72 hours without picking up a controller. I had a few matches on Wednesday night, and didn’t play again until Saturday night. That’s the reality of life for so many of us, I think. It hurts and it’s a constant frustration.
I’m still going along very well in Ultimate Team in FIFA13. I’ve stormed through a couple of easy early tournaments and leagues, and built my current stack of Coins up to near 5000. I’d stockpiled enough Contracts Cards to let me just play matches for a while.
Ultimate Team invites you to play at a very easy level to begin with, something you can change but I was more than happy to follow. Now I’m moving up and things are getting more serious.
The fun of the beginning has given way to… to what?
What’s the aim of Ultimate Team? This was a huge question for me and I’m still discovering the answer.
In a very real sense, there is no actual aim—the process of building the team is the end in itself.
So the aim isn’t so much to amass a Gold cards team of Messi & co. That’s possible, of course, but not easy even so. Messi cards seem to be the equivalent of golden Wonka tickets. People who’ve been playing Ultimate Team for years haven’t got near being able to afford one.
Ultimate Team is a kind of sandbox with a very loose structure. You do what you want. Follow whatever whim strikes you. Make your own aim, and head that way.
FIFA13′s gameplay is very good. The only real downside at the moment is the almost complete absence of fouls, and therefore free kicks. It’s routine to get through a complete 6-minute match without a single free kick to either side. And no yellow or red cards.
Other than that, there are few problems with FIFA’s gameplay. I really like the game a lot more approaching it this way, via Ultimate Team, than I would have done via Career Mode.
Scoring memorable goals helps, of course, and I’ve got a couple to show off today.
One aspect of football gaming that has always pleased me: volleys. I scored a couple of chest-and-volleys early on in FIFA13, and I’ve now scored a few more. It’s possible that chest-and-volley goals are a ‘thing’ here in much the same way that in-off-the-woodwork goals are a ‘thing’ in PES2013.
I hope the future doesn’t devalue these goals too much. Scarcity increases value:
The first volley came when I was still wearing the Atletico Madrid home kit as my home kit. The second goal came when I’d switched to the more appropriate Rochdale home kit. I’ll be using kits approximately at my current club level from now on.
Werd Llitrah—if you’re jaded with football games in general I doubt another one would appeal anyway. It was specifically the grind of ML that I wanted a break from, and also I wanted to suspend that ML while it still felt competitive. I could feel it slipping into constant 4-3 scorelines at the end there.
NG – Ni No Kuni has got fave reviews..My wife actually spotted it months before it was released in games mag..I said it was a Studio Ghibli production and she wished it was out. Then I forgot about it and found it in the shops, May have to get the DS version as I remember what she did with my Fallout 3 Character on the PS3…I think I will take up the PES mantle after a hiatus(it must be catchin)bear in mind Im not the worlds best player but the end of season in div 2 was well easy..raising the diff level scares me..cant win me
NG – as a man who can’t not touch any graphic equalizer he walks past (even if it’s playing something like Billy Bragg) I won’t be tinkering with sliders. As you say, that way madness lies… it’s been mentioned before on here but I will echo – love the pannini styling of Ultimate Team. I suspect I will tinker with 12 for a bit then try and catch up to you all on 13.
A bit more wheelin’ & Dealin’ on the FIFA UT Web App at lunch time, stocked up on a few contracts.
Always surprises me why people sell contract cards?!!? surely everyone needs as many contracts as possible. ?
Paul – I unlocked a few gold contract cards last night and bought some bronze in my lunch break. The silver ones are hard to come by.
I also bought Bobby Zamora and sold a couple of gold players I also won last night.
Werd Llitrah—that’s the first I’d heard of a DS version—looks like Japan only though. I’m happy enough with the PS3 version, if I can only play it. Problem is that football gaming is just too easy to fill a spare hour with. By the time I’ve read the manual and played the nursery levels of Ni No Kuni, my hour’ll be up.
Uncle Turf—I was almost the first kid in my whole primary school to fill up the 1979 Panini album. I was one sticker short—one—for a few agonising weeks. Another kid beat me to it, and on the day when the dreadful event happened the teachers let him take his completed album from class to class—in lesson time—to show it off. Being 7, I didn’t even pretend to be happy for him.
