Fifa 11 Xbox 360/PS3

Well just stuck FIFA in the Xbox for the first time in months for a wee change but wish I hadn't.

I forgot how bad this game really is, so frustrating.
The constant pressurising and turnover of possession really kills this game + coming from PES the passing is sooooooooo slow even when fully charged.

Back to PES I go..............
 
Manual controls, to me, has nothing to do with being more or less realistic, it's purely about the challenge. Having to think carefully about each pass and concentrate on each action, rather than just lazily spamming the pass button with your eyes closed, is more involving, more fun and more challenging. Due to the latter, it's also hugely satisfying when you pull off something good. Assisted controls feel empty, cheap and boring in comparison.

In a similar way, I don't think the key to CM features like growth is really an issue of realism. It's about good design, about making the interaction interesting and satisfying (and therefore fun). Being real or unreal neither excludes nor enables that.
 
Manual controls only work when you're playing against a like minded opponent who wants to play football.

Unfortunately if you come up against a pressure whore who holds down both pressure buttons constantly you don't even have the time to power up a pass never mind play considered football.
 
stuartyd said:
Manual controls only work when you're playing against a like minded opponent who wants to play football.

Unfortunately if you come up against a pressure whore who holds down both pressure buttons constantly you don't even have the time to power up a pass never mind play considered football.
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Indeed. Speaking of which, I just endured a horrendous CM match against Fulham. There's something broken in the team AI because, for whatever reason, Fulham decided to double-press for 90 minutes. Well, for about 75 minutes, at which point I exited the game.

There was no logic to it. Fulham are set up with 45/35 for Pressure/Aggression, but clearly the AI had chosen a high aggression tactic for this fixture because I had two white shirts sprinting at the ball constantly. Why? They were away from home. They were 0-0, 1-0 up, 2-0 up, 2-1 up but it didn't change, they just pressed like loons regardless. Not fun.

This is not something that happens all the time. I played Stoke in the previous match and even with their 65 Aggression they weren't as bad. Fulham became robot terminator zombies through no logic that I could see. I could understand if they were losing late in the game and desperate to get the ball back asap so they could try to equalise, but to start that way and continue with it makes no sense.

The Fulham away fans seemed to oddly enjoy singing about Jermaine Defoe too.
 
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stuartyd said:
Manual controls only work when you're playing against a like minded opponent who wants to play football.

Unfortunately if you come up against a pressure whore who holds down both pressure buttons constantly you don't even have the time to power up a pass never mind play considered football.
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I agree. Most people end up being pressure whores though because that's what the game actively champions for. It's not their fault really when it's built into the game's fundamental design. As i posted a page back, manual ends up suffering because of extraneous factors (pressure, tackling etc) rather than any inherent problem with the manual controls or the player using manual controls ability.
 
One of the problems for me in the times I've played FIFA against the AI is that the CPU plays on assisted, so it's not even a level playing field in that respect, then you add the other advantages it has such as it's ridiculous reactions and perfect exploitation of the jostling/collisions system, and playing manual just becomes a chore.
 
ibra77 said:
My usual vague and rushed thoughts…

This pertains to CM presentation

- Main screen should be training mode where you can practice normally with reserves included. From there you should be able to

- "talk to a player" by selecting him, camera zooms into the player on the training ground, all the players relevant information displayed (performance stats look at form, player growth and everything else), be able to give the player specific instructions.
- "team talk", general formation and tactics somehow seamlessly blended in an interactive screen that doesn't take you out of the training ground.
- be able to set up a scrimmage game with a formation like your next opposition (or as you wish)

-Select from a subtle pop-up screen (like the current in-game ones)
- Next game
- League Table and Statistics
- the office (be able to review at least 10 games, take care of business, contracts, transfers and the like)
- whatever else.
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I LOVE this idea. Turning the current main CM screen - boring and static menus - into a more dynamic and lifelike virtual "home" screen would massively change the feel of the game mode. Love love love this idea.

I would add one additional request: during the transfer window you'd be able to give a "try-out" to players on your transfer shortlist. While this might not be completely realistic, neither is signing players you (or your scouts) have never seen in person, and this would be a nice compromise - there is nothing worse than signing the virtual equivalent of Bebe and having to endure a season of buyer's remorse!

