Gaming Football Manager 2023

ben_united

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Ronaldo top scorer in the league first 2 years in a row then retires. Offered him a player/assistant manager contract which he accepted then retired anyway :lol:
 

SilentWitness

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I've played about an hour total since the beta.
I've managed a full season but it was really meh and didn't grip me. Regret buying it, not nearly enough progress made on last year.
 

Solius

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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I've managed a full season but it was really meh and didn't grip me. Regret buying it, not nearly enough progress made on last year.
Yeah I really regret buying it and I'm wondering if there's a threshold of playtime where you're allowed a refund.
 

Santos J

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Yeah I really regret buying it and I'm wondering if there's a threshold of playtime where you're allowed a refund.
If it's through Steam then it's less than 2 weeks since purchase and less than 2 hours play time
 

sullydnl

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Anyone else struggling to get into this version? :(
Yeah, regret buying it as well. There's nothing particulary wrong with it, it's just too similar to the previous version to generate any renewed interest.

Lesson learned. Don't buy new editions unless I hear they've actually made it better.
 

vangagal

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Buy it on discount so not that much hurt but still feeling underwhelmed by this version. I think "xg yada yada" generation ruin this one, not so much about actual match engine plays but more about useles feature like squad planner, xg this xg that, data hub(never used it), etc.
SI need a competitor badly to kick their arse.
 

SilentWitness

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Buy it on discount so not that much hurt but still feeling underwhelmed by this version. I think "xg yada yada" generation ruin this one, not so much about actual match engine plays but more about useles feature like squad planner, xg this xg that, data hub(never used it), etc.
SI need a competitor badly to kick their arse.
Yep, but I don't think the interest is there with FM as there is with Fifa that it will happen. Will be a shame as I've already stopped playing Fifa...don't want to have no football game to turn to but perhaps the licence breakdown with EA and Fifa will help that side of things too. We will see.
 

NoLogo

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I can't remember why I joined this war.
So I installed the game with Xbox game pass and have to say it's probably the way forward for me from now on, the game vanishes from the library once the next season game comes out but I think I can live with that, I had the game pass anyway so no extra cost on that end and for the lack of improvement this series gets I really don't see me paying full price for it again.

Also just encountered an annoying bug/rule in the game. Harry Kane is actually going to leave Tottenham at the end of his contract and PSG have offered him a contract, I tried the same but no such luck, I can't offer him a contract, only make a transfer offer... for a player that will be out of contract at the end of the season and Levy is asking for €118M... what? I guess at least they matched his real life personality well. "I want €118M for Kane." "But he will be out of contract in 3 months, I'm not paying anything." "No, €118M or he goes to PSG on a free." "But you don't have a say in this." "I don't care, 118M, pay up cnut." :lol:
 

SilentWitness

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So I installed the game with Xbox game pass and have to say it's probably the way forward for me from now on, the game vanishes from the library once the next season game comes out but I think I can live with that, I had the game pass anyway so no extra cost on that end and for the lack of improvement this series gets I really don't see me paying full price for it again.

Also just encountered an annoying bug/rule in the game. Harry Kane is actually going to leave Tottenham at the end of his contract and PSG have offered him a contract, I tried the same but no such luck, I can't offer him a contract, only make a transfer offer... for a player that will be out of contract at the end of the season and Levy is asking for €118M... what? I guess at least they matched his real life personality well. "I want €118M for Kane." "But he will be out of contract in 3 months, I'm not paying anything." "No, €118M or he goes to PSG on a free." "But you don't have a say in this." "I don't care, 118M, pay up cnut." :lol:
Are you a prem team? I thought prem teams couldn’t enter free signing negotiations with other prem players?
 

sullydnl

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If nothing else I'm learning how the new CL format will work.
 

Red Star One

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If nothing else I'm learning how the new CL format will work.
I came to this thread to write how much I like it - it really makes every game count and the group stage feels so intense. To make top8 is great, but also the knock outs for teams 9-24 means there are no longer meaningless matches. Only problem I had was that some teams really had much easier fixtures in these initial 8 league games, but UEFA was mafia and will stay mafia so it only adds to charm. It's an enjoyable format and I'm looking forward to it.

