It’s been a busy time of late, certain life commitments, hot weather, work being done on the house, work commitments etc means I’ve barely had any gaming time, as a result I’m only a part way into season 7, however season 7 has begun, and on Legendary level.
I felt it was time to move up from world class as last season saw us win the Europe league, reach the Carabao Cup final and finish 4th in the league, another level of challenge was needed.
I also reset the gameplay back to FIFA default, 50/50 across the board with the exception of pass and shot error, at 54 for both user and CPU and an increased injury frequency but less severity.
It wasn’t that the OS sliders were bad, great in fact, I just wanted a new style, sense and feel of gameplay for Legendary, variety is the spice of life, plus the added layer of gameplay difficulty that the FIFER mod brings. 
Legendary has been a struggle. Its what I was looking for but the AI seriously kicks your ass. Teams are faster, stronger and play some mesmerising football, I’ve suffered drubbings at the hands of Arsenal. Lost at Burnley and was absolutely fisted in the UEFA Super Cup final by Juventus, 5-0, easily the toughest match I’ve ever played on a pixelated football game, I just couldn’t get near them and the AI was passing and dribbling around me for fun.
As the table above shows, just under a third of the way into season 7, and already 12 points off the top, Man Utd and Liverpool are formidable, I can’t see us getting back within touching distance from here.
The feasibility of Legendary long term is still in the balance, I need to ascertain whether realism still prevails or whether weaker teams start playing like 70s Brazil, a la PES, time will tell but for now I’m enjoying having to focus 100% on every match.
Things are a bit brighter on the cup front, with a Quarter final Carabao Cup tie to come, and having secured top spot in a favourable UEFA Champions League group, with the knockout phase to look forward to.
The move up to Legendary has been tough enough with a full squad, but just 8 games into the season, Brewster suffered a 2 month injury, and with a fairly thin squad I’m relying on Star CF Ferreira and Youth promotee Schinkel, to do the job, signing a backup CF in January has to be a priority.
This is Brewster’s third injury in two seasons, a Micheal Owen kind of player, electric pace and deadly finishing, but injury prone, those hamstrings can only take so much.
It’s nice to see my Shankly-esque managerial skills haven’t gone unnoticed within this crazy pixelated football world, fresh off the back of turning Palace into European champions, and Premier league champs, other big clubs have been sniffing around, and want my services, I’ve stalled on accepting this offer, I have until January to make my mind up but 99.99% certain I will politely decline and remain at Selhurst Park until the end of the season, at which point I intended to hang up my FIFA 20 boots for the year, and spend some time having a break from footy gaming and fit in some of the other games I’ve been meaning to play, but then this happened:
Pretty impressive looking. It’s out today, suddenly the appeal of taking charge in the Brazilian league next season, complete with madcap Portugese/Brazilian commentary may keep me going for a few more seasons yet.
I have also made my own Mod, which brands the Career Mode Hub news ticker with the BBC Sport Logo, so when transfers, results, cup draws etc are announced on the main CM hub screen, it will be branded up as BBC Sport, for the PC players, here is a download link:
You’re welcome.
Finally just a few bits from my last few matches, still no true long rangers, those seem to be rarer than rocking horse shit these days, but plenty of still enjoyable ways to score.
FIFAFX.com 
Paul – that little goals compilation at the end there has to be one of your best in terms of each goal upping the ante one after the other, the quality of the goals just gets better and better throughout. I thought goal 2 was fantastic, then goal 3 with the go-around touch from your striker, and the quality just kept rising.
I’d say you’ve still got unfinished business with Palace but that’s just one of the echoes of PES with me, taking the team all the way on the top level being the ultimate. Speaking of Ultimate… not tempted? (Is it possible to play on that level in CM? Never actually looked.)
Good for FIFER and other contributors, including yourself, still going strong and providing content during these traditional lull days of summer, a strange summer granted, but still the off-season for footy games in most players’ calendars.
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NG – Thanks for the comments on the goals, as we know long rangers have been nerfed so the joy is in nice team goals or moments of individual skill, so hope the mini-comp showed a few of those.
Ultimate level – Not interested. Many many rumours that it’s broken, just too ridiculously hard and unfairly unplayable with huge scripting.
Legendary would keep me going for months yet.
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We’ll have to start calling you the dink-meister. Like nG I also like goal 4 (?) where you ride the challenge and dummy shot the keeper.
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Paul – I still get my fair share of 25-yarders, more than in the oher game for sure, so the mid-rangers at least aren’t nerfed. 30+ yarders, though, I’d say are once-a-season goals, and perhaps longer. After 6 or so years of nerfed long-rangers most players don’t even try for them regularly – even I will look to work the ball forward a touch more than I used to – so the frequency of long-rangers is even farther reduced.
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Chris99 – I dont score, or even attempt dinks that often, so those 2 in quick succession were a rarity, always a nice goal to score though.
Goal 4 was nice, I rode the tackle, then saw the keeper rush towards me, and thought maybe i wouldn’t get a clean shot past him so went for the shot fake and he bought it luckily, empty net to tap into.
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FIFAFX Custom camera mod being worked on, heres a preview of the Beta:
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NG – I ALWAYS get my shot blocked if I shoot from 23 yards plus, Always!!
There are just so many bodies between the ball and the goal, out of every 20 23yd and above shots taken, I’d say the ratio is like this:
Clean shot away on target – 0%
Clean shot away off target – 2%
Goal – 0%
Shot blocked outside the box – 78%
Shot blocked inside the box – 20%
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Paul – your camera mod trial just popped up on my YouTube recommendeds – looking great, each one offers something different, the classic remix intrigues me as I feel the need for straight lines of sight across the pitch with semi-Assisted passing.Very generous to call the Stadium Camera after PES but I’d just stick with Stadium for the name. Intrigued to see where you take your passion for the game and modding. This time next year could there be another Paul’s Mod in town for FIFA21?
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NG – The titles were just a descriptor, that particular camera angle reminded me of PES’s new stadium camera, thats why i called it so.
Each camera view is achieved with specific zoom and height values, i tweaked the incrementation and min/max values for the cameras in frosty, so its very versatile.
AND No, FIFER has that market sewn up, and I dont have the time to invest, I’d rather be playing than fiddling.
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Just thinking re the FIFA Mod, it’s funny what people’s priorities are in a mod. In the old PES mods when not all players had correct names , and team names and kits were wrong I was always amazed at people on the forums who thought top of the list must be their favourite player’s new tattoo or the third tramline in their hair cut. Takes all sorts I guess.
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Chris, the kids always prioritise neymar or messi’s new tattoo, and boots!!! important things!!!
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