotes fast, pingpong passing in the rest of us. However we refuse to play with assisted passing because it is too clinically accurate and we feel no satisfaction in good buildup play, and no benefit in using our star playmaker over our Makelele play-destroyer. Consequently our manual passing goes astray or slightly wide, and the opposition's defence or midfield pressure their way to the ball with scant regard for holding their position as in real life.

However, I appreciate that you can't remove pressuring if passing is so accurate. Similarly you can't get shooting inside the box or in one-on-ones to be as vicious or effective as it is in real life because fashioning chances in these ways is so easy in FIFA compared to PES or real life.


The irony is that the way to fix the balance of the whole game is so simple that nobody on the various articulate and considerate forums I frequent can see why it hadn't been implemented in the first place.

Two (well, three) changes need to be made to the balance of the game, which would then lead to a chain reaction of balancing events which would lead to the footballing Shangri-La we all seek (Uncharted 2 much?).



(1)Passing has to have a risk, an imprecision attached, based on the difficulty of the pass, the state and velocity of the ball at the time of impact with the foot (first time passes are harder than passing a controlled ball), the foot actually being used (stronger/weaker), the weight the player intends to put on the pass (the harder you hit it the wilder aiming may go), the direction of the pass (passes where the player can't see what is happening should be in the rough direction based on their ability to read the game [Vision], not inch perfect) and based on the ability of the footballer in question to make such a pass.

(2)Controlling the ball has to have imprecision built in, based on the pace of the ball as it arrives, the balance of the player as the ball reaches him and the difficulty in taking the first touch in the direction the player wishes to move the ball. This imprecision should carry across to tricks, affecting the speed and direction of the ball when coming out of an elaborate skill.



There. Done.


As soon as you load up and play the first build of this new game, players are encouraged to control the ball and look for the right pass, rather than ping pong the ball forwards to the striker ASAP. Assisted players are also put more closely in line with semi assisted players, and manual passers ( who I feel should be affected less by these uncertainties to make up for the uncertainties their controllers already give them). Ultimately the three player types need to be brought closer together so that the single player game they all have to share is more evenly balanced across all control schemes. A fairly decent assisted player should be on par with a good manual player, because both should have to share a common tactical battle against the same opposition.


Defending becomes more about interception and shepherding the play than tackling, so the need for insane pressuring drops wildly. With the need greatly reduced, the effectiveness can therefore be reduced to keep the balance.

Part of the way to do this besides reducing the likelihood of the player succeeding in the tackle in the first place is,

(3) Make player energy something to be conserved and used at the right time, rather than an infinite nitrous boost. How many times have commentators said "I can't see them keeping this tempo up all game", or "this team are knocking the ball about, tiring the opposition out"? Football is a marathon, not a sprint.




--- INDIVIDUALITY!!! -----------
Now, that elusive 'individuality' which most PES fans decry as absent from FIFAs past arrives at EA Sports' doors.


Every technical yet physically weak player in the game becomes desirable in their own way. Slow lumbering players who were built to destroy rather than create are forced to play the short pass to their more inventive partner in midfield, who can dictate the tempo of the game with their metronomic passing.
Players are encouraged to take a touch away from, rather than always towards, the opposition goal.
Tall, powerful yet cumbersome strikers are encouraged to receive high balls because they can't deal with ground passes as effectively. The technical touch of Berbatovs and Ibrahimovic's becomes a real asset as even fast passes that would cannon back off the likes of Heskey stick to them like glue.
One-footed wingers can bomb down the flank, but full backs can jockey to block the cross, knowing that if he cuts onto his weaker foot he won't be able to put a threatening ball in. Two footed players become a real asset as they can use their unpredictability in the way they do in real life.

A League 1 player playing in the Premiership is shown up to be unsuited to the pace of the game because the fast passes he is forced to receive cannon off him, and the passes he needs to make are too poorly weighted/guided to reach the target. However, he might be a gifted passer in League One, where the pace and defensive positioning of the play becomes better suited to him.


