Suggestions - better my point of view of existing features...

[Fred Putz]

Hello,

Fm2018 is my second FM after FM2010. I thought purchasing could be a good idea, because FM 2010 was fun after all and perhaps it would be a bit better with the years passed by. To make it short: My biggest wish would be to improve the "features". Btw: i don´t know if there are really that many Improvements - real new features - in FM2018 compared to FM2010. Some examples:

1.: New feature Manager Stats: I started unemployed with no badges and no experience. Every stat raises - except for Discipline, Adaptility and working with Youngsters. Why? I googled it and it´s said that this problem was there even in FM 2015. I´m in the game for 6 seasons, three different countries, multiple languages, my team´s average age is 23, and discipline handling of 100%. Also i thought man management would be the stat for a happy squad - but it seems it´s discipline - so anyone is complaining very often. I mean the idea of having some manager stats and developing your own character is very nice - but it can´t be that hard to implement them in the game correctly - no? Fix it please. Also discipline counts into those training stars - so with a one all the time it´s hard to reach five stars. Usually i thought for everything else - not the training - i could also have a good Co-Manager. So one with high discipline to have that good cop, bad cop thing working. Seems not to work or the "complain routines" are a bit off.

2.: Speaking of complaining players. I made a promise to my key player in the Scottisch Championship that we get promoted in two years. We got promoted via playoff in the first season. My promise still was there - and i couldn´t believe that he was dissapointed that we didn´t get promoted the year after, because we were already in the highest possible league. He wanted to leave. Also as a key player and long term member of the squad my team captain was unhappy too - because of a senseless action. "Too many promises were broken by the Manager" - it was my only promise and i fullfilled. Again the idea isn´t that bad - but it would be even better if it would be implementet that way that you could follow the idea behind that.

3.: Complaining players again. One of my youth players is upset that he didn´t play in the first team often enough. The second time this season which is three months old. But he played more than half of the games from start and got substituted in most of the other matches. Even Euro league. I bought another player and he got injured in the first match. Four weeks later he was complaining that he doesn´t play enough first team matches. Is it because there isn´t a real logic behind those decisions - or is it because of my discipline of 1 which doesn´t raise at all? I mean that way i never could build up a team with good backup players. Rotation - you heard of it. I´m playing in the Scottish Premiership - so i don´t want to know how this would be in the Premierleague in which you would have the better players - or at least the more known players. How many players in real life would play every match available - 90 minutes? I guess everyone gets rotated out or in sometimes. At least since we got the champions league or even more international matches. Perhaps tone down the number of matches they need to play to keep them happy - and count every competitive match - and play time. I don´t think that a player who plays in every match - half of the start and the others a halftime - would really be upset about first time matches. Perhaps with a few exceptions. But i haven´t heard about a youth player in his first season who is upset about his first team experience if he has almost the same first team time than a key player in the same squad. Or i haven´t heard of a player who wants to play for the "bigger" club if he is the key player of a team which won everything possible the last three years. Or injured players who want to have more first time matches. Or unhappy players who want to get promoted if they are already playing in the highest possible league. Perhaps counting in some in game facts would be nice too - not just - it´s my guessing - set routines that are checking from time to time. How is the player perfoming? How is the team perfoming? How much playtime has one in comparison to another better or worse player - and how is the team status of the player? Or those unhappy players because they should train a role - because of the attributes which are trained - in the end it it´s not really different from training the usual position training i guess - but they are unhappy with the workload. Again - because of my low discipline - or because of the player´s workload?

4.: A downgrade from FM 2010 in which i could choose personalized tactics for everyone. I could choose the level of creativity for everyone and the mentality for each player. I could choose every instruction for everyone - making a poacher role to act like a target man role. Now every second option is greyed out. Now i have some obscure roles - and don´t see the creativity at all. The overview for every player in the tactic isn´t present any more. I have to click every position individually for setting some tactics - instead of having the team view and clicking "shot less often" for everyone. Couldn´t choose the mentality individually. What´s the difference of a supporting Midfielder and a Carrillero? Both have no special tactics selected. But worst i have to play a low averall mentality or something like very fluid so my strikers don´t have such a high mentality that they shoot everytime on sight. 30 shoots - 4 times woodwork - 10 on goal - 4 clear chances - and the opponent has 1 shoot at all and i loose this game 3-0 because of the own goal and the penalty. I mean something like this happens in real life too - but not every second game. It was the same on FM2010 - but i could lower the mentality /creativity of the strikers and everything was fine. This way a lower mentality is more offensive than an - offensive one. I tried it. With 90 minutes overload i have a better defence, because they get the ball early - but they won´t score a goal because they miss all the time. With a defensive mentality my defense is crap because they defend just in front of the goal - but if i get a chance i will score a goal. It´s a bit missleading in my opinion. Instead of those roles - give my the freedom back to personalise the tactics for each player. Who has how much creative freedom anyway? Why couldn´t i select the playmaker or the target man no more? Or play without them - even if i like to choose the roles because of the creative freedom or the less dribbling? Now he has to have one of those roles i guess. It´s a downgrade. "Could you play Secundo Volante?" "Pew - i´m not sure - usually i´m better in playing football - prefered in the defensive midfield." Also in 2010 i could set the tempo - the defensive line - the pressing i think - don´t remember really good - but i think i could set them to a value of 1-10 or 20 no matter which mentality or structure i choose. Now i can´t choose such values because it´s all more bound to the mentality setting. In 2010 i could play with the highest speed but much time with the ball - or lowest speed and little time with the ball. Or something in between. The tactics now are much simplified and i can´t choose so much - i have to choose more from some presets. This is not really my tactic - this is some tactic i have to choose from - out of some limited settings. Same for the set pieces settings. If i substitute my set peices taker everything won´t work any more the way it´s intended. In the end i only can choose who is standing forward and who stays back. For corners i set it up that way that he should aim for the short post - but he 60% of the time plays to the one who is lurking at the penalty area. With structured and counter settings. Why do i set up tactics anyway if the players do what they want? I set up a more attacking mentality with high pressing vs that third class team - and they never try to get the ball. I set up tighter marking because the wingers are strong in the other team - but they are standing free all the time on one side. Always get the ball sooner or later. Even with press always - tigher marking always in opponents settings - and individual settings for my fullbacks to mark that position tight. I give new instructions for the last 5 minutes to hold the ball - no risk - no tempo - take more time - short passes - lowest mentality. And they play the ball forward and loose the ball and the match. They should destroy the game by keeping the ball in the own half. The goalkeeper should get a yellow card for time play or those throw in takers - but no. Enjoying the sound atmosphere of the stadium which hate them for doing so but they win against that team - or get a draw. And on the other hand i don´t know which settings the AI team has sometimes. They´re attacking with the whole team - pressing me at my penalty area and score immediately - and in defence they´re standing with 10 men inside the penalty area and play safe. Are they changing the settings depending on where the ball is or who of players is in possession of the ball - without having to wait that the ball is out of play? Even if i set everything to highest my players won´t press the others at their penalty area - most of the time it starts at the middle line - hmm - or center line? Could also be the word...

