Football Manager 14

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Since FIFA 14 is discussed in this forum, I thought it was right to start a topic on FM14.  Is anyone else playing this?  I started a Liverpool career as manager.  I took the current team and added a few players through transfers, notably Nemanja Matic and *welcome back David Ngog.  Just beat Crystal Palace in our opening league game.  Sturridge has been unstoppable in friendlies and also in the first league game.  City is making a big push for Leiva, and I keep telling them to fuck off, but I am worried that will impact his focus.  I've offered Couhtinho and Joe Allen to any takers but with no response yet.  
 

Titans Bastard

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I was still recently playing around with FM11, but I lost my save when my hard drive melted down.  I'm too bitter to look into FM14 yet, but I might.  How has the game evolved from FM11 and FM12?
 

BrazilianSoxFan

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They completely revamped the tactics and training, simplifying a little. There is also a "classic" mode that is more straight forward and faster, but with less depth.

The graphics are still shitty, but the interface was vastly improved.
 

soxfan121

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FM11 is one of the best games I've ever played and I enjoy it immensely. If the reviews here on FM14 are good, I think I know what I'm getting myself for Christmas. 
 

BrazilianSoxFan

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soxfan121 said:
FM11 is one of the best games I've ever played and I enjoy it immensely. If the reviews here on FM14 are good, I think I know what I'm getting myself for Christmas. 
 
Do you like the sliders in the tactics? Fine tune them, one notch at a time? Or that was something that you couldn't be bothered to do for every player and substitutes?
 
FM14 got rid of that. Now you have a lot more player roles, and can use general instructions (shouts) to the team and individual players. Instead of worrying if your defense is too deep by a notch or two, you just say if you want them to play deep, normal or high.
 
In training you don't have different schedules for every player, but you can tell them to focus in an area, specific attribute or player role.
 
There were a lot of interface changes, and the news screen is way more useful, but tactics and training is probably the biggest change between FM14 and previous editions. That and instant feedback on offers to clubs, instead of only on player contracts.
 

BrazilianSoxFan

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http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/football-manager-2014-review-most-2648810
 
 
I can taste sick. It’s bubbling up at the back of my throat, burning a path to freedom. I stare at my laptop, white hot rage coursing through my veins.
 
It’s all my fault, but that only makes it worse. I want to smash. I want to smash my laptop. I want to punch and punch and punch it until there’s nothing left but broken glass and shattered circuitry, fizzing under a thick veil of my own blood.
 
I take this as a sign. A sign that Football Manager 2014 is really good.
 

 
Ultimately, we won’t know how good this game is until sometime around December when the divorce rates either begin to spike or plummet.
 
Edit: There is also this review from the perspective of someone that was is not a professional critic:
 
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1831574-football-manager-14-review-there-goes-my-social-life
 
 
Over the past few years, the Football Manager series has seen an incredible rise in international players around the world. I began playing the game in 2010; I'd heard whispers of it a decade before, back when it was called Championship Manager, but I'd never jumped into it because it seemed a bit too draining and tactical. But once I jumped into Football Manager 2010, I discovered that my knowledge of the game grew by leaps and bounds.
 
No longer was I simply familiar with Everton's starting squad. I could tell you which players you needed to keep an eye on in the Everton youth system, like Ross Barkley. I could give you the names of five or 10 players from what was then called the Coca Cola Championship League. I could even name teams from what is now called the Skrill Premier League, which is the fifth level of English football. 
 
I changed from a casual observer of the game into a hardcore fan—and not just in the little world created and curated by Football Manager. I watched any kind of football I could find on TV, from the Championship to Major League Soccer. And all of that fandom came about because of this video game.
 
I wasn't alone. Jacobson says that the average amount of time spent on each yearly release of Football Manager hovers somewhere around 240 hours. That is 10 days worth of time, each year, devoted to a video game.
 
This seems ridiculous, but I can vouch that it is true. My copy of Steam, which tracks hours spent on each game purchased in its online store, told me that I had spent roughly 600 hours playing Football Manager editions from 2011, 2012 and 2013. 
 
Six hundred hours. On a game. 
 
 
I bought FM14 yesterday because I found it on offer for £20 at Tesco (cheapest price I've seen/heard of), but I have yet to break into the cellophane - partly because I'm not really sure I want or will be able to spend as much time as I'd need to get good at it, and partly because I'm not sure I can do what I really want to do with it, which is to recreate the real 2014 World Cup Finals draw and then play through it as an international manager. Does anyone know if this is possible with the in-game editor? If not, I may well take it back for a refund.
 
Most of my recent FM history involves getting excited by the game, then playing through two months of my first season before giving up in frustration at my inability to understand how the game wants me to play it. But man, when I came over to do my junior year abroad in Scotland back in 1995-96, I rented a PC for several months specifically to allow me to play Championship Manager 2 in my dorm room. I had *way* too much fun with that game...
 

