RTFM!

You know how you get used to something that always works the same way? It feels comfortable, safe almost. You understand what's going on and that brings with it a sense of order.

Of course, when that certain something suddenly stops working it brings with it a sense of extreme frustration and key bashing anger!

Which is what I've been experiencing with FM09 and the tactics editor.

Editing tactics comprises creating a basic positional picture of the formation, providing overall team instructions, and then modifying individual settings to suit particular players. To a certain extent the positional and individual elements have been independent; the former used to indicate where on the field your players will start and move when your team has possession or not, and the latter to tweak how certain players may deviate from the norm for your team tactics.

With FM09 these two are now linked a lot more closely, a change I was unaware of and didn't pick up from my cursory 3 second scan of the manual.

In previous FM versions you could add a forward or backward arrow (farrow or barrow) to a player to indicate that they may run forward when you have possession of the ball or drop back when you don't. In this version that arrow is directly linked to the "Forward Runs" setting on the individual instructions screen. Which probably makes more sense.

So don't get annoyed or frustrated when your carefully crafted tactics seem to alter themselves while you're still creating them. Like I did. Grrr.

Oh, and RTFM. :-)

Falling out with Fallout 3

What on earth happened with Fallout 3?!

I read the reviews that made it sound like an improved Oblivion (one of my all time fav's), but that turned out to be a totally invalid comparison. Sure they're created by the same studio and are essentially the same genre, but it's like comparing raisins and sultanas and asking which is the best dried grape.

So I'm disappointed to start with. I'm wandering round a bleak landscape, I don't understand why I'm earning XP and 'perks' as it doesn't really seem to fit with the game. Surely this is closer to something like Half Life 2, a superior FPS with a great storyline?

But then I get further into the main quest and I'm getting really engrossed. I'm higher up the levels, I'm looking forward to the level 20 perks being available to me, I've found cool new weapons that I'm itching to try out.

And then....

WTF?!

Well; then that was it. I'd completed the main quest almost by accident. I'd watched the end sequence play and I'd started to get a little worried when the credits rolled. And then I was at the main menu with an option to continue from my last saved game.

So I went back and played out the ending a different way. Same result. Game over, no gaining my level 20 perks, no discovering all the locations I'd yet to find. No using my cool new weapons! Nothing.

I don't think I've ever felt such bitter disappointment when I've actually finished a game!

Which leads me back to my main reservation when I started playing - XP and levelling up. Why? What was the whole point in developing my character's skills, just for the game to end and not allow me to explore the rest of the environment?

I honestly cannot believe that any RPG designer would think this was the right way to end the main quest. By ending he game completely? Are you serious?!

Still, even with all that, my advice would be to buy the game. It's a beautifully realised world and worth investing time in. But, please, when following the main quest leads you to a place called Raven Rock, STOP! Save your game, put the main quest to one side and go do all the things you fancy doing in the rest of the Wasteland. Your Bobblehead collection demands it! :-)

FM2009 - second impressions

What I like to call my 'testing phase' is nearly done. What this usually means is that I've started a game, brought in loads of players that were ultimately rubbish, lost a few games and decided I'd rather start from scratch and 'do it right'. :-)

I'm still pretty happy with how the game is playing, just a few minor niggles:
- 2D match engine seems slow and doesn't always re-draw properly.
- Press conferences do get tiresome. While it obviously attempts to mirror real-life, it doesn't really add anything to the game having to answer multiple questions before and after every match. Would be nice to be able to switch this off.
- I can't decide whether the Assistant Manager feedback is useful or irritating. Probably a little of both. Telling me that my goalkeeper is mis-placing too many passes every game when I deliberately want him to kick it long is not overly helpful.
- I can't find the option to stop masking player attributes. This has always been configurable in the past, but it doesn't seem to be in this version. I don't think the way the game masks attributes is particularly realistic and I've never used it - it's a shame this version appears to be fixed in this regard.

