YouTube Tutorials ... but Full-Manual and against CPU?

[papinho81]

Re: YouTube Tutorials ... but Full-Manual and against CPU?

OK ... first I have a talking point clip ... about how the game "selects" the "wrong" player ... just watch this short highlight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL0kneezCcI

That pass across the face of goal was absolutely intended for my ST Paloschi who is sprinting forward into the box with an eye for a one-touch shot. Instead, my CDM Willems (who is in an offside position ahead of the play) is the player that the game "thinks" I want to be the recipient, and he is in no position to do anything useful with the otherwise excellent pass from my other ST Wilson. What is the deal with this?!?

That was pretty bad... I have noticed too that offside players tend to "attract" the ball.
I wander if it is not a downside of the "outside player animations". You know when the outside player succeed in whatever he tries ( acrobatic shots ect...).

[jamesbeaver]

Re: YouTube Tutorials ... but Full-Manual and against CPU?

Been playing Fifa 14, and returned to Fifa 16 today to give it a try.

I guess it's not news anymore, but online is probably killing our sport. Fifa 14 is so much better, except for offensive AI. But player control is smoother, gameplay is much more balanced, CPU knows how to press you, even player switching is much more intuitive. I am especially impressed by the fact that on legendary, the defense is solid but offense isn't badly overpowered. The user can, for example, apply pressure on ball carrier with multiple players in a realistic manner, that is, with real results.

The only problem in 14 is the somewhat limited offensive AI, resembling hockey powerplay. That's why I wanted to give 16 another try. And 16 was a bit better coming back, because I remembered some nice defensive tricks playing 14. So maybe I'll play 16 for a while again.

But in 16, twice today after the clock hit 45' I was unable to touch the ball before the CPU scored, with the exception of clearing it for another corner. Now that we've read from EA documents that they've really coded in the 45' sh*t, I am seriously considering dropping CPU acceleration and speed to 0 until I have scored after such an incident.

(I guess I am more prone to these events because of my lower FT.)

[Matt10]

Re: YouTube Tutorials ... but Full-Manual and against CPU?

Im' playing live right now in my Norwich City CM:

http://www.twitch.tv/matt10l

[jamesbeaver]

Re: YouTube Tutorials ... but Full-Manual and against CPU?

I think this season I have posted around half a dozen messages with the contents "now I have nailed the settings for my football season." This is another such message. Believe it if you will.

The only change I made to my earlier settings was an increase of FT from 55 to 60. That seems to interrupt CPU play enough to make the matches much more controllable and realistic. I have now played around 7-8 matches with these settings, most with Blackburn Rovers in my manager career, some with Dortmund in the league. I remember the results of the last four matches: 0-2 win, 1-1 draw, 0-1 loss and 1-0 win. Tight matches. I am particularly happy of that 0-2 win, because keeping a clean sheet away has been pretty hard for me.

I wanted to post the highlights of that last 1-0 match, but the 15 minute clip I saved on PS4 no longer holds an entire half now that I have switched to 15 minute halfs. But here are two screenshots of matches in my BBR career. The CPU still gets a good number of shots - maybe too many, but I am still developing in terms of defending - but with a shot error of 55 anything can and does happen.

Once again I am optimistic. My settings are in my signature. I will post a highlight video some day.

[jamesbeaver]

Re: YouTube Tutorials ... but Full-Manual and against CPU?

Here's my "fixing Fifa" message of the week.

Had some great matches with my previous settings until I played a WC qualifier with Paraguay against Peru in my manager career. In that away match I scored first to make it 0-1. The CPU equalized immediately with a cross that my goalie helpfully scooped into the goal. Great. We soon made it 1-2. The CPU equalized immediately with their next shot, a weak shot that rolled into the goal with my keeper being useless. In addition, the CPU was intercepting my passes left and right, like they tend to do in away matches.

Close program, restart. Again I score first, 0-1. CPU equalized with their second shot. Then 1-2, and equalizer with next shot.

I sat down and breathed deep. Any ideas? I dreamed of my brilliant matches in Fifa 14 against legendary. Suddenly I remembered someone writing here that in Fifa 16 world class is broken, and legendary is better. (Who was it?)

Close program, switch to legendary, restart match, same sliders. I immediately feel that while the CPU is stronger (great defending), they don't feel as cheap. In particular, they don't intercept my passes anymore in an unfair manner. The same feeling gets stronger the more I play. The CPU makes it 1-0 at 50' with a ruthless counter. I equalize with a great goal at 76': a cross to a striker, who makes a short layoff header to a winger. That's it. Shots 12-9 in their favor.

This was the first time ever I was able to "fix" an unbalanced match. I only hope I would have been able to score first.

I play some more, setting an acceleration discrepancy of 51-49 in my favor to counter for the assumed stat boost of the CPU. Great matches, and still the feeling that legendary plays strong but fair, while world class cheats shamelessly. Legendary counters in a literally legendary manner. My current theory is that they made legendary so strong that it doesn't have to cheat. OK, legendary doesn't fix issues like cursor switching (better in 14), but overall I think it's much better that world class. Maybe world class is just broken, like someone said.

