Fifa Momentum Scripting

Morning,

So I have a little conspiracy of my own which I find extremely infuriating. I'm a long time player of the Fifa video game franchise dating way back to Fifa 98. And recently over the last 3 years me, my flat mate and 5 or 6 of my friends who all play it regularly have noticed something odd about the game. We feel that the game is scripted to handicap the stronger player and give momentum to the weaker one.

We think this because of certain things we experience during a game. There are obvious and noticeable changes to the game play which just cant be ignored.

We think fifa scripting kicks in and can tell how the game will pan out when we start to see the following things:


1. your star strikers will not make any kind of run for a through ball.

2. your star strikers cannot hit a barn door from a yard away, the post and bar are as near as your get to a goal.

3. when your striker finally gets put through he is over taken by inferior and slower defenders coming in from all directions

4. Throw-ins and goalkeeper throw-outs suddenly become impossible because your players will not move into space and you find yourself almost fenced in.

5. Your big powerful defender makes a perfect tackle but the ball bounces straight back to their striker, so you try again and again and like a magnet the ball just sticks to the forward.

6. Your 85 Gold Team with 100% chemistry and full fitness is beaten 3-0 by a bronze team with no manager, 40% chemistry and low fitness without you getting a shot on target.

7. your opponent's bronze defender scores from 35 yards when he hasn't had another shot all game.

8. Your opponent cannot score from open play so you strangely concede from a corner.

9. Your top goalkeeper starts pushing weak shots out for corners that he would normally just catch, see no.8.

10. Your star keeper suddenly loves to parry the ball straight into the path of a grateful striker.

11. You concede from a cross although you have 4 top defenders in the box but his loan bronze superstar towers above the lot and buries it.

12. You cant change focus to the player you wish to control, only to have him stop still or run in the wrong direction.

This not only happens if you take too much of a lead but can also happen at the beginning of a game if your team is significantly better than theirs.

Now I can probably guess some of the replies I will get:

"No, you're just sh!t at the game"

"Dont blame fifa for your lack of skill"

etc etc

But let me be clear, me and my friends have all said we thought something was wrong lately and while Fifa often sides with our opponent it does also side with us at times.

I may go down 3-0 in the first half and in the second half everything just goes in my favor and my team starts dominating. Nothing has changed with my tactics but something changes. The problem is it doesn't feel like a deserved victory if you win and you feel you were helped out.

Just a few weeks ago I was playing a guy who had an incredible team (Messi, Ronaldo, Frabregas etc etc) far better than my team. He had 19 shots, 14 on target and had 62% possession. I had 4 shots, 2 on target and 38% posession and I won 1-0

He messaged me, telling me to Google "Fifa Momentum" so I did. And I found an entire community of people online all saying the exact same thing as me and my friends. I dont believe everyone is having this problem because they are all no good at the game.

If any of you do a quick Google search for "Fifa scripting" or "Fifa momentum" you will be flooded with video evidence.

EA the company who produce the Fifa games state out right that there is no scripting involved. I went online to talk to an EA representative over live chat and asked him about this. He instructed me to post my query on the forum which I did. Only to have to promptly removed as discussions on the topic of scripting are disallowed.

What I have realised as well is that this issue has only been in existance since the introduction of in-game purchases. You spend real money on Gold packs of players to try and improve your team.

And my opinion is that they handicap players so that they lose a few games and spend money on trying to improve their team further.

I found it too in my face and obvious and can no longer play the game

Absolutely agree, they've essentially ruined FIFA and this years is worse than ever.
Several game and discussion forums I post at have all mentioned this and it's not like it's a secret.
I just don't get why it can't be just me against another player, one-v-one, nothing else involved.

I don't think that's crazy at all as things like this have happened in the past with video games. Sounds about right for that company. It's a video game so they think they can do anything they want. Your best bet is to just expose it.

reply to post by Silicis n Volvo


Spot on the money, I have also noticed with Fifa the last few games just doesnt make sense when playing. The better the team the harder it is and nearly always spanked by lesser teams. IMO it mostly tries to keep the gamer interested. Once you get to the stage of having a superb team, what then? 30-40 games in a row with only a few losses and a couple of draws. I would get bored very quickly nearly just the same if I lost every game because I had a weaker team. Keeps the money coming in. After all Fifa is more for the money from sport IMO.

stargatetravels
Absolutely agree, they've essentially ruined FIFA and this years is worse than ever.
Several game and discussion forums I post at have all mentioned this and it's not like it's a secret.
I just don't get why it can't be just me against another player, one-v-one, nothing else involved.

it really has ruined the game. And a simple ranking system would sort the strong from the chaff.

