So with the blog taking a formal summer break from regular weekly posts, until the new releases, I thought I’d up this new post as a placeholder for all future discussion going forward.
I will continue to adhoc post updates, goal clips, progress along with random tidbits from other games I may play, and just life in general, in the comments section, so feel free to post and chat below 🙂
FIFAFX.com 
Abbeyhill – just read that press release, they should be so embarrassed they just stop making the game, it’s laughably poor. Only local matches featuring a few teams as well. It’s dead.
You can play Skyrim how you want, you never have to do the main quest if you don’t want but you miss out on the Dragonborn abilities and things like become ethereal help a lot when you think you might fall and die (and fus ro dah is highly amusing against giants). My favourite way is dead means dead as it keeps you very sharp to danger and makes decisions more important. A save point after the unskippable intro is a good idea. Of course you can lower the difficulty as well if your whole game is on one life. I’d avoid racking up too many quests so be wary of speaking to people as they’ll give you some random shit to do and it just becomes a travelling chore. Also choose your build carefully, I’ve always favoured quick, lightly armoured archer rather than heavy armoured battle tank and squishy mage seems madness early doors. Avoid bears and sabre cats early on, run away from fights with tough enemies, sneak, alchemy levelling can earn you a fortune from selling potions, enchant stuff as it makes a big difference, etc etc – it’s all stuff to learn by trial and error. Going left instead of right at the start can have a big impact. The biggest pleasure for me of Skyrim is just heading up a mountain and taking in the view. ESO has that in spades – it’s got the landscapes that No Man’s Sky should have had.
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Appreciated Turf, it would be rude not to give Skyrim another try after all the advice you have kindly given me. Dead means dead sounds seriously hardcore though! An approach I have stuck to in strategy games such as Fire Emblem but can barely imagine in a massive RPG where one glitch or piece of bad luck could wipe out dozens of hours.
Also thought I’d have a go on this ESO after all your enthusiasm. Clearly wasn’t paying enough attention as I assumed this was some new crafting open world indie game that hadn’t got much publicity, rather than another creaking old version of Skyrim!
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Creaking….old….Skyrim….?? Watch your back abbeyhill, many an adventurer happily wandering through Tamriel has felt the pain of an arrow in their back.
Saw something earlier about playing fifa21 to earn early rewards for 22, not sure what but might have to check that out. Not that I’ll steal a march on the loons that spend hundreds of pounds on icons. I do like the preview a pack feature they introduced – no more wasting in game currency on crap (if they keep it).
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I did indeed see the efootball trailer and news, it’s beyond laughable it really is.
Can only imagine that something drastic happened at Konami HQ and very last minute the powers that be scrapped their whole development roadmap and insisted they suddenly go down this free 2 play (microtransaction heaven) route with a vastly different game.
It’s not even being developed on Unreal Engine as so widely claimed by Konami, they are purely using it as a render layer, the game play engine is still Fox.
AT launch eFootball will have 9 teams, and you can only play friendlies, all the other teams, modes, and features will be available later in the year as paid DLC, including ML, and ‘hard kicks’ !!!!! Yes thats right, you will have to PAY, to be able to kick the ball harder!!!
I’m pretty sure at this point that its all just a massive joke and they are just taking the absolute piss out of all of us.
Anyway, back to a proper game, PES21, still playing my Spurs ML, albeit at a very slow pace due to other commitments, but We’ve just won the FA Cup again, and finished 5th in the league, due to a last day draw against Liverpool, who needed a point to win the title, we also needed the win to secure 4th.
However, there is one match left …… the Champions League Final!!
Will post some vids and clips after I’ve played it.
Probably a fitting way to close out this ML and take a short break before FIFA 22 arrives.
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I’ve started up fifa21 ultimate team again as you can do some pre season stuff and they’ve been handing out loanees etc. I swear it’s got harder. AI matches on pro are now quite tight affairs for me, whereas I was winning them easily before, and found the 22 beta very easy to beat. Doesn’t seem quite so fast,unless it’s the effect of 22 being ridiculously quick.
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My FIFA20 career finally came to an end last night. Season 6 in the Championship with Ipswich, decent squad with some up and coming players albeit not much strength in depth, comfortably averaging 2 points per game with virtually no goals conceded for most of the campaign. Unfortunately the board was demanding automatic promotion, and Bournemouth & Fulham were literally uncatchable finishing the season on an obscene 126 and 115 points respectively. I was still hoping to win the playoffs at Wembley to go out on a high however it was not to be, sacked with 6 games to go following a few defeats and disputes with unhappy players. Took a job with Birmingham and after winning the first match simmed the rest just to see how things turned out – Ipswich thrashed Norwich 3-0 at Wembley, rather a bittersweet way to finish. Summed up FIFA20 for me, not a bad footy game at all but inferior to 19 in most ways
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I deleted FIFA 20 off my PS5, as the HDD space fills up extremely quickly when you have the likes of Cyberpunk releasing 100GB in post release patches, COD with 20GB+ patches etc.
