Transparency in smart assist
I should take it as a sign of things to come where inputs are modifiable thanks to the AI. Yet I am particularly miffed that actions/kicks on the ball are being prioritized to give us a semblance of control, whereas manual tracking and some crucial contextual movements off the ball are a heavy dose of placebo. Wouldn't it be conceivable that the cursor (standard for all competitors) light up a purple patch to highlight the precision of movement/input needed to fully exploit the stats in a crucial phase of play? The wheel and arrow pointer (at the player's feet) does a rough job of conveying it, though it's only of benefit to tracking the user's movement and optional for any player to use or not from their point of view. The power gauge is a catch all for the moment especially when assistance is on for both passing and shooting. It's quasi impossible to react on purpose and in time for a shot or pass by seeing a classically arbitrary gauge build up, but that's honestly on par with real-life. It's educated guess work, reinforced instincts, and assuming the risk of jeopardy. How do we improve on an already happy medium for a greatly playable game spanning different platforms? We could take a look back at previous games to prepare for what we can expect down the line. However, the majority user base on mobile leads me to think that many changes to benefit the console/PC side may not translate to them without controller support.
Purple patch: a result of build up gauge(s)
Could the cool down-possession turn over-subliminal pause/freeze be avoided ever? Many years ago, a huge power shift happened from the dominance of PES to Fifa pipping them emphatically in 2008/09. The transition to the newgen PS3/Xbox 360 at the time was where it went wrong for the King of the pitch. EA took over the western market and delivered year-in and out consistently a premium footy product and hasn't looked back since. A couple years later FUT was born and the rest is history as they say. It would seem to me that around roughly the same period a gameplay quirk, which the community labeled catch-up bug was perhaps even more detested. I haven't heard it being mentioned when speedy players seemingly break away (generally on the ball), only to be caught up predictably by whatever slower defender(s). Nowadays, we are spoiled for choice with exceptional dribbler's. The likes of Kaka, 'Ankara Messi,' Mbappe, Figo, Yamine Lamal and the lot can have their day in the sun, carrying the ball on the dribble with high usage and great frequency, though a bridge/self pass skill is lacking without the contextual cues needed. The best and quickest defenders may catch up but only within reason. The pause/freeze may satisfy the accurate repositioning of players on turnovers. That is, the game is getting ahead of the user to signal the turnover (maybe a welcome cue) to take a defensive stance. Players already stagger their runs to stop from running offside. A game changer would be the ability to initiate teammate control to take super fine control of a player who wants to risk a run late or cut. Can we intentionally initiate contact with heavy defensive leaps that do not require AI auto-tackling? Presently that is not so. We are best served to player switch and cover for that player. Let's just chalk it down to gameplay balancing, why don't we? Most of the time we can overlook a lot of things whether authentic or not due to rewarding experience of building your brand of footy (counter attacking meta aside).
