Hi,
I am (as many overhere :) ) turned from fifa to ISS.
Just play it a week or 3 and have some questions.
My first question is if you guys use the strategies much, and if so, do you use semi-automatic or manual? And, of course, what strategies do you use, under what circumstances?
I just did not manage to use those too much, because I needed all my concentration to keep the CPU-opponent off my back :D
There is so much to pay attention to, like watching the radar and of course tackling right, which is difficult enough for a beginner :o
I like to hear of you guys about this..

Another question is about taking free kicks.
In practice I tried some with Frank de Boer and I don't have the slightest idea why, but if he takes two free kicks, aiming for the same corner, with the same speed and curve, the ball ends up in totally different directions!
Maybe it has to do how long I keep pressing the curve-directions and how soon I hit the direction pad after the shot?


Thanks!

Han.

FREE KICKS ARE TRICKY. tHEY DEPEND ON MANY FACTORS.

Player attribs, mentality and mood.

When taking a long kick, use arrow forwars to get more speed, you might not clear the wall though. When it's close by, use arrow back for a slower shot that is placed accurately.
Use side arrows and the x button(pass) after the shot to apply spin and curve the ball. Put it 66% of the bar !
practice practice, it's the most real free kick system ever !!

I've scored some screamers !

I agree with theCRO, it is the best freekick system on any footie game. It would be crap if you scored everytime. 66% of the power bar is about right for free kicks, I seem to be able to score 1 in 15 attempts at the moment which is perfect. The last one I scored was with rivaldo from the right side of the box, left footed straight in the top corner. Its amazing.

Keep practising...your get there in the end. Once you've mastered ISSPE2 then you can start all over again with PES :)

Dave

I agree with theCRO and Dave, the free kick system in ISSPE2 is awesome. I love how taking free kicks with different players is totally different too. You spend an hour practicing with Roberto Carlos, and then if you start taking them with Recoba it's totally different!

Han,

Use theCRO's tips, and experiment with using any of the EIGHT different directions - up, down, left, right + all 4 diagonals. You can pull off some amazing set-pieces when you practice.

Thanks for your replies!
The funny thing is, I got my first free kick on the first day I played ISSPE2. Frank de Boer shooted the ball straight in the top-corner, which was, of course, a total fluke :D (on easy-mode)
All the time after it (in practice-mode) I never managed it again!

A question of the order of those moves. Is this order correct?
1. Aim with the direction button
2. press shoot until the powerbar is about 66%
3. release the shoot button
4. hit X and a direction key for curling

Or do I have to do step 4 together with 2 ??


You guys say nothing about strategies, do you keep that secret? :D

I tend to use Counter Attack and Zone Press (without the ball).

Originally posted by Han
Thanks for your replies!
The funny thing is, I got my first free kick on the first day I played ISSPE2. Frank de Boer shooted the ball straight in the top-corner, which was, of course, a total fluke :D (on easy-mode)
All the time after it (in practice-mode) I never managed it again!

A question of the order of those moves. Is this order correct?
1. Aim with the direction button
2. press shoot until the powerbar is about 66%
3. release the shoot button
4. hit X and a direction key for curling

Or do I have to do step 4 together with 2 ??


You guys say nothing about strategies, do you keep that secret? :D

Hehe, no secrets man. Anyway, for freekicks you are missing a step. Depending on how close you are you have to press up or down on the Dpad when you press the shoot button. If you press the up direction, it will be a hard shot. This is for when you want to shoot from 35-40m out. F. DeBoer can do this. The reason it is for long distance is cos the ball won't leave the ground as fast as the other, but the shot is more powerful. The other method is press down on the Dpan when you shoot. This is for closer range shots. The ball get's over the wall more quickly the shot doesn't have as much power but if you place it well, some of them are just unsavable by the keeper. After you press shoot, you hit the left or right on the Dpad to add spin/curve to the ball. I don't know about the X button tho, i haven't heard of that (we learn something new everyday). I'll have to try it out.