Instantly, every team in the game develops their own individuality too. Less technical teams playing against more capable sides with sharp defences and tough midfields are encouraged to play more directly or down the wing to keep their pass count down and reduce the risk of misplacement of a ball leading to possession turnover. They are encouraged to use their target men properly by firing crosses or set pieces in at every opportunity, rather than in the same way that Valencia use David Villa or Spurs use Keane and Defoe.

Those sharper teams are encouraged to try and hassle the less technical players to try and dispossess them when they take their first touch, while standing off the gifted players who they know will control the ball more quickly and effectively. The less technical sides are forced to stand off and hold their shape while the Arsenals or Man Utds try to unlock their defences.

When two sides who are less technically gifted AND not as sharp with their positional awareness face each other (e.g. two League 1 sides), the extra space left on the pitch by their tactical shortcomings balance out their weak passing, which now has more room for error. Meanwhile that League One team, when facing a Premiership team, is forced to batten down the hatches, play at the top of their game and go for the long ball to try and scrape a historic victory. This could be aided by making lesser teams' pitches more susceptible to bobble, which thus impacts on more technical sides' ground passing. It is typically the pitch, as much as the crowd, that gives small teams that leveller when playing Premiership teams.

The League One team might finish a Manager Mode game utterly exhausted if they've gone all or nothing to beat a bigger team, whereas a Premiership team might be more inclined to go easier on pressure and tackling, knowing that they are more likely to be sharp enough to intercept passes anyway.



By making the game more tactical and cerebral, whole leagues develop individuality based on their sliders and the nature of the players in that league. Italian sides pass it around more, knowing that the defences are harder to break down even if they are generally slower than Premier League setups. La Liga's technical players start to shine as you can't get near the likes of Xavi and Iniesta, while those more physical German and English sides tend to rely on a good mix of direct passing, crossing and pace to smash their way to victory.



--- DEFENSIVE AWESOMENESS ------------

As for exploits? Not only do the pressuring and ping pong passing exploits go; the effectiveness of stupid formations is flung out of the window too. Teams with a packed midfield are harder to pass through, while having more options to pass to when in possession. Teams with 8 at the back and 2 up front find their strikers woefully isolated.

Jockeying becomes useful, because you don't need to block a particular pass 100% perfectly. Just by putting the doubt there, players are discouraged from taking the risk. Just by standing close to a less technical midfielder, the pass becomes less likely - why risk a pass to a player who may take a heavy touch and be dispossessed, or who may try a first time pass and royally stuff it up?

With the increased use of crosses, the vast toning down of the pressure buttons and the need for improved defensive play, FIFA 11 needs sides to defend as a unit. No more 1 v 1 aerial battles or 1 v 1 challenges for the ball in general. Get any defender who might reach the ball with his head to go for a clearance, and get the AI to contribute in intercepting loose touches or misplaced passes. I think most people would prefer an automatic clearance to a defender trying to trap the ball, getting dispossessed by the striker and therefore conceding.



--- BUT WHERE ARE THE GOALS GOING TO COME FROM? ----

The room to focus on defensive positioning above pressuring at every opportunity, and with the inaccuracies now present in one-touch passing, also makes it harder to fashion a chance inside the area. Therefore, when you do get a chance, your players need to have the ability to take it. Therefore, shooting in the box from any angle other than head-on (which is powerful enough, thanks) can be made far stronger, in line with real life (or at least PES!). Crossing and heading need to be made slightly more effective to make it a legitimate tactic rather than something to avoid, and to counteract the fact that it is now easier to block a cross.

Not a problem. Give us bullet headers for the Les Ferdinand/Tony Adams types. In return, give defenders in general the ability to head the ball well clear. Many centre backs get as much distance on the ball with their head as keepers do with their fists.


By doing all this, even lesser sides have the ability to score against top class keepers. The top keepers may be brilliant shot stoppers but their reaction times are still human. A good header (which is what lower league sides are more than capable of) or a well aimed shot from the edge of the box is more than most keepers can stop, whether at international or non-league level.

