Tactics Options in FIFA 19/20

[manmachine]

Opinion!
The tactics system introduced in FIFA 19 is actually worse (it's dumbed down, more swallow and actually offers fewer options), than the old one.

It's easy to focus on specific game mechanics (attacking, defending) and blame them for the state of the game, while the new tactics kinda fly under the radar but they're hugely responsible for the shitty end to end gameplay and many other things wrong with the game as well.

I've said the same thing exactly one year ago, but now I think I can write plenty more about it, if there's any interest on the topic.
I wonder if anyone else thinks the same or disagrees.

 

[manmachine]

No other opinions so far, so here's mine. Long post incoming, apologies!

First, a reminder of the old tactics system (Fifa 16 screenshot):


And a list of options the new system no longer supports!

• Defender Line: No option to play the offside trap. By default defenders retreat and cover. You can't get rid of the retreating defensive line and this helps make games end to end.
• There's no longer an option for free form/organised build up (well, there's no build-up/midfield, so...).
• Same for chance creation. And you could even select how teams attack (more passes, crosses or shots).
• Every option had a range from zero to 100! Now it's 1-10 (Width for example, but I suppose that's no big deal). But what is a big deal is that options like Pressure, Aggression & Build up speed are no longer adjustable at all!
  
  Instead EA has a handful of default mentalities that you can assign to teams/choose to use yourself but you can't tweak at all. For example: Possession or Fast Build up (attacking), Drop Back, Balanced, Constant Pressure (defending) and a couple more. Needless to say these defaults are pretty much terrible.

So how does all this impact the gameplay? Just a couple of glaring examples:

Teams set to press:

A team can be set to constant pressure but forget about tweaking the aggression or how far up the pitch they will do so. It's just an exaggerated default (because it's EA, they overdo everything), it makes teams like Man City easier to beat on the counter, they man mark like mad and don't keep their shape and of course there's no midfield to stop you. To make matters even worse they never seem to switch to something else based on the score! These matches are mostly garbage.

Teams set to balanced defending:

You'd think this would be a saner default. Here's how teams set to "balanced" defend:


They just let you play keep ball all game long. No pressure, no midfield resistance, nothing. No this is not "drop back". What's this crap? Why is this a thing? Again they don't change this mentality even if they're losing. These matches are also mostly garbage.

Teams set to play possession:

Again just an on/off switch. But never mind the lack of fine tuning, have you ever seen a team (in 19 or 20) passing the ball around patiently? Me neither. This is actually a non existent tactic. Even teams set to possession are just as direct going forward as every other team. Maybe it's a place holder tactic and EA will one day implement it...

EA has actually sold people a supposedly improved tactics system which looked cool (5 different pre-set tactics, wow) but the reality is they actually removed useful options and depth. I can list many reasons why I personally think fifa is pure garbage in recent years (just my opinion, it's ok if you enjoy it!) and these new tactics would be somewhere at the top of my list...

 

[klashman69]

Its very simple, EA have done all this to hide the same broken issues which have been in the game for years.

They are hiding the fact they cannot develop on this engine code anymore and need to start from fresh so keep moving the goalposts every year and keep chopping and changing the gameplay settings to resemble something that at least pleases UT players online to keep making money, however this is not just a dangerous game its now in a sense almost suicidal to its future because the PS5 is now round the corner and now EA have a huge dilemma ahead that they have to in the next 2 years make a fresh start.

There are so many elements in this game which contradicts itself and simply do not work at all with eachover. Now of course you could tell I knew all about FIFA tactics already, FIFA first introduced these tactics for FIFA 09 and FIFA 10 is still sadly the best year for how the functioned, back then you could do what I helped develop with many people over the years on PES, so at least get teams to play like they do in real life and differently to eachover. Now this game is beyond convoluted and every single AI team just follows the global AI settings. Back between FIFA 09-11 the game was still so free and fluid, so tactics used to show really well in those games, not in a competitive sense but very much in a stylish sense.

They have got away with it for years because this is a new world, now the order is propaganda. People don't want depth anymore, I'd say the vast majority of gamers these days want instant gratification. So propaganda and hype is the order of the day. Few to nobody cares about these things or care about how teams tactically are setup. This is how EA gets away with this, the old system was total shit anyway the new one has literally broken the game to an extent is unplayable, you just have to find some slider settings which are tolerable for a time and keep changing them everytime you get bored. For me, arguably, pound for pound, FIFA 20 is the worst FIFA game ever released when you consider budgets, modern technology etc..

There is nothing left for EA to do with this game anymore. Its a new engine or bust, the propaganda is still working and due to having better dedicated servers than PES they are still kings of online football gaming however their castle is broken, their product is fundamentally broken but the masses do not care. Licences, stadiums, starheads and hype is the most important thing.

 

[manmachine]

Its very simple, EA have done all this to hide the same broken issues which have been in the game for years.

They are hiding the fact they cannot develop on this engine code anymore and need to start from fresh so keep moving the goalposts every year and keep chopping and changing the gameplay settings to resemble something that at least pleases UT players online to keep making money, however this is not just a dangerous game its now in a sense almost suicidal to its future because the PS5 is now round the corner and now EA have a huge dilemma ahead that they have to in the next 2 years make a fresh start.

There are so many elements in this game which contradicts itself and simply do not work at all with eachover. Now of course you could tell I knew all about FIFA tactics already, FIFA first introduced these tactics for FIFA 09 and FIFA 10 is still sadly the best year for how the functioned, back then you could do what I helped develop with many people over the years on PES, so at least get teams to play like they do in real life and differently to eachover. Now this game is beyond convoluted and every single AI team just follows the global AI settings. Back between FIFA 09-11 the game was still so free and fluid, so tactics used to show really well in those games, not in a competitive sense but very much in a stylish sense.

Yeah you could be right, we have no way of knowing. Although it's not hard to see that actually both games have huge legacy issues that date back to the stone ages. Of course when they (EA) go out and redesign a feature (tactics) you'd think they're making a fresh start. Like fixing long standing issues, make sure everything works as intended, etc.

So as far as we know these tactics are working as intended. Maybe it is a fresh start but it's unfortunate that it happened when no one at EA cares about offline so it's something that only serves fut. Because there's no way this is team individuality, no team presses/defends like that. It's just some badly thought out, exaggerated presets, lacking any subtlety and logic, that would ruin the game no matter the actual gameplay mechanics.