janrzm

I never dismiss areas of the game I'm personally not that interested in because I know it is almost certainly important to someone else. In terms of the game development I'm probably more worried about the things SI aren't saying than the bits they are. If FM25 was going to be a graphical leap I think that would already be a given and the developer would shout it, same for things like improved AI decision making across the board. My fear is that it's looking increasingly like the game is going to be a "translation" of what we already have and a watered down one at that. Still, if the tactical side of the game is improved somehow that might just be enough to see us through to FM26. I really do feel SI need to over deliver a game, because I hate to say it but it's been too little for too long if I'm honest. On a personal note I'm still looking forward to getting my hands on the game. I just hope those of us that contribute to improving it by actively feeding back on bugs and feature suggestions can still make a meaningful difference.

I'm not sure I agree with that. I think you could make a case to say it has the survival instincts of a shark.....no matter what is thrown at us we just continue to exist.

I've said the same as well. The key to achieving success with the UI is flexibility, flexibility and flexibility. Let people tailor it to their preferences. Of all the unknows the thing I fear most is reduced or removed skinning/modding ability.

Sat having breakfast, opened the socials.......read the announcement. Went full Mourinho........ Watching streamer reactions is not helping me. There's a lot I could say but I won't. What I will say to Miles is please stop using X to discuss this game I care so much about. No company (or individual representing one) with an ounce of social awareness should be associating itself with the dumpster fire of a platform.

I'm not going to lose any sleep over that. There's been nothing to even raise the spectre of micro transactions and if anything it seems to me like the gaming industry as a whole is just starting to realise the error of its capitalist ways. I'd much rather see SI take a route towards being a "Sports Sim Larian". Look after your customers and reap the benefits. Take them for granted and well....Ubisoft.

Bit of a disconnect in branding etc. I could almost walk straight past that and not realise what it was.

I wouldn't disagree with that. What's been presented in this rumour (even as just a graphical representation) is unwieldy at best, if true.

I think that largely depends on SI's ability to avoid meta formations and roles. Something invariably ends up OP and a huge swathe of people just gravitate to that because their ideal experience of the game isn't realism its winning everything.

I have a really good PC so play with with all leagues playable and with full detail. First transfer window off, large database. I'm interested to know what it is about that setup that could be adjusted to mitigate the issues in my post?

Transfer Market Mechanics is something I desperately hope to see improved in FM25. I fired up FM24 this last week for a refresher after several months and there are a two major issues (both of which I have raised way back). The AI clubs sleeping in the period between the seasons end and next transfer window opening allows the human player to easily gather up all their preferred targets. Similarly you can do this during the season in readiness for the following season. Essentially if you have funds you are operating one window ahead of the AI. Player controlled clubs need to be saying we aren't sanctioning that transfer until we've let some people go more often. Players and agents need to be reluctant to sign too early, agents need to drum up interest and clubs need to be dismissive of offers coming in too early. Additionally., player reactions need to reflect that offers not being entertained mid season is fine in many cases and their morale should not tank accordingly. The second area of concern is activity in the January (mid season) transfer windows is crazy. In the save I've just played this last week my team was top of the league in January and clubs are in for my top 7-8 players who are all desperate to leave. You just do not see this IRL. If we've over achieved then by all means we should be under pressure in the summer but not half way through the season. The January window is typically made up of clubs looking to do some "housework" squad tidying, covering injuries, shifting unsettled and surplus players. Add into this a handful of bigger surprising deals, maybe but not a given. At the same time clubs should be refusing the human player approaches more, agents should be saying my player is keeping is options open more, or he's focused on the season (especially if his team is in with a chance of winning something). It needs toning down massively. There's no nuance to player decisions around transfers that appeal to them, there needs to be much more. A player desperate to leave my silverware winning team competing in Europe for one that's relegation fodder in a league ranked one or two places above mine shouldn't be a given..... Transfer offers by AI clubs.......I think the balance is delicate here because the game could be ruined if AI teams over pay too easily. But, multiple offers at less than what you paid for players with great ratings, performance and potential are fatiguing. And give me the ability to say no means no.....and if I've turned down 3 million what makes you think I'll accept 2 million the day after......(sheds tear).

I'd definitely advocate for slowing down, I think it's something that's easy to lose track of and you can find yourself slowly gathering pace through your save and you eagerly try to get to the next POI so to speak. There are also little nuggets as you say and I had a similar experience with Kaiserslautern where having reached the Bundesliga they gave me a ten Euro note for the transfer window and wouldn't budge. That save took an entirely different turn to many others. At the same time the game is still massively lacking in nuance around almost every feature IMO and I'd like to see way more attention paid to that moving forward.

Just trying to take a more measured view on all this tbh. There’s obviously a lot of “expectation management” going on which I accept, you could be a little cynical about. Personally, being upfront and communicating better is something lots of us have pushed for over the years so it’d feel somewhat hypocritical to take the stance now that I only want to hear good news. I’m pushing myself to be patient and understanding and resisting the urge to get too emotional about this stuff because ultimately I’d rather SI deliver “less” well, than everything chaotically. Should they have taken one more cycle of the existing game to get all their ducks in a row, only time will tell. I, like many of us have invested a lot of my spare time into this game and again like many have been honest and upfront about wanting to see it be the best possible version of itself. If I have to take a little bit of pain now to see that objective reached then I’m prepared for that. I would genuinely like to see a release in the near future though that truly exceeds my expectations,

FM25 can't come fast enough. I never play the game with the team I support because it feels unrealistic when I do well. I think that may well have changed now.

I don’t want to say too much until seeing the actual game up close. I do want to give people the benefit of the doubt in challenging circumstances like these.. I think omitting the various modes makes sense to begin with. The UI is making me a little nervous as I don’t want the game I play on PC to feel like a console or mobile game.But, I accept you’d need to use it before forming a strong opinion. Shouts….I respect the honesty from Miles about having never been happy with the mechanics. I also think it’s smart and sensible to omit for now as opposed to including something you aren’t happy with at the outset. That being said the idea of a football manager stood on the side line with no way of verbally communicating with his players is a little preposterous. Also, if the mechanic to react to things like conplaceny is removed does that mean the in-game mechanic that causes it has been removed as surely you can’t leave that in with no way to counter it?? just thoughts…..

I get the frustration, there's nowhere near enough nuance around agreeing loan deals and how they play out in game, I made a feature request about this last year. Extract below. "How do you feel about the inclusion of "expected minutes" in the loan deals. Also, the option of a second acceptable role, this would allow us to link similar "acceptable" roles. Not a fixed rule but manager personality dependant perhaps some more pragmatism around a loan deal if a player has played out of an agreed position but has developed well. Also the ability to acknowledge when a player has had to be used in a certain way due to injury but has collected more minutes/experience than originally agreed. Just thoughts. "