FANTASTIC suggestion Ibra. This idea should be sent along to the new Creative Director (*cough* Nick Cave get it done *cough*).
 
mfmaxpower said:
I would add one additional request: during the transfer window you'd be able to give a "try-out" to players on your transfer shortlist. While this might not be completely realistic, neither is signing players you (or your scouts) have never seen in person, and this would be a nice compromise - there is nothing worse than signing the virtual equivalent of Bebe and having to endure a season of buyer's remorse!
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Isn't that risk part of transfers though? I would agree with this for free agents only. I like Ibra's suggestion too though.
 
nerf said:
Manual controls, to me, has nothing to do with being more or less realistic, it's purely about the challenge. Having to think carefully about each pass and concentrate on each action, rather than just lazily spamming the pass button with your eyes closed, is more involving, more fun and more challenging. Due to the latter, it's also hugely satisfying when you pull off something good. Assisted controls feel empty, cheap and boring in comparison.

In a similar way, I don't think the key to CM features like growth is really an issue of realism. It's about good design, about making the interaction interesting and satisfying (and therefore fun). Being real or unreal neither excludes nor enables that.
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I guess there are different reasons people use manual. For me, the original reason I began using manual a few years ago was because I was frustrated with the CPU incorrectly interpreting who I meant to pass the ball to; if a poor pass was to be made, I wanted it to be because of me and not because the game thought it best to pass to a different player than I wished when multiple players were near each other.

When I've found I wanted to increase the difficulty level... I increase the difficulty level, and I've never felt Legendary to be not enough of a challenge that I needed further increase in difficulty. And my problems with playing on lower difficulty levels is that even if I increase the challenge by playing all manual, the CPU offensive AI presents not enough challenge and I don't lose enough games.

Most recently I have had some success with experimenting on lower difficulty levels, however, by doing my best to limit myself to only using the jockey button on defense, and sprint only in the most dire circumstances. Trying my best to refrain from using sprint (as well as the two tackle buttons and teammate pressure) has actually made defending challenging and fun.

Still, while manual passing was enjoyable and effective-enough in previous FIFAs, the gameplay this year is simply a poor fit for the slow manual passing speeds (as Stuart said, relative to PES passing in FIFA is sooooo slow, and it's even worse when playing manual). Yes, nothing quite equals the satisfaction - in either game - of pulling-off a nice series of manual play in FIFA. The assisted pass settings, however, are not as bad as what they once were and saying that you can just spam the pass button is a gross exaggeration.

In fact, no matter which pass control setting I choose to play with, I've been finding I finish matches averaging close to 80 percent passing completion; the difference in my passing success over an entire game is not statistically significant, as they say. So while I am able to better play into space with manual passing, that benefit to me is out-weighed currently by the combination of slow passing speeds and aggressive/over-powered defending.

And as an added bonus of going my longest stretch in years of not playing full manual, I am honestly seeing more of Personality+ than before. It's still nothing like PES but I have been seeing greater variety in my players. Also, while Pro Passing has without a doubt brought greater error to non-manual passing, passing completion averages of approximately 80 percent are still too high... especially considering I am playing with a 2.5 star team in my CM! Moreover, how PP has been implemented is conceptually wrong - more directional error is needed rather than slower passing speeds and bouncing passes.

These of course are my own personal preferences determined by my own skill, and like I said before if I was a better player, or the gameplay better suited to them, all manual controls would be my preferred control scheme. The fairly simple combination of increasing pass speeds, increasing directional error, in conjunction with decreasing tackling and defensive effectiveness, would take care of many of gameplay's worse ills and also provide the additional benefit of making manual play once again a more viable and enjoyable experience.

These observations have come from recently trying to extend the life of FIFA by focusing on elements of my game that I felt were deficient and might be causing my frustrations, while I've also been trying to better get a grasp on how the game is designed to be played and what others experience who think FIFA 11 is worthy of the high praise it's received. By playing with a combination of manual and assisted controls (I still use manual through pass for example), I've been able to focus much more on the other parts of the game than passing, such as shielding, protecting the ball, and dribbling.

