am i the only one committed to skipping the demo and waiting for the final patch?

Having decent experience of SI's games and knowing that things never are really 100% stable in the first version of the game, and even if they are, having to install patches and change tactics accordingly mid-career is a nuisance, I've made the decision to wait for the inevitable FM12.3 a few months from now. It gives me time to continue with my long FM11 journeyman career where I'm yet far from reaching the top.

Now the problem is, every year whenever I plan to do this, I grab the new demo, look at the new features, and can't go back. Even if the new features are minor like they are this year. So I have to restrict myself to resist the hype and not get the demo. Anyone else doing the same, or am I just weird?

Not at all. It's the same every year. It's just the initial excitement of the demo. Every year the demo comes out and there are lots of immediate posts saying "oh my god! Best game ever!", then as people get into playing it a few bugs reveal themselves. The game gets released and about a day later the board is full of hysterical posts proclaiming that this is the worst version of FM ever and is unplayable, broken etc. etc. Of course, it's all hysterical overreaction. If you're happy to hold off and wait for the final patch then there's nothing wrong with that. I'm giving it a miss altogether this year.

I never play the demo because either a) I'm still playing previous years save or b) the build up to the new one inspires me to start a new save on the previous game. I like to test the new features without thinking about the 6 month cap.

I'm having a bash at the Demo then leaving the game until final patch!!

I'm skipping too and waiting until January for the game to be patched and ready for a career game...Plus it will be cheap by then

I always get it on release, and enjoy the experience regardless of bugs. Tbh, I've never really noticed anything that ruins my enjoyment of the game, so I have no reason not to get it and get a full year of enjoyment from it. Same again this year

kriss the mod here convinced me to bin it this year.

the steam crap is the cherry on kriss' cake. Maybe SI got bored with dealing with the usual "bugged, not happy" posts so wanted to add a new one in the mix; steam problems. 3rd party unneeded software crap.

and am enjoying FM11 loads, not much jumps off the page as must have about FM12 for me personally as well.

For the last 4 versions I have always bought the game in April around my birthday. The last patch is out, the skins, stadiums, kits are done. The tactics, training schedules and discussions have mostly taken place. The only thing missing this year will be the threads from SFraser.

Always buy it the first day its out. Can never wait for FM, especially if its out and I can have it

kriss the mod here convinced me to bin it this year.

the steam crap is the cherry on kriss' cake. Maybe SI got bored with dealing with the usual "bugged, not happy" posts so wanted to add a new one in the mix; steam problems. 3rd party unneeded software crap.

and am enjoying FM11 loads, not much jumps off the page as must have about FM12 for me personally as well.

If you're a PC Gamer why would you not use Steam?

my question isnt waiting for the patch , is it worth waiting 2 weeks to start the game then rather than lose some of the excitement by playing the demo now .

Having decent experience of SI's games and knowing that things never are really 100% stable in the first version of the game, and even if they are, having to install patches and change tactics accordingly mid-career is a nuisance, I've made the decision to wait for the inevitable FM12.3 a few months from now. It gives me time to continue with my long FM11 journeyman career where I'm yet far from reaching the top.

Now the problem is, every year whenever I plan to do this, I grab the new demo, look at the new features, and can't go back. Even if the new features are minor like they are this year. So I have to restrict myself to resist the hype and not get the demo. Anyone else doing the same, or am I just weird?

you don't have to worry about the patches, STEAM automatically installs them for you, you don't have to download any patches ever

I would have waited for the final patch this year, however looks like i will be waiting for a while until i can play a new version. I will not and use steam, i have used steam before and found it unhelpful and didnt like it it at all. As a consumer that only leaves me with one choice not to play the game. I probably would have crumbled by now and downloaded the demo, this however will never happen now. Thanks to SEGA it looks like i will be going cold turkey on my 14 addiction to football manager.

For the last two versions - FM2010 and FM2011 - I have bought the game pretty much as soon as it was released.

Not this time though.

