Ok the following is a letter with replies I recieved from Domonic Cahalin, project manager for Sony's This is football. Its a long letter so bear with me. My main point in putting this letter here is that we obviously have a company who actually give a damn as to what the fans want. I find this extraordinary considering EA's attitude to the same complaints each new release. Enjoy.
Dominic,
Thanks for the reply and also thanks for allowing me the
chance to share a few thoughts on TIF with you. I hope some of what I say
may be of some use. I have been playing soccer games on the playstation
since 1996 and have played and owned virtually every game produced. Lets
just say im addicted. I also played soccer to a decent level.
Firstly, congratulations on producing what to me is so far the best
soccer game made for the playstation. For me one of the most important
things in a game is the gameplay and you have created a challenging,
intuitive and very realistic feeling game. The longer I play TIF the
better it gets. At first it was hard, I had to get all of my other game
habits out of my system (mainly Fifa series) and then as I got better I
was able to move up to world class level which I am still some way from
mastering.
I have noticed and have read that you have made an effort to start from
scratch with this game and rather than follow other games leads you have
concentrated on making your own path. This shows and is a major plus,
however through out this email I will from time to time refer to other
soccer games to hopefully help illustrate a point. When I do this please
be clear that I rate your game number 1. I am also appreciative that on
the website someone involved in the game is actually available to reply
to concerns, questions or thoughts.. If you were to go to a soccergaming
website called www.soccergaming.com and go to the fifa2000 forum you will
discover a great deal of discontent and disappointment with their latest
game. It might be a good idea to take a peek at this because hidden among
the grumbles are pointers to what many soccer gamers pray for.
Dominic: Yeah I've seen it, there's some interesting stuff (thanks)
I have what may at first appear to be a long list of complaints or
suggestions. Your game is already 90% of the way to being the perfect
soccer game in my opinion so please dont view any of the following as
negatives, view them as hopes or suggestions.
I will start with the camera angles. I personally prefer a stadium
camera or isometric camera type angle, preferrable with the ability to
adjust height etc as in Actua soccer3. I have got used to your side view
but even this view is a little behind compared to some other games in
that it is at such an angle that I find myself mostly playing on the side
of the pitch closest to the camera. Im not playing with the whole pitch.
I know I can and that there is nothing stopping me but psychologically I
think I find it harder to play with the players small and adjust my
judgement of where the ball is when they are way over there in the
distance on the far side of the field. Often I misjudge the ball when its
on the other side and find it rolling out of play, this rarely happens on
the closer side. I would love to see TIF with a stadium/isometric view as
in the FIFA series or the Actua series.
Dominic: Don't despair ! it looks likely that we'll add some new cameras
You have limited the customisation of players etc so that we cannot
customise the national teams because you wish for it to remain authentic.
Im one of those geeks that loves to put myself into the Scotland team,
hype up all my attributes so I am the greatest soccer god ever created
and then play for Scotland in world cups, Euro cups and qualifying games.
Could you please allow nerds such as myself this luxury in the next
version. If people want to keep it authentic they can simply not
customise. I know I can create a custom Scotland team and import players
etc but I am unable to take part in world cups with this team. Your
customise section is brilliant though, I love it. Would it be possible to
also link club players to their respective national squads?. This might
allow me to cheat myself in a club team and then the national side
automatically contains my enhanced version.
Dominic: There are actually technical problems with customising international teams
- Have you noticed that their kits are noticably better and more detailed
(i.e they are not compatible with the custom kit feature (as are the club
teams) - instead they are 'hard' art created. So the International teams
are essentially different kinds of teams to the club teams - However I'll
look into the possibilty of changing this...
I dont have any real problems with your control system, everything is
straightforward and pretty easy to use. However on world class level the
Artificial Intelligence that controls the players I am using can
sometimes appear stupid
Dominic: AI will be completely revamped
. I find that if I use automatic player selection
then it doesnt react very well when in and around the penalty spot.
