Full manual or assisted or a mix of both?

It was suggested earlier that we should open up the discussion about whether the Fifa 13 leagues should be played on Full manual or Assisted controls so if you can, please, put your opinions or suggestions here that way the new league manager will have a better sense of how to set it up.

I do however want to ask that we keep it civil and not get into heated discussions over the topic.

1. What are your preferred control settings? (ie. Manual, Assisted, Semi)

2. What are your preferred half settings? (10, 8, 6, etc. minutes)

3. Why do you prefer your control settings over others? (not a must but it will help those that may not agree with your setup understand the reasoning for your preference)

Here we go again...

I'll just say this. When I first joined here, the leagues were set on semi-assisted. I liked it, I enjoyed it, it felt like a good balance between the dreaded assisted cheesers and the horrible manual shooting where you have as much chance as hitting the corner flag as the net. So mark me down for a return to semi.

10 minutes is good, no issues there.

But good luck coming to a consensus, lol. I know the last time this came up, there are those that despise anything but manual and those that won't play because it's manual.

1. What are your preferred control settings?
Full manual controls with analog sprint on.

2. What are your preferred half settings?
8 or 10 minute halves anything longer and it can get overwhelming and boring, anything shorter will not provide enough time for proper buildup.

3. Why do you prefer your control settings over others?
I prefer full manual because it allows for passing/shot errors when under pressure from the defense thus reflecting a real game. Some may not like it because it takes more practice to achieve but when you think about in real life athletes train for this for a lifetime and execute it well when not under pressure but when pressured mistakes happen.

Semi (i think - whichever is the middle of the road option)

10 - long enough to enjoy the game and not be rushed to score as fast as possible.

using semi-assisted controls makes a more true-to-life gaming experience. guys are able to thread the needle a little bit, and are able to make the simple passes effectively, but it's still unlikely that 100% of your passes are going to connect. watching the EPL or La Liga, you see guys doing some CRAZY things. playing on manual, for me, is like watching 6 yr olds kick a ball around, with no real purpose. i don't profess to be a soccer/futbol expert, so only playing the game for league matches and maybe some offline career isn't going to get me to the level of some veterans in here. but it shouldn't mean that i have to be completely frustrated and blown out of the water by someone who plays the game religiously. there should be a balance. their skill will likey shine through, but i'd like to at least have a fighting chance going into a game.

i played 3 games in the MLS league to finish off the season, and the manual controls were horrid. short passes that i would have expected to hit 100% of the time all of a sudden were going out of play, and through balls were not even close to where i wanted them to go.

playing in a league means that you're not having to suffer playing against the douchey opponents in ranked vs games, where they're looking to put 10 past your keeper in the first half because it's easy. a league ends up being more calculated, and for me anyways, it's more about the social aspect while playing a game of soccer. there's no prize money, no trophy to hoist, just good times.

I'm guessing this is a rehash for the newer members. I will say this though, if the league is on full or semi auto, I'm definitely out.

I just tried my first game of the FIFA demo and as expected, I'll be getting two footy games this year. FIFA on manual control feels live and I feel like the ball is less tethered to the players this year. There is no way, I'm going back to any form of auto.

This is all if I get the game or not, but here are two cents.

I really loved the challenge of manual and really makes you focus and setup how you want to attack. Many people might have been frustrated but a few guys were really skilled.

==============================================================

I would like to experiment with semi for passing and then manual for shooting.
In the end I like all manual

10 or 8 minutes anything shorter is meh

All of this except I can't have analog sprint on cos my sprint button is RB (a stupid disease I caught from PES from back in the day I believe).

I have some opinions about some of the stuff you said, but it's not going to improve anything so I'll keep those to myself.

My opinion about the control schema is very open actually. When I play H2H, I still play manual. That is because I am skilled enough to benefit from manual and I don't expect that to be the case for everyone. And yes, it's not really fun playing some random guy that knows very well what he's doing on assisted or semi. Then I don't have a chance cos he has eliminated the margin of error a lot more than I have.

