Weigh In: Semi vs. Manual

[teambayern]

Warning: long post.

I'd like to get everyone weighing in on this, because I know it is an often talked about topic on the forums and I'd love to see some kind of consensus.

Here is my take and the dilemma I'm left with:

All Manual

The Good: Love the weight of the passes, and the randomness of the shots (unscripted-ness if you will). Feels like I'm actually playing, which is brilliant. Realistic number of missed passes.

The Bad: First, the shooting doesn't feel right. The problem for me is that under manual control, I have about an inch of analog stick movement to cover the entire side of the field, of which only about a cm cover the goal. This takes away my ability to pick where I shoot, much less the corner I'm aiming at. I want to be able to cut toward the near post and bury it in the far post and many other routine maneuvers in soccer that I just can't do at the moment. As is, I miss the open goal on regular occasion. Second, the passing has a flaw. Online, teams tend to get aggressive and pressure you all game. In real life, you bounce around small passes and switch the field to get some space. The problem is that the meter filling up creates a longer lag time to hit the ball than you would have in real life. This means that pressure tactics are far more effective in game than they should be.

Will I get used to the shooting and passing under pressure as I play more?

Semi

The Good: Solves the pressure problem referred to earlier and allows for more freedom/creativity in the shooting game.

The Bad: While you should be able to make quick short passes, semi allows you to make any kind of pass instantly...without error...over and over again. Ping ponging is too easy. Also, I prefer the shooting to manual, but in 09 it quickly became scripted-feeling and predictable. Is this still the case?

Is semi still too easy and predictable like it was in 09?

Dilemma
You have to go all manual or semi-assisted online, and can't change just the shooting. So do you all stick out manual shooting for the all manual setting, or use semi-assisted instead?

Also, for offline, is there a consensus amongst the community as to what settings work best?

[baa7]

I've just accepted that while Manual isn't perfect, it's still the better of the two choices. Semi is just too easy and too automatic for my tastes.

FIFA's Manual controls = best new feature in a next-gen sports video game (that and the Pro Cam).

[therizing02]

Quote: Originally Posted by baa7

I've just accepted that while Manual isn't perfect, it's still the better of the two choices. Semi is just too easy and too automatic for my tastes. FIFA's Manual controls = best new feature in a next-gen sports video game (that and the Pro Cam).

Yep. The 360 movement makes Manual much more playable this year. I still have shooting on SEMI though. I'm usually between 75-80% passing per game.

[ant0n]

Quote: Originally Posted by baa7

I've just accepted that while Manual isn't perfect, it's still the better of the two choices. Semi is just too easy and too automatic for my tastes. FIFA's Manual controls = best new feature in a next-gen sports video game (that and the Pro Cam).

this.

[JRod]

I play all manual except for passing. That's semi. Too many bad WE habits to effectively pass manually.

Though some of my crosses are hilarious because of bad WE habits. I love it when I send a cross away from the box. It's not the game either, it's me. Because when I do hit a great cross and connect, that's such a great feeling.

[getinthevan87]

You have to go either all manual or semi-assisted online? I've hardly played any games online so I didn't notice this. That kind of sucks.. I play all manual except for shooting now, which I have on semi. I can handle the manual shooting, I just prefer semi. I just don't like how small of an area you have to aim with on manual shooting. If I played using the pro cam it probably would work out fine, but I prefer the tele cam... and I just don't like having to be that precise when the camera is zoomed out like it is in tele.

[Qb]

I'm still going with my preferred scheme from 09 -- semi passing & shooting, manual through/lob/cross. Just haven't made the jump to manual passing yet despite trying it a little. My problem is I can't play on Pro, even with all-manual. I tried it (against Chelsea no less) and the CPU had two shot attempts all game. Most of the time I easily steal the ball before they reach the final third or they repeatedly whip in crosses that I head away with little trouble. The AI defense was plenty good enough with manual factored in, but I just never felt threatened by their attack.

And I don't think all-manual would go too well on WC. I'm grinding out wins/draws as it is with my semi/manual setup. I actually won a game 1-0 (Dortmund/Bremen) with 1 shot attempt and zero on target thanks to an own goal on a grounded cross from the byline.

[instantpop]

All-manual for me. Used to do shooting on semi but started to feel as though too much of it was out of my control. I spent a good 2 hours one day just messing around in Practice Mode and finally got the hang of manual shooting (and learned some things about passing too). The trick is to just use finesse. That was the first comment a friend of mine made when playing the other day at my house. He said FIFA 10 feels like much more of a finesse game than 09 did. You have to position yourself, take your time and then take the shot unless you're in on a breakaway. Harder to accomplish but so much more satisfying when the ball hits the back of the net.

FWIW, I played my first ever game on World Class using all manual the other night and won 2-0. Was probably the most enjoyable game of FIFA I have ever played. Really can't wait until the tactics update comes!!

[mebby]

I think most everyone has summed up my feelings on this topic but for what it's worth:

• I've gone with all manual. It's not perfect but it's much more enjoyable that anything semi-assisted for me.
• Even though manual shooting is tough and I've missed some goals that have costs me some games I still prefer it. If I play on semi-assisted then I feel like I can win just about any game I play and I feel like my shots are very scripted. On manual I feel like if I make a goal it's b/c of something I did - as opposed to just jamming the controller to one corner and hoping the keeper doesn't make a miraculous save.
• Online Head-to-Head - I'm getting beat regularly b/c I'm playing ping-pong passing players on semi or full-assisted. But I don't care - it's still much more enjoyable to me. I don't really care about my ranking or win/loss record - I just want realistic matches. I agree that when I'm using manual and they aren't that I get pressured way to quickly and they usually dominate me. This gets frustrating. But every now and then I get some really good games.
• Online Team Play - I really enjoy all manual here. I've been able to open up some really good plays when playing in the midfield. I'd bet that 98% of my team mates have no clue I'm on all manual until I whiff a goal that I should've at least hit on target. But again, I don't really care what they think, it's more enjoyable for me this way. And for what it's worth my player rating is usually in the top 3 every single game and for some odd reason this keeps me interested. If I could find a group of regulars to play on a team with that used all manual I think it would be awesome!
• Manage mode - I've started with Middlesborough in the Coca Cola league and using all manual here can be quite the challenge. I feel that the play in MM is different than just random exhibition matches and it probably has a lot to do with momentum from game to game. But I'm having trouble getting time to get off quality shots so I'm loosing more games than I'd like. But having said that, I am playing with a lower level team that shouldn't be winning all of its games so it seems to be realistic.

In summary, for me, all manual