 

SirAF

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Getting closer it seems, albeit slow as a turtle…
 

bosnian_red

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10 years into my career. Won the PL with Sheffield United, league and CL with Napoli, World Cup with Brazil, treble with Newcastle and now United's job became available so I'm pulling the ultimate scum move. Selling off all my assets at Newcastle and buying United's older players while waiting for my job offer from United :lol:
 

Igor Drefljak

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10 years into my career. Won the PL with Sheffield United, league and CL with Napoli, World Cup with Brazil, treble with Newcastle and now United's job became available so I'm pulling the ultimate scum move. Selling off all my assets at Newcastle and buying United's older players while waiting for my job offer from United :lol:
If you managed all them achievements, why even do this?
 

bosnian_red

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If you managed all them achievements, why even do this?
Because the squad building by AI's is horrible and while I had a great squad at Newcastle, id rather still just manage United... So after a couple rebuilds it just becomes tedious to do the full rebuild. Really I'm just going to start a new United save but waiting for the January update, otherwise Ronaldo is stuck in your team.
 

Ludens the Red

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Best match engine so far, absolutely love it. Probably the first FM where your team instructions and tactics are so clearly defined in the match engine.
I’ve only done one full season at club level so can’t judge the rest of the game but there doesn’t seem to be much change from last year.
I do like the data additions like final third passes etc. not sure what exactly the approaching agent first angle adds either. It warns you about approaching to sign without speaking to the agent but doesn’t make a difference to anything really.
They need to sort out the loan system, clubs making unreasonable wage demands and demanding a player plays in an exact role. The feck is the point of this.
 

André Dominguez

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Buy it on discount so not that much hurt but still feeling underwhelmed by this version. I think "xg yada yada" generation ruin this one, not so much about actual match engine plays but more about useles feature like squad planner, xg this xg that, data hub(never used it), etc.
SI need a competitor badly to kick their arse.
Those are just tools to give a hand, you probably don't necessarily need to fully use them. For me Squad Planner will be a great feature, I used to rely on Calc/Excel sheets to keep a track report on my squad evolution, checking how well my youth players are getting and keep track on transfer prospects.

I do think building tactics has actually become more simple and clear over the years. If you pick an old FM version like FM10, the tactical design UI was much more confusing and it let you give contradictory instructions to your players.

But the match engine is still the best on the market, specially if you compare it to the "simulators" like PES or FIFA where teamwork behaviour is piss poor on their match engines, making it unplayable for someone like me (even though they have better graphics).

There are other manager simulators but they don't get anywhere near FM.
 

Red Star One

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It's also becoming easier, I feel. I've spent thousands of hours playing all FMs and many CMs before, maybe it's me being lazy / just quite decent in this game now but last few editions I pretty much always use very similar tactics, be it Premier League or Spanish third division, and usually succeed a little bit too easily at times. Sometimes it felt like you could play just one tactic, not tweak anything, and still win leagues and trophies with a squad not necessarily better than AI. They don't adapt to your play style at all and you don't adapt to their so much.
Training could be developed too. It's very simple and both individual and even more so team training feel like there's much more you could do - choosing patterns of play, preparing for specific teams and their game approach, etc.

But I still love it to the bits for the match engine and the experience, the level of player detail, player development. At the end of the day it's arguably the best sports manager series and it's the only title I buy year in year out for so many years. No other game gave me so many emotions and it was so many times I'd shout at my laptop on the plane, in a cafeteria or just in the house in front of my family :lol:
 

bosnian_red

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Best match engine so far, absolutely love it. Probably the first FM where your team instructions and tactics are so clearly defined in the match engine.
I’ve only done one full season at club level so can’t judge the rest of the game but there doesn’t seem to be much change from last year.
I do like the data additions like final third passes etc. not sure what exactly the approaching agent first angle adds either. It warns you about approaching to sign without speaking to the agent but doesn’t make a difference to anything really.
They need to sort out the loan system, clubs making unreasonable wage demands and demanding a player plays in an exact role. The feck is the point of this.
In terms of the rest of the game, it's definitely a let down. Transfers are either stupidly expensive, or weirdly cheap to get youngsters... Squad building for the AI is horrible. Pretty much a few years in and everyone's average squad age would be 28/29 years old, everyone spends huge money on 29 year olds constantly, everyone ignores wonder kids, etc, 10 years in, the only players in the Goal 50 list who are regens are on teams that I managed, the rest are all just real players.
 

Ludens the Red

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In terms of the rest of the game, it's definitely a let down. Transfers are either stupidly expensive, or weirdly cheap to get youngsters... Squad building for the AI is horrible. Pretty much a few years in and everyone's average squad age would be 28/29 years old, everyone spends huge money on 29 year olds constantly, everyone ignores wonder kids, etc, 10 years in, the only players in the Goal 50 list who are regens are on teams that I managed, the rest are all just real players.
I feel like this has been an issue for years and SI haven’t really done anything to tweak it. So presumably teams are still spending 90 million on third choice strikers etc?
 

vangagal

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Those are just tools to give a hand, you probably don't necessarily need to fully use them. For me Squad Planner will be a great feature, I used to rely on Calc/Excel sheets to keep a track report on my squad evolution, checking how well my youth players are getting and keep track on transfer prospects.

