EA FC 25 Patch Analysis: Breaking Down the Biggest Potential Wins

[Steve_OS]

Let's set the scene. It's January, nearly five months after EA FC 25's release, and like...

Written By: Kevin Groves

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[LoadStar81]

It must be said that the biggest losers with this patch, are Player Career players, who STILL aren't getting the full match intros that EA PROMISED would be back this year. That they're back for every other mode, is not just irrelevant, it's an insult. That said:

My Player Career striker no longer has to all but scream at the backs, repeatedly, to get them to pass the ball forward. Small sample size, but so far, I have yet to suffer the grind of watching back pass, d-to-d, back pass, d-to-d, back pass, d-to-d, before ultimately screaming, a la JW Pepper in The Man With the Golden Gun, "The goal, is THIS way!"

The midfielders actually pass it forward, unprompted, when there's a passing lane. I nearly fell out of my chair when that happened the first time. Earlier, I'd have to call for it, practically every time, even if there was a lane so wide you could drive a Class A RV through it. With slideouts fully deployed, no less.

One AI teammate, actually attempted a first touch shot when I passed him the ball across the box. I just about dropped my controller when it did that! I was double teamed and looking for an outlet, and I nearly ended up getting an assist. The shot went wide, but still, didn't see THAT before.

So then my character gets back from an international friendly, and...wait, there's no nasty-gram from the manager in his Inbox? Well, glory be!

All told, it's not as bad on the pitch as I expected.

The missing match intros, tho...

[dubcity]

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at the "we want you to control more on defense, and rely less on the AI to defend," part. I get that online players are mostly pricks/cowards who would cheat against their own grandma to win a meaningless game, but what type of nonsense are they up to that requires the game to continue to be dumbed down?

AI teammates should be intelligent and realistic both in how they position themselves and how they react to opposing players. I do not want to go back to FIFA 21 era defending, which to me completely broke the game on single player.

[Therebelyell626]

Quote: Originally Posted by dubcity

I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry at the "we want you to control more on defense, and rely less on the AI to defend," part. I get that online players are mostly pricks/cowards who would cheat against their own grandma to win a meaningless game, but what type of nonsense are they up to that requires the game to continue to be dumbed down? AI teammates should be intelligent and realistic both in how they position themselves and how they react to opposing players. I do not want to go back to FIFA 21 era defending, which to me completely broke the game on single player.

The reason they felt it “needed” to be dumbed down was because (from what I gathered from Reddit which a large portion of the UT players frequent) UT players were just setting their line height to 95 and their AI defenders would immediately just pressure the ball carrier automatically stealing the ball without the user having to do anything. The problem with this is that this is a patch that will be greatly “needed” for UT players who have teams full of world class players that would make 2010’s Real Madrid blush.But for us manager career players just using regular mid table to low table teams this is going to make covering the AI an absolute chore. They really need to figure out a way to tune game modes separately. But UT players are natural born whiners. They just can’t help it. I give the under at two weeks before online guys figure out how to abuse the dumbed down defense, and they are all on Reddit complaining that their AI doesn’t help them out and that they can’t manually guard all 10 players in the pitch.

[MiracleMet718]

Quote: Originally Posted by Therebelyell626

The reason they felt it “needed” to be dumbed down was because (from what I gathered from Reddit which a large portion of the UT players frequent) UT players were just setting their line height to 95 and their AI defenders would immediately just pressure the ball carrier automatically stealing the ball without the user having to do anything. The problem with this is that this is a patch that will be greatly “needed” for UT players who have teams full of world class players that would make 2010’s Real Madrid blush.But for us manager career players just using regular mid table to low table teams this is going to make covering the AI an absolute chore. They really need to figure out a way to tune game modes separately. But UT players are natural born whiners. They just can’t help it. I give the under at two weeks before online guys figure out how to abuse the dumbed down defense, and they are all on Reddit complaining that their AI doesn’t help them out and that they can’t manually guard all 10 players in the pitch.

This wouldn’t be an issue if people were allowed to play proper football and pass around to break down defenses. EA has instead decided to commit to making sprinting and 1v1s the best way to play and reward the players that play that way. I have decent stick skills, but I stopped playing FUT because I hate playing that way just to get a win. You used to be able to pass around and control possession to break down defenses, but that is not anywhere near as effective as it should be anymore.