Football Manager Classic Vita FEEDBACK THREAD

[kontermann]

...and it looks more like a professional manager when handling with the stylus on the screen

[sammmy]

...and it looks more like a professional manager when handling with the stylus on the screen

Gutted, note 3 stylus doesn't work.

Found some on ebay, so will get one of those - good thinking again Sir

[mdbussen]

It will be. No confirmed release date as yet, but hopefully won't be too far away.

Great! Thanks for the prompt reply

[Mortified Penguin]

I just tried a stylus with a rubber tip. I got one included with a case for my old Xperia Play a few years ago and it works like a charm. Especially useful for those match day tabs.

[sammmy]

I just tried a stylus with a rubber tip. I got one included with a case for my old Xperia Play a few years ago and it works like a charm. Especially useful for those match day tabs.

Was just about to post same thing. Just bought a rubber tip stylus (thicker than note 3 but slimmer than my fingers!) works a treat.

@kontermann great idea and it really helps navigate menus thanks

[kinkladze11]

Scheduled for release through the Hong Kong PSN store this tuesday......非常好！

https://asia.playstation.com/hk/en/regional/game?platform=psv

[brid81]

Just loaded up my first cross save from PC to Vita, pretty impressed so far, controls will take some getting used but should be ok.

One thing that I have noticed is that my tactic from the PC has come across with completely different roles, anyone noticed this or has your tactics come across from PC to Vita ok?

Hi Chris my mac save not showing on my vita I did start it 5mths ago,how did you get yours to work?

[ItMustBeGuv]

I find doing pre-season transfers and the like on the PC and then switching to the Vita is a good balance for me.

Quick question: Perhaps I'm blind, stupid or both but I can't for the life of me find "Match Plans" on the Vita.

On PC the menus on the tactics tab read:

[Overview] [Team] [Player] [set Pieces] [Penalties] [Captains] [MATCH PLANS]

However on the Vita I can see all those menu headings EXCEPT "Match Plans".

Are Match Plans in the Vita version? If so can some kind soul point out where I might find and implement them??!! Thanks.

[HUNT3R]

Aren't match plans only for the instant result feature? Since Instant Result isn't available on the Vita, Match Plans wouldn't be either.

[ItMustBeGuv]

Ah okay. Thanks a million for the reply. I was really confused! That makes sense though. I'm a noob when it comes to FM but determined to put that right in the coming days! Thanks again.

[SaintPaul]

I played as Celtic, and found it REALLY difficult to score goals. I played with two up front, and stats included 10 shots at goal, one on target, fourteen shots at goal, one on target, twenty seven shots on goal, seven on target. Has anyone else suffered this?

[aaron1606]

I played as Celtic, and found it REALLY difficult to score goals. I played with two up front, and stats included 10 shots at goal, one on target, fourteen shots at goal, one on target, twenty seven shots on goal, seven on target. Has anyone else suffered this?

Just to point out, the match engine is exactly the same as the PC match engine.

[Monkofdoom]

First impressions for me are that I am disappointed. It's technically brilliant but just wrong for the Vita. I have been playing for an hour and a half now and I am only on my 4th match. I have all the settings on the fastest they can be with no replays etc on. I am going to have a good look through the manual again first before saying anything more, in case I am missing something. Am I the only one thinking this game runs very slow?

[JamieK]

Bought on PSN this morning, been playing all day. My thoughts.

I can see how some might find the text small, however there is a surprising lack of native resolution games on the vita and the crispness of the UI more than makes up for it for me. Plus, I tend to find I end up skimming text in Football Manager anyway due to the recycling of stock phrases, so I think this might become less of a problem as the game progresses.

The match engine graphics are great. There is a bit of a judder in the frame rate, but a faster highlight speed compensates for this. I then use a slow motion speed for replays which is very smooth. There are a few bugs (no nets in 2D classic, some camera angles being obscured by the timeline at the bottom of the screen), but overall it resembles its big brother on PC. The graphical extras on the PC engine do make it more "satisfying" (and make goals and plays stick in the mind more) but there's an understandable trade off with the Vita's power.