Paul—I think after a while you must have so many that you can afford to sell a few—people will always need them, and they must go quickly. And there are some people who hardly play at all, and focus entirely on the Trading. 750,000 Coins sells for £70 on eBay, last I heard. A quick look just now found this enterprising fellow selling 55,000 for £4.20. Which begs quite a few questions. First, how would the new owner of the 55k Coins actually take possession of them? And why not just spend the £4.20 on FIFA Points instead?! Life is a mystery…
John—I also would rather have Silver contracts than either Bronze (too few matches) or Gold (too many). Silver contracts are just right. When I stockpiled contracts a few days ago I had about 20, and they soon went because most were Bronze.
In the past 24 hours I managed to sell all the Gold cards I got in a free mini-pack, but it took a few attempts to sell and careful timing/pricing. Got to hit the peak usage hours just right, I find. A nice 1-hour auction timed to expire at about 7pm pretty much always gets a buyer, whatever the card.
… I’ve just spent ten minutes trying to buy a Silver fitness card—just one!—for a less-than-extortionate price, 150-200 or so, and the frenzied outbidding in the last 30 secs is something to behold. Fitness is as important as Contracts for me, because the unfit players are either sluggish or soon injured or both. I came away without my Silver fitness card. Even going a few pages over to the cards with several minutes left on the clock won’t help, as the outbidders all hover on page 1, and when your card gets there, they’ll have it away from you. I suppose it’s a thriving economy that finds its own balance, but the net effect is that if you want a Silver fitness card, just pay the 400-500 Buy Now cost or lump it.
Watch out for people that use autobot bidding software too, you can always tell them because when an auction is counting down and its within the last 30 seconds, when you place a bid, it adds another 15 seconds on to the auction life, to give people chance to counter-bid, but with the autobid software, you will see that you’re winning a bid, then as the time counts from 1 second to 0 left, the bid suddenly changes and you are outbid and the auction ends with no chance to counter bid.
This is against the rules and if EA catch you using the autobid bots then you can have your UT account suspended.
The way coin sellers pass over the coins is by the following: If for example they are selling 100,000 coins then you pay them for it via ebay or whatever, then they ask that you list a player for sale for that amount, 100,000 in the auction house, then email them the player name, formation, club, your team name, your account name etc, they will then find your player in the auction house and buy them for the 100,000 coins.
NG – true little snippets of ps3dom are as rare as a Thylacine in my abode.
Tutorial levels do eat up time..i’d rather enjoy them and hate to rush stuff esp Skyrim..2 hours stint minimum for me = day off from family/work etc.
Still half tempted by fifa13 though…March the first I have a day off…if I can get it(2nd time)for under £30…
Paul—ahhhh, so that’s it. Makes sense now, cheers. It’s an easy enough thing to see happening, so EA must allow it to go on for a reason. The reason is probably the same as with other persistent online economies (EVE Online, WoW etc.). It helps boost the profile of the game as a whole. No wonder there’s all those autobid things. A tiny fraction of a profit on one card multiplied by a thousand instances per day adds up to lots of Coins and real cash I suppose. I’d rather play online poker than get into any of that myself, but it’s interesting to see it in action. The sniping at the point of purchase is very annoying though. It kind of negates the whole spirit of auctioning when you’re effectively forced towards the Buy Now option.
Robben didn’t get the cut scene
Still, he’s my new FK taker and looks amazing in my kits
Hummels looks great too. Can’t wait to see how those two preform for me.
Paul – My word, the world has gone mad if people really are auctioning with real money to pay for virtual game credits.
N-G – I have a silver fitness card that’s all yours for 100,000 shiny gold coins. I’ll pop my 442 Lee Trundle up in the store with the relevant price.
I’ve only made 800 coins or so and have only done 3 transactions – a CDM to fit my formation and a manager same but buy it now seemed the way to go given there was only 50 points difference between auction starting price. I can’t be bothered with wasted hours failing to get the players, I’ve had enough of that with real money and real things on ebay over the years. I also bought a pack and got some contracts, a couple of cack players, Melbourne’s ‘rare’ kit, some backroom type cards and a couple of badges. For 400 coins this seemed remarkably good value but I’ve seen complaints on forums that the packs are largely a waste – presumably they mean for the rarer items or higher value players? Like Pannini stickers (80 was my first year – our school actively confiscated so it was all a bit like buying nylons during the war) I assume the marketplace is awash with lots of the same player and things that regularly come out of packs. I can see the actual game being almost an after thought…
Adam—that’d be his age in-game I think. Young players under 25 and regens of ‘name’ players have only ever got it in my MLs over the past few years. Must be some random element to it too.
