FIFA 16 News & Discussion Thread

[fernadez]

Here's something weird. I've noticed that when I set the difficulty to Legendary then the cpu doesn't play to the custom tactics. I haven't tried World Class out, but using the tactics that have managed to get teams playing long ball on Professional didn't seem to have the same effect on Legendary.

No idea whether this was just some isolated incidents, or the cpu playing less speculative passes because of the difficulty level, I didn't even realise my game was set to Professional until earlier.

 

[Chris Davies]

Here's something weird. I've noticed that when I set the difficulty to Legendary then the cpu doesn't play to the custom tactics. I haven't tried World Class out, but using the tactics that have managed to get teams playing long ball on Professional didn't seem to have the same effect on Legendary.

Legendary does allow teams to play to their custom tactics BUT to a much lesser extent.

I was playing around with sliders again last night and found that, with a pass error of 48, West Ham were more inclined to hit a long ball when the opportunity arose (on Professional they'll do it repeatedly).

It's because World Class and Legendary apply an AI that realises what will and won't work, and playing differently so as to stand a chance, as opposed to "I'm a team that plays long balls and that's what I'm going to do, even if I lose". The proof of that is setting the pass error slider over 65 on Legendary - suddenly ALL the passes are short, possession-based passes, because the AI realises it can't pull off a long pass with that sort of pass error (look at crosses for more evidence of that fact).

I've also found the same with shot error - I reduced shot error initially to 48 (which seems to be a sweet spot, but you can push it down further), and suddenly West Ham scored a beauty from range (off the underside of the bar), as opposed to walking the ball in.

As for World Class - don't bother. It's seriously broken. I've done a lot of experimenting with it last night to make it playable, but it seems to be programmed entirely differently from literally all of the other difficulty levels. It is determined, no matter what the sliders say, to play a fast, short, perfect game, which frustrates me no end. I see no team style coming to the fore on World Class, whereas against West Ham last night on Legendary, it was clear.

 

[fernadez]

Legendary does allow teams to play to their custom tactics BUT to a much lesser extent.

I was playing around with sliders again last night and found that, with a pass error of 48, West Ham were more inclined to hit a long ball when the opportunity arose (on Professional they'll do it repeatedly).

It's because World Class and Legendary apply an AI that realises what will and won't work, and playing differently so as to stand a chance, as opposed to "I'm a team that plays long balls and that's what I'm going to do, even if I lose". The proof of that is setting the pass error slider over 65 on Legendary - suddenly ALL the passes are short, possession-based passes, because the AI realises it can't pull off a long pass with that sort of pass error (look at crosses for more evidence of that fact).

I've also found the same with shot error - I reduced shot error initially to 48 (which seems to be a sweet spot, but you can push it down further), and suddenly West Ham scored a beauty from range (off the underside of the bar), as opposed to walking the ball in.

As for World Class - don't bother. It's seriously broken. I've done a lot of experimenting with it last night to make it playable, but it seems to be programmed entirely differently from literally all of the other difficulty levels. It is determined, no matter what the sliders say, to play a fast, short, perfect game, which frustrates me no end. I see no team style coming to the fore on World Class, whereas against West Ham last night on Legendary, it was clear.

Time for me to start a Master League I think, going to have to assign a few custom tactics so there's a variety of opposition first then it's go time.

Edit: Yes I know it's not called Master League on Fifa but old habits....

 

[Kije]

Legendary does allow teams to play to their custom tactics BUT to a much lesser extent.

I was playing around with sliders again last night and found that, with a pass error of 48, West Ham were more inclined to hit a long ball when the opportunity arose (on Professional they'll do it repeatedly).

It's because World Class and Legendary apply an AI that realises what will and won't work, and playing differently so as to stand a chance, as opposed to "I'm a team that plays long balls and that's what I'm going to do, even if I lose". The proof of that is setting the pass error slider over 65 on Legendary - suddenly ALL the passes are short, possession-based passes, because the AI realises it can't pull off a long pass with that sort of pass error (look at crosses for more evidence of that fact).

I've also found the same with shot error - I reduced shot error initially to 48 (which seems to be a sweet spot, but you can push it down further), and suddenly West Ham scored a beauty from range (off the underside of the bar), as opposed to walking the ball in.