The touch controls, as a whole, work. I don't think I have particularly large or small fingers, but for the most part I hit what I'm aiming for. I've always found the Vita's front touchpad really sensitive, and for the most part the game responds snappily which is satisfying. The big problem comes with team tactics and substitutions. The Vita does have slightly strange triggers (they respond well with pressure to either end but not in the middle) but for some reason here the whole UI feels sluggish, fails to pick up your taps and drags and generally frustrates when trying to swap players. Adjusting a formation in the tactic creator is really bad for this, but at least it is used fairly peripherally. Selecting and rotating your team, and making substitutions are frustrating to the extent that I use "tap and replace" to swap players in and out. Not really a deal breaker, just something which really jars which the rest of the UI which is fairly zippy.

What isn't zippy is the match experience. I'm not sure how much of this is deliberate, and how much is down to the limitations of the Vita. I guess the match engine is pushing the Vita to the limit in terms of memory because your game is saved before entering a match, then the match engine is loaded, and when you leave the match engine your save game is loaded again. This does take time, but I don't mind too much. I'd probably save the game from time to time anyway. The bigger problem for me is that the match progresses at a snails pace (compared to a more powerful PC, yes) regardless of your speed settings. In between highlights (which I've found to be quite rare on both comprehensive and key settings, but I am used to full fat Football Manager on PC) the match progresses at 15 seconds intervals which seems unnecessarily slow unless the Vita is struggling to chew through the simulation. This wouldn't be so bad, but the in match analysis isn't very helpfully presented, which makes it much harder to actually work out what's going on in the game. Action zones takes up a large part of screen real estate during highlights intervals which can't be changed, and if you choose player ratings on the other side of the split then injuries and cards aren't attributed to the players. If you do go to your team's stats, the rows are longer than the screen so you can't see your player's ratings. It's a bit niggly and is really putting me off progressing (hence putting down my vita and writing this).

If the match performance can't be adjusted, I think an instant match result option would solve the unedifying delay of going through the engine process for every match. Today I loaded three leagues (England, Spain, Italy) and the game really zips through the calendar (matches aside). There's some really neat touches like small animations on player profile pages and scrolling results in the calendar that look really neat on such a small screen and device. If instant match is a no go, a watered down (in terms of resources) match engine like 2D or even just commentary that would allow more resources to be allocated to allowing a game to progress in under 10 minutes would transform pick up and playability.

I really want to love this game. I think the development team have got it so close to being a time sink, but there's just a couple of issues that need to be patched before I think it becomes a really satisfying game like its big brother. Classic mode does really well at streamlining without cutting on content, but with matches taking more than a bus ride to simulate, match day becomes a chore not an occasion.

[Monkofdoom]

Sounds like I'm not the only one finding the Vita version very slow. Have to agree with JamieK's comments on the match experience. I am all for giving people choice of watching matches in detail, but the game also has to allow for those that want a quicker game. I can't believe this is down to the Vita's limitation given what I have seen it do with games like uncharted and other titles which run very well.

Feel a bit frustrated with having waited months for this, paid £25 only now to be fed up with it after 2 hours and only 6 matches completed. At this rate it will take days to complete a season.

Hopefully the developers will respond with some positive news on this

[MJK]

So when's the demo coming out?

[Prestige Worldwide]

How do you save tactics? There appears to be no options for this.

Also, the touch screen is non responsive when dragging players using the tactics creator. Does anyone else have problems or is it just my machine?

[millzey13]

Anyone know if when your in the transfer centre you can set so the stars of individuals are next to them. You know like the star rating of how good they are and the expected rating? Bit frustrating in the market as its just names?

[SaintPaul]

How do you save tactics? There appears to be no options for this.

Also, the touch screen is non responsive when dragging players using the tactics creator. Does anyone else have problems or is it just my machine?

Hold down the button at the top left of your vita when dragging players on the tactics section

[Brad_12345]

Can u watch other matches other then your own team as well and is there a limit to the ammount of seasons u can play or is it unlimited?

