FIFA 16 News & Discussion Thread

[Chris Davies]

Are you people just skipping the training in CM? That is some tiresome crap, even doing it automatically as you still need to go into each drill to configure etc.

"You people"

For me, all of the CM changes this year are utter toss.

Pre-season tournaments are as pointless as 3-4 friendlies (except they take longer to get through if you do well and, if you're a smaller club, are totally unrealistic - so Lyon let Accrington Stanley use their pristine pitch to play against Crawley Town, just before their own season starts, and you get a stupidly large cash bonus if you win?).

The training games are just crappy little mini-games, ranging from dull to pad-smashingly frustrating.

PES got the better career mode feature for me this year (I'd love to see the ML's "team spirit" in FIFA, i.e. team chemistry based on how well players suit your tactics, NOT the country they're from).

 

[DagsJT]

"You people"

For me, all of the CM changes this year are utter toss.

Pre-season tournaments are as pointless as 3-4 friendlies (except they take longer to get through if you do well and, if you're a smaller club, are totally unrealistic - so Lyon let Accrington Stanley use their pristine pitch to play against Crawley Town, just before their own season starts, and you get a stupidly large cash bonus if you win?).

The training games are just crappy little mini-games, ranging from dull to pad-smashingly frustrating.

PES got the better career mode feature for me this year (I'd love to see the ML's "team spirit" in FIFA, i.e. team chemistry based on how well players suit your tactics, NOT the country they're from).

I say "you people" because it's well known that FIFA players are a lower species than PES players

 

[Chris Davies]

I say "you people" because it's well known that FIFA players are a lower species than PES players

 

[goldfinger35]

Are you people just skipping the training in CM? That is some tiresome crap, even doing it automatically as you still need to go into each drill to configure etc.

I am skipping all of them (I didn't even try to do a single training manually).
You don't have to configure it each time; you can load previous configuration.

 

[chiefrocka4real]

Just wanted to say I'm still having a blast with this game. Fucking love it. Best football game for many years.

Normally the post-release malaise sets in about now where FIFA becomes a monotonous bore, but this game feels fresh every time I play.

I just don't understand why it's not receiving more plaudits.

Absolutely same here and I still didn´t make it to start a CM.

Still playing FUT all the way and it´s lovely.

Yeah, there are some ugly matches, like out of 10 there are 3 or 4 that are annoying but that´s down to the people you play against and not to the game itself.

Mostly the games are very tight and well balanced and so fucking exciting because you know, every tiny little mistake could punish you and cost you the victory.

I enjoy this so much!
Also what I really love:
The pace! It´s not necessary to have pacey players anymore like last year.
I bought Gerrard and his speed is 59 only. But in FIFA 16 it doesn´t matter, this guy is a beast when it comes to shooting and passing!

At the same time it doesn´t mean that fast players have no effect, like there is a catch up bug or something.
But it´s not impossible to defend against them.

It´s also all a matter of the situation, how the players are positioned like is he already running or does he have to start sprinting, the position of the defender etc etc.

Very well balanced imo.

Loving this!

 

[Placebo]

Are you people just skipping the training in CM? That is some tiresome crap, even doing it automatically as you still need to go into each drill to configure etc.

Certain ones I do manually, certain ones I do automatically but yes I do them every week (well press Y to load the same 5 every time, you knew about that right?).

It's great to improve the value of players you're looking to sell, improve players not quite good enough for the first team or most importantly improve weaknesses in otherwise great players.

 

[Chris Davies]

I started playing a new Be A Pro game last night - it's an odd one. The AI is so much better than last year, and you see a bit more variation in the play, but at the same time, if you put the difficulty level too high then both teams tend to keep possession forever and those play styles disappear.

I can't find a sweet spot - Professional with close-to-default sliders seems like the best experience but it seems too easy. On World Class, I edited the sliders and managed to get the CPU's passing accuracy down to 80% (including my own team), but the possession was always 50/50, and it becomes too easy to win again. On Legendary, the CPU makes so few mistakes (and shields the ball so perfectly) it's not a good experience. In my experience (as a League 2 team)...

Either way, it's a really satisfying game mode when you get the difficulty / sliders set as you like them. As a CAM, I've managed an assist every-other-game over the first six games, and I've been subbed off every other game! Subbed off! Something I never thought I'd see!

