Thetheroryofinfinitemonkeys

You see there has been much debate in the FM community about how difficult the game has got in the last couple of editions and while i do accept that being a "real football manager" is challenging, i really think it's unacceptable to expect us to put up with anywhere near the same level of expectation without either

a) providing us with the tools to fit the job, i.e if i were a real manager and my defender wasn't staying close enough to his man i would tell him to all but glue himself to the guy, if my striker couldn't hit a barn door i would employ a confidence coach or a specialist attacking coach or as Shevchenko recently resorted to Colin Jackson =P, also i can't accept the tools given to make the tactics i find it highly frustrating to have to "de-code" the cryptic sliders when all i want is my 80 million pounds worth of internationally renowned midfield to pass to each other once in a while without giving it to the opposing teams spotty faced nubile defender (who is standing quite still, out of the path of the ball's intended target)

or

b) at least giving us some kind of learning curve

now i admit some teams are easier to manage than others (a team with a spiralling debt who have recently offloaded much of an already aging first team will not be an attractive job for the rookie head coach) but i wouldn't describe a single one of them as "easy".

Now this would be okay if i intended to persue football management as a full time career and i had the time to spend an hour per game studying the form and tweaking my tactics, to find out just how i should stop Big McLarge Huge from beating my defender to every cross and every ball, but i just don't and can anyone honestly say they buy what is essentially a tool for recreation and enjoyment so as they can be tortured with cryptic, irractic and frustrating events they rarely feel as though they have any "control" over.

I have always been a die-hard fan of this series and have been playing since i was young sprog, i always loved the feeling of satisfaction i got when I turned a mob of beer-swilling louts into a team of world-beating louts, i could here the crowd chanting MY name when my 2nd division stragglers pulled off upset of the century, beating Man U in the final of the FA Cup, i loved that brilliant feeling when I signed the next Zidane aged 15 for the price of a packet of crisps, i loved all of that.

However it just doesn't feel the same anymore, i have awoke from my champagne filed dreamworld into a hell of under-performing strikers, a team plucked right out of a council estate riot, supporters after my blood and a supporting cast of complete simpletons who simply won't do as I (the former world beating boy wonder) tell them and I begin to find out very quickly I am simply not good enough. The Fergusons and Wengers of the world laugh at my short-comings and i'm kindly advised "not to give up the day job"

In my opinion Football Manager 2008 is by no means a bad game, (it is an incredible feat of programing and data collection that has earned millions of fans world-wide) oh no, to me it can never be a bad game, because if i'm honest to me, it's not even a game anymore.

rick59

"HERE HERE HERE" the I,s to the right have won the vote. after reading post after post on the rights or wrongs of FM7/8, & even though agreeing with a lot im drawn to this has its closest to my feelings. no slanging, a good succinct complaint & full of constuctive criticism (& a bit of wit). im a 48 yr old man/boy & like my compadre have loved the series of football mananagement games for eons & with 3 big lads as become a family thing. please SI dont kill the fans of the golden goose. nice post sir!!.

Thetheroryofinfinitemonkeys

Thank you very much rick

pointon27

Everything you said was so true and has summed up my feelings on the game, mainly the last 2 FM07 and this one. I bought and wasted my money on FM07 spent the first couple of weeks trying to get a tactic to work for my lower league side, as in previous versions i've always managed to create and get success with my tactics, oh but not this version, it just became frustraiting and a chore to play. So after the first couple of weeks it never saw daylight again.

I swore that would be the last FM i would ever buy, but one afternoon shopping with the wife and kids in Asda i see FM08 on the shelf and god knows what came over me but before i had chance to think i'd already gone and bought it. Once again i'm not really enjoying it although i'm having a bit more success with tactics then FM07.

I know the game is supposed to be a Football Manager simulation but at the end of the day it is just a game and i think that the developers have somehow forgotten that. I've always enjoyed taking over lower league clubs finding amazing young talent and watching them grow into superstars, but now due to the fact you can only scout in your region makes it impossible to find the nest Ronaldinho who you can pick up for peanuts, again they implemented this to add realism but that has taken the fun out of the game thats what i and many others liked.

I loved FM06 played it constantly eventually new all the good youngsters to buy, Besagno, Quavas Kirk, Zuniga Caradnas all who could be picked up for very little. I now look every now and then on the good player guide for good youngsters as its near impossible for me to find them in the game, yet all the time i see price tags off £1 milion plus, not very handy when you manage a league 1 side.

Will i buy FM09 most probablyin the vain hope they will eventually make a change for the better.

rashidi1

This has turned into a general discussion, and I'm sorry but there is no room here for GQ related stuff.