Can only literally store 3 or 4 AAA games on the PS5 HD at any one time.
That sounds like a harsh sacking Abbeyhill.
I’m still yet to play the UCL final on PC PES21, waiting until I have more time to focus on it, just started a new weekly house music radio show so thats taken up a lot of my time, and also ramped up my remixing/producing efforts, so evenings have been spent installing DAW software, VSt’s, mastering suites etc.
Did you all see the second ‘Game Play’ eFootball trailer??? what an absolute joke.
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hey guys a currys voucher for a ps5 arrived, 3 months after I requested one. Its up for grabs if you want it. Its just to reserve one, you still have to buy it.
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That trailer is awful, but not as bad as the Konami website. It looks like it was created in 1996.
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If I didn’t know Werd I’d swear that was a scam….cheers bud but tbh I don’t know what I’d do with one right now. I’ll buy one when either PS4 blows up but till then I’ve not got a good enough reason.
Just booked an outrageously optimistic family holiday to America for next year. Can’t believe we will still be faffing on with tests by then.
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Turf – Mini Turf still interested in music production/DJ’ing?
I have a brand new Pioneer DDJ-SB3 Controller, paid £379 for it 6 months ago, looking to sell for £120, just thought id mention it in case it was something he was interested in.
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Woeful trailer, couldn’t decide what I hated most. The awkwardly animated players skating over the pitch, the charged up sharp kicks (will cost extra) straight out of Mario Smash Football, the cringey voiceover…
Look forward to seeing your PES2021 UCL final Paul, should be a good climax to your ML there. I’ve been playing a few matches on it, gameplay seems pretty decent. Also started a career on FIFA21 PS5 to help decide which one I want to play next, certainly seems much more free-scoring than 20, loads of space all over the pitch. Scores in preseason tournament with Exeter City were 1-3, 2-4 and 3-0
And reloaded the final save on my doomed FIFA20 career in an attempt to change destiny. Despite gritting my teeth and getting through some horribly scripted games with a win, 2 draws and a loss (rather than the 3 straight defeats last time) still got sacked. 100 points, playoff winners and sacked, stupid game!
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Paul – he is thanks. I had no idea what that even was till I googled. He went the other day to the apple store to try out Logic Pro on the iMac. That’s probably the way we will go as he can then use it for school work but going to wait till school starts to see what kit they use, what the music lessons are like, if there’s a teacher who gets it or if they try and get him to learn violin. He’s borrowed a keyboard so he can try an actual instrument. The house is full of abandoned good intentions from the rest of us, we just have never had the patience.
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Abbeyhill – thats a harsh sacking, did you miss out in a key board objective or something? I’ve never seen a harsh, out of place sacking on FIFA personally.
And yes,that eFootball trailer….. there are just no words, Konami have clearly dropped all pride and quality from their work and are intent on purely becoming a mobile gaming behemoth, with microtxns for every single action, no longer intent on making a football game, just a loosely sport based mobile buy to win platform that rakes in £££.
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Turf – Good stuff. Im using Ableton Live, seriously awesome piece of software with a much gentler learning curve.
Just produced my first fully fledged, mastered remix on it, Ultra Natés ‘Free’ – sent it on promo round to a bunch of radio based DJs who have been hammering it, will be up in spotify soon too..
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It was a harsh sacking Paul although in fairness I did neglect a couple of key objectives e.g. sign a star striker which were incompatible with my strategy for the team. Surprisingly impressed with FIFA21 on PS5 so far, was expecting identical gameplay in a next-gen skin but my lower league matches with Exeter City have been tremendous, some chaotic goalmouth action, big contrast to sterile FIFA20
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oh and keen to hear your remix when it hits the streets Paul, let us know
just a few days left in my forties now, thoughtfully contemplating moving into the second half (at best!) of my life. Have been dropped by my 11s team after too many poor performances post-lockdown, a fair enough decision. Anyone fancy a game of chess?
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Surprised, thought you were younger than me Abbeyhill, not long to go for me now but tbh I’ve never cared about my age – I think it’s partly because I’ve had so many career changes, periods of education and short term ventures that I haven’t racked up that ‘I’ve been doing this for x decades’ mentality (6 years is the longest I’ve managed, which is a pension nightmare I’ll regret). Also the taekwondo has meant I’m in much better shape now than I was 5 years ago, even if I notice the dull aches from bits of worn out me a little more (one of which is currently a bit of nagging pain in my hand where I grip under the controller, I’m on the downward slope of gaming dexterity for sure). Happy returns and all that when it arrives. I can recommend tennis or as the pathologist said on an old episode of Taggart the other night, the best form of exercise is the walk to the pub.
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Oh you youngsters. I did 30 minutes on a treadmill last week and had trouble walking downstairs for two days afterwards.
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Im a ripe old age of 42, and whilst a heavy drinking session is now confined to a few glasses of wine and a couple of rum n cokes, I still train 4 times a week, run, swim etc.
Abbeyhill – will post a few remixes up on here soon, just finished another.
