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Can't manage, won't manage...is FM 2015 worth it?


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I have a weird love hate relationship with FM.....some years I pick up the latest FM and within days I'm winning promotions, cups, manager of the month and season, etc. Other times, I simply never, ever 'get' the game. Doesn't matter what I do, doesn't matter how many stickies I read, how many pleas for help I put out, for some reason I cannot play the game. FM 2012 was my last 'decent' FM, getting Wrexham out of the conference and into League 1. FM 2013 wasn't easy, but wasn't a disaster. FM 2014 I found entirely unplayable...it was just one of those I didn't 'get'. A combination of the games complexity and my own ineptitude, I'm afraid.

So my question is, if 2014 was beyond me, is 2015 so different? Is it possible I'm just going to waste more money, or is 2015 noticeably easier to 'handle'? Has anyone found 2014 difficult and 2015 'not so much', even in the beta?

Thanks in advance!

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Must admit I kind of sympathise with the opening post.

Seems to me that success or failure in the FM series has devolved into getting the tactics spot on, which I find both almost impossible and slightly irritating.

What should be a replication of real life, has infact become almost a robot programming thing.

Example, extreme I know:

At Real Madrid (in real life) massive tactical awareness becomes giving ball to Ronaldo and sometimes Bale, then reacting to their movement on the ball.

This does not involve deap tactical thinking. Same at Barcelona, and a number of other clubs.

I really think the accent now within the game, has gone too far that way.

Just an opinion, but we are all entitled to them......I hope

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I have played on my mates game the other night and thought it was great. The only reason i'm not buying it yet is that I have a newborn baby and obviously he is taking up all my time. When i do get time I love firing up my LFC save on FM2012. FM12 is nice, quick and I don't have to study tactics etc.. I will be buying FM15 when i know I have more time.

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Please allow me to add my views about FM 15 and indeed all FM's and CM'', as I have bought and played them all, sometimes with moderate success and sometimes without.

I have also bought and played most of the other 'manager/director' football games that were around in the early/mid eighties. The first one I remember was on an audio tape and given away when you bought 'Commodore 64', I think. It only had a transfer base of about forty five players and all you did was to pick your team and the results came up.

If you are, like myself, a football 'barmpot' you always want to play just the best and most accurate game. I have found that consistently down the years that the CM/FM series is untouchable. The nearest thing to it was the dreadful FIFA Manager series. Everyone of those 'annual' abominations was full of the same errors every year. That is not me speaking but the vast majority on the associated website.

I have found playing this years demo of FM15 that I can use my formations/tactics with only a few minor alterations. Indeed, I have even played with the drop down formations/tactics and just altered the teams instructions. I have managed Liverpool to second in the league and winning the League Cup and reaching the semi's of the Champions League, using just the players as at the start. Also playing as Bury, having started as 'unemployed', got them to the play offs in a similar manner. They were third bottom when I got the job.

I am thinking that if you are, like myself, football daft, then FM will always be the only one, unless and until something better comes up. The game has faults, my main one is that the match engine can't handle real counter attacking. You can't play a counter attacking game in real life by pushing high up the pitch and having both attack and counter on at the same time. It can't work because one is the opposite of the other.

Finally, only the individual can make up his mind as to whether or not the new game is worth buying. As you have probably guessed, I think that it is. If you have taken the trouble and time to read this then I suggest you are like myself, if not, you don't know what you're missing. Muchly thankings.

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you are entitled to an opinion, but frankly, that is completely wrong. while some players in some teams indeed do enjoy some freedom in attacking movement, there is a lot more to tactical approach than just attacking movement of one player no matter who he might be.

Ah yes, of course and I appreciate your answer, except, you didn't even approach the point I was making about the FM series.

However, I should declare, that I have owned and played every edition of the game, and FM15 will be no different.

I have not had the time to touch the demo, but I am encouraged by what I read, in that it appears it come be returning more to a players game, not an exercise in mathematical calculations as FM13 and to some extent FM14 have been.

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Ah yes, of course and I appreciate your answer, except, you didn't even approach the point I was making about the FM series.

However, I should declare, that I have owned and played every edition of the game, and FM15 will be no different.

I have not had the time to touch the demo, but I am encouraged by what I read, in that it appears it come be returning more to a players game, not an exercise in mathematical calculations as FM13 and to some extent FM14 have been.

The point is though FM13/FM14 or any other version for that matter were never an exercise in maths.

If you had solid, logical tactics that had a foundation IRL you generally did ok and perhaps overachieved a little. In recent versions the people that had issues were either those who had poor tactics or those who were used to exploiting the ME in previous versions.

With the exploits closed off, the playing field levelled with the TC and the ME improved tactics do play a much bigger role compared to previous versions. People with poor tactical knowledge are finding it much more difficult than before but if they take the time to improve their knowledge its actually easier than ever before to build a simple, basic, logical tactic that will get expected results over the course of a season.

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Hated FM12 (the only FM I've ever actively disliked), loved FM13, absolutely adored FM14, and quite liking this one so far. If that trend is consistent, this one should end up being the best one. ME wise, I think it's better than FM14 was at this stage last year, but the UI, particularly the tactics screen is currently a step backwards IMO.

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Loved FM12, hated FM13, liked FM14, really liking FM15 so far

I'm finding 15 is akin to 12 in the sense that I can finally put forth a dominant team in away games, I could never do this in 13 or 14, honestly had to shut up shop and counter even with a big team. I was pushing 58% possession at Stamford Bridge in 15 for gods sake!

It's a lot more noticeable when a team sits deep now, and probably a lot more difficult (imo) to manage pushing the backline up at times.

The Tactics screen is absolutely borked in my view though!

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If you had solid, logical tactics that had a foundation IRL you generally did ok and perhaps overachieved a little. In recent versions the people that had issues were either those who had poor tactics or those who were used to exploiting the ME in previous versions.

This is only partly true. It is no mystery that the ME cannot replicate each and every thing that happens during a real match. Defensive positioning, off the ball movements, decision making, organized pressing, set pieces, formations/positions/roles, ratings... The ones who struggled were not just the "tactically illiterate", but also those who tried (too) hard to simulate real football. In order to enjoy FM12, 13 and 14 I had to pretend that woodwork hits don't exist, players are supposed to shoot for no reason, a gk who makes 10 saves isn't necessarily the best player on the pitch, there is no difference between the World Cup Final and the Serie C Cup final, and corner takers are supposed to have an average of 20 assists per season.

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FM13 was rather easy, 4-5-1 and you could never go wrong. FM14 was fun at first, then turned into a 4-2-4 fest as lone strikers could never seem to work (or it would but that lone striker would never score). I liked the UI of FM14 though, FM15 UI just isn't growing on me, too much tinkering with a UI that worked perfectly fine before.

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Loved FM12 (broken wage budgets meant you could be thousands of pounds over your wage budgets but still dish out crazy wages to players) FM13 i didnt play much after they fixed everything that you could take advantage of in FM12 (but i did like the reputation system that was introduced in that game) FM14 i hated to start off with but once i found a good tactic that worked for me and ditched the 3D view i started to enjoy the game a lot more and now i cant put it down (even tho i have the beta for FM2015)

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