5.: Speaking of playing better football - i don´t want to talk about the match engine at all - it´s hard - but i try. Just one thing i can´t understand. I mean i don´t see any progress made in comparison to FM2010. Perhaps the graphics are better - but they are still not state of the art. Doesn´t matter anyway. But why do the wingers - i guess that should be crosses - keep shooting on the goal from the middle line? The keeper catches the ball - no one is around who could even possibly get the ball and that´s it. I don´t remember something like this from 2010. Usually in real life - if a player does that two times in a match (but in FM he will do it serveral times in a match - no matter which crossing instructions you give) - i´m sure he would be asked if he wouldn´t be the better bus driver if he wants to earn money with football. I mean the player counts as "intelligent" because he has high decision. Also he has a good technique and good crossing and anticipation. So after all i don´t know if it is better to watch a 3D match in FM2010 - or in FM2018. The simulation isn´t that bad - i understand it´s hard to get it that way that you think it´s an actual real life football match - but i mean for 8 years the progress isn´t that good - and the match engine is a core of that game. And there is with no question room for improvements. Graphics don´t matter that much - but logics. I mean i like the new data analyst camera - reminds me of sensible soccer. Oh - one thing left. I could make shouts - but i have to wait untill i hear the whistle. Why? Sometimes i have to wait 10 minutes till the new instuctions get used. Shouldn´t it work immediately? Shout? It´s for a slower tempo of course - if my team leads 1-0 against an opponent who sets me under pressure like there is no tomorrow my players will still hurry with everything instead of lowering the tempo of some actions and play safe in the last minutes. Again - they all are intelligent and have high decisions. But no - it´s a draw and in the after game talk i just have the option to say "Hey - you´ve done a great job - no one expected anything of us." The option "You complete idiots lost the game - no one of You will play the next match" is missing. And i believe if this option would be there all of them would be unhappy if i choose it. Or they would be unhappy with the playtime. Also the option "We will practise that a game lasts 90 minutes the next day - for at least 720 minutes - or till everyone gets it." is missing.

6.: No improvement in player match ratings. If i win the match 4-0 everyone gets high ratings - even the goalkepper gets a 7.x although there was no shoot at my goal at all. If i loose the match 4-0 everyone gets low ratings - even if they have done a good job. I could have lost the game 8-0 - but my defenders have given everything - or the goalkeeper. Rating 6.0 or lower - when facing the world´s best players with a low team. How do the ratings work anyway? I mean that way i can´t give a warning to that one player who made that mistake leading to the 4-1 - because he got a high rating because we won the match - but his only action in this game was bad.

7.: Being favorite - or not. Also in FM2010 it was always harder if i am favorite for a win of the match. Of course it happens sometimes that a bigger team looses against a smaller team. But it´s always harder - in FM - to play against the last in the league - or a lower legaue team - than against some team which is favorite for the match - expect those teams which really outclass You - sometimes. That´s why i get to the Euro league with a team which was rated last for the season. Why i even reach the group phases with such a team - why i win a national trophy with such a team. It happens in real life too - but i don´t know if there are any (or many) real life expamples in which the bigger team was set so much under pressure that they won´t leave their own half for 80 minutes - and loosing the game to the underdog - even when fielding their "A-Team" - which is exhausted after the game - beaten by some other team which was exausted when the game starts. And fielding the "B-Team" would end up in a lost game anyway. In 2010 i put my best players against the worst teams and my worst players against the good teams - a good strategy -  a bit unlogical - but it worked. In 2018 it´s not very different. I always know that the other team would get it´s first win in this season when playing against me. Scoring in the first minute - and that´s it. It will be a match on one goal for the rest of the 90 minutes. Either my goal - or the other. I wouldn´t score a goal - if i´m the team pushing forward - it´s more likely to get another counter goal against me - but in most cases my players won´t even leave my half of the pitch and i will loose 3-0 vs. a team which lost the last 10 matches - big time. Perhaps having it that way that something like this should be the exception to the rule could be fine - but not that those games are always harder than the usual games. That the underdongs win should happen - but not that way that those matches are the hardest of the season. Ok - if they only win the two matches vs. me and loose every other match it´s an exception - of course - but perhaps it could be handled a bit different. Again of course it could be bad luck - but i think i wouldn´t even remind it so much if it wouldn´t happen so often. And i don´t remember any real life games in which the absolute underdog teams win a game by absolutly dominating the opponent over 90 minutes Ticki-Tacka-Style with precise one touch football on highest speed and showing those overprised players how football can be played - while the World-Star Collection team just watches - perhaps with open mouthes - and watching the laughing faces of those third league players who pass the ball to their team members if any of those stars comes too close - they´re just watching the stars running.

