FIFA 15 Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS4, XB1)

[VTPack919]

Re: FIFA 15 Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS4, XB1)

^ THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS.

Why EA? Why did you change something that was simple & easy to use, replacing it with some fancy 3Dish formation view?

Also somewhat related; why for the love of God did EA replace the formation named 4-2-3-1 (and others) and lump it into a 4-5-1? This is so damn unnecessary and confusing.

And to top it off, in FUT you can still assign the traditional 4-2-3-1, but that form doesn't exist in the Team Sheet GUI. Why EA, just why?

I get it that the 4-5-1 has many variations, but I agree with you. Why call them all 4-5-1 and making it harder on us?


Bah.


West Ham or Liverpool for my Career mode? I will ponder this at work all day and fire it up when I get home. My formation will depend on what conclusion I come to there.

[Gnemi]

Re: FIFA 15 Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS4, XB1)

West Ham or Liverpool for my Career mode? I will ponder this at work all day and fire it up when I get home. My formation will depend on what conclusion I come to there.

If current form is any indication, Liverpool may not be in the premier league next year, so go with West Ham!

[mfp]

Re: FIFA 15 Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS4, XB1)

The "player running back towards his own goal" totally depends on the situation and the kind of pass the ST/CF receives. If the marking is tight and the pass is to his feet then he can either use his body to shield it for true hold-up play or, like you say, control it while moving away from goal. If the marking isn't tight maybe the pass plays him into space where he can run onto it. It should be very situational.

IMO, the issue with FIFA in regards to this is with your holding midfielders not actually "holding". They don't build a wall in front of your back 4 like they should and your back 4 is exposed. To compound the issue the marking out of the box is severely lacking. There isn't a manager/coach in the world that would instruct their CB's to allow an attacker to get the ball at the top of the box with no pressure. What ends up happening is your CB's are immediately put under siege and your defense goes into scramble mode. It also decreases the chances of the CPU playing back-passes (and increasing possession %'s) because there are much better options available. I've yet to see many back-passes in this game but saw them more frequently in '14.
I've seen my players, especially Diego Costa, make diagonal runs towards the side touch-line. Maybe it's a player rating thing? Positional awareness?

^^^This. The problem is that the defensive AI is downright terrible at times when it comes to tactical discipline, tracking runs, and basic marking.

It's clear that when they upgraded the attacking AI two years ago, they did not sufficiently upgrade the defensive AI to accomodate. After last year I thought for sure they'd compensate, but instead it's even more attack-oriented and open this year.

It's a shame because the attacking football on show in this game can be pretty awesome. But when it comes so easily and cheaply because of poor defending, it doesn't satisfy like it should.

[VTPack919]

Re: FIFA 15 Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS4, XB1)

If current form is any indication, Liverpool may not be in the premier league next year, so go with West Ham!

That is a fair point, we are a mess as it stands. We are what Tottenham was, sadly.


If I go with the 'ammers, Andy Carroll will be sold with the quickness.

[xicpanad]

Re: FIFA 15 Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS4, XB1)

I think people are complaining more they should. Game is the best in years. It will never be perfect.
About defending, attacking etc, I´m having the best fun I´ve haver had in a soccer game. I know CPU gets easily to the box, but I´m adjusting my way of play to avoid it and I´m quite achieving it. Its a more patient approach. Now I always remind that if I go crazy on the midfield pressing, I will most likely pay for it and to be honest, I think its a great way to make this game better.

[demencia_total]

Re: FIFA 15 Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS4, XB1)

^^^This. The problem is that the defensive AI is downright terrible at times when it comes to tactical discipline, tracking runs, and basic marking.

It's clear that when they upgraded the attacking AI two years ago, they did not sufficiently upgrade the defensive AI to accomodate. After last year I thought for sure they'd compensate, but instead it's even more attack-oriented and open this year.

It's a shame because the attacking football on show in this game can be pretty awesome. But when it comes so easily and cheaply because of poor defending, it doesn't satisfy like it should.

Not only that, but the system doesn't allow you to defend properly even when you have control of the players. The only way to actually stay with a player is to do it manually which is fine, but because of the refinements in the dribbling mechanics, using the Pressure button almost always puts you out of position. So basically, they have upgraded and perfected all the movements with the ball, but defense has been left out in the cold once again. Heck, I seem to get most of my tackles when NOT using either the Pressure and Tackling buttons and just positioning myself to do so.

[KG]

Re: FIFA 15 Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS4, XB1)

I get it that the 4-5-1 has many variations, but I agree with you. Why call them all 4-5-1 and making it harder on us?


Bah.


West Ham or Liverpool for my Career mode? I will ponder this at work all day and fire it up when I get home. My formation will depend on what conclusion I come to there.

If you go with Liverpool will you get caught in trying to replicate them IRL? That & the fact that it's so much easier with a good club always ruins my enjoyment in using Chelsea. Ramires has a poor game IRL & I bench him as punishment for my next FIFA match, lol.

[VTPack919]

Re: FIFA 15 Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS4, XB1)

If you go with Liverpool will you get caught in trying to replicate them IRL? That & the fact that it's so much easier with a good club always ruins my enjoyment in using Chelsea. Ramires has a poor game IRL & I bench him as punishment for my next FIFA match, lol.

Probably so, I am always hesitant to use my favorite club in FIFA because I have a hard time selling players that are on the team IRL, stuck using the same formations BR does, and trying to keep it true to life.


