2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Available Now, Post Your Impressions

[zmcman1]

You can't edit anything other than your head when you first start the mode.

I may have to shelve this game for a while. Form/adjusted ratings seem to be completely broke in offline Road to the World Cup. Despite finishing in first place in both Round 3 and Round 4 of AFC qualifying, boosting guys through training, and the game saying all of my starters were in-form, 9 of my 11 starters dropped from their initial overall rating by a range of 1-7 points. The only two that didn't were my primary striker (who only increased a point) and my GK (whose rating never moved.)

Didn't matter how well they performed, didn't matter what the game designed their form as, their ratings always dropped. Rendered a few of them completely useless.

I actually really enjoy the game on the field, but there's just so many issues scattered everywhere else in the game. It desperately needs a patch.

edit: The issue may be with the downloaded squad updates. I reset the rosters, started a test file with Spain, and simmed a good portion of their calendar. They aren't getting hit with the drastic drops in ratings.

[zmcman1]

Sorry for the double post, but I want to make sure everyone sees this. After running two more separate tests with the USA and Mexico, I've determined that the downloadable squad updates would cause players to inexplicably drop in ratings throughout your Road to the FIFA World Cup playthroughs. Use the game's default rosters. This was tested on the Xbox 360 version (digital copy).

If you don't know how to reset the roster, go to the Main Menu -> Customise -> Reset All Squads at the bottom right.

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to fix the issue with players like Messi/Neymar/Suarez/Falcao etc being placed in the midfield instead of their respective positions.

[dubcity]

It's kind of a shame that the game is so fast and crazy when playing as/against the top teams. Gameplay is way too quick and accurate on higher difficulty. Playing with 1-3 star teams is about as good as the game gets.


Sent from my SCH-I930 using Tapatalk

[fearwhatnow]

Quote: Originally Posted by dubcity

It's kind of a shame that the game is so fast and crazy when playing as/against the top teams. Gameplay is way too quick and accurate on higher difficulty. Playing with 1-3 star teams is about as good as the game gets. Sent from my SCH-I930 using Tapatalk

I've fixed that by tuning certain sliders.
It's funny how the best Fifa imo gets the lowest scores all over the net and it is criticised for gameplay flaws/issues that are worse even on Fifa 14 PS4/XBOne. Ofc I'm one of those who believe that PES 14 represents better the sport of football so I'm the minority surely.
As I've mentioned in a previous post the major problem is the speed but it can be somewhat fixed with the sliders.
There are still issues with teammate AI and cpu build-up play but the improvement is obvious.
Still, the game is far from called a "Sim". Fifa 14 CG is not a sim. Fifa 14 NG is not a sim. PES 14 is not a sim. Unfortunately both football videogames are arcade/semi-sim games that are in need of major overhaul in:
- Team tactics
- Player Individuality
- Ratings/Atrributes
- Stamina
- Cpu/Teammate AI

[dubcity]

Quote: Originally Posted by fearwhatnow

I've fixed that by tuning certain sliders. It's funny how the best Fifa imo gets the lowest scores all over the net and it is criticised for gameplay flaws/issues that are worse even on Fifa 14 PS4/XBOne. Ofc I'm one of those who believe that PES 14 represents better the sport of football so I'm the minority surely. As I've mentioned in a previous post the major problem is the speed but it can be somewhat fixed with the sliders. There are still issues with teammate AI and cpu build-up play but the improvement is obvious.

All I can do is compare it to FIFA 14 on Xbox 360, and it feels twice as fast. Player momentum feels like FIFA 13, and there are way more cheap moments where things go perfectly for the CPU.

[zmcman1]

after starting a new Road to the WC with Latvia and the default rosters, I'm seeing the crazy drops in ratings again. So maybe my previous tests weren't correct, still no idea what the cause could be.

[RunnyEggs]

Quote: Originally Posted by zmcman1

after starting a new Road to the WC with Latvia and the default rosters, I'm seeing the crazy drops in ratings again. So maybe my previous tests weren't correct, still no idea what the cause could be.

Very peculiar, but I'm glad I'm not the only one wondering about ratings drop. I thought it might be my guys just having bad form, but Jermaine Jones (who starts at like a 76) is stuck at 69 just before the World Cup after a couple of man-of-the-match performances.

Very frustrating and puzzling.

Sidebar: Bought the game today and started Road to Brazil with USA. World Class, 5 minutes halves. Enjoying gameplay because I am getting realistic results (except a 1-0 friendly loss to North Korea .... probably started an international incident over that one ). I have scored more than 3 goals twice (4-1 friendly win over Chile and 5-0 stomp of Panama) and conceded more than 3 just once (5-0 loss to Ivory Coast...yeah). Very enjoyable.

My one true complaint right now is a totally minor one: the World Cup draw. I spend hours and hours playing though qualifying and friendlies and training, and the draw is the most anti-climactic thing possible in a game that prides itself in pageantry. There were no pots of teams, teams were selected randomly (most groups were full but Group E had just one team at one point). It was so off-putting I turned the game off. OBVIOUSLY I will keep playing, but this really soured what has been a very fun experience.

I also got sick of listening to Men IN Blazers for 6 hours straight and I couldn't figure out how to switch to EA trax in Road to Brazil mode. Anyone know?

Overall rating right now: 8/10 -- would recommend to international soccer fans who crave that WC experience. I've played the FIFA WC games since 98, and I love 'em all.

[zmcman1]

I'm not sure you can switch the audio selection once you make the initial selection.

The ratings thing is really bothersome, especially playing with some of the lesser teams. The only players that really ever improve are the ones scoring goals consistently.

My overall combined record with Latvia at the moment is 9-4-6, riding a 3 game win streak currently. These are the ratings changes of the guys who started off in my initial starting lineup (GKs never change, so didn't list him)

+8 -> +9 -> +9 -> +9 (Primary ST in the 4-4-1-1, main goal scorer)
-4 -> -4 -> -5 -> -6
-5 (benched) -> DNP -> DNP -> DNP
-5 -> -6 -> -4 -> -4
-6 -> -5 -> -5 -> -5
-6 (benched) -> DNP -> DNP -> DNP
0 -> -2 -> -3 -> -4
-2 -> -4 -> -4 -> -5
-5 -> -7 -> -8 -> -6
-3 -> -2 -> -3 -> -4

edit: I played 2 more games (3-1 and 1-0 Wins), extending my win streak to 5. The numbers after the arrows now represent the new difference from the starting overall. I had three players improve, four decrease, and one remain the same. All players are given Green Arrows on the team management page that would suggest they're in form and shouldn't be dropping.

edit: Number after the second arrow is following another 1-0 win. Four more decreases to one increase. Game still suggests they're all In-Form.

one final edit: Added another set after a 2-1 win, extending my win streak to 7.....and qualifying for the World Cup with Latvia. Four more decreases, one increase. All players still listed with green In-Form arrows.

I'll make a more polished version of this and take pictures of the default starting lineup and one of my current lineup and post them to EA's Bug Reports thread in the morning. I highly doubt this is supposed to be intended considering the squad is now much, much worse than when I started.