8.: Again no improvement: In FM2010 i had a long term save. But after a while it got boring because the AI teams always bought expensive players - but couldn´t register them for some reasons. So after a while You don´t have that many opponents - because You´re playing against Youth teams, because they have to leave empty places to get in line with the rules - champions league. Boring. After winning the champions league three times in a row with Liverpool i gave up the game at all. I´m not that much into this game - but after 6 seasons i think it will get the same way again. I guess for my next season my youth players would be strong enough and i could win the Premiership with my all scottish Dundee United team - except for that Northern Ireland guy because there wasn´t a scottish fast striker option. But no - i wouldn´t win if everyone gets unhappy because of too few first team matches - even if they play most of the time and are listed as a talent - or broken promises which aren´t broken - or training which is on low. On the other hand the AI already sold their best players and both Rangers and Celtic are a bit weaker than before - it doesn´t seem that they bought a replacement for the 24,5 millions Celtic earned for the three players at the beginning of the season. Already reached my first draw against them and already beaten Rangers last season. Interview question: "Wasn´t it a brave decision to list - any player who i haven´t heard from - on the transfer list?" "Pew - manager X - whose name i don´t like to remember - has my full support." In Malysia every team started with three foreigners plus one asian foreigner. All of them (not the asian foreigner) left the teams after their contract ended. From my team in know that they don´t think the team is good enough - if i offered a contract there was that red message immediatetly. Looking at the history of that player - there was an option missing for a talk. "You played the last 6 years in Malaysia. You´re 32. Do You really think it´s better for you to play in some second league serbian team as a rotation player than in my team for another season - or two - to win some titles as key player?" But no - he left the team because he thought my team is not good enough. Was unemployed even half a season after that. Then he was available as staff member. I think it was the same for all other foreigners in Malysia too. It would be different if he had another contract offer which could make him think about everything. But better be unemployed than winning titles - as footballer? Would also be different if he decided to end his career. When i looked at his profile when he was unemloyed: "he´s interested in every offer" - not true - he refuses my offer - doesn´t even listen to me. I also guess it´s the same for the scottish teams right now. They leave the top team in Scottland for some mediocore team in Germany or Spain which will never win anything or will never play international games in future. Would halfway understand it if they are 23 or so - to make themselves a name. But with around 30 there isn´t much room for getting a better contract or more titles after that. And if one decides to change the shirts it would probably be another club which is really better than the one he´s playing in - or has at least the same standard - perhaps he just wants to play elsewhere at least for one time in his life after all those years. Logic of AI - this team has so many stars and plays in a league with that many stars - now i play in a team with so many stars in a league with so few stars - so in addition the other team is better. The other team won a few titles too - in the 70ies - 1870ies. That he has the chance to play against the best teams in his actual team via champions league or at least play international games anyway - and just the chance to play angainst the other league teams in that other team because they are playing in the second league or the first league at best in the middlefield the last 30 years - doesn´t matter. Perhaps they promised him to win the champions league next year. And he said: ok - if you say so - i´m in. Then he gets unhappy after that season - they set him to the transfer list - and he got a new conctract in some finnish third row club - if he gets any new contract at all. Future staff member. Decisions: 20.

9.: Staff - every club i start to manage won´t have a full staff. Why? Some have no medical staff - or no scouting staff - or just 3 in the training staff. If i have a full staff - with average men because i like to keep the teams national and only get unemployed people because i know that the AI clubs already have too few members - i always have the best staff in the league.

10.: Names. In my 2010 save at some point i realised that the newgens have a very limited variation of names. In the brasilian national team were just three different names - and when i should vote for the world footballer of the year i didn´t know which Joao or which No-Idea-Which-inho is who. If there were those results of other games displayed there where four different goal scorers - but all have the same name. Now in season six in my scottish youth i have two Stevensons, two Frasers, two McLaughlins - and one in the staff - and two McDonalds. All no brothers. My guess is that i would play that game further on it would be the same thing like in FM2010. That´s killing the fun for me - and of course i could make it so that i build a team just with McDonalds - or Joaos - or some obscure "german" name which isn´t so common in real life. Boateng. Passlack. I get it that sometimes there are players which have the same name - but please. If i have a match i will face the same names again by the way. In 2010 i didn´t gave some good players a contract because i didn´t want to have that name twice in my team - or it sounds bad. And no - i won´t start to rename them or give them some nicknames. I´ll do it when i watch the match. That Crawford is Cindy and so on - but i don´t need to see it on the screen. That Donaldson is Donald Donaldson because that Newgen already has a name Steven Stevenson. So my Taylor is Taylor Taylorson. In the end all are called son at the end except for Cindy. Sometimes there are a couple of "Müllers" in the first german league - in real life. Sometimes three - sometimes one - sometimes none. In the league - not in the club - and it´s the most common german name. I don´t think every english club has three smiths in their team. Or every scottish club has two McDonalds. Or every brasilian club three Joaos - which are all so talented that they are playing in the same national team. In line with that is that in my opinion the newgen faces look worse than in FM2010 - at least with the Hairpack for 2010. I though they would look a bit more diverse - with more options. But from my guessing there are 3 different faces for each region - and perhaps 10 different haircuts. So no improvemts for newgens made since 2010 - another core element of the game. And also i have to clear the cache from time to time and reload the skin because everyone gets bald after a while. In 2010 i had to do this one time after installing that hairpack. In 2018 i have to do it every few months - no idea why. Without any hairpack. Just a logo pack - i had to choose one which takes less space because of more crashes - and of course the german language pack - which is half english because they say some things are always in english - no matter which language you will load. In 2010 everything was in german after installing that translation for 2010 - ok - no capital letters for the player roles - like in 2018. I mean i need the german language pack - i wouldn´t understand the english football expressions like Carrilero - Regista - Secundo Volante or many more - Mezzalla. Spagetti. Pizza. Joao. McDonalds. Perhaps i would break a promise i barely understand. With the german translation it´s clear that my player wants to get promoted to the next level. Heaven. He wants to play in heaven - like an angel. As Trequarista. No more Scottish Rugby football for men - he wants to be another type of player - with 30. More free - more haircut orientated. More in a skirt - not a kilt. Slightly browner skin tone. Some cool tattoos. A Cat - Or "I love Mother", "Jesus saves" and a cross. Better fingernails. Bleached teeth. The complete transformation. What´s wrong with it? He´s on loan in that second league club now anyway. He was happy to leave there - i don´t know why - because he left because he wanted to be promoted - but ok - he´s different. Prefers second league over Euro league for not being promoted to the first league in which he played. Now i know. It´s easier to understand with the german language pack. Half english german language pack - let´s you not think about anything so much... (ok - perhaps 10 % english german language pack)