Based on that, speaking of TFL:
For the good of some lower skilled members, for them to enjoy the game the way they can enjoy and still be competition to others that are considered more hardcore, I think everyone should be free to pick any control schema they enjoy. I played FIFA 12 and nothing else throughout last year. I don't expect Justco and some others to jump in on July and execute manual passing and shooting perfectly. And it definitely isn't fun being hammered and not having the time, desire or ability to improve on certain things.

I would be perfectly fine with these type of guys being able to use semi or mixed or whatever playing against me while I'm still on manual. It's both more fun for me and you. I don't want to beat you every single game. I want it to go back and forth. That said, I also don't want to lose every single game against a certain opponent.

Which brings me to the other side of things. Opening up the control schema brings responsibilities. Unfortunately I don't believe in everyone around here to do the courtesy of shifting from Assisted to Manual as they improve on things and figure out some cheese they can pull with assisted shooting and such. If you are good enough to execute everything perfectly, it's time for you to move on to a more challenging schema. But will that happen. Then at that point, TFL becomes nothing different than the random guy online for me.

So it's all down to each one of you to police your own and pick the appropriate settings as time goes on, if TFL was to move onto a more open not so strict control schema settings.

1. What are your preferred control settings? (ie. Manual, Assisted, Semi)

Semi is the option I prefer here. When the setting is fully assisted, people can just press the pass button and the ball goes to the perfect spot almost every time. Semi settings allow for some errors in the passing game, as well as shooting. It seems to be a good mix of error. Fully manual settings lead to only being able to hit about 6 passing angles. It leads to an unrealistic amount of turnovers. Also, shooting is near impossible. You are just as likely to kick the ball 90 degrees sideways as you are to hit the goal. However, I do like the slow speed setting. It seems to produce a more realistic game, where play has to build up.


2. What are your preferred half settings? (10, 8, 6, etc. minutes)

10

Agree with all of this.

This isn't really about a gaming experience it's about manipulating a video game into a realistic, simulation style of soccer. Think about real life and the best teams in the world. They practice and play a lot and they are world class for that reason. I joined this league not only for the ladder style competition but also for the style of gameplay. I struggled mightily when we first started manual but I switched my controls completely in all CMs and just worked on the craft.

More importantly, if we switch back you will see the upper level players being more dominant than with manual. The scores of the games will not be realistic, the sportsmanship cards will be way up and the league as a wile, I feel, would be less enjoyable for everyone. I hate missing just wide of the post but if I'm close then I know I can keep working.

10 min halves, full manual

I am fine with manual or semi. However, there are some things you should consider. One, we don't have a lifetime to sit here and practice, we have a few months. Yes, when you're pressured, you should make mistakes but unfortunately, manual causes A LOT of errant passes when making a wide open, unchallenged short pass, which isn't as realistic or fun. I've played games against people who are really good on manual and both of us spent the first 5 minutes kicking simple passes to each other because we were so off. That's not really realistic. Semi might as well be full almost though. You don't have many mess ups on semi. That being said, manual is still more of a challenge and really decides who is better on a particular day because you have to be spot on. So, I like semi because its more realistic to me, because you don't see, say Barcelona, passing simple passes away every 3 seconds, but I like manual because it's more of a challenge.

honestly im fine with anything. I played in the manual MLS league having never played on manual and i got accustomed to it pretty fast. So as far as controls go, i guess i would prefer manual because it is harder to score and is frustrating at times, which is what real soccer is like.

i think the slow-paced, 10 minute halves we have been using are perfect.

Manual FTMFW!!

As someone who was run off by the difficulty of manual, I would suggest having the Premier league use manual, and making a lower tier league like MLS assisted. The learning curve for FIFA is the steepest for all sports games imo, and being a soccer noob learning the controls and having to play on manual sucks! I stuck it out through the season, because I didn't want to be a guy who dropped in the middle of the season. However, I had zero fun playing the game. I played around 10 games after joining late in the season, and I think I had one shot on goal and zero goals. I know I suck, but every now and then I would set up a great run. However, my shot would sail into the third deck of the stadium or go 5 feet in front of me. Having a league where noobs like me could get their feet wet and taste some success while they learn before throwing them to the wolves would do a lot more to help grow the soccer side of TSO.