I've found that my enjoyment of FIFA now depends not on what control scheme I use but rather how effective I am at preventing the CPU from barging me off the ball. It used to be that I hated playing anything other than manual passing because I thought it was too boring but now I find challenge enough in just holding off defenders and maintaining possession through a slower style of play than typical frantic FIFA football. I simply lack the brain power to manage both the extra challenges of manual passing and the increased physical play of FIFA 11 at the same time! It sucks that we all have to try so hard in our own ways to squeeze enjoyment out of FIFA, but this is the way that's currently working for me. Maybe if my skills improve enough I'll be able to switch back to full manual.

nerf said:
Indeed. Speaking of which, I just endured a horrendous CM match against Fulham. There's something broken in the team AI because, for whatever reason, Fulham decided to double-press for 90 minutes. Well, for about 75 minutes, at which point I exited the game.

There was no logic to it. Fulham are set up with 45/35 for Pressure/Aggression, but clearly the AI had chosen a high aggression tactic for this fixture because I had two white shirts sprinting at the ball constantly. Why? They were away from home. They were 0-0, 1-0 up, 2-0 up, 2-1 up but it didn't change, they just pressed like loons regardless. Not fun.

This is not something that happens all the time. I played Stoke in the previous match and even with their 65 Aggression they weren't as bad. Fulham became robot terminator zombies through no logic that I could see. I could understand if they were losing late in the game and desperate to get the ball back asap so they could try to equalise, but to start that way and continue with it makes no sense.

The Fulham away fans seemed to oddly enjoy singing about Jermaine Defoe too.
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This is exactly what I'm finding in my current CM too, and in the Norwegian league! And for some reason it does seem to be mostly when I'm playing at home - the CPU team pressure can be insane at times, and i think mostly when they're playing away!!

So it's not so simple an issue of some human players defending like pressure whores... the game is built that way, is most effective when played that way, and the CPU AI is just as guilty as any human for playing that way!!!
 
nerf said:
Isn't that risk part of transfers though? I would agree with this for free agents only. I like Ibra's suggestion too though.
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IRL a manager typically would be able to evaluate a potential signing based on match reports, video footage, vast amounts of data (Arsene Wenger - an economist by education - is renowned for maintaining extensive spreadsheets of current and prospective player stats, for example), and even the eye-witness accounts of their scouts or themselves. (Bebe is said to be the first signing Ferguson did not see in person first. Considering how that's working out, I think Sir Alex would have my back on this!)

There is just no way CM could ever do justice to the benefits gained from scouting that goes on IRL. The value of just one real life game footage cannot be replicated by attribute stats or CPU generated scout reports. Just a few moments of a virtual run-out on the training pitch, however, would give just enough of an impression to either warn me away from the signing or confirm my interest in the player.

This would also add to the levels of immersion, as simulating a manager's transfer window activity simply by browsing lists of vague attribute stats is ultimately a rather dull, shallow, and joyless experience. And have no fear, it's not as if all risk is eliminated by a short practice session - a couple minutes of getting the "feel" of a player in no way guarantees long-term success.

Despite agreeing in general with Nick that realism should be the goalposts EA shoot for, this is an example of my argument from a previous post, that realism should not be a goal in and of itself, because realism is not 100 percent attainable, and making realism a requirement for features in CM can cost you in important areas. In the case of transfer market activity, the tools at a real-world manager's disposal cannot be properly simulated in FIFA and a somewhat unrealistic compromise is needed to fill the void.
 
The passing in FIFA is slow, but it's more the imbalance between the speed and the movement of the players that is an issue. The passing speed in FIFA can actually be pretty authentic at times (in manual it's the charge-up time that is the killer), and it is a big positive that it encourages you to increase the numbers in midfield. I would still increase the speed slightly and increase the pitch friction a smidge (though I'd stay much closer to FIFA 11 levels than PES 2011 for both), but it's the player mobility that throws things off-kilter.
 
mfmaxpower said:
This is exactly what I'm finding in my current CM too, and in the Norwegian league! And for some reason it does seem to be mostly when I'm playing at home - the CPU team pressure can be insane at times, and i think mostly when they're playing away!!

