PING: Quiksand

[Senator]

I noticed you got burned (along with others) a little on CM4. I remember reading you were going to hold off on CM03/04.

Just noticed the latest dynasty you have going, (which is a great read) is a CM03/04.

So, does the game past muster? I am almost to the point of getting it or waiting for SI's next/first offering FM2005.

Public post as I am sure others would like to hear the respected comments of the resident genius/robot.

See you in the IHOF Bowl,

Senator

[Fritz]

and your butt is of dubious size

[cthomer5000]

See you in the IHOF Bowl,
You'll be lucky if you even make it to see *me* in the playoffs. ;)

[RPI-Fan]

I have a question, much along the same lines - what specific things didn't you like about CM4, and which of those have been improved upon in 03/04 (and which ones haven't).

Thanks!

[Chubby]

You'll be lucky if you even make it to see *me* in the playoffs. ;)

how are all your injured players going to even win a game in the IHOF playoffs? :p

[Senator]

for the love of God, don't threadjack this thread. I am trying to get an answer out of HAL.

[3ric]

HAL: I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.
Dave Bowman: What's the problem?
HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.

[Desnudo]

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/%7Efof/forums/showthread.php?t=20652&highlight=03%2F04

[QuikSand]

The link just above probably covers things in a much better fashion than I could.

I played CM4, and got a fair degree of enjoyment out of it. However, my game ended up with an irresolvable crash about three seasons in, where all the prior season stats for players became unavailable. I could play on, but that took the steam out of my effort, I'll be candid. (That and the insistence that the game would receive no further patches, even though its last patch added new problems) There were some other specificl bugs - some of which affected me, some not - but all told it just felt like an unfinished product.

So far, with CM 03/04, things are better. The forwards still dominate the scoring (which was, I understand, a comon complaint with CM4) but it doesn't seem to be quite as severe (though that may just be my impression).

CM4 had absolutely no print function - the new game does. It has options to print to a printer, a text file, or a web page. I have yet to try the web output - though some here have done so. (I use teh Sideline screen, which renders those formattings pretty unreadable) I am glad to the see the text file option, though I'm less than thrilled with the output (lots of pointless "formatting" for a text dump). Plus, the print function isn't always available - meaning there are plenty of places where I still have to key in a lot of things that I might want to share as part of a dynasty thread.

I have a pretty capable computer, and am only running the game with a medium database. This reduces, I understand, the number of players out there in the game universe. My game still runs pretty slowly - I frequently have 60 seconds or more between stages of doing anything - so I keep a second function of some sort on hand to kill time. If the game weren't so fundamentally sound, this would probably be frustrating enough to turn me off completely.

Anyway - so far, so good. The 2D game viewer is a huge advance in the immersion factor, I think -- much mroe so than I would have imagined. But that draws me in, especially, since I know fairly little about real futbol tactics.

I'm enjoying the game a lot - it's slow, the print function is half a loaf - but I'm already getting my money's worth out of it.

[Senator]

Thanks. If I can ask, where did you purchase it?

[QuikSand]

I ordered through gogamer.com

[Buccaneer]

The 2D game viewer is a huge advance in the immersion factor, I think -- much mroe so than I would have imagined. But that draws me in, especially, since I know fairly little about real futbol tactics.
Graphics? Immersion? Hmmm.....

[QuikSand]

Graphics? Immersion? Hmmm.....

Well, I'd say that it makes some difference to me, since I really don't know a whole lot about the spoort in reality.

On my current team, though, I have come to appreciate the differences in two of my better players through seeing them play in the 2D engine.

Mario Dadic, my left winger, is like a basketball point guard... he handles the ball well on the perimeter, he can advance it either toward the goal or toward the forward edge, and then he lets go some beautiful passes either to players right in the goal area, or else a bit behind for a longer shot.

Ben Cross, my right winger, is a totally different player. His style is to penetrate, to slash to the goal. If he is bringing the ball forward, he will most likely put a move on his defender in an attempt to drive toward the goal for a close-up shot. Sometimes he will pass off if contested, but generally, he pops inn a shot when he can, and the strikers can be there to pick up rebound opportunities.

After the season wears on, in previous versions of the game, I might look at their ratings and see them as essentially the same player - both are effective, both put up good ratings, Cross gets a few more goals, Dadic more assists. But when I can watch them, I get a sense that my offensive formation is pretty structured -- and as a result, I have placed my best striker onto the left side, to better take advantage of Dadic's setup plays -- which has worked out very well.


I suspect, Bucc, that you are snidely suggesting that this runs counter to something I have argued previously about text sim games. That may be so, I suppose.

Would a game like FOF benefit from even a rudimentary depiction of game action like this? I have no idea... I already have a pretty good sense of how football works, but it's certainly possible that a visual model might give me a better sense in similar ways -- which of my receivers are speed merchants looking for the big hit, which are toug possession guys going over the middle -- that sort of thing.

[Buccaneer]

Not even something as complex as 2D animated graphics but perhaps other visual items that can help others become more immersed in a game. Just a passing comment not really directed at you but fully understanding where you are coming from. Some folks don't have the knowledge of football details as you or other hardcores but if Marc felt it was a good thing to add graphics for a wildly popular soccer game to add to the immersion, then it can't be a bad thing.

[QuikSand]

Fair enough. I agree. Immersion is good, however we get there, pretty much.

[Senator]

I went ahead and just ordered it. God knows when I will play, but I expect to be doing alot of traveling in the coming months, so I am going to get a top level laptop and put it on there for the long flights. Quiks dynasty thread reads like a book, "The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro" type read. I had to get it.
This fall, I have made a verbal commitment to play in an "over 30" soccer league, so I guess I should at least learn the game.