Okay for controller I always go with Manual cos semi auto doesn't always give me the player I want/need. Like sometimes you want to make a run from another defender to cut an attacker off, but the CPU gives you a defender that is closer to the attacker, this is very frustrating, so manual is the way to go. Formation. Well I mainly play with the Dutch team. My formation is 451. Flat back for, the Wing backs come up occasionally. Two in the center circle (Cocu and Davids), this is my engine room the thing that makes the formation work. Davids for winning the ball back and shooting, Cocu for passing, passing, shooting and bringing calm to the midfield. I have two wings that play very forward (Overmars and Zenden) these guys can take on defenders and cross the ball. They can also come inside and take a shot from the side cut back look for the wing backs or look for Cocu or Davids on top of the box to redistribute the ball. Then I have Kluivert upfront, He is my breakaway person and he is option 1 for crosses, great finisher when he gets enough sleep the previous night :p . Then I have Seedorf playing just behind him, he is option 2 for headers, he sometimes feeds Kluivert, He is the connecting person. He can shoot well also. If i get a red card, I leave Seedorfs spot open and I'll be fine. This formation lets me keep a lot of possesion, just stroking the ball around but it also lets me attack lethal abandone (it basically comes down to my finishing).

Now I don't play this formation for every team, Like if I play with Portugal, they play a 433, with Figo, Gomes and the fast guy who's name starts with a C upfront. It usually takes a few games of playing with a team before you understand a formation that will work for them best. A hint is in the default formations, your final formation should not be too far off the defaults. Also one important thing is Awareness. This is really important, set player awareness for some of your players especially for attack. This will make the players on the pitch make slashing runs forward and you can pick them out with clever passes.

The radar is something of personal preference for ISS players. Some people use it some don't, I do. When I started WE5, I went to the widest camera angle, so i could see a lot of the pitch. Now that, I consider myself a seasoned player, I now use the default TV cam, and the radar and I still see as much as the pitch. The way to use the radar in ISS is to use it like a rear view mirror when you are driving. When you are driving, you don't stare at the rear view mirror saying that you want to see what is behind you, cos the car infront of you may just stop and you will miss it. When driving, you glance at the mirror to get a picture in your head of the situation behind the car. It is the same with the radar. Your main line of site will be to watch the game and player positions on the pitch, but whenever you want a bigger picture, you glance at the radar get the picture in your head and then you apply that to the game, cos the radar doesn't lie. Example, you are on a breakaway, you are sprinting, but since you don't check the radar you fail to see that the goalie was called off his line, so the goalie comes out and grabs it. If you checked the radar, you would have seen the goalie and chipped him or done a move to beat him.

Since you got through reading this "..here, have a cookie.." -The Oracle (in the Matrix).

Wow, the_man, quite a post! I printed it out to use it when practicing...:)

When you wrote about Kluivert and his good nightrest ( :D ) I remembered a moment in my match I really thought it was his bad day :D , I sended a low pass towards the box, but in stead of coming towards the ball, he just stood still, just watching when a defender grabbed the ball away, dispite me pressing the direction in the right way :( Is this a bug??
It happend more when I tried to let the player coming towards the ball.....

Originally posted by Han
Wow, the_man, quite a post! I printed it out to use it when practicing...:)

When you wrote about Kluivert and his good nightrest ( :D ) I remembered a moment in my match I really thought it was his bad day :D , I sended a low pass towards the box, but in stead of coming towards the ball, he just stood still, just watching when a defender grabbed the ball away, dispite me pressing the direction in the right way :( Is this a bug??
It happend more when I tried to let the player coming towards the ball.....

I think it is a bug. Well, that could be debated. Konami put a response time for players and goalkeepers and so on for when they respond to the controls or when they respond to a ball coming towards the keeper. I noticed that when I pass a ball and a defender is around, immediately i pass i better start the direction that I want the receiver of teh pass to start going. If I hesitate so does the player and he will not move for a while, then too late.