So it's not so simple an issue of some human players defending like pressure whores... the game is built that way, is most effective when played that way, and the CPU AI is just as guilty as any human for playing that way!!!
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I've since booted up the 360 again and tried a couple more games, Wolves away and WBA home, and neither had the crazy double-pressing. Even at 2-1 down WBA still did not double up. Maybe Mark Hughes had dosed his players with his wife's diet pills that day...
 
romagnoli said:
The passing in FIFA is slow, but it's more the imbalance between the speed and the movement of the players that is an issue. The passing speed in FIFA can actually be pretty authentic at times (in manual it's the charge-up time that is the killer), and it is a big positive that it encourages you to increase the numbers in midfield. I would still increase the speed slightly and increase the pitch friction a smidge (though I'd stay much closer to FIFA 11 levels than PES 2011 for both), but it's the player mobility that throws things off-kilter.
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Fair enough. It's all relative in any case. And it's really passing speed with manual that is a problem for me - I'm not bothered by the speed on semi. And yeah, it's more accurate to say that it's an issue with the charge-up time rather than speed per se (i.e. charge-up long enough and speed isn't an issue). Maybe this was their way of correcting the issue with very short passing being too hard previously, and in typical EA-style they over-compensated? I thought passing speeds were fine in general in the WC game and 10.

nerf said:
I've since booted up the 360 again and tried a couple more games, Wolves away and WBA home, and neither had the crazy double-pressing. Even at 2-1 down WBA still did not double up. Maybe Mark Hughes had dosed his players with his wife's diet pills that day...
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Well the CPU teams are still governed by various team tactics, so maybe it's specific tactics we encountered that were especially aggressive?
 
romagnoli said:
The passing in FIFA is slow, but it's more the imbalance between the speed and the movement of the players that is an issue. The passing speed in FIFA can actually be pretty authentic at times (in manual it's the charge-up time that is the killer), and it is a big positive that it encourages you to increase the numbers in midfield. I would still increase the speed slightly and increase the pitch friction a smidge (though I'd stay much closer to FIFA 11 levels than PES 2011 for both), but it's the player mobility that throws things off-kilter.
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Hmm. On FIFA, I find that with lesser players you seem to endlessly get these horridly slow passes because of the way FIFA seems to represent error as the ball taking ages to get where it needs to get. When a pass should be errant in terms of direction it ends up slow, which can give an impression of the passing generally being much too slow (which too an extent it is).

What really gets me on FIFA is the range of the passing - it seems that you can't play lengthy balls along the ground anymore - it is very difficult to play long grounded throughballs on any control setting. On manual this problem is, as you say, the chargeup...

I've believed for a while that for manual to improve, the best way would be to have directpass and throughball altered so that, for manual, one would be a lengthy pass and one a short pass, with some overlap, so that you can play lengthy passes without a ridiculous powerup. Ideally you want power up times to be as short as possible without making it impossible to weight passes correctly. Of course, another way of assisting this would be to allow players to edit their power up speeds which is something FIFA used to allow I believe.

Currently FIFA's passing, in particular on manual, suffers from not having enough control in short passing and almost no ability to play (grounded) long passes. Given that throughball and direct pass should have no real difference on manual, this can be exploited to improve the control scheme, to improve realism (it really doesn't take a long time to make a 'powerful' pass), and to close the gap with assisted further.
 
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Rodelero said:
Hmm. On FIFA, I find that with lesser players you seem to endlessly get these horridly slow passes because of the way FIFA seems to represent error as the ball taking ages to get where it needs to get. When a pass should be errant in terms of direction it ends up slow, which can give an impression of the passing generally being much too slow (which too an extent it is).

What really gets me on FIFA is the range of the passing - it seems that you can't play lengthy balls along the ground anymore - it is very difficult to play long grounded throughballs on any control setting. On manual this problem is, as you say, the chargeup...

I've believed for a while that for manual to improve, the best way would be to have directpass and throughball altered so that, for manual, one would be a lengthy pass and one a short pass, with some overlap, so that you can play lengthy passes without a ridiculous powerup. Ideally you want power up times to be as short as possible without making it impossible to weight passes correctly. Of course, another way of assisting this would be to allow players to edit their power up speeds which is something FIFA used to allow I believe.

Currently FIFA's passing, in particular on manual, suffers from not having enough control in short passing and almost no ability to play (grounded) long passes. Given that throughball and direct pass should have no real difference on manual, this can be exploited to improve the control scheme, to improve realism (it really doesn't take a long time to make a 'powerful' pass), and to close the gap with assisted further.
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That's why I've tried to caveat what I was saying - it can be very realistic in terms of hitting a harder pass, and the accuracy of manual passes does seem higher as a result of the slower pace when you tap X. But the amount of charging you have to do to hit a longer ground pass is prohibitive. I agree that it becomes awful for lower level passing - lesser sides do indeed tend to pass more slowly but they can still give it some welly if needed.

I think it's odd that the bouncing lob is mapped to long pass and not ground pass. While it makes sense if you just go by the naming convention, in truth it is just a long distance ground pass.

