*Official* Football Manager 2023 Feedback Thread

[StevehFC]

2 hours ago, LaytonBhoy said:

The 3D pitch lag is atrocious. Absolutely atrocious. Tried every fix on the forums and NOTHING works at all.

This is every goddamned year. But there's usually a work around.

Nothing on this one. Nothing at all.

Started using Itstant result in my save to avoid the lag. Really hope it's fixed soon as It's unplayable. 

[anagain]

3 hours ago, ScottishFM said:

I'm curious to hear others opinions on this. I don't think it's a bug but it does seem a little OTT.

I started a Sunday League to Hall of Fame save, no coaching badges and Sunday League rep while unemployed. Managed to get my first job at Chippenham Town in the National League South who were fighting against relegation.

I turn their season around and get them in the playoffs on the final day of the season but unfortunately lose in the semi-finals. The following season I finish 4th and again lose in the playoffs. During this 18 months, I manage to get up to a Continental C License. I don't renew my contract at the end of this season and decide it's the right time to move on - my rep is 1 and half star and 25%.

After a few months, I managed to land my next role, with a 3 star reputation side called Eupen in the top division of Belgium. 

In summary, surely moving from the National League South to the Jupiler Pro League in one move is a bit unrealistic? 

I'm torn tbh. I have no direct way to compare the smallest teams in Belgium's top division with those from England but my 'feeling' is that they might be mid Championship at most. Eupen are annual relegation fodder in the Juliper. I don't think it would be a huge huge surprise if a NS coach got a job in L1. It may be seen as risky.

Best thing you can do is to bug it, with a save from before the event.

I would suspect that SI make it a little easier to get a job like that to boost the 'fun factor'. In the real world a complete unknown 'Sunday league' footballer might struggle to get a manager job at Chippenham.

You may have a harder time convincing the players that you're right for the job.

 

Tbf, I tend not to apply for jobs I don't think I should get. Sometimes you do have to put limits on yourself for the sake of realism.

 

Quote

@StevehFCStarted using Itstant result in my save to avoid the lag. Really hope it's fixed soon as It's unplayable. 

Have you tried the suggested workarounds?

https://support.sega.com/hc/en-gb/articles/11164849702417-What-should-I-do-if-I-m-experiencing-lagging-or-stuttering-within-the-Match-Engine-since-the-23-2-Update-for-Football-Manager-2023-#text

Edited December 10, 2022 by anagain

[anagain]

How do you get rid of the player change banner on the tactics screen?

I can click the in possession, in transition and out of possession boxes underneath the banner but there is no simple way to remove the banner.

The only way I have ever found is to move players slightly on the pitch, though this is never perfect because even the slightest move of my midfielders can change their position, if I'm not careful, and that changes their setup.

Is there a possibility of just a little cross, as below, to remove the banner?

 

I am pretty sure I bugged this before, but I'll stick it in the bug forums again. I am sure it is not working as intended.

It's the UI, of course, I feel I have bugged more than my fair share of UI issues on here.

[alian62]

7 hours ago, DANNY1000000 said:

Are we ever getting a fix for the stuttering lag in the 3D ME?

Doubt it . All the bugs raised are now being said issue resolved because they are offering solutions that we have to do to our graphics engines . So they have not solved anything and in my case i have done this but now my graphics are of lower quality and i dont think that by having a 3 year old PC , that i have and run games like Total War etc with no issues , should be left with a a game i paid for and was working fine to a dribble of a mess .

[Rashidi]

7 hours ago, StevehFC said:

Started using Itstant result in my save to avoid the lag. Really hope it's fixed soon as It's unplayable. 

I can understand the frustration, I have to admit as a streamer it was very annoying for me to. I remember last year people having technical issues with the game, a friend of mine couldn't even get FM to start properly. Thing is, the only way to sort this out is by raising a support ticket. SI will ask for specific hardware related reports from your machine, that will allow them to diagnose why. I had the same problem, but i also knew that I may have needed to roll back windows 11 to windows 10. The latest H2H update completely screwed a few games up for me. Even my tech support team warned me about it. After rolling back to Windows 10, those issues stopped. 

There are some minor graphical issues like artifacts being left over from the in between match highlights mod, to send in reports to SI I know how hard that is going to be, requiring me to actually record these during gameplay and then to submit those plus hardware related reports to SI's technical team. I can't expect SI to produce a game that works for every PC config, but I do know that if I get technical issues, by submitting my bug reports these can be fixed.  I had network related issues during the beta in FM22, and these were addressed to. 

There are plenty of reasons why I am ambivalent about FM23, but technical glitches isn't one of them. I will only kick up a fuss if it remains unplayable for long. I hope you submitted a ticket and it gets resolved for you asap.

[Lpool1]

1 hour ago, Rashidi said:

I can understand the frustration, I have to admit as a streamer it was very annoying for me to. I remember last year people having technical issues with the game, a friend of mine couldn't even get FM to start properly. Thing is, the only way to sort this out is by raising a support ticket. SI will ask for specific hardware related reports from your machine, that will allow them to diagnose why. I had the same problem, but i also knew that I may have needed to roll back windows 11 to windows 10. The latest H2H update completely screwed a few games up for me. Even my tech support team warned me about it. After rolling back to Windows 10, those issues stopped. 

There are some minor graphical issues like artifacts being left over from the in between match highlights mod, to send in reports to SI I know how hard that is going to be, requiring me to actually record these during gameplay and then to submit those plus hardware related reports to SI's technical team. I can't expect SI to produce a game that works for every PC config, but I do know that if I get technical issues, by submitting my bug reports these can be fixed.  I had network related issues during the beta in FM22, and these were addressed to. 

There are plenty of reasons why I am ambivalent about FM23, but technical glitches isn't one of them. I will only kick up a fuss if it remains unplayable for long. I hope you submitted a ticket and it gets resolved for you asap.

ive raised it a week ago had one responce from sega? sent them question marks yday lol still nothing most of us havnt been able to play it since update so ..........

