retired_omdion111

Absolutey agree with the post.

I'm currently playing a game as Farsley Celtic and my squad is head and shoulders above any other team in League 2 (won promotion from BSP in year 1)

I'm top of the league but still I'm really not enjoying the game as much as I should be and it's down to several factors.

In my 20 or so games played so far this season I have had 20+ shots on goal in 90% of the games compared to 5 or 6 from my opponants yet I've still lost and drawn far too many games than should be reasonable - I have a striking partnership of Fabian Brandy & Raffaelle De Vita which as any FM player should now is rather a formidable attack in League 2 !!

Anyway I intend to analyse all the shots on target ratios etc etc at the end of the season and post my findings - wouldn't normally bother with such pedantry but I've just been signed off work for 3 months after suffering a rather sudden and unexpected brain haemorrage (not blaming it on SI by the way) and I'm gonna be bored out of my mind LOL.

I'm also going to count the amount of times the ball bounces off my rubber covered teflon gloved (with a handling stat of 18) goalkeeper straight into the path of my opponant.

Then I shall count the amount of long shots taken by my team alhough each and every player is set to not take them and also they have creative freedom set to 0.

Finally I shall take note of the amount of times an opponant with a Long Shot stat of less than 10 scores an absolute screamer.

I'm in agreement with SI because I do think this is the best game from the series, well potentially at least and I can honesly say I've not stopped playing it but I'm not going to looking forward to the next installment with as much enthusiasm unless SI can promise that they are taking their long and loyal customers a little more seriously than their profits next time around.

Anyway I better get back to good old Farsley Celtic and another night of frustration :-)

P.S - Just as the chap a few posts up sorry about the long post.

retired_dego72

Hardly.

It is broken in many areas where long term issues have been ignored (Eg transfer market, tactical interface, media/player interaction), and on top of that innovative features are very thin on the ground.

This series is stuck in a rut.

homeslice34

Great post and I too am in agreement. We all find these games frustrating at times, especially those that have played since the real old days of Italia Manager or CM2.

Sure, you can't compare the games now to the oldies, which always seemed fun rather than simulations. Todays versions are superb, very detailed and realistic. My frustration comes with SI itself, and as 'George Graham' said above the fact they are stuck in a rut.

Meangingless features continue to be included when all we want is great CORE features; a good transfer system, detailed finances, tactics and a realistic but fun match engine. I wish they would build the game around the fundamentals again, and bring back the level of enjoyment for me of the CM 01/02 days.

I also wish SI would acknowledge issues with greater honesty, and stop rushing a game for yearly October time releases yet is a difficult and frustrating playing experience until the inevitable second patch in Feb.

Personally it's grown a little old for me now, and I prefer gaming that relaxes me, not agitates me. For FM09 I won't be buying until its fully patched and pending forum feedback.

retired_kmwilliams05

I did find FM07 fun, I'd probably put it in the top three CM/FM games ever in fact.

The growing issue I have is that having tried three or four smaller leagues after flawed games in Ireland and Spain I've just found another fatal bug (in Malaysia this time). I really have no idea how this game was released.

As Phil930 and others have noted playing FM is no longer entertaining, it just grinds. Another thing I miss are the days when you could get through a seaosn in five hours. A lot of us don't have time to contribute 48 hours of real life play per season as we get older.

retired_Kam_macca

It really makes you ask where all the development time is going.? Has SI spread themselves too thin with all the different versions they do at the cost of truly developing the series? Perhaps alot of work is going on in the background but us as users only see the front end, and despite the fact the default skin keeps getting perfected more and more, not much seems to change.

Other games that have sequels go through major design changes each release, granted they have longer development schedules, but with FM major changes seem to be non-existant even if you skip a release.

I guess as fans we get frustrated because we enjoy the game but want more from SI and feel comfortable that they are committed to progressing the series and willing to take risks. Minor changes are good and all but it is the innovative, major changes that drive interest.