FIFA 09 Demo Available, Impressions Here

[calcutta]

Quote: Originally Posted by BrianFifaFan

Did you manually use the LB to switch to the man as the ball was in the air or let the auto switch do it?

As soon as i pressed the lob pass button my cursor auto-switched to the guy on the sideline who was NOT the intended receiver. I pressed LB asap to switch to the intended receiver, who had already ran away from the area, and by the time i had control of him, the opposition player had pretty much retrieved the now loose ball.

[BrianFifaFan]

Quote: Originally Posted by calcutta

As soon as i pressed the lob pass button my cursor auto-switched to the guy on the sideline who was NOT the intended receiver. I pressed LB asap to switch to the intended receiver, who had already ran away from the area, and by the time i had control of him, the opposition player had pretty much retrieved the now loose ball.

That kind sucks. I've never really tried a lob over guys, I'm normally a "line of sight" passer. Very conservative. Well, you played 08 with it's non-existant through balls. You said you put the player switching to slow, right? When it was on default on 08 it seemed to always switch either too fast to the wrong guy or I'd be fighting to beat it to the punch with the LB. Slow switching did wonders for me. And you are on manual passing? I'm wondering if the RS will let you switch guys while the ball is out of possession. I can't try it out right now. Maybe that'll work.... I'll grant that the switching logic is half-********. I just adjust my game to cover for it........ Brian

[mdbussen]

Quote: Originally Posted by P2K

You dudes are curling it too much. After experimenting all morning and just scoring now, I found out why the massive curves. I was putting the ball just outside/left the penalty area and then trying it 10 feet and sometimes a little more outside/left the penalty area. You get massive curling because you are pushing the L stick too far to the left on the top spin. That's when the ball switches directions like you're using the Force on it. I, then, tried it from the same spots but pushing the L stick way close to the top. And then in between. The curl lessened dramatically. And That is when I was way more accurate with my free kicks. So next time, guys...don't push it too far to the left (or right, depending on your player's foot or which way you want to kick). Results will happen.

Errrr... the point is that it is physically impossible to curl a ball on a freekick that much with any kind of control. It's not that I CAN'T produce an accurate freekick; it's just that I SHOULDN'T be able to curl the ball as much as I am able to with any given player. It's unrealistic.

[calcutta]

Quote: Originally Posted by BrianFifaFan

That kind sucks. I've never really tried a lob over guys, I'm normally a "line of sight" passer. Very conservative. Well, you played 08 with it's non-existant through balls. You said you put the player switching to slow, right? When it was on default on 08 it seemed to always switch either too fast to the wrong guy or I'd be fighting to beat it to the punch with the LB. Slow switching did wonders for me. And you are on manual passing? I'm wondering if the RS will let you switch guys while the ball is out of possession. I can't try it out right now. Maybe that'll work.... I'll grant that the switching logic is half-********. I just adjust my game to cover for it........ Brian

All my controller settings are on Manual, except for shooting which is on Semi. My player switching slider is one click from the left. It happens on grounded passes too occasionally (the cursor automatically switches to a player who is further away from the ball than the intended receiver) but in those cases its easy too switch manually to the receiver and collect the pass, since there is usually no opposing player around.

---

One thing i'm enjoying is that i've had quite a few breakaways which is something i rarely had in any previous FIFAs against the CPU. I'm getting at least 1-2 clear breaks on goal during each game of the demo, so i can expect even more in the full game when i'll be playing my usual 8-10 minute halves. And this is playing on Pro too. I've just gotta start putting these chances away...

Has anyone noticed if central defenders come up in the box for corners by default, or if there are certain settings you have to change to make that happen? Looking through the settings that avilable to us in the demo , and those tactics which are greyed out, i don't think any of them would have a direct influence on calling certain players up for corners...I think one time playing as Real Madrid both Pepe and Sergio Ramos came up (it was difficult to tell, but i went to Replay mode and pressed RB to change targets and these two came straight after i targeted Casillas in goal as players in the box, so i'm assuming it was them) but when playing as Chelsea i noticed both Terry and Carvalho were still at the half way line.

I was really hoping FIFA would steal and even build upon PES's "Players to bring up option" so we can manually select players to be in the box. By 'build upon' i mean that i'd be keen to see other options like choosing who to stay back at the halfway, and being able to select as many players to brings up as possible, not just 3 choices like PES 08.

[P2K]

I'm not blown away by this demo like I was in the EURO 08 demo. I was gushing over the EURO 08 demo, only to be made a fool by the retail version being nothing like it at all. But this demo is satisfying, nonetheless.

What I don't like is that I thought when the CPU was going to build up their offense, it meant they were going to actually jockey the ball up the field or maybe even stop with the ball, sometimes lob pass, pass around their back four, etc. Got none of that. Nope. Instead, I saw pass the ball up the field as fast as you can from the CPU. Even when I gave pressure...didn't matter. Still got dribbled around. And it's like FIFA 08 again...CPU gets the ball in the middle near the penalty area and gets pressured...what does he do? He dribbles the ball ALLLLLLLLLLLL the way over to the flanks and finds a way to cross it!