[Lpool1]

what settings are people using for nvidia control panel? help be appreciated

[XaW]

50 minutes ago, Lpool1 said:

what settings are people using for nvidia control panel? help be appreciated

Mine are set "automatic". I'd show a screenshot, but it's in Norwegian, and I can't see any way of getting English language, so I'm not sure how helpful it would be...

[Jellico73]

3 hours ago, Lpool1 said:

what settings are people using for nvidia control panel? help be appreciated

Go back to around page 34 in the this thread, thats right after the patch was posted and people started having issues, people were posting settings that worked for them.

[TheArsenal63]

So the crossing issue (player's not crossing direction they are facing and turning back to either cut back or cross with weaker foot) seems to only happen in these scenarios :

Player has acres of space (anyone remotely near them makes them turn back, crossing early or taking on the man is gone)

There are players in the box to cross to

 

Problem is :

Player's don't get into the box quick enough so no one to cross to.

ME is too strict with when crossing happens, any players close to the crosser and they decide the cross is not on and turn back.

Dribbling is still bad, players turn back and don't take their defenders on. Fullbacks also shoot too often from tight angles, again contributing to the lack of crossing.

I'm able to get 75% possession too often as well so possession is still too high.

Fix those issues and the ME would be in such a good place. Hope they take a look at it for the march update.

[Heywood JaBlowme]

There needs to be a limit on how many times the board is willing to pay for one coach to further his coaching development on coaching courses if he keeps failing over and over and over. I've seen this happen in 2 different saves at different clubs. At Staff Meetings it's recommended that the same coach take courses he keeps failing. It's like Groundhogs Day. Yes, the course doesn't cost that much but the board is just burning money on this guy.   

[Overmars]

Goalscoring on my save using the latest patch looks low in most of the major European leagues. I am simming these six leagues on full detail:

1. England: 2.66 goals per game in FM23 vs. 2.87 in real life
2. Germany: 2.70 vs. 3.19
3. Spain: 2.55 vs. 2.54
4. Italy: 2.32 vs. 2.58
5. France: 2.62 vs. 2.96
6. Netherlands: 2.53 vs. 3.19

Spain looks great, but some of these other leagues have noticeable differences. I am playing in the Netherlands, and it feels really difficult to score in comparison to prior FM versions.

Edited December 11, 2022 by Overmars

[dannyfc]

Just to confirm - is there a way to revert to the previous version on Steam? Thanks 

[DarJ]

33 minutes ago, dannyfc said:

Just to confirm - is there a way to revert to the previous version on Steam? Thanks 

nope

[Lpool1]

44 minutes ago, dannyfc said:

Just to confirm - is there a way to revert to the previous version on Steam? Thanks 

No pal there isn’t... unfortunately this years version has finally ground me down to point we’re its not enjoyable at all boring.. between the 3D match engine stuttering and poor gameplay I just don’t care anymore about the series. Very frustrating because I’ve played fm even the days when was champ man always put hours upon hours into them. This one is the worst version ever by a long way.

ps. I don’t need a developer to to respond stating how to troubleshoot the game... or flip discard thing because tried it numerous times don’t work for me or a lot of people. Had to resort to 2d which is ridiculous was fine b4 update 

[KamyKaze]

This game keeps getting worse with every patch...

Tomiyasu playing time:

 

Result of that:

 

Not the only player having issues like this.... There goes the season with unhappy players for nothing. 

 

[gunnerfan]

A player being unhappy because another player can't get a new contract. The quick fix is "Remove All Unhappiness" for the player.

[GunmaN1905]

Nonsense stuff has to get removed from club vision.

Does any club in the world have "make most of set pieces" request for manager? Like what?

My entire confidence with board goes down because they're hugely disappointed of me not making the most of set-pieces, despite turning a relegation zone side into a stable top5 club while spending next to no money.

Then when I want to remove it in the meeting, they're ready to get me fired over it.

[Leon_fogo]

The penalties are totally impossible to complete (something unrealistic), players with attributes above 14 must most of the time score goals from penalties.

I realize that the game needs to have more ball dispute, giving preference to more technical players to decide the matches. Goalkeepers still make grotesque saves, when the ball goes at him and instead of going with his hand he goes with his foot. Will we have a patch before Christmas? I'm very motivated to play this FM that has a lot of positive things, I hope SI doesn't let us down.

Edited December 11, 2022 by Leon_fogo

[andu1]

9 hours ago, Overmars said:

Goalscoring on my save using the latest patch looks low in most of the major European leagues. I am simming these six leagues on full detail:

1. England: 2.66 goals per game in FM23 vs. 2.87 in real life
2. Germany: 2.70 vs. 3.19
3. Spain: 2.55 vs. 2.54
4. Italy: 2.32 vs. 2.58
5. France: 2.62 vs. 2.96
6. Netherlands: 2.53 vs. 3.19

Spain looks great, but some of these other leagues have noticeable differences. I am playing in the Netherlands, and it feels really difficult to score in comparison to prior FM versions.

Have you run the simulation in full detail ME?

[Lpool1]

40 minutes ago, Leon_fogo said:

The penalties are totally impossible to complete (something unrealistic), players with attributes above 14 must most of the time score goals from penalties.

I realize that the game needs to have more ball dispute, giving preference to more technical players to decide the matches. Goalkeepers still make grotesque saves, when the ball goes at him and instead of going with his hand he goes with his foot. Will we have a patch before Christmas? I'm very motivated to play this FM that has a lot of positive things, I hope SI doesn't let us down.

Don’t hold breath 

[Overmars]

27 minutes ago, andu1 said:

Have you run the simulation in full detail ME?

Yes, for those leagues.

[Jellico73]

9 hours ago, KamyKaze said:

This game keeps getting worse with every patch...