I'm worried my transfer prospects might be limited by my position (maybe I should have picked CM), but I don't know how it works. Anyone with experience of being transferred in FIFA 15's Be A Pro know if the AI changes formation to fit you in, or if it will play you out of position? Or do you just sit on the bench forever if you don't match that team's default formation?

Love playing on the Pro camera as well, although the frame-rate drop is a bit rubbish. (I switch the TV to "sport" mode, which blends frames together, and it looks much nicer - at the expense of input speed.)

 

[romagnoli]

The annoying thing is that the training doesn't use my control settings, so I'm not actually learning how to complete the Chance Creation using semi controls. Personally I find the training really helpful as someone who didn't really play FIFA 15 and only had limited experience with 14; it's definitely been helpful with dribbling, crossing and understanding how best to take on a keeper. But the control issue sucks, and I also find the defending gold challenges nigh on impossible - El Rondo is just ridiculous, especially when you end up 1 vs 4.

 

[Chris Davies]

I also find the defending gold challenges nigh on impossible - El Rondo is just ridiculous, especially when you end up 1 vs 4.

The one where you do a series of dribbling tasks and then get past two defenders who are placed in a tiny little box...

I've not felt anger like it since the bad old days of ML matches where my defenders were screwed to the floor.

It's pure chance as to whether the game lets you get past them on the fourth or fifth occasion of trying. It shows off the worst of the game and I find it CRAZY that it's included, it's essentially showing off a broken system. (Unless it's just impossible to beat unless your player is a dribbling superstar, in which case, it's of no use whatsoever for 90% of players, no?)

Maybe it's difficulty level related, but if controls aren't applied to it, I imagine difficulty levels and sliders aren't either...?

 

[romagnoli]

The one where you do a series of dribbling tasks and then get past two defenders who are placed in a tiny little box...

I've not felt anger like it since the bad old days of ML matches where my defenders were screwed to the floor.

It's pure chance as to whether the game lets you get past them on the fourth or fifth occasion of trying. It shows off the worst of the game and I find it CRAZY that it's included, it's essentially showing off a broken system. (Unless it's just impossible to beat unless your player is a dribbling superstar, in which case, it's of no use whatsoever for 90% of players, no?)

Maybe it's difficulty level related, but if controls aren't applied to it, I imagine difficulty levels and sliders aren't either...?

I remember you saying about that one. I didn't find it that bad, but I have been using pretty good dribblers for Utd.

I'll try and have a go at it tonight with an average dribbler and upload my results if it goes well! The good thing about that particular challenge is that, once you beat a player, he stops coming at you.

 

[Placebo]

I'll be honest, I only do the easy ones myself such as GK throwing/kicking, headers and volleys, some of the dribbling ones etc, even the corner one doesn't work very well, not least because it forces your corner taker to use his right foot if he's left footed, WTF?

One of the biggest problems with the training is basically the players the CPU chooses to compete against, say you're trying to improve the long shots of a really crap youth player, he'll be trying to score at distance against the best keeper at your club, how is that fair? Try to train some crappy youth player in 1v1 defending, he'll be up against the best dribbler at your club, is some crappy 16 year old really going to learn a lot by being dribbled around by Messi every day?

 

[Chris Davies]

It's a rushed feature, I think, and it adds nothing to the experience whatsoever for me (same with pre-season friendlies).

The worry is that EA themselves think that's what career mode players are after. I can understand that they have the potential to be good features, but with how unrealistic the pre-season tournaments are (ruining Lyon's pitch before their first game of the season, like the people of France are going to flock to see an English team from a league three divisions below the Premier League), and how unrealistic and silly some of the training is (with youth players trying to beat first team regulars, as you say), it's all naff.

There's no really meaty career mode improvements that would either A) make it more realistic or B) be a useful tool. As I say, it's a shame I don't get on with the Pro Evo gameplay as it stands, because the "team spirit" stuff is a great feature IMO - you can't put the best team together simply by buying the best players, you have to decide on a strategy and then buy players to suit it - and I prefer the much simpler scouting system, too.

 

[Placebo]

Being able to sign free transfers at any time is a nice inclusion, negated by the fact that the transfer market is completely broken and there are never any new free transfer players available (certainly not >69) and you'll never see anyone remotely decent transfer listed either (unless there happened to be one of those long winded stories about a contract rebel at a club you don't care about)...

 

[DagsJT]

Playing as Morecambe in my career mode and my scouts are recommending Yaya Toure and Franck Ribery.

