Gaming Fifa 11

[Chrisjn]

Aye, I'm not workin til six so got bags of time for a game today.

 

[Carl]

Right. I've changed my dude to a centre half. I've no achievements for that position but e should at least be semi-competent in that position.

I've still no mic though.

 

[Chrisjn]

Got my guy up to 80.

Be up for a few game later.

 

[Luminous Lizard]

Anyone on for some clubs?

 

[Urbanned]

LL you're on Xbox aren't you?

 

[Luminous Lizard]

I have a PS3 but not Fifa on it

 

[Urbanned]

Ah ok. That's a shame

 

[Chrisjn]

I'll have a game LL, anyone else on?

 

[Luminous Lizard]

I can't get hold of anyone to play. Bastards.

 

[Chrisjn]

Let us know if you fancy some games when anyone about then.

Gonna have to get a Fifa 12 club set up soon.

Stats reset. ><

 

[WR]

Anyone up for a full manual game? PS3.

 

[Chrisjn]

F.C. Barcelona 1 – 3 Manchester Utd | EA SPORTS Football

Boosh!

F.C. Barcelona 1 – 3 Manchester Utd | EA SPORTS Football

Still, think you can score better goals on manual.

 

[WR]

I was pretty bored and decided to write a blog-type review on what ruined Fifa 11 for me. Put it on the fifa forums so might as well re-post here.

5 things that crippled FIFA 11.

With all EA's attention to the upcoming FIFA 12 due to be released in late September, it's been an inevitability for a few months that FIFA 11 has become quickly over looked and no more patches will be released to fix glaring problems with the game play and game modes. This is despite the fact there is still 6 weeks before the next addition is released.

With PES' rapid decline, it's become a one horse race between the two competitors to sell the most editions of their game. FIFA has been consistently better and more fluid in game play since '09 when it overtook Pro Evolution.

Albeit this, FIFA has come with game-damaging problems, including the online dream team glitch, flag cheat in the leaderboards, poor servers, half way line goals, 45 degreee finesse shot, pressure button being over powered.. I could go on.

These are in order of my preference and how they effected my gaming experience.

5. Shooting

Shooting, obviously, is an integral part of football. There are many, many different scenarios of goals scored in football from placement shots to volleying, to heading, to a power shot, and much more. Then there's the different distances, the players taking them, the power hit, the defenders or lack of them. No two goals are identical, ever. But not on FIFA. Hundreds are identical. I'd say a big proportion of goals online are scored from either a cutback to a player in a 2v1 situation or a finesse shot into the far corner in a 1v1 situation.

The decision to take a finesse shot in a 1v1 situation is reasonable. Most players in real life do. What made it frustrating on FIFA was the consistent accuracy with any player. In a typical situation, the player would be facing towards the goal, then turn slightly at a 45 degree angle to the keeper, hold down R1/RB, press circle and the assisted setting would do the rest. Far too easy to execute with guaranteed results.

I don't blame the players here, I blame the game. When you're 1v1 you want to score. It becomes an instinct to do that the easiest and most successful way possible. Which brings me onto my second point.. cutbacks.

If you saw 2 players against 1 keeper in real life you'd question the defending, and rightly so. The proportion of cutbacks you see in real life isn't huge. Even with an easier option to pass to a teammate, most players opt to shoot without thinking about who may be across the box to tap the ball in. Now, the large amount of cutbacks can be explained for 2 reasons.

- Camera angle. When playing FIFA you have a spectators view of the game. Real players don't. They see whats in front of them and to the side they're facing. A FIFA player is under no intense pressure like a footballer is. Under most cases, after easily splitting a pass through the lethargic defenses (I'll cover this later) they have time to wait for a teammate to casually come alongside them and pass into an open net. The camera angle enables them to see the perfect pass and the rest is history.
- Win at all costs. FIFA is a game intended to be a fun. Winning the game is a bonus. For a lot of players, the latter seems to be the most important aspect of the game. Instead of trying to take on the goalie, blasting a shot past him, or attempting a cheeky chip, the player will do whatever guarantees a goal. The opposing player can just watch on helplessly as they are powerless in a 2v1 situation.

4. Player growth in career mode

.. or the lack of it

Career mode. The core of FIFA. Before online, it was all that gave people the longevity of the single-player game. You take control of your chosen team and lead them to success over the years whilst watching your players develop and progress.