Tomiyasu playing time:

 

Result of that:

 

Not the only player having issues like this.... There goes the season with unhappy players for nothing. 

 

How many minutes has he been playing?

[HUNT3R]

16 hours ago, KamyKaze said:

Tomiyasu playing time:

How much playing time has he actually had?  In other words, how many matches has he missed? Does he play full matches or do you sub him off early a lot?

He'd probably need to start around 60-70% of matches as a regular starter

[anagain]

On 10/12/2022 at 19:56, TheArsenal63 said:

So the crossing issue (player's not crossing direction they are facing and turning back to either cut back or cross with weaker foot) seems to only happen in these scenarios :

Player has acres of space (anyone remotely near them makes them turn back, crossing early or taking on the man is gone)

There are players in the box to cross to

 

Problem is :

Player's don't get into the box quick enough so no one to cross to.

ME is too strict with when crossing happens, any players close to the crosser and they decide the cross is not on and turn back.

Dribbling is still bad, players turn back and don't take their defenders on. Fullbacks also shoot too often from tight angles, again contributing to the lack of crossing.

I'm able to get 75% possession too often as well so possession is still too high.

Fix those issues and the ME would be in such a good place. Hope they take a look at it for the march update.

I do agree with the crossing. I play with IF so I do expect them to cut in a lot. Sometimes they have a perfect opportunity to cross and don't though.

My FBs are another matter. They very rarely cross and I did notice after the patch my CWB would drive at goal and shoot quite a bit. I think it depends very much on the opponent though.

I am not sure if it is truly a simple fix, sadly. This last patch is proof of that. In fixing the defending some of the craziness, that was wonderful, has gone out of the engine.

SI are on to something this year. Best engine ever and can only get better with tweaks.

I need to visit the bug forum and upload some pkms of the crossing. I would urge others to do so too. It's finding the time. 🤔

Edited December 12, 2022 by anagain

[Constantine]

My screen start flickering like crazy when I'm in the match, otherwise everything is fine. Could anyone direct me toward area of forum where I should look for fix?

[Mitza]

Do Inside Forwards/Wingers not cut inside anymore or am I losing my mind?

[harrycarrie]

10 hours ago, Constantine said:

My screen start flickering like crazy when I'm in the match, otherwise everything is fine. Could anyone direct me toward area of forum where I should look for fix?

Are you on a higher than 60 refresh rate? I have a 200hz panel.

Mine did the same in the beta and I literally had to cap the game, and the screen itself, at 60fps to fix it. Had to completely turn off g-sync everytime I wanted to play FM.

If I'd had epilepsy I woulda been screwed.

Which is one of the primary reasons I refunded this awful, awful version.

Edited December 12, 2022 by harrycarrie

[Constantine]

22 minutes ago, harrycarrie said:

Are you on a higher than 60 refresh rate? I have a 200hz panel.

Mine did the same in the beta and I literally had to cap the game, and the screen itself, at 60fps to fix it. Had to completely turn off g-sync everytime I wanted to play FM.

If I'd had epilepsy I woulda been screwed.

Which is one of the primary reasons I refunded this awful, awful version.

Yeah, I've read up online that it might be connected to my monitor's refresh rate. Only that opened another can of worms, as it seemed like that was stuck on 60Hz, on every resolution so I've gotta fix that one first before tackling problem with FM. That's a lot of work for basically nothing...

Weird thing is, it worked perfectly well in previous build. I had no problems whatsoever. As you said, it's a good thing I don't suffer from epilepsy, this could've turned ugly. I can't even watch the matches. I mean, I can, but my head start to hurt from all that flickering so I've just switched it to commentary only.

[GunmaN1905]

I've given it 150h now, but I just can't enjoy this game anymore. It's just bad for veteran FM players. This is kind of a 150h review.

Ever since FM came on Steam, I pre-ordered every single one, no questions asked. But this will probably be my last.

I haven't played PES or FIFA in a decade because they stopped being games about actual football, but FM isn't any different these days. The game feels like it lost it's soul.

For years I supported this company because I the game was made by football enthusiasts, had limited budget and pre-ordering felt like the right thing compared to AAA titles from massive corporations.

But over the past few years it feels like this game has been made by one of those corporations.

Here goes:

