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Although I'm not a hockey fan, I was quite gripped by last years NHL franchise mode and card trading feature. I really miss this sense of longevity in the fifa series.Can we expect something this year? If not, in the near future?
EA's Total Club Manager implemented the Fifa 2002 engine into their game and spoke out their ambition to release future versions simultaneously with Fifa. Do you guys look into the possibility of using their managerial engine for upcoming Fifa versions? i.e. A career mode in which you can play with your favourite team as well as manage a budget for buying new players, developing youth players, etc.
EA Answers:
Q1 - We don't have a card trading feature like NHL. As for next year we are currently thinking about how a career or franchise mode could work with FIFA.
Q2 - TCM and FIFA may become tied closer together - we're just statrting the design phase for the next year now so the deatils of how this will work are still being determined.
EA recruited someone from the NBA Live scene for their staff (Tim Tschirner). There are a lot of talented people on the FIFA scene, from face-makers to patch-makers like the guys from FIFA FX. Could something like this happen with EA's famous football game?
EA Answers:
Yes -that possibility exists - we are always looking for talented people. We really appreciate all the effort and dedication the patch makers put into updating and enhancing the game. Some of the work is surprising in its quality. I think going forward we'll be keeping a closer eye out in the FIFA scene.
2. Do you guys find FIFA 2003 as a Simulation or Arcade?
1. The shooting this year has been completely re-written. You still power up your shots with the power bar but the first thing you'll notice is the power bar is attribute based. When you power up it increases both the speed and the height of the shot. A very low powered shot will just slot the ball past the keeper. If you're sprinting you'll stretch out and just poke the ball past the keeper like Ronaldo. This is perfect for when the keeper is charging out or you're breaking away. As you power up the shot elevation rises so a medium powered shot correspondes to a mid height shot with high speed. As you approach the top end of the power bar you're power increases but you're accuracy decreases. This makes it very difficult to hit the top corners but very rewarding when it does happen.
2. Definitely simulation. But there is an action and simulation setting you can choose from.
The formations and strategy in the fifa series are really getting old now. I don't think you've changed them one bit for a while and when u've done it it's been for the worse.
Are we going to witness a really completely redesigned tactical system in which you can choose any insane formation you want (say 3:3:4 or etc) and more diverse strategy options not the same 3 defensive and offensive styles? And also will you be able to assign to an individual player wether he should make runs and how far up the field he can go and etc.
I think fifa badly needs that because being something of a hardcore player myself in Fifa 2002 and World Cup basically there's 1 or 2 strategy/formation styles which everyone uses and it gets really boring in a multiplayer games.
EA Answers:
We have re-done all the formations from scratch and we concentrated on the most common formations because we wanted to make them have much greater impact on the gameplay. We have added an all-out attack and all-out defense state. All of these states are going to be used by the CPU. You'll see the benefit of wingers playing will play and attacking mid-fielders supporting strikers and the general shift of CPU formations depending on scores. This will also be a focus of FIFA going forward.
* How does the shooting system work, can shots be sent over the cross bar without full power and wrong angle if you're not careful?
We answered that above, but also we will say that this year we've added all new animations for shooting, passing and crossing. Yes shots can go over cross bars without over-powering, in addition they can roll across the goal mouth.
*Are the goalkeepers harder to beat and is the balance between striker and goalkeeper better?
Goalkeeper has been completely re-written from last year. We spent months tuning the balance between shooting and the gk's ability to save the ball. The balance between the gk and shooter is dependent on the difficulty level. The gk and shooter attributes are taken into account to an extent.
*Does the AI defence always run back with the player, or do they sometimes go straight in for the tackle?
Depends on difficulty level, the score and the position of the defender.
*Can you foul a player by tripping them up, or shoulder barging them to hard. Not every foul is done by a slide tackle.
You cannot foul them but you can shoulder barge them off the ball. We take into account the players strength to resolve to the jostle.
*How does it compare to Pro Evolution Soccer realistically and fun wise?
On the realistic side, definitely because our player models, stadium realism, kits backed by the licenses should be more than satisfying. From the fun perspective we will be hoping to find out from you guys. But we personally consider this years gameplay to be better than PES. We would like to be more descriptive but in respect to TIF, PES, Winning 11 and other football products we would rather let the product speak for itself.
*Do players play and have the animations of the real life ones, like Beckham technique in free kicks and R.Carlos's run up in free kicks. Do players act like their real life counter parts?
In relation to free-kicks they certainly do. You will definitely be able to recognise players like Carlos, Beckham and Nakata when taking free kicks.
