FIFA 13 Season Ticket Early Release Impressions

[eyeamg0dly]

Quote: Originally Posted by alabamarob

Played about 5 games on full manual control, and I have not been happy with Fifa 13 so far. My main grip with the game is that there is very little difference between the players on the pitch, no matter the rating. Dribbling, and ball control on this game are too good for poor and average players. The game as a whole has too much dribbling in it, and doesn't resemble what I see when I watch real high level soccer match. CPU Defenders can ping the ball back and forth with one another while under pressure too easily, and every CPU player can dribble the ball around the pitch like they have a 100 dribble rating. Additionally, the first touch difference between good and bad ballhandlers is not pronounced enough, and the overall individuality of each player is non existent. If they could tone down the dribbling, and CPU pass accuracy on this game it would be playable for me. However, the fact that I see very little difference between every player on the pitch, and how each individual player plays/controls is what kills the game for me. There is no reason to even have real all of the licenses, players, ratings, and teams if every game plays out the same way. I have been playing the game on World Class Level.

i think it is the opposite, im not sure what teams or players you have been playing with but it is like night and day difference. pick a lower league team and play against a good club. alot of those guys cannot dribble around the defense at all.

[razorkaos]

im still playing the demo, as i dont have the season ticket. tried it on normal speed, legendary, full manual. its UNPLAYABLE. this game should be called Usain Bolt Soccer, its to damn fast and unrealistic. even on slow, without sliders, the game still plays too fast, i feel like i was playing NHL on grass. And the more i play, more convinced about the non existance of the so called Attacking AI i am. they just increased the frequency of offensive runs and lowered to almost zero the awareness/reactions/anticipation of the defenders. for countless times i saw a player with an open avenue in front of him, and as everyone would do, i just pass into space, like a back shoulder throw in football, so the defender would not get first to the ball even if he was faster than the striker, but guess what, the striker ignores the open space and runs towards the defenders... its nonsense, anyone who played football in real life knows you will not run to the most difficult lane to receive a pass.

as sliders are only allowed when you play offline, and most of the features in fifa are online based, im considering not buying the game.

[JR Ewingston]

How can I earn catalogue credits easy?
Thanks for answers.

[Maxflier]

So last year you got XP for playing Pro Ranked/club matches but not for playing games in Ultimate Team. Now this year it is the opposite....Why don't they just give XP no matter what type of game you are playing?

[Flightwhite24]

Not sure what this does but I just was prompted for a "Patch" My guess its probably stability related. 4mb

[razorkaos]

@FLIGHTWHITE

its probably related to the UT or a patch unlocking some badges and kits for teams that were'nt licensed, but were in the game, as i told before, 3 brazilian teams were licensed in the game on the build shown at E3, and as i heard, people form these clubs are negotiating with EA, so the patch can be related to this.

[Qb]

For reference, thus far I played approximately:

10 Pro Clubs drop-in games
3 Online friendlies 1v1 on slow/manual
5 Offline w/ custom sliders (various half lengths)

Like many, I'm not a fan of the speed of the game, even on slow. What makes it frustrating for me is it's not so much the sheer pace of the players (ie, speed slider), but the lack of inertia/momentum in player movement. Lowering the acceleration slider helps somewhat, but at default settings the dreaded FIFA 'twitchy' uber-responsiveness is there.

However, in my relatively limited offline play, something along the lines of 49spd/47acc on slow game speed seems to be a workable compromise (might be going a little lower in time). I think Kelvin had it right that dramatically lowering spd/acc creates more space, exacerbating the inherent weaknesses of Tactical Defending because defenders cannot move quickly enough to close down. Also, having too large a differential between speed & acceleration makes it too easy to sprint/knock-on past defenders.

Toning down the speed helps the overall pace/flow of the game somewhat, but tightening the lines makes a bigger difference. At default, there's a huge gap between the backline and midfield, even in the final third. Dramatically lowering line length -- I have it at 20 right now -- really helps control the game. I think part of the reason the CPU pushes the ball forward so aggressively is because it has available forward passes, as usually only the backline (and maybe a DM) are behind the ball. If you drop line length it pulls the MFs back, although it does tend to make teams defend deeper overall. This is why I'm not sold on lowering line height much, if at all. If you drop both settings, you won't see much defensive resistance until the ball gets in/around the box.

For the record, I also lowered line width to 30 and (at least for now) have marking at 100. I played several short and one longer match (10') with all of these set, and they were enjoyable. The longer one was Arsenal/Norwich from the live fixtures list, resulting in 1-nil to the Arsenal. I had to move the ball around to break them down, although I could also catch them on the counter with my pace in the right situations. More encouragingly, Norwich moved the ball around fairly well. I had more men back, so they played laterally more often. The shorter lines made for tough going around the box. There are still shortcomings in the defending, but at least for now, I'm creeping towards something I can enjoy.

I know I spent most of this post talking about sliders, but I feel it's necessary to enjoy the offline game. Much like FIFA12, this game isn't all that pleasing to me out-of-the-box when playing the CPU.

Online 1v1 on slow/manual was pretty good, aside from the aforementioned issues with speed. It doesn't feel as stagnant as 12 did; I wasn't yelling at my TV in hopes my teammates would hear me and do something. Altimus and I played three tight matches that had patches of sloppy/combative and more wide open play, depending on our approach and execution. It's too bad there isn't more of a focus on manual controls, as the game simply plays so much better without the assist.

This is particularly evident in Pro Clubs. This falls more on the FIFA user base, but this mode can be fantastic in fleeting moments, yet generally frustrating overall. VP ratings are more reasonable to start and the differences between roles and sizes less pronounced. First touch plays a big part in conjunction with ratings, making for a somewhat slower pace than regular play with good teams. However, this is all undermined by the playing style of the majority; it's predominately get the ball forward as quickly as possible > assisted through ball to striker drifting wide > hopeful cross or failed 1v1 move. Playing as a CDM/CM, I naturally focus on the middle of the pitch... IT'S WIDE OPEN. If people would stop sprinting down the flank to make a simple short pass to the middle, it would open up all kinds of attacking options. On the rare occasion I had some team-oriented players on my side, it was quite a bit of fun. It's just so frustrating to see so many play the game in such a uninteresting manner, but EA makes it all too easy with such heavily-assisted controls.

Overall, I'm much more enthused with 13 after playing the full game. The demo never does much for me due to the short matches. I'd love to see a more deliberate, considered, and tactical approach by default. I'd love to see the CPU manage a game better and more creatively (eg, 4-3-3 to 4-5-1 when leading). But at least I'm now fairly confident I can tweak the game to the point I can enjoy a lengthy career mode, which I haven't touched yet. Hopefully the early positives regarding growth hold true.

And one last thing, unless I missed it, no one mentioned being able to edit players in career mode. We have to buy the option from the catalogue for 2000 credits, but at least it's there. I blew most of my credits from my FIFA12 level before I realized how the system works. But, it will be nice to play dress up with my dolls customize my characters.

[Gnemi]

Whoa, where do you buy this? I'm not aware of a catalog!