Some thoughts on the FMT19 match engine.

[Prej]

So, after putting almost 3000 hours into FMT19, I'd like to share my thoughts on it here.

I'll mainly concentrate on the match engine, since I think it's the worst one SI has graced us with in the last years.

I watch whole matches, so some of the points below might be unknown to people only watching highlights.

Since most people have short attention spans these days, we'll do a list.

·         Crossing is bugged. Players in possession patiently wait until being closed down before attempting to cross. Most crosses are blocked because players think their opponents are made of ectoplasm and the ball will pass through them.

·         Wing play is bugged. Diagonal passes are being played with pinpoint accuracy, yet passes to the wings are just being yeeted out of reach of the winger. This happens all the time and is infuriating. You have a team of world class players who can't play a pass to the wings.

·         Behaviour under pressure is bugged. Players behave like idiots when being closed down. Instead of passing to the nearest available player, they kick the ball into row Z, giving their opponent a throw in. Also, racing after a ball which is going to cross the byline (and give you a goal kick), only to kick it over touch to give away a throw in.

·         Ball control is bugged. Players can't control the ball with their chests. The only options are to control it with their feet or head. Most long passes are being headed away in front of the player, so the ball either goes over the byline or touchline, or is being picked up by the opponent.

·         Attacking movement is bugged. Players picking up the ball in front of the penalty area will most of the times turn onto their weaker foot and attempt to pass the ball to someone else instead of turning onto their stronger foot and attempting to shoot, even if they are told to "shoot more often" or "shoot on sight". Numerous times have I seen players yeeting the ball to the flanks even though they had a clear shooting position in front of the penalty area.

·         Short passing play is bugged. Two defenders get stuck playing passes to each other while being closed down (even though there are options to pass the ball), therefore moving towards their goal and finally passing to the GK. This happens mostly when passing is set to short.

·         Lack of through balls. Players in front of the penalty area will either pass to the flanks or perform backpasses instead of playing a through ball to a striker waiting to run into the area. Using any possible combination of instructions has no effect. Flanks or backpass.

 

Also, SI, please consider implementing hotfixes, because "acknowledging" bugs and not fixing them until the next FM is pretty much showing a "theses suckers will buy the next game anyway" attitude.

Edited September 22, 2019 by Prej

[Graham Banks]

On 22/09/2019 at 22:14, Prej said:

Also, SI, please consider implementing hotfixes, because "acknowledging" bugs and not fixing them until the next FM is pretty much showing a "theses suckers will buy the next game anyway" attitude.

Yes - as a beta tester for the International Cricket Captain series, I fully agree.

There should be more frequent bugfix updates.