FM26 is starting to get better...

[Masked]

So I am approaching 500 hours in FM and I have to say the ME has improved considerably with the last patch. It's still not perfect but it's better to watch now.

Many bugs have been squashed and I can finally play and watch highlights without running into soft locks.

The UI I learned from the first day, that isn't a problem. The missing features and the UX is the biggest issue but slowly things are being added back.

So I am wondering what would SI add to FM26 before it's in a decent enough state for them to focus on FM27.

I think getting heat maps, and fixing the amount of text displayed on many tiles, plus international management would be a good enough state to at least get the game to mixed reviews.

In my opinion FM27 to FM30 needs a complete revamp of media, player interactions, roleplay elements (rpg elements that can be turned off) and of course more animations and improved graphics. At the moment night games look really flat and it rains way too much in many nations, unrealistically so. The ball doesn't even have a shadow during night games. Player shadows are also not as detailed during the night as it is during the day. In older FM's the shadows looked better.

It's not a bad game, but the fact that it's a bit of a gut punch from FM24 - that's what has left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. Clearly they ran out of time and were forced to release this product. What I can see is a studio that is worried about their reputation and the game itself and they are working hard. So at least that gives me some hope for the future.

At the end of the day, there are no competitors to this game and despite what people think, it is a much beloved game. If people didn't care, they wouldn't have spoken up.

So I am hopeful and I wonder where people's mindsets are with FM26 and it's future after the last couple of patches. I for one have stopped logging bugs, after probably logging 100+ issues and helping with some mods for the game.

[Prej]

Dude, what the hell. You need to moan and complain more.

What are you, an SI shill?

[Masked]

What?

[Prej]

Come on, at least say that SI is scamming us or that you'll never buy anything from them again.

[Masked]

Originally posted by Prej:

Come on, at least say that SI is scamming us or that you'll never buy anything from them again.

Focus on FM26 please, not me. If you wanna talk about FM26 in my replies, I am all for it.

[Masked]

Good to see that SI are improving the graphics for night and overcast games in the next patch. Thank god.

[gadjodilo]

I tested the PC version again yesterday after the latest patch. The players are far too static; certain old tactics are now impossible to set up. A new system dividing instructions into "with" and "without" the ball splits tactical configuration in two. This illusion of added depth is in reality a regression: the disappearance of hybrid roles like the Mezzala is proof. Certain players, like Box-to-Box midfielders, are stuck on the midfield line; they don't move from their defensive midfield position. And so on.

The real questions are:

“Why was a broken game sold?”

“When will SEGA stop the annual cycle that is killing the franchise?”

“Who takes responsibility for this major tactical regression presented as an innovation?”

“What is going on with Unity and the tactical engine?”

As long as the discussion remains technical (“does the patch improve the shadows?”) and compassionate (“poor devs”), it will serve the publisher's strategy: to buy time until the next sale, hoping the patches will have quelled the revolt. The developers are not responsible for the administrative and financial decisions; they are victims of them, just like those who bought a console version that doesn't work or a PC version whose tactical engine is in pieces.

[Masked]

Originally posted by gadjodilo:

I tested the PC version again yesterday after the latest patch. The players are far too static; certain old tactics are now impossible to set up. A new system dividing instructions into "with" and "without" the ball splits tactical configuration in two. This illusion of added depth is in reality a regression: the disappearance of hybrid roles like the Mezzala is proof. Certain players, like Box-to-Box midfielders, are stuck on the midfield line; they don't move from their defensive midfield position. And so on.

The real questions are:

“Why was a broken game sold?”

“When will SEGA stop the annual cycle that is killing the franchise?”

“Who takes responsibility for this major tactical regression presented as an innovation?”

“What is going on with Unity and the tactical engine?”

As long as the discussion remains technical (“does the patch improve the shadows?”) and compassionate (“poor devs”), it will serve the publisher's strategy: to buy time until the next sale, hoping the patches will have quelled the revolt. The developers are not responsible for the administrative and financial decisions; they are victims of them, just like those who bought a console version that doesn't work or a PC version whose tactical engine is in pieces.

I agree. I was extremely critical with the release and by no means am I in the group thats been compassionate. At the end of the day people pay a lot of money annually for the game and it was released in a very amateurish manner. It really looked like it was a "cracked" version of FM24.

I am however seeing signs of a company scrambling to fix the issues. Though sometimes they fix things to a bare minimum which is frustrating. It's like the person/people fixing a single issue, could have spent an extra 20-30 minutes on not only fixing the issue but improving it. An example is how a players appearances and goals are displayed.

FM24 : You saw total league appearances and goals. Then it was split by every club.
FM26 : You saw only total for every club combined and all competitions combined.