Anyway, for me it's not so much the range of possible speeds (you can hit pretty hard manual passes if you max it out), but the range of instinctive or impulsive speeds that is far too slow. There needs to be minor tweaking to the physics of ground passes but much bigger changes to the concept of controlling your passion range.
 
nerf said:
Indeed. Speaking of which, I just endured a horrendous CM match against Fulham. There's something broken in the team AI because, for whatever reason, Fulham decided to double-press for 90 minutes. Well, for about 75 minutes, at which point I exited the game.

There was no logic to it. Fulham are set up with 45/35 for Pressure/Aggression, but clearly the AI had chosen a high aggression tactic for this fixture because I had two white shirts sprinting at the ball constantly. Why? They were away from home. They were 0-0, 1-0 up, 2-0 up, 2-1 up but it didn't change, they just pressed like loons regardless. Not fun.

This is not something that happens all the time. I played Stoke in the previous match and even with their 65 Aggression they weren't as bad. Fulham became robot terminator zombies through no logic that I could see. I could understand if they were losing late in the game and desperate to get the ball back asap so they could try to equalise, but to start that way and continue with it makes no sense.

The Fulham away fans seemed to oddly enjoy singing about Jermaine Defoe too.
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I get this tactic in every match I play apart from against the really top teams. In CM I can confortably beat Chelsea 3-0 and Man Utd 4-1 because they seem to ease off the pressure a bit more, but then I play the rest of the division below them, and they all double, even triple press exactly like you describe.

I even went into the team setup screens to see how they were doing it, and just like you say, the way the game sets up the team's approach has absolutely no bearing whatsoever with how the AI then makes them play. They all press, lay deep in their half, and counter, regardless of what team settings the game sets them as. Every team plays in the same way.

As for that patch announced, it's a disgrace. Like FIFA10, there are TONS of huge bugs that, according to EA, the community didn't ask to be fixed? How about the fact that it's impossible to buy most of the game's top players because there's a bug which means if you try and buy, for example, Ozil from Real Madrid, the game will block it because he's "just moved to a new club". Fair enough, this is fine for the first season of CM, but 3 or even 4 seasons in and it still blocks you from buying him (or anyone else who moved clubs this summer).

For a career based game mode that has placed all the personality plus emphasis on the game's top players, who you then cannot buy, then that's a total farce.
 
LTFC said:
I get this tactic in every match I play apart from against the really top teams. In CM I can confortably beat Chelsea 3-0 and Man Utd 4-1 because they seem to ease off the pressure a bit more, but then I play the rest of the division below them, and they all double, even triple press exactly like you describe.

I even went into the team setup screens to see how they were doing it, and just like you say, the way the game sets up the team's approach has absolutely no bearing whatsoever with how the AI then makes them play. They all press, lay deep in their half, and counter, regardless of what team settings the game sets them as. Every team plays in the same way.

As for that patch announced, it's a disgrace. Like FIFA10, there are TONS of huge bugs that, according to EA, the community didn't ask to be fixed? How about the fact that it's impossible to buy most of the game's top players because there's a bug which means if you try and buy, for example, Ozil from Real Madrid, the game will block it because he's "just moved to a new club". Fair enough, this is fine for the first season of CM, but 3 or even 4 seasons in and it still blocks you from buying him (or anyone else who moved clubs this summer).

For a career based game mode that has placed all the personality plus emphasis on the game's top players, who you then cannot buy, then that's a total farce.
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So is this a real issue? I wouldn't know since I've yet to play as a team with the financial resources to acquire a top player, meanwhile I rarely try to sign the same player over multiple seasons, so I haven't noticed whether the "just moved" tag goes away or stays after one season. Sorry to beat a dead horse but if this is the case then it's one of those examples I was talking about where an attempt at realism has in the end been more of a loss than a gain. The concept is fine - although I don't think restricting transfers to players who have been at a club for more than a season was ever a priority among MM fans - but its implementation sucks.

Regarding high AI pressure in CM, I swear in my CM it's when the CPU plays away.

Actually, I'm honestly enjoying my current CM, playing with Lillestrom in Norway. Though it's not about enjoying CM (after almost 1.5 seasons I've had hardly any player growth, despite a fairly successful first season, great form this season, plenty of "high-potential" players, and solid match performances, argh!) but rather I'm finding a style of gameplay that brings out the best in FIFA for me.