11.: When i started the game in Malaysia i won the league. It was stated that it qualifies for the Asian champions league - i also won a cup which qualified for the Confederation cup. I played in the Confederation cup. Why? In that season i won everything - and again just qualified for the confederation cup by my successor. I guess there´s something wrong with it anyway. Ok - i could win the confederation cup - but i would see no light against those teams in the Champions league - but that´s not what it is about. There´s some supercup too - and it wasn´t present in the one year - the second season. I won it every time there. 2018, 2020 and 2021 - you see the mistake i guess. And despite winning everything - my first confederation title was 2021 - which was my first international season. But i already won the league in 2018 - and that FA cup which qualified for the confederation cup in 2019 - and the league starts and ends in the same year - like every international cup in asia. I mean i just got a new contract there because i thought i would play international matches - but no - i had to wait another year. Oh - again with newgen names like Othman - two goalkeepers (one at my team as the best talented Newgen - and one bought by the AI the year after i left - who was slightly better and a year older - i didn´t offered a contract to him because of his name and because i knew that my Othman could at least be as good if not better - now this wouldn´t be the case because i think the other Othman will play every match), Husseins - three, Roslis - two, Mohd Khadir - two. Also the AI manager sold that 24 years talented striker who played as a rotation player behind the two really good ones - in exchange for that 33 old one national player who was slightly better at that time - but not better than the best strikers - and he plays with only one striker - so he bought a player who will never play as third in his squad who will get even worse by the time. So in fact the AI manager destroyed the team. I guess the team will play in nowhereland in future - we got three unbeaten seasons in a row - with potential to get even better. One year AI management in the same club: everything you have built up - destroyed. A bit more AI with the pronouncement of the I would be nice. I decided to leave the club with all money available - that the new manager has every option possible - to see what he will do as the richest malaysian club - he could have bought a whole new team - the best players - and didn´t need to because the average age was 23 or so. Half of the squad could get even better with time. Good malaysian players sell for 20k or perhaps 40k or so - he had 700k tranfer budget because of the won confederation cup - i always had a tranfer budget of 0 because the club was in dept. And i´m sure if i leave Dundee the same will happen. All talents sold in exchange for some old - or with good hope around the same age - players, because they have 0,1 star more at that time - which could be different in three months - if they get some playtime which they won´t get. The season i wanted to build up the strikers i played with three - and had the best offense - winning through scoring more than they do. The next season i wanted to build up defence - with five defenders - so i won throught the best defence in the league. And after two seasons my offensive talents and my defensive ones were the best in the league. I won everything - but some players wanted to leave to some other club which was second in those seasons. Unhappy because they couldn´t leave to that "better" club. Which had 0,1 star more i guess. The option "Look - you´re core part of the team which is unbeaten for two whole seasons - we win every cup - win the league - every year - there is no better club in Malaysia at the moment - don´t you think? And we are getting even better - just look at our squad. If you want to play for the best club in Malaysia - just stay here." is missing in those talks. And if it would be there i think it would be so that he answers: "No - i´m unhappy anyway - i want to leave now." Then you can´t talk to him for half a season till he realises that the transfer window is closed since three months and the other team bought some very slow replacement for 500k in Argentina - and there were equal free options as well - as foreigners. And they offered me 20k for my malaysian player - so so - i´m sure the AI had accepted or sold the unhappy player elsewhere - even if there is no equal replacement available - and there isn´t really a need to sell the player - because it doesn´t matter if you get 20k or not - if you could win 2 millions with the confederation cup. The AI manager lost the finals there - so 600k less income. But asian champions league? Not available.

