First Look at FIFA Soccer 14

[Yeats]

As for the new Variable Dribble Touches, it’s basically an extension of the First Touch Control that was introduced in FIFA 13, only now it also applies to when a player is dribbling on the run.

Speaking of which, the team has also made Tactical Defending just a touch easier by lessening the risk in tackling.

Year after year EA gets away with this nonsense. They spend a week tweaking player ratings and then market it as some amazing new feature. Want to see greater variance in players' ability to maintain ball control? Want to make it easier (as in realistic) to tackle CPU players? Raise/lower players' ball control, strength and balance ratings. THAT'S IT, that's all it takes. I've spent hundreds of hours editing and modding FIFA the past couple of years and believe me, that's all half these new features are about: tweaking player ratings and slider effectiveness.

I see what EA is up to here. They're going to spend as little time/money as possible and release a final current-gen version of FIFA, and rake in millions in sales as usual. Then around the January tranfer period, they'll no doubt release their first next-gen version of FIFA and rake in even more millions. And they'll market their next-gen game by sharing with us how limited and obsolete their current game engine is, and how it had become impossible to improve the game any further except by... wait for it... making minor tweaks to the gameplay.

[Semipro91]

The Main thing I hope is fixed are the AI players when playing online via Pro Clubs. Too many times have I watched thunder touches and terrible passes made by the AI. Sure its not as bad if a user plays as an ANY but thats not what this game mode is about. It would be nice if me and a couple teammates can play locked into a position and not have to worry about the AI losing the game for us. The AI defensive work that you mentioned, hoepfully that translate to Online as well?

[Semipro91]

Quote: Originally Posted by Yeats

As for the new Variable Dribble Touches, it’s basically an extension of the First Touch Control that was introduced in FIFA 13, only now it also applies to when a player is dribbling on the run. Speaking of which, the team has also made Tactical Defending just a touch easier by lessening the risk in tackling. Year after year EA gets away with this nonsense. They spend a week tweaking player ratings and then market it as some amazing new feature. Want to see greater variance in players' ability to maintain ball control? Want to make it easier (as in realistic) to tackle CPU players? Raise/lower players' ball control, strength and balance ratings. THAT'S IT, that's all it takes. I've spent hundreds of hours editing and modding FIFA the past couple of years and believe me, that's all half these new features are about: tweaking player ratings and slider effectiveness. I see what EA is up to here. They're going to spend as little time/money as possible and release a final current-gen version of FIFA, and rake in millions in sales as usual. Then around the January tranfer period, they'll no doubt release their first next-gen version of FIFA and rake in even more millions. And they'll market their next-gen game by sharing with us how limited and obsolete their current game engine is, and how it had become impossible to improve the game any further except by... wait for it... making minor tweaks to the gameplay.

WOW. SPOT ON!

[woody2goody]

There are a lot of cynical comments here, and I can understand some of them, however I really feel that the changes outlined in the article are the ones that FIFA has really needed to improve on over the years.

AI defending has always been placid, which has allowed players to (unless they make a mistake) pass the ball forward to the strikers and wingers with little problem. The defensive changes mentioned are what the game has been crying out for.

So has improved midfield play. It's sometimes too difficult to pass through the middle, and they can balance the middle out in two ways here: Better defensive AI will hopefully mean the end of days where there are none of your midfielders anywhere near the ball, and allow you to put pressure on it earlier, creating more 50-50 balls and tackling opportunities. Likewise 'Protecting the ball' will allow you more options in the middle of the park, so in a nutshell you will have less time to do more with the ball!

The dribbling changes sound good as I actually think the faster players are still fairly sluggish dribbling-wise, and if they can improve the defenders at the same time then we should get a balanced experience.

My main gripe (even though there are sliders to tweak the gameplay) is the CPU attacking AI. AI teams need to be less perfect and less aggressive. In FIFA 13, the AI will (90% of the time) find the player that's unmarked with a ground pass. Even though you can adjust pass error, the probl;em is not the completing of the passes, but the 'vision' aspect.

A couple of years ago the devs were saying how Cesc Fabregas could find better passes than mediocre passers of the ball with lower vision. So EA needs to really concentrate on making these ratings really matter when the CPU is playing. The AI rarely plays the ball long to the strikers for instance, and rarely is susceptible to slide tackles even on lower difficulty levels.

The long and short of it is, I'd like the attacking AI to try things more like the human players do, but be less perfect in making decisions.

For instance, I was playing as Arsenal against Wimbledon the other day, and for a league 2 team they had Zidane-like passing and vision for the most part. In real life, lesser players are still capable of brilliance, just less frequently.

Before I finish my essay, I have to say the new menus look great, a big improvement. I hope they add Pro Evo's drag and drop formations (so much easier and less time consuming than FIFA's current system) screen and proper letters/numbers on shirts for all leagues.

[Yeats]

Quote: Originally Posted by woody2goody

There are a lot of cynical comments here, and I can understand some of them, however I really feel that the changes outlined in the article are the ones that FIFA has really needed to improve on over the years.

You made some valid observations, but I completely disagree with you here. Once again, all EA is really doing re-tweaking a few ratings and lines of code, to make it easier for online gamers to dribble and score goals as Messi or Ronaldo. They are not fixing what actually needs fixing.