First, I've dropped the difficulty to WC. Second, to create more of a challenge on defense, I refrain from using any of the tackle or teammate pressure buttons, relying solely on the combination of jockeying and the new (over-powered) auto-tackle feature. This is basically the same style of defending I had been playing before, and similar to what others like nerf i believe play, however I've added a couple new twists that I've found make for not just more of a challenge but much more realistic gameplay in general: I do my best to refrain from using the sprint button on defense while also setting as a goal to do my best to avoid committing fouls (which is more of a challenge than it sounds when only relying on jockey and auto-tackle -that I get as many cards as I do when not pressing any tackle buttons is just ridiculous).

Now I am not perfect at adhering to these self-imposed restrictions - I do catch myself cheating now and then! - and I also make exceptions for my back line players or when it involves stopping a one-on-one or easy scoring opportunity. In these cases - especially when controlling one of my back four - I'll allow myself to use sprint but still rarely anything else other than jockey and the auto-tackle - you just don't need anything else.

Limiting my use of sprint on defense has not only made defense challenging again - sprint + jockey = many of the worst offenders of realistic physics that I previously highlighted as being responsible for over-powered defending this year - but it has "opened-up" gameplay and added to realism substantially. Maybe most important, without using sprint on defense I now must play more cautiously on defense (and so more realistically), switching to the defender that is not necessarily closest to the ball but instead in the best position to slow or close down the dribbler.

As one consequence this means I am much less likely to regain possession immediately after loosing it - a defining characteristic of FIFA 11 - but I am also allowing the CPU a tad more possession (although not much more as it's near-impossible to not finish a game without having 60 percent of possession, unless playing a far superior team). Another consequence is I am conceding more goals than before, but the increased enjoyment from a greater challenge more than makes up for it. The slightly weakened defense is also somewhat offset by what I think is a gain to my offensive play by allowing the game to be more "open" and pulling the CPU players from their half of the pitch and out of position.

The other major change I've made recently is with the controls I've been using, and this change has had just as much if not more an impact on my enjoyment levels. Typically I'm an all manual player, but in the past week I chose to go back to basics, resetting all controls to their default levels. I did this because I felt over-whelmed by the physical side of FIFA 11, and I thought that if I eliminated the extra challenge of manual controls I could then focus on improving other aspects of my game, specifically shielding and protecting the ball while dribbling.

And it worked! What I did is emphasized LT close dribble and RT shielding, to an exaggerated extent. Basically, if I had the ball, I was holding down LT or shielding. I experimented with depressing LT or RT upon receiving the ball, and much of my game would be a series of pass-shield-pass-shield-pass-shield-shoot. It was a bit much, but by going back to basics and treating myself like a noob, I have not only improved my ability to maintain possession but my goal scoring record is *vastly* improved.

I have also been steadily making my way back to all manual, right now playing with all manual except semi passing. If I go up by 2 or more goals, I immediately switch to all manual. Since I suck at crossing, sometimes I go with semi for crossing.

I think the problem I was having is again due to the extended length of time manual passes take to "power-up." FIFA plays a frantic brand of football by default, and rather than using the tools to slow down play and maintain possession, as under-effective as they are, I was trying to actually play faster with manual passing, trying to be quicker with my passes to avoid CPU challenges, rather than focusing on holding off challenges, then passing. Passes that should be viable options, and are viable options with the quicker semi and assisted settings, would cause me to be tackled as I was powering-up the pass.

Playing FIFA this way may sound obvious, the offensive part at least (though it works, the way I have to play defense is ridiculous), but it's not. As Rom has said here and elsewhere, FIFA can be played in a way in which football wins out, but it is not the way that FIFA seems designed to be played, nor is it necessarily the most effective way. Slowing the game down can be an effective strategy, at least against the CPU, but when you exploit the overly-effective defensive tools FIFA 11 provides, or when the CPU plays with uber-high aggression, or just when you're having an off day, FIFA can descend into a frantic, mindless, overly-physical brand of gameplay that seems to have as much in common with hockey as football.

If anyone is struggling on offense, finding defense far too easy, or you just want to see if you can squeeze a little additional realism from FIFA, I suggest trying some or all of what I've done. Limiting the use of sprint when defending (as well as on offense of course) really makes for a better game I've found, maybe even more so than refraining from using the tackle and teammate pressure buttons. I swore off FIFA 11 months ago but I've now found a way to make gameplay not only tolerable but even a little fun.