BrazilianSoxFan

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I'm not sure and couldn't find anything online either way, but I would doubt it. The in-game editor seems to be player and club only, and the out of game editor (still free) probably can't help also, since the simulation starts in june/july of 2013 it would probably change the qualified countries.
 

djhb20

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Ok, this was 50% off on Steam and I bought it.

Consistent with my lack of a side discussed in the Club and Countey thread, how should I start? Do I/Can I start as manager of a big team, or would it be more fun to start at the helm of some random third-division club and work my way up?

Thoughts?
 

PedroSpecialK

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Most fun I had with this year's edition was playing as Celtic.
 
You don't have a big challenge on the domestic front in the first couple of years, but you're pretty involved in Europe and have to weigh your budget in terms of depth to survive competition on 3+ fronts (club, domestic cup, Europe) versus top-end talent to make noise in the CL.
 
Side note: don't play as Parma.
 

mgoblue2

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djhb20 said:
Ok, this was 50% off on Steam and I bought it.

Consistent with my lack of a side discussed in the Club and Countey thread, how should I start? Do I/Can I start as manager of a big team, or would it be more fun to start at the helm of some random third-division club and work my way up?

Thoughts?
Try one for a while, if you get bored try the other one. I'm about to download the demo tonight, will provide updates if I can be torn away.
 

DJnVa

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I ran through my demo time, so I need to buy it. I'd rather start as a smaller team and see if I can work my way up, but to each his own.
 
Are there ways to do online leagues where everyone has a team?
 

Cellar-Door

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djhb20 said:
Ok, this was 50% off on Steam and I bought it.

Consistent with my lack of a side discussed in the Club and Countey thread, how should I start? Do I/Can I start as manager of a big team, or would it be more fun to start at the helm of some random third-division club and work my way up?

Thoughts?
Depends what you want. Starting low makes it simpler, but takes longer to succeed often. You don't do as much scouting because you have no money so your territory is limited, At a big club you can go after big targets, or (my preferred strategy) steal promising young players away. Either way you need more scouts, more specified assignments etc. The gameplay of managing the tactics and such is the same either way. A big team has more depth, but also usually is in the cups longer and has international players so there is more match to match adjustments needed as players are gone or tired.
 

djhb20

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Simce I've never played before, sounds like a smaller club might be easier to handle to start. Less money = fewer things to manage and worry about. Going through the tutorials made it look pretty complicated, so starting somewhat easier might be a good idea.
 

Seven Costanza

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Whatever you do, make sure to somehow obtain current World Cup player Eder Alvarez Balanta and Derby County youngster Will Hughes.
 

soxfan121

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Seven Costanza said:
Whatever you do, make sure to somehow obtain current World Cup player Eder Alvarez Balanta and Derby County youngster Will Hughes.
 
Monaco youngster Lucas Ocampos will only jump ship to a "big" club but he's another must-have item if you're into that sort of thing. 
 
Southampton is a very fun team to start with in FM14 - lots of young talent and a pretty solid squad overall with no major holes. 
 
EDIT: And adding Andriy Yarmolenko to Liverpool wins you the league so long as Make Believe Skrtel doesn't have virtual rollerskates.
 

swiftaw

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I love the FM games, although I am still using FM 2011.  I've thought about upgrading but if I do I can kiss my social life and work productivity good bye for a few months.  Thus, I keep with FM 2011 and play it periodically.   
 

Cellar-Door

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Just had a World Cup draw in my FM game (12) with the worst Group of Death ever.
Uruguay- 3rd in the World
Cameroon- 6th
Mexico- 8th
Russia- 10th.
 
All four teams in the top 10, the top teams in three regions all in the same group.
 

BigPapiLumber Co.

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I have never bought a video game before, and only occasionally play friends' Wii or whatever.  So you're dealing with an idiot who's workload just lightened significantly and who wants to learn more about soccer.  I have some questions:
 
1) Do I get to choose my team, or just the league?
 
2) If I want to manage a Bundesliga or Bundesliga 2 team, is it any disadvantage that I don't speak German.  (I normally wouldn't ask something like this, but this game seems so realistic that I'm wondering if I need to speak with my players in German!)
 
3)  Am I playing against other individuals or against the "game."
 
I'm sure I'll have more questions later.  Thanks for the help!
 

Cellar-Door

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BigPapiLumber Co. said:
I have never bought a video game before, and only occasionally play friends' Wii or whatever.  So you're dealing with an idiot who's workload just lightened significantly and who wants to learn more about soccer.  I have some questions:
 
1) Do I get to choose my team, or just the league?
 
2) If I want to manage a Bundesliga or Bundesliga 2 team, is it any disadvantage that I don't speak German.  (I normally wouldn't ask something like this, but this game seems so realistic that I'm wondering if I need to speak with my players in German!)
 