They did this for this reason, you know how sometimes (in real life) a player not coming to the ball and doesn't realize that there is someone behind him closing in on him hard will just stand there and wait for the ball to come to him instead of going to the ball, and even when he realizes that there is someone, he reacts to late. That is why they have the delay in the game. They reduced the reaction time in WE5 but it still happens to me (like 1 ever 5 games, when i'm not paying attention) but it has been reduced even further in PES. This delay also happens in change of possesion. Like if i'm dribbling and one of the Italian defenders pushes me over the ball, my players stumbles then pauses and then starts the react again. This has been fixed in PES (so I've read).

I too play as Holland most of the time and I go with a 4-3-3.

I play with the more attacking version that has one defensive midfielder and 2 attacking midfielders:

(excuse the dots but it came up funny last time)


-----------------------------------------------
.................................................. .....
..........F.................................WG.... .
...........................AM..................... .
.........C........................................ ..
G...............DM.......................CF....
.........C........................................ ..
...........................AM..................... .
..........F................................WG....
.................................................. ...
-----------------------------------------------


Rather than use the default I edit the positioning to suit my play.

I bring the left winger in as a striker but push one winger further out and slightly back - this stretches their defence - they can't cover the winger and the 2 in the centre so you always have an option when going forward. Kluivert is a good target and can take on the last man or run on to thru-balls.

Depending on the opposition or the circumstances in the match, ther ">" denotes an attacking tendancy for these players. Against easy teams I'll get both my Fs in more attacking positions or sometomes just the left wing to provide balance.

-----------------------------------------------
.................................................. .......
......F>...............................................
............................AM>.......................
.......C.........................................S T....
G................DM............................... ....
.......C.........................................S T...
............................AM>......................
......F>...............................................
......................................WG>............
-----------------------------------------------


I tend to use Seedorf as my DM, and Davids and Cocu/de Boer as my AMs. And Zenden goes as the WG.

The good thing about Holland is that they have some of the best players in the world in various positions and playing full strength, most teams will crumble against this system.

Now Ill tell you whats really amazing about this discussion is that you wont find anything similair on the FIFA 2002 forum.....

Thats because FIFA is more fun....

That bug exists, mainly due to the fact that it is already predetermined who was going to win the ball - it's annoying, especially when you try to the pass/shoot and nothing happens for a split second then you get tackled.

It's to allow for controller response times.

Originally posted by cymonguk
Now Ill tell you whats really amazing about this discussion is that you wont find anything similair on the FIFA 2002 forum.....

Thats because FIFA is more fun....


FIFA is more purile.
Wanna fight about it!

:crazyboy:

ISS is crap, I love FIFA, FIFA is about fun, as the lord EA told us "FIFA is more than just a simulation... its game entertainment"...

Following in JonnyDp's footsteps a graphical representation of the formation would probably do much better.

.................................................. ..........................................
..............LB.................................. .......................................
.................................................. ....................//....................
.................................................. ..............WG.....................
.................................................. .........................................
..............CB.................CM->.............................................
.................................................. .........................................
.GK............................................... ...AM->...............CF->..
.................................................. .........................................
..............CB.................CM->.............................................
.................................................. .........................................
.................................................. ..............WG....................
.................................................. ....................\\...................
..............RB.................................. .....................................
.................................................. .........................................


"//" and "\\" are supose to indicate offensive diagonal awarness, I don't think it's in ISSPE2 tho. This gives me 6 when i'm attacking and 6 when i'm defending. Also nice as you can move the ball the wings, pull it back and soon. My RB and LB move up to support the WG's and CM's, but they don't have any attacking awarness, they move up to support cos the AI is smart. Oh yeah, the reason I have it as 451 and not a 433 (holland play a 433ish) is that, when i try 433, the wingers don't come back far enough to help in defence. So just use a 451 to simulate the formation.

Originally posted by the_man
the reason I have it as 451 and not a 433 (holland play a 433ish) is that, when i try 433, the wingers don't come back far enough to help in defence. So just use a 451 to simulate the formation.

