FIFA 12 Demo impressions

Good stuff nerf!

My sliders will be:
- CPU passing accuracy turned down
- Own teams run frequency turned up

Unless the retail version allready fixes these things from the demo offcourse... :)
 
Nice breakdown Nerf that's pretty much what I'm doing but either not guessing that pass or my other AI players let me down and leave two passes available.

Ive been playing almost exclusively as City I'm gonna try Barca because I have a suspicion the scenario you showed had something to do with being the best team on the game because what you showed rarely happens in my games.

Infact the opposition only having one pass on rarely happens.

If I get time I'll post an example.
 
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The game is good and all but it is just that counter attacks are way easier to score from. No need to spend all your time passing and trying to find a space that lets you past. Just back off and send your attacker to do the job. :\
 
Just discussing the game with someone who worked for EA and I was complaining about the teammates just standing there and not running into space. His advice was to play on Legendary. Not sure why skill level should affect your own players moving into space but it does. A clear difference with your team making darting runs a LOT more.
 
Latest Demo feedback.

The Mrs gave me a surprise this morning, no, not that, she took the kids out for the whole day. It gave me some extra time for the demo. 2 nights previous I'd smashed it for several hours but at the end of the night all my frustrations I'd had with fifa11 had come back to, well frustrate me.*
** But today, well something strange happened. Something wonderfully strange. The demo got good, and I mean really good. Something just clicked. I'd booted the demo up and took it upon myself to try and approach the game with a fresh impetus. Coz my old way of playing just wasn't working.*
**So what did I change? Well I stopped using the 'contain' method of defending and just used player positioning and good old fashioned jockey. And omg it made a difference. I really focused on covering AI runs and closing down their passing options. I used patience in possession, didn't worry about trying to win the matches. The result, well the AI was forced into making much more passing mistakes turning over possession to me more frequently. This opened the game up immensely. Also I improved my timings of tackles. As Rio Ferdinand says, stay on your feet. This should be Fifa12's motto for this year. Where I was always losing in the possession % I'm now more often than not enjoy 60+% at the end of the match. And I've improved my forward play. I even won a few games 2-0, which is a big turn around from what results I was getting previous. And the best thing of all, I was having fun, scoring some killer good goals. There are still lots to hate about the AI, I still believe it's FIFA's Achilles heel. An absolute must for a total overhaul. But I'm feeling a lot more positive for this game now. With longer halves and lesser skilled teams it can be great. Roll on the 30th!!!
 
Issues remain, to be sure, but nerf has it right, and I would never wish to go back to the old way of defending. In fact, just like defending was over-powered in 11, the more I play the demo the more I'm concerned defending will still be too easy against the CPU in FIFA 12.

While I'll sometimes have a game in which I'll concede three goals - most often to Ibra headers! - mostly I'm finding defending, even on Legendary, a bit too easy. I think it has everything to do with poor attacking AI - the CPU is simply neither creative nor lethal enough.

Yes, the CPU is better at retaining ball possession, but this seems to have more to do with changes to the defensive system rather than improved AI, and the goals I concede are almost always the result of opportunistic individual play rather than actual nice attacking team play.

And this problem works both ways for me - just like last year, it's a little too easy for me to defend and also too difficult in attack by comparison. It's very easy to retain possession but, for me, once in the final third the lack of intelligent attacking AI, combined with unrealistic movement physics (lack of inertia) that allow CPU defenders to still be too aggressive and effective tacklers, again makes for a frustrating and unbalanced affair. (Though maybe less frustrating and unbalanced than last year.)

Based on the demo, I'm finding FIFA's gameplay to be massively improved in the middle of the pitch but still a let-down in both the defensive third and attacking third of the field - CPU attack too easy to defend; CPU defenders too effective.

I still think the demo offers a substantial improvement over 11's gameplay but I keep finding myself disappointed with two things in particular that I think undermines what could be amazing gameplay:
1. The quality and variety in AI attacking play - it makes defending still a little too easy, attacking still too frustrating, and makes matches still a little too repetitive of an experience;
2. Unrealistic movement physics - despite upgrades to dribbling, taking on CPU defenders with just the left stick remains a too inconsistent and ineffective method of attacking; of the big three "Holy Trinity" new gameplay features, I find Precision Dribbling so far to be the least impactful and most disappointing.
 
mfmaxpower said:
Issues remain, to be sure, but nerf has it right, and I would never wish to go back to the old way of defending. In fact, just like defending was over-powered in 11, the more I play the demo the more I'm concerned defending will still be too easy against the CPU in FIFA 12.

