(Sorry for long post but I'm stuck in an airport waiting on a flight that's delayed... isn't FIFA 11 coming out for the ipad this year? Could really use it right now!)
I've been playing it offline only (pre patch) and have for the most part enjoyed it (playing Career Mode with City, 10 min halves, slow speed, co-op camera, fully manual, world class difficulty). The slower more considered approach is a big plus in my eyes. A couple of niggles of course (see below)
I've read that 1.01 practically destroys the game, tho I've only seen people talk about this in terms of online play. Still, I've put off dowloading in case it f**ks up offline gameplay aswell.
Niggles:
1. Passing is abit limited.
Most of the time the passing speed seems ok but when attempted long distance passes it can feel abit slow. Short to medium passing speed feels alright. The powerbar needs an extra 'level'.
2. Still too physical.
Can still resemble rugby at times.
3. Lack of acceleration.
I'm not after superman speeds, I don't even think the sprint speed really needs upping at all, it's just that the game seems to be missing that little burst of speed that most players use to get past the defender or create some space for a cross
4. Ref seems worse than in Fifa 10/WC
Some of the decisions are blatantly wrong. Advantage has taken a backwards step.
These are things that just need tweaking. 1-3 just need tinkering by roughly 10-15%.
I'm playing post-patch and 1-3 are my biggest issues with the game. I haven't noticed many, if any, poor ref decisions. In fact I've received quite a few red cards that I wouldn't have in the past, which I find refreshing and helpful because defending (at least against the CPU) is already too easy. As unimpressed as I've been so far, all it may take for me to really enjoy this game (offline) is for 1-3 to be tweaked by, like you said, 10-15%.
Played a couple of hours (only against CPU) and love it so far. Playing against the CPU feels miles better then it was in FIFA 10. But there a still some gamebreakers. First of all scoring on higher levels is almost impossible.
You can't beat CPU defenders at all just with speed. Even with fast players like Robben and Ribery you can't wrongfoot a defender and run away from him. It works only in one of ten attempts and even if it works, a second defender will be there in a second. Reaction-Time from CPU defenders is sick.
That will be a huge problem in this game playing against the CPU. It takes away the fun because you will be forced to pass it and pass it and pass it. Maybe it will be a bit better after playing a lot more games but i doubt it. And if not i guess it will be a little bit frustrating playing against the CPU a lot.
Exactly how I'm feeling - I see a lot to love about the game but the games aren't particularly exciting because it's near impossible to create quality chances in the final third. If you've seen the Man Utd - Valencia champions league match, well that's how my games tend to play out - the type of matches you wouldn't want to spend money to see. I'm finding this to be worse in my CM with Lincoln City in the fourth tier - there's rarely a shot per game on either side (except for when I got matched with Udinese(!) in a friendly and it was like boys vs men!).
They've sped the passing right up practically to FIFA 10 levels without introducing more variety of speeds; the players seem to be faster, the passing accuracy seems to be even higher... Things like that.
Hmm, at least on manual I'd still like to see a little more zip on passes, especially on the top end. Maybe it's just a matter of preference but I'll take the passing speed in PES over FIFA any day. Short passing seems fine for a change.
The players seem faster!?! Surely you jest - it's like running through water at times, and I don't notice a change since the demo. I thought you had agreed elsewhere that it was unrealistically difficult to beat a player with speed now, so I'm a bit confused.
I assume you're referring to player passing accuracy not CPU? One change I like is passing accuracy seems to have decreased for the CPU since the demo, although this may have more to do with longer halves. In the demo the CPU, and me as well, regularly finished games with 90+ passing but now I'm seeing it average in the 80s, thought thats with me on manual.
I'm enjoying the gamespeed in my 4th division CM but it sadly comes at the expense of sluggish player movement (it's like these guys don't even have a sprint speed!) and weak passing.
Confirmed, I changed it to fast, loaded my CM and sure enough the next pre season friendly was fast.
Thank god I was getting worried - I'm playing a CM with Lincoln City in the 4th tier and I wanted to try the speed at normal because the games feel too sluggish. So before loading the CM each time I just need to make sure the speed setting correct?
Another example of the pro passing stuff, I attempted a first time one two with Di Santo, he completely fucked it up and fell over on his arse, as he should have done as in real life it would have been a very difficult technique, I have Boyata on loan in my CM and two times in the same match I attempted long passes from wide left to wide right, they were first time on his wrong foot, outcome? 2 corners cheaply given away to the opposition, perfect!
Anyways here's the end game stats of the Wigan v Villa "test":
As you can see pretty even, they passed it slightly better, we shot slightly better, I had a fair bit more possession but I did pass it around at the back a fair bit more as I was trying to play safe as they were dangerous on the counter. One complaint was that AI teams don't shoot? Found that odd as I've seen AI shoot from 35+ yards at times as well as being smart and making the most of a chance, one thing I like, the defenders really panic realistically at the back, one time I had a spell of 4 or 5 corners in a row as their AI was just panicking and hacking it clear under pressure
If you hadn't posted that pic I wouldn't have believed you. What settings are you playing on? I play 8-10 min halves and I'm regularly finishing games with hardly a shot taken, from either side, on either WC or Legendary. Maybe it's not the game that's unbalanced but me - maybe I'm too good at defense and crap on offense! I can't believe you mentioned the AI shooting from 35+ because I can't recall having that happen at all - I find it's so easy to close down the dribblers in the game.
It's just weird because I dominate possession (usually close to 70%) and I have no troubles elsewhere on the pitch, it's just I can't create shooting opportunities. As for the CPU, maybe like Dryzer said the answer for me will be to mess with CTs.
Are those end match stats typical for you? Another thing I'm coming across is most of my matches play-out the same way - I'm seeing more variety within games but end results and statistics all seem too similar - but it's still very early in my CM so maybe things will change as I get better with these guys. I'm loving how CM looks and a lot of the more streamlined functionality is fantastic, though I'm missing my scout and manual player growth features. And damn - nobody on the friggin planet wants to come play in 4th tier English football! At least with the old scout I could exploit young foreign talent!!
But I agree with you - I'm seeing a good amount and some nice instances of PP at work on the CPU and myself. Others may say it's not enough but I'm fairly satisfied with its impact, although greater directional variety would be better imo than decreasing pass speed like they did. It may be an entirely different story online though. I'm not seeing much P+ compared with the Prem teams but I guess that's to be expected.
There is something slightly different pre patch, cleared my cache and played a few games. Scored a belter with babel. I do love this game so far, its far more random and realistic than 10 and WC.
How do I clear my cache and will it impact anything else other than the FIFA 11 patch, like player edits (hate those generic boots!) or other game data? I'm getting tired hearing about this post vs pre patch stuff and I need to see for myself!
