HELP me w/ FIFA, because I can't tell if the game has problems or if it's just me

[Gotmadskillzson]

Yeah you can. Don't feel bad though I had the game for 2 months before I realized you could do that LOL.

Be careful with the charging of the keeper though. Don't want him to charge outside of the box or else he might end up getting yellow or red carded. Keepers tackle hard when they charge. And also don't want to him to be drawn too far out to one side and be exposed to a cross on the backside of him.

[spit_bubble]

Man... This issue of crappy teammates is becoming a game killer. They expect you to control everything, but then they don't give you the tools to do so. If the ball is around your penalty area, switching players on defense is too much of a crap shoot (edit: And yes, I know you can switch with the right analog too)... And using the 2nd defender button is way too sloppy, whether you hold it down or pulsate... And if you do nothing then you can forget about it.

There's no rhyme or reason to the way this game is made.

It's not just on defense either. On offense the game is pretty much reliant on runs, give and gos, taking it down the wing and crossing it... Or skill moves if you're playing with the PRO camera. Trying to build up an attack is an exercise in futility because:

1. The CPU defense in the midfield area closes down too quickly instead of playing proper positional defense, and when they close down your teammates never move into open areas to help you out...

And 2. There is no real sense of spacing when trying to build an attack, because the animations are too long and lack most of the necessary of subtleties... So when any type up build up does occur, someone inevitably gets out of position and possession is lost.

The result of all this is just up and down arcade soccer, trying really hard to look and feel like real soccer.

Getting old fast... Putting me to sleep...

[Gotmadskillzson]

I suggest you play on the amatuer difficulty settings for a while. Until you get a hang of all the things. Because if you think semi pro is hard, then World Class and Legendary will just blow your socks off.

All I can say is.....PATIENCE. That is the key. Have to do a lot of passing. And sometimes you will have to pass the ball backwards just to get forward at times.

Yeah I know it is frustrating when you try to do a build up and the cpu just sweeps in and steal it from you. Then their build ups seem to come with ease like their super man.

[spit_bubble]

Too late... The game is already dead to me. I gave it an honest effort, but there is no work around for the game's issues... I tried believe me, but it just takes all the air out of the sails to have your teammate all of a sudden turn into a nine year old girl who just stands there wondering if her hair looks pretty.

Considering they're boasting 250 some odd improvements for next year, a majority of the work to be done should go towards: animations, tighter controls, better teammate AI on defense in the box, and better attacking teammate AI in midfield.

They got a lot of work to do.

[demencia_total]

Just wait for 09 or the new PES man, it's not that long a wait anyways. I almost got to that point myself where I was just cursing at the screen like a total idiot in front of my wife. But I decided to give it another try and adjust formations and settings a bit and things aren't as horrible as they used to be. But I know the feeling, it shouldn't have come to this point to be able to get the game to not completely go sour on you, because even after all the patience and tweaks that you can make, there are still things that are inevitable to happen like the horrendous foul calling system and the weird collision detection.

I just basically forgot about pace control almost completely and focused on off speed dribbling, which enables me to go past defenders more easily by going fast, slowing down, then going fast aggressive again. It helps because it fools the AI into thinking that you're going to slow down completely and its specially helpful with slower players. And when they do catch up completely, I try to keep the ball away from them so they cannot steal it, but some times they just go through me and no foul is called, which is highly frustrating.

I just hope that these "250 key improvements" thing isn't just advertising and they actually do fix and reinvent some of the problems that this engine has. It shows A LOT of promise, for the first time in ages a FIFA game surpassed the PES offering (which in my mind was incredibly underwhelming and way too easy) so hopefully it continues in the right direction and it's not just a rehash with prettier graphics and different rosters.

[spit_bubble]

^ Wanting to play some true football on my PS3 I actually went out and bought PES2008 today. I've only played a few games but it already feels like what I am looking for... Strangely though, I've run into a glitch a few times that's worse than the FIFA issues...