[SaintPaul]

Are any others playing FMC for the first time struggling with it? I'm finding all of the info and options more overwhelming than enjoyable. On a personal note I'm also feeling terribly emasculated by the realisation that my hands must be really small, I'm having none of the problems with the touchscreen icons that many others have mentioned

[Coulthard's Jaw]

First impressions:

Good:

It feels like a proper FM game. Never really got into the Android version of FM because it was so cut back, not a problem with this.

Bad:

Everything's too small. Not too fussed about that sitting here in my room, can see it being a massive issue when I try to play it when commuting.

It's slow. I have match and highlights turned up to maximum speed and I'm still getting impatient waiting for the match to finish. Again, is going to be a big issue when trying to play this game on the move.

[Andyh21]

. I have match and highlights turned up to maximum speed and I'm still getting impatient waiting for the match to finish.

So how quick are matches when only having commentary as I do.

[headhunter]

FM 2014 for the Ps Vita still not released in Belgium, is that possible? Idon't find it in the game stores.

[Mortified Penguin]

While there is no instant result button, it is possible to go on holiday for 1 day and basically simulate the result. I do that when I have like 6-7 pre-season friendly matches to get through.

The game is never going to fly like FMH does but I'm really impressed with it. I do agree that selecting a player on the tactic screen or changing tactics via the drop down menu seems strangely sluggish and sometimes unresponsive.

I am really enjoying FMC Vita. It was only a few years ago that I bought a laptop for £1000 and it ran FM2010 fine but started to struggle with the match engine on 2012. And yet the PS Vita is somehow running the 2014 match engine really well which is incredible.

So lets see if I can nail some key pointers

FMH - Very fast, and is perfect for people who like flying through seasons quickly but lacks some depth. Still a very enjoyable game.

FMCV - Missing some features of the full fat FM, but much deeper than FMH. with slower processing speeds getting through a season is probably going to take as long as full fat FM though. Interface is more fiddly but that is to be expected without a dedicated keyboard and mouse. A stylus helps greatly

FMFAT PC: The full blown FM experience, second to none.

[Northlander74]

Hi all!

Well got my copy of FMC 2014 for my Vita yesterday

I have to say, as a non-football supporter, I love it! My dad is the real FM gamer (since the days of Championship Manager) My love for the game obviously came from him playing them, my only hands-on experience of the FM games comes from playing the 'Handheld' Android versions on my phone.

I guess I do enjoy the sport of football (once you strip away the money, names and everything that gives football a bad name) and as I do enjoy most strategy games, there's something that makes me want to play these games...after enjoying my time with the mobile versions (and their obvious limitations) I was looking forward to the Vita release being a new Vita owner (got the PS4 and the explosion of the new purpose of the Vita with the whole indie thing ramping up the games available and coming soon to thank for that!)

Granted FMC on the Vita isn't the die-hard PC version, but as I've never played the top end game, going into FMC on the Vita has been just what I was wanting/expecting coming from the Handheld version.

So as I am only day's play into it, it is definitely a game any Vita owner should have, being interested in football or even having a remote interest in the 'beautiful game' Hats off to the developers for even attempting to bring even the Classic mode to the much over-looked console. I'd even go as far to say buy a Vita just for FMC2014! Then take the opportunity to experience all the other classic games that are available for the Vita!

Well done SI! You've converted a non-football fan, and opened me to a new world of management simulations!

[Mortified Penguin]

That's a great review Northlander74 and also I'd like to say JaimeK's thoughts are excellent and in very depth too.

I've found a really good way to help raise the immersion level even more on my game by downloading lots of football league podcasts from Soundcloud, Including all the shorter 5-10 minute snippets mp3's like Jamie Cureton and Kevin Phillips talking about their careers or Leicester's groundsman talking about keeping the pitch in order etc.

I put them all on my Vita and started playing them as a custom soundtrack on shuffle so you never know who's going to be interviewed next. Reminded me of when I used to play Madden 2005 which had something called the Tony Bruno show. Which was quite similar although it was all in game.

