Damn... The love affair is over...

[spit_bubble]

Like a beautiful girl who wows you at first sight, FIFA 09 had me amazed: the way it looked, the way it handled... And then over time it's shallowness set in. My first real foray into an EA Sports "next gen" title had me believing again, that good sports games could still be made. I was ready for a long and heartfelt relationship, but everything has fallen to pieces.

I just couldn't get settled. The game is just too far out of balance... Too schizophrenic... The damned bitch is just too crazy.

It was fun while it lasted I suppose. I've had my heart toyed with before, so there's no real sense of loss. Who knows, I may just be back in the game next year. Call me a sucker, a fiend, an every day John... Just don't judge me like you've never been here before.

[baa7]

Shouldn't kiss and tell. Best to just go gently into that good night and go play Fallout 3 or something.

What's with these all these personal breakup threads? It's an epidemic!

[spit_bubble]

Quote: Originally Posted by baa7

...What's with these all these personal breakup threads? It's an epidemic!

FIFA 09 is a dirty slut.

[baa7]

Quote: Originally Posted by koshi

FIFA 09 is a dirty slut.

Well, I usually get r*ped when I play the CPU, so if it is, it's the kind of dirty slut every man dreams of.

[coffeeholic]

Is it really that bad? I guess you just shouldn't kiss the slut.

[spit_bubble]

Quote: Originally Posted by coffeeholic

Is it really that bad?

No, it's not bad at all. In fact it does many things very well, but it just seems like it's a game that's in the process of. A young vixen trying find her way.

I had some great games, but ultimately could not find a comfort zone. Pro became too easy, and World Class just didn't play like real soccer... And Be A Pro just got boring.

It became abundantly clear that it was just time to let her go. Maybe she'll come back next year a little more grown up, with a little more substance so as to hold people's interest longer. She's got the goods no doubt, but that only goes so far.

[therizing02]

At this point I wish I could delete my "It's Over Thread" because I actually kept the game just so that I can play it for an occasional change of pace.

Great analogy about the girl. I thought the same thing about a week ago. It's like a relationship that's pretty bad and you know you need to end it, but the comfort level is there so you just drag it out and hope things fix themselves.

Over the course of the last week, I've been "in the lab" working to try to get this game to a point where it's a challenge and I'm getting realistic shooting and foul numbers.

I have edited the custom tactics for every team in the EPL, Serie A, La Liga, Bundesliga, Eredivisie, and Ligue One. I refuse to edit player ratings because the editor in FIFA is too cumbersome. Global Editor? Anyone?

I've tried 10, 15, and 20 minute matches on PRO and WC and decided that 10 minutes WC is about as close as I'm going to get to having this game play like I want it to.

If you play too many minutes you get a decent amount of fouls, but a ridiculous number of shots ( I have all of the teams shooting sliders at or below 30, and buildup speed at or below 40). Lower the minutes and the fouls basically disappear. I've edited the CTT so that ALL teams are between 80-90 for Aggression and it helps, but only a little bit.

At 10 minutes on WC, I'm seeing 10-18 shots per game from the CPU and somewhere in the neighborhood of 4-7 total fouls per game. It's a good challenge, because you can't just run up and down the field like you can on PRO and you can't just run up to the CPU and steal the ball whenever you want.

So from that perspective I have the game at a somewhat playable level. Now the problems.

*The delay when switching players was in there last year and it's still there this year. As soon as you hit the switch button, the player you're switching to, always pauses for a split second and sometimes even changes directions! Unacceptable.

*Floating long shots and ball physics. After getting back into PES, I'm realizing that the ball physics in FIFA need a little work. Particularly when he ball is in the air. It floats way too much. The funny thing is that when the ball is passed along the ground, the physics in FIFA are much better than PES. Weird.

*How come the goalies can barely kick the ball to midfield?

*The foul system, while only slightly improved is STILL screwed up. The ratio of cards to fouls is bad. The reason being that the majority of the fouls are the result of poor slide tackles. The developers either haven't figured out or refuse to add the "softer" standing/bumping fouls in the game. This is the reason why I rarely have fouls called on me. I've played games where the CPU had 7 fouls to my 0 and 14 fouls to my 1. If you don't slide tackle, you won't see a lot of fouls. That's ridiculous.

*Keep the damn goalie in the box! I'm starting to agree with BCB that the field is too small. It still virtually impossible to play a ball over the back line or into space and have a winger or striker run on to it. Why? You could in EURO 2008. The majority of the through balls magically go right to the defender(yes, I'm using MANUAL). If you hold the button long enough and the ball goes into the corner or over the back line, the GK will run all the way to the touch line to pick it up. This needs to be fixed. Is there a rating change that would help this and not hurt other areas of GK play? I would change the goalie ratings.

*I cannot stand the fact that you have to control EVERYTHING. It's impossible. The user teammate AI is only SLIGHTLY improved. The only thing I've seen that I like is the auto clearing in the box from my teammates. Other than that, nothing has been done to fix this. Why does a player receiving a pass at times either stand there and wait on the CPU to steal it or back up? Why if I have a player in position to make a play will he just look at the ball and back away from it like it's a hand grenade? How come my player runs parallel to a through ball without changing directions to run on to it? How come if have aggression set at as high as 90 my CPU teammates are not in the proper position or mentality? These are the most annoying things about FIFA 09 IMO. Again, they were ther last year and they still are this year. It needs to be fixed.

*Manager Mode. Seriously. Where's the challenge. Fatigue is broken, the transfer system is a joke. It's just a boring game play mode.

*Be A Pro Season. PES's Become a Legend is so much better and more addicting than Be A Pro Season. It's just a lot deeper than BAP. I never thought I would play it and now I'm a junkie. More on this later, or see the "How's Your Become a Legend..." thread in the PES forum.


*10V10. I refuse to play this mode. Way to unorganized on the pitch. It reminds me of when you drop food into a fish tank and every fish in he tank attacks it. Every player in 10v10 runs to the ball. Add that problem to the fact that game play speed looks like it's on fast forward and I can do without it.

FIFA 09 has reduced itself to kind of a fun almost "arcade" like game to me. If I'm playing BAL legend mode for a couple of hours and want a change of pace, it's time for FIFA. After spending nearly 2 months with the game I'd have to say that it is only slightly improved from last year. The CTT are great, the fouls are "improved", and the collision system isn't bad. Unfortunately, all of the aforementioned HUGE warts outweigh the "addition/improvements".

[Qb]

Quote: Originally Posted by therizing02

*10V10. I refuse to play this mode. Way to unorganized on the pitch. It reminds me of when you drop food into a fish tank and every fish in he tank attacks it. Every player in 10v10 runs to the ball. Add that problem to the fact that game play speed looks like it's on fast forward and I can do without it.

While I agree with all of your points, the 10v10 has been my biggest let down. After a group of us played 08's 5v5 OTP well into August, I really thought we could have some fun with it. But the speed of play is just way too fast for it to be enjoyable and the 5 minute halves don't help either. The disorganized play is on the people playing, not EA, but the ridiculous pace of play is what really killed it for me...


PS - While I also think the analogy is appropriate, let's watch our choice of words, please...