• ME is still a mess, I don't understand how each year a new set of issues arises and makes the game extremely unenjoyable basically until the .3 version in February is out. It's not about results, but highlights being absolutely horrible to watch. Defense positioning based off one another, closing down and overall IQ is just excruciatingly bad. Closing down being triggered at the wrong time or for no reason, defenders just switching off (no other word for it) and running away, press->dispossession still being really unrealistic (better than Beta), resulting in so many copy/paste situations and my most hated thing of all, passing range. So many useless features added and yet we don't have a stat for passing range. No, passing+vision+technique shouldn't equal passing range. There are plenty of top class players who are great passes, but can't make 50m+ pinpoint passes on regular basis, especially not while pressured. In this game, it's enough to have a defender with like 12 passing and vision, you got yourself prime Pirlo creating at least 3 dangerous chances with passes over the top of defense. Just beyond ridiculous. Huge majority Ball-playing defenders in real life are players who can get the ball out of defense under pressure, without hoofing it, not CB versions of Pirlo. While we're at Pirlo, BPDs being so ridiculously good at long-range passing make deep playmakers redundant for the most part. Phyiscal attributes also don't seem to matter as much. I've seen more than a handful of situations where a striker with like 12 pace and technique just goes with the ball on counter for 30+ meters and my defender with 17 pace and acceleration can't even attempt to make a tackle because he can't catch up.
• Reputation and in-season momentum are way too important. You can just plug and play a high-press, positive tactic as an underdog and severely overachieve with any team you want. With bottom half of the table teams I always have way better xG/goals ratio than I do when I'm playing with favorites. Or when those underdog teams turn into favorites, finishing suddenly plummets. Same attacking tactic, way better players, good team relations with cohesion (green arrows etc), creating the same chances, but suddenly finishing isn't there and not only that, but I have way worse xG/conceded ratio. Happened on three different saves, in three different leagues. And no, it's not about AI changing their approach when your reputation rises, I'd be really happy if my team started playing badly, so I could fix something. Once you go to favorites tier, finishing plummets dramatically.
• This reputation bit combined with ME and AI managers makes the game really bad for long-term saves. It's extremely easy to overachieve and skip a few seasons in terms of club development if you're not managing lower leagues. On the other hand, most AI teams, even with infinite funds like top6 in EPL, just fall apart. I've yet to see a single top team be better than they are at the start of the game. AI just keeps making awful transfers that has no sense. Richest clubs always have at least a couple of really expensive forwards transfer listed, while buying subpar defenders and midfielders or not buying them at all and getting really old. Basically every club turns into Manchester United.
• Transfers are really bad. Even if you're managing a massive over-achiever, no offers come in. Again, comes down to players reputation being the main factor if AI buys someone or doesn't. For example, if 2016 Leicester was full of under-25 year olds, won the league and then no offers came in from top6. Loans are even worse. I'll have players requesting to be loaned out, put them on the list, then get a message that teams don't believe the player would be interested in joining. Second divison teams and an 18 year old barely good enough for second division. Then they'll come back unhappy noone made an offer.
• Player development is also really questionable. Some stats should be easier to develop and grow with individual training, mainly set-pieces. Some stats should be way higher for young players. Pace, acceleration and reflexes. 17 year olds don't get much quicker at 23, their pace is what gets them into the team most of the time. Reflexes is the most baffling one. There are literally no top class, young goalkeepers in the game with high reflexes stat. Or for example these days goalkeepers who are good with their feet are becoming a must for most top teams. We've seen cases of goalkeepers even in their 30s getting way better with their feet, but in FM it's just impossible to fix a flaw in someones' game.
• Regens are fundamentally flawed. Having regens with such random stats is absolute nonsense. Yeah, there are a lot of flawed players in real life, but having so many instances of the next Maldini with 4 jumping reach or 5 strength is just bad. Or all those prospects with random positions, like DR and ST.
• Finances are extremely easy to control and are basically a non-factor. A lot of teams that are in dire situations are fine in the game and even those that have bad finances are really easy to sort out. Within two years, you got all the money in the world.
• Research is just bad for a lot of players in top leagues. I won't mention the obvious MUTD joke, I guess some of the executives are MUTD fans, but so many players in top leagues have flat out wrong stats, positions, preferred moves and look nothing like they do in real life.
• Scouting has been completely ruined and overcomplicated for no reason at all. You take over a top team with a massive network of scouts, but half the attributes from best players on your main rival are blurred out. What a joke. This is the first FM ever that I turned off attribute masking, just because scouting being so annoying for no reason.
• New "features" being added every year are completely irrelevant for 90% of the usual playerbase and we don't care for it. How can you advertise squad planner as a feature. It's literally squad depth chart, but with an option for us to move players up or down from it. UEFA license is nice, graphics are nice, but you were so occupied with adding CL music even though majority of us plays with FM muted, that you forgot to fix scheduling of the new format, so every CL league stage match is played on Wednesday, at the same time. FIFA Club World Cup is also a joke, it feels like you forgot about it and then implemented it after the game was done. Mid-way through the tournament, on the QF matchday itself, I'll get a team meeting to welcome the team before the new season starts. Like what? Half the tournament matches count for player stats in one season, then quarter-final onwards counts for the upcoming season. With June internationals not being taken into account and many players either being late for the start of the group stage or having games scheduled in consecutive days. As I said, feels like it was completely forgotten about and added at the last moment. Scheduling in general is also inexcusable at times. For example, in most leagues Wednesday->Saturday matches never happen if neither of the Saturday rivals has a game on the next Tuesday/Wednesday. On my EPL save in third season, I ended the season with Saturday-Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday fixtures, had 35 matches played while my direct rivals had 37. Absolutely ridiculous and would never happen in real life. Fixtures that were postponed for no reason at all.
• Performance is a joke and my biggest issue. Like a month ago I posted my GPU usage stats here, had 30+ upvotes or whatever, created a page in bug forum, one of the mods replied with "it's been monitored and will be helpful", I offered to help however I can with diagnostics from my PC and nothing. Patch comes out, nothing changes. I'm playing on damn low graphics with 5700XT and my GPU usage during matches is 75-80%, absolute joke, even if I use 2D classic. How did this get through testing is beyond me. Every 5 or so hours of gameplay my game will completely freeze during a match. Then over the past few weeks I played RDR2 with 0 crashes and lower GPU temps than FM and now I'm asking myself is this game even worth stressing my machine for no apparent reason or care from the devs?
   

TL;DR
If you're a new player, FM23 is an amazing experience.
If you're a seasoned veteran, this game less and less worth it over the years. All those points I made make it look like FM is a bad game, which it isn't, but it's been way too many years now with so many annoying issues. None of them are game-breaking, but most are easily fixable and yet left to sit there for years. Scheduling issues I mentioned are inexcusable issues. Research of top teams being so subpar is another inexcusable issue. Even though ME is going in circles for years, it takes a lot of hours and effort to get it right and it's understandable. But if this game is going to have so many issues that are easily fixable but literally look like mistakes made because someone did a half-assed jobs, then it deserves heavy criticism.
I'm playing a few online games, even F2P ones that change way more on yearly basis than FM does and charge nothing for it.
FM feels like we're running in circles with reskins labelled as features and ME issues that go in cycles and are almost always the same.