The balance of shots from all distances can be set to something that avoids exploits by using good shooting mechanics rather than by falsely clipping the wings of long range finesse shooting etc. Make shots that go into the 90-100% power bar rating, really skew wide or fly off into the distance. In PES 3, shooting from the halfway line was possible and could lead to goals, but was incredibly hard to do. It was utterly aces.

Low shots from 30 yards are allowed to bounce a couple of times as well, you know! Indeed, with a much more balanced game overall, there is no reason for EA to keep the slightly odd gravity-changing ball and it's uncanny ability to (a) avoid air resistance when travelling long distances and (b) travel back down to Earth at the exact rate of acceleration as it went up, without the overall gravitational pull of the Earth staying constant between shots/long passes. g = 9.81m/s/s. Fact. Make us feel like we're kicking a real ball, and we'll feel like we've scored a real goal.


Lastly (well there's so much more but I'll leave it here!) the added difficulty of making a pass into a very tight space (and with the increase in crosses from the flanks) requires that the attacking AI be improved to actually DROP BACK to capitalise on free space. #10's should drop back to receive the ball; Deep Lying Playmakers (DLPs) should stand back and make themselves available to recycle possession; attacking midfielders and #10's should drop back to the penalty spot (or to the left/right of this) to receive cutbacks or byline crosses that aren't into the six yard box.


There are so many more fixes needed - supercancel [which is really just cancel, rather than supercancel] doesn't stop you trying to go directly for the ball, meaning you try and trap lost causes going out for a throw/you can't use supercancel to flummox a defender and create space as you can in PES; L1 player switching is supplemental, not a valid replacement; R1 stepovers are only when you're stationary, not when running, despite FIFA footballers already being coded to jump over passes that weren't meant for them - but I think implementing the above would really give the game a sorely needed depth of gameplay by making each player unique and giving each team a real sense of character and personality.

The most important thing to remember is that assisted controls should be helping the user overcome their deficiencies with a gamepad; it should not be touching the effectiveness of the players on the pitch whatsoever, and it should not be making up for the user's deficiencies at the tactics and strategy involved in a good game of football.
 
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exactly, fully manual is a totally different game, as I said on the official FIFA forums, although most people on there think im talking bollocks lol

I think people have the right to chose how they wanna play the game... and that doesnt make u a noob or an ass...
EA made filters for that this year so theres really no point complaining anymore imo.
 
Of course playing on assisted makes you a "newb" the console is helping you..my nephew always plays on assisted and when he scores I go and pat the PS3 and congratulate it on scoring (winds him up).

I think the control settings should be called amateur for assisted (as you need help), intermediate for semi (as you can do some of it your self) and manual should be expert mode (no help required) ...makes perfect logic to me..And the argument of "I don't have time to learn how to play manual" is fine and I complete agree most people are busy...but then don't come back saying you're excellent at the game when playing on assisted because quite frankly you are not. Don't get that last statement confused with being one of the better amateur's as you might just well be.

/end rant
 
I know most of us really hate assisted controls and that's for some good reason. But you have to remember there are kids out there, playing this game too. A friend of mine has a 9 year young son and this little goes crazy playing FIFA with his great idol Ronaldo. He plays on assisted controls and his eyes are shining every time he is playing it. He gives a damn about realism. He is just to young. He just want to have fun with this game. Making some nice tricks, shooting some incredible goals.

We have to remember, we (people who loves realism in sportgames)are not the only one playing this game. What we need is EA separates the kids from the boys and the boys from the man. We don't need to play them online. We need a separate online experience with our own ranked games, lobbys, tables, trophys, ranks etc. Then everything would be fine.
 
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I know most of us really hate assisted controls and that's for some good reason. But you have to remember there are kids out there, playing this game too. A friend of mine has a 9 year young son and this little goes crazy playing FIFA with his great idol Ronaldo. He plays on assisted controls and his eyes are shining every time he is playing it. He gives a damn about realism. He is just to young. He just want to have fun with this game. Making some nice tricks, shooting some incredible goals.

We have to remember, we (people who loves realism in sportgames)are not the only one playing this game. What we need is EA separates the kids from the boys and the boys from the man. We don't need to play them online. We need a separate online experience with our own ranked games, lobbys, tables, trophys, ranks etc. Then everything would be fine.

