First Look At Fifa 09

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 7:59 pm

FifaInspected wrote:Hey Rod,

I fired up an offline UT game to see the opponent. It was a team I had never heard of before that was also rated at 1.5 stars (same as me.)

It could have very well been a real team for all I know, but the fact that it was similar level and I had no choice as to who to play. I selected Play Match and this particular team popped up.

I'm solo with the kids today and tonight so my time has been very limited. I hope to check this out more tonight.

I guess my question to make it simple is it a team or just a really bad CPU created UT team?

FifaInspected · Post by **FifaInspected** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 8:22 am

Ok, here's the answer. It's real teams and you can select who you want to play. It automatically selects a team of similar rank when you select "club game" but after choosing your kit you can select a different opponent. I selected Man. U and "they" were all there

Gangrel · Post by **Gangrel** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 10:07 am

Is there anyway to see the form of my players for the last few matches???

I can't seem to find anything in my squad screen or elsewhere....

FifaInspected · Post by **FifaInspected** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 12:11 pm

I don't know if there is a way to see player form for past matches. Should you find something let us know.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 8:45 pm

Anywhere to get this for the PS3 for $29.99? I thought there was a deal for it somewhere?

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 2:43 am

Since UT, the servers suck big time, haven't finished an online game yet.

FifaInspected · Post by **FifaInspected** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 9:04 am

10spro wrote:Since UT, the servers suck big time, haven't finished an online game yet.

I've noticed a few times that the EA servers were not available, but once online i've had no issues at all.

FifaInspected · Post by **FifaInspected** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 9:06 am

JRod wrote:Anywhere to get this for the PS3 for $29.99? I thought there was a deal for it somewhere?

Someone here did get it or that price, it was on sale at one of the major retailers I believe.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:15 am

Downloaded the Ultimate Team demo, played a demo game offline, absolutely loved it, bought the expansion, tried to play again, now the game gets stuck loading after selecting UT mode. Damn. Heard the servers were borked. Hope that's the extent of the problem.

FifaInspected · Post by **FifaInspected** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:27 am

According to an EA Mod at their website, the online usage for UT is "through the roof" and their servers and the UT mode database are struggling with the amount of traffic. Great game mode if they can get the technical kinks out.

They are working on it.

http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/fifa ... tance.html

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 5:18 pm

Can someone explain how the UT mode works in terms of who you play.

I understand the card process. What I don't understand is how the system is set up. Do you just play a bunch of exhibition games offline and online? Or is it like the CL UT mode a year back where you progressed through a season/tourney.

I just don't understand the mode but I get the card system. ...and I can't find a reasonably priced FIFA 09 PS3 to test it out.

FifaInspected · Post by **FifaInspected** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:32 pm

JRod wrote:Can someone explain how the UT mode works in terms of who you play.

I understand the card process. What I don't understand is how the system is set up. Do you just play a bunch of exhibition games offline and online? Or is it like the CL UT mode a year back where you progressed through a season/tourney.

I just don't understand the mode but I get the card system. ...and I can't find a reasonably priced FIFA 09 PS3 to test it out.

Here's my experience..

Online you play against a random. Once you have played a certain number of games you can enter online tournaments (i've never done this.) You acquire points depending on how the game goes. You get 5 pts for each shot on target. A point for each tackle. Points for goals, clean sheets etc.. There are also point deductions - Fouls, offsides, goals against etc..
With your points you can go buy more cards.

Offline you can play against any team that you want. I believe there are also tournaments that you can play in as well. Once again, i've not explored that part of the game so I don't know how it compares to UEFA.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:42 pm

JRod wrote:Can someone explain how the UT mode works in terms of who you play.

I understand the card process. What I don't understand is how the system is set up. Do you just play a bunch of exhibition games offline and online? Or is it like the CL UT mode a year back where you progressed through a season/tourney.

Both. There are on and offline exhibitions as well as on and offline tournaments. There is also an overall leaderboard for "skill points."

I suppose that I can see someone not caring for this mode, but for me it's pure unadulterated crack. I love the fact that there are deductions for using the gameplay cards, as that's really the only part of the game that I don't like...except for the fact that the cards are freaking hard to read and make team construction a bit of a chore.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:56 pm

A good explanation:

http://www.viddler.com/explore/desz/videos/51/

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 9:50 am

I was able to play a couple last night, but this problem turned up:

"I get no coins or skill points after a match
You will notice that these don't always get updated when you return to the arena.