Okay. I'll get right onto signing them now...

 

[Chris Davies]

Playing as Morecambe in my career mode and my scouts are recommending Yaya Toure and Franck Ribery.

Okay. I'll get right onto signing them now...

What amuses me more is the idea that they think you've never heard of them before they brought them to your attention.

"Get me all the information you can on this Yoyo Tourer and Rubbery Frank."

 

[bsmaff]

Playing as Morecambe in my career mode and my scouts are recommending Yaya Toure and Franck Ribery.

Okay. I'll get right onto signing them now...

What's wrong with those recommendations?

They clealy have a good eye for talent and those signings would become crucial 1st team players.

You just need to pay a visit to the bank manager and ask for a 100m loan then you should be able to add them to your squad.

 

[Radiation]

It's pretty sad to think that that guy who passed away was "working hard on these career mode additions" and they all turned out utter shit.



Pre season tournaments sounds good, but not when every man and his dog get them and then get shit loads of cash for free.

The training is just disgustingly dire. It's broken as mentioned above and an utter chore to do each week.


There still not much of a tactical side off the pitch either. Like signing new players and trying to blend them into the team or signing someone and finding they just don't work (balotelli). I never feel a struggle.
Like if I play Ultimate Team or pes MyClub. With them i feel the struggle of having a player I'm not wanting in my team - or bought and found they're not that great - and having to make do with them and try to get them to click with everyone. It's amazingly noticeable and adds so much.

But as Newcastle I bought Batshuayi and he seems good. But I cant seem to score with him and I don't feel like its because he's new or hasn't clicked or he's another balotelli. I just cant seem to score that often with anyone... so its not really the stats that are affecting whether I score or tackle with success etc... its the difficulty of the game deciding for me.
For example - I threw adam armstrong up front and he's rated in the 60s I think, his stats are nowhere near Batshuayi's and I'm having the exact same experience up front. Same amount of time on the ball, same success/fail rates.


Just off topic - though connected to the comment about pes. Could anyone who knows about Pes ml pm me some info on it? I've heard its good but don't want to fill this thread up asking and google is just full of fanboy shit.
What does it do that fifa doesn't?

 

[Chris Davies]

Just off topic - though connected to the comment about pes. Could anyone who knows about Pes ml pm me some info on it? I've heard its good but don't want to fill this thread up asking and google is just full of fanboy shit.
What does it do that fifa doesn't?

The ML is pretty bare in comparison (and I can't get on with the gameplay this year, it's all 4-0s and 5-0s). But, they've added "team spirit", which is exactly what you mention (it's a rip-off of FIFA's "team chemistry", except it's affected by play styles and time spent in the team, not nationality).

You set your strategy - e.g. short/medium/long passes, narrow/medium/wide play, zonal/man marking - and each player has a viewable list of their preferred instructions (I think this is based on the attributes but I'm not certain). If they don't match up, their contribution to the "team spirit" lessens. This impacts the gameplay in the same way that form arrows do, really. However, the more you play them in your system, the more they get used to it.

The trouble with this is... You say in FIFA, when you're struggling to score, it's not that the player "isn't fitting in", and that's right (and it's rubbish). But in PES, if you buy a striker who doesn't fit in, you can still score with him at will (in my experience) - it affects some positions more than others. But that's because of the gameplay. The idea is there.

Other than that it's all pretty standard. Scouting is much simpler than FIFA, which I like - I have ten players to assess every week in FIFA and it's a bit much to keep tabs on - and you get all the silly news stories that you see in FIFA about so-and-so being determined to score lots of goals this year.

All this sounds great but again, with PES's gameplay this year, I can't enjoy it (and I've given it a good go because FIFA's manager mode is a bit stale - I'm enjoying Be A Pro more at the moment).

FIFA need to add the "team spirit" stuff next year and give the career mode real depth rather than this year's effort.

 

[Radiation]

Oh that doesn't sound too promising. I think I'd rather take the on pitch side being good but still not great over one or two features that work great but the rest falls apart still.
I had the same issue last year on pes, high score lines on one difficulty, constant losing on the next one up. And my ML was ruined with the amount of regens that came in right away. Every team had like a ridiculous squad of current stars and regens and it just wasn't that fun.

Such a shame that both games get let down by stupid oversights and lazy development. I really do miss the days when we'd get 4 or 5 football games out and each one would bring something new that the others might pick up.