John—you have yourself a deal, sir. Just send me your bank details and give me seven working days to get ready for the card. I’ll contact you from Nigeria…
Uncle Turf—re. packs, I had the exact opposite advice from a long-term UT player—i.e., buying packs is the most cost-effective and profit-making approach in the long run, because you’ll almost always at least make your Coins back in selling the cards you don’t keep, and more often make a profit, and it all adds up over time.
E.g. in two recent Bronze packs costing 400 Coins, I got 300 coins back as a bonus from one and 200 from the other. I kept maybe two cards from each and sold the ones I thought would sell (training cards) and Quick Sold the rest for 100 coins or so. I probably doubled my money overall thanks to the bonus Coins. Even without a bonus there’s usually a profit of 50-100 Coins. Repeat that often enough and it soon mounts up.
As for the game itself being an afterthought, I’m sure there are plenty of UT players out there who play the Trading game only, and save their actual playing for Career Mode or online. And I bet there are many who don’t play anything at all. Good luck to them, but the Coins are definitely a means to an end for me. Moving up to the Professional tournies last night has really opened my eyes to the depth of FIFA13.
NG – ah right thanks. I think they must have meant the chance of getting a Messi or Rooney as like you it seemed a good deal. Just listed 7 cards. Zero bids. I can see why quick sell comes in. Anyone want a Melbourne Victory home strip???
Doesn’t matter really to be honest. On his PES League debut he scored an absolute cracker. On his favourite left foot from the edge of the area to use one of his signature shots to find a tight corner like only Robben can.
Uncle Turf—you’ll have a smaller pool of customers with the FIFA12 UT world. Still a substantive one, but less busy than the activity seen on FIFA13 at the moment. I very rarely sell a player card on FIFA13 even so—player training and fitness cards seem to be the big draw.
I heard that finding Messi in a pack is akin to winning the Lottery. There’s a tradition of splurging Coins on Gold packs and opening them to see if Messi is in one. If he is, that’s a true Willy Wonka moment, and millions of Coins in your hand right there.
Adam—that’s the beloved fine-hued PES individuality of players again. I’m seeing it in FIFA, but not as much right now. Most players you come across in UT are all of a same level. When I play one of my weak players in my Silver team, then I know the difference. Maybe when I move onto Career Mode, FIFA’s individuality will come properly to the fore.
At some point in the 6 months left of this footy game year, I want to resume my PES2010 ML career and play a good few seasons.
NG – yes, that difference in a year is quite significant in various ways. I just bought a cheap bronze pack and got Zaha from Palace. Suspect he might be rated a bit more highly now. It is addictive mind, first night in a while I haven’t been playing at snipers.
So I’ve now played 7 single player vs AI games (on Pro) with my 62-61-62 rated Ultimate Team. I haven’t conceded a goal. I’ve only scored 2. Most of the 6 min half games seem to end up as scrappy midfield tussles. Some matches there isn’t a shot on target. Is this normal? Fifa used to be a duck shoot but this is really quite a tough game.
Uncle Turf—what’s normal in a football game always depends on your own playing skills I think. It sounds like you’ve got a handle on FIFA’s defence scheme pretty quick. I’m conceding an average of a goal per game on Professional with my average 70OVR team. I’m surmising from the ‘scrappy midfield tussles’ that you’re trying to move the ball forward very quickly when you have possession, a la PES, and keep losing it, winning it back, trying to storm forward, losing it, winning it back..? I know that characterises a lot of my FIFA play, when the muscle memory kicks in and PES takes over from behind the scenes.
NG – yes, my 3-4-1-2 suits a more cavalier approach and I managed to pair up Zaha and another fast guy as my two outside strikers but you’re right, the lack of skill and my eagerness often means it breaks down. Am I right in thinking there is no R3 send player on run equivalent? (I know you can make the player passing head off on a run) I guess their ability, settings, etc dictates whether they will look to move into space. In defense I hit X and L2 all the time, I made a point of avoiding PES slides quite early. I am up against similar teams mind – 59-62 in attack so even if they get through they wouldn’t trouble many cows with their banjoes. Loving the buying of a pack – takes me back to that pannini moment!
Uncle Turf—tap L1 to make the nearest teammate set off on a straight-ahead run.
You’ll just get a midfield mess all the time trying to storm the opposition, even lowly ones. Choose the right moment for a fast break.
When you start meeting the Sevillas and Evertons in higher competitions, you’ll get a more competitive AI.
NG/TURF – Goddamnit!!..stop..talking bout Fifa…Its nearly payday..I get bored on a lunchtime..if i buy it (2nd time) i’ll blame you lot
..the sliders beckon like Rachel Weisz whos just completed a degree in beckoning..