As someone else sad in another topic, FM23 basically boils down to this:

1. Take over a club that looks like a challenge to manage.
2. Overachieve with ease with high xG ratios, every close game going in your favor and winning a lot of games you shouldn't.
3. Reputation changes and your xG/goal and xG/conceded gets way worse because you're the favorite now.
4. Overcome new ME with stacking on wonderkids and dominate while severely underperforming on xG, definition of an artificial difficulty.
5. Due to AI being awful at long-term squad building, in 5 seasons at the most you can take over any league and then it just becomes boring.
6. Repeat.
    

Done it with 3 saves, 3 leagues and it's always been the same. Since I can't develop players properly and AI is useless once you get to the top, this game has no actual long-term save potential for me.

I would gladly even pay a monthly fee to FM if it meant we'll get constant updates and fixes on issue, instead of half-assed work every yearly release because, well, deadlines have to be met and as soon as February update is out, it's onto next yearly release and another 50€ to pay.

Wouldn't it be way better if it was just Football Manger, with constant updates that don't have exact deadlines to be met, but could be done whenever they're ready and tested? Then transfer updates every September, with one year movement in calendar? I guess that wouldn't amount for as much profit then, would it?

Maybe I'm just getting old, but it feels like FM is targeting a completely different audience now. From a game that was always for enthusiasts and actual football fans, to trying to get some of the FIFA market share with features that aren't of any interest for veteran players.

EDIT:
Forgot to mention, alongside all the other shambles with new UEFA stuff, player registration is messed up. Since the new format has matches in January, tough luck if you signed anyone, because you won't be able to register them before the transfer window is closed and you get the notice in February.

Edited December 13, 2022 by GunmaN1905

[anagain]

34 minutes ago, GunmaN1905 said:

I've given it 150h now, but I just can't enjoy this game anymore. It's just bad for veteran FM players. This is kind of a 150h review.

Ever since FM came on Steam, I pre-ordered every single one, no questions asked. But this will probably be my last.

I haven't played PES or FIFA in a decade because they stopped being games about actual football, but FM isn't any different these days. The game feels like it lost it's soul.

For years I supported this company because I the game was made by football enthusiasts, had limited budget and pre-ordering felt like the right thing compared to AAA titles from massive corporations.

But over the past few years it feels like this game has been made by one of those corporations.

Here goes:

• ME is still a mess, I don't understand how each year a new set of issues arises and makes the game extremely unenjoyable basically until the .3 version in February is out. It's not about results, but highlights being absolutely horrible to watch. Defense positioning based off one another, closing down and overall IQ is just excruciatingly bad. Closing down being triggered at the wrong time or for no reason, defenders just switching off (no other word for it) and running away, press->dispossession still being really unrealistic (better than Beta), resulting in so many copy/paste situations and my most hated thing of all, passing range. So many useless features added and yet we don't have a stat for passing range. No, passing+vision+technique shouldn't equal passing range. There are plenty of top class players who are great passes, but can't make 50m+ pinpoint passes on regular basis, especially not while pressured. In this game, it's enough to have a defender with like 12 passing and vision, you got yourself prime Pirlo creating at least 3 dangerous chances with passes over the top of defense. Just beyond ridiculous. Huge majority Ball-playing defenders in real life are players who can get the ball out of defense under pressure, without hoofing it, not CB versions of Pirlo. While we're at Pirlo, BPDs being so ridiculously good at long-range passing make deep playmakers redundant for the most part. Phyiscal attributes also don't seem to matter as much. I've seen more than a handful of situations where a striker with like 12 pace and technique just goes with the ball on counter for 30+ meters and my defender with 17 pace and acceleration can't even attempt to make a tackle because he can't catch up.
• Reputation and in-season momentum are way too important. You can just plug and play a high-press, positive tactic as an underdog and severely overachieve with any team you want. With bottom half of the table teams I always have way better xG/goals ratio than I do when I'm playing with favorites. Or when those underdog teams turn into favorites, finishing suddenly plummets. Same attacking tactic, way better players, good team relations with cohesion (green arrows etc), creating the same chances, but suddenly finishing isn't there and not only that, but I have way worse xG/conceded ratio. Happened on three different saves, in three different leagues. And no, it's not about AI changing their approach when your reputation rises, I'd be really happy if my team started playing badly, so I could fix something. Once you go to favorites tier, finishing plummets dramatically.
• This reputation bit combined with ME and AI managers makes the game really bad for long-term saves. It's extremely easy to overachieve and skip a few seasons in terms of club development if you're not managing lower leagues. On the other hand, most AI teams, even with infinite funds like top6 in EPL, just fall apart. I've yet to see a single top team be better than they are at the start of the game. AI just keeps making awful transfers that has no sense. Richest clubs always have at least a couple of really expensive forwards transfer listed, while buying subpar defenders and midfielders or not buying them at all and getting really old. Basically every club turns into Manchester United.
• Transfers are really bad. Even if you're managing a massive over-achiever, no offers come in. Again, comes down to players reputation being the main factor if AI buys someone or doesn't. For example, if 2016 Leicester was full of under-25 year olds, won the league and then no offers came in from top6. Loans are even worse. I'll have players requesting to be loaned out, put them on the list, then get a message that teams don't believe the player would be interested in joining. Second divison teams and an 18 year old barely good enough for second division. Then they'll come back unhappy noone made an offer.
• Player development is also really questionable. Some stats should be easier to develop and grow with individual training, mainly set-pieces. Some stats should be way higher for young players. Pace, acceleration and reflexes. 17 year olds don't get much quicker at 23, their pace is what gets them into the team most of the time. Reflexes is the most baffling one. There are literally no top class, young goalkeepers in the game with high reflexes stat. Or for example these days goalkeepers who are good with their feet are becoming a must for most top teams. We've seen cases of goalkeepers even in their 30s getting way better with their feet, but in FM it's just impossible to fix a flaw in someones' game.
• Regens are fundamentally flawed. Having regens with such random stats is absolute nonsense. Yeah, there are a lot of flawed players in real life, but having so many instances of the next Maldini with 4 jumping reach or 5 strength is just bad. Or all those prospects with random positions, like DR and ST.
• Finances are extremely easy to control and are basically a non-factor. A lot of teams that are in dire situations are fine in the game and even those that have bad finances are really easy to sort out. Within two years, you got all the money in the world.
• Research is just bad for a lot of players in top leagues. I won't mention the obvious MUTD joke, I guess some of the executives are MUTD fans, but so many players in top leagues have flat out wrong stats, positions, preferred moves and look nothing like they do in real life.
• Scouting has been completely ruined and overcomplicated for no reason at all. You take over a top team with a massive network of scouts, but half the attributes from best players on your main rival are blurred out. What a joke. This is the first FM ever that I turned off attribute masking, just because scouting being so annoying for no reason.
• New "features" being added every year are completely irrelevant for 90% of the usual playerbase and we don't care for it. How can you advertise squad planner as a feature. It's literally squad depth chart, but with an option for us to move players up or down from it. UEFA license is nice, graphics are nice, but you were so occupied with adding CL music even though majority of us plays with FM muted, that you forgot to fix scheduling of the new format, so every CL league stage match is played on Wednesday, at the same time. FIFA Club World Cup is also a joke, it feels like you forgot about it and then implemented it after the game was done. Mid-way through the tournament, on the QF matchday itself, I'll get a team meeting to welcome the team before the new season starts. Like what? Half the tournament matches count for player stats in one season, then quarter-final onwards counts for the upcoming season. With June internationals not being taken into account and many players either being late for the start of the group stage or having games scheduled in consecutive days. As I said, feels like it was completely forgotten about and added at the last moment. Scheduling in general is also inexcusable at times. For example, in most leagues Wednesday->Saturday matches never happen if neither of the Saturday rivals has a game on the next Tuesday/Wednesday. On my EPL save in third season, I ended the season with Saturday-Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday fixtures, had 35 matches played while my direct rivals had 37. Absolutely ridiculous and would never happen in real life. Fixtures that were postponed for no reason at all.
• Performance is a joke and my biggest issue. Like a month ago I posted my GPU usage stats here, had 30+ upvotes or whatever, created a page in bug forum, one of the mods replied with "it's been monitored and will be helpful", I offered to help however I can with diagnostics from my PC and nothing. Patch comes out, nothing changes. I'm playing on damn low graphics with 5700XT and my GPU usage during matches is 75-80%, absolute joke, even if I use 2D classic. How did this get through testing is beyond me. Every 5 or so hours of gameplay my game will completely freeze during a match. Then over the past few weeks I played RDR2 with 0 crashes and lower GPU temps than FM and now I'm asking myself is this game even worth stressing my machine for no apparent reason or care from the devs?
   