More to follow.

[papinho81]

Re: YouTube Tutorials ... but Full-Manual and against CPU?

Hi Jamesbeaver!

interesting post. I never tried World class so I can't really speak for the comparison with Legendary.
I am at the half of my second season playing in Legendary and I can tell you that those games where you feel right from the beginning that you will not be able to win no matter your effort happens in Legendary too. It seems it has a lot to do with the team momentum (players form and happiness). This make sense when you consider your club but probably much less when it comes to international team because players form is not taken into account (at least not visible).
I have also noticed that September/October and January/February are periods during which I struggle much more to obtain positive results. For some reason my team alchemy is poorer and it is a bit frustrating because it feels like I am not play like I used before.
Last and this is possibly an even more flawed theory, I feel like, against average/poor teams the better my starting eleven is, the stronger the CPU opposition is. I used to play FUT on the fifa14 version (that mix between wall street and arcade footy) and the kind of thing happened. With an average team I was more often able to win against players with great teams (not necessarily using the pace and power horses) but started struggling as my teams became very solid against overall less good teams,

Just thoughts

[Matt10]

Re: YouTube Tutorials ... but Full-Manual and against CPU?

If World Class is broken, then I must be delusional, because the games are playing fantastic.

James, I am a bit confused about the interceptions? What does this look like? I never notice the CPU getting more interceptions than me or anything like that?

[jamesbeaver]

Re: YouTube Tutorials ... but Full-Manual and against CPU?

I am at the half of my second season playing in Legendary and I can tell you that those games where you feel right from the beginning that you will not be able to win no matter your effort happens in Legendary too.

No doubt. Can't say that I would be enjoying a winning streak since switching to legendary. However, I feel that the ways in which the CPU takes points from you are different in legendary and world class.

Sometimes - not by any means always, but still way too often - stuff similar to what I described above happens @ world class. On the other hand, one of the World Cup qualifying matches I played against legendary proceeded as follows. I went 2-0 up in first half. In the second half CPU started to take charge. First 2-1 with a devastating counter (loving them). Then 2-2 after a period of strong possession. I felt crushed after those goals, but not cheated. So crushed in a good way. First, the CPU did not score immediately after my goals. Second, I didn't feel that the CPU needed to rig the behavior of my players to score.

When I score at 40' and the CPU scores at 41' with a cross that my keeper fumbles into the goal I feel cheated. Especially when similar events happen in the same match. It's still a good deal of wishful thinking, but I feel legendary does it differently by not cheating me but crushing me, which is perfectly fine by me.

Last and this is possibly an even more flawed theory, I feel like, against average/poor teams the better my starting eleven is, the stronger the CPU opposition is. I used to play FUT on the fifa14 version (that mix between wall street and arcade footy) and the kind of thing happened. With an average team I was more often able to win against players with great teams (not necessarily using the pace and power horses) but started struggling as my teams became very solid against overall less good teams.

This is probably related to the "glory bit" mentioned in the EA document someone posted: the designers have decided that your team can't feel great if the opposition is weaker.

James, I am a bit confused about the interceptions? What does this look like? I never notice the CPU getting more interceptions than me or anything like that?

It's those cases where my receiving player freezes and a CPU player creeps up to steal the ball. You know, those situations where you desperately try to super cancel. Had many such incidents against world class in the match I described above, but none against legendary - in the same match.

Maybe next week I'll think differently, but now it's legendary for me. I want to believe! It doesn't make much sense, except if you assume there is still one employee at EA who is marginally interested in offline: which difficulty level would he be playing at?

[jamesbeaver]

Re: YouTube Tutorials ... but Full-Manual and against CPU?

Been keeping playing against legendary. Not as much as I would have liked to, because other stuff has interfered.

I still think that legendary is superior to world class: tough but fair. I simply haven't seen any cheap rigging by the CPU, like I used to see on a regular basis when playing world class. No doubt legendary rigs player stats, and it can be a formidable opponent at times. But this is by far the best gameplay I have experienced on Fifa 16 for an extended period of time.

I made a little video containing some memorable moments from recent matches in my BBR career. The music in the background is Nova Visão by BNegão & Seletores de Freqüência from the Free Music Archive. I always have music playing in the background during matches.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BdC6_czKSFU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[SpHSpH]

Re: YouTube Tutorials ... but Full-Manual and against CPU?

====
Default sliders except accel 51/49, shot error 55, pass error 58, pass speed 58, injury freq 75, injury sev 35, GK 10, line width 50/45, FTC 60
====

When you say "default" ... do you mean the "Deadline" set? You are giving the HUM the Acceleration advantage (but maintaining a SprintSpeed equality)? And you have PassError @ 58/58 ... same for both sides ... sort of an average between the HUM=55 / CPU=62 from the Deadline set?

GK@10/10 is not too low for you - Matt has commented on how this affects more than just the GK save ability - have you seen any problems with other GK jobs? I know that I have been struggling for goals ... but the last thing I want to do is make it *easier* for the CPU to score if I am still having the same trouble with offense.