12.: Sounds. I play in Malaysia - friendly match in front of 3 hardcorefans - and it sounds like I´m in the biggest sold out stadium in the world. Another one: I´m the home team and the away team leads 1:0 after 5 minutes - now everyone is applauding for the away team? "Hey. Hey." after every contact with the ball? "Booh" if my team wins the ball? Perhaps if You´re leading against Brasil 7:0 - the brasilians will start to do so - applauding for the away team - but in general it´s far less common i think. If the away team plays football you just can applaud to - and the home team not so much. In the end You are fan of a team because You support them - not to see them struggling. Hmm - perhaps some people like to see them struggling. Or they are "false fans" - they´re only got the tickets because they said they support the home team and wear the shirts - but lied. I don´t see any difference in sounds - no matter how many home and away fans are present - or no matter who is the home or away team. To represent a "realistic" match it can´t be too hard to improve. It´s not only those superb graphics which make a good game which is an absolute pleasure to watch - it´s also the sound atmosphere and the logic with which the players act on the pitch. What of those three things is the "strength" of FM? The Fullback turning around three times with no pressure at all - and deciding to kick the ball outside for a corner? The Winger "crossing" to the opponents goalkeeper - with no own team member in sight in that area? Or even better those two wingers who cross the ball from left to the right serveral times - above the goalkeeper and Your striker - but the ball gets behind the goal after the 5th try? Those throw ins - 8 times repeated, because the throw in taker always throws to the same man in front of him - instead of the free man behind him - but the defender will kick the ball out imediately again? Your striker standing in front of the empty goal - he could stop the ball knee down and score his first goal with his head - but decides to pass the ball to his team member - but forgot the goalkeeper standing between them? Again your striker alone running to the other goal - no one is following him - he´s fast - but shoots from the middle line or way too soon anyway - and misses big time? Everybody running after the ball - and always leaving those wingbacks - or wingers unguarded on either the left or the right side? But ok - they aren´t that dangerous most of the time. They simply act like your own - but hey - 60% of all goals come from crosses. It´s all or nothing for those guys. Either a cross which could hit that mark on the strikers head - or a cross to nowhere. Nothing in between. Same with passes: on foot of your team member - or to nowhere - or the opponent. Or shoots on goal. Either on the goal - or to the corner flag. Or those corners - 10 men standing in front of the goal fighting for the ball - and everything you see is the ball either flying in direction of the other goal - or into yours. The goalkeeper is watching. Another one on the crosses: Very often the striker stands already directly in front of the goal - sometimes it looks like they already stand in the goal. The goalkeeper and the two defenders are just watching him jumping - and heading. Which attribute is missing? "Being part of the match"? Or is the attribute "watching" too high? Usually every goalkeeper will win the ball - all he has to do is get his hands up to catch the ball or fist it - it´s always higher than the strikers head - in fact he doesn´t have to move that much because that cross comes directly to him - but he´s just watching. High positioning, high workrate, high high balls, high bravery. And even with the lowest stats - that´s the minimum a goalkeeper can do - if the ball is in the air for half a year. But i also like the wingers if the other goalkeeper is far away from his goal - and in that case it would be nice to shoot on the goal from the middle line - but in those cases they never do that. Passing short - to a team member of the other team. Or this short roll in option for the goalkeeper - but the strikers will get close. So the goalkeeper rolls to the defender - the defender passes back. Few times - till the pass is to much for the goalkeeper an the defender scores an own goal. Good decisions. Or those backpasses from the sides - which end in a corner, because the distance from the end of the penalty area to the goalkeeper is to long for a simple pass which could be done with all time in the world - by the 7 years old youth player, who really likes basketball but his parents said he should try football at least one time - he could get famous with it. Those passes directly on the opponents foot because the attribute "eyes" is missing? Best playmaker in the world. Kicking the ball out - with at least 7 other options which are obvious - and there´s no pressure at all? Your team conceided vs that underdog team but no one seems to bother with it - they still walk with patience and let the others play. You loose because no one seems to want to win that game which could be easy if anybody would at least give 50%. The only option to even get out of your own half at least one time is to set everything to overload with highest pressing, longest passes, highest tempo and highest everything - but that way you won´t score a goal. Perhaps with luck - but i don´t believe that much in luck in a numbers game. "But i want more playtime in the first team... i guess i have to leave the club... Look at me - i have the highest ratings, because my team members made a good match a few weeks ago. Or i scored a goal - ok i lost the ball two times in the same match with my passes which lead to two goals against us - but my ratings were good because of my goal i scored. I´m ready for this team." Hmm - at this point he´s right. He´s not worse than anyone else. Most of the time the match is reasonable - but in every match there are things i simply can´t understand. After 8 years of having the chance to improve it - to reduce the number of those things nobody can understand. In Malaysia some of the matches were like tennis matches. One defender playing a long ball to the other defender - of the other team. And back again - at least if i needed another goal and tried it with some more direct football. I didn´t know that more direct means Kick and Rush. And i don´t understand the "Intensity" of a tactic. If i choose a lower - green - intensity which should save my players from exhaustion or injury - it´s no difference from a tactic which has a red Intensity - because i´m not the only team on the pitch. And sometimes my players are more exhausted with a green tactic than with a red one - because they have to run more - and they will constantly run - always. In real matches some players already are in a good position - and won´t move so much. Or won´t need to move at all in some situations. Instead they will focus on their player - or their space. If it is obvious that no one of my team will reach that long ball - why rushing forward with the whole team? And even more for the "defending" team - why should everyone run back if it is obvious that the ball gets back forward very soon? Perhaps a few - for having some options. That way the matches don´t look very tactic orientated or realistic - it´s more a chaos in which everyone runs after the ball - sooner or later depending on your mentality, defensive line, pressing settings, workrate of your players or other stats i don´t know - "wants to play the match this time" - and even he has a rating of 0 in wants to play - he gets upset if he doesn´t play. It looks more like a youth football game - those very young - local youth football teams. With high pressing, high mentality, more fluid and tighter marking sometimes it looks like a bunch of flies or bees - moskitos - following the light - or the ball in this case. The whole team in this direction and if the other guy passes the ball to the other side - the whole cloud is moving to that direction. Constantly - because the others pass the ball soon enough. Would be more effective if the players concetrate more on the marking - tight like in the instruction - and perhaps one or two try to get the ball so they can´t pass the ball. And i don´t know - but in real matches not everyone starts running exactly at the same time - to the same direction. Ok - not just about sounds - but i´ll come to the end.