The wingers aren't supposed to help in defence in that situation, you should have to defensive midfielders to help cover in that situation.

Han,

I don't know if anyone else mentioned this (if so, sorry for the redundancy) but don't forget about the Status Attributes for your starting 11; ie when you go to the tactics screen and press, I think it's L1 or R1, and then instead of seeing the player's positions (ie MF, CF etc) beside their name you see differently coloured arrows, like a white downwards one, a blue diagonal down, no arrow, orange diagonal upwards and a red upwards.

These arrows indicate how your players are 'feeling';

White down arrow = several random attribute decreases

Blue diagonal down arrow = a few random attribute decreases

no arrow = normal

Orange diagonal up arrow = a few random attribute INCREASES

Red arrow up = several random attribute increases (OH YEAHH!!)

Basically, you want your starting 11 to have good attribute indicators (ie normal, orange or red), but at the same time you know a blue arrow Rivaldo will still be better than an orange arrow Steve McManaman. Some players when they have red arrow status are incredible, especially fast players with good dribbling skills.

I'm at Uni right now (I should be in lecture at the moment but I left half way heh) but I'll post my tactics when I get home.

Ah, screw it, I'll post my tactics now;

ISSPE2

Wales [don't laugh, Wales are MY TEAM! Well actually my friend and I often play as Wales when we play 4 player 2 vs. 2 and this is a variation of the default formation we use the most]:

5-3-2

..........LB...................................
...............................................
......CB1.......MC........F1...................
GK..CB3...DMC................F2................
......CB2............AM........................
...............................................
..........RB...................................

Both RB & LB have forward attacking arrows, as does DMC, and F2. CB1 & 2 MAN MARK the opposition's two forwards, CB3 is a sweeper.

DMC has to be TALL (at least 170cm minimum), as does F2. LB & RB both have to be fast, decent tacklers and decent defensive awareness (not that great though because I have played Craig Bellamy there too).

The two setplays/strategies you'll use during the game are COUNTER ATTACK and CENTRE ATTACK. The key to this strategy is to soak up pressure like a sponge and then hit your opponent on the counter attack. Whenever the opposition has a free kick or corner in your half select COUNTER ATTACK (whatever button u assigned it to) and put your attacking bias to half way. Then when you get possesion either lump it upfield to F1, work the ball down one of the wings with the wingback (and when doing so do Centre Attack to get players waiting in the middle for the cross) or try quick passes through the three man midfield.

The 5 man (essentially) defence makes this a good tactic to play when you're starting off.

I usually have Robbie Savage as my DMC, Nathan Blake and Gary Speed as AM & MC, Ryan Giggs as F2 & John Hartson as F1. If Dean Saunders is red arrow status I put Giggs as a wing back.

Note, this formation isn't much good though if you're behind 2 or more goals and need to get back into the match, or if your opponent (human) has got a one goal lead and has decided to sit on it like a tight bitch.

I think this formation would work really well with Brazil but I haven't tried it with them....who wants to counterattack with Brazil?!?! :)

My (well, me and my friend's) Czech Republic Formation comming up later....

Originally posted by Neutral LFC
Han,

I don't know if anyone else mentioned this (if so, sorry for the redundancy) but don't forget about the Status Attributes for your starting 11; ie when you go to the tactics screen and press, I think it's L1 or R1, and then instead of seeing the player's positions (ie MF, CF etc) beside their name you see differently coloured arrows, like a white downwards one, a blue diagonal down, no arrow, orange diagonal upwards and a red upwards.

These arrows indicate how your players are 'feeling';

White down arrow = several random attribute decreases

Blue diagonal down arrow = a few random attribute decreases

no arrow = normal

Orange diagonal up arrow = a few random attribute INCREASES

Red arrow up = several random attribute increases (OH YEAHH!!)

Basically, you want your starting 11 to have good attribute indicators (ie normal, orange or red), but at the same time you know a blue arrow Rivaldo will still be better than an orange arrow Steve McManaman. Some players when they have red arrow status are incredible, especially fast players with good dribbling skills.