As for World Class - don't bother. It's seriously broken. I've done a lot of experimenting with it last night to make it playable, but it seems to be programmed entirely differently from literally all of the other difficulty levels. It is determined, no matter what the sliders say, to play a fast, short, perfect game, which frustrates me no end. I see no team style coming to the fore on World Class, whereas against West Ham last night on Legendary, it was clear.

Chris, dont want annoying you but have changed now your slider setting and if yes, what are the changes. Really want to start a Career now!

 

[Chris Davies]

Chris, dont want annoying you but have changed now your slider setting and if yes, what are the changes. Really want to start a Career now!

You can start a career and change sliders as you go!

Also, bear in mind there's a patch out now (on PC and PS4, due on Xbox One shortly) that, according to Matt in the sliders thread, changes player positioning, and (according to the patch notes) changes goalkeeper positioning.

I'll post up updated sliders later, but the patch will change things!

 

[Kije]

You can start a career and change sliders as you go!

Also, bear in mind there's a patch out now (on PC and PS4, due on Xbox One shortly) that, according to Matt in the sliders thread, changes player positioning, and (according to the patch notes) changes goalkeeper positioning.

I'll post up updated sliders later, but the patch will change things!

Okidoki, thanks.

 

[vincef]

Read the feedbacks from PS4 users, post patch... Bad news guys, we are back to FIFA 15 :-(

 

[Chris Davies]

Read the feedbacks from PS4 users, post patch... Bad news guys, we are back to FIFA 15 :-(

Not what the PC guys are saying, so let's just wait and see.

They were saying this when the quick fix patch was applied a couple of weeks ago or whenever it was, when it made no gameplay changes whatsoever.

EDIT: Check "euroverclock" and his post in the thread.

EA Forums - FIFA 16 Patch Notes

Patch didn't do anything you can notice, game is still the same which is a good thing, gks however no longer rush to the ball, they move more realistically, guys stop using drugs, speed didn't change at all

He sounds like the only person who's sane / over 12 in that thread.

 

[Placebo]

There are a number of intriguing ini settings on PC:

AI_USE_MORALE_EFFECTS=1
AI_USE_TEAM_CHEMISTRY=1
ALLOW_TACKLE_FROM_BEHIND_WHEN_AGGRESSIVE=1
CPUAI_USE_ATTRIBUTES=1
CPUAI_USE_DIFFICULTY=0
CPUAI_USE_MENTALITY=1
CPUAI_USE_TRAITS=1
USE_HOME_AND_AWAY_EFFECT_FOR_PLAYER_ATTRIBUTES=1


[CPUAI]
HOME_DIFFICULTY=1.00
AWAY_DIFFICULTY=2.00
HOME_OFFENSE_DIFFICULTY=1.00
AWAY_OFFENSE_DIFFICULTY=1.00
HOME_DEFENSE_DIFFICULTY=1.00
AWAY_DEFENSE_DIFFICULTY=1.00


Not sure what the default for those is (obviously they exist on console problem is accessing them to know what they're set at. the 0/1 switches above are what I'm going to try, in theory it should provide the most real version of each team I face as how they play will be purely based on the team and the players, good teams should be hard to beat, bad teams should be easy to beat, and that should even break down to one on one challenges, if I see the CPU is playing a weak player in a certain position I should attack that position because they won't be boosted by any difficulty setting I'm playing under.

Paul, are you on manual?

Always!

Read the feedbacks from PS4 users, post patch... Bad news guys, we are back to FIFA 15 :-(

Nonsense!

 

[chiefrocka4real]

For those with update let us know if the game plays any differently?

I didn´t notice any difference.

To be honest I didn´t even notice no difference between demo and full game.
Not even until now.
Talking about PC version.

 

[pepper63]

Speed hasn't changed with update and still as good as ever. What is the best way to crank up CPU pressure, finding it too easy to get past them.

 

[romagnoli]

Players feel weightless and movement with the left stick is overly sensitive. To counteract this, EA have attempted to tone down the responsiveness of certain players when they receive the ball in certain situations. I can see why they've done it but it feels like it's something that is in place to mask over a fundamental problem. Instead of feeling like i am playing on a football pitch, i always tend to feel like i am hovering ever so slightly above it. This has been a fundamental flaw ever since 360 movement was introduced in 2010. Fifa 09 was truly the last time i felt any inertia between the player and the pitch.

I think there's a misconception as to what this is, when players feel 'weightless'. If they were weightless, you'd be able to change direction instantly, and there would be none of that sense of pushing left but the player still going right. The responsiveness would be instant when doing a 180 turn.