FirstTouch@100/100 has been a pretty big talking point in the Sliders discussion ... I am still not sure how I feel about moving away from that extreme ... I *do* like the realism associated with occasional goofs ... but I am also frequently annoyed when a (seemingly) promising move is derailed when one of my players muffs the ball (but ... realism).

[jamesbeaver]

Re: YouTube Tutorials ... but Full-Manual and against CPU?

====
Default sliders except accel 51/49, shot error 55, pass error 58, pass speed 58, injury freq 75, injury sev 35, GK 10, line width 50/45, FTC 60
====

When you say "default" ... do you mean the "Deadline" set?

"Defaults" refers to 50-50. I had to abandon OS slider set because it was unclear which values were making ADD worse.

You are giving the HUM the Acceleration advantage (but maintaining a SprintSpeed equality)?

Yes. Initially I played with acc 50-50. But I think legendary boosts stats, at least I am using it as my excuse for the spread. I am not much of a dribbler, so "bursting" isn't really an issue for me. I am going to get sacked anyway. But if it would get too easy, I would just remove the spread.

And you have PassError @ 58/58 ... same for both sides ... sort of an average between the HUM=55 / CPU=62 from the Deadline set?

Nah, iteration.

GK@10/10 is not too low for you - Matt has commented on how this affects more than just the GK save ability - have you seen any problems with other GK jobs? I know that I have been struggling for goals ... but the last thing I want to do is make it *easier* for the CPU to score if I am still having the same trouble with offense.

You did see some of my misses in that video? Shot error 55 is my effort to maintain sanity.

FirstTouch@100/100 has been a pretty big talking point in the Sliders discussion ... I am still not sure how I feel about moving away from that extreme ... I *do* like the realism associated with occasional goofs ... but I am also frequently annoyed when a (seemingly) promising move is derailed when one of my players muffs the ball (but ... realism).

I simply think 100 is way too much to reproduce professional football. This is a tricky issue, because the implementation of errors is kinda crude in this game.

[Bixer]

Re: YouTube Tutorials ... but Full-Manual and against CPU?

Agreed on 100/100 being way too much.

I know it's realistic to have players make mistakes, but like you say, the implementation of these errors in the game just doesn't come across consistently naturally. Having it as high as that makes some passing moves very realistic looking, but then at other times it'll make your players look as if they're playing with a beach ball. As I've mentioned previously, these are meant to be professional footballers - they will make mistakes, but not quite that many.

I've currently just left it at 50/50 (on full manual) to avoid the headache. Much higher and you get as many unrealistic errors as you do realistic ones (I find, anyway) - which in my opinion is probably just as bad as having too 'few' touch errors.

It's a feature that we've lived without completely for the majority of a decade of playing football games, so if they could get it right then it'd be fantastic, but leaving it on default for now isn't a gamebreaker for me.

[Matt10]

Re: YouTube Tutorials ... but Full-Manual and against CPU?

100 FT is not intended to make mistakes of only touches, it's intended to simulate pressure to perform, proper defensive pressure to regroup, and have the ball become a separate entity, something FIFA has not been able to accomplish yet.

Just thought I'd make that clear while we were on the subject .

[SpHSpH]

Re: YouTube Tutorials ... but Full-Manual and against CPU?

When I score at 40' and the CPU scores at 41' with a cross that my keeper fumbles into the goal I feel cheated. Especially when similar events happen in the same match. It's still a good deal of wishful thinking, but I feel legendary does it differently by not cheating me but crushing me, which is perfectly fine by me.

I have taken to calling this effect the "Instant Goal" because it happens so annoyingly over the past four or five years. I keep a spreadsheet with all the goal scoring info - and it is SO FRUSTRATING to have SWA 34' ... only to be followed by WAT 36' ... grumbles indeed.

However - in FIFA16 - I am not seeing the instant goal as much ... but this is probably because, over the course of a full 38-match EPL season, I only scored 21 total goals ... so not really enough opportunities for the CPU to instant-goal me.

[SpHSpH]

Re: YouTube Tutorials ... but Full-Manual and against CPU?

It's those cases where my receiving player freezes and a CPU player creeps up to steal the ball. You know, those situations where you desperately try to super cancel. Had many such incidents against world class in the match I described above, but none against legendary - in the same match.

And this! Yes this! This only happens to me when I am in the attacking third (which makes it EVEN MORE annoying). But, yes, I will play a pass toward my ST who is a few yards outside the box ... he absolutely has his body between him and the CPU defender who is on his goal-side ... as the pass heads towards my teammate, my ST will "freeze" (or ... "fall asleep") while the CPU defender runs through him and makes a play on the ball.

Of course the CPU defender *should* attempt to intercept the pass - I have no issues with that action. But, and this is key, my ST *should* *also* be interested in receiving this pass ... and he *should* use his original positional advantage (this is why I played the pass to my ST in the first place) to retain possession for my team.

It is really, really a "cheap" feeling to string together a reasonably good build-up, play an attacking-minded pass to a seemingly available teammate, and have the whole thing collapse simply because your teammate made no effort to do a "soccer move". C'mon!