Small changes in the tactics are subtle, but they DO happen. It's just difficult to notice because the player ultimately decides how the team plays. For example, a player might choose the long ball tactic, but still play with short passes. However, your teammates will move accordingly with that tactic, but you can choose to play however you like. People are making the assumption that because they can't see a huge difference in moving a slider a few times then it's not working at all. But they do work, and they have an effect on the player's movements on the field.
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One thing that I am loving about this game is that you never feel cheated playing against the AI. Even on Legendary, the game is the same for both the human and AI side. No longer does the AI have the super human ability to win every ball, and score at will. Granted, I have found that the best difficulty is World Class because the AI on Legendary seems to be way too over aggressive at times, but you still get a fair game. The attributes really do figure in how a player performs more so than in any other football game I have played before.
Also, when the rest of you guys get the game, or for those that have it but are finding that you can keep possession too easily, switch the passing to SEMI or MANUAL. It makes the game SO much better against the AI, and forces you to adjust to certain situations that would be a given when set to ASSISTED, since most passes are on target on that setting. I currently use SEMI on both passing and shooting, and will consider going to full MANUAL soon, although it can be a pain with the PS3 analog stick.
I also got my first online match done, and it was pretty enjoyable. It was Boca Juniors (me) vs Celtic. There wasn't any major lag, although its still best to play someone closer as always. Game ran smoothly without frame rate problems. Also, it's not as easy for cheesers to employ their tactics anymore because the AI is smarter. For example, the guy I was playing tried to shoot several times from the half way line, but the GK was always in position, so it was a wasted possession every time. I ended up winning on penalties after extra time, so it was pretty tense and exciting. I was going to try 10 vs 10, but most of the lobbies were just people trying to play as Man U, to the point that sometimes they would choose them on both sides. Pretty annoying as always.
Lastly, I hope that EA fixes the bug where the players lose track of the ball and become confused. It happens to both human controlled players and the AI, and it can really break the experience in some situations. It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, it's quite annoying. It's weird that this is in the final release because it didn't seem to be present on the demo, so hopefully the community makes an issue of it so that the developers take notice.