Downloaded the demo just to see how the game looks, what changes there are, how the changes work etc. Will still be getting the game AFTER the final patch though. This way I'll be able to play the most updated version of the game without having to restart the game to get the full effects.

I'll just need to invest in a new decent graphics card because it looks as though the 3D match engine this time is too strong for the built in graphics chipset that is in our Dell Inspiron 530S.

If you're a PC Gamer why would you not use Steam?

Ask this guy;

I'm finding the complaints about Steam hilarious here by the way. Because dedicated PC gamers like myself use it for everything and it's brilliant but I suppose people don't like change/what they don't know. Just give it a chance folks it's good and easy to use

Right having previously championed Steam I am now furious. The games on it don't run despite all my drivers being up to date and having followed all recommended guidelines for fixes. I have no problem playing games like Starcraft II on high graphics so the fact I can't play this demo is a farce. I have spoken to many people about this problem and all have said Steam is awful and many others have had the same problem. So I would ask that a solution be found as a lot of people are not happy about Steam. It's a joke and unless something changes I simply cannot buy the game. It runs on my crappy laptop but not my purpose built gaming PC. Sorry but that is a joke.

Woefully... Woefully Woefully Woefully bugged. So disappointing. You cannot give that first impression to a customer and expect them to pay for the game. That rivals the offside bug release for me.

Ask this guy;

This is exaclty why I will not be buying the game this year and also why I have sent the following to the forums.

I have no need for my account anymore. I will not be trying the demo or purchasing the game as i will not be forced into using a third party software to play you game and in so doing so be tied to an other compaines terms and conditions. I acknowledge that it is your product and you have the right to sell this as you see fit. I however also would like you to know of my intention to excercise my right as a consumer to not buy a product. I have played your games for many years, in fact the first vesion of this game i played was championship manager italia. I have stuck with this game since then, but no longer.

Woefully... Woefully Woefully Woefully bugged. So disappointing. You cannot give that first impression to a customer and expect them to pay for the game. That rivals the offside bug release for me.

What is so bugged? Still have no idea what the devil you're talking about.

I think I'll skip pre-ordering this year. Also had troubles with Steam yesterday, couldn't install it properly on my laptop as it would crash. Also FM demo graphics looked so bad like I have total can. I'm not talking about match graphics which won't look smooth on average laptops but squad screens, player pictures etc. Looks awful... BTW FM11 looks nice on this machine.

Out of the park baseball might be on discount as MLB season is ending now so that should work till the last FM12 patch.

I'm going to skip getting the game at release, partly to do with Steam I suppose. My problem isn't actually Steam, as I use it for a lot of games, it's the size of the actual demo. I'm not going to spend 12 hours (spread over several days) downloading the demo at 2.7GB when previous release have had a much smaller vanilla version that I could spend 2-3 hours downloading. I buy retail as I can't spend that long downloading games over Steam, and I have a download cap .

I might buy it before the final patch depending on price cuts, but I'm not paying full price without having played the demo.

Woefully... Woefully Woefully Woefully bugged. So disappointing. You cannot give that first impression to a customer and expect them to pay for the game. That rivals the offside bug release for me.

Is this all you do come on here and post tripe ?? if so well done your great at it

I still haven't found a totally gamebreaking bug in any of the FM games I've played and I played most from release day. Sure there have been things that are annoying as hell and that has made me tear at my hair but nothing I haven't managed to get around. I usually pick the game up on release day and start a career game right away and plays that same save untill I either get bored because the AI isn't competitive enough or a new game is released.

Woefully... Woefully Woefully Woefully bugged. So disappointing. You cannot give that first impression to a customer and expect them to pay for the game. That rivals the offside bug release for me.

explain yourself perhaps, in plain english?

Woefully... Woefully Woefully Woefully bugged. So disappointing. You cannot give that first impression to a customer and expect them to pay for the game. That rivals the offside bug release for me.