While I'll sometimes have a game in which I'll concede three goals - most often to Ibra headers! - mostly I'm finding defending, even on Legendary, a bit too easy. I think it has everything to do with poor attacking AI - the CPU is simply neither creative nor lethal enough.

Yes, the CPU is better at retaining ball possession, but this seems to have more to do with changes to the defensive system rather than improved AI, and the goals I concede are almost always the result of opportunistic individual play rather than actual nice attacking team play.

And this problem works both ways for me - just like last year, it's a little too easy for me to defend and also too difficult in attack by comparison. It's very easy to retain possession but, for me, once in the final third the lack of intelligent attacking AI, combined with unrealistic movement physics (lack of inertia) that allow CPU defenders to still be too aggressive and effective tacklers, again makes for a frustrating and unbalanced affair. (Though maybe less frustrating and unbalanced than last year.)

Based on the demo, I'm finding FIFA's gameplay to be massively improved in the middle of the pitch but still a let-down in both the defensive third and attacking third of the field - CPU attack too easy to defend; CPU defenders too effective.

I still think the demo offers a substantial improvement over 11's gameplay but I keep finding myself disappointed with two things in particular that I think undermines what could be amazing gameplay:
1. The quality and variety in AI attacking play - it makes defending still a little too easy, attacking still too frustrating, and makes matches still a little too repetitive of an experience;
2. Unrealistic movement physics - despite upgrades to dribbling, taking on CPU defenders with just the left stick remains a too inconsistent and ineffective method of attacking; of the big three "Holy Trinity" new gameplay features, I find Precision Dribbling so far to be the least impactful and most disappointing.
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I put it on ledgenday against city and was 4-0 down at half time. A variety of goals one was Tevez dribbled through my defence with ease
 
hitmanuk said:
I put it on ledgenday against city and was 4-0 down at half time. A variety of goals one was Tevez dribbled through my defence with ease
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Then you just need more practice. Or don't play on Legendary.

Messi is the only player that has been able to get past multiple defenders in a single dribble since I've come to grips with defending, and that's pretty rare. Like I said, issues remain, but whenever the CPU dribbles through my defense, it's almost always my fault.

And I've lost 5-0. It's just that more often than not I am now giving up a goal or less, even on Legendary.

Tevez dribbling through your entire defense isn't an example of difficult AI, it's evidence of you not yet being comfortable with the new defending system. Give it time.
 
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absolutely love the fifa demo, you only notice the subtle changes made after 4-5 games.....with PES 2012 a massive improvement i'll be buying both and actually playing both aswell......WIN WIN!
 
mfmaxpower said:
Then you just need more practice. Or don't play on Legendary.

Messi is the only player that has been able to get past multiple defenders in a single dribble since I've come to grips with defending, and that's pretty rare. Like I said, issues remain, but whenever the CPU dribbles through my defense, it's almost always my fault.

And I've lost 5-0. It's just that more often than not I am now giving up a goal or less, even on Legendary.

Tevez dribbling through your entire defense isn't an example of difficult AI, it's evidence of you not yet being comfortable with the new defending system. Give it time.
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im not complaining mate just pointing out , badly, that there is tonnes of variety from the AI..dribbles, headers, long shots ,volleys...its all good
 
Still needs toning down. I think the speed of the shots is annoying. Keepers can't really react, or maybe it's the CPU shooting. Joe hart, well I haven't even seen him make a decent stop yet, the CPU fires everything in past him, including headers at the speed of light.

I also think the ball physics are worse than last year, the ball is a bit of a marble. Needs to bounce more. In FIFA 11 you could hit hard shots but you could also do deft shots and nice flicks and cushion the ball, this ball just seems to roll a great deal and not bounce. I'm happier with the demo but it still needs work.

And because it's so fast this makes the pitch seem smaller. Sliders will be crucial I feel.
 
Dryzer said:
Still needs toning down. I think the speed of the shots is annoying. Keepers can't really react, or maybe it's the CPU shooting. Joe hart, well I haven't even seen him make a decent stop yet, the CPU fires everything in past him, including headers at the speed of light.

