|
Re: FIFA 17 Career Mode Features Revealed
Some nice additions there, but I think there's still a few little ways the modes could be improved simply but effectively.
One of the frustrations FIFA Career Mode players have faced is the reality that the mode has become, so often, an afterthought for developers. It takes a backseat, and probably rightfully so from a business perspective, to the FUT model which draws a lot of money. Although the game’s popularity was founded upon a satisfying offline gamer experience, the mode, for the most part, has had few tweaks and as the game is ported from system to system gamers have, frustratingly, lost as many features as have been added. Indeed, many offline Career Mode gamers often just want features back into the game which have been lost in translation.
So when asking for mode improvements we have to keep in mind the limitations of developer priority and, in my opinion, take advantage of existing coding etc. as much as possible. I believe that within the game as it already exists there are a few ways that the EA FIFA team can vastly improve user offline experience by a major change in philosophy rather than a burdensome change in game development.
Customization
Perhaps the simplest way to improve the Career Mode game is to allow greater customization. Customization is an easy answer to so many game issues that plague developers. Issues such as training, player ratings, player progression and decline, player creation all have problems but if EA simply switched editing from OFF to ON a broad variety of players could tend to a broad variety of issues. Allow players global edits, allow players to edit players’ ratings, appearance, access to transfers, global roster controls etc. Simply letting offline players refine the game, as they do with sliders, will increase gamer satisfaction in an impactful way. Perhaps down the line we can speak of roster sharing etc., but immediately allowing gamers to edit in Career Mode is something relatively simple yet a major improvement.
By way of an example, I play Career Mode and manage Canada internationally. I’d love to see EA include the full qualifying but that’s a big add – a simple way to improve my experience would be editing. With such a small pool of players the game auto-generates the same names over and over again and after only a few years it is not uncommon for the Canadian team to be filled with players with the same name and, sometimes, the exact same appearance. Let gamers have access to all of those beautifully rendered faces in the game – why lose those to retirement? Let gamers edit the names with the huge name library so the names are ones that are announced in-game. And let gamers deal with any disagreements they may have with ‘glitches’ for player progression or issues with generated workrates with full editing.
The developers won’t need to create many, if any, new models, new screens etc. It’s all already in the game. Simply allow users to scroll through the faces in the game or edit their own created appearance. And let female models be used in Career Mode, too. It’s 2016 and my daughters still can’t play this game the same way they could if they were my sons. The edit player screens all exist outside the Career Mode – bring them into the mode as well. This would be a change in philosophy for EA who seem firm that gamers play the game a certain way – but a little less ego and more understanding that their market includes players from the ages of 5 to 75 with a wide range of talents and time would improve the overall experience in a significant way with little actual time on their part.
It's exciting to see Madden 17 has full player editing in their career mode this iteration and it would be great to see FIFA follow suit - it's a single feature that addresses multiple issues.
Micro Transactions
If money talks – let offline gamers into the conversation. Although the game has an existing system of game earned rewards etc. the Career Modes have plenty of opportunities for EA to squeeze the customer. Access to alternate kits, job offers, access to features (e.g. editing players, teams, leagues, international, global), could all be time earned or cash now features. I’d wager most offline gamers are the older players, and older players like myself often have more money than time. As much as it pains me to admit it, I’d pay more for more access. I’d complain that it should be included ‘out of the box’ – but frankly, more than once I’ve purchased FIFA for the gameplay and licensing and PES for the tinkering. It’s time for EA to put it all in one place.
Last edited by mcavner; 08-15-2016 at 12:08 AM.
|
08-13-2016, 12:16 PM
