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EA SPORTS FC 26

My overall problem is that the movement of players so rarely approximates reality that im too often reminding myself how to play fifa, rather than how to play football.

The result is...I don't feel properly connected to the game and after a while it feels hollow and distanced from me. That feeling of immediacy is just so important to me, ive realised. It's why ps2 pes was so amazing and why even some of the ps3 pes were still fun despite being technologically diabolical.
This really resonates with me.

I like to call it the “suspension of disbelief.” You are not actually playing real football - you are staring at a screen hitting buttons. When the actions on the pitch and the button presses correspond to real football, it is quite easy for your brain to keep suspending this notion that you’re not really playing football. But when players don’t move off the ball or defend like they should, it takes so much mental energy to suppress this. This is why playing FC26 feels like work.
 
Interesting, I was playing without the weather effects turned on, I think you lose a lot with them turned off, I play with @Matt10 sliders, let's see what he thinks too, it would be interesting to introduce them in the sliders!
In my eyes, it’s just another variable that would make it harder to nail down the „perfect“ slider set.
Why would I through that into the mix?!
 
Slight nostalgia trip for me today after going down a Reddit rabbithole.

Remember how the World Cup 2014 game had a "radio station" that sounded fairly realistic? Between games you'd get score updates, but also some general chat about players, and I really loved that feature.

Well I just found out that Madden 07 had a similar feature, and I love it.

It tells you what fixtures are coming up, what the big news headlines are, who the "players of the week" are, and even has interviews:



I'm not someone who's happy playing the old games, and certainly not someone who thinks "everything was better back then" - I just need to see real innovation with the technology we have now before I can love football games again - but this is something I'd love to see come back.

How cool would it be to have something like this in Career Mode (or a more "broadcast" feel in general, it really seems to have gone downhill in that regard since the new commentary teams came in)?

Completely off-topic sidenote... It's my ultimate fantasy to be able to export Football Manager save data into some AI and have a "podcast" generated about all the week's news in my league (fronted by a virtual James Richardson) so I can hear about all the transfers, players in form, manager sackings, details of good goals and unfortunate slip-ups, news about the upcoming fixtures, injuries... Truly a dream.

(Plus an online Manager Mode where you make decisions using a connected app while you're out and about, including transfer offers etc. coming in while you're in the middle of the supermarket, or player agents complaining / offering you players while you're brushing your teeth...)

All of the missed potential for some real revolution (in gameplay and in the off-pitch stuff) really makes football games feel so stale right now, I think.
 
Slight nostalgia trip for me today after going down a Reddit rabbithole.





I don't want to de-rail the thread but now that you mention it, I have to shout out to NFL 2k5 and its halftime show and week recap showing highlights from different games played by the AI, showing injuries. Full with highlights, halftime heroes, stats, big plays, ESPN license and Chris Berman making his recognizable play-by-play sounds. 20 years later this game still is the best NFL game (even movement back then seemed better than current Madden sliding). Again, not want to make an NFL/Madden post but your reminiscing got me thinking about this and how it added so much. It's not usually "it was better back then" but in this case it was.

Halftime show

Week's season updates from around the league
 
I'm not someone who's happy playing the old games, and certainly not someone who thinks "everything was better back then" - I just need to see real innovation with the technology we have now before I can love football games again - but this is something I'd love to see come back.

NFL 2K was essentially so good, EA had to buy the NFL license in order to eliminate their competition. Look at what 2K was doing in the early to mid aughts. Like el niche said, not only is NFL 2K5 one of, if not the greatest American football games of all time, it's one of the best sports games of all time.


Their half-time show:




Sports Center Weekly Recap:

 
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I remember when FIFA Devs in interviews would say about working with Sky Sports to replicate the real broadcast feel in-game (FIFA 14/15 I think) I remember thinking in so many years time, we would have a game that was really really immersive, I swear the old commentators Martin Tyler/Alan Smith kept getting new lines, and it felt like they were building more and more, and then little I played of FC lately, and it's gone backwards.
 
I remember when FIFA Devs in interviews would say about working with Sky Sports to replicate the real broadcast feel in-game (FIFA 14/15 I think) I remember thinking in so many years time, we would have a game that was really really immersive, I swear the old commentators Martin Tyler/Alan Smith kept getting new lines, and it felt like they were building more and more, and then little I played of FC lately, and it's gone backwards.

Commentary is very much a budget affair these days.