Have you ever tried semi though?

No, but I would have to think any help is better than none. Honestly, everyone would have kicked my ass if they were on manual and I was on full, but it would have been nice to at least score a goal

Up until mid last year, it had always been on semi and with semi, you just have to point it remotely at a player and pick the appropriate power. It's not that much different but it helps a little with joe blow being able to play like Barcelona, passing it around one touch as fast as possible and then lofting a perfect through ball over the top. You can still score though with it. In fact, even if I play H2H, I have my shooting and crossing on semi assist. What I was thinking is, and we have no league ideas set in stone by any means yet, that if we did a relegation/promotion league again (which doesn't look likely right now), that the lower league could be semi and the upper league could be manual....Then the best players in the semi get promoted to the manual.....That way you can get weaned into it.

I'm not saying I wouldn't play the leagues if they were semi, but I would have to take a long hard look at it.

After getting over the learning curve with full manual I really just can't see playing this game without it. Most realistic and rewarding way to play this beautiful game of soccer IMO.

So my vote is Full Manual, 10-8min

After playing the demo for a little bit today I must say the game still just feels too cheesy/easy for anybody playing on semi that knows what they're doing on FIFA. Its simply too easy to ping pong balls around one touch and put shots on goal from ridiculous angles on semi in my experience with the Demo.

On a lighter note though the demo looks and feels great. Looking forward to Sept 25th.

TOTALLY agree with this...

maybe do a EPL in full manual - those that prefer full manual or want a kick at the can, are welcome...

and then do a Serie A or La Liga or Ligue 1, some other top-tier league, as a semi-assisted. those that have put their foot down and said NO to anything but manual, don't have to join.

it's clear that there is division amongst the forum - some are VERY set on manual and VERY against anything but manual, and vice-versa.

The biggest aspect of the game that is captured in manual that isn't in semi is playing the ball into space. In semi you have to always thru ball to have that control and that still has a bit of suction to it. I just love being able to have the complete ability to complete a square ball, thru ball, or play someone into space on manual. It makes my build-up so clean and sexy...

After reading your post this is going to pop into my head each time I play that perfect manual pass or through ball on this release of fifa.

And also, not to pick or anything, but for some of the posts I have read against manual. How many games have you actually played on manual?

Juice I see that you have dabbled in Manual, but I don't think any of us who started playing manual last (except the guys who had played it in years past, and even they had a learning/knock off the rust curve) year could even say we had any comfort level on manual after 3 games. I would venture as far to say as I didn't really start to get comfortable until around the 5-10 game mark (albeit these were friendlies that I played with other TFL'ers to get the experience and practice with manual).

Fifa was 100% new to me last year, even on SEMI. I had growing pains then but learned a lot from playing against the guys here at TFL in leagues and in friendlies (so I can relate to you dj illmatic 23 ) I lost almost every game when I first started playing (on SEMI). It gets better with time and practice and I feel the same way about the manual controls.

that's a fair point... obviously my preference would be to play on semi, because i do have a comfort level with FIFA. that's the question that was asked.

i don't think i'm as against manual as i initially made it seem, but i did want to open the door for opinions. i didn't realize that SOOO many people would be PRO manual in a way that if it was a semi-assisted league that they'd be out. haha. i'd still be part of a manual league, and would hope to get everything working for me. in game 3 that i played in MLS, i did okay - not great, didn't score, had 35-40% passing rating, but my defence held me in the game.

I totally understand what you are saying. I just know that some of the greater players in the league are good (I'm not one of them). Put them back on Semi... whoa watch out

Yeah and unfortunately, those that want one league for each have to notice how many people have confirmed so far. No where near enough for 2 leagues of separate rules at the moment.