I'm at Uni right now (I should be in lecture at the moment but I left half way heh) but I'll post my tactics when I get home.

This is incredible, I have been playing this for almost a year, and I never noticed this.

This game never ends man..................

Anyway I use a 4-3-3 formation, but I set the 3 of my midfeilders on attack(offence attitude). So basically I have six people atacking most of the time, and my full backs overlapping. I use Counter Attack and the Offside trap. The offside trap works very well if you now how to use it.

By using this attacking biased formation I normallyscore at least one goal per match or more, but it is VERY HARD TO DEFEND, thats why I like using the offside trap.

If you are a begineer do not use these tactics, because you will be punished, As for experts like me, this is highly recommended.

I play a 3-5-2 formation, with more of a 3-4-1-2 style.

.................................................. ..........................................
.................................................. .......................................
.................................................. ........................................
.................................................. WG->...................................
.................<-CB................................................ ..........................
.......................................DH->............................CF->...........
.................................................. .........................................
.GK.........<-CB..........................................AM->.................
.................................................. .........................................
.................................<-DH........................................CF->.....
.................<-CB................................................ ..........................
.................................................. .WG->.................................
.................................................. .......................................
.................................................. .....................................
.................................................. .........................................


I have one of the DH as an attacking part, so he can fill in the gap in the middle.

Other than that, it's pretty simple.

I use Counter attack, Area press and centre attack

It's pretty impressive to see and read about all the formations you guys use. As I told, I am just a beginner and after winning more and more matches on easy level, it was time to start in the master league. My weakness is defending, so I decided to play an adapted 4-3-3, where the LF and RF are pulled back a little more to the wingerposition (so pulled back to the midfield and the sideline as much as possible. Also the two DM's are replaced a bit: Pushed them forward a bit.
This give me a lot of possesion on the half of my opponent, but I have problems to find gaps in the defense of my opponents.
That's why I draw a lot of matches. So far I won 1, drew 6 and lost 1. The only player I bought is Babangida.
When I adapted the system so that it works better (scoring more) I also will make such a nice graphical picture of my tactics as you guys did.
I learned a lot of all those things.
Some reactions of what I read:

Neutral_LFC: Yes I already used those morale errows, but thanks anyway for pointing towards it :)
the_man, you wrote this:

"//" and "\\" are supose to indicate offensive diagonal awarness, I don't think it's in ISSPE2 tho. This gives me 6 when i'm attacking and 6 when i'm defending

No, this is not in ISSPE2, you can only make players more attacking and defending with arrows forward and back.
What do you mean by "6 when attacking and 6 when defending", the number of attackers and defenders?

Oh yes, free kicks are going somewhat better: I score much more in practice... just waiting for my 1st goal in the master-league..... :)

Originally posted by Han

the_man, you wrote this:

"//" and "\\" are supose to indicate offensive diagonal awarness, I don't think it's in ISSPE2 tho. This gives me 6 when i'm attacking and 6 when i'm defending

No, this is not in ISSPE2, you can only make players more attacking and defending with arrows forward and back.
What do you mean by "6 when attacking and 6 when defending", the number of attackers and defenders?

Oh yes, free kicks are going somewhat better: I score much more in practice... just waiting for my 1st goal in the master-league..... :)

Yeah I figured as much but it is still a good idea to use the attacking awarness. Your players will move back and forth when you are in the opponents half. You have to look for their movement, use 1-2's and so on. What I meant was on Attack I have the two WG's my CF and AM and then my two CM's gang up for attack, but on defence, I have my flat back 4 and then my CM's come back and help on defence.

I've got a question. Does it matter WHEN you press the button for the strategies? What I mean is, when you press the button for centre attack, will they do it the entire game, or just when you press the button? In other words, do you have to continually press the button, or just press it once, and any time the ball is in the centre, they will formulate an attack there? Also, what happens if you press the centre attack and left side attack at the same time? I'm still very confused about this play-calling system...