Werd Llitrah—not touched the sliders at all, and I’m not planning to. I will play through this entire FIFA phase, however long it lasts, without even opening the menu…
Completed my first UT Offline season last night, gaining promotion and Winning the division title.
The last few games had me up against decent sides on professional level, very tight, tough games, two nil-nil draws and a 1-0 win.
Also found a way to instantly generate coins if you need them for contracts etc.
More wheelin’ and dealin’ and winning matches last night brought in 3,500 coins, I’ll save them for lunch times squad tinkering on the web app.
PS4/Orbis announcement tonight at 11pm too. Good times.
Paul—even though we’ll probably be screwed like we were with the PS3 and have to wait until this time next year, even though the features (used game lockout) will make us uneasy, I’m still excited about the PS4 now that it’s finally here.
I don’t want to hear about the way you’ve found to instantly generate coins.
“Also found a way to instantly generate coins if you need them for contracts etc.”
I’ve just had an email from Paul as well offering me a ‘Rolex watches, very cheep, $500′ and ‘ViaGra pills now’. If he starts telling us his ‘method’ involves sending him bank details I think we’ll have rumbled him!
NG -no tweaking(ooer) you speak of witchcraft sir!!…Do you”tinker” with any of PES menus/gubbins much? If you dont do you subconsciously feel that this Fifa affair is just that an affair and PES is you true love..amateur Psychology hour ends.
Paul – 11pm!! odd time..
Werd Llitrah—the only gameplay thing to tinker with on PES is passing type and game speed, which I’ve also fiddled (titter, giggle, etc.) with on FIFA, so no, your theory doesn’t hold up. My FIFA spell every year on the blog is characterised by anxious probing from some commenters, reading the runes and looking between the lines for weak points to apply pressure on and get me back to playing PES. I can save you some time – there are precious few weak points at the moment.
Haha no bank account details needed, no illicit software, no cheating, all within the rules of UT, just a sneaky way of generating 500 coins every time.
useful if you are low on coins, and dont have enough contracts to play any matches, and therefore cant generate any money through playing games.
PS4 announcement is from Sony’s New York HQ, its 6pm Central time, therefore 11pm Our time.
NG – Ah..(rubs face while dressed as Jung)..so Fifa is a kind of therapy…a purge if you will.
In the future will we see two blogs, a PES Chronicles and Fifa Tales?
Its nearly lunch time so do you feel Fifa is worth another punt?..is it a fresh approach when compared to PES?
Paul..ta..I thought it was either Tokyo or the US
NG – LOL at your reaction to the bidding war in the last 30 seconds – try the last 15 seconds, it’s like a feeding frenzy for some cards
It’s entertaining to just see how far people are willing to go to get that card. 4-4-2 formation cards are a prime example.
It’s good to have a small stockpile of all 3 levels of contract cards. Use the bronze ones on players you not sure about (eg Beckham at PSG) & keep the longer contracts for your key players. Also, having a small stockpile stops you from knee-jerk purchases when you realise your striker is out of contract just as you were about to play a game.
About fitness cards – I’d try to build a larger squad instead, so you can rotate players every 2-3 games or so, that’ll keep fitness in the 90′s, and fitness cards become almost redundant. For the price of your silver fitness card (400-500) you coul’d get in a player instead. Of course the flip side is that with a large squad, players don’t get as much playing time, & this affects their morale (especially if you’re on a loosing streak)
It’s all so deliciously balanced, there’s no real right or wrong way, but definately try different strategies to see what suits your style.
As for player individuality, stats do seem to have an affect – I have a brazilian CB (Felipe Santana) who has great heading & jumping stats, and wouldn’t you know it? he’s by far my top scorer for corners!
Werd Llitrah—I’m not going to recommend or not recommend that you get FIFA again. You yourself have to judge whether the water is cold or hot. All I can say is that I’m enjoying it, and even if I stop playing tomorrow I’ll have had my money’s worth. I don’t understand what you mean about FIFA being a kind of therapy or purge.
diego—but the last 30 seconds includes the last 15 seconds. I don’t suddenly disengage from the process when the clock strikes 15 seconds! I heard early on that using a non-standard formation was the way to go.
Great tips again, cheers. I have favoured players that I want to play in every game, so the Fitness card pursuit is a factor for me right now.
NG – i will report back in 25 mins…(gets coat and ponders the metaphysical world of footie games)
Will I be lathered in Fifa bubblebath or pull the plug?