FIFA 08 again. Never see the CPU overlap. Never see the CPU take its time up the field. They run with their head down, dribble around and when they get pressured, they wither find a way to dribble around you OR they run and pass it off. There is no slow build up...there is always fast build up. And the CPU, for whatever reason, still has this sick fascination with get the ball up the flanks every other time up the field. Why is that??? And my defense never, ever, EVER covers them . I have to do it. This sucks.

Now, I guess I should be happy as hell because the CPU actually does pass the ball back and build up an attack. Because that never happened in FIFA 08. And I should be happy that the CPU does take more variety shot from the middle of the field, which is very welcomed.

And the custom tactics work. Early crosses into the penalty area from the CPU and so on. Cool.

World class on this is, as always, impossible. Had to set it to intermediate and slow gameplay. Which was fine. I was comfy with that.

I'm with Jrod. The controls took a step back. Sloppier play for both human and CPU is fine. But the controls are like...they just don't feel right. And passing the ball to a player and not being able to switch to him is REALLY annoying. What the hell is going on there??? It's like the game has no clue who you are passing the ball to, so it just gives up your right of choosing who is going to take the ball.

Fouls are WAY better. I likes.

I probably have more, but it's late and my brains are fried.

I like the demo. YES, I do like this demo lol. On intermediate and slow gameplay. I'm just not soiling myself over it like I did with the EURO 08 demo, which was perfect.

Maybe this is a good sign. EURO demo was perfect, yet we didn't get the same game when the retail came out. So, maybe with this demo not being crack coke for 4 minutes, the retail will actually be better. Hopefully. Don't want to be burned again.

[P2K]

Quote: Originally Posted by mdbussen

Errrr... the point is that it is physically impossible to curl a ball on a freekick that much with any kind of control. It's not that I CAN'T produce an accurate freekick; it's just that I SHOULDN'T be able to curl the ball as much as I am able to with any given player. It's unrealistic.

Understood.

[BrianFifaFan]

Quote: Originally Posted by calcutta

All my controller settings are on Manual, except for shooting which is on Semi. My player switching slider is one click from the left. It happens on grounded passes too occasionally (the cursor automatically switches to a player who is further away from the ball than the intended receiver) but in those cases its easy too switch manually to the receiver and collect the pass, since there is usually no opposing player around. --- One thing i'm enjoying is that i've had quite a few breakaways which is something i rarely had in any previous FIFAs against the CPU. I'm getting at least 1-2 clear breaks on goal during each game of the demo, so i can expect even more in the full game when i'll be playing my usual 8-10 minute halves. And this is playing on Pro too. I've just gotta start putting these chances away... Has anyone noticed if central defenders come up in the box for corners by default, or if there are certain settings you have to change to make that happen? Looking through the settings that avilable to us in the demo , and those tactics which are greyed out, i don't think any of them would have a direct influence on calling certain players up for corners...I think one time playing as Real Madrid both Pepe and Sergio Ramos came up (it was difficult to tell, but i went to Replay mode and pressed RB to change targets and these two came straight after i targeted Casillas in goal as players in the box, so i'm assuming it was them) but when playing as Chelsea i noticed both Terry and Carvalho were still at the half way line. I was really hoping FIFA would steal and even build upon PES's "Players to bring up option" so we can manually select players to be in the box. By 'build upon' i mean that i'd be keen to see other options like choosing who to stay back at the halfway, and being able to select as many players to brings up as possible, not just 3 choices like PES 08.

I miss how Fifa used to have the "off the ball" control. Now you just hit the RB and the game selects the closest man for a run. What I'd like to see is you hold the RB and it gives you the four closest guys with an icon above them like the basketball passing icons. You then hit the button and use the right stick to tell them in which direction to go. Release the RB and pass. Much more intuitive and gives a depth of control and variety in attacking options. I will say that the old "off the ball" control was very clunky and hard to pull off. I think the style I mentioned fits more in with the way the game controls now.

[Vince]

Quote: Originally Posted by BrianFifaFan

I miss how Fifa used to have the "off the ball" control. Now you just hit the RB and the game selects the closest man for a run. What I'd like to see is you hold the RB and it gives you the four closest guys with an icon above them like the basketball passing icons. You then hit the button and use the right stick to tell them in which direction to go. Release the RB and pass. Much more intuitive and gives a depth of control and variety in attacking options. I will say that the old "off the ball" control was very clunky and hard to pull off. I think the style I mentioned fits more in with the way the game controls now.

Have you played PES on the Wii?

The passing gives you so many options. It's really a true lead/area passing.

It's hard as **** though.