#1MashYouGoodPosted 6/17/2012 12:22:44 AM
Is it just me or is the PC version (at least) of FIFA 12 utter crap?

I mean, the background textures are horribly low res and WhereTF is the crowd?? Not to mention the bug where ever name on a team's shirt is the same as your arena player's... lol!

Then, from a gameplay perspective, it seems a step back too. What's with the one-time 'pressure' command being changed to "Contain", where the AI player just hovers around the opponent essentially doing nothing? Then you have stuff all free kicks awarded unless you use slide tackles liberally. I don't like the free kick model either, where your obscured view and lack of on-screen meters / gauges pretty much makes it a shoot-from-memory thing, than a measured, aimed kick scenario.

Also, why doesn't the control configuration save from FIFA12 across to EURO2012 game? Dumb.

Is this game really as poor as it seems?
#2moshnakPosted 6/17/2012 9:32:24 AM
Sorry to hear that you're having troubles with the game. I'm running on the highest settings and I think it looks really good. Unfortunately, it sounds like it's your game that is bugged, I do have fans in the stands and all the jersey's names are correct, that's a really strange one, and all my free kicks have meters clearly visible on screen. Are you running it on the lower settings, maybe that is the problem. Sorry I just don't know what else could be a fix to tell you.

Why did the little girl drop her red ball? ...because she was getting kicked in the face.
#3MashYouGood(Topic Creator)Posted 6/18/2012 8:28:36 PM
Dunno what the root of the problem is. But, I've un-installed and am now trying PES2012; which seems a lot better.

The other thing I'm noticing about the FIFA games now is that they're becoming almost too realistic. In that, playing the CPU is pointless because it doesn't operate within the same physical parameters as the player does, making using manual controls useless; in turn, rendering the whole 'realism' aspect pointless.

I've always pushed for manual controls in football games. But, with how poor online play is (given no one uses manual control schemes) and how you really can't get a decent game of footy versus the CPU, I think I may have jumped the gun.
#4bionicman_3090Posted 6/20/2012 11:22:49 PM
The graphical issues that you're facing is mainly the fault on your end, I'm afraid. There are/were many reports in the EA Forums regarding the same problems that you're experiencing but it seems that it has been sorted through the patch. I never experienced any graphical glitches, fortunately.

The Tactical Defending's "Contain" works only on Semi-Pro or lower difficulties against the AI. Anything higher and you're better off using the LT to jockey and manually position your player to block the opponents' direct route to goal. Using only "Contain" is a death wish.

There's a mod that increases the frequency of Fouls in a game. At the moment, I've forgotten the name of the mod, so you'll have to search for it.

The direction indicator should've been there for this game for the FK. The power gauge is quite clear on the lower part of your screen though.

There are a number of other things that make FIFA 12 quite a poor excuse for a football sim. The Career Mode is one of them, not counting the numerous game-play debacles.

The main problem with the CPU is the "Momentum Feature". Basically, it's like the Rubber-band AI in the Need for Speed games where the AI drivers catch up to you regardless of how far in the lead you are and driving flawlessly, just to make the game "interesting". It's a cheap excuse for poor programming. It's the same with AI in FIFA 12.

For e.g., imagine you're leading the game 3-0 with 60 minutes to go. The CPU wins the ball back with a few good tackles and manages to work your GK a couple of times. This situation triggers the Momentum to swing in the favor of the CPU and their players get invisible boosts to their stats while your Team-Mate AI become dumber. This leads to the CPU scoring goals purely out of mistakes from your team-mates. When you play a formation that requires a lot of wing-play and crosses, you'll be rendered useless 'cause your forwards who are supposed to make runs into the box, don't, and 90% of the time get into positions where the CPU defenders can easily intercept the crosses no matter how well you deliver them into the box.

One way to correct this slightly is to adjust the Game-play sliders in the "Settings" to give yourself a slight advantage till you get used to the game.
"Take your best shot, Flatlander woman". JC Denton.
#5MashYouGood(Topic Creator)Posted 6/23/2012 7:54:57 PM
^ Yeah. The fouls issue is one I forgot to mention.

What's the point of free kicks, set pieces in particular, if fouls are so rare? No to mention it undermines the tackling system of the game if you can simple tackle away with impunity, knowing only a slide will likely result in a foul.

EA vaunt about FIFA's physics and license. But, without the core gameplay evolving at the same rate, it all amount to nothing. It only takes something like 3 free kick per game or CPU opponents turning on a dime to do physically impossible techniques, to wrest the player out of the 'realism' illusion. I might as well play some arcade football game, if that's what the sum of today's 'simulations' are.

PES has been crap in that last few years--granted. But 2012 seems to hark back to some of the franchise's better efforts. Add to that, [PC] mods, and FIFA starts to lose the few aces it's had up its sleeve in the recent past.
#6bionicman_3090Posted 6/25/2012 1:21:25 AM
You will give away fouls if you miss-time your tackles (standing or sliding) but the CPU AI won't, especially on Legendary difficulty. This daftness in the coding automatically prompts you to hold back and simply concentrate on applying the pressure and closing down the CPU players while the CPU passes the ball around for a bit till you intercept the pass.

I'll list some problems with this difficulty....

1. Every team, even Shrewsbury, will adapt the same passing style as Barcelona. There is no "Uniqueness" to the teams anymore apart for the formations.

2. The CPU AI doesn't give away fouls nearly 80% of the time. No matter which player you encounter, like Dani Pacheco for.e.g., if he gets a bead on you, he'll track you down and win the ball back like as if he's a clone of Hummels.

3. When you win the ball back with a clean tackle and the ball rolls away, your team mates don't run towards the ball. It'll take you a split second to switch to another player and go after the ball but in this split second's time, the CPU is already half way to the ball.

4. When you perform a sliding tackle, your player gets up quite slowly compared to the CPU player performing the exact sliding tackle.

5. When you want to win a foul, you'll have to purposely do some tricks so that the AI will miss-time the challenge. So, instead of looking for this, you can quite simply do a cut-back with a fake-shot and get a better angle to shoot or to cross the ball without the hassle of a poorly made free-kick mechanics.

All of those problems make the game very unrealistic in terms of how many fouls are committed in a game.
#7MashYouGood(Topic Creator)Posted 6/25/2012 4:16:39 PM
^ Another thing that has irritated the %$#& out of me and my co-players in football games for time immemorial, is how CPU players react immediately upon being dispossessed--zero - recovery - time - whatsoever. How realistic is this?!

Again, it renders tackling futile for the player and turns the game into a 'hot potato' -like series of insto-passing. In turn, I dare say, discouraging players from using the manual passing schemes and thus ruining the online portion of the game.