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43 in tin foil hat land, a few german lagers per week and boozy work outing once a month, I walk a lot more now we have a dog. Also walk 2.5 miles to a shop that sells lush pies now and again.
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Who’s pre-ordered, or will be getting FIFA 22? in lieu of any proper PES game ever surfacing again ??
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I have. Just the normal version, none of that extra packs, loan player, bells and whistles hoopla.
COVID household here. Mini turf positive at school, mrs t positive, me with all the symptoms but somehow negative. Both double jabbed. I can only assume it’s because I probably had it last year and I’ve just got a really bad cold.
Took the plunge and bought an iMac given circumstances. Mini Turf’s laptop was driving us nuts with its lack of speed and constant problems.
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Oh No turf. Both the kid and Mrs ok with it?
Was it the newer silicon chip iMac?
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Yes mate, it’s all pretty much like that end of summer return to school cold (which is undoubtedly where he got it). Sore throat, cough, bit achy – you wouldn’t know it was COVID without the test, but who knows what it would have been like without the jabs. At least my negative test means we aren’t relying on neighbours chucking bread over the fence, although I’m trying not to go out either.
M1 chip whatever that is, went for 16gb but skimped on the ports and hard disk as I figured not only won’t they be used much for a while but could always add externals. That’s the sneaky thing with apple, you can easily say ‘yes I should have that’ to each question and you end up spending two grand. The education discount helps though – virtually anyone with any connection to school, college, uni, etc can get it now.
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M1 chip is apparently amazing Turf great purchase, although I try to avoid Apple products it is seriously impressive that in their first recent attempt at designing a CPU it turns out far better than an Intel. Hope you and the family continue to battle through ok
Paul – certainly, and really excited to hear how it plays. Not day 1 for me, owing to the exorbitant price and desire to play a lot more of FIFA21 first
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Nice purchase turf, I love my macbook pro, but its the only apple product I own now, got sick and tired a few years ago of being forced into Apple’s ecosystem, and treated like some unresponsible kid who isn’t even allowed to customise the iphone or change the font on a device I own and paid £1200 for.
Switched to Samsung Galaxy phones, and would never go back to Apple now.
Abbeyhill – just about to place a pre-order on SimplyGames for FIFA22, I could pre-order via PS5 for the digital ver and get 10 days early access via my EAPlay account, but I have limited space left on the PS5, even after deleting a ton of stuff, so going for the disc based version as it won’t require so much HDD space, which is ridiculously small given a single patch for Cyberpunk is 200GB.
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I went for 365 games. First time I’ve used them, hopefully ok.
I was finally confirmed as positive. Like a really thick head cold you can’t shake, no breathing issues at all so it’s obviously something you can get in different doses and different ways. I’ve been a lot worse when I had flu but it was also more draining than just putting up with a bad cold. Ended up playing loads of minecraft as I couldn’t focus on anything else.
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Good to hear it didnt affect the Turf household like it can affect others.
are you fully recovered now?
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Pual and all friends, I have played FIFA 2022 for two days and you are going to love it. The Create Club feature is a Master League for FIFA, you design your club and pick a team to replace in the starting league, you cån configure it exactly how you like, I started with made up club in english league 2 and all my players are rated 50 to 60 ovr, it is just like classic master Leagiue! And the gameplay is so nice, but we know whayt happens when the online lot start to complain, it is already happening.
I am so sad for PES now seeing this new FIFA with the Create Club, it’s like seeing å ghost of what could have hapened
just saw that you have no room on hard drive Paul, I urge make room!
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Thanks Adriano – I did a clear out and downloaded FIFA 22, very impressed, feels smooth, the hypermotion does make for some very lifelike animations and movements, and i really like the new EA modified GameCam, more of a tv broadcast feel.
The Create a club mode does look decent, but I see you cant use any of your own graphics, its just a choice from the preset EA badge shapes, colours and kit designs, which is a bit naff, Also not sure if you can change your kit each season or if once you have chosen a kit type, you are stuck with it forever.
pretty much the appeal is in being able to manage ‘The Dog & Duck’ or whatever, player names are randomly generated, and i don’t think editable, otherwise we could have renamed the players Castolo, Minanda etc, shame.
I will be playing my Spurs UCL final in PC Modded PES21 this weekend and posting a new post up Monday, from then on, it will be a weekly new FIFA 22 Career Mode on PS5.
Not sure what days I will be posting though as I now have a weekly radio show on a wednesday night, so that takes quite some prep each week, leaving me little time for Thursday posts, so may move the new posts to a Monday each week instead.
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Cool, like the sound of a radio show – imagine you’re more cutting edge than smashy or nicey? (Ffs please don’t say who, surely I’m not that old).
Yes, all ok now, more or less (no sense of smell still and a bit foggy headed). I suspect vaccines took the edge off but for a couple of days I felt shite – nothing you’d call the doctor for though. Big issue I have now is rsi from minecraft- I just can’t do the hours of controller mashing without pain in the arm the next day.
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The loss of smell sounds awful, must affect eating and taste and all that too, hope it returns soon.
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