That's all that comes to mind at the moment. I'll be starting a new game tonight, so I may post more things as I come across them.

EDIT: Looks like they've moved the attribute masking to only be configurable when you create a new game, I'm sure it was under Preferences before. Maybe I've got that wrong.

FM2009 - first impressions

So, I've been playing with FM2009 over the weekend - not in too much depth as I haven't had the time, but I've gone through sorting out my squad and playing all of my pre-season games.

And my first impressions:

The 3D match engine could have been a gimic, but it seems to work very well and does give a better feel for how your players are dealing with certain situations than watching them in 2D.
The widescreen support is welcome, and looks gorgeous at high resolution....but I still find myself switching back to running in a window, having that much screen available just isn't necessary!
The new format press conferences are interesting the first couple of times, but I'm guessing they could get a little tiresome after a while.

I haven't been able to delve into the tactics properly yet, and that was the area that had most problems in FM2008. So I'll reserve overall judgement until I've set that up properly and played a few league games.

Other than that, I'll eventually need to switch off the 3D engine as my laptop really struggles to display it; but I'm pretty impressed so far.

FM2009 - shortlist file

I've created a shortlist file, which includes all of the players listed in my previous post, as well as all of the under 21 players rated -9 (150-180 on the scale).

To use the file follow these easy instructions:

1. Download the file and save it locally in your shortlist folder (should be here: \My Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2009\shortlists).
2. Start FM2009
3. Manager -> Search -> Shortlist
4. Using the Shortlists button in the bottom right hand corner, select "Import Shortlist...".
5. Highlight "young_players" and click Select.
   

The shortlist contains 293 players in total, but you may want to manually add "Mark Beevers, Sheffield Wednesday" to complete it - as I'm managing that team I couldn't add him.

FM2009 - best young players

This list covers all players 21 and under at the start of a Football Manager 2009 game in the given potential ability range:

191-200
Fabregas, Cesc - Arsenal
Messi, Lionel - Barcelona

181-190
Nasri, Samir - Arsenal
Walcott, Theo - Arsenal
Aguero, Sergio - Atletico Madrid
Guardado, Andres - Deportivo
Obertan, Gabriel - FC Girondins de Bordeaux
Giovinco, Sebastian - Juventus
De Silvestri, Lorenzo - Lazio
Hamisk, Marek - Napoli
Ben Arfa, Hatem - Olympique Lyonnais
Benzema, Karim - Olympique Lyonnais
Lloris, Hugo - Olympique Lyonnais
Zapata, Cristian - Udinese
(Arsenal and Lyon seem well set - 6 out of the top 14 youngsters in the game between them!)

171-180
Gourcuff, Yoann - AC Milan
Aissati, Ismail - Ajax
Denilson - Arsenal
Bendtner, Niklas - Arsenal
Javi Martinez - Athletic
Henrique - Barcelona
Caceres, Martin - Barcelona
Pique, Gerard - Barcelona
Assulin, Gai - Barcelona B
Adu, Freddy - Benfica
David Luiz - Benfica
Mikel, John Obi - Chelsea
Guilherme - Cruzeiro
Breno - FC Bayern
de Guzman, Jonathan - Feyenoord
Jovetic, Stevan - Fiorentina
Kuzmanovic, Zdravko - Fiorentina
Eder - Frosinone
Turan, Arda - Galatasary
Granero, Esteban - Getafe
Marin, Marko - Gladbach
Corradini, Eros - Grosseto
Carlos Eduardo - Hoffenheim
Fatic, Ivan - Inter
Destro, Mattia - Inter
Acquafresca, Robert - Inter
Tremolada, Luca - Inter
De Ceglie, Paolo - Juventus
Radu, Stefan - Lazio
Renato Augusto - Leverkusen
Babel, Ryan - Liverpool
Bozaglo, Maor - M. Tel-Aviv
Richards, Micah - Man City
Nani - Man Utd
Marquinhos - Palmeiras
Hulk - Porto
Higuain, Gonzalo - R. Madrid
Garay, Ezequiel - R. Madrid
Marcelo - R. Madrid
Cerci, Alessio - Roma
Menez, Jeremy - Roma
Fornaroli, Bruno - Sampdoria
Rakitic, Ivan - Schalke
Capel, Diego - Sevilla
Sanchez, Alexis - Udinese
Mazzarani, Andrea - Udinese
Rossi, Guiseppe - Villarreal