Derek and Stuart are bland beyond belief. Absolutely no heft at all.

I wonder sometimes if the whole game is made on a budget, despite how large the team may appear to be.

At this point, without mods, it feels like a mainstream game that became an indie project. Except indie developers have far more integrity of course.
 
Commentary is very much a budget affair these days.

Derek and Stuart are bland beyond belief. Absolutely no heft at all.

I wonder sometimes if the whole game is made on a budget, despite how large the team may appear to be.

At this point, without mods, it feels like a mainstream game that became an indie project. Except indie developers have far more integrity of course.

Well they are like the Glazers, why spend money on new comms when they can just sit on what they have and watch the money roll in? The Guy Mowbray and Sue Smith comms is honestly like PS1 level.
 
Currently playing the 10 hour trial, game is not bad but what's really pissing me off is that the game refuses to save my graphic settings

I'm playing with a combination of medium and low settings and I'm trying to set the cloth and ambient occlusion from medium to low. I set both to low and apply but then when I start a kick off game and go into the graphic settings they are both back to medium. I was able to set hair strand to low without any issue. Trying to change the settings during a game doesn't work either.

It mainly plays ok in terms of smoothness but it almost slows down in places where i think the AO at medium is causing it to lag

Am I doing something wrong or is it a bug as I'm pulling my hair out with this. I seem to recall previous Fifa's having issues with saving certain settings
 
Currently playing the 10 hour trial, game is not bad but what's really pissing me off is that the game refuses to save my graphic settings

I'm playing with a combination of medium and low settings and I'm trying to set the cloth and ambient occlusion from medium to low. I set both to low and apply but then when I start a kick off game and go into the graphic settings they are both back to medium. I was able to set hair strand to low without any issue. Trying to change the settings during a game doesn't work either.

It mainly plays ok in terms of smoothness but it almost slows down in places where i think the AO at medium is causing it to lag

Am I doing something wrong or is it a bug as I'm pulling my hair out with this. I seem to recall previous Fifa's having issues with saving certain settings

Some settings require a restart of game to take effect. Not sure if they are some of those settings...?
 
thanks - I don't think changing cloth or AO requires a restart - I think some settings give you a warning that they do require a restart to to effect but I'll try it anyway since nothing else seems to work
 
Just checked out the latest update. It is fascinating how detailed the changelog is and how much attention EA pays to little improvements - while having no clue that it is completely irrelevant to the AI when you do a chill walk to their box on ultimate level.

I finally deleted the game with more than 8 hours left on the trial clock. Going back to PES21 felt like having hands on future alien technology.

See ya next year, guys!
 
Just checked out the latest update. It is fascinating how detailed the changelog is and how much attention EA pays to little improvements - while having no clue that it is completely irrelevant to the AI when you do a chill walk to their box on ultimate level.

I finally deleted the game with more than 8 hours left on the trial clock. Going back to PES21 felt like having hands on future alien technology.

See ya next year, guys!

I pray for aliens sakes that they have better shooting technology. I love PES21 as much as the next guy but that game is looking tired in places now.
 
thanks - I don't think changing cloth or AO requires a restart - I think some settings give you a warning that they do require a restart to to effect but I'll try it anyway since nothing else seems to work

Seems like it's a confirmed issue on pc. Steam update from.developers refers to it.
 
NFL 2K was essentially so good, EA had to buy the NFL license in order to eliminate their competition. Look at what 2K was doing in the early to mid aughts. Like el niche said, not only is NFL 2K5 one of, if not the greatest American football games of all time, it's one of the best sports games of all time.


Their half-time show:




Sports Center Weekly Recap:


And on top of being a great game and all-time classic: the retail price was 19,99$! Which probably was a reason, the NFL gave it's exclusive license to EA, because they saw that price as too cheap for the product NFL. But this shows only one thing regarding the (sports) game industry. Back then the most important aspect was to put all creativity and knowledge into making the best game possible. It was not about making the most profit with the least amount of effort. Of course it was also about making money back then, but in some way the developers tried to earn it with good games.