I do think building tactics has actually become more simple and clear over the years. If you pick an old FM version like FM10, the tactical design UI was much more confusing and it let you give contradictory instructions to your players.

But the match engine is still the best on the market, specially if you compare it to the "simulators" like PES or FIFA where teamwork behaviour is piss poor on their match engines, making it unplayable for someone like me (even though they have better graphics).

There are other manager simulators but they don't get anywhere near FM.
For managing big leagues club, sure squad planning worth it, but for managing lower leagues it doesnt mean anything. You can only go by year on year contract basis and squad planner mean jackshit anyway. Circumstances change depend on your place on the league to get decent players. Scout would be more important if that the case. At least this year scout format is better than last for me.

You compare FM to FIFA or PES which basically different kind of genre anyway.

I feel like this has been an issue for years and SI haven’t really done anything to tweak it. So presumably teams are still spending 90 million on third choice strikers etc?
Same like the last edition on my save, this edition United has a poor squad building too. They have Onana, DDG, Henderson, some random 4th choice GK on the books. And James Justin, Laird, Dalot, Dodo, Shaw, Malacia, AWB.
I mean, how many GK and FB you need anyway.
 

crossy1686

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Anyone else struggling to get into this version? :(
They get worse every year. I actually went back and played 2019 with the latest league and player updates. Much better experience.

For some reason, every new addition adds more admin. Press conferences, signing conferences, tunnel interviews, job interviews, meetings about tactics, meetings with players, meetings with staff, meetings with scouts, budget discussions, emails from scouts watching players on loan, loan reports from your own players, assigning which coaches to take which aspects of training, meetings about individual training etc.. Then after all that shite you put up with PSG offer big money for one of your players and they want to leave which upsets everyone.

I remember when it was a game and not a work simulator. Just let me manage a team, sign players and staff, and feck around with tactics please. Automate everything else.
 

Carl

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They get worse every year. I actually went back and played 2019 with the latest league and player updates. Much better experience.

For some reason, every new addition adds more admin. Press conferences, signing conferences, tunnel interviews, job interviews, meetings about tactics, meetings with players, meetings with staff, meetings with scouts, budget discussions, emails from scouts watching players on loan, loan reports from your own players, assigning which coaches to take which aspects of training, meetings about individual training etc.. Then after all that shite you put up with PSG offer big money for one of your players and they want to leave which upsets everyone.

I remember when it was a game and not a work simulator. Just let me manage a team, sign players and staff, and feck around with tactics please. Automate everything else.
You need FM Touch by the sound of it. That's what I play because there's none of the nonsense admin. Sign players, pick your team and tactic. That's it.
 

crossy1686

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You need FM Touch by the sound of it. That's what I play because there's none of the nonsense admin. Sign players, pick your team and tactic. That's it.
Ive played that also but they strip out too much from that game. Every player develops to their maximum potential just by playing, I want some realism but I don't want to sit in meetings all day either.
 

André Dominguez

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For managing big leagues club, sure squad planning worth it, but for managing lower leagues it doesnt mean anything. You can only go by year on year contract basis and squad planner mean jackshit anyway. Circumstances change depend on your place on the league to get decent players. Scout would be more important if that the case. At least this year scout format is better than last for me.

You compare FM to FIFA or PES which basically different kind of genre anyway.
Different genre, but you can compare the match engines, they are football games. And you can try the other manager simulators on the market just to realize they don't get near.

Not defending FM, is clearly not a perfect game and has a good share of not so important and time consuming tasks and interactions, but the truth is they still don't have decent competition. CM was completely out of depth when they tried to compete with their "son", and mobile manager games are a complete void of joy.

EA had the FIFA Manager, that was good for a more casual gaming, but in terms of being a simulator it was also far from FM, despite having better graphics and having some interesting features (though most of them you can have them already at FM).

LLM is extremely time consuming, I agree that no squad planner will save you because once the player starts doing well he will force his exit 90% of the times, or some players will simply not renew, etc.
 

do.ob

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Different genre, but you can compare the match engines, they are football games. And you can try the other manager simulators on the market just to realize they don't get near.

Not defending FM, is clearly not a perfect game and has a good share of not so important and time consuming tasks and interactions, but the truth is they still don't have decent competition. CM was completely out of depth when they tried to compete with their "son", and mobile manager games are a complete void of joy.

