Re: FIFA 14 - Game related talk only!
Interesting post, probably we've discussed this many times before.
So you've never experienced CPU players getting faster and stronger when they "change tactics"? Because I've experienced this countless times. Let's assume it's the combination of other factors (and it could perfectly be), as you say. It doesn't matter! To us humans the outcome feels as if the opponents suddenly got faster and stronger. Rayo Vallecano players suddenly can outmuscle all my Bilbao players while the previous 45 minutes they couldn't? So with the same stats now all of them can push me and disposses me by blinking the eyes?
Programmers may know the roots of it, but I know the feeling. To me it feels like the game is cheating, because suddenly I can't win any body check even if my Bilbao players are strong, confident and could toy them for the rest of the match. And it's not in my control at all. Not controlling things is the main cause of fustration in life. Some will take it as a challenge. Me, having to endure this EVERY match is simply boring and irritating, becasue there's no reason for that.
I have loads of experience with situations like this, so I know exactly what you're talking about. I don't disagree that it
feels like the CPU players become stat boosted, I simply question the cause - whether it's actual stat boosts or simply the combination of heightened aggression via tactical adjustments with unfair/heightened CPU response times.
Yes, on one hand it doesn't matter; the result is the same: it feels like cheating. But on the other hand it does matter for the sake of understanding what's going on and suggesting improvements.
Moreover, I never questioned that this has happened in FIFA. Indeed, I'm amazing at dominating possession only to concede late winners and equalizers to the CPU in the fashion you've described. What I suggested however is that with the addition of Precision Movement, I'm wondering whether the CPU response times will be somewhat tempered. Based on the demo, i haven't felt as cheated as I had in the past. Maybe it's because I've yet to play enough, maybe it's because of the short half lengths, maybe it's because it's just the demo.
About the zombi thing, I stated quite clearly the example of the goalkeeper in Career Mode, and it's just empiric, I've played many seasons over the years. It doesn't matter much who is guarding my net, the goalkeeper will always have a higher rate of parrying the ball than the opponent goalkeeper, no matter the stats. How many times can you say "wow, my goalkeeper saved the match", "he was phenomenal"... never! And how many times you can say "if it weren't for their goalkeeper I could have scored a dozen"? This speaks for itself.
I have 20 shots per game and the CPU just 2 or 3, and the ratio of score/shots of the CPU is like 3 or 4 times higher. You can say that it's because the CPU aims better and that causes the very few shots they take more dangerous. But then this don't match with stats. So all the strikers in the league are equally accurate against me? The programmers are taking shortcuts here to level the table and the outcome is a flat experience in which my goalkeeper never performs as it should. Hence, the feeling of cheating, which undoubtedly I have.
Yes, I understood your goalkeeper story. However, first of all, you mentioned the "zombification of team/players" which implied this zombi problem was more widespread than just applying to your goalkeeper. I don't think I've ever felt that my entire team all of the sudden turned into zombies.
But regarding goalkeeping, I agree that there's an issue in single player FIFA, though I don't know that I'd say it's the game gimping your goalkeeper as much as that FIFA simply has balance issues in single player. Unfortunately, whether it's designed intentionally this way or not, the possession and chance created stats typically favor the user controlled team, by a lot. FIFA deals with this by making the CPU more deadly with the chances it does create.
This is an annoying feature of FIFA, but what you've suggested is rather different. You suggest that at certain moments within a game, the game gimps your players. I don't think this is correct, whether we're talking about outfield players or the goalkeepers. In FIfA, the CPU is better at taking it's chances; if on Legendary you need 3 quality chances with Messi to score, the CPU only needs 1.
I don't like this, but is it a cheat? I don't think so. Why? Because I question whether the CPU boosts its stats or gimps yours on a situational basis within a match; rather I'm thinking that the CPU is
always deadlier (well, at least on the higher difficulties).
And regarding your hypotheticals about goalkeeping, yes I can say my goalkeeper saved the match. Loads of times. Maybe not to the effect that you'll regularly see the CPU keeper stop 20, but I've been saved plenty of times by my keeper in those final moments when the CPU goes all out attack and it feels like you're hopeless.
Finally, regarding physics, what the CPU players do now and then is simply impossible to do with a dualshock. Behaviors like instant acceleration WHILE turning 180º backwards are simply out of our reach. If you can do it, please show me! It's not happening all the time, it's just that the CPU seems to be allowed to trespass the limits when going to the limit. So yes, the CPU and the human player can have different levels of physics constraints, even if only in certain conditions.
PS: I refer to standard gameplay out of the box, no modding, no sliders, etc...Because we need to have a common ground to compare!
Well then aren't you implying that there are animations in FIFA that only the CPU players have access to? That the CPU is operating under a different physics engine? I dunno, I do see failures in realism that provide the CPU unfair advantage in certain situations. But I also see this happen for the user-controlled player too. Maybe you're right but at least drastic failures in realistic physics that give unfair advantages are far, far fewer than they once were. So if the CPU is getting unfair advantages at times through lapses in the physics engine - and you're not - I don't think they are happening often enough to be that detrimental to gameplay overall.
maybe next year it will be back.