Automatic player selection will definitely be improved
Players closest to the ball dont automatically come under my control etc.
If I use manual control on world class when i get to this area I find I
dont have the dexterity to keep up with the rush of control I need to
pass, shoot and control swerve etc all in one go. This also affects my
ability to defend and most goals I concede all follow a similar style. My
defenders dont react well or I have trouble selecting the right guy to
chase the attacker with.
Dominic: AI will be completely revamped - I know it can get frustrating...
I also suspect that if I was able to play with
an isometric camera angle I could spot what to do easier. It may be Im
simply hopeless, I have spotted others on your website have been able to
win leagues etc on world class. I am still struggling to get Manchester
United to get out of the bottom third on world class. I will win it
eventually im sure.
Dominic:
You'll get there !
Tip 1.
If playing in a domestic league fully Customise your club team's abilities
- this will boost performance by 15% by utilising the extra energy
allowance
Tip 2.
Use chipped through ball to break down defences - CPU intercepts @85 of
hopeful ground through balls
Tip 3 use L1 to track back, and don't neccessarily commit to a tackle if
CPU are attacking down the middle 7 times out of 10 they'll opt to shoot
from long range, with an extremely low success rate (this in all honesty
need st o be revamped as well
Tip4
Concentrate ! at all times
Tip5
when shooting aim for corners by guiding player 'away' from you or
'towards' you (when playing in side mode) and hitting shoot whilst facing
(holding) in these directions. the player will turn automatically and slot
the ball into the net
The computer controlled teams Goalie spends more time throwing the ball
to its players than kicking, even on world class level I win 75% of the
ball the keeper throws. This may need looking at.
Dominic: AI will be completely revamped
The team management side lacks a little depth. It would be nice to be
able to have some control over player positioning within formations and
with attacking or defending bias etc. Being able to in the team
management section choose who are my penalty, free kick or corner takers
would be appreciated.
Dominic: We will be implementing all of your ideas listed here - in addition to some
extras you have not mentioned - this part of This is Football was very
limited, due mainly to time considerations
A training section in the game would also be a welcome addition. The new
UEFA striker game has a superb training section, as did the Libero Grande
game.
Dominic: Probably not for the next sequel, but almost definitely as a longer term
concern
I am still struggling to get the crosses to go towards my strikers
rather than right to the goal line where the goalie is. I have used the
cross button with the R1 and aftertouch etc but I havent been able to
have much luck with this as yet.
Dominic: Loads of people have had problems with this - I apologise
Basically some goalies are so good in World class that they get to far too
many crosses.
Techniques to experiment with
1. definitely use aftertouch and curl the ball away from the gaolie
2 try crossing from a bit deeper, on counter attacks
3. keep experimenting, It is possible to score from crosses even against
rock hard goalies
We will be revamping this part of the game!
I think at this point that is all I can offer. Basically I love your
game, the graphics are great, the stadiums are great the options etc are
great. I have no doubt you guys will tweak all the various aspects of the
game and I suspect you are about to take over from EAsports at the top of
soccer games. (I know the ISS series is the purists number 1, I love that
game also but it doesnt sell as well as the Fifa series) Please dont
speed up the gameplay, if you do at least give us the option to play at
this speed, its perfect. The last game I got excited about was EAsports
World Cup 98 which was apart from a few issues (jerky gameplay, lag on
button press and reaction to instruction) EAsports were heading in the
right direction. Sadly they lost the plot with FIFA 99 simply playing
like high speed ping pong and Fifa 2000 hasnt improved much. I wont be
waiting for the next EAsports game, I will be hanging out for your next
version of TIF
Once again, thanks for listening and pass on my regards to everyone who
produced TIF. For a first up effort its absolutely brilliant and even if
this was a third or fouth generation of TIF it would still be hugely
impressive.
Have a great Xmas and New Year
Mike Stephen
