Soccer ummm Football question from a newbie

[Grinder12000]

I was NOT a Soccer/Football fan until I watched Welcome to Wrexham. NOW - I want to learn more and more.

I'm thinking of getting a used FIFA game just to check it out - for a person that knows very little except the basics - will I be Gob smacked (is that the right term? LOL) and it will be meaningless? I'm more into watching then being a thumb jockey.

Comments Opinions? Best games to learn the game?

[tinpanalley]

Re: Soccer ummm Football question from a newbie

I was NOT a Soccer/Football fan until I watched Welcome to Wrexham. NOW - I want to learn more and more.

I'm thinking of getting a used FIFA game just to check it out - for a person that knows very little except the basics - will I be Gob smacked (is that the right term? LOL) and it will be meaningless? I'm more into watching then being a thumb jockey.

Comments Opinions? Best games to learn the game?

If recentness of rosters really doesn't matter to you at all and you won't be bothered by teams or uniforms being out of date, then honestly you can get any FIFA or PES you want. The reasons particular FIFA or PES games will be "better" than others will be things you are unlikely to be bothered by or notice at this point. So, playing the best FIFA or PES is only relevant if you have a better understanding of what video game football should look like. I mean, stay away from "Mario Football" type games but honestly you can play whatever you want. FIFA, however is more likely to give you a bit of a break on the pitch because PES tends to put a lot more strategy and management in your hands than you may know what to do with right now. Also the system you're playing may limit your options anyway.

[Grinder12000]

Re: Soccer ummm Football question from a newbie

LOL. Thanks. pS4. We have a place that sells used games so I think they have FIFA for the last decade. Yea. I don’t know ONE PLAYER AND ONLY Wrexham for teams. So those details would go over my head.

Is there like a manager only mode? We have watched 4 Premere games this weekend. I really enjoy this sport the more I watch. I think it might catch on in the rest of the world. :-)

[tinpanalley]

Re: Soccer ummm Football question from a newbie

LOL. Thanks. pS4. We have a place that sells used games so I think they have FIFA for the last decade. Yea. I don’t know ONE PLAYER AND ONLY Wrexham for teams. So those details would go over my head.

Is there like a manager only mode? We have watched 4 Premere games this weekend. I really enjoy this sport the more I watch. I think it might catch on in the rest of the world. :-)

You need to focus on finding something you can connect to with football because it's played all over the world. So, true fans of the sport will watch it at any level but do keep in mind that Wrexham is like watching A ball, or Division 2 College. It's become popular because it's NOT a top tier team. It's very far from Premier League and likely will never get up that high. I would try to watch something local to where you are to help you get into the mechanics of the sport. So, find the MLS team closest to you if you're in the states so you can have that home team motivation for watching.
As far as game features, a quick search of any FIFA or PES title will give you all the features, leagues, etc that came with that game.

[Grinder12000]

Re: Soccer ummm Football question from a newbie

Yea - just like Hockey in Wisconsin nothing close and local sports news its not a thing. We have Forward Madison but ODDLY I'm not interested in in American Soccer. I know Wrexham moved up but yea - NOW it's in "A" ball.

There are ZERO American televised games in Wisconsin - only Premiere League on weekends for watching. I find European Football leagues FASCINATING.

[tinpanalley]

Re: Soccer ummm Football question from a newbie

Yea - just like Hockey in Wisconsin nothing close and local sports news its not a thing. We have Forward Madison but ODDLY I'm not interested in in American Soccer. I know Wrexham moved up but yea - NOW it's in "A" ball.

There are ZERO American televised games in Wisconsin - only Premiere League on weekends for watching. I find European Football leagues FASCINATING.

You can get into the Premier League if that interests you. There are lots of other leagues in Europe though, the UK just has the most easily sold one in the US. Here in Canada people tend to be into Western European leagues as well as the Premier League. Also, football being the same game globally, people tend to get into the sport and specific teams rather than following an entire specific league. But you can do as you please. A friend of mine in Toronto recently asked how to get into football and I told him the best thing to do, which I think would be the best thing for you as well, is to start by watching the Champions League and the Europa League. That will expose you to a healthy dose of the best of Europe from which you can pinpoint a handful of teams you find interesting.

[Grinder12000]

Re: Soccer ummm Football question from a newbie

Since FIFA does not have a coach mode which is what I'm looking for - BASICALLY I just want to watch a team I SORT of Control. Can eFootball do 90% of the inner workings of management? Since I know almost nothing about European Football?

That way I can ease my way into the sport learning as I go. I can watch any REAL game I want but it's nice to dabble in the virtual world.

[Grinder12000]

Re: Soccer ummm Football question from a newbie

Since FIFA does not have a coach mode which is what I'm looking for - BASICALLY I just want to watch a team I SORT of Control. Can eFootball do 90% of the inner workings of management? Since I know almost nothing about European Football?

That way I can ease my way into the sport learning as I go.

[tinpanalley]

Re: Soccer ummm Football question from a newbie

Since FIFA does not have a coach mode which is what I'm looking for - BASICALLY I just want to watch a team I SORT of Control. Can eFootball do 90% of the inner workings of management? Since I know almost nothing about European Football?

That way I can ease my way into the sport learning as I go. I can watch any REAL game I want but it's nice to dabble in the virtual world.

eFootball, or what most of us just call PES, isnt something you go to to get less control. You play PES because you want to have more refined control of what your team does, particularly in franchise or career mode.
If you want to really just watch a team, you'd be better off playing a sim management game like Football Manager. The problem with that is that it's going to require really working every aspect of management. You can play a more streamlined game with no decisions, but it's sort of like buying a Formula 1 car to go get groceries. It'll work, but you're not using it for what it's intended.

There was a brief period around 2009-10 when every sports game developer made some kind of manager type game but with full graphics but the trend died quickly as people just weren't into that enough who like a full graphic sim and sim management people already had their super intricate game with less graphics they already liked, so the sliver of a market that wanted this kind off game (like you) didn't have enough sales behind it to justify the games being produced.

I would say, you're going to have to either only do CPU vs CPU exhibition matches or just find a way to actually play the game itself. Maybe on the easiest level. You may be able to do a coach career in FIFA but you may still have to play, I don't know how that works. The only thing you need to be aware of though, is that even if you COULD play a coach only mode in career, you're still going to be forced to deal with LOTS of things that are management level. You can't just ignore those unless you don't care what the outcome of your season is which starts to make it pointless to play a career mode to begin with.