Pimpintology
I don't think that's crazy at all as things like this have happened in the past with video games. Sounds about right for that company. It's a video game so they think they can do anything they want. Your best bet is to just expose it.

Yeah I also heard a similar story for Madden NFL made by the same company. I think its exposed but what can be done really?

Maltese5Rhino
reply to post by Silicis n Volvo

 

Spot on the money, I have also noticed with Fifa the last few games just doesnt make sense when playing. The better the team the harder it is and nearly always spanked by lesser teams. IMO it mostly tries to keep the gamer interested. Once you get to the stage of having a superb team, what then? 30-40 games in a row with only a few losses and a couple of draws. I would get bored very quickly nearly just the same if I lost every game because I had a weaker team. Keeps the money coming in. After all Fifa is more for the money from sport IMO.

I kind of agree, but I think a simple points and ranking system would sort players out. The lesser experienced would be ranked lower and play people of a similar rating and higher ranked people play higher rated people. While there are ranking systems in place I think this feature is unfair

Well it seems to me they want to make more money. Sports fans usually aren't that bright. No offense to ATS members most sports fans don't get online and read and learn etc... Too busy drinking beer and being manly men with their buddies IMO. Seems they didn't want people joining the game and losing then rage quitting. If they can help those slower sports fans feel like they did something they will put money in their pockets. They already do that over sports anyhow. So I think what you have is them changing their target audience.

I am not sure about Fifa as its not what I am used to. In the USA our football is different. I think its the same type of person. They don't usually play video games or even know how to turn on computers. The people here in Texas who have to watch their football games are really dumb. Maybe they are average and I am a rocket scientist I dunno. I just think it is a serious waste of brain power. Lets drink beer, eat things that will kill us, while feeling manly.

Its about tribalism to me. Just junk. Your topic reminds me of why I have rules for the games I buy. These days I buy a lot of humble bundles or wait for a Steam sale. I will monitor a game for a very long time before I buy it. Have been ripped off in the past very similar to this. A very competitive PvP game where they had scripting on the back end that made anyone with a bad connection God. So people started making their connection suck on purpose.

This isn't the only story. All you can do is expose it.

reply to post by Pimpintology


Yeah I completely agree.

I think I will take the opportunity to complete Assassins Creed 4 and wait for Elder Scrolls Online to come out.

Fifa has been shelved indefinitely while I decide whether to put it on Ebay or not. I will use my friends as guinea pigs next time and see what the game is like before I buy it.

My girlfriend hates Fifa anyway so this conspiracy is probably a blessing in disguise. At least one of us will be happy lol

reply to post by Silicis n Volvo


Hm...FIFA engine has always been more arcade than a simulation. You state you were on FIFA 98...? but how could you man ???

I remember that crap...a friend and I played on a 10 minute match...it ended something like 18:15. You could score a goal from the center...not even that...but a reverse bicycle kick turned away from a goal from the half way line...with just a double tap on the kick button. I have never turned on that sh** from that moment on. I remember that "engine" being in the 2000 series also. It was always way to easy to score.

I always found Pro Evolution much more challenging...even back when it was Winning Eleven...on Japanese.

im just really happy to see that some ATSer's are avid FIFA players such as myself....

I never heard of FIFA momentum until now but this does explain a lot of my game results.

I wonder if this script is in the next gen consoles.

CleanCare
im just really happy to see that some ATSer's are avid FIFA players such as myself....

I never heard of FIFA momentum until now but this does explain a lot of my game results.

I wonder if this script is in the next gen consoles.

it is. The scripting will be in the game its self regardless of the console it is played on but I have FIFA 14 on the PS4 and scripting is rampant throughout.

reply to post by Silicis n Volvo


damn....i wish i didnt find out about this. Now i will always play fifa with skepticism hahaha

reply to post by Silicis n Volvo


I find it worse that all players can see this in action, even in career mode. You 19 shots, CPU 1 shot, you lose 1-0. Yet EA refuse to aknowledge its existense, even going as far as banning you if you mention it on their forums.

Scripting doesn't make for a good football game, good A.I does.

reply to post by MarioOnTheFly


Times change, my man. Have you played a PES latley? You'd never guess they were the football kings 6-7 years ago.