The little things (newbie rant)

Hi guys!

I've been playing FM ever since 96/7 though I was pretty young then and didn't understand much I don't claim to be a pro now, not at all I'm pretty bad but my love for this game remains.

I've been playing a FM10 game for a few months now (not much free time) and am at 2016/2017 season. I had a nice career start with a low bulgarian team and rose to the top with At.Madrid/Italy currently. With that being said I can move to the point of ranting.

There are several things that disappoint and kind of spoil the fun.

- Media interactivity and awareness.

It's just sad how things are always the same even though with slight update this year everything else is the same. The media feels too generic after a few years and becomes more of an irritating job than to have fun.

I would like more awareness - for example they should know when I'm not playing my regular 11 players but play reserves or youth players and ask questions accordingly. What's worse than playing your youth/reserves to keep the main team fresh for an important match when the media slams you after you lose and the morale drops?

Example 2 - with Levski (the bulgarian team I played) I was the total outsider in a group of 3 behemoths including last year's winner of CL - Chelsea. Things turned out so that the last game in the groups was me vs chelsea at home. Now they needed a 100% win or they will be left 3rd (me in 4th place ony losses and a draw). At this point I pull out a surprise victory out of nowhere and dethrone Chelsea in the group stages.

The media reaction? None.

If that happens in real life there will be revolts in the papers. I'm sure it's not so hard to ask the game to make certain calculations in a small group of 4.

A bit more variety in the news can be a real booster too. I'm sick of reading the same phrases and expressions about fans reactions, boards reactions and other stuff. Different wording a few more lines extra - it's not going to waste a lot of dev.time. Or maybe just make it moddable so people can actually improve it ?

News are boring

How about having ex-club legends interact a bit more. They are always about - be wary of this player/that player. Add more spice here, let them comment on title chances, on team status, morale, current players that behave/misbehave.

More interaction among players, managers, staff would make this feel so much more realistic and fun in the long term.

Another example: I open a football news site and read how Pique comments on Fabregas' probable return to Barca. Neat? When does it happen in FM, should be much more often.

I do believe that with football being the global entertainment that it is, every aspect of a footballer's life is commented in the media in one way or the other. I need more buzz and more life in this FM world and it will be a really great experience.

As I said rants are about small things which are eventually the key factor in any long game.

How about loans/transfers?

Why on earth am I still not able to offer a player to a specific club I choose to ? Is it that hard to implement? Me thinks not. Or maybe it is ultra-unrealistic? Nay. But it would be pretty damn useful.

Other random stuff

The Positison button should be in the Training tab. It could save quite a few clicks to be able to look at positions the player can play into while assigning him to train a new pos. or choosing best schedule.

The boards expectations should be more realistic. I take At.madrid that have not won the title since 96, but they have expectations to not only challenge to it but minimum reach 1/2 final of CL what? I finished 3rd, reached the final and was on the cutting line to be fired - asked for extra time and got it. But still this is just insane.

Back on the media bits - the assistant manager takes the interviews as if the questions are asked to him. That in theory is ok but how many times have u seen the "Absolutely not.I remain in full control" reply, obviously being asked if HE has lost the dressing room control. Can't this be tweaked to address you the real manager, and the assistant to be talking about you as well?

Have you ever seen any reaction from a player not being given the squad number he prefers?

Again with player interaction - when you have someone unsettled and bring a player from the same nationality to help there is no reaction from the player. At least he can say he is glad to have a compatriot in the team and will try to adjust better with his help and so on. Or what can be even better if the player you bring is the same nationality but also have lived a few years in the country you manage in so is already adjusted fully? This also can be reflected in the interactions between them.