To put it together: I´m quite dissapointed about the progress FM took in the last 8 years. Those things which needs improvements weren´t improved at all - and some other things were downgraded. Training too. In FM 2010 i could set up an individual training for everyone. It´s like with the tactics. I have to say that some things in the match engine are better. In 2010 i knew if there would be a goal after some freekick or corner because it lagged a bit when taking this kind of set pieces - if there would be a goal. Now it´s a bit more guessing. But on the other hand like i said i don´t know if the matches in 2010 or 2018 are more "realistic". It´s the same to watch. I thought about some bigger improvements over the years. Oh - and 2010 rarely crashed. With every possible league enabled - and all games simulated - all details on - some graphical packs installed. I stopped counting how many times FM2018 crashed. I even had to set Details to none so just some matches are simulated - and the interface to 100 or 125% - to reduce the crashes - and i had to disable the links in the 3D matches - and choose the bright or the dark skin - because the normal one also crashed more often. I have a big monitor and i would prefer to set the interface to 150% because of the resolution - but it crashed more often. Now i have to save every week - so if the game crashes i don´t have to replay too many matches - and i save after every important match. It´s annoying - and it´s killing the fun for me - i guess i can´t keep on playing it anyway - because of some other flaws too. New features poorly implemented and / or not working - and old things which needs to be improved not improved. In the end i could even have played FM2010 again instead of purchasing FM2018. But yes - i already knew that the game will get to easy because the AI managers act with no brain - and i will have the same names everywhere. It´s fun for a season or perhaps three - but long term games - no - not that much. And if i start unemployed i will get to the bigger clubs later in the game - when everything is out of control - and even if it should be "more fun" which more money and better players - it is less fun because You don´t have real opponents. I´m dissapointed because i really like the idea behind FM - it could be a really good game - but perhaps it needs to be that way - why should You buy the next edition if the actual one provides long term fun. Perhaps it´s a better idea to buy the next edition because there are real improvements and real new features - instead of buying the next edition because you have a more actual database and the old game is no fun after all any more. After 8 years it could be so much better - but it´s not - and i don´t know why i should even bother with purchasing another edition if i already know that there will again be the same flaws again - perhaps new ones - with new future "features" which make the game even more annoying - because they won´t work the way you think - or won´t work the way they should- and ignoring those parts which would actually really improve the game. In long term games in particular - and in short term games too (match engine, AI managers/clubs) - oh and perhaps it would be an idea to get some new interviews - i guess that are almost the same questions and answers than in 2010. Every week. "Yes it´s a hard match vs. Rangers or Celtic." "Yes - it´s worth playing a good away match." "No - i don´t even bother what any AI Coach is stating about me or my team - we´re all good friends." More interactions with the players - if it should be a babysitting game in future anyway. Instead of individual tactics and training you can instead have "talks" to those players which would start complaining if you don´t talk too much with them. Perhaps add in that they have some more problems you need to solve. Their girlfriend is missing because he is playing too much football - he needs some less first team experience. His grandma died - and he got a depression. Half a year injured. His wife cooks badly or she is growing too fat. Some Journalist found him drunk with two prostitutes and now his wife wants to get divorced. The police stopped him driving his Ferrari - but he doesn´t have a driving licence and he argued with the police that they are worth less because they earn much less money - he´s important. Now they can´t concentrate on football or training for four weeks because the press are asking them questions and asking for interviews constantly. He´s more concentrated on his new model girlfriend than on the sports. He has to do this new commercial - and won´t have time for training. The team was invited for that new song for the club - two days off. There are problems with his new house - he has to wait for the workers - three days. His children got sick - one week. All those things which are important to a team manager - it´s not about tactics and training - or developing a team. And make all those outcomes of those talks depend on some other manager stat which won´t raise at all - i guess this would be a big new feature in future versions. I´m looking forward to it. At least better and more realistic than an unhappy player - team captain - who refuses to talk a single word with you for one season - after two sentences. Lost track... Those answers i think about are not even considered to choose from. I want that the players knows that i´m unhappy with them if they played a bad match - no matter which rating they got. And it can´t be so hard that - if there is the option for such talks - that there are players who will understand why you did something. "Get yourself a brain and think about what You are even demanding here" - also a missing option which should work all the time - as a failsafe for missing logic in the game. Or alternatively a better rating system - in which every action counts - coudn´t be so hard if you have those data analysts. The statistics are there anyway. If a goalkeeper has nothing to do - he shouldn´t be rated bad or good. If the striker is working all the time but nobody passes to him - he should get a good rating- or at least no bad rating. If there is that third league youth player striker facing those two world class defenders - he shouldn´t get a bad rating - because it´s obvious that he will fail playing against them - but he tried hard. On the other hand those defenders shouldn´t get very high ratings when they play against some child - or some 5th league player. Player abilities should be taken more into account. If i loose with my fith league team vs. Real Madrid 1-0 - i guess Real Madrid should get the low ratings - and my team the good ones and vice versa. I guess no one would say that anyone in that Real Madrid match played a good one if they win 1-0 vs. a fith league team - and i guess no one would say that the fith league team played bad against Real Madrid. But i stated that above. Hm - data analysts. If i set up a tactic and play my first 5 games vs. much better teams which would beat me any time - the analysts say thay my tactic is bad and we we have these or those problems with it. If i set up the same tactic and play the first 5 games vs. much lower teams in friendlies which i win 10-0 every time they say my tactic is the best in the world. No problems found. If another team plays well vs tactics the lower teams play - but bad against some tactic of a much better team - they say they are vulnerable to that tactic. Or this tactic would be more successfull - but often it´s not the tactic - it´s the opponent - no matter which tactic is played. Perhaps those data analysts should take the opponent - and positional abilities - into account too - like it should be in the ratings of the players.

Usually i wouldn´t even bother with writing so much about a game and possible improvements - i simply wouldn´t bother with it any more - but in a way i really like FM - and would like to see a version of it which is really worth purchasing again. I´m an optimist - so perhaps it could be achieved - but i´m also a realist and i guess this will never happen if it didn´t happen the last 8 years. It´s not a matter of time - i guess it´s more a matter of earning easy money - and stating some new features. In the end its´still the same game - new interface - some new features - some features dropped - more instable - more bugs - more features not working. Please concentrate on improving things and getting the features to work before even thinking about adding new features to the game - which possibly won´t work too. There´s so much which really could be improved and made better. And even if there wouldn´t be any new features it could be said that everything is working fine - new features could be in the edition after that one. It´s not that only new features sell - in my case i waited 8 years - and now i know i have to read a bit more before i make a decision to buy a new FM - because i guess those things which annoy me will be in the 2068 edition as well - if no one cared about them the last 8 years - why should anyone bother with it the next 8 years? And i bought FM because i never had problems with something like crashes or things which don´t really work - i had other problems with it which could have been solved over the years - which could be improved. And i don´t think that i´m the first one who writes something like this. Perhaps there are too few people enjoying long term games - and most are playing a big club for a few seasons before buying the next edition. Perhaps that´s the mayority - i have no idea. Oh - and it´s nice that one can arrange friendlies for the youth teams. That wasn´t the case in 2010. So the feature works halfway - because the automatic arrangement of those friendlies won´t work. I have to do it myself - no matter which setting i choose in my staff. Hmm - and why can´t i tell my youth/reserve coach which players should play anyway? The way they handle it is the same than any other AI manager. If there´s a 1 star player with no potential he will play instead of the 0,5 star player who has big potential - and better attributes anyway - for me important attributes. So the only option is to get rid of all those players which are actually better than the one who would be best in future. Or if i want someone to play in another role - for the first team in future. I guess in real life those managers are speaking with each other because it´s part of the club´s future - not in FM? No - the AI managers will field their 35 year old 4,5 star player all the time till he retires or his rating drops even more - and the 3 star youth player - with 5 star potential - will get sold - because he´s unhappy with his first team play time, but if he would play the former world star player would get unhappy. Perhaps it would be nice if the world star player faces the truth that he can´t play every match any longer so there is room for a new generation - and the youth player accepts that there is still that famous footballer which he will replace in future. Or every footballer realises that there have to be two players for each position if the team is playing international matches constantly. No one can afford to loose the games just because the first player is injured and the backup is some nobody player who could better play in the fourth league. And the AI managers would handle it that way too. In the end they don´t have enough players who are trained in the club - and they have to play with the remaining youth players anyway because those old players get even worse in a season. So the big clubs struggle after a few years and get replaced by other ones. Repeat. They won´t save the important players for the important match in two days - just field them against that nobody team - against everybody till they need a rest or get injured. So they - depending on how many matches there are in that week - will always start with 90%  or less fitness - or that orange injured symbol - and if someone gets substituted that player would have that red play time circle. It´s the same since 2010 - no AI manager improvement to be recognized. Some rotation would be fine - depending on the opponent - positional ratings - and it would even be better because that way their youth players will develop a bit more. But when i see that everyone is fielding their best team against me - even if i am the worst team there - an even if their second team would be way stronger than my team - i don´t think the AI handles it that way.