TL;DR
If you're a new player, FM23 is an amazing experience.
If you're a seasoned veteran, this game less and less worth it over the years. All those points I made make it look like FM is a bad game, which it isn't, but it's been way too many years now with so many annoying issues. None of them are game-breaking, but most are easily fixable and yet left to sit there for years. Scheduling issues I mentioned are inexcusable issues. Research of top teams being so subpar is another inexcusable issue. Even though ME is going in circles for years, it takes a lot of hours and effort to get it right and it's understandable. But if this game is going to have so many issues that are easily fixable but literally look like mistakes made because someone did a half-assed jobs, then it deserves heavy criticism.
I'm playing a few online games, even F2P ones that change way more on yearly basis than FM does and charge nothing for it.
FM feels like we're running in circles with reskins labelled as features and ME issues that go in cycles and are almost always the same.

As someone else sad in another topic, FM23 basically boils down to this:

1. Take over a club that looks like a challenge to manage.
2. Overachieve with ease with high xG ratios, every close game going in your favor and winning a lot of games you shouldn't.
3. Reputation changes and your xG/goal and xG/conceded gets way worse because you're the favorite now.
4. Overcome new ME with stacking on wonderkids and dominate while severely underperforming on xG, definition of an artificial difficulty.
5. Due to AI being awful at long-term squad building, in 5 seasons at the most you can take over any league and then it just becomes boring.
6. Repeat.
    

Done it with 3 saves, 3 leagues and it's always been the same. Since I can't develop players properly and AI is useless once you get to the top, this game has no actual long-term save potential for me.

I would gladly even pay a monthly fee to FM if it meant we'll get constant updates and fixes on issue, instead of half-assed work every yearly release because, well, deadlines have to be met and as soon as February update is out, it's onto next yearly release and another 50€ to pay.

Wouldn't it be way better if it was just Football Manger, with constant updates that don't have exact deadlines to be met, but could be done whenever they're ready and tested? Then transfer updates every September, with one year movement in calendar? I guess that wouldn't amount for as much profit then, would it?

Maybe I'm just getting old, but it feels like FM is targeting a completely different audience now. From a game that was always for enthusiasts and actual football fans, to trying to get some of the FIFA market share with features that aren't of any interest for veteran players.

I hate to dismiss your entire post because it's constructive and you make some valid points, but:

1. I don't like that you suggest the game is now 

34 minutes ago, GunmaN1905 said:

just bad for veteran FM players.

Im a veteran player and I still very much enjoy FM. 

2. Saying that, I agree that maybe SI need to slow down adding new stuff and fix old.

3. Gonna repeat something I've said a few times. They need to take a year to just improve the old. Make promises work, make social interactions make sense more often. One thing I dislike is when a player hits bad form you sort of have to wait 5 games to tell them so. If there's any good ratings in 5 games then they'll disagree with you. That's just stupid.

4. Many aspects of the UI need major overhaul. I've reported some, and not just this year, but they crop up every year. Almost as if they're less important than new features but, for me at least, they are the meat of the game.

5. I think the ME is excellent. By far the best bit of FM23. Is it perfect? No. I doubt it ever will be, and here we have to temper expectations.