1. Will all the teams have correct rosters, or will some teams have player names like no.1, no.2 etc like in FIFA 2002?
2. Will there be swedish commentators in the game?
EA Answers:
1. The rosters all contain real names. We try to include as many teams and players as we can in the game. Usually when there is an ommission it is due to business or licensing reasons that are beyond EA's control.
2. Sorry - no Swedish commentary. It will be Motson and Ally McCoist.
I think I can speak for the vast majority of the soccer gaming community when I say that among us fans, there has been a growing mistrust and even lack of interest of the FIFA series and EA Sports in general, mainly due to some very dissapointing FIFA titles released in the past few years. It's also widely known amongst the Soccer gaming community that Konami's WE/PES series are hands down the best soccer games available today, so my question is....has EA sports taken this into consideration and what has (if anything) been done to compete with the realism and LONG-TERM enjoyment of Konami's games?
EA Answers:
EA wants to continue its success in the soccer business and that means that we have to recognise and accept the challenge of Konami and other soccer products. You'll see this reflected directly in this years product. The two main goals we had were authenticity and realism.
I've been playing PES/WE games by Konami lately because I get a better feel that I'm playing a real life game than I could ever get from a FIFA game. Frankly, I'm content with their games even tho they don't boast the greatest leagues that the FIFA series does. The core of the game and the love for the game of football is evident in their product. All the leagues in the world cannot replace this vital ingredient; realistic gameplay.
I still have some hope in FIFA, but it is fading fast. This year with the seperation of the ball from the player is a step in the right direction, however that is a small step in the right direction. How do you think this years versions and those to come could convince me to take FIFA as a serious soccer gaming product?
EA Answers:
Firstly I would say we have taken to heart the concerns that FIFA fans have had about the game in prior versions, especially concerning the gameplay.
We have added a whole new layer of tactical behavior on the cpu side. Separating the ball from the foot is just the tip of the iceberg. Our key areas were responsiveness, realism and consistancy.
We guarantee that our love and respect of the sport is very high and we hope its going to reflected in this years product and future products.
Good to see that you still have some hope left and we hope that we'll convince you in the future and please continue with the constructive criticism like you have provided us with in the past.
And what about the multiplayer mode, are there any plans to make online leagues?
This years PC product will have a re-vamped match maker service and we are working on plans to increase the feature set on that. And yes, it is free. As for leagues we are looking into it.
I would like to ask if the training mode is included. If not, don't you think it should be included so that players can learn how to use the new freekick system, new passing styles and new moves?
EA Answers:
No for this year but watch this space. What you have said are the exact reasons why we are actively thinking about this feature.
What about the different AI's ? please tell specific things not "yeah we rewrite a lot the AI" tell differences !!!
EA Answers:
Watch the CPU keeping pocession when they are up by one goal or more and theres only a few minutes to play. And most speciicly the GK, shooting, passing, marking, tackling, crossing are more or less total re-writes.
Changes:
GK: Decision making, charging, animations, general position
Shooting: As described earlier
Passing: Short pass and through pass. Short pass we have removed the power bar so that you can do quicker passes, precise passes over a shorter distance.
Through-pass: You have the power-bar. You can through pass to any part of the field.
Marking: User mark mode requires patience on the conservative tackling button (hold) and CPU marking incudes second player who comes up for support. Marking as a whole on the CPU side is now a team effort. The opposition doesn't give up even after they are beaten.
Tackling: Conservative tackling, last year you'd press the button and it would immediately perform a tackle. This year you hold it down to contain the attacker without commiting yourself. You can jostle with the player when you tackle from the side. You will continue to control your player even while you're jostling.
Crossing: This year you don't have to aim towards the box to cross, you just run down the wing and once you enter the crossing area is crosses for you (once you press the button).
The heading also important for the high ball, so is it more easy when we want to head?
EA Answers:
The new model is based on timing. As the ball approaches two players jostling for position. The user who presses the especially assigned header button with the most precise timing will win out.
Just to elaborate on my mate valioso's question. It's pretty gutsy to say that your game is better than PES. I say that because you have improved your gameplay, this is all well and good. The main thing you suggest is the seperation of ball and player. Step in the right direction. However, games like PES have been in that direction from at least 3 years now. Saying that your game is as good as PES, is saying that you have made a quantum leap in the same direction. How did you accomplish this?
The biggest allocation of resources in the history of EA. We drafted people from all of our key studios, predominantly Europe.
EA Answers Here
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