[Prestige Worldwide]

Hold down the button at the top left of your vita when dragging players on the tactics section

Thanks man. I'm aware of the left trigger to drag option, it's fine on the usual tactics view but within the tactics creator it just doesn't work at all. Just me then? My workaround is that I skip this part then rearrange the formation in the main view along with all my other instructions. Apart from that, loving it so far.

[jens_dewit]

FM 2014 for the Ps Vita still not released in Belgium, is that possible? Idon't find it in the game stores.

Called Game Mania on Thursday and they said they'd have it. Bought it online myself so not sure.

[Northlander74]

That's a great review Northlander74 and also I'd like to say JaimeK's thoughts are excellent and in very depth too.

I've found a really good way to help raise the immersion level even more on my game by downloading lots of football league podcasts from Soundcloud, Including all the shorter 5-10 minute snippets mp3's like Jamie Cureton and Kevin Phillips talking about their careers or Leicester's groundsman talking about keeping the pitch in order etc.

I put them all on my Vita and started playing them as a custom soundtrack on shuffle so you never know who's going to be interviewed next. Reminded me of when I used to play Madden 2005 which had something called the Tony Bruno show. Which was quite similar although it was all in game.

Thanks for the acknowledgement

As for your background 'enhancement' ...what a clever idea! I'm guessing you just set them playing in the Vita Music app, then launch FMC?

[Mortified Penguin]

Thanks for the acknowledgement

As for your background 'enhancement' ...what a clever idea! I'm guessing you just set them playing in the Vita Music app, then launch FMC?

Thanks, yes that's correct. The handy thing with the music app is that it can be accessed at any time and won't it force close any games.

[MonsterMunch]

I will try and purposely get a player sent off to try it.

Are you picking the game up at all?

Just to say, I had a player sent off at right back and couldn't get another to fill in. Yes, I used the left shoulder button.

[brid81]

is anyone having problems with cross save,firstly i couldnt get my save i started on mac when game came out in october which i purposely started with 3 nations so i could carry it on on vita version,it just wont show up on the vita,i set up another game on my mac earlier and saved it to the cloud i then went to vita version and it is blank with no cloud saves for me to download,dont know what problem is doing everything right

[tisismyid2]

Hello, can't seem to find the game on ps store online in singapore..any idea why?

[piggyhero]

Overall I think its fantastic but there's just one thing that's annoying me. I can't seem to drag players around the pitch on the tactics screen (i.e Create a custom formation) could you let me know how to. Thanks

[magpiemadman]

You have to drag the positions around on the screen and hold down the 'L' Button

[jens_dewit]

I can't seem to find the option to save my tactics..

Either there should be one, or it should be more visible.

[brid81]

I can't find anywhere to save tactics either,should be an option to surely

[Mortified Penguin]

Well I've just finished my first season as my hometown club Scunthorpe. Somehow snatching 3rd place in a real topsy turvy division from Rochdale and Chesterfield on the final day of the season to gain promotion to league one. I am really, really enjoying this game.

Now I need to get rid of some the dead wood and try and build a solid team on a shoestring budget to compete in league one next season. Sheff Utd are after Paddy Madden and have offered 800,000 for him but with 28 goals last season, I'm reluctant to sell. He could be the difference next season.

[morbid snails]

I can't find anywhere to save tactics either,should be an option to surely

Finish making you're tactic and then switch to any other tactic and the game will ask you if you want to save your tactic

[Cometdude]

Why no option to save tactics?

Love the game except for this one issue (which cost me a quarter of a season).

[Dr. Pepper]

Is it me or does the game rung quite slow? I have tried playing just one division in one country and setting the same speed setting as on the pc. I have only commentary and it only seems to advance in 15 sec intervals and is quite slow to run each game.

[penleguin]

Help! How do i assign instructions to deal with opposition players (eg tight marking, close down, tackle hard?) - when I'm playing games my AM makes suggestions (close down Iniesta because he's controlling the game you say?) but I cant see how to do this from the menus unless i agree with AM's suggestion, by which point it is usually a bit too late....