Now CM as a game mode is a whole other story...
 
Your fifa 11 settings

(I''ve decided that fifa 11 on ps3 is now best current football game to play

I try pes 2011 pc,ps3
PEs7 pc patched up
PEss5 pc patched up


But overall I thik FIFA 2011 is must fun game right now.)



ANyway. I ask what you guys do for settings, maunal, semi, assissted etc...to make game more fun or is it best as it is?

DOe sit become harder or more fun with manual etc...

what settings you all use?

And game speed you change?
 
I've gone back and forth with the semi and manual passing. I hear and agree with all the negatives for manual but I come back to it because I love the ability to give lead passes. Assisted passes always go to the receiver's feet. EA really needs to incorporate sliders which would allow the player to customize the constant defensive pressure in midfield. I expect a crowd in the offensive third but a little room would be nice in my own end and midfield. The graphics and animations bring me back to this game but it is not w/o faults I agree. Pretty as hell though.
 
lancers said:
I've gone back and forth with the semi and manual passing. I hear and agree with all the negatives for manual but I come back to it because I love the ability to give lead passes. Assisted passes always go to the receiver's feet. EA really needs to incorporate sliders which would allow the player to customize the constant defensive pressure in midfield. I expect a crowd in the offensive third but a little room would be nice in my own end and midfield. The graphics and animations bring me back to this game but it is not w/o faults I agree. Pretty as hell though.
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Well thorugh balls dotn go to feet so just do them..? lol I dunno?

But seriously the game is weird.

When I 1st got I couldnt really score it was always crowded and no space..must games very tight or I get beat against big teams...Poor teams I could be socrign 3-5 goals...this was PRo...Anyway I found it hard against big teams (cpu) so I put down to semi-pro and was far too easy winning games 9-0 etc lol.

So, I put up to pro again and I was terrible...Anyway I been playing freinds online a month or so. NOw I go back to single player and created a torunament with arsenal...on pro and it aint hard and is fun now...I create lots of chances and score great goals even away to the big clubs...Like I beat Bayern 3-1 away last match,

So, I dunno now I seem to be getting better at the game...Even online I am improving.

At 1st I thought the game was too tight never any space...but now I seem to be able to make more space and more chances...I can score from 30 yards or lofted thorugh ball score 1v1 or cross and score etc.....Im really enjoying it again....touchwood.

As for player indivuaility im not sure its as good as old PES games but for sure I can run faster with walcott I seem to have better control with KAKA and Ibrahimoivic justwlaks past defense and smashes ball in corners...etc...
 
mfmaxpower said:
Maybe most important, without using sprint on defense I now must play more cautiously on defense (and so more realistically), switching to the defender that is not necessarily closest to the ball but instead in the best position to slow or close down the dribbler.
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This is the best thing about laying off pressure/sprint, how much more tactically you have to defend. I find I spend most of my time anticipating where the CPU wants to play the ball - he almost always would like to play forward (which makes sense, if the forward pass is available), so defending effectively becomes an exercise in trying to anticipate the next pass and closing off that passing lane, forcing him to go sideways/backwards or channeling him into traffic. Which is how it should be, and it's a lot better for it. I don't always control the man nearest the ball, I sometimes use the right stick to flick to different midfielders and block 'options', trying to think one 'chess move' ahead. I do enjoy the way that it is now possible to defend effectively through organisation, maintaining shape and blocking lanes, which was literally impossible in FIFA10/WC.

mfmaxpower said:
What I did is emphasized LT close dribble and RT shielding, to an exaggerated extent. Basically, if I had the ball, I was holding down LT or shielding. I experimented with depressing LT or RT upon receiving the ball, and much of my game would be a series of pass-shield-pass-shield-pass-shield-shoot. It was a bit much, but by going back to basics and treating myself like a noob, I have not only improved my ability to maintain possession but my goal scoring record is *vastly* improved.
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It does seem like one's experience of the game improves by going through this process. Like I mentioned before, I did this with the demo, and it goes back to something Ibra has said about concentrating on one element as a learning tool. The biggest FIFA11 complaint does seem to be the aggression of defenders, so learning to become better at shielding and protecting, keeping your body always between the defender and the ball, seems to make at least some amount of positive difference to one's acceptance and enjoyment of this game (hasty disclaimer: noone's saying that this means it's well balanced... it just is how it is).