I also think the ball physics are worse than last year, the ball is a bit of a marble. Needs to bounce more. In FIFA 11 you could hit hard shots but you could also do deft shots and nice flicks and cushion the ball, this ball just seems to roll a great deal and not bounce. I'm happier with the demo but it still needs work.

And because it's so fast this makes the pitch seem smaller. Sliders will be crucial I feel.
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Yeah, I know what you mean, though I think overall the ball physics are improved and shooting is quite a bit better. I think it's just that the top speed for some shots is too high - though rare, I've seen some that should have put a hole in the back of the net!

Keepers def make more mistakes than before, and though some look unrealistic, overall I think it's a good thing. They've been too good in the past.

I agree 100% that it's still is too fast, even on Slow, but I don't think sliders will help as much as we'd wish - I think they'll influence only acceleration and sprint speeds when what is needed are more realistic movements at normal speeds.
 
Was getting tired of always playing with the 80+ players so I decided to play with the worst players in the demo, the reserves of Dortmund and Marseille against eachother. (I do this every year in the demo)

To my big surprise there were more bad ball controls and bad passing being done by the CPU with these players. IMO a major improvement compared to previous FIFA's. It's still not perfect but it's looking pretty good. I always like playing with the lesser teams, starting my career mode with Wimbledon in League 2 this time.
 
One thing I strongly suggest when you get the full game is to change your half length to 8 or 10 mins. The game improves markedly. I think a mistake made in the demo is to give three min halves with full energy. Full energy makes the CPU too frantic. In combination with the short match length it means the game gives the impression of being too quick with fewer fatigue based errors.

Even with long half lengths I dislike the first 20 mins of a match, but then it settles down into a more tactical encounter where you usually have to grind out a result.

I concur with a lot of the comments on passing feeling slow. There's error on both direction and power, which I don't feel is correctly balanced; it should be rarer to under hit passes. Error in direction is a difficult one as it's hard as the user to distinguish between that, pad angle errror or the game selecting a different target than intended. I often feel the wrong pass is made without really knowing why. Which leads to lost confidence in the game but the flip side of laser guided passing would be equally wrong and totally arcadey. Finding a happy medium is understandably tricky.
 
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Autogolazo said:
Damn that's crazy. Alves was running at full speed and gets sent the wrong way, stops and then recovers in an instant to get the ball of the attacker. :CONFUSE:

Been having alot of fun with Messi on this. Finally you can go past players with just simple changes of directions, feels very satisfying.
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I guess, in that vid, Alves reduces his speed slightly when closer to the dribbler. But still the way he recover then quick tackle does not simulate anything at all.
 
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Alves does not reduce his speed in that video, if anything he is still in a stride, then instantly comes to a halt and somehow managing to move in the opposite direction all in a flash haha.
 
nerf said:
Okay... Tactical Defending. Here's an occasion when I win the ball back near the halfway line, and how always anticipating the next move is crucial.

YouTube - FIFA12 Demo - Tactical Defending

First, I get close enough to attempt a tackle on Seedorf. Unfortunately, as you'd expect, he has quick feet (high Reactions and Dribbling), and Sanchez is not the best tackler (low Stand Tackle), so it's unsuccessful:
td1u.jpg


The ball is moved wide to Abate. Immediately I'm concerned about the potential forward ball to Pato, so I do what I can to get Villa and/or Iniesta into that passing lane:
td2z.jpg
td3y.jpg

Also note how Iniesta glances at Pato. You can often see defenders turning their heads to look around them to see who needs to be marked, I really like that.

We've successfully blocked that attack down the flank, forcing Abate to turn away:
td4fh.jpg


When the ball goes infield to Ambrosini, similarly I get Iniesta and Xavi ready to deny another potential pass to Pato. Ambrosini recognises this so his first touch is back towards his own goal as well:
td5a.jpg


Soon the ball is returned wide to Abate, who cuts inside. As soon as he does this, the obvious pass to Van Bommel is clear to see. I'm already selecting Xavi and hoping to pounce:
td6q.jpg


Abate has only 2 stars for Weak Foot, and his left-footed pass is intercepted:
td7f.jpg


Slightly spoiled by me then hitting the clearance button by mistake :LOL: . One hard-earned counter-attack wasted, whoops.