I was playing with fixed cursor (the poor man's Be a Pro ) and a couple of times my CPU controlled defender actually stood there like he was stuck to the ground and watched the ball as the attacker came up and took the ball... And the 2nd defender help button did nothing.

Goodness, combine this glitch with the game's other very obvious shortcomings and it's pretty clear PES has a ways to go as well... But when the game flows it's buttery smooth... The controls are responsive, build ups happen realistically... Much more satisfying to me.

Soccer games this generation got me amped more than any other sports games... Looking forward to see how they develop.

[Gotmadskillzson]

I am really amazed it is taking so long to develop. While looking for something in the closet I came across Fifa World Cup 2002. I decided to pop it in and see if it would play. Amazingly it played.

Now sure those graphics look like crap by todays standard. However they kept the tricks simple back then. Tap one button for a step over, tap it twice for a double step over, press turbo and that same button for a drag and back move.

Not only that, they had air play control system. Which is something I wish FIFA never got rid of. On there you could do really cool moves by a press of 4 buttons total. One button controlled the left foot, one controlled the right foot, one controlled the left thigh and one controlled the right thigh.

You could just juggle the ball to yourself in the air and use that to either do a fancy pass out of it, fancy shot off it or simpley dribble pass the defender after you wowed them with your moves.

Not only that....they made shot fakes, fake passes and give n go moves done with ease. Only required the use of a trigger button and either the pass or shot button pressed along with it.

Plus they used the trigger buttons to curve your shots.

Made me scratch my head in disbelief and say to myself, how the hell in 6 years did they go from easy trick moves, curved shots, etc to complicated stuff done with the right stick ?

[demencia_total]

Quote: Originally Posted by koshi

^ Wanting to play some true football on my PS3 I actually went out and bought PES2008 today. I've only played a few games but it already feels like what I am looking for... Strangely though, I've run into a glitch a few times that's worse than the FIFA issues... I was playing with fixed cursor (the poor man's Be a Pro ) and a couple of times my CPU controlled defender actually stood there like he was stuck to the ground and watched the ball as the attacker came up and took the ball... And the 2nd defender help button did nothing. Goodness, combine this glitch with the game's other very obvious shortcomings and it's pretty clear PES has a ways to go as well... But when the game flows it's buttery smooth... The controls are responsive, build ups happen realistically... Much more satisfying to me. Soccer games this generation got me amped more than any other sports games... Looking forward to see how they develop.

I had PES 08 since release on the PC and at first I was really happy with it, the game seemed more responsive than previous years and as you said, flowed really well, I even posted some impressions here. That is, until I got to like the 15th game played and realized that the AI is complete rubbish.

Add to that that if you think that FIFA 08 has collision detection problems, in PES you can dribble through people with the better players as if nothing was in front of you without pulling out a single dribbling trick and go straight to goal. The AI also never keeps possession for much, I averaged like 65%+ possession on the hardest difficulty after a few games and averaged like 4-5 goals a game on 10 minute halves, which is absolutely ridiculous. I finished a few Master Leagues without losing one game and that's quite a lot to say because you can't simulate, so I had to play them all.

Then I got FIFA, and while it has obvious irritating problems, I can at least have competitive games on Legendary and rarely do I go over the 4 goal mark, unless of course, I play as Barcelona (my favorite club in real life, but it's absurd how they are practically invincible in the game when considering how much they sucked last and this year).

Currently I am playing as R.C. Celta Vigo in the spanish league because I decided to bring a team up from second division and I've had quite a few competitive games in 08. What sucks is that it's not hard at all to build a great team out of nothing because it's so easy to buy and scout players and the other teams in manager mode just seem to have no logic to their moves. Add to that the fact that they do not EVER start substitutes, so when they have a heavy schedule they come into the game completely fatigued and an easy victory for me. Usually I restart manager mode without saving and simulate that game to get a more realistic score, but its incredibly annoying. But at least I can play more balanced games than in PES, even with all the mods I had for it, the global stat editor and other stuff it just wasn't a challenge, period. For that you would have to go online, which was impossible at that time cuz online was practically broken and unplayable.