The latest patch is a great example of how it is difficult to balance. SI try to fix defenders and they change wide players and lessen the chaos that was great at release.

6. Sorry, but the ME is not unplayable until update 3. See point 5. People need to understand the limits.

My suggestion to you, @GunmaN1905, is to take a year off. You're not enjoying it,and maybe because you've played too much.

Why do I say this? Because I've been in the very same boat.

I have played FM since a friend introduced me to it in 2000. I put in hundreds of hours for years. Got to about 2017 and I had no energy for the game. I didn't buy for a year.

Came back later and it feels like the old fun for me.

I also play less. I play other games. I also write up my careers in the career forum and I think that helps me feel the game more. I also connect with other users and I think the writers there enjoy saves together.

Not saying that's for every one, but it helps me. I think the play less/miss a year is more universal.

Again, you make valid points. I hope SI listen to what I think has been the grumbliest year on these forums yet. They seem, to me, to be too eager to add new, as if they feel they have to to sell. Really, if they polished old and made it fantastic then that would be as good as.

People.will buy FM anyway, and polished old features will feel like new.

Take a break, pal, and come back renewed. See if it helps. 😁

[GunmaN1905]

1 minute ago, anagain said:

and maybe because you've played too much.

It's exactly the opposite. Every year I clock less and less hours. Didn't even have 150h total in FM22, haven't played FM at all since March.

Played like 120h in FM23, didn't play since the World Cup started up until last Tuesday and I've decided to give it another go with the new update. Completed 2.5 seasons with a "scientific" save and gave up.

Scientific because I just loaded a save I used with the best squad in the world now and used it on a team that should get relegated from Bundesliga. Finished second in the first season while playing attacking setup, then played a couple more seasons and the higher my reputation got, the lower my xG/goals was, despite having way better players.

That's after also winning two EPLs and two CLs with Everton, in second or third season no less. It was just hillarious to watch, tbh.

Now if we take ME aside and put it down as subjective, every single other point of mine is valid and it's inexcusable that stuff like scheduling or performance issues aren't fixed by now. And the fact that nothing has been done about GPU usage or even acknowledged other than "post in this subforum" is the most irritating thing for me. That I have to hear my GPU fan get louder while playing FM than when I play RDR2 or other AAA games.

[anagain]

15 minutes ago, GunmaN1905 said:

It's exactly the opposite. Every year I clock less and less hours. Didn't even have 150h total in FM22, haven't played FM at all since March.

Played like 120h in FM23, didn't play since the World Cup started up until last Tuesday and I've decided to give it another go with the new update. Completed 2.5 seasons with a "scientific" save and gave up.

Scientific because I just loaded a save I used with the best squad in the world now and used it on a team that should get relegated from Bundesliga. Finished second in the first season while playing attacking setup, then played a couple more seasons and the higher my reputation got, the lower my xG/goals was, despite having way better players.

That's after also winning two EPLs and two CLs with Everton, in second or third season no less. It was just hillarious to watch, tbh.

Now if we take ME aside and put it down as subjective, every single other point of mine is valid and it's inexcusable that stuff like scheduling or performance issues aren't fixed by now. And the fact that nothing has been done about GPU usage or even acknowledged other than "post in this subforum" is the most irritating thing for me. That I have to hear my GPU fan get louder while playing FM than when I play RDR2 or other AAA games.

Last reply because this isn't the thread for me to get into a discussion. 

Again, I agree there are issues with the game that need fixed. I can only speak from experience that I have enjoyed the game more since I took a break. Tbh, I still need breaks about 2 or 3 times a year. 

It was just a thought. Sounds like you want the old fun back and your situation sounded similar to mine.

Hope you can get the joy back.

But, like I have now said too many times, I think what is best for FM is a year of polish and ME work. Spend a year on the ME. Make old features work, and work well.

But the user will always be better than the AI too. That's hard to change. 

[GunmaN1905]

34 minutes ago, anagain said:

Last reply because this isn't the thread for me to get into a discussion. 

Yeah, it really isn't.

I listed the issues that I have with the game, almost every one of them objective with examples and you clinged onto how you're also a veteran player and then started with the "take a break" nonsense, without even knowing that I've been playing less and less every year and those same, repeating issues are the cause.

Bye.

[GOODNAME]

5 hours ago, Mitza said:

Do Inside Forwards/Wingers not cut inside anymore or am I losing my mind?

You are not

If you have examples share with this topic that i created 

 

[Tyburn]

1. Play a network game if you can.

2. Skip a year.

3. Play without stars and attributes.

I’d have lost the will years ago without any one of these.

[2feet]

On 11/12/2022 at 16:40, GunmaN1905 said:

Nonsense stuff has to get removed from club vision.

Does any club in the world have "make most of set pieces" request for manager? Like what?

My entire confidence with board goes down because they're hugely disappointed of me not making the most of set-pieces, despite turning a relegation zone side into a stable top5 club while spending next to no money.

Then when I want to remove it in the meeting, they're ready to get me fired over it.

It's wonderful stories like this that make me believe the advertsing that this is the most immerse and inspiring Football Manager version yet.

[LaytonBhoy]

On 11/12/2022 at 11:06, Lpool1 said:

No pal there isn’t... unfortunately this years version has finally ground me down to point we’re its not enjoyable at all boring.. between the 3D match engine stuttering and poor gameplay I just don’t care anymore about the series. Very frustrating because I’ve played fm even the days when was champ man always put hours upon hours into them. This one is the worst version ever by a long way.

ps. I don’t need a developer to to respond stating how to troubleshoot the game... or flip discard thing because tried it numerous times don’t work for me or a lot of people. Had to resort to 2d which is ridiculous was fine b4 update 

Yeah I saw your post on the bugs forum, and that reply from the devs to "use 2D in the meantime." 

In short, "we know you bought a Blu-Ray player to play disks, but if you could use it only to play USB files at the moment that would be great."