I wish the whole industry could get back to this kind of mentality. Combine the creativity and passion from back then with the technological advancements, and we probably could have even so much better sports games nowadays...
 

title update 1.1​

Gameplay


Defending


  • [Competitive Gameplay] Increased aggressiveness of man marking that only applies to the defensive side’s AI players around kick-off.
  • Slightly increased Sprint Jockey speed for user controlled players.
  • Moderately increased Jockey and Sprint Jockey responsiveness for user controlled players.
  • When taking the ball from the attacker without tackling, the attacker could have sometimes incorrectly won the ball back.
  • Blocking a pass could have sometimes resulted in the passer unintentionally getting the ball back.
  • Improved animation selection for Standing Tackles.
  • Increased amount of players that stay back to defend when taking corners.
  • Sometimes, a requested tackle could result in two tackle attempts.
  • Addressed instances of tackles from behind incorrectly winning the ball.
  • Addressed cases of tackle animations ending too early.

Passing


  • Ground and Lofted Through Passes are now more respectful of your aim input and are less assisted.
  • Ground Through Passes were sometimes not being hit to the intended receiver.
  • Ground Through Passes were not leading enough at times.
  • Lobbed Through Passes could have been affected by weather conditions even if there weren’t any in Authentic gameplay.
  • First time Through Pass requests could have sometimes resulted in the player trapping the ball instead of passing it.
  • Requested low crosses could have sometimes resulted in regular crosses being performed.
  • In some cases, a requested clearance took too long to be performed.
  • Improved responsiveness of first time passes when the ball is coming towards the passer at medium height.
  • When requesting a pass near the touchline, players could have incorrectly taken the ball out of play.
  • Sometimes, a requested headed pass would not occur.
  • Lowered headed lobbed through pass and cross accuracy.
  • Improved instances of Animation Start Pass Receiver Lock Setting not functioning as intended.
  • Addressed instances of passing animations playing out incorrectly.
  • Pass requests were sometimes ignored by the CPU AI during goal kicks.
  • Addressed cases of attacking passing headers applying too much power and speed to the ball.

Movement and Positioning


  • Moderately reduced speed of Controlled Sprint Dribble.
  • When attempting a Controlled Sprint Dribble, sometimes the player could have lost track of the ball.
  • Directed runs can now be triggered during Controlled Sprint Dribble.
  • Improved AI teammate attacking run logic when assessing potential offside runs.
  • Improved AI teammate attacking run logic to avoid clashing with teammates.
  • During corners, players on the post could have been incorrectly positioned inside their own goal.
  • Attackers could have sometimes ended their runs unexpectedly.
  • Addressed cases of AI teammates standing behind defenders instead of looking for open space.
  • Addressed cases of AI players unintentionally stumbling after colliding with each other.
  • In some cases, a player could have incorrectly slowed down when attempting to avoid a slide tackle.

Goalkeeping


  • Improved goalkeeper logic during corner kicks to address situations where players could too easily score from short corners that resulted in far post crosses.
  • Improved goalkeeper reactions to near post shots.
  • Improved cases of goalkeepers incorrectly deflecting shots back to attackers.
  • Improved goalkeeper punches to be stronger and have more consistent ball trajectories.
  • Addressed instances of goalkeepers incorrectly deflecting shots into their own net.
  • Goalkeepers would sometimes not react to shots while being manually moved.
  • On occasion, goalkeepers could have automatically and ineffectively rushed out of the box in situations that did not need it.
  • Addressed instances of goalkeeper arms clipping through their body.

Dribbling and Skill Moves


  • Players are now better at maintaining their movement speed when trapping the ball.
  • Improved ball trapping consistency.
  • Improved cases of air ball traps resulting in the ball going too far away from the player.
  • Removed fancy ball traps for players without Trickster PlayStyles.
  • Requested Skill Moves were sometimes not performed.
  • In some cases, a Ball Roll could have occurred instead of the requested Croquetta Skill Move.
  • When attempting a first time fake shot, sometimes the player could lose track of the ball.
  • The exit direction of a first time fake shot did not always correctly follow user input.
  • An unintentional Player Switch could have occurred in cases where a Skill Move raised the ball.
  • Requesting a Flick Up could have sometimes resulted in two flicks.

