The end of the January transfer window is approaching, we find ourselves in the giddy heights of 4th place, occupying the final Champions League spot, only 6 points separate 2nd to 8th place, it will be a tight run-in, it’s the final countdown as Europe would sing.
Due to busy times with it being Christmas and having lots on, I haven’t had much play time at all recently, squeezing in a few games here and there when I can, I’ve missed playing, and when I have played, I’ve wanted more, and have been sad to turn the PS4 off, testament to how well FIFA 19 is not just holding up, but providing a solid gaming experience, almost 4 season in.
I’m keeping an eye on board trust level, hovering around 70% due to one of my season objectives which is to grow a youth players OVR stats by 10 points, that is difficult to do without playing him regularly, which is not an option as there are many players better than your average youth player, so said objective is still to be accomplished.
I am constantly training and developing my youth and fringe players between matches, and keeping an eye on younger players who are also out on loan, the game provides a good way to keep track of players, see how they are developing and which areas they are gaining stats in.
Tammy Abraham has dropped down to the subs bench, sometimes not even making the match day squad, the 81 OVR rated CF whom I signed pre-season has been one of those anonymous players, a player who never realises his stats-potential, any time he has played I’ve not even really noticed him, he will be one of the players I look to move on pretty sharpish come the summer.
Suarez has also gone off the boil recently, scoring 4 goals in his opening 6 games, but none since, we are 23 games in, he has been involved in most of our goals and links the play up well as he tends to drop a bit deeper into the number 9 hole, rather than playing off the last defenders shoulder, but I expected more goals from him.
EA tweaked the effectiveness of range-shots in the last patch, so taking edge of box pot shots from Suarez are nowhere near as effective now as the shots tend to be charged down and blocked, and his pace at 34 years old isn’t going to see him burst into too much open space.
He did prove pivotal in a recent match against Brighton though, after they levelled very late on in the game, a Suarez dribble earned us a free kick, which he took….
Cracking a fine shot off the crossbar for last seasons top scorer, Damm, to pounce on and put in, nice use of the Goal Line Technology too, really adds depth and immersion to matches.
As I play on broadcast camera, one of the grounds I always love playing at is Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium, the real-life camera angle is replicated with it being a low-down, close to the pitch view, which looks beautiful in-game, I wish this was a selectable camera angle for all matches.
Shown below are the 2 goals from that match in a comfortable 2-0 win, 13 games left, a Carabao cup last 16 match against Spurs coming up and a possible European cup place, everything to play for.
FIFAFX.com 
I like how the game has nerfed your strikers a touch, and especially good that the ageing Suarez is off the boil – that’s exactly how it would be in real life for a top striker going to a lesser club in his twilight seasons.
Never been a fan of the Goal Decision System being in a computer game, for obvious reasons – it really is just a cosmetic addition, and the only sense of immersion that it adds to is the feeling of watching a match on television. That’s what football games do of course – with the camera angles and match commentators and scoreboard graphics etc, they replicate as much of the experience of watching on TV as possible. I suppose we’ll have to wait for full-environment VR to experience ‘true’ immersion – and then I doubt it’ll be a very good game! It’s a great irony that our football gaming is less about the football and more about the TV-style presentation of the football.
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Well When I hit the shot, and saw my player run away celebrating my immediate thought was ‘did that even go in?’ and then to see the Goal decision system show how close it was but that it was rightly given as a goal, added to the moment.
In PES the payer would have just Wheeled away, and you’d have had to stop the game go into the menus and replay mode and zoom in and try to see for yourself what happened, probably all whilst the commentators shriek about how it was an amazing 30 yard drive that left the keeper no chance, when it wasn’t.
So for me, it adds to the game, its realistic, and part of the presentation, I’d rather have these features in the game than a ton of features removed every iteration, and left with a soulless hollow shell in which to just rinse and repeat match after match.
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I’m with you Paul. It’s a logical extension of showing offside decisions with a line across the pitch. The game is always going to get such decisions right, unless a bad call factor is programmed in, but as humans we often have to see things to believe them.
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Absolutely Chris99 – Obviously I knew that as the goal was given, then it was a definite goal as the computer doesn’t get such decisions wrong, its either 1 or 0, goal or no goal, but it was difficult to see what happened in real-time at pace, so the game showing the GDS kick-in and show the goal was just a natural extension to the process, like you said.
I’d consider it more ridiculous that PES doesn’t have yet another fundamental aspect of the sport included, rather than FIFA including something which some see as ‘pointless’.
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Well, I thought I was making a general nerdy point about all football gaming being more of a representation of the TV viewing experience. I forgot that everything has to be framed in the FIFA vs PES adversarial fashion. In which case, PES is better than FIFA, no returns.
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NG – your comment read in the style of ‘another pointless FIFA feature that’s all about presentation’, whether it was or wasn’t, its irrelevant, I was just pointing out that between the 2 games, id rather have the realistic features in, than a game which often leaves out core features.
It doesn’t have to be FIFA vs PES, it could be banana soccer vs street goal kick soccer for all i care, the point still remains, one game has all the presentation, and real life features, real stadia and other components which made it feel like an authentic match day package, and the other, just doesnt, and feels very empty.
in that respect,. not all football games are a representation of the TV viewing experience, as PES, in this case, purely is not, if a TV broadcast was as bland and empty and missing of key things as PES is, no one would watch.
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In no way was my agreement with Paul meant to be part of an us and them debate. You said you thought GDS was not to your liking as it was purely cosmetic. Well you could say that about offside replays, or any replays for that matter. It doesn’t affect what has already happened, and I guess you either embrace it all as part of the immersion or not.
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Paul – I am following a similar path to yourself and am now 3rd and a point behind the leading team (Man Utd) after 16 games. This is thanks to winning 7 of my last 8 matches. I have adopted a flexible 4-1-4-1 formation as dominating the midfield is key to this FIFA. My emphasis is one of not conceding and being hard to beat. I have a strong midfield of Racic, Tom Davis and Dier in the centre and this formation allows me to accommodate all three.
On the point of GDS it is a little bit cosmetic but it does work. To explain why would be like trying to recreate a scene from a comdedy show that you tried to watch the night before.
Also yet another patch dropped last night. This one seems to make the game even better as it has brought a whole host of animations that I haven’t seen on a footy game before, especially with the tackles and challenges. The smoothness between them is very special indeed.
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I meant Tom Davies.
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Darryl – our Careers are loosely mirroring each other it seems.
After a little session last night I’m up to 3rd, after 26 games, Chelsea are top, 13 points ahead, probably no chance of catching them, but cementing a European place now has to be the goal.
January transfer window just passed and I was quite heavily involved, more on that in Thursdays post, but I’ve had to reshape my team as a result.
I also wondered if there had been another patch, as I was noticing more animations, and the game felt a little bit harder, which was good, I’m still using v5 of the OS sliders, I took a look at the latest v6 set but loathe to change anything right now as the game is playing so damn good, leaving me with a smile after every match, even the defeats.
I’ve not enjoyed a footy game in this way for quite some time.
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Paul – I have been doing the same and using V5 and as they played so well I am sticking with that version. If it ain’t broke…….
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Darryl – I never change sliders during a season anyway, and may look at v6 or whatever version its on at the end of the season, I like to do this anyway so that game play feels different for the new season, and I dont get too familiar with the game, and have to try new things.
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