Of course some things are a bit over the top - but i guess everyone who has played FM can understand what i mean and that´s bad enough. Now on to the new features for the next years edition - or the year after. I guess they are all really big improvements. I´m already impressed enough how much this game improved the last 8 years - can´t imagine the game in 8 years. Guessing: Still the same. New interface, slightly other graphics - some new features which either don´t work or work halfway. Perhaps You can do everything with a touchscreen till then. Even more unstable. Still 5 patches and hotfixes needed till march the year after - to get some of the new things at least that way running that it doesn´t crash on sight. All the new Improvements come with a cost of course. Same sounds. Same NewGen Names. Same AI Behaviour. Same Complaints. Same broken promises. Same Level of discipline. Same Bugs - but including new bugs. Less real features which affects the core game. More features which are more or less annoying. And nowadays it´s more that way that it´s your rig´s fault if anything don´t work. It´s not the game. Do You have the latest BIOS update? Latest drivers? Latest graphic card? Latest mousepad? I mean i play games since no idea when - but i never read so much about having hardware issues than in the last years. And i never played so many unstable games - and i was playing a lot of Bethesda games. For FM the new features lower the realism of the game - because the features work badly. I think it´s impossible to simulate everything like in real life - but You are saying that FM is the most realistic football simulation on the market. Perhaps true - but that doesn´t automatically mean that FM is good - it could also mean that everything else is worse. What about a mysterious feature called "bug-free"? That would be a real Improvement. What about that never reached feature "everything works as intended?" Those two features alone would made me think about purchasing another edition again. But if i just read a list of new features like even more unlogical dialogs with some AI things nobody cares about or better graphics - that´s not enough. It´s the core of the game that needs to be reworked. Match engine. Player match ratings. NewGens. AI manager behaviour. Perhaps sounds. I don´t care about the rest - there are enough features in it already - next step should be to get them to work correctly - then thinking about having new features or leaving some of the most annoying ones out. I want to manage a team - not to manage some childish players who have no connection to the reality in game because the realsim in this game is probably a bit lower than you may think. It´s not just the match any more - would be easier if it would be just the match - but you decided to expand this to a baby sitting simulator. Team dynamics are a good idea - if they would work in an understandable way. Isn´t that contract promise enough? I mean the player isn´t the team manager. Of course some players will have made other promises too - but if you put that into the game this should work reasonably. More realistic. Or keep it simple and focus on the core of the game. This way it only gets more annoying. For me at least. And it´s like the crosses - either they are on the spot or way away from anything. You can´t really "talk" to the players. You say something halfway reasonable and they say no - i want it that way - i´m unhappy now. After that you can´t talk to them at all. Usually such a player who wouldn´t talk a word would be kicked out of the team - with no added money. He is refusing to work for that contract after all. It should be known if someone is an asshole or someone who wants to do only his thing. In the scout reports. And i´m sure in real life those players would have problems to find a really good club and will probably stay where they are and make the best out of it. Perhaps start thinking if his behaviour is the best for his career. That´s why i think it´s probably not worth adding this "feature" into the game - because it only gets more complicated with it. Takes away much of the fun. It´s the same with those injuries for 11 months. And after he recovered - most talented guy in Malaysia - he got injured in the next match for another 11 month. At least he didn´t start complaining about first team matches - but i couldn´t built him up really. He just was a substitute after that. Before he was one of the youngest national players and my best goal scorer. In real life some players get that too - of course - or some couldn´t handle the constant pressure and wouldn´t play any match again. Sebastian Deisler - one of the most talented german players ever - perhaps known for his injuries and depression. Sure there are such cases in real life - really good players who wouldn´t make it because of injuries. Why not adding in something like a plane crash if Your team comes home? Game ends because you´re inside that plane too. Happens. Bad luck. The only survior is Dennis Bergkamp who never travels by plane. Or two of your players get shot in Columbia because they played a bad Worldcup. Or one is a drug addict now. But it´s a game after all - i don´t think You need to implement things like these - players you buy who never play because of long term injuries for two whole seasons - or like in real life for the rest of their lifes. It´s realistic - yes - but it´s not fun to play. And if i want to play a real life simulator - i could also choose to concentrate on real life a bit more. There are bugs too - yes - but it´s always the most realistic one. You can´t even understand every decision which is made too - but at least you can always state your opinion about things - and sometimes people understand you. Oh - and what about that FM touch? There are less features - but a few too less for me. Why not combining FM touch and the "usual" FM and have everything turned on or off as you like in the pre game settings? I mean the Disk space for both games is almost the same. You could save 50% disk space if you won´t need to install both to have a look - or/and save 50% download time if You download the game. Easy improvement - isn´t it? Also you wouldn´t have to develop "two" games - just one - oh - of course a mobile one too. So the time for developing and optimising the second edition of FM could be spend on optimising the remaining one - which would lead to a better a FM in half of the time too. No? And if you state the better graphics for the next FM - perhaps it would be nice if they are really good. Not that broken arms of that manager dancing in the start screen. Or the faces. Or represent the fans of those four or five option deep Audience better - so if there are 50% away fans there should be half of the audience in the away team shirts. And what about that grass? It looks like plastic in every camera besides the data alalyst view. And why is everything lagging? I can play much better graphic games on highest settings without any lag. Witcher 3 with everything on maximum - or Fallout 4 with serveral mods. Those games have a bit more dept in the view. Not just a stadium. Almost photo realistic graphics. FM2018 is far away from that level. Again the data analyst camera won´t lag so much - but i have to turn the anti aliasing to the lowest setting. In the end there are just 22 players and a couple of fans which are really animated. Some shadows. The net of the goal. What about those light transitions from dark to bright every now and then? Should that be the clouds in front of the sun? In the end the graphics are good enough for playing the game because it´s more important what happens in that game. Even the 2D camera is better than everything else besides the data analyst camera - for watching the whole match. But saying that the whole 3D engine is new and the graphics are better isn´t worth mentioning as a new feature if those graphics can´t keep up with 10 year old games - not even speaking about new games and those "next Gen" graphics. And it isn´t worth mentioning if you again see many things you can´t understand - things no one even in the 12th malaysian league would do - after having too much - whatever they drink or take there to feel good. And i guess the mayority of FM players would prefer a perfect match engine over perfect grapfics. Sure everyone would vote for the perfect match engine in combination with the perfect graphics. And i also guess that the mayority of players would prefer a game which almost never crashes over a game which crashes constantly - but looks better. It´s a manager game - i would categorise it as strategy game - graphics are not that important in those games. It´s more the gameplay and the dept - in my opinion. The options you have - and that you can follow those things in the game - for more realism - not that kind of realism which means that it is close to the reality, because 10% of all shoots on a goal are woodwork. Or a player gets injured 2,5 times a season in real life. It´s more that the game itself has to be realistic - with reasonable decision in game. But there are too many examples which are very unrealistic - and even if it is realistic compared to the real life - it´s presented very unrealistic. If that works one can think about the graphics. It´s about the tactics and how the players - the teams perform. How you build up the team. The AI teams too. If i play something like FIFa it´s more about the graphics - because it´s about what i can do as the player - it has to look good. A manager should be more functional - easy to handle. Graphics the last step on the list. Even the interface is more important. And if those 3D faces look worse than the 2D faces - and have more problems because of bald players - why change the 2D style? What was the reason for that step if it is no improvement? Who said - yeah - exactly - that´s the way i want the faces to look like - with those haircuts which look like toupets and seem to not fit to the head. Or: impressive - that´s the way the grass should look like. In combination with that 2D stadium area and that very blurry surroundings - it´s the best i have ever seen. Every player want to buy this edition - just because of those graphics. We say it´s a complete new engine - bringing FM to the next level. 76 new features in one. I can´t imagine this step - my head stops working at some point.

