Some Contructive Feedback For SI

Hello, downloaded the FM09 demo upon release and just wanted to give some constructive feedback to SI, would be interested to hear everyone else's opinions too.

Firstly, I think the game is very good and an improvement on FM08 in many ways (that game was one of the only FM games I didn't buy due to the frequency of offside goals and some other issues). This year there is a serious problem with injuries, unfortunetly this restricts me from wanting to start a career game until this issue is resolved, and I really want to start a career game lol, so I was wondering when this will be fixed? The sooner the better in my opinion as this is the biggest issue to quite a few people, I definetley want to buy the game, but to start a career game, so am gonna be buying it after the patch is released to fix this.

This brings me to my next point, I think having a beta demo would be excellent, then a lot of the major major issues could be fixed. I love SI, I would love to work for SI one day, however some of the posters on the forum I think have a point about some of the major bugs not being fixed in the retail release, as some people don't know about the forums or the patch and will get stuck with the bugs. This game in my opinion will be very good once the injuries issues is fixed.

On to some of the positives, I feel the press conferences feature is excellent, it adds more pressure to games and extra realism, the questions are also interesting. I'm very pleased with this feature and there are other noticeable improvements, so I feel game is potentially another progressive step in the right direction.

So thanks to SI for everything you've done and all the effort put in to create the games. I respect that a company of your stature communicates with fans of the games and listens to us regarding improving each version. I hope this bug will be fixed soon, ideally on release day and you may consider, or at least open up a debate on bringing back the public beta demos, this could fix many major issues before release in my opinion.

Thanks for taking the time to read, SI, and members of the forum, would be good to have a grown up discussion on these matters. Do the members of the forum feel a beta demo would be benefical? And that the game should eliminate issues such as the offside issue in 08 and the injuries issue in 09 before release?

First of all that is a good post.

Secondly, SI said there will be a patch on the release date of the game and if they find injuries are problem then they will be fixed.

I think there was closed beta testing this year but I would like to see public beta testing as well to try and iron out the bugs before it goes gold.

First of all that is a good post.

Secondly, SI said there will be a patch on the release date of the game and if they find injuries are problem then they will be fixed.

I think there was closed beta testing this year but I would like to see public beta testing as well to try and iron out the bugs before it goes gold.

Thanks for the reply, that's good news, I feel sorry for some customers who aren't aware of the forums still though, a lot of the gamers are casual and don't necceraily frequent the forums.

Regarding a public beta demo, that could be a way foward to satisfy some of the critics, that way the community can come together to help iron out some of the more serious flaws, understandably some of the more minor ones may have to be left in. I remember one version of the game where there was a public beta demo and that seemed from the outside to have worked well. My understanding is somehow some were abusing the public beta demo, however possibly the positives may outweigh the negatives of having one.

I think some people's frustrations stem from this being the final version of the game so some of these flaws won't be fixed for the retail release. In my humble opinion the FM customers shouldn't have to rely on patches to fix major issues within the game, but only the smaller bugs. I have only noticed serious bugs that hamper my enjoyment hugely of the game in FM08, 09 I feel is much better, many things have been fixed, but the injuries bug is one that really effects gameplay I feel.

Reading the forums, I feel some of the critisms of SI are a bit harsh, there have been several improvents in this version of the game, more so than from 07 - 08 in my opinion, the scouting system is better, assistant manager feedback is a good new feature, as I mentioned I think the press conference feature is excellent, I like 3d, some of the layout is better, there are A LOT of positives to in my opinion. To some of the more harsh critics, do you not feel any of the improvements are good?

It's a little discouraging that they haven't gotten some of these things ironed out. Really not very impressed that a patch is going to be coming out on the first day of release. To me that just means more problems.

It's a little discouraging that they haven't gotten some of these things ironed out. Really not very impressed that a patch is going to be coming out on the first day of release. To me that just means more problems.

That is understandable, certain things like the injuries bug I feel should have been sorted out before the game went Gold, especially since a patch is meant to be out near release, if fixing this bug that really effects gameplay could have been worked on a few week prior to the game going gold it could have been eliminated.