3)  Am I playing against other individuals or against the "game."
 
I'm sure I'll have more questions later.  Thanks for the help!
1. Yes
2. No, though players languages do matter with things such as adjustment to the league and country, and how they work with other players on the team.
3. You can do either. I've only played offline though, I think most people play offline.
 

Dollar

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How have I never played this game before?  As someone who has played countless hours of FIFA, OOTP, Baseball Mogul, etc. I have no idea.  But I just downloaded the demo and I'm addicted.  Does anyone know if this is a Steam sale right now, or how much lower the price might go in the near future?
 

mgoblue2

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It's overwhelming just an hour in, but still very fun. Are there difficulty settings or is there some way to relax strictness on transfers or whatever to make the game move more smoothly?
 

swiftaw

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Dollar said:
How have I never played this game before?  As someone who has played countless hours of FIFA, OOTP, Baseball Mogul, etc. I have no idea.  But I just downloaded the demo and I'm addicted.  Does anyone know if this is a Steam sale right now, or how much lower the price might go in the near future?
I looked yesterday and it was $29.99 on steam when I think it's full price is $49.99. It might get cheaper in the fall once we get close to the FM 2015 release date.
 

veritas

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If you've never played FM before, Do. Not. Start. I don't care if Steam has a sale. You wouldn't try heroin just because that was on sale.
 

swiftaw

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veritas said:
If you've never played FM before, Do. Not. Start. I don't care if Steam has a sale. You wouldn't try heroin just because that was on sale.
Very true, steam is telling me I have played FM 2011 for 4246 hours, that's almost 177 days.  Yeah, I'm lucky I can multitask. 
 

DJnVa

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veritas said:
If you've never played FM before, Do. Not. Start. I don't care if Steam has a sale. You wouldn't try heroin just because that was on sale.
 
My demo expired so I didn't play yesterday and I'm having withdrawals.
 

TheWinkleman

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swiftaw said:
I looked yesterday and it was $29.99 on steam when I think it's full price is $49.99. It might get cheaper in the fall once we get close to the FM 2015 release date.
 
I'm seeing $25. It'll be available for that price until June 30th. However, it could still get a deeper discount to around $15 or less in the upcoming days. So unless one is really eager to buy the game, it's better to wait and see if Steam features it in the daily deals or flash sales before the 30th.
 

soxfan121

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DrewDawg said:
 
My demo expired so I didn't play yesterday and I'm having withdrawals.
 
Walk away now. Never click on this thread again. 
 
Or prepare to have your next year-plus sucked out like Count Rugen's Machine in The Princess Bride.
 
Seriously. This game only gets more addictive as you play it. It is the sarlacc pit of games.
 

Bosoxen

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soxfan121 said:
 
Walk away now. Never click on this thread again. 
 
Or prepare to have your next year-plus sucked out like Count Rugen's Machine in The Princess Bride.
 
Seriously. This game only gets more addictive as you play it. It is the sarlacc pit of games.
 
All this talk has me both intrigued and terrified at the same time. On the one hand, it sounds pretty awesome. On the other hand, it sounds a little too awesome.
 

TheWinkleman

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soxfan121 said:
 
Walk away now. Never click on this thread again. 
 
Or prepare to have your next year-plus sucked out like Count Rugen's Machine in The Princess Bride.
 
Seriously. This game only gets more addictive as you play it. It is the sarlacc pit of games.
 
I've avoided this game for a couple years now for that reason, but I don't know how much longer I can resist.
 
For those who have played the series for a while, how much is missed by going with a soon-to-be old version? Would you recommend waiting and paying more for 2015 in Fall, or getting 2014 cheap?
 

Seven Costanza

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Each year they do two database updates for transfers and the like, but they don't continue with that once the new version comes out.  I think there's a dev community though that picks up when the official developers move on to the next version. Some versions change more year to year than others- more severe changes to the match engine, interface, etc.  
 
/nowgimmethecrackrock
 

thehitcat

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I bought every other year (odd years going gack to CM 99-00) until this fall when I bought 14 after buying but not really playing '13 because I was still so tied up in my '11 clubs.  Each year it gives more features and is in some way cooler but I'm usually so tied into my ongoing addiction that it's hard for me to step out and start over.  That said '14 is awesome.  Also I play exclusively single player.  I've never even tried the online interface.
 
When I studied abroad in Scotland for a year in 1995-96, I actually rented a PC just so I could play Championship Manager 95-96 - or whatever that version of FM's direct ancestor was called - in my dorm room. Totally worth it. Alas, these days I find the FM franchise has become way too detail-oriented...I've actually broken my habit. So yes, you can actually break free!
 
(That said, I hear there's a simpler version of the game now embedded within the super-complex version of the game which may be more to my tastes...)
 