[shanster14]

Hi all, as per the title, whenever the game lags in 2D, my laptop goes to blue screen direct. I have no idea why it happens.

I have also updates my Windows to the very latest firmware (laptop as well).

 

Laptop Specs: HP Victus d1072TX

12th Gen I5 12500H

8GB DDR5 4800Mhz Ram 

Nvidia GTX 1650 (4GB GDDR6)

 

 

[SC00P0NE]

37 minutes ago, shanster14 said:

Hi all, as per the title, whenever the game lags in 2D, my laptop goes to blue screen direct. I have no idea why it happens.

I have also updates my Windows to the very latest firmware (laptop as well).

 

Laptop Specs: HP Victus d1072TX

12th Gen I5 12500H

8GB DDR5 4800Mhz Ram 

Nvidia GTX 1650 (4GB GDDR6)

 

 

I hear many games don't run too well with windows 11 atm. Someone wrote that rolling back to win 10 fixed his technical issues with the game.

Edited December 13, 2022 by SC00P0NE

[Herolover]

American. Started my Football and Football Manager journey together in 2014. Learned Football and Football Manager with 2015. Played the heck out of 2020 and 2021, only played 400-500 hrs of 2022.

When FM 23 was announced I looked at the new features and thought...."ehh." It didn't excite me. I didn't see anything I thought was new. It was the first time I had been disappointed in a new release of FM.

So, I bought FM 23, by now it is a tradition like Christmas or any other holiday, but I didn't play the game. I set it aside.

Well, watching some FA Cup (through ESPN here in America) and watching the World Cup made me load it up.

 

I was wrong about FM 23.

1- New Stats. The new stats aren't much, but there are a lot of new stats to look at and they actually help you see what is going on with your team.

2-Scouting. OMG. It is so awesome now. My Inbox doesn't get spammed by useless crap. I don't have to micro-manage, but it I want to I can. I actually feel like a manager going to his scouting team and saying..."Hey, what can we get in the area of ...."

3- The Match Engine.

Okay. I admit it. I like many when FM 23 came out was thinking we need near FIFA level graphics (never played FIFA, never will). I do still think some graphical improvements in that area would be nice. However, I see the changes they have made.

Okay, I was wrong. The players move like players, they play like players. Before I was thought..."well this is a video games impression of what it looks like." Not know. The players move in realistic ways.

As a Lower League Management player I also have to say that, as I watch the game, I feel like I am watching a lower league game. Players don't make the smooth runs, they don't connect as often, they hit the ball wrong.

 

Well Done SI.

[Lpool1]

6 hours ago, LaytonBhoy said:

Yeah I saw your post on the bugs forum, and that reply from the devs to "use 2D in the meantime." 

In short, "we know you bought a Blu-Ray player to play disks, but if you could use it only to play USB files at the moment that would be great."

lol ridicoulas..... at least they admitting there is a fault though cause b4 that was just saying same old blah lol

[Peter G]

Promises are too strict. Too key players have now changed to Hurt and Angry because I couldn't upgrade Training Facilities and Didn't play one in his preferred position. We've just been promoted. The board rejected my request and he's been playing much better as a AF than a Poacher. It shouldn't be so much that it completely flips things. Annoyed? Yes but that's too much

[D-Foxx]

I've been playing CM/FM for over 20 years now and this version has to be single handedly the worst version ever put out there. I'm not going into details, it has all been said in this thread. I'm just utterly disappointed beyond words really. SI sort yourselfs out. For me, this is where it ends.

[alian62]

5 hours ago, D-Foxx said:

I've been playing CM/FM for over 20 years now and this version has to be single handedly the worst version ever put out there. I'm not going into details, it has all been said in this thread. I'm just utterly disappointed beyond words really. SI sort yourselfs out. For me, this is where it ends.

They are too focused on FM24 I think,  with the women's game coming in . Think they hoped this version would be a decent go between but its even failed at that . For me personally FM24 will be my last venture if it fails . Always bought the Beta game but this time im waiting for the demo . Im expecting an enormous upgrade in FM24 but if not then thats it . 

My list for what FM24 would need for me to purchase. 

Stadium Editor , A much improved ME , A new interface with less clicking to get anywhere , Better Kits , much improved Pre-Game editor, Faster Processing , Set Pieces , Less Boring Media Interactions , Improved Shouts on Match Day . 

Probably many more but it will need to be something special next year .

Edited December 14, 2022 by prot651

[alian62]

14 hours ago, SC00P0NE said:

I hear many games don't run too well with windows 11 atm. Someone wrote that rolling back to win 10 fixed his technical issues with the game.

Same issues with Windows 10 . 

[Choi seung won]

What you can tell the level of fm23: Squad planner in full force and advertised.

Hahaha this is really funny and embarrassing.

Squad Planner is not a new feature at all, it is just an element that improves user convenience.

Fully promoting this as a new feature shows how fm23 has nothing to promote.

And, in addition, the <snip-like manager customization haha

If it was normal, it should have advertised improving 3d modeling, improving stadium graphics and providing an editor, and improving ai.

Edited December 14, 2022 by XaW
language

[jc1]

Still too many forwards trying shots from the most ridiculous angles, just spoils some good passing and build up play leading up to it.

 

Tried a DOF and the 1st player he tries to buy is a RB, erm we have 2 good ones already, will be starting again without him.

Edited December 14, 2022 by jc1

[KeegBCFC]

 

The context here is that I managed in the Uruguayan league then took the Morocco job in 2026, the player in question always scored against my side in the league. He is yet to make his debut for country, so has never played against Morocco. I can also gurantee the next 3 questions will be about me playing a right back at left back. How on earth have press conferences not been updated or changed for years? They are immersion breakers and are extremely dull. 

[StevehFC]

I'm enjoying this year's game but I do agree numerous issues that haven't been fixed or toned down a bit is poor.