Recently I had Rio Ferdinand brought in to help Rooney settle - even though he is in his fav.personnel Rooney didn't say a thing. Come on now - it wont' be too hard to breathe some life in these guys and make them look less like names with stats and more like real players - the bitching they do is a good step towards this

Which brings me to my last painful experience. I removed Rooney from captaincy 2+ years ago and since then he is unhappy about it and considering his options. And thats it, it just stays at that and nothing happens. Same for most unsettled players or unhappy about something. I wish there was an interact menu there where you can sit ad actually discuss things with them with a few basic lines and have some meaningful outcome.

I guess there a lot more things that come to mind but it happens while playing the game and can't recall all of them now. Thanks for reading if you made it so far

Again I love the game and would like to see it improve in all aspects not just one.

A lot of good points. However, and I know it was only a minor point, apparently players do have a dip in morale if they are not given their prefered squad number.

Welcome to the boards Vermundr, you've made a few good points but some are explainable. Firstly the example of Atletico being a team with high expectations is 100% accurate, there have been occasions in the past where managers have been sacked from the club when they have over-performed given the squad and finances available. Frankly in football there are a lot of clubs out there run in an insane manner.

About the lack of variety in the media section, if SI could have it larger than it currently is then I am sure that it would, but there could be potential problems with the coding that would cause some serious bugs in the game, or it could be a case that the media module can only chose between a limited number of choices. P.S. a lot of the actual verifiable news in real life is very boring too. Most of the stories of "X says Y is moving to his club" can either be attributed to a "close personal friend" of X whose name is Mike Made-Up or actually someone in the pub the reporter met one day who has never met X or Y.

As regards loans, unless you have a specfic link with a particular club in real life (e.g. Man Utd and Royal Antwerp), the offer will have to be pretty general, because often a club wont declare interest until they know the player is available. So in this case it is pretty accurate. Just think of the interested clubs line in the transfer page as a rumours box like I do, it's a good show of general interest but not always of who's interested.

Relating to the part where Ass Man taking press conferences, it's also pretty annoying if you go on holiday and let the Ass Man take control of a match, and the players say something like "Not happy with how you talk to them on match day" when in fact I've not actually said anything.

To summarise all the OP comments into one. Media inactivity has been an issue since press conferences were introduced. They are far too repetitive and become tiresome very quickly. There needs to be more activity not only between legends and players but you as the manager and the legends. Look at any paper and you often have Venables or Hansen or Lineker commenting on a player, club or manager, sometimes completely out of the blue. In FM this only happens when a part of the game triggers it, eg. a match against legends former team or a cup final. Also being unable to offer players to a specific club is a minor thing but when you get offered players it seems like they have selected only you but you cant do the same (Weird). As for the CL thing with Chelsea certainly agree, that is really weird. there should be a headline story like "Shock elimination" or something like that. Considering the commentary on the ME is so much more diverse why cant the media activity be the same, especially press conferences.

Thanks for the responses guys! I'm glad I'm not the only one having these thoughts while playing the game

@Brian Shanahan

I see your point about loans/transfers, but then again is there any harm in having the option to offer (generally like the offer to clubs option) to a specific club? A fresh example - Is Man City actually associated with the brazilian club Robinhno went on loan ? I'll risk it and say no.

It should be possible to offer to a specific club say - one of the players favourite or maybe his EX club. Certain way to limit the choice can be done (maybe if you develop a friendly relationship with some manager - although never saw that happen).

And about the media module - I really can't believe that it's SO complicated that it can't be done better. I'm sure it's more of a neglect due to concentrating on bigger issues the game has - which is fine by me. But in the long run as I already said the little things and surprises are the things that keep you playing longer and longer. At least from where I sit.

@Tommy Boy

I didn't know this and haven't experienced it, but I mostly do the conferences myself because most of the time I give to an assistant the team "should not react well". Mostly because I player lower clubs and have hard time finding decent ass(istant)

jsolloso

Yeah basicly these are my points, with stuff like the Chelsea example bothering me most. The game world feels too mechanic and unaware of the different situations and possibilities at times.

I really wish they make a media system that's very flexible and moddable so they can do a little for show off and then just let the users create amazing mods