-10 (170-200)
Pato - AC Milan
Vela, Carlos - Arsenal
Bojan - Barcelona
Galvan, Martin - Cruz Azul
Kroos, Toni - FC Bayern
Saivet, Henri - FC Girondins de Bordeaux
Balotelli, Mario - Inter
Anderson - Man Utd
Pjanic, Miralem - Olympique Lyonnais
Sakho, Mamadou - Paris Saint-Germain
Fiorillo, Vincenzo - Sampdoria
dos Santo, Giovani - Tottenham

If I get round to it I'll post a shortlist file with these players on that can be uploaded directly into the game.

UPDATE: if you click on the 'FM09' label you'll be able to see all my related posts, including an explanation of the ability ratings and how to download a shortlist file containing all of the above players (and more!).

FM2009 - potential ability

Ok, before I delve into the editor and start generating a list of players I'll outline what it is I'm actually looking for:

The way I've always played the game is to highlight the best young talent as early as possible, hopefully signing players before they become too expensive and then develop them through my youth and reserve teams. The idea being that they will then become part of the first team squad for a number of years, or can at least be sold for a profit (sometimes both).

The easy way to identify this talent early in the game is to use the Data Editor installed with the game to look for players with a high potential ability rating.

Each player in the game is assigned a potential ability rating, with various factors ultimately determining whether a player converts that potentail ability into actual 'current' ability.

The basic scale is 1-200, where 200 is the maximum. Most players are assigned a value on this scale, and that value determines how good the player can become. It's important to note at this point that even if a player ends up with a high current ability it does not guarantee he will be a better player for you than a player rated much lower - this will depend on how good you are at getting the best out of that player with the tactics you employ.

As well as the basic scale the game can also assign a negative potential ability value, which essentially means that a player can fall anywhere within a given range. These negative ratings are as follows:

-10 = 170-200
-9 = 150-180
-8 = 130-160
-7 = 110-140
-6 = 90-120
-5 = 70-100
-4 = 50-80
-3 = 30-60
-2 = 10-40
-1 = 0-20

Again, none of this means that a player will actually fulfil his potentail - but it does give an indication about how good a player may become.

Football Manager 2009

It's arrived! :-)

I always get ridiculously excited about a new version of Football Manager, probably because it's the only way I'm ever going to see Sheffield Wednesday achieve the global domination that they clearly deserve.

Given that the 2008 version had so many issues it probably doesn't bode well that there's a 165Mb patch already released for this version....but I'll make my own mind up over the next few days.

But the first thing I'll do is fire up the editor and scout for young players with high potential ratings, then I'll post a list.

Reflecting on the past

It's Vicky's funeral today, and it's bothered me a lot more than I thought it would. At a time when my own life is going through some pretty major changes it's given me a focus for looking back at choices made in my past that I wish had turned out differently.
But I still have choices to make about how my life will unfold, which is not the case for Vicky...that seems very unfair.

Sad start

It's not quite how I envisaged the first entry in this blog, but I learned today that my ex-girlfriend died on Friday. I don't know the exact circumstances yet but Vicky suffered from illness for most of her adult life, exacerbated by having an operation to remove her spleen when she was 13. The last I heard she was doing well and had got her own place; it's a real tragedy that her life is now over at just 31 years old.

It's been a long time since we dated, just over 11 years now, but she was a lovely girl and she'll be badly missed by everyone who knew her. Rest In Peace, Victoria Mitchell.