EA had the FIFA Manager, that was good for a more casual gaming, but in terms of being a simulator it was also far from FM, despite having better graphics and having some interesting features (though most of them you can have them already at FM).

LLM is extremely time consuming, I agree that no squad planner will save you because once the player starts doing well he will force his exit 90% of the times, or some players will simply not renew, etc.
It's still apples and oranges. The ME of FIFA is balanced around players actively controlling players, that completely changes how CPU controlled players need to behave, e.g. they actively dumb down defenders to make the game play more palatable to humans. FM's ME wouldn't be nearly the same in that setting either.

And in general the game has a good ME, but aside from the occasional new role they just keep layering more mindless busy work into the game.
 

Red Star One

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Same like the last edition on my save, this edition United has a poor squad building too. They have Onana, DDG, Henderson, some random 4th choice GK on the books. And James Justin, Laird, Dalot, Dodo, Shaw, Malacia, AWB.
I mean, how many GK and FB you need anyway.
Truth be told, up until last year it was quite a realistic model for how our transfer business was done so you have to praise AI for being as clueless as Woodward and co.
 

André Dominguez

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It's still apples and oranges. The ME of FIFA is balanced around players actively controlling players, that completely changes how CPU controlled players need to behave, e.g. they actively dumb down defenders to make the game play more palatable to humans. FM's ME wouldn't be nearly the same in that setting either.

And in general the game has a good ME, but aside from the occasional new role they just keep layering more mindless busy work into the game.
I understand that one intends to simulate management and other simulate the action of controlling footballers, but they both advertise themselves as being football simulators. The bold part is pretty a terrible decision, and that is even more terrible when you see how poor does your team behaves as a unit.

I read a lot of people say "you have to position the players 1 by 1 defending", but if the same logic was applied to attacking people would be rioting EA forums (they already do now, but it would be a bigger scale :D )
 

do.ob

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I understand that one intends to simulate management and other simulate the action of controlling footballers, but they both advertise themselves as being football simulators. The bold part is pretty a terrible decision, and that is even more terrible when you see how poor does your team behaves as a unit.

I read a lot of people say "you have to position the players 1 by 1 defending", but if the same logic was applied to attacking people would be rioting EA forums (they already do now, but it would be a bigger scale :D )
They made it that way, because before that people were letting the AI defend for them and that's not what a player vs player game should be about. The idea of simulating football 100% accurately already goes out of the window, when you're trying to cram 90+ minutes of football into 6 minute games.
So this whole argument is pretty nonsensical. Who would want to play a game where teams can park the bus as well as those in real life? Or where teams will put you under relentless pressing pressure automatically?
If FIFA was supposed to be played CPU vs CPU the game would look drastically different.
 

André Dominguez

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They made it that way, because before that people were letting the AI defend for them and that's not what a player vs player game should be about. The idea of simulating football 100% accurately already goes out of the window, when you're trying to cram 90+ minutes of football into 6 minute games.
So this whole argument is pretty nonsensical. Who would want to play a game where teams can park the bus as well as those in real life? Or where teams will put you under relentless pressing pressure automatically?
If FIFA was supposed to be played CPU vs CPU the game would look drastically different.
The AI will always have glitches, and this doesn't shock me that much. No matter how good the AI was programmed our brain will find the patterns and exploit the weaknesses, and those who rely too much on assistance for defending will fail after a few months.

The pressure part I totally agree that the AI should be a bit more passive, having played football I recognize pressing triggers when they happen, all I would ask was that the players should at least be disciplined on their positioning so I can make a much better and organized block.

Those games as they are now they simple have little appeal to me, it makes me cringe to see so many football players completely out of position and that don't event try to occupy space properly or cut passing lanes. This never happens, not even at 2.Bundesliga level :p . But as I said, for someone who prefers a more casual gaming experience, FIFA will be their wet dreams come true: it has good graphics, great animations and the game is designed to favour fast-paced players and spectacular moves, which makes it more appealing to the masses. And I don't blame them, why change a winning formula?
 

Abraxas

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Really struggling to get a solid defence, third season with Sunderland in the Prem. Upgraded my defenders last summer and still more holes than Swiss cheese back there.

The highlight being 4-1 down to Wolves with 10 men, fighting back to 4-4, only to concede a fifth last kick of the game. Had to laugh really but was very frustrating.

Scoring for fun, at least. Tresoldi even keeping Moukoko out of the team, which is surprising me.
 

Hughes35

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I've only played FM touch since 2016. Got a laptop for Christmas so have bought this...... Not used to such a big game. Will take some getting used to !