If I pick a random bottom to mid table club it's more challenging and I don't have any issues shaking things up.


Anyone finding free kicks easier this year? I had a hard time with them last year after being ace with them on '13. I think I have made 4 or 5 in 20 or so games. Either way, that, combined with the upped frequency of foul calls adds a lot to this years game.

[IlliniMatt]

Re: FIFA 15 Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS4, XB1)

Anyone else notice that the player name search in career mode is completely broken?

[demencia_total]

Re: FIFA 15 Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS4, XB1)

Anyone else notice that the player name search in career mode is completely broken?

With all this Early Access crap you would think they would catch things like this, but nope. I guess even if they did there wouldn't be enough time to fix it on disk, but at least have a Day 1 patch for it. EA never ceases to amaze me.

[VTPack919]

Re: FIFA 15 Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS4, XB1)

Anyone else notice that the player name search in career mode is completely broken?

Yep, can't quite figure that one out. I thought it may have been that it only searches the countries which you have scouts in; but that wouldn't make any sense at all.

[Inhocmark]

Re: FIFA 15 Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS4, XB1)

I'll preface this by saying that you can always nitpick and find something wrong with a game, EA will ALWAYS err on the side of action vs. simulation in all of their sports games and I'm ultimately willing to overlook minor imperfections and glitches and look at the bigger picture.

The big picture is that the game is a blast. I've found a difficulty and a slider set that I like and have gone on my merry way. So far no two games have really been the same which is awesome. Goals go in different ways and games have felt truly alive. As much as I loved FIFA 14, it almost did not matter who you were playing against, the game would follow usual patterns and have the same rhythm. So far in FIFA 15 I haven't seen it.

I've had games against teams that I'm evenly matched with that have turned into comfortable results based on the timing of goals and the realistic feeling of the tactics. I've had games against teams I should be dominating that I've fallen behind but eventually broken down with a mixture of tactics and substitutions. I'm thrilled

A perfect example of what I'm talking about was in my career with Liverpool. I played Manchester City with a 4-5-1 like formation and tried to find some joy up the right with Markovic. City's strength up their left made it a hard night for the young winger and a strong performance from Hart and a few mistakes at the back by myself and we lost. Two games later in the Champions Cup against Benfica, Markovic had a serious speed advantage over the left sided players for Benfica and ravaged them attack after attack and contributed a goal and two assists in a 3-1 victory. And stuff like this is happening all the time.

The game just feels better. For years now I've got the sense that a lot of the battles on the pitch are pre-ordained. A through ball could only be realistically targeted by one player the AI deemed the target and by the time you forced over a player switch the opportunity is gone. This year the at times chaotic nature of the physics means that an errant through ball can sometimes bounce the right way. When I started to get the feeling that the through ball this year was going to be an area where the result was pre-ordained (ie. the ball seeming to speed up a little and get hoovered up by the keeper) I had an instance where Sterling was able to use his speed to get to the ball moments before the keeper and poke it past him enough that the trailing forward was able to bundle it into the net. It feels unpredictable for the most part.

I'll find stuff wrong with it, I'll eventually see similar patterns emerge and will likely find areas where you're more likely to score...but after 10+ games, they aren't appearing as fast as they did last season and scoring positions have felt organic.

[IlliniMatt]

Re: FIFA 15 Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS4, XB1)

Yep, can't quite figure that one out. I thought it may have been that it only searches the countries which you have scouts in; but that wouldn't make any sense at all.

It screws up players last names. I search "Lampard" and got a guy named Carl Lampard. When I click on him it takes me to some Danish guy named Carl with a completely different last name. Bizarre.

[half-fast]

Re: FIFA 15 Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS4, XB1)

Am I the only one that feels like most of the goals being scored on me are because I can't control the right player? I think whats happening is, I'm getting outplayed in general, and the game thinks the AI deserves a goal, but they still can't score one. The game thinks the AI deserves a goal because of momentum, so they pull this crazy crap on me where there's a huge mix up in which guy I control and the ball goes in because my AI d-man doesnt even attempt to stop the attacker. Knocking it down one difficulty isnt an option as it's far too easy. Just seems very cheap still, regardless of how much better the action looks.

Any tips? Obviously I need to improve in general. I'm a full manual player who is finding it difficult to adapt to passing this year, and as a result can't retain possession as well as I was last year. Also, the new animations and ball dribbling is great, but like others have said already, I think the defense has been left behind. if youre challenging an attacker and try to run to grab the ball off the opposing player, even if it is available for the taking, if you dont run exactly right at it, your player will run straight brushing right by the attacker and not even make an attempt at the ball, and look as if the play has moved far past the opposing player. It's a bit weird, though I can get used to it.

[IlliniMatt]

Re: FIFA 15 Available Now, Post Your Impressions Here (PS4, XB1)

Am I the only one that feels like most of the goals being scored on me are because I can't control the right player? I think whats happening is, I'm getting outplayed in general, but the AI still can't score. The game thinks the AI deserves a goal so they pull this crazy crap on me where there's a huge mix up in which guy I control and the ball goes in because my AI d-man doesnt even attempt to stop the attacker. Knocking it down one difficulty isnt an option as it's far too easy. Just seems very cheap still, regardless of how much better the action looks.

Any tips?

Switching to the right player on defense was a problem for me in 14, and it is again in 15. It's especially tough in frantic situations like you mention. I turned auto switch to air balls so I can decide when to change players for the most part. If you use auto-switch, try setting the move assistance to high.