FIFA

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JaySevenZero
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FIFA

Post by JaySevenZero »

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for the FIFA series for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.
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markfm007
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Re: 595: FIFA series

Post by markfm007 »

From the early 2000s to early 2010s, I owned just about every Fifa game. Definitely all the main games. They were a staple in my house. My brother and I, and any friend that came over, played plenty of matches against each other, played through seasons and careers, creating characters and teams.

For a while I got pretty good at it, and my child and teen years are filled with memories of indie rock soundtracks, repeated phrases from Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend, and an endless loop of bad tackles, long range efforts, through balls and random wiggling of the tricks stick.

Fifa is also the most rage inducing game series I’ve ever played. Cuphead, Dark Souls? That’s nothing. Try absurd goalkeeper errors in the last minute, players miles out of position, players refusing to make the run through, and the endless pain of mashing the switch player button until it switches to the defender you actually want to control, right after the striker dribbles past him. It’s the only game that’s caused me to break a controller.

That all said, the vast majority of my time spent with it is fond memories. It’s better played together than alone, when you can both complain about the game cheating you. All of the drama of wonder goals, howlers and dramatic finishes played out by your own hand is great fun. I'm still not sure what's better - scoring a last minute winner, or committing an appalling professional foul to stop your brother from scoring a last minute winner.

I stopped playing Fifa before all the Ultimate Team stuff came in. I got a bit sick of it overall, and enjoyed it less as it got more realistic. I’m playing these games for fun, and the realism tended to make matches less exciting. I’m now less into football than I ever was, so I have no plans to go back, but I have a lot of great memories of the series.
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Alex79
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Re: 595: FIFA series

Post by Alex79 »

I've been playing FIFA since the first FIFA International Soccer was first released back in 1993. I'm sure the magazines were referring to it as EA Soccer before release, and when it came out I thought it looked incredible, and the isometric view was a real novelty, too. My brother and I spent many years playing the early FIFA games, and one of us bought it yearly all the way through the terrible early 3D efforts up to the mid 2000s when it stopped being an annual purchase for me and I'd get the odd one here and there. I'd had a few years off from the series when I downloaded FIFA 21 last year on Gamepass and I was blown away how real it looked. I don't really have any funny or interesting stories, other than to just say it's a series that's been, along with the likes of Mario, pretty much a constant in my gaming life for the best part of the last 30 years. There's a lot of talk about how different things might be now EA have lost the license - my thoughts: not at all. I can't really see EA straying too far from their annual cash cow, can you?
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: 595: FIFA series

Post by Truk_Kurt »

Despite playing some random football games beforehand such as Actua Soccer 2 and FA Premier League stars on PC and PS One respectively, the first FIFA I actually owned was FIFA 2003 on PS2. Money was tight back then so I was a year behind so picked 2003 up pre owned. I remember it being a decent starting point and feeling like a step up from the previously mentioned games so I had plenty of fun with it. I then went onto buy FIFA every year on PS2 and then a few of the first ones released on PS3. For me FIFA was always the only option even when he lacked in gameplay compared to PES as it allowed me to play as my team Derby County and I suspect that was the same for many supporters of clubs not in the Premier League.

I then came across the Football Manager games and it kind of ruined the FIFA games for me. Sure I didn't get to actually play football in FM, but it provided me with a much more realistic and satisfying football experience which more closely mirrored the emotions I feel with football in real life. All of a sudden I started to notice more cracks in the FIFA gameplay which began to become easily exploited and began to more resemble a game of basketball with its end to end action rather than football. Tactical and formation changes didn't really seem to have any impact on the game and so I slowly lost love with FIFA and now haven't bought one since of the earlier ones on PS4.

I will be interested to see what EA do under the EA Sports banner. Better opponent AI and a more realistic career mode might get me interested again but for the time being I think I will stick with FM.
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Buskalilly
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Re: 595: FIFA series

Post by Buskalilly »

I've always had a weird relationship with FIFA and with football in general. I liked it all well enough as a young kid, but then as I grew older I resented football for dragging the local kids away from wanting to play make-believe and action mans to just endlessly playing football.

Through my teens, I acted all snobbish about football - I'm sure I called it something obnoxious like sportsball. Then I started to let it back into my life as I finished school and Friday and Saturday nights became a constant stream of getting pissed at someone's flat, either watching sport or playing a game. At my place it would be Mario kart, or Wario Ware, or whatever was new and interesting. At other people's flats, it would be FIFA, FIFA or a bit more FIFA.

That said, it was pretty fun. Strict drinking rules were always in play, and when I was teamed up with a friend who insisted on picking Arsenal despite my protestations, we both drank a full can for each of my six or seven own goals.

I've left my hometown and that FIFA-playing crowd behind, but I picked up FIFA 18 for my Switch and still pop it in now and then just to win a few games against the CPU as Spurs or as England. When my Switch is finally retired, I'll probably buy the first one for whatever my next main console is. It might not be called FIFA any more, but I'm sure that will be what we all call it.
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GlobalSaturation89
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Re: 595: FIFA series

Post by GlobalSaturation89 »

Like most people so far I lapped up each iteration of FIFA between 2000 to around 2016-17. I spent most of my time round at a different friends house playing against one another for the bragging rights of best FIFA player and getting annoyed by that one player who also chose Real Madrid or Barcelona.