Maybe the beta testers picked it up, we don't really know, but ultimatlly I think that particular issue should have been fixed regardless. But at least with public beta testing SI would have knowledge of as many bugs as possible and then can work on fixing the major ones, then the patches could fix smaller errors that don't effect gamplay much.

How do you mean more problems though? In what way?

The juries still out for me on the injury issue. I had 4 players go down in my first two friendlies. Then I realized the matches were only two days apart. I then cancelled and rescheduled two of my friendlies to space them out a bit more. I was also careful to rotate players and tried to sub out players who fell below 70% fitness during a match until they were truly match fit (2 or 3 matches into the regular season). Once they were all match fit.. I have not had an injury through week 12 of my league schedule. It was a bit tough as I am managing a conference side with a small squad... but I managed.

As far as having 4 or 5 players go down early in the season, thats probably realistic if ask too much of players before they are truly match fit (i.e., recover fitness rather quickly between matches... which is the true indicator of match fitness).

Just look at Manchester United on Opening day. They were missing 6 or 7 players who would have been in the match day squad against Newcastle.

Perhaps this is the first time SI has actually properly modeled injuries. Just a thought.

The juries still out for me on the injury issue. I had 4 players go down in my first two friendlies. Then I realized the matches were only two days apart. I then cancelled and rescheduled two of my friendlies to space them out a bit more. I was also careful to rotate players and tried to sub out players who fell below 70% fitness during a match until they were truly match fit (2 or 3 matches into the regular season). Once they were all match fit.. I have not had an injury through week 12 of my league schedule. It was a bit tough as I am managing a conference side with a small squad... but I managed.

As far as having 4 or 5 players go down early in the season, thats probably realistic if ask too much of players before they are truly match fit (i.e., recover fitness rather quickly between matches... which is the true indicator of match fitness).

Just look at Manchester United on Opening day. They were missing 6 or 7 players who would have been in the match day squad against Newcastle.

Perhaps this is the first time SI has actually properly modeled injuries. Just a thought.

That's a good point, I did consider this, however I had 5 injuries in 1 match although all the players were match fit, also often when I'd make 2 or 3 subsitutions more players would get injured most of the time, like they were just waiting for me to make the 3rd sub before someone else would get injured lol. Also I'd sometimes bring on other fit players they would STRAIGHT away get injured, so although I did consider these possibilities I do think it is definetly a bug. I'm sure others have similar experiences, if so, please share, as this is important to know.

I've got 10 first teamers injured for long periods in my game. A lot of them also for the same amount of time, there was a point when ALL my strikers are out. Was an injury or two every game too, sometimes 3 or more.

That's a good point, I did consider this, however I had 5 injuries in 1 match although all the players were match fit, also often when I'd make 2 or 3 subsitutions more players would get injured most of the time, like they were just waiting for me to make the 3rd sub before someone else would get injured lol. Also I'd sometimes bring on other fit players they would STRAIGHT away get injured, so although I did consider these possibilities I do think it is definetly a bug. I'm sure others have similar experiences, if so, please share, as this is important to know.

That does sound a bit much and your probably right about there being too many injuries... But in reference to match fitness. There are actually different levels. When you first start a season and after a few friendlies the game calls a player match fit.... all thats telling you is that he has reached the minimum criteria set by the game to be called match fit. In reality, most players have not reacked true match fitness until they get a few regular season matches under their belt. You can see that by tracking how fast they lose fitness during a match and how much fitness they recover between matches.

For instance a "match fit" player's condition might fall to say 65 after playing 90 minutes on Opening day. However, after playing 3 to 5 regular season matches, his condition may only drop to 75 after 90 minutes (all other things being equal). He will also recover fitness faster. A lot of the lower leagues will have a satuday match followed by a tuesday match the first week of the season. A player who played the whole match on saturday may only regain ffitness to 90 or 92 by Tuesday. However, a few weeks into the season, you will often see the same player reach 94 to 96 for Tuesdays match. Of course these number will vary, but I think thats a good example.

And BTW, I'm not talking about when they reach Superb Condition. The game lets you know that.