Recently I've also been trying to get a better grip on LT+RT Skill Dribble, which I've not really used much before. It can be a very handy tool to escape the even-tighter situations, where LT or RT alone might not quite cut it. So far I've found that it seems to be best used as a quick sidestep... quickly dab both LT+RT together with a tilt of the stick and you can quickly shift the ball away from a tackle. I'm under the impression that is what it is designed for, to be used in single touches and not to be held down.
 
http://www.ea.com/uk/football/videos/ugc/69638859

This is Luis Valencia edited to 1 star weak foot (as he should be!!). He still touches the ball with alternating feet as he moves.

He should just use his right, and as a result the ball should stay slightly to the right of centre as he moves. That way he is much more likely to use his stronger foot when shooting, crossing, or passing. You will see far less of those passes or shots where the player uses the outside of their foot to hit the ball straight forward.

Out of interest, does anybody know any players in FIFA 11 who have weaker foot less than 3 star? I searched whole teams for one, without any luck. Keepers, defenders, notorious one-footed players in real life... they all had between 3 and 5 stars for weak foot ability.

nerf said:
Recently I've also been trying to get a better grip on LT+RT Skill Dribble, which I've not really used much before. It can be a very handy tool to escape the even-tighter situations, where LT or RT alone might not quite cut it. So far I've found that it seems to be best used as a quick sidestep... quickly dab both LT+RT together with a tilt of the stick and you can quickly shift the ball away from a tackle. I'm under the impression that is what it is designed for, to be used in single touches and not to be held down.
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I struggle with it as a sidestep. I found it was best used as an opponent approached, as you can flick the right stick and it will be a knock-on rather than a trick. You can beat the keeper with simple knock-ons more often if you hold L2+R2 and wait for him to come to you.
 
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romagnoli said:
http://www.ea.com/uk/football/videos/ugc/69638859

This is Luis Valencia edited to 1 star weak foot (as he should be!!). He still touches the ball with alternating feet as he moves.

He should just use his right, and as a result the ball should stay slightly to the right of centre as he moves. That way he is much more likely to use his stronger foot when shooting, crossing, or passing. You will see far less of those passes or shots where the player uses the outside of their foot to hit the ball straight forward.

Out of interest, does anybody know any players in FIFA 11 who have weaker foot less than 3 star? I searched whole teams for one, without any luck. Keepers, defenders, notorious one-footed players in real life... they all had between 3 and 5 stars for weak foot ability.
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Weak foot ability just always seems to be one of those stats that data editors are reluctant to go to town on. I don't know why... maybe because the typical player uses his weak foot so infrequently, it's difficult to make a reliable judgement on ability? IMO there should be very few players ABOVE 3, not the other way round.

I think weak foot frequency is much more important from a personality standpoint, but seems absent from the game entirely.

romagnoli said:
I struggle with it as a sidestep. I found it was best used as an opponent approached
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Yep, I meant as a way to sidestep an incoming defender at the last moment, like a matador move, rather than something you would use in a forward dribble.
 
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Yeah, I don't seem to be able to sidestep players with it alone. It's the right stick move afterwards that does it for me.
 
Mfmax, yeah it's a major issue. It's a good idea in theory that, say, Joe Cole can't be transferred in season 1 because in real life he'd just moved to Liverpool, but this never changes according to the game, and so Joe Cole himself will always reject a transfer because he's just moved clubs, even if you play another 2, 3, 4, 5 seasons.

Same as with Wilshere at Arsenal. He starts off listed for loan so the game blocks a permanent transfer, yet this status never changes from season to season. You can never, ever buy him, and Arsenal will never remove him from their loan list. To me this is a massive bug.
 
LTFC said:
Mfmax, yeah it's a major issue. It's a good idea in theory that, say, Joe Cole can't be transferred in season 1 because in real life he'd just moved to Liverpool, but this never changes according to the game, and so Joe Cole himself will always reject a transfer because he's just moved clubs, even if you play another 2, 3, 4, 5 seasons.

Same as with Wilshere at Arsenal. He starts off listed for loan so the game blocks a permanent transfer, yet this status never changes from season to season. You can never, ever buy him, and Arsenal will never remove him from their loan list. To me this is a massive bug.
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ahh, I thought it was weird that I couldn't buy wilshere, always just had the option to loan him.
 
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