 

[Placebo]

It's not the same of course, but form is a big part of CM as it was last year, when you're on a bad run of form you can really feel it with the players and when you're on a good run of form you can feel that as well.

 

[angus]

Anyone with experience of being transferred in FIFA 15's Be A Pro know if the AI changes formation to fit you in, or if it will play you out of position? Or do you just sit on the bench forever if you don't match that team's default formation?

If you're on PC, there are a couple of different fixes for this if interested, CPU manager will line you up as a starter. Also, PC pro cam edits for 3rd person view, again if you're interested:

 

[Placebo]

If you're on PC

He's not, he's one of those lesser types

 

[PLF]

Chris Davies, I do play Be a Pro career mode and always as a REAL player, not a created one.

It's the only FIFA mode I play along with regular manager version of career mode. It was a shame that in FIFA14, there was a bug and you couldn't play in World Cup! Lol Your player would get called up to national team but for some reason, you couldn't play anything but friendlies.

Hopefully they've fixed that MAJOR bug and it's not in FIFA 15? I haven't played enough yet to know.

 

[mfmaxpower]

It's interesting to me that the new player training system in FIFA 16 is essentially a copy of the system that was introduced in Madden 15. Minor game- and sport-specific aspects aside, it's the same feature - you have limited resources to dedicate to player training and you can opt to either play mini games or have it simmed.

When I played Madden this year I was immediately concerned for FIFA. It sucks in Madden, and it sucks in FIFA.

So what's going on? Are the two dev teams sharing resources? Is it one dev team working on multiple games? With the slow rate of progress - and Madden fans are just as frustrated as us - it'd almost make sense that it's one dev team working on multiple games. I don't think that's the case, but that's even more lame that they are resource sharing, which should theoretically make development more efficient, and yet we've had very little progress over the years.

Really, if we're being honest, aside from prettier menus, CM is not much better or deeper than it was when they overhauled it from the old system. Okay, it is better, but is it 5-6 years better? No way.

For years now I've been saying that it's a joke that FUT has a rudimentary chemistry system and CM does not. It feels almost like a slap in face, or salt rubbed in the wound, that PES introduced it this year!

 

[angus]

He's not, he's one of those lesser types

I can't run FIFA with crowds as you can see on my 5 year old PC, I'm a lesser lesser type.

 

[mfmaxpower]

I think I read on Reddit that sliders are overriding custom tactics and CPU playstyle variety. What have people found here?

Sounds like guys are enjoying Chris's sliders - any problems people noticing?

 

[Chris Davies]

If you're on PC, there are a couple of different fixes for this if interested, CPU manager will line you up as a starter. Also, PC pro cam edits for 3rd person view, again if you're interested:

I'm on Xbox One sadly (and I'm only on that because my dad, who's in his 70s, can only "cope" with an Xbox controller and likes to play co-op games so he actually wins one now and then).

However, I like the sound of the camera edit - any videos of that anywhere? (My dream is a first-person camera combined with the Oculus Rift - one day...)

It's the only FIFA mode I play along with regular manager version of career mode. It was a shame that in FIFA14, there was a bug and you couldn't play in World Cup! Lol Your player would get called up to national team but for some reason, you couldn't play anything but friendlies.

Hopefully they've fixed that MAJOR bug and it's not in FIFA 15? I haven't played enough yet to know.

I hope it's not in FIFA 16 either...

I've never been called up - never actually stuck with a Be A Pro save for more than a season because each game felt too similar. Even now, I feel like everyone's too eager to pass to you and it feels slightly too easy, whereas in PES, nobody wants to pass to you (and while your stats are low, there's invisible walls everywhere, which infuriates me).

Feels good so far, though. Started off with Portsmouth and games seem to have a little more variation. (I just wish there was more error.)

I think I read on Reddit that sliders are overriding custom tactics and CPU playstyle variety. What have people found here?

I've started trying to get the sliders as close to the 50s as possible now, because it does have an impact on the variety of play. The trouble is, no matter how I break the sliders, passing accuracy is still far too high, and with that being the case, there's not much point trying to achieve it, and so it's better leaving them at (close to) 50 and effectively ignoring the pass accuracy stat.