Otherwise, I'm also very impressed with the port to Vita. I do find the match day experience slower than on a PC but I'm getting to grips with it slowly. Last verison I played was FM11 on a netbook, and before then 08, and 02 and 98 in the very old days. This compares really well, even on the paired down classic version it's a full experience. I've dipped my toe in my starting a couple of challenge games (injury crisis with Real Sociodad is the one holding my attention) just to get a feel for the game mid season and in full flow. It's taken me a while to remeber some of the basics of FM but startin to get back into the swing of it. Love the match engine, looks amazing on the Vita's screen. Some parts of the interface are fiddly yes, but on balance it's a great effort - well done SI and thanks for persisting.

For me this is the only way I can play FM what with 2 kids, just dont have the time to do it on a desktop.

[JamieK]

After reading more feedback on here I made a couple of adjustments over the weekend, and started a new save armed with a stylus and prepared for lots of holidays. More thoughts.

A capacitive stylus did help with my navigation. The vita screen is super sensitive, but this does mean you can hit the wrong thing. I found the pace slower with a stylus, but more deliberate. It did mean I had to hold the vita in a certain way (and regrip it when I needed to use the left trigger, the right trigger can be functioned by tapping the indicator in the UI), but everything was more deliberate. I can't see myself using a stylus on the tube, but it's definitely an option for people struggling for accuracy with their fingers.

Going on holiday for friendlies and other matches transforms the game (thanks Mortified Penguin!). When I'm in the mood to just progress through the game quickly it's a lifesaver (I find matches take around ten minutes, so six pre season games amounts to an hour already), and it means that I have far more interest in the games I do use the 3D engine for. It means I can see a big derby approaching in the calendar and think about my tactics and selection *whilst* progressing through the game. Whereas previously if a derby is three games away I'd have at least half an hour of matches to undertake first (by which time the train has arrived at my destination). It means the season is broken up more into important periods and matches, and crucially my interest remains high.

I'm more and more impressed by the UI, it looks fantastic. It puts certain other football game available on the Vita to shame, frankly. Big highlights for me are the player stats page (very stylish), training report and confidence. I do wish I could access these pages quicker to incentivise me to use them more (it's 5 taps to get onto the full screen confidence page from the inbox). From the manual it appears the three other face buttons (square, circle, triangle) aren't really utilised, I think it would be great if they could be mapped by the user as shortcuts to particular pages. For instance, if from the inbox I could map square to player stats, circle to the training report, and triangle to confidence I would use these pages tenfold, and I'm sure other users would see similar benefits with their own shortcuts. 90% of the time I'm on a player's page I'll want to scout him, so a mappable shortcut here would make that process far more pleasurable than the trigger/tap/tap/trigger combo alternative. I wonder if the game is touch heavy in anticipation of utilising the UI on other touch devices on the future, but with the Vita's array of buttons this does seem like a fairly simple option that would make the game far more speedy and attractive, especially to existing Vita users.

Split view on the Vita works really well. I rarely use it on the PC, but it really suits the Vita's screen and the engine seems to run slightly smoother. The customisable stats is a massive plus in this view as well.

My main issue with the game (having done a whole season now) is immersion, or lack of. In the processing calendar all sort of inviting headlines scroll down, such as player watch's from other leagues, candidates for awards, press comments from other managers, transfers from other leagues. The fact these headlines are generated seems to imply that their content is being generated, but I can't access it anywhere. Even though I've selected the English Premier Division league, and the English Premier Division weekend round up appears on my calendar, I can't access it. The same applies for when I see "Messi tipped for award" or "Clichy to join Arsenal". I can't see any of these pages, and I can't subscribe to anything anyway. This means my inbox is really quite bare, a normal week being odds on the match, your league's weekend preview, your match report, a player on form, a scouting update, team of the week....and then odds on the next match. I'm not really aware of anything else going on in the game world, which is a massive shame as it is all being simulated. I know the essence of Classic is to be more streamlined than the full fat experience, but on Vita we don't have the option of anything else than Classic, so the option to subscribe to news reports from around the world would be massive. I'd like to know what's going on in the other leagues I've selected, who's hot, who's not, as it affects my future transfers and job decisions. I'm current playing in Ligue 1 and I can't even see the "Ligue 1 Player Analysis" that pops up in my calendar (if I could, it would really transform the game for me). Every so often tapping on the other nation's league tables doesn't do as much for immersion as if I was getting a weekend report from these leagues to my inbox. Coupled with the distancing of "going on holiday" (where your tactics aren't utilised) compared to an instant match result does give me the impression I'm playing "Director of Football Classic".