This is an example of how I'm approaching defending. None of the above was button intensive at all, and I find it engaging rather than a chore.
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Yep, this is how it's done. The lack of inertia does my head in but, with playing on full manual and getting used to the new button for tacking, I'm starting to like Fifa 12 alot more. Those of us who defend realistically like this online will benefit greatly. The pressure *ricks will have to adapt of die.

If EA doesn't bend over and allow the moaning said Pressure *ricks to dictate a nerf in "Tactical Defending"
 
I've got no idea what demo I've got here because it's not this magnificent FIFA 12 that people are raving over here. Every day I've played multiple games, I use the same defending "system" as Nerf is using and it hasn't magically fixed the faults, and it's still a mess of a game.

Just tried having a game as a fixed player, no player switching on so I let the AI defend for me. Marseille get the ball, Barca defenders couldn't give a shit whether the CPU has the ball near them or not and just stand about. Remy gets the ball about 5 yards away from Puyol (who's supposed to be marking him) and basically baby-steps into the penalty area while Puyol is busy looking to see if his family is in the crowd.

Bang. Goal. But it's okay because Puyol has found his family and now has a smile on his face whilst waving to the crowd.

Fucking useless teammate AI is pissing me off no end.
 
Gab_ said:
Dags I think it would be better for your health to stop playing this game now :SMUG:
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I'm inclined to agree. A few times during the day I think "FIFA will click now. It's clicking for others after a few games so it'll happen sooner or later." but it never does. The only thing is does is make the flaws show more and more as I play more games.

I'm pleased for the FIFA crew that can't see flaws and excuse the flaws away as being a "feature" of the game or whatever (PES has those people as well) but this isn't for me. I've got no idea how many games I've played now, a very rough guess at 50? But it's just not getting better and if I'm not getting into the game now, I never will.

Edit: I'm because I'm a sucker, I think I'll have a rematch, just one more game. Marseille's first attack? Down the wing, cross, Ayew heads it in. There's a surprise. I might just change my tactics to put my centre-backs as full-backs seeing as the CPU doesn't seem to think the edge of the 18-yard box exists anyway.

Second CPU attack? Down the wing.

I get the ball, Xavi in the centre circle. Villa points to say he's making a run off the defender .... nope, he walks towards me instead. Good one, David.

And down the wing they go again. Valbuena seeing more of the ball than the rest of his team put together.

Taking Gab's advice and deleting this. Sensible Soccer had better AI than this. At least the whole of the CPU team got a kick of the ball instead of just the wingers. In my opinion, I'd rather play FIFA 11 with the pressuring than this mess of an AI mixed in with superhuman skills to stop sprinting at full speed and turn in an instant with my repercussions.
 
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I'm not really having trouble with the new defending style and it works fine but what's with the freakin static players when you attack. I've tried triggering runs and sometimes they move sometimes they don't. I've seen players make some overlapping runs which are great but it seems hardly anyone else makes a move towards a goal scoring chance.

Must be a reason why EA only gave us 3 minutes halves and no ability to change custom tactics!!!!! Damn EA. These sliders better work!
 
Sorry i have to rant about this as much as my grips about blurry graphic of PES PC version.

Even if there is counterattacking play one-one situation, dribbling pas defender, successful tactical defending (with its silly need of button combination), long range shooting 2 professional level & 1 world class.. againts Barca & Milan.. the game feels dull/no passion..

Rant over..
 
Thespeedster84 said:
Sorry i have to rant about this as much as my grips about blurry graphic of PES PC version.

Even if there is counterattacking play one-one situation, dribbling pas defender, successful tactical defending (with its silly need of button combination), long range shooting 2 professional level & 1 world class.. againts Barca & Milan.. the game feels dull/no passion..

Rant over..
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Its strange as i feel like that about PES. Atmosphere is shocking and combine it with the camera views it just fails to pull me in. Im not starting another war here about FIFA V PES and manual V assisted but what ive noticed on PES is the majority of time if I get a player like Schnieder on the ball with space around 30-40 yard from goal, point at goal and press shoot there's a good chance its going in. Ive scored a hatful of goals like this and I get no sense of achievement. If I score on FIFA full manual well thats a different story. For me
 
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