(Again, I can forgive it to a large degree because it's based on a series of highlights, not a full match - but playing in League Two shows what a big problem it is. The AI will occasionally hit cross-field balls and long balls forward, but no more so than in the Premier League, and the pass accuracy is exactly the same. I even turned to PES in my frustration last night, but the pass accuracy - playing as Burnley versus Preston - was exactly the same.)

Weirdly, one of the biggest impacts I've seen on pass accuracy has been altering the acceleration slider for the CPU - it seems to throw off the "heat-seeking" ability of the CPU players and they run to the wrong place, or just don't reach the ball. The AI doesn't seem to have the intelligence to alter a pass direction based on the altered acceleration of a teammate.

The acceleration slider affects everything, though - it makes opposition defenders too easy to get past - so fiddling with it isn't really an option (occasionally I'll drop it down by two points and that doesn't have a huge impact defensively).

I think the game has been designed so that the CPU emulates the control you will have with your controller if you're good at the game, as opposed to emulating that real team's abilities.

In which case - we either need an extra slider called "decisions" (to make the AI more stupid), or, we need the AI to "match" the control scheme so that if I play on "semi" or "manual", the AI's pass success rate drops too.

I wonder if it does... (Note : I'm sure it doesn't.)

 

[Chris Davies]

Meant to include this above but forgot:

It's not the same of course, but form is a big part of CM as it was last year, when you're on a bad run of form you can really feel it with the players and when you're on a good run of form you can feel that as well.

Any good examples of the effects of form? I don't really feel any difference! I'm presuming it adds +1 or +2 to certain attributes (is that visible or not within an attributes screen somewhere)?

I noticed when looking at individual player profiles that every player has a "morale" and "form" value (which isn't immediately obvious in the usual squad screens), but I've not felt any difference due to them - all I've noticed is emails from the unhappy players saying they want first team football etc...

 

[Schwarzenbeck]

While I generally like the idea of sliders to customize a game to one's liking, I find EAs implementation to be rather frustrating.

It starts out with the inconsistency in the sliders itself: with some you have to move them to the right to improve and to the left to decrease things (speed, acceleration etc) with others moving them to the right actually means worsening something (i.e. pass accuracy). That is really confusing, especially as culturally for us, moving to the right always means progress/future/louder/more while moving something to the left means regress/past/lower/less.

Then there is inconsistent feedback: some sliders, when you just notch them down or up a few points have grave consequences, others can be dialed down all the way without any noticeable change whatsoever. The logical way to handle the goalie slider, for example, would be that at 0 he lets every ball in and generally behaves like his PES counterparts, at 50 he is true to his stats and only at 100 he turns into the ninja-parading-monster he actually is by default in this game. But neither of that is happening. I currently have my keeper slider at 9 in a career game on WC and even the keepers of lowly second league clubs still pull the most amazing saves, especially from close range.

Why is there a difference between slider settings for exhibition games and career modes?

Then, an explanation not only of what a slider does technically (move your wing backs up front), but how that affects gameplay would be nice. What do the line settings do to the flow of the game? I have no idea and frankly I don't see that much of a difference anyway (this is, where PES is still miles ahead).

Lastly, more sliders would be nice: one for agility (so I can slow down the ridiculous COM dribbling animations) and some for the ball: Looseness, heaviness, floatiness would be nice (I know that they could do it, they have sliders for the puck's behavior in their ice hockey games) More AI sliders as well: aggressivness, propensity of playing a long ball versus tiki-taka, rate of mentality etc. etc.

Well, perhaps too much to ask for. For now I am grateful that people like Chris delve into this, because I truly don't know what's going on.

 

[Placebo]

Meant to include this above but forgot:


Any good examples of the effects of form? I don't really feel any difference! I'm presuming it adds +1 or +2 to certain attributes (is that visible or not within an attributes screen somewhere)?

I noticed when looking at individual player profiles that every player has a "morale" and "form" value (which isn't immediately obvious in the usual squad screens), but I've not felt any difference due to them - all I've noticed is emails from the unhappy players saying they want first team football etc...

When I'm on a bad run of form I definitely feel like my players are a bit more lethargic than when on a good run of form, I'm not sure it really kicks in too much of a stat specific tweak, I have noticed in 16 that trying to score with a player on a really bad run without scoring is more difficult, it could simply be that I'm noticing misses more with that specific player but I had a right winger who they were going on and on about having a bad drought and I missed some really glaring chances with him including open goals where I've rounded the keeper etc. etc! Finally let him take a penalty to break the drought which thankfully he scored!