Highway to Hell

30 10 2008

I mentioned in the last post that I made the move from Professional difficulty to World Class in my Valencia Manager Mode career after racing into an 18 point lead.

 

My last set of fixtures seen 1 win in 6 games since the switch.  I am finding it TOUGH.  Professional was and is far too easy compared to this level.

 

The AI appears turbocharged, in my opinion the rise from Pro to WC is too big in FIFA 09.  There should be a level in-between.  I would say it’s on a par with Legendary, which I played on FIFA 08.

 

The amount of possession the AI maintains is scary, the amount of shots on goal and the chances taken are never seen on Professional.  You get punished for the slightest error.

 

In a way that’s fine by me as the way I see it, I will only improve as a player as 

  • I will have to defend better 
  • I need to keep possession longer
  • I will have to be  more creative to break down the stubborn AI defence 
  • My finishing will improve if I want to win games as I really need to take any chances as they are limited at this level

 

I can understand people not getting any fun from this sort of gameplay but that is my preference.  The harder the difficulty the bigger the challenge.  The sense of achievement when you do manage to get a degree of success and then look back at the times when you struggled brings a lot of satisfaction.

 

I headed into the final 6 matches holding a 10 point lead and the AI ass whipping continued.  

 

Real Madrid or Raul I may add spanked my ass severely and handed me my biggest defeat against the AI yet on FIFA 09.  A Raul hat-trick seen me go down 3-1.

 

Like the Almeria game from the last post, I squandered a 2 goal lead to draw 2-2 against Athletic Bilbao.  I was heading for another draw against Atletico Madrid until I lost a goal in injury time, 2-1 defeat.  Drew with struggling Numancia 2-2 and got battered in my final 2 fixtures against Espanol and Real Betis 2-0.

 

My record on World Class stands at an impressive P12 W1 D5 L6 (Relegation form).  Due to the 18 point lead I opened up playing on Professional I held off Barcelona to win the title by 3 points.

There is no sense of achievement though.  It feels like winning by default.

 

Professional is too easy for me, and World Class is proving too hard.  I have mentioned that there should be a difficulty in-between as the gulf is HUGE.

 

I will persevere on World Class as it’s the only difficulty that provides a challenge. 

 

I have never been sacked/fired since I started playing Manager Mode on FIFA 08.  There is a very high probability/certainty that will happen next season going by my last 10 results.

 

Will next season bring my first game over?


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Categories : FIFA 09 Manager Mode

Upping the Ante

28 10 2008

I have increased the difficulty level from these group of fixtures to World Class due to storming into a 18 point lead and unbeaten in the league.  Although the majority of games were close, I was dominating the majority of these games.  I like a real challenge in my football games, I don’t mind losing or 0-0 affairs.  I would rather have this than winning every game.  That’s my preference.

I read on various forums that people found the jump from Professional to World Class is a big leap in FIFA 09.  That the AI performs their famous dribbling and possession skills.  I don’t mind this as the way I see it, is that I must find a way of combating it.  Like real football.

It was interesting from the first game.  No longer could I run with David Villa past the defenders at will as I could on Professional.  No longer press A/X and win the ball from the AI at every tackle.  I was glad of this as I thought that maybe it was a weakness in 09.  Instead of attack, attack, attack as I was doing in matches recently, I now had to revert back to maintaining possession (more often than not losing possession) and await openings.  I love how FIFA  requires you to do this.  Many people don’t, but we all get different kicks from computer games.

There was a dramatic increase in the AI, they are now tighter in defence, more of a threat in attack and take ALL of their opportunities one-on-one with the goalkeeper rather than running the ball straight at them and just like I read they do indeed keep possession now for LONG periods.  I have definitely found my level with 09 against the AI, from these games it WILL be a while before I crack World Class difficulty.  That, there is no doubt.

Disappointingly in the first match against Almeira I threw away a 2 goal lead to draw 2-2.  The next 2 matches also ended in draws 1-1 (Recreativo) and 2-2 (Malaga).  I won the next fixture luckily against Villarreal 1-0 who had the lions share of possession and chances.

Crazily in a way I was glad that the next 2 fixtures seen my long unbeaten run in the league come to an end.  Losing 2-0 to Deportivo and 1-0 to Majorca.  It has proven that World Class is the correct level I should be playing at with one win in 6 games.

With my unbeaten run coming to an end and no longer can I run past defenders at will with David VILLA.  I am now playing the type of football that made me switch to the FIFA series in 08 after a 10 year absence.  Slow, methodical build up.  Real football emulated in a computer game.  Happy days.

It highlights that I have been kidding myself on playing on Professional, thinking that I was a decent player.  My early impressions of World Class on FIFA 09 is that it is a BIGGER step up than the same level on FIFA 08.  I finished FIFA 08 on Legendary level and I would say that World Class on FIFA 09 is on a par with that.

Could I lose the league from an impossible situation? Now that would be funny.  It could happen 6 games remaining and holding a 10 point lead.


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Categories : FIFA 09 Manager Mode, Valencia Manager Mode

Back to winning ways

26 10 2008

After the initial shock of returning to my Manager Mode career with Valencia after a week of playing PES 2009 seen my MANUAL passing game go to pieces.  It was atrocious.

Therefore, I am going to play FIFA 09 and the remainder of my MM season.  I will then go and start my PES Master League with the default squad.  For the next few days it will be all about FIFA.

I want to play both games and hopefully I can find a solution and adapt to playing both.  I don’t find going from FIFA to PES a problem, it’s PES to FIFA which is causing the headache.  From assisted controls to my FIFA controls MANUAL, it is proving a hurdle AT THE MOMENT.

Anyway, here is the next installment of my Manager Mode career with Valencia…….

The last post highlighted that I have stormed into 13 point lead, I remain unbeaten in the league.  Dumped out of the Spanish Cup by Barcelona, but I would get my revenge in the league fixture.

I’ve read many people stating there are no player individuality in the FIFA series.  I will use David VILLA as an example of a counter argument.  He is a World Class striker in real life and in FIFA 09 he is similarly deadly.  He is approaching 30 goals for the season after this series of fixtures and appears to be scoring all my goals at the moment.  He is head and shoulders above any striker I have played with in the different game modes on FIFA 09.  The way he performs the skillful heel-flick passes, shooting, heading and WORRYINGLY his pace feels like I am cheating, he races away from every defender in my MM and his finishing is DEADLY.

These 6 fixtures provided 6 wins including a 4-0 demolition of Osasuna (David VILLA hat-trick) and a reversal of the Barcelona Cup fixture, defeating them 2-1.  I remain unbeaten in the league, I have never went a full season in FIFA 08 unbeaten.

I am now 18 points clear at the top and the time has come to up the difficulty to World Class.


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Categories : Valencia Manager Mode

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