As a Liverpool fan during this time career mode allowed me to see my team lift the premier league and the champions league in one season after spending over £100 million on new signings. And I enjoyed the experience of building a team.

What made me decide not to invest in the latest versions of FIFA was not the graphics which are sublime or the gameplay but the monetisation of the series. Career mode became an after thought as EA funnelled their time and effort into yet another bloated ultimate team mode which was less about skill and more about how much money you could plow into it. This killed the experience for me when I felt that after spending 40-50 pounds on a game (which made buying the latest titles a luxury during my uni days) I then had to spend more to be able to compete. That and EA’s inability to do anything about “rage quitters” that soured the experience for me.
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Ventis
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Re: 595: FIFA series

Post by Ventis »

It's amazing how much impact FIFA has had on my life. Memories of playing FIFA on the MegaDrive with School friends, playing World Cup 98 on the PS1 with my brother and playing countless titles with my cousins in our 'Club' constantly bouncing between the middle divisions year on year.

It's an interesting series when viewed alongside PES, as I don't think I touched a FIFA title on SNES and PS2 instead putting my time into the wonderful ISS and PES titles of the time. From the launch of the 360 FIFA titles I feel that FIFA dominance resumed though I lament the success of Ultimate Team as my preferred Career mode gets neglected year on year - the same bugs, issues and frustrations remain while new complaints keep arriving. The game is still fun but the years before Ultimate Team seem much simpler.
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Alex79
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Re: 595: FIFA series

Post by Alex79 »

My brother and I tried an experiment once on the first FIFA for the Megadrive. Could you win a match blindfolded by just hammering forwards and the shoot button.

Yes.
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ratsoalbion
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Re: 595: FIFA series

Post by ratsoalbion »

Alex79 wrote: March 13th, 2023, 2:27 pm My brother and I tried an experiment once on the first FIFA for the Megadrive. Could you win a match blindfolded by just hammering forwards and the shoot button.
Sad but true.
:lol:
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Kez86
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Re: 595: FIFA series

Post by Kez86 »

My FIFA knowledge is so minimal, and never really developed beyond the PS1 era, but I did hammer FIFA 95 (Mega Drive) and the glorious FIFA 98 (PS1). I felt I needed to say simply the following...

1) Running away from the ref in FIFA 95 will NEVER get boring

2) I am sure you could only ever score a goal in FIFA 95 from the corners of the 18yrd box

3) Indoor football in FIFA 98 will always be an absolute highlight

Following the move into PS2 era and beyond I switched to the PES series, which of course we don't speak of anymore.
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dark aries
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Re: 595: FIFA series

Post by dark aries »

Fifa is a series in which the first iteration I played was world cup 98 on our home PC. the change across the years from the pixelated faces of the Brazilian Team as I bicycle kicked my way to victory all the way back then to the most recent update to include the FIFA Women's world cup in which the Matilda's got trounced by the Lioness' is just amazing to see.

Throughout the years I have owned 98, 03, 07, 08, 11, 15-23 and the manager mode changes throughout the years have honestly been a point of contention for me as well as the ultimate team and the push for online micro transactions/ pay to win nature of achievements and trophies has not been great except for perhaps EA's bottom line.

regardless; I have spent countless hours by myself or with friends on the couch. growing a character from the backyard soccer league to premier league superstar and managing a team to be worth nothing to be worth millions. Would I change the experience ? not at all.
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Pidi
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Re: Our next podcast recording (11.11.23) - 595: FIFA series

Post by Pidi »

Fifa had always been a game series which lingered around any console I owned, I usually vowed to never buy the 'new' yearly edition but I somehow always ended up with it (mainly up until 2017).

I was first drawn to Fifa back on the Mega Drive, constantly trying to score goals from crazy distances but then learning that you could only really score from a certain angle near the corner of the box. Fast forward to owning my first PS1 and a copy of Fifa 97 came with it, the hours spent playing the 5-a-side indoor football mode are some of my favourite memories. I also always loved the Manager Mode in more recent Fifa games, mainly for taking the worse rated team and pushing them to the elite leagues and tournaments.

I eventually moved away from Fifa when the PS2 came out and started the journey with Pro Evo, this was until the dreadful PS3 version of Pro Evo came out and a move back to Fifa was on the cards.

Fifa then became a more social gaming experience, going round to friends houses and having our own World Cup or FA Cup tournaments. With the introduction of Ultimate Team, Friday nights creating a team and playing online were the norm with a few beers in tow. As the nights went on we obviously became awful at the game.....which was always blamed on the beer!

I haven't owned a Fifa game for a few years now, the last two I had were free game codes from completing reviews/questionnaires and I've never been tempted back. I feel it's a gaming series I would look to pick up for the Switch, and that being on older copy of the series just to get my football fix. The day of being young and having a laugh with friends whilst playing is long gone but the memories from this gaming series are some of the best I have from gaming.
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