This mode has been going for over a decade. If you were to tell me after FIFA '97 that in 14 years in manager mode your young players wouldn't ever increase in rating throughout the game years I'd laugh at you.

Bizarrely enough, the rest of career mode is OK. It's no Football Manager, but that isn't its intentions. The menu are easily navigate-able and the transfers work fine. But why sign players if they don't improve? It's ludicrous. In fact, it's plain embarrassing that EA didn't immediately solve this as soon as the problem became commonly known. No career mode is sustainable if players don't improve and develop. The development of players keeps football going, yet it doesn't exist on FIFA's primary mode.

I'm not a career mode fanatic, but I do enjoy playing it. For those who soley play this mode then it's enough to ruin the entire game. It makes young players completely pointless. An entire mode made unsustainable because of one preventable problem is not acceptable to fix immediately from such a huge franchise.


3. Pro Club problems

I've clocked up a few hundred games on clubs. It's a great idea for a mode and I probably would have doubled that amount of games if it was more playable.

- Button lag. Nightmare. A part solution to this is not to button jam X to skip replays and cut-scenes, but before this, it ruined many, many games. All it took was 1 teammate to have this problem. The effect wore onto everyone as they couldn't respond to passes until a few seconds after they intended to. I don't even know the amount of games we had to quit before 5 minutes because of this lag and then get into another game for the same problem.

30 minutes later, we get a lag free match. Great, let's finally play. Oh, we can't hear each other...

For my first club, a headset was important as we needed to communicate in games, as well as chat to each other. About a third of the time, we couldn't hear either one person, or sometimes no-one. Occasionally a deathly machine gun type noise would come from someone's headset meaning the game would have to be played on mute for the duration.

-CPU or VP's. Take your pick. Are the CPU just exceptionally poor or are VP's over-rated? I think the former. Virtual Pro's should be the best players in the game. They are, the person. They should be deciding the match and not the CPU. However, the gulf between the two is as big as the gulf between Ronaldo and Messi. Huge.

Most club games were decided by whether a speedy 88 rated midget could take on 6 lethargic useless "defenders" and score past an visually impaired goalkeeper. This wasn't such a problem if you were playing 5-10 real players on each side. Even that could be chaos.

2. Strength

In '09 the big problem was speed. It ruined the game as players were as good as their acceleration and sprint speed attributes. In FIFA 10 there was a little more balance. Although, strength became the more effective attribute. Now in '11, strength has been glorified further.

Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Sneijder, Villa, Aguero, Nasri. Many of the best players aren't strong. They are fantastic in other areas of the game which makes up for their reduced physical ability. In FIFA 11, the best player in the world, Messi, get's bullied off the ball by any defender who's over 6 foot simply because he's small. He's strong in real life, but this doesn't matter on FIFA because he has a smaller frame. The second best player in the world, Ronaldo, is un-stoppable on FIFA. He has a better physical frame and by default is much better on the game.

Because of this over-powered attribute, it has meant lower league teams cannot be given accurate representations of their physical attributes as this would make them too good on the game. Chelsea are very hard to stop online because they have a team full of physical players, same with Madrid.

It has canceled out a lot more skillful players on the game. They can't out run a defender because they're weaker. Speed and acceleration have lost their effect in dribbling. It means players like Adebayor, Dzeko, Ibrahimovic are all very hard to knock off the ball. (unless the defender is even stronger, that is)

1. Pressure button

Few teams can physically press their opponents for 90 minute. Barca can. That's probably it. Oh, and a thousand odd kids online.

Hold A/X, press circle/B, two players on one, seconds to make a pass before the next player is pressed. This then has a counter effect as the opponent is passing unrealistically quick to prevent being closed down. Ping pong passing isn't as bad as '09, but it still exists.

If pressuring was remotely tactical when constant pressure might be defendable, but it's not. It's one button. Heck, you don't even have to direct your player. They receive the instruction from a button and explode into a Pepe like rage to win the ball back without losing any energy.

A solution to this, which has previously been suggested is fatigue. Pressure all you want in the first half but in the second half your players will be knackered. It's a realistic solution and easy to implement. Currently there is no real skill in defending. Constant pressuring is a skill in football and should be in FIFA. Anyone who wants to realistically press in FIFA can't, or if they do, they'll get shot down for abusing the system. It's a no win situation.

