Sorry, hectic evening! Settings below... Anything not listed can be left at default or user preference. I don't have time to explain the rationale behind every setting in detail, but I'll leave a few findings that I don't often see talked about:
Game settings
Difficulty - World Class
Player Based Difficulty - On
Game Speed - Normal
- I'm aware that Player Based Difficulty has always been a bit contentious, but I've come to enjoy it given it adds a little more variety to matches. With the right settings I don't find it as obnoxious as on default.
- I've said for years now, this game is absolutely not built to function at Slow game speed. The ball loses all it's inertia and player animations become even more erratic in an effort to compensate. Not to mention defenders seem to be 'fighting' against the slower game speed and their positioning gets even worse.
Controller Settings
Auto Clearances/Flair Shots/Shots - Off
Assisted Headers - Off
Pass Block Assistance - Off
Ground Pass Assistance - Off
Analog Sprint - Off
- Call it placebo but my feeling here is similar to PES; controller settings also affect the CPU.
- The biggest offender for me is Ground Pass Assistance, changing this to Manual sees the AI suddenly start holding on to the ball a little more before releasing.
User Sliders
Slider | User | CPU |
Sprint Speed | 21 | 6 |
Acceleration | 49 | 50 |
Shot Error | 58 | 58 |
Pass Error | 58 | 65 |
Shot Speed | 35 | 35 |
Pass Speed | 58 | 45 |
Inj. Frequency | Any | Any |
Inj. Severity | Any | Any |
Goalkeeper Ability | 50 | 50 |
Marking | 65 | 65 |
Run Frequency | 25 | 25 |
Line Height | 53 | 53 |
Line Length | 48 | 50 |
Line Width | 53 | 53 |
Fullback Positioning | 50 | 50 |
Power Bar | Any | N/A |
First Touch | 50 | 50 |
- Sprint Speed is serving two purposes here
- Reducing this massively helps with the erratic animations of the players on the pitch
- The discrepancy gives the user a much needed boost in reaction time. Makes it easier to wrong foot defenders and especially important to balance loose ball situations
- I find the simple 1 point discrepancy for acceleration to be important. The AI 'trusts' it's ability a little more and will attempt riskier dribbles
- Pass Speed is probably the most important one here. Increasing this for the user means that the ball travels with the correct amount of inertia, and player animations don't get messed up to compensate for an unnaturally slow moving ball. The game can be slowed down, but my thinking is that is should be slowed down tactically, reducing pass speed seems to just mess with the game's physics calculations.
- The AI will adjust it's passing speed to whatever it wants. Putting this at 40 for the AI means in general play they will move the ball slowly, though they will also ping-pong it around if they decide to.
- Shot speed being slowed I've found massively helps GK animations
All in all, this game has the same 'hacked together' feeling that PES does for me, with domino effects all over the place. Would like to hear if anyone else has any thoughts!