You speak utter rubbish so please just dont say anything

[video=youtube;pAyKJAtDNCw]

This is exaclty why I will not be buying the game this year and also why I have sent the following to the forums.

I have no need for my account anymore. I will not be trying the demo or purchasing the game as i will not be forced into using a third party software to play you game and in so doing so be tied to an other compaines terms and conditions. I acknowledge that it is your product and you have the right to sell this as you see fit. I however also would like you to know of my intention to excercise my right as a consumer to not buy a product. I have played your games for many years, in fact the first vesion of this game i played was championship manager italia. I have stuck with this game since then, but no longer.

I got an email notifying me about the release of the demo, but when I went to download it and found that I had to install third party spy/software for the game to work I also sent SI an email very similar to yours. Sad to report but buying FM or any other item in this way goes against the grain with me. Anyone saying Steam is ok etc etc is entitled to that opinion but why should I willingly instal a program on my PC which will be reporting back to base with my gaming and or surfing habits?. For anyone who does not believe this then you are naive and take note from the date of your Steam install how your email folder begins to bulge with spam and you are left wondering how the heck did they know I do this or that. I am very security conscious and use Firefox with No-Script and AdBlock Plus to ensure I don't allow third party cookies or any not needed cookie at a site I visit and maybe people will see that as a bit extreme but I feel strongly about the big brother is watching you world which ours is being turned into and the use of intrusive software like Steam is just another brick in the wall.

Oh, I clearly remember how bad things were a bout 2 weeks after FM11 release... There were bugs aplenty and ridiculous transfer activity was turning out to be a gamebreaker... Then there were issues with getting a new job for many managers... I have tried the demo and have come to the conclusion that it's definitely an improvement over the last version...

But, the changes this year don't make it nearly as irresistable as say FM10, and I think I'm gonna wait until march to buy, IF I still deem it worth buying in march.

I'm sure the constant barrage of bugs and rants about transfers, agents, tactics, match engine and steam issues is going to roll out once th game's released...

I got an email notifying me about the release of the demo, but when I went to download it and found that I had to install third party spy/software for the game to work I also sent SI an email very similar to yours. Sad to report but buying FM or any other item in this way goes against the grain with me. Anyone saying Steam is ok etc etc is entitled to that opinion but why should I willingly instal a program on my PC which will be reporting back to base with my gaming and or surfing habits?. For anyone who does not believe this then you are naive and take note from the date of your Steam install how your email folder begins to bulge with spam and you are left wondering how the heck did they know I do this or that. I am very security conscious and use Firefox with No-Script and AdBlock Plus to ensure I don't allow third party cookies or any not needed cookie at a site I visit and maybe people will see that as a bit extreme but I feel strongly about the big brother is watching you world which ours is being turned into and the use of intrusive software like Steam is just another brick in the wall.

This post is absolutely hilarious. Valve are taking over the world through Steam, brilliant.

Woefully... Woefully Woefully Woefully bugged. So disappointing. You cannot give that first impression to a customer and expect them to pay for the game. That rivals the offside bug release for me.

Woefully... Woefully Woefully Woefully awful post. So disappointing. You cannot post this in here and expect the fellow members to understand what the feck you are talking about. Either that or you are a FIFA manager fan

Oh, I clearly remember how bad things were a bout 2 weeks after FM11 release... There were bugs aplenty and ridiculous transfer activity was turning out to be a gamebreaker... Then there were issues with getting a new job for many managers... I have tried the demo and have come to the conclusion that it's definitely an improvement over the last version...

But, the changes this year don't make it nearly as irresistable as say FM10, and I think I'm gonna wait until march to buy, IF I still deem it worth buying in march.

I'm sure the constant barrage of bugs and rants about transfers, agents, tactics, match engine and steam issues is going to roll out once th game's released...

One of the biggest gripes I had with FM11 (might have been 10 tbh) was players aged 31 retiring to become managers. I remember Hargreaves and Shaun Wright-Phillips becoming managers 2nd season or 3rd. Rio Ferdinand was another