Re: PES 2014 Discussion Thread
Fifa 14 NG is going to feel like a massive upgrade along the lines of PES2013 - PES 2014.
Although EA say that they've rebuilt Fifa 14 NG from the ground up that doesn't mean they imply they aren't using any of the existing code base does it? As the current engine has been about 8 years in development so their hardly going to scrap all that and build a new game entirely.
Guys, if FIFA NG is a simply a CG port -- which it looks to be -- then I'd like to explain why FIFA 14 NG, other than visually, is not going to be an improvement over FIFA CG. And why scrapping the current game engine is critical to creating a truly NG FIFA football experience.
I've been editing and creating roster mods for both FIFA and PES for a decade. There is one fundamental and critical difference between the two games, and it has to do with the manner in which player ratings interact with the game engine. I'm specifically referring to pass, cross and dribble skill ratings.
The way PES is programmed, a player's pass, cross and dribble ratings determine how good or how poor a player is at those skills. This applies to both User and CPU players. A CPU opponent with low pass ratings for example will be more inclined to give the ball away via errant passes. Likewise a User player will have a tougher time finding his teammates with a pass if his pass ratings are low. This obviously is how player ratings should work; it's logical and it's what we expect with sports games. It's what gives us a sense we're playing a real-life simulation.
But FIFA isn't programmed like that and never has been. Pass, cross and dribble ratings in FIFA interact with the game engine in a very different way than they do in PES. They are not qualitative ratings, they're quantitative ratings. They do not determine how good or how poor a player is at those particular skills; the only thing they do is determine how often or how seldom a player will perform those skills.
If a CPU defender in FIFA for example grabs the ball in his end, it's the correlation between his pass, cross and dribble rating totals that determines whether he will quickly pass the ball off to a nearby teammate, or fire a long ball forward, or dribble the ball up the pitch himself. Furthermore, those ratings have no bearing on how successful or unsuccessful the player will be in completing that pass or dribbling the ball up the pitch. This is the main reason why CPU pass success percentages for every CPU team in FIFA, whether it's a top tier team or a 3rd tier team and regardless of what difficulty level you play on, are always in the 85% range.
It's also one of the main reasons why PES is considered to be a simulation game, and why FIFA is thought to be more of an arcade football experience. And given what I've just explained regarding the difference in programming between the two games, one can see and understand how accurate and truthful that assessment actually is.
This isn't to say FIFA is less fun as a game. I play FIFA 13 every day and have barely touched the PES series in two years. And that's because I prefer the feel of FIFA's gameplay from a control perspective. Plus I prefer the game's visuals; it's nicer to look at and it's much less clunky in motion than PES, and that means a lot to me.
But unless EA has scrapped the current gameplay code completely, and instead implemented a ratings system whereby those ratings actually determine ability level, then it's going to be another several years of the same mundane and ineffectual User vs CPU gameplay. This gameplay coding has been the foundation of this series since the PS2 era. If they port it over (again) to NG, there is simply no way EA can create a truly NG game. NG visuals sure. But NG
simulation gameplay? Not even possible, not with their current game engine and the way it works.
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