There's far more inertia and momentum in FIFA than PES. In terms of getting a player up to speed from a standing start, there's no question that it's far more apparent in FIFA that a player has inertia.

The problem is more one of responsiveness - of how players actually accelerate or decelerate. At times when you move a player in FIFA, you forget that the players move using their legs. There are definitely certain animations which are mo-capped and therefore are convincing in the way a player can take a sidestep and then continue forward. But, during more generic player movement, there can still be a sense that it's the body dragging the legs around the pitch, rather than the legs pushing the body around. Like a chinese martial arts film where the character is on wires, running along the rooftops.


I would definitely say, though, that it's a lot better than it used to be. I definitely feel like the dribbling is so much more convincing than it was a couple of years ago - I've done some fantastically convincing little shimmies, or deliberately avoided a tackle, using very deliberate footplanting.

 

[fernadez]

Perhaps we could have a custom tactics thread, get teams replicating their playing styles more closely?

 

[hitmanuk]

Is the update out now for consoles or people still talk about pc?

 

[Chris Davies]

Is the update out now for consoles or people still talk about pc?

PC and PS4, Xbox One is due any time now.

 

[pepper63]

Just put it up to legendary using Chris's sliders with update moved up from pro, i played Swansea at the Liberty stadium and the game seemed as normal no change in speed, but then played Spurs at the emirates stadium on Leg and it felt faster. Just quicker movement and passes i ended up with two red cards and several yellows. Spurs were just quicker to every ball and counter attacked. I felt totally blitzed at times.

 

[Chris Davies]

i ended up with two red cards and several yellows

You and I both know that's not the game's fault. Dirty bastard.

 

[Xav1]

MINE RUNS SMOOTHER after the update. Less stuttering on my crappy pc

 

[fishcake]

Played one game so far on ps4 since the update came out, didn't really notice too much difference in gameplay, the speed is still the same and the ai still had it's long dominating spells and missed a lot of chances (using Matt10's latest sliders, 15 min halves on world class, need to up to legendary to see if it makes a difference) the only difference I really noticed was the possession stats were almost even, but in some of the tests I've done pre patch I've had the feeling that they were skewed anyway (along with pass accuracy) as with the sliders and custom tactics I was using there were lots of misplaced passes and turnovers in possession which made the game feel a lot more even than with the default sliders but the cpu still had very high possession & passing stats

 

[Crisci]

I think the novelty of the game has wore off for me. I loved the demo. The players felt weighty, the AI kept the ball well and showed variety in their attacks. I felt in control of defending and methodically unlocking defences was engrossing.

I don't think it's novelty, the FIFA demo was just more interesting to play... I'm still playing it now and again with that full team mode. It reacts much better to custom tactic changes and there's much more variety in the AI decision-making on the ball to begin with

 

[mfmaxpower]

For those with update let us know if the game plays any differently?

Can't say that I've noticed much of a change. It definitely doesn't play any worse, so don't listen to this talk of it returning to 15 or playing faster, etc.

Matt10 has said it plays much better, that the AI is more humanized now. Honestly, maybe I just haven't played enough, I dunno, but I'm not seeing what he's seeing. Maybe it plays a little better, but at this point I'm more likely to chalk it up to placebo.

If there are changes, they're subtle. That said, there's folks saying it plays way better for them, so who the hell knows.

 

[P34SEMM]

Cheers

 

[vincef]

Who played online since the update? Because most of the complains come from online play, not against the AI

 

[Chris Davies]

If there are changes, they're subtle. That said, there's folks saying it plays way better for them, so who the hell knows.

I tend to believe the patch notes, which only mention goalkeeper tweaks. That being said, Matt backs everything up with videos so if he says there are positional tweaks, I trust him.

 

[mfmaxpower]

I'll say it now, Fifa16 has more player individuality than any Fifa in the history of Fifa, it's wonderful, trying something with a player you shouldn't and you pay for it big time (example, passback to my keeper Westwood who's left footed, I try a first time right footed hoof down field, oops, ball loops up lazily about 10 yards straight towards an opposing forward who gleefully volleys it into an empty net), attempting something with a good player, wow! Lopez in our midfield obviously coming from La Liga is a very, very good passer with excellent vision, I attempted a lofted through ball from the left side of midfield out to my winger who had a fullback about 10 yards away, Lopez curls the pass with the outside of his right foot, it curls around the fullback and lands at the feet of my winger, fully a 45 yard pass to perfection, wish I'd recorded it!