I think if they just made semi controls the default then the majority of people wouldnt even notice they were using something different. They would just assume the game has changed as these people dont even know the different control settings exist.
 
any news about the patch?

EA Sports has told Eurogamer that a large number of the problems reported with FIFA 10 on the official forums have been addressed or will be addressed by a new patch, which should be out this week.

"We have already created one patch based on gameplay feedback after the demo went live, and we are now creating another one that will go out this week (fingers crossed), in order to give our gamers the best possible experience," a spokesperson for EA Canada told Eurogamer overnight.

We asked whether issues with Game Face, Live Seasons, Club Mode and disconnections were connected, and whether there was any progress sorting them out.

On Game Face and Live Seasons, we were referred to EA's public posts on the subject, which include advice on Game Face usability and a workaround for people experiencing problems with Live Seasons 2.0.

For Club Mode, we were told that problems were "to do with stat-tracking and should be fixed as a result of server-side fixes and some updates in [the new patch] that is going out shortly".

Disconnections, meanwhile, are "a PS3-only issue - caused by us using PSN 'Rich Presence' - so if you had lots of friends all playing FIFA at the same time it overloaded PSN code. Fixed in Patch 2, and by reducing friends lists [in the meantime]."

Manager Mode has also been a bone of contention, with many users reporting bugs, such as the AI flogging your players without asking. Whoops. EA told Eurogamer it's "addressing a number of these issues in the next update due any day soon. Notably AI selling your players without your permission, form, goalie assists, budgets and improvements to stability."

FIFA 10's general gameplay, however, will not be altered. "We're not intending to change any gameplay," he were told. "Our Metacritic reflects that part of the game more than any and we're very happy with the quality of the on the pitch action - and the overwhelming positive feedback from our fans."

But we weren't done there. Did you know some of the kits are incorrect? Some gentlemen on the EA forums noticed.

"Every year we do our best to be 100 per cent accurate," EA replied. "That said, we are dependent on our partners at leagues and clubs providing us with the reference. It's usual that we get these for the vast majority of our clubs, but for some we do not - and they will have errors or omissions.

"Indeed, sometimes the clubs change their minds [when we've already started] building the kits! That said - all our kits etc. are approved by the manufacturers, clubs and leagues - but with a game the size of FIFA there will always be a small number of disappointed kit aficionados."

Finally, we asked what the team actually did when it was faced with problems around a game launch. Surely everyone's off on the beach by then?

Apparently not. "It's the same every year - we don't have a moment to bask in the glory of a great game," came the response. "We've had the entire team mobilised to look into nearly every real and imaginary issue that's been reported - and this has been a 24/7 effort.

"We've improved some things that we thought needed to be improved, and will evaluate other reports as they come in. As I say - we're continuing to monitor, and our second update is proof that we've not 'fired and forgotten' about the game.

"We want to make sure people are not just going to enjoy FIFA for a few days, but continue to enjoy it for the next year at least."
 
Quick question for those who have the game...I always found that using the fake shot on a computer player never works, meaning they will never fall for it and make a slide in front to stop you, at least in the demo they do not. Is this the same for the full game? I thought PES did this well, where around the goal the computer would mostly fall for it, as if you watch games, many players fall for it also. To me, the computer in FIFA 10 in the demo never did, making the move an entire waste.
 
Quick question for those who have the game...I always found that using the fake shot on a computer player never works, meaning they will never fall for it and make a slide in front to stop you, at least in the demo they do not. Is this the same for the full game? I thought PES did this well, where around the goal the computer would mostly fall for it, as if you watch games, many players fall for it also. To me, the computer in FIFA 10 in the demo never did, making the move an entire waste.

Most skill moves are a waste of time vs the CPU on higher levels and skill dribble to a certain extent.

The CPU knows what you're going to try before the move even starts.

I wish the CPU AI was more impacted by player stats but it seems all the players the CPU controls get a boost no matter which team it is.

For all the boasting about fifa 10 the AI is thick as fuck.
 
I use the fake to make a bit more space in midfield usually, rather than using it to trick the keeper.