They've took their time, but it's been announced in FIFA 12 that the pressure button will be gone. It's ruined a few FIFA's game play and most players will be thankful to see the demise of it.

 

[Big-Red]

I like the critique man, the only point I'd make is that for shooting the only real solution is that everyone uses manual, unless EA significantly make assisted less...assisted. Even a cutback is harder to pull off on manual.

 

[WR]

Yeah I agree manual can solve a fair few of these problems. Not enough are aware of it yet though so I didn't mention it

 

[Chrisjn]

There is player growth on Fifa 11...

Maybe not enough, and it's inconsistant and usually starting to late, but it is there...

I suspect the growth system works similarly to the VP system, which I think is shit.

 

[WR]

There is player growth on Fifa 11...

Maybe not enough, and it's inconsistant and usually starting to late, but it is there...

I suspect the growth system works similarly to the VP system, which I think is shit.

There wasn't at first. They updated it but it doesn't really happen until the player is 23/24 which is inconsistent.

 

[Woodzy]

What the highest rating you can work your Virtual Pro up to? I assumed it would be 99/100, but I just played against a team on clubs where both players were at 127.

 

[WR]

It's 91, only as GK. Must have been another feck up in clubs, apt for my complaint about it

 

[Big-Red]

It's 91, only as GK. Must have been another feck up in clubs, apt for my complaint about it

Supposedly there's a hack for 100 strength and speed or something.

 

[Snow]

I like the critique man, the only point I'd make is that for shooting the only real solution is that everyone uses manual, unless EA significantly make assisted less...assisted. Even a cutback is harder to pull off on manual.

Yes but then you have the very unreal point of how hard it is to score. Many many goals when a player is 1v1 with a gk is to shoot between his legs. That's almost impossible in FIFA. The goalkeeper has this box surrounding him that he'll save every shot if it get's this close to him. Not possible because he's completely horizontal in under a second. I.e. goalkeepers footwork is really bad and unrealistic on FIFA. Also his AI on when to come out for crosses. It really should vary between goalkeepers. It makes no different if it's Cech or someone in league 2. There's no eccentricity or personality with the goalkeepers. They're all the same aside form the fact how they hold on to a shot and catch a cross or not.

On manual you also only have these 8 directions to shoot. 360° controlling my ass.

 

[United87]

In the old PES you got the feeling you could score(or miss) goals from any an angle at any time. Even since FIFA was on sega it's always been: move to a certain position, shoot in a certain way and you score. I wish they could change it to make you feel anything is possible(rather than predetermined) like in real football. Noboday gives a feck about how the player falls after being tackled or how many hairs Rooney has on his head ffs. Fix the problems that have always been thare and that are making the game monotonous.

 

[Aporkalypse]

In the old PES you got the feeling you could score(or miss) goals from any an angle at any time. Even since FIFA was on sega it's always been: move to a certain position, shoot in a certain way and you score. I wish they could change it to make you feel anything is possible(rather than predetermined) like in real football. Noboday gives a feck about how the player falls after being tackled or how many hairs Rooney has on his head ffs. Fix the problems that have always been thare and that are making the game monotonous.

Sounds like you aren't particularly adventurous with your gameplay. You only need to check Youtube or EA's own replay site to see thousands of goals of all types.

 

[redspoony]

Good read that WR. I'll admit, I'm a fiend when it comes to the finesse shot. I play with assisted controls, because I'm not very good (I think it was you who spanked me 5-0 in the league!).

It does make it far too easy though. I think the gameplay is almost right, with some tweaks needed.

 

[WR]

Good read that WR. I'll admit, I'm a fiend when it comes to the finesse shot. I play with assisted controls, because I'm not very good (I think it was you who spanked me 5-0 in the league!).

It does make it far too easy though. I think the gameplay is almost right, with some tweaks needed.

I am prone to it aswell on clubs or playing a friend. Like I said in the review, if it's the most effective way to score then you can't blame the player. Unless you're a few goals up then people will do whatever gets the goal. It's the games fault.

I don't mind assisted players. It is the players online who ruin the game abusing every exploit possible to win the game! You can have great games on assisted with the right people.

 

[United87]

Sounds like you aren't particularly adventurous with your gameplay. You only need to check Youtube or EA's own replay site to see thousands of goals of all types.