Totally agree! And it just gets better the more you play with and familiarize yourself with a team and its players.

For example, one of my favorite teams to play with this year is Fenerbahce ('cause I love their home kits, ha), and the difference between players is awesome. Markovic is the speedy forward, Nani is the trickster, Diego the #10, Fernandao the target man, etc. Getting them on the ball in the correct situations and using them to their strengths is totally paramount.

spot on re Fifa - the demo was a "one more game" which turned into 10 more games but the full game isnt the same.

I don't get what people see as the difference between the demo and final code. For me it's the same, and I've totally got that one more game feeling. It's got its frustrating issues, but this is the most addictive FIFA in a while for me. And I haven't even gone that far toward personalizing a slider set yet.

 

[P34SEMM]

Totally agree! And it just gets better the more you play with and familiarize yourself with a team and its players.

For example, one of my favorite teams to play with this year is Fenerbahce ('cause I love their home kits, ha), and the difference between players is awesome. Markovic is the speedy forward, Nani is the trickster, Diego the #10, Fernandao the target man, etc. Getting them on the ball in the correct situations and using them to their strengths is totally paramount.



I don't get what people see as the difference between the demo and final code. For me it's the same, and I've totally got that one more game feeling. It's got its frustrating issues, but this is the most addictive FIFA in a while for me. And I haven't even gone that far toward personalizing a slider set yet.

In the demo Chelsea felt like chelsea. Players had real life attributes and they play great on the counter. In the full game they don't feel the same. Might be just me but that's how it feels

 

[mfmaxpower]

I tend to believe the patch notes, which only mention goalkeeper tweaks. That being said, Matt backs everything up with videos so if he says there are positional tweaks, I trust him.

Yeah, positional tweaks would be easier to pick up by analyzing video, so maybe they're there. I need to play more to really feel whether overall anything is trending different for me.

But as for the AI being more human, this can be very subjective and dependent upon ability and playstyles, but should be easily detectable, and my experience so far post patch is that the AI seems pretty much the same. Not saying it isn't different, but if it is it's really, really subtle and calling the AI humanized now is quite a reach imo.

Trust me, I'd really love to play more and come away with a different opinion. Love to hear what other people think post patch.

 

[Woodzy]

So is professional the one to play on then? Even on full manual it seems a bit too easy but the one I seem to have most fun on. Should we be focusing on making that more difficult with sliders as opposed to the higher difficulties easier?

 

[Chris Davies]

In the demo Chelsea felt like chelsea. Players had real life attributes and they play great on the counter. In the full game they don't feel the same. Might be just me but that's how it feels

Play the demo, go back and forth. If you can, get a video of the difference. Then something could be done about it, if EA are presented with it.

For me there is no difference whatsoever. People played the demo and there's an element of "novelty" to it, it's new and shiny and perfect, and then when the full game comes out, because it's all the same as the demo and there's nothing new, that novelty factor goes, and it's no longer "amazing", it becomes disappointing, and so "not as good as the demo".

So is professional the one to play on then? Even on full manual it seems a bit too easy but the one I seem to have most fun on. Should we be focusing on making that more difficult with sliders as opposed to the higher difficulties easier?

Yes and no. It's the best experience because more realistic mistakes are made as the decision making isn't perfect, but changing the sliders doesn't make the AI make mistakes - it only makes the non-mistake passes more likely to succeed, so the sliders don't help make it any more challenging, in my opinion.

I think if you find Pro to be a challenge, it's the best difficulty by far, but because I like to challenge myself (and I'm not hugely bothered by a much worse team playing a little bit too well), I prefer making Legendary "manageable". That provides the better experience, for me.

 

[chiefrocka4real]

Play the demo, go back and forth. If you can, get a video of the difference. Then something could be done about it, if EA are presented with it.

For me there is no difference whatsoever. People played the demo and there's an element of "novelty" to it, it's new and shiny and perfect, and then when the full game comes out, because it's all the same as the demo and there's nothing new, that novelty factor goes, and it's no longer "amazing", it becomes disappointing, and so "not as good as the demo".

Great point!

Again, I don´t feel no difference either.
And I feel a lot of player individuality in this game.

Also online FUT is a joy.

Makes me wanna play "one more game" the whole time!