This was then patched to only show league appearances/goals again. Some people (me included) liked ALL appearances/goals shown, which included cup games (UCL etc). I liked it cause I could just add the league stuff quickly to figure it out or look at the players career biography. Now It's a long winded method to find all the stats for every league and cup.

Si could have spent a little more time on this and have done the following;

1. Include the total for every appearance in cups and leagues (as FM26 shipped)
2. Include the total for league only just below that.
3. Include per club as per FM24.

This would have made everyone happy and fully improved the display of this data.

Instead, they go to polar opposites when they fix things.

This is seen across so many parts of the game and it can be frustrating. It looks like SI reads a report, fixes it, and moves on. There is no proactive thinking about people who like the new feature or the old one. They fix the reports, while not thinking of those silent about said feature or design.

While bug fixing is heading in the right direction, and yes I did mention superficial stuff like "shadows" - but that is the same thing as the above example. It shows SI releasing something 80% of the way. The day shadows were good, and the lighting was okay - but for leagues where theres only night games and lots of rain (even rain bugs) - it makes the experience of the game very poor.

The only reason SI is doing anything right now is because of the vocal constructive feedback. The whole gaming industry lives and dies by feedback and those who disregard it are the studios that have games that fail.

When the game released, I would probably rate it a 2 or 3 out of 10. Now it's about a 4. I am enjoying it more cause very specific bugs that bothered me, which stopped my playstyle have been addressed. Theres still dozens more and if those are addressed, I would personally rate it a 5/10 and remove my negative review. I would actually delete my negative but not post a positive one, since STEAM doesn't allow a mixed/mid review. I would post a new positive one if personally to me its a 7+. I did that with FM24 and a couple of other versions.

[Prej]

Originally posted by gadjodilo:

the disappearance of hybrid roles like the Mezzala is proof.

Nope, now you can create your own Mezzala, if you want. Take a Wide Central Midfielder or a Channel Midfielder, give him the proper instructions and you have your Mezzala.

Certain players, like Box-to-Box midfielders, are stuck on the midfield line; they don't move from their defensive midfield position.

Nope, B2B Midfielders do exactly what they're supposed to do. In posession, they move into the AMC position. Right now I'm using a formation with 2 B2B midfielders, they don't get "stuck on the midfield line".

“Why was a broken game sold?”

Probably because they pretty much created a new game from scratch. New UI, new engine and so on. Overestimated the amount of work it would take and had to release a buggy product.

“When will SEGA stop the annual cycle that is killing the franchise?”

"When will SEGA release a game that ticks all of my favourite boxes?"

“Who takes responsibility for this major tactical regression presented as an innovation?”

SI created the game. If this is a "tactical regression" is your opinion.

“What is going on with Unity and the tactical engine?”

Dunno, what is supposed to be going on?

As long as the discussion remains technical (“does the patch improve the shadows?”) and compassionate (“poor devs”), it will serve the publisher's strategy: to buy time until the next sale, hoping the patches will have quelled the revolt.

Right now they're patching up a buggy product that is supposed to be one of their main titles. What else are they supposed to be doing? What would be the correct "strategy" right now? Bin FM and create extraction shooters?

[Masked]

I laughed at "create extraction shooters"

Please no haha. SI already didn't make a battle royale FM, so we might be safe there.

SI is doing the right thing right now. As I have stated from day one, they ran out of time and they panicked. FM26 out of the box was horrific.

If I were to state that things aren't improving would be quite delusional.

I just hope they really focus on improving things 120% of the way, just how you saw with cyberpunk2077, No Mans Sky or the over the top efforts like Larian with Baldurs Gate 3.

This was a wake up call for SI and a sink or swim situation. Since we don't have competitors and most of us love this game. I am sure we all want the same thing. A better game. A good game.

[jordanm69]

it is getting better but no where near acceptable for the money. you would think they would of fixed all these bugs before release

[Masked]

Originally posted by jordanm69:

it is getting better but no where near acceptable for the money. you would think they would of fixed all these bugs before release

I think they even raised the price from FM24 to FM26 and that raised some eyebrows.

[Masked]

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[Masked]

Well it seems the beta branch has some bugs so if anyone sees this I would try and stay away until the bugs are resolved.

[Masked]

Asking STEAM to lock this thread, because the URL has been sent to authorities. Please do not delete it as esafety.au is investigating. As per ticket logged to STEAM and to authorities. Including police.

Have a great day.

[Prej]

Originally posted by Masked:

Asking STEAM to lock this thread, because the URL has been sent to authorities. Please do not delete it as esafety.au is investigating. As per ticket logged to STEAM and to authorities. Including police.

Have a great day.

What the hell happened here?