Other Gameplay Updates


  • Increased frequency of attacking and shooting by the CPU AI team in the Be A Goalkeeper experience.
  • In Player Career on Professional difficulty and above, the CPU AI will focus more on buildup and team play.
  • Increased strength of Stamina-related effects in Authentic gameplay.
  • Increased frequency of fouls committed by the CPU AI.
  • Improved referee logic when making standing tackle and sliding tackle foul calls.
  • Sometimes the referee could have incorrectly called for a penalty kick despite the fouled attacker scoring a goal inside the box.
  • Sometimes, the Player Switch to the ball receiver would not occur when using the Air Balls and Manual Player Switch settings.
  • In some cases, players could have become stuck in a Shielding state.
  • Players could have sometimes unnaturally jumped up too high when going for headers.
  • Players could have sometimes been pushed too far when engaging in physical contact.
  • Shielding players were able to sustain maximum shielding ability for longer than intended.
  • Sometimes, a shot could have incorrectly occurred when requesting a tackle.
  • Push back animations could have occurred at incorrect times.
  • After a headed pass, the player switch to the ball receiver did not always occur.
  • Addressed cases of an interception resulting in the ball winning player losing track of the ball.
  • In loose ball situations, sometimes players could not perform a requested shot.
  • Improved cases of late shot modifier inputs not registering.
  • Tactical suggestions were incorrectly appearing at the same time in every match.
 
Passing
  • Ground and Lofted Through Passes are now more respectful of your aim input and are less assisted.
  • Lowered headed lobbed through pass and cross accuracy.
  • Addressed cases of attacking passing headers applying too much power and speed to the ball.
Movement and Positioning
  • Moderately reduced speed of Controlled Sprint Dribble.
Other Gameplay Updates
  • In Player Career on Professional difficulty and above, the CPU AI will focus more on buildup and team play.
  • Increased strength of Stamina-related effects in Authentic gameplay.
  • Increased frequency of fouls committed by the CPU AI.
I don't know if all of the above changes apply to Authentic gameplay or not - it's actually a REALLY good sign to me if they're applied in Competitive gameplay, but I hope Authentic doesn't miss out!

Either way, I'm really surprised at the changes above in-particular because they seem realism-focused.

The first point on the list I'm particularly pleased about. Push it further, guys! Less assistance will add to the "skill gap" Competitive players demand AND add realism too. It's win-win!
 
I don't know if all of the above changes apply to Authentic gameplay or not - it's actually a REALLY good sign to me if they're applied in Competitive gameplay, but I hope Authentic doesn't miss out!

Either way, I'm really surprised at the changes above in-particular because they seem realism-focused.

The first point on the list I'm particularly pleased about. Push it further, guys! Less assistance will add to the "skill gap" Competitive players demand AND add realism too. It's win-win!
It sounds like unless specified they will be applied to both. 95%+ of the gameplay is the same in both modes, so this sounds like it's in keeping with that.
 

Career Mode


Made the following change:

  • Reduced the amount of emails received in Manager Career about checking the Manager Market for new job offers. <<<< thank god lmao
Addressed the following issues:

  • Improved AI manager job security calculations in the Manager Market.
  • Addressed an issue where Caretaker Managers in Manager Career were generated with a star rating lower than intended, causing misalignment with their club.
  • In Live Starting Point and Manager Live, some competitions did not feature the intended teams.
  • Managers joining mid-season could have sometimes been incorrectly listed as failing objectives that otherwise would apply from the start of the season.
  • An end of season email could have incorrectly criticised the manager’s performance based on the previous manager.
  • Addressing a number of issues that resulted in managers switching to teams that weren't an intended fit for them.
  • Job alert emails were sometimes being sent too early in a season.
  • In Manager Career, an incorrect number of Roles could have been shown for scouted players.
  • Addressed instances of social media posts not displaying as intended.
  • Addressed visual issues that could happen in pre-match interviews and when customizing players.
  • In some cases, tattoos applied during Player Career avatar customisation may not have been saved and could have disappeared.
  • When rejecting a managerial offer, an incorrect email could have appeared stating that the club was the one doing the rejection.
  • Addressed an issue where the Unexpected Homesick Player Event could have occurred repeatedly, causing the user to receive multiple notifications.
  • Addressed a stability issue that may have occurred when attempting to sign out, send, or accept an invite while within the Player Career Avatar customization.
  • After creating a Manager in Manager Live, the manager’s info could not have been be edited.
  • Addressed an issue where the end-of-season email in Manager Career did not correctly reflect the actual results achieved after transferring to another team late in the season.
  • An incorrect trophy could have been shown in the Social Media post after winning a competition.
  • Addressed an issue where previous season player statistics did not display the correct data when using a Deep Simulation in a Manager Career Live Starting Point.
  • A lighting issue could have occurred when restarting a Moments challenge mid-game.
 
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