The core User-CPU gameplay has been broken for a decade. I love FIFA 13, but default FIFA gameplay in no way, shape or form resembles real football. Here are a couple of screens of a real football match. Notice the number of attacking players in the box versus the number of defenders who have come back to help. In particular, note players' proximity to each other and how they're fighting for position.



Now take a look at default FIFA. Notice how the attacking/User team has 2-3 players on the attack, that’s it. Meanwhile the rest of the team stands about, stretched all the way back to the midfield line and into their own end of the pitch. Same thing with the defending-CPU team: a max of 3-4 players come back to the box to defend while the rest of the team are spread about the pitch, twiddling their jockstraps and completely out of the play. The default gameplay is intentionally designed this way, not to simulate real football, but to make it easy to score goals, period.



Finally, here’s an example of how a simulation-intended FIFA looks and plays after some heavy editing. You can see the User team now has several players on the attack, while their back line of defenders has moved up and are ready to help out. Meanwhile, the CPU team has flooded their box with players who have come back to help defend, making it extremely difficult for the User team to find an open space let alone get a shot on goal. This is the sort of complete gameplay overhaul EA could have and should have been working towards the past 10 years. Tweaking dribbling and tackling skills yet again is about the last thing this game needs.

[woody2goody]

Quote: Originally Posted by Yeats

You made some valid observations, but I completely disagree with you here. Once again, all EA is really doing re-tweaking a few ratings and lines of code, to make it easier for online gamers to dribble and score goals as Messi or Ronaldo. They are not fixing what actually needs fixing. The core User-CPU gameplay has been broken for a decade. I love FIFA 13, but default FIFA gameplay in no way, shape or form resembles real football. Here are a couple of screens of a real football match. Notice the number of attacking players in the box versus the number of defenders who have come back to help. In particular, note players' proximity to each other, and how they're bunched together and fighting for position. Now take a look at default FIFA. Notice how the attacking/User team has 2-3 players on the attack, that’s it. Meanwhile the rest of the team stands about, stretched all the way back to the midfield line and into their own end of the pitch. Same thing with the defending-CPU team: a max of 3-4 players come back to the box to defend while the rest of the team are spread about the pitch, twiddling their jockstraps and completely out of the play. The default gameplay is intentionally designed this way, not to simulate real football, but to make it easy to score goals, period. Finally, here’s an example of how a simulation-intended FIFA looks and plays after some heavy editing. You can see the User team now has several players on the attack, while their back line of defenders has moved up and are ready to help out. Meanwhile, the CPU team has flooded their end and box with players who have come back to help defend, making it extremely difficult for the User team to find an open space let alone get a shot on goal. This is the sort of complete gameplay overhaul EA could have and should have been working towards the past 10 years. Tweaking dribbling and tackling skills yet again is about the last thing this game needs.

Some good illustrations there.

I do think however that the defensive AI modifications are being done to help this very thing though.

I've played Pro Evo pretty much exclusively until this year, and I've always felt that they have nailed player positioning.

EA look to be addressing those problems and that's what my post was getting at. I'm not denying there are some fairly big flaws with the gameplay, but I have to applaud the effort to rectify them.

With the changes to dribbling and shooting, these are necessary ones. Dribbling on FIFA, while nicely animated and fairly realistic, has always felt cumbersome for instance.

The addition of sprint turns is something you see regularly in real matches. And couples with the defensive AI changes (if done properly) the game shouldn't be unbalanced, but the user should have more weapons at their disposal when attacking, and they will be going against defenders who are smarter and better positioned in order to stop them.

Online is a big part of FIFA, but I don't think online play is driving their gameplay direction when creating a football simulation.

As a player who plays 80% offline, I'd much rather they improved this aspect, and the changes they have outlined are the first in a long time that make 100% sense.

[Yeats]

Quote: Originally Posted by woody2goody

I do think however that the defensive AI modifications are being done to help this very thing though. I've played Pro Evo pretty much exclusively until this year, and I've always felt that they have nailed player positioning.

Defensive modifications are always welcome. But the real issue is the default game coding only allows for your 4 defenders to come back to help you defend. Whereas you should be able to command 8-9 teammates to come back to your box, to block CPU passing and shooting lanes. Adding defensive modifications to the game as it plays now is a bit like fixing a leaky sink by placing a fancy-looking pail under the drainpipe.

I fiddled with the PES 2013 demo for a couple of weeks. You're correct in that PES doesn't have the same positioning issues, not to the degree FIFA does anyway. Still, I prefer FIFA even with its issues. But I don't read anything in this preview that tells me the core game is going to play any different than it has since 2005 or so.

[woody2goody]

Quote: Originally Posted by Yeats

Defensive modifications are always welcome. But the real issue is the default game coding only allows for your 4 defenders to come back to help you defend. Whereas you should be able to command 8-9 teammates to come back to your box, to block CPU passing and shooting lanes. It's a bit like fixing a leaky sink by placing a fancy-looking pail under the drainpipe. I fiddled with the PES 2013 demo for a couple of weeks. You're correct in that PES doesn't have the same positioning issues, not to the degree FIFA does anyway. Still, I prefer FIFA even with its issues. But I don't read anything in this preview that tells me the core game is going to be any different than it has been since 2005 or so.

I agree with you that FIFA is a more complete game even with its quirks.

Let's hope that 'defensive AI' means the whole team. They did say that the AI would adapt to different situations, so I'm more optimistic than in previous years.

It's great that we can have an in-depth discussion, so thanks for your input