So, all in all, much better than I was feeling on Friday. I've had a Vita for almost two years, and the development team have created one of the best looking games I've seen on it (not often someone says that about Football Manager!). Three simple things which I think would keep my playing the game, mappable shortcuts, greater immersion in the game world through the generated articles and reports (especially from other leagues selected), and a dedicated instant result button that would utilise tactics selected unlike going on holiday.

[brid81]

Thanks morbid snails that worked,any ideas how I go on holiday

[ferencvaros]

This is the first game I have ever bought on a release day. I've been playing for 3 days and I'm very pleased. I got what I was promised: the games feels like Football Manager. It is fast enough, I have no problems with the font (I can read it without problems) and the engine works great. I am more pleased with my Vita than ever. Only problems for me are the lack of the ability to download tactics and the abilities tab which is pretty ugly (same with FMC for PC) - I really wish the abilities tab looked like in the full version. Overall impressions: just buy the game. Finally FM is not exclusive to PC! Great job guys. And I want to thank Aaron Armstrong for helping me with the language question. It's thanks to him that I bought this game so soon.

[RTHerringbone]

Help! How do i assign instructions to deal with opposition players (eg tight marking, close down, tackle hard?)

You can't assign Opposition Instructions in FMC, like you can in the "full" game.

You can achieve all the things you mention via Player Instructions.

[sammmy]

Just wanted to share some initial thoughts...

Love the game, think it's incredible. This really has opened up the door for me to play an in depth FM, without the need for an anti social desktop (ah the joys of having kids!).

I think many of FMC concerns spring from the comparison being made to FMH, I don't class the Vita as a mobile device, I see it as a portable console. The games that play on the Vita are far more advanced than anything a mobile says it has to offer so won't be as zippy or lite.

I enjoyed the speed of FMH and it is a game you can literally play anywhere, but understandably it lacks the depth, whereas FMC offers me the depth but at a far more steady pace -

The problem here is that the game was billed as something you would / could play on your commute, however I don't think that is the case. Long flights / train journey?... yes, but a 30 min tube / bus?... no. It's not a game that can be rushed and I wouldn't call it a pick up and play game, especially by the time you have turned the Vita on, loaded the game then loaded your save! For me it's great to play a game during my lunch break / have my feet up on the sofa, whilst the kids are entertaining themselves (hey but least I'm in the room and interested though right!?) or when the Mrs falls asleep slowly reach for the Vita!

Like someone stated above, I do feel a bit disconnected from the rest of the footballing world and I am still tinkering with things to try and find a way round that.

Any FM fan who owns a Vita needs this game... Any FM fan who doesn't own a Vita, look at getting one 2nd hand, it's an incredible device, there are some brilliant sport games, and if not having the most uptodate rosters / squads is a problem you can get (preowned) Fifa, Madden, Lomu Rugby and Virtual Tennis for about £30 total.

Overall I am delighted this game made it to the Vita and I have remembered why I used to love the FM games of years gone by!

[ferencvaros]

yes, but a 30 min tube / bus?... no

I can't see why not.

[sammmy]

I can't see why not.

Just my opinion, but I don't think I have ever sat down for 30mins to play FM (and when I say FM, I mean from a few years ago, not the fuller version available today) on my desktop, it has always needed around hour at least, setting up custom tactics, looking at players, then playing the actual match. You could use a shorter session to make some tweaks, like I say just my opinion.

On a separate note, was a tad disappointed to see Man Utd "only" start with £12mil, surely that's wrong?