And perhaps this game is all statistically correct - but are there really so many real life matches in which the one team has 20 shoots on the goal from good positions - and the other one has 1 shoot at all and this one shot team wins 1-0, 2-0 or 3-0? With 4 or 6 times woodwork for the other team - or the average goalkeeper reacting like Manuel Neuer? Just because they say we play more attacking football this time? Because of some low mentality settings which perhaps raise the defensive stats or the likelyness to parry a shot - and on the other side a raised mentality drops the chances to score a goal because it´s played with more risk? Or perhaps on top of that - that the small team is more motivated and the bigger less? And vice versa?

Anyway - before i dont get an ending - english is not my first language - so if it reads ****** - it has to be that way. Enjoy Your time. Till then...

(Perhaps written a word too much. I don´t expect anyone to read it anyway.)

[Thescouser20]

Thank you for taking the time to write this! You should contact the administrators about this!

[Cint]

Very good work. I think especially after FM2018 SI needs to focus on improving and debugging what it is already in the game.

[Fred Putz]

Am 22.5.2018 um 23:56 schrieb Thescouser20:

Thank you for taking the time to write this! You should contact the administrators about this!

Did that.

 

And thank You both too for Your answers.

 

And for those who think this text is too long:

1.: Make it so that the player can choose which manager stats raise like in the pre-game settings. Perhaps even add in some feature that allows a "respec" via an additional course. Would be the easiest solution i guess - and probaby the best. One gets a message, that one has more experience - choose your advancement in which you have specialized. No more players asking why fitness raises if they are coaching ball control - and more role-playing elements. Or this idiot who is asking why his discipline won´t raise - because he simply has none. Never. Not even in a game...

2.: Those promises / AI choices should reflect the game world. Why not getting another contract if someone has no other offer or decides to end his career? Writing more about it would be endlessly.

3.: The AI managers should be much better and also rotate the players. Adding in that potential ability - and abilities of the opponent if making choices for the 11 - 14 who play. Also for transfers. He doesn´t need to buy a 33 year old player which has 0,1 star more if the has a 23 year old one who has even more potential - which he sells in exchange.

4.: More names for Newgens or Regens. There should be some statistics which names are more common and which not. But please more names, not that every 10th newgen has the same name - which is likely more uncommon in real life - no matter which country you are in. I guess there is a list somewhere - it could be expanded and those names which are more common could have a - slightly - higher chance to get picked. I mean if there are 130k players in the game - or 350k players with the biggest database - there should be about 300k names - or 250k at least. From my guessing there are actually 5k - 10k names at best.

5.: The player rating system need to be reworked. Every action should count - just for that player - and in addition who the player is facing.

6.: Work on the match engine - so that one can understand more what´s going on there. Again - writing too much would have no end.

7.: The results should reflect which team is better and which not. Now an outstanding team will be average - or at least not best, second or third in the league if the league itself is very equal. Bayern is fith in the league. Madrid also - and so on - even if they have the best players. That being favorite thing vs. an underdog team.

8.: The sounds could be a bit more diverse.

9.: More faces for those New- or Regens. Every word more here is too much. - Ok - perhaps add in an option to start a game just with generated faces - i mean half of them - or more than half of them - have no pictures at all. And perhaps in comparison those generated faces wouldn´t look so - generated if there are no real pictures to compare to. But there have to be more and they have to look better - and the haircuts should match the faces.

10.: More player interactions if it should be that way - anyway. Not those players which won´t talk to you a whole season. Ability to kick out those players without extra money.

11.: The whole playtime should be taken into account before a player gets unhappy because of his playtime. Perhaps even how many players are there in the team for that position - how are his ratings in comparison to the other ratings - the star rating - the match rating - the training rating. Perhaps age or how long they are in that team.

12.: Add in more in-game sense. There are too many things which don´t make any sense at all. AI decisions - inside and outside of the match engine.

13.: Tactics could be more detailed like in FM 2010 - including team overview for individual settings. Less roles needed no one has ever heard of - outside of Italy or England.

14.: General bugixing.

15.: Even more bugfixing.

16.: Getting the rest to work before thinking about adding in really new features that could cause new bugs or which are not thought to the end or which make no sense  - in game and in compared to reality too.

I guess that was about everything in that text - can´t get it shorter.

Greetings - till then...

[Neil Brock]

Reviewed so locked.