Try going to the Microsoft or Sony store and then coming back to the arena. You should find they then update."

Anyone else seen this, and can you verify their "fix"? I don't particularly want to have to quit the game altogether and pop into the Marketplace, then start it all up again just to see my coins.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:09 am

Slumberland wrote:I was able to play a couple last night, but this problem turned up:

"I get no coins or skill points after a match
You will notice that these don't always get updated when you return to the arena.

Try going to the Microsoft or Sony store and then coming back to the arena. You should find they then update."

Anyone else seen this, and can you verify their "fix"? I don't particularly want to have to quit the game altogether and pop into the Marketplace, then start it all up again just to see my coins.

I've had a couple games where I got no coins, no skill points and no updated number of games played. I just logged off and logged back in and the problem was corrected.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:18 am

Logged out and in of Live, you mean? Or just backed out of Ultimate Team.

The mode really addictive. The cards are such a dangling carrot.

Between NHL's club play and this, it's an interesting trend towards non-traditional, personalized modes that I never thought would be spear-headed by EA. My old prejudices against them are melting away.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:31 am

Slumberland wrote:Logged out and in of Live, you mean? Or just backed out of Ultimate Team.

The mode really addictive. The cards are such a dangling carrot.

Between NHL's club play and this, it's an interesting trend towards non-traditional, personalized modes that I never thought would be spear-headed by EA. My old prejudices against them are melting away.

This game mode is very intriguing to me. Once you buy the expansion, all cards are purchased by in-game 'coins,' then, right? You're not continually shelling out MS Spacebucks to get more packs or anything, are you?

It's too bad you can't really choose to play against friends.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:38 am

You can indeed shell out MS points to buy packs as a shortcut, but I will most certainly not be doing this. I can't begrudge them exploiting the fact that some people will pay, however. I'll be happy trying to scrape out wins on World Class and enjoying the difficulty multiplier for coins received.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 10:43 am

Did someone say you could match up against a friend somewhat reliably by utilizing the 1-2-3-GO method of searching for a match?

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:09 pm

Slumberland wrote:Did someone say you could match up against a friend somewhat reliably by utilizing the 1-2-3-GO method of searching for a match?

It takes a bit, but it can definitely be done. Usually takes 15-20 tries.

And good luck winning on WC with a bronze squad. Those guys fall over each other lining up as they come out of the tunnel. I've had defenders clear the ball back over their own goal line from the center circle. LOL They make the PES/WE Master League default squad look like Brazil '70.

Slumber, I straightened out those glitches by logging out of and back into UT. It "resets the database" according to the devs.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 9:19 am

Been a bit busy to get too far into Ultimate Team, but did unlock my first silver pack last night. A nice feeling to see all those 70's start pouring into the lineup. I went 3-2-1 with my all-bronze boys.

Was it confirmed anywhere that the gameplay was significantly tweaked in the last patch? Not to get all O.S.-ish... it's just that immediately after the patch I started scoring on free kicks and headers from crosses and corners in a way that I never did before. So either something clicked, or they pumped things up a bit. Not that I'm complaining... it all feels somewhat old-school WE to me now, but with a bit more weight to the players. I still don't know how to get past a guy one-on-one however.

FifaInspected · Post by **FifaInspected** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 1:23 pm

Slumberland wrote:Did someone say you could match up against a friend somewhat reliably by utilizing the 1-2-3-GO method of searching for a match?

FBisdead and I do this all the time. Typically we connect in less than 10 tries. Make sure the person you are trying to connect to is a "preferred" player. Only once did we stop trying to connect in UT and played a regular game of Fifa instead.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Thu May 14, 2009 9:27 am

Here I was toiling along trying to maintain a team filled with silvers, not taking the time to check all the deals on gold level UT players you can find in the online auctions. I jumped from a two-and-a-half star team to four in about fifteen minutes.

I keep wanting to forget this game and focus on The Show but UT is addictive.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Thu May 14, 2009 11:56 am

Slumberland wrote:
I keep wanting to forget this game and focus on The Show but UT is addictive.

Agreed. I was worried that once I got an uber-team it would get dull, but some of these 5-star v 5-star games that I've played have been just awesome. Fast paced and technically ridiculous, but fun as hell.