Joe D Reid

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Seven Costanza said:
Whatever you do, make sure to somehow obtain current World Cup player Eder Alvarez Balanta and Derby County youngster Will Hughes.
I only briefly played the iPad version, but my board just could not stop praising me for acquiring Will Hughes. I won Newcastle's first trophy since the invention of color TV, and they complimented me on Hughes again the next day.
 

Bosoxen

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Joe D Reid said:
I only briefly played the iPad version, but my board just could not stop praising me for acquiring Will Hughes. I won Newcastle's first trophy since the invention of color TV, and they complimented me on Hughes again the next day.
Oh shit, there's a mobile version? And I'm in.
 

wibi

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Joe D Reid said:
I only briefly played the iPad version, but my board just could not stop praising me for acquiring Will Hughes. I won Newcastle's first trophy since the invention of color TV, and they complimented me on Hughes again the next day.
 
Ipad version worth the 5 bucks?
 

soxfan121

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ConigliarosPotential said:
(That said, I hear there's a simpler version of the game now embedded within the super-complex version of the game which may be more to my tastes...)
 
Yes, there is such a mode.
 

Bosoxen

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Joe D Reid said:
Lord yes. Although you should factor in the cost of alimony as appropriate.
 
I'll also have to figure in child support.
 
Yeah, I put an hour into the game last night and only progressed about five days. Haven't even played my first friendly yet. I really should have heeded the warnings.
 

SilasCL

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I started playing this game a couple of years ago while doing long-distance with my girlfriend and with a lot of free time.
 
Let me echo what others have said, this game is next to impossible to quit. I have had to go cold turkey a few times.
 

PedroSpecialK

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Having a job makes me angry that I can't devote more time to this game.

It is unreasonably entertaining & engrossing
 

BrazilianSoxFan

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I need to sleep. You know, maybe just one more match...
 
I'm managing Mantova, in the Italian Serie C2/A, it's early january and I just got to top of the table after months battling Monza. When, out of nowhere, Parma comes offering a boatload for my starting keeper. Raised the price to see try to scare them away but they call my bluff. It's now more money them my whole club is worth and more than enough to pay all our debts and have a good safety, but it's still my starting keeper, with huge potential, and those don't grow on trees.
 
I had to take it. And now I can't sleep no more...
 

DJnVa

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Nice.
 
I haven't bought it yet, still on demo, but you can start a new game when your 15 hours runs out, so I started one as coach of the USMNT last night to get me through today's "no soccer" day. Somehow I mistakenly left Dempsey off the roster for the first match and it said he was very upset. I tried to "talk" with him and he wouldn't take my calls.
 
Anyway, so I figured I could survive one game without him, down in Jamaica, where I was 1-6 favorites. You know how this turns out. They score 2 goals in first 10 minutes and I lose 2-0. He's back on the roster before I head to Mexico.
 
Question for those that have played more--guys like Julian Green aren't in my player pool, at least that I can see. And I can't send anyone to scout Germany. Will he eventually show up?
 

BrazilianSoxFan

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It's been ages since I played with national teams, but you could try the search players option in your profile and filter for players with 0 International Caps and whose Nationality is partially American.
 
But it's probable that option will only show the players that you or your scouts already know.
 

soxfan121

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DrewDawg said:
Nice.
 
I haven't bought it yet, still on demo, but you can start a new game when your 15 hours runs out, so I started one as coach of the USMNT last night to get me through today's "no soccer" day. Somehow I mistakenly left Dempsey off the roster for the first match and it said he was very upset. I tried to "talk" with him and he wouldn't take my calls.
 
Anyway, so I figured I could survive one game without him, down in Jamaica, where I was 1-6 favorites. You know how this turns out. They score 2 goals in first 10 minutes and I lose 2-0. He's back on the roster before I head to Mexico.
 
Question for those that have played more--guys like Julian Green aren't in my player pool, at least that I can see. And I can't send anyone to scout Germany. Will he eventually show up?
 
I have not yet been able to convince Green or Shawn Parker to don a US uniform. You should be able to view them in club transfer screen by deselecting "unrealistic" and then searching for "eligible to play for". 
 

Finn's Dad

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The last version I played was FM 12. I had Manchester United, and we won something ridiculous like 12 straight league titles, 9 Champions Leagues, and 10 FA Cups. I'd usually win the league with four games to spare (sometimes more), and then roll out my U-19's for the last few games to get them experience. Great game.. I've had a blast with it, but with kids/work/wife/grad school, it's been hard to really play it like I used to play it.

The only thing I wished would happen is the nations changed their regens based on success/failure of the national team.

Has anyone ever used the genie scout with it? I used that to find super obscure players with insane potential, and always focused on developing those players. I'd find some 15-year old from an African nation with crappy starting ratings, but potential overall of 185+. It was always fun to watch them develop over time.