In the broader sense I disagree. It's mostly 45 degree curlers, crosses and passing across the box.

 

[PhilipB]

Just started playing on manual because I can beat the AI easily on legendary. It's great fun on manual, the shooting is far more varied and you can do some awesome through balls on it. Only thing I'm shit at on it is crossing I can't work it out? I'll be bombing down the line and hit cross and it just flies straight out even if I'm aiming the analogue stick towards the box. Any tips?

 

[WR]

You have to be precise with crossing. It depends on the angle you're running I suppose. If it's a Valencia type direct run then you need to point it 90 degrees to the left, if you cross it further back then it's about 60 degree ish.

Might not make sense but it just takes time. You can use it for curl as well if you swivel it slightly.

If you're on PS3 I'll give you a game.

 

[PhilipB]

Cheers! Nah I'm on 360 or else I would have. Just read your review it's pretty good although I have to say I never use the pressure button because I don't like dragging players out of position and I quite like it when the opponent uses it a lot since they leave space open.

 

[WR]

I see what you mean. It's easy to counter if your opponent is a weak player.

I've played a few full manual matches against good players who've exploited it and it's been a nightmare. As you may know, you need a bit longer on the ball with manual because your players take longer to pass, cross, shoot etc. Some people manage to always have 2 players on 1 attacker and it's frustrating you get no space.

I find when trying to counter it I'm usually playing super quick passes which I don't like doing.

 

[TheGame]

Saw something really weird on this yesterday. Playing an online game, the other guy selected what I thought was Man Utd however they only seemed to be 2 1/2 stars. I just saw this as a blip and then selected Inter. Then when we got to the team selection screen, I saw that the guys team was actually Man City and when we got to the actual game, it was Man City in Man Utd shirts So the whole city team was playing in United shirts which was weird.

The bastard was a dirty player and despite getting someone sent off, he won in extra time.

Anyone see anything like this before?

 

[Sw33t]

I've had something similar before yeah. Selected Watford, ended up the Arsenal team but under Watford and their kit and all. Was weird... only the once though. Must just be an occasional glitch

 

[Carl]

Saw something really weird on this yesterday. Playing an online game, the other guy selected what I thought was Man Utd however they only seemed to be 2 1/2 stars. I just saw this as a blip and then selected Inter. Then when we got to the team selection screen, I saw that the guys team was actually Man City and when we got to the actual game, it was Man City in Man Utd shirts So the whole city team was playing in United shirts which was weird.

The bastard was a dirty player and despite getting someone sent off, he won in extra time.

Anyone see anything like this before?

Ranked or unranked?

 

[Urbanned]

Started making some new teams on Ultimate Team. Really want to get one with 100 chemistry but with a mix of as many nationalities and leagues as possible... it's not easy! I've got a mix of Serie A, the Premiership and Ligue 1 so far, but nearly all the players are French so it's not that great.

Also started one from scratch, where the only players I buy are informs. After 8 matches I have 2, picked up for about 1.5k each, but getting them all to have good chemistry is tough.

Also thinking about making a team solely using players and cards that I get out of packs, could be an interesting challenge!

 

[TheGame]

Ranked or unranked?

Ranked.

 

[LARulz]

Yes. joe_thered if you want a game.

Just remembered this post and went to go add you only to see I've played you earlier this summer and already added you

Can't remember the result(s) though

 

[WR]

Might have been the caf league games that went on earlier.

I'm around tonight at some time if you are

 

[LARulz]

Haven't done any caf league stuff think it was a random H2H game. I should be on at some point today but not sure, tend to go on it when I've got sod all to do. I'll pop on here when I go on if you're not already online.

 

[Carl]

Wow, that's impressive WR.

The highest I've ever been is about 22nd. But that was on FIFA 09 on default settings. Manual is fecking hard!

Are you one of these who makes his own tactics or do you use a default one?

 

[WR]

Wow, that's impressive WR.

The highest I've ever been is about 22nd. But that was on FIFA 09 on default settings. Manual is fecking hard!

Are you one of these who makes his own tactics or do you use a default one?

Thanks, and 22nd overall? If so that's much better, I think 8th in the UK on manual only equates to something like 3000th in the world.

I use my own adaption of a 4-3-3 and my own tactics. Find it easier to play my style.