Or to do this...


Definitely isn't a useless skill, but it certainly shouldn't be used with the same frequency as in the old PES games.

On another note, Is it just me who thinks people are a bit harsh on the faces in Fifa? Sure, the likenesses in PES are largely brilliant, but they're also created fairly simply using photos, whereas the facial details, as well as the head are modeled in Fifa. The results are inconsistent, but it's definitely the way it should be done.
 
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Most skill moves are a waste of time vs the CPU on higher levels and skill dribble to a certain extent.

The CPU knows what you're going to try before the move even starts.

I wish the CPU AI was more impacted by player stats but it seems all the players the CPU controls get a boost no matter which team it is.

For all the boasting about fifa 10 the AI is thick as fuck.

Yep, agree fully the AI is still far too psychic...
 
I use the fake to make a bit more space in midfield usually, rather than using it to trick the keeper.

Or to do this...


Definitely isn't a useless skill, but it certainly shouldn't be used with the same frequency as in the old PES games.

On another note, Is it just me who thinks people are a bit harsh on the faces in Fifa? Sure, the likenesses in PES are largely brilliant, but they're also created fairly simply using photos, whereas the facial details, as well as the head are modeled in Fifa. The results are inconsistent, but it's definitely the way it should be done.

Nice goal, I can see the fake made the defender stutter, which is more than I thought they did, but I feel that both should have went down for the slide that close to goal, and they would have done in real life. So it works a little sometimes it seems, but I still think it is kinda useless.
 
people moaned about tactics cheating but is it really cheating? if putting 10 man behind teh ball defending is cheating then how come its not defined in the rule book in real football? how come many low end teams play very defensively against teh top teams in real life?

The Jekyl And Hyde Of Fifa Online

Mr Hyde

Now for the ugly, psychotic side of online play. I have played just a handful of ranked games. And this is why. I was under the illusion that you could use the filter for ranked games this year but this seems not to be the case (please correct me if I’m wrong). The options to change settings are greyed out and can only be changed under unranked games (ps3). I’m going to use this following game as a typical example of what I have come up against when playing ranked games.

It was a FIWC game. I’m Arsenal and my opponent chose AC Milan. I’m on semi controls but from kick off its clear that im up against a fully assisted player. Now there must be a pre match screen somewhere that I am missing . One that lets you pump your players full of Red Bull before heading out to the pitch. From the 1st minute I was being closed down , no, hunted down. From a pack of starving wolves and they smelt blood. I had no time on the ball what so ever. As soon as I got control I had him barging me off resulting in me losing the ball constantly. I could not tackle his players. I could not get more than 2 passes going without him intercepting or just having my passes go astray. Ronaldinho was like a man possessed. He ran from top to bottom chasing my defenders down like they were pub team players with cement boots on. My keeper kept running out of his goal for no apparent reason. And this went on for 90 minutes. I saw none of his players get tired. Sometimes you can see them gasp for breath but I saw none of this. From start to finish he just pressured me. I lost 8-0.…yes 8 fecking nil. Every single one of his goals was scored from inside the area, finesse shot into the bottom corner. Every single bloody one of them. Mainly from him just outpacing or out muscling my players. It didn’t matter what I tried to prevent it. It seemed like the game had just decided to give him an advantage over me. Now im not claiming to be a brilliant Fifa player but I can certainly hold my own and I can tell you that this player was shite. He used the same old assisted exploits against me for every attack. Not once did I see him try to play a nice move out. It was ping pong football. You can certainly see why so many players pull the plug when they have to play these type of shite games. But that’s just not in my nature. I could be losing 20 nil and I still would see it out til the end. In the end I just laughed at the game. It was that ridiculous. Now we had this type of crap in fifa09, and I was hoping that EA had listened to us. How can unranked games be so good yet ranked be so terrible. Well that’s easy. Because I choose semi or manual in unranked and the game doesn’t cheat you. So ranked games for me again this year are off the to do list. One more mode that is broken and will never get patched. So EA, if you are reading this, please take this on board,

GET RID OF ASSISTED CONTROLS…….FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Not going to name him as I’m not going to single him out and I cant really blame him for something that EA continually let happen with their Fifa franchise.

