Rodrigogc

Actually it does differentiate, as reputation is one of the, if no the, most important criteria to decision making by the AI. But it seems now many other factors are being taken into the calculation and some sort of compensation (more weight to physical condition ? morale?) made by developers is hindering logical decisions by the AI. I'm not sure of this, but FM has a history of AI lining up players just because of their reputation so it doesn't make sense that a third GK would be prefered over the main one in an important competition if not for some type of compensation. I've seen many weird decisions in this version that made me drop the game this year. Ported a FM23 save as St Pauli to FM24, my first game against Bayern I saw Marcos Leonardo playing as a CM and Wirtz as a winger. They didn't create any goal scoring chance worth noticing against me, which frustrated me a lot. And I saw many other weird lineups, even Juventus being relegated in my Sampdoria save.

Basically what has been done for years when it comes to solving problems in FM. Can't solve a problem for good ? Then you solve it by creating another one that will be solved by creating another one and so on and so forth.

Considering they spent more than 500M in transfers to find themselves conceding 5 against Arsenal, I think there's something off with real life squad building as well.

That is the kind of difficulty most detail oriented players would like to face. Personally, I don't like managing bad teams and I like playing pressing systems though. That is the issue, because if II need to play Reading and not use pressing systems, I'm not gonna have any fun. I like managing good players and wish I could play any system with real challenges. In FM pressing systems have no downsides. Man Utd hasn't won anything worth noticing since SAF retired, in FM if you pick Man Utd you won't have half the problems they face IRL. The game is full of tools for hardcore players, but the fact is most of them are underdeveloped and in the end you have to turn a blind eye and not use x tactic, y role, buy nemanja motika while having 100M budget because otherwise you won't face any challenge anyway. I understand the game being made for casuals, but I feel FM now is too made for casuals. It is even a paradox, cause the number of tools and features have been increasing year by year, and AI is getting dumber and dumber year by year.

FM has nothing to do with Chess as the match unfolds, since you can't control the "pieces" on the pitch. I only mentioned chess to make a point about difficulty levels. In FM's case, a stronger engine would make better decisions regarding subs, first eleven picking, transfers, scouting, players physical condition management, squad building... I've seen countless times in FM strong teams using players completely out of their original positions, forwards being used as central midfielders, AMCs being used as wingers, fullbacks being used as DMs... that's the similarity to chess, as weak engines make mistakes so that the human player can take a advantage of it.

Is there gonna be a new update or will I have to wait for FM25 for good ?

As far as I know the AI prioritizes Reputation when deciding who to pick in the first eleven, hence youngsters not being developed and old tired players being kept in the squad. Seems like the same reason for both occurrences.

Basically this whole issue about the game being easy would be solved if FM had difficulty levels. That won't happen, so... I play chess, and there are engines in chess that are absolutely unbeatable, but you can play the weakest ones and gradually increase the level. Kids these days practice with engines and it gives them a lot of challenges. I'm an old FM player, so I never play to win trophies, and I suppose that most old players don't care about them as well. Unfortunately it all comes down to business, and if people pay for a game they want the gratification, which means winning. If the game is hard, people won't buy because grinding and not winning for them would be a waste of money. I don't think like that, but that is how it goes.

I assume people take the last version as a parameter. Since FM19, I suppose, FM hasn't changed much in terms of difficulty. I haven't bought Dark Souls because I saw people saying it is hard. As much as I like hard games, I don't have time to play them the way I did 10 years ago. These factors you mentioned may help, but I think FM reviews, FM beta and good SI marketing also are a driving force for higher sales.

I don't think they intentionally dumb the game down, but they don't make any effort to keep the game interesting for those who want difficulty as well. There are some hard games that sell well, but usually easier ones sell better, because a lot of people who game are not necessarily children/teens, but people who work and have responsabilities, and they want to play the game after a tiring day of work and not have to deal with more stress. I'm not sure of this, but in the last few years FM has been increasing its sales and I feel the game is getting easier. I played FM07,08 and 13, and found the AI smarter with transfer moves, squad building, etc... Football is too subjective, so one has to understand how hard it is for SI to please newcomers and experient players, but gradually over the years we can clearly see how old players have to keep finding mods and ways to make the game harder, which I didn't see happening in old FMs. I myself stopped playing FM these days because the only way I found to encounter some challenge is to manage low level teams, which I don't like. I would like to find challenge managing Real Madrid, but unfortunately that is not possible in FM.

The main issue with tactics to me is that IRL training is deeply connected with tactics, in FM not so much so. Training in FM has only to do with improving attributes, while IRL it is the foundation of the tactics the manager wants to employ. Sometimes it takes years for a manager to implement exactly the tactic he wants, combining training with the right players. In FM you set up a quick tactic, put on the right players and you're set to win.

Yes, FM07 in terms of difficulty was spot on. Smarter AI, constantly scouting and bidding for players, balanced newgens... Nowadays I feel it is too easy to get the best wonderkids for example. Taking the St Pauli save I mentioned, I simply got to buy 2 of the best 5 wonderkids in the game (I looked the best ones in FMRTE after finishing the save), without competition and paying a reasonable price. The massive gap between human squad building and AI squad building is probably what made people look for attributeless skins to make the game challenging. To be honest, I don't remember people considering playing attributeless in FM07,08..

The game has become easier, and I think the reason is poor AI squad building and management. I've played FM07,08 and 13 in the last few weeks, and even though AI back in those days didn't adapt in-match as much as it does nowadays, matches against stronger teams were harder because they would always play their best players and were wiser on their squad building. Current AI is too stupid, you play strong teams and they simply leave great players out, spend huge amounts of money on players they won't even leave on the bench, etc.. I ported my St Pauli save in FM23 to play in FM24, and the first game against Bayern Munchen they played Wirtz as a right winger and marcos leonardo as a CM. It's frustrating.

You are correct, and I support your subscription model idea as well. Having to come up with something new every year I suppose it overwhelms the devs team since they have to come up with ideas, filter what will work and what will not, figure out a way to implement them, test them.. and at the same time find out how they can improve what has been added before and sometimes even take something out. Too many things to do within a year, which leads to countless patchs/updates, and more and more things to fix for the next year. The annual cycle creates problems but at the same time it gives a reason for customers to wait for the next version. It has become a never ending cycle.

Exactly, but that is the challenge SI has been facing in the last few years, because football has become too analytical. I play FM08, back then things like data analysts were not important, these days they are crucial and FM has to replicate that. Football these days is way more complex that before, in terms of nutrition, data, training, etc... but FM is just a game, so the point of it becoming bloated is just a reflection of how hard the task is to SI, since they have to create a realistic game but at the same time acknowledge that people have a real life to take care of. I've been playing older versions because what I care about is basically the ME and a challenging AI, and I don't have much patience with today's FM interactions, players complaining too much, loads of information on my screen, etc.. I think SI has been missing the point because they come up with new features every year, when actually I think most people would prefer that the game becomes more streamlined and they focus on fixing what really matters and made people fall in love with the franchise in the first place. No wonder many people, including me, have been playing older versions (some even prefer playing CM).