^^ I'd imagine that this is part of the reason why people dislike "10-men behind the ball" formations so much.

If the pressure weren't so effective (resulting in you getting barged off the ball and never getting the foul) and the stamina hit was actually realistic (or there in the first place), and assisted passing weren't so cheap and easy to use, then maybe when people use these shitty formations it'd actually be DIFFICULT to score out of them, as it is in real life. Instead, they have the 7 in the back and 3 strikers all the way up top and one long assisted pass it all it takes to get you on the counter when realistically they should be stranded up there. [See the United game today near the end as they're trying to defend their lead and every single clearance up the field found a Bolton player with one United striker left to try and cover a ton of ground to get to him before he fired it back into our penalty box]

If the pressure works so well in the open field, imagine how it's going to work the moment you get close to someone in the penalty box. Find me someone that can even begin to break something like that down with manual passing online. It's near impossible and certainly not even slightly fun or realistic.

7 in your penalty box should pretty much see you NEVER scoring. But that's not the case.

Playing that way should basically lead to a 0-0 draw unless they happen to get a corner or win a FK near your box. But that would take some very good passing and probably a good bit of sprinting to get out of their box, after which stamina should probably start to have it's effect on the players.

I don't agree with removing custom tactics all together but EA are fucking stupid and instead of fixing core gameplay elements that encourage this cheesing, they just remove the entirety of a very good system. Problem is people can still use those crappy formations if, as someone said, they set them beforehand and since the endless pressure online is still alive and well it's not really hurting the cheesers. Just everyone else.

  • Get rid of assisted passing
  • Actually make stamina a factor in the game
  • Call the fucking fouls when your opponent just barges through your player (if someone is charging me down and i turn to shield the ball and get laid out, give the FK)

Edit: Skipped past this page to make this post but someone, in a pretty long post, mentioned all of these points, and a bunch more. I mean, everyone already knows what needs to be fixed but it still bears repeating.
 
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The running jockey defending is really lame. You can even make a tackle from behind and no fouls will be called. Easiest way to defend, and I get really annoyed about it.
 
Just had an offline single player match Slow speed, Legendary, trying out 100% assisted controls for the first time on FIFA 10 (crossing is semi by default).

Accrington Stanley (me) 2 - 3 Man Utd.

The goal they won by was a keeper rollout to Berbatov.

I missed a hatful of clear one on ones worked through laser passing. The ball just kept creeping past the post. Utd were genuinely lucky. My fears when I decided to try this setup were confirmed - all three of my goals were the result of 'excellent' passing moves, including one with the sort of inside-the-area foot on the ball and then backheel you just don't expect Accrington Stanley's players to try when chasing an equaliser against the former European Champions. I wanted to upload it to show you all, but of course EA Football World is unavailable at the moment.

This should not be possible. I was playing like a slow, physically weak Arsenal. I think I misplaced one pass, the rest being inch perfect, just slightly slower than those of a Prem quality side.

If PES wasn't so utterly shit now I'd think about trading FIFA in, but since semi settings are still quite good and there's manual settings still to delve into further (I have tried all manual plus semi passing, wasn't too bad) I'll hold out for the MM patch and keep playing online.
 
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I am thinking of getting a PS3, after not playing PES/WE for about 2 yrs
now....
Seeing FIFA wants me to go for that....
but I solely play as single-player...

How is the AI ? Does it reflect the playing styles of the famous players
of Ronaldo, Messi, Drogba, Rooney, Ibra, Torres, etc...
Does the AI teams play like real life .... Arsenal, Barca, Chelsea...
and their respective styles...
 
I try to be as objective as possible with FIFA and PES, but if you loved PES I would not recommend FIFA for you. Especially if you play only single player, you'll find yourself getting extremely frustrated with the AI with the nonstop pressuring. Also, custom tactics are the same for >90% of the teams, so you'll find yourself facing the exact same AI tactics every single game.

to answer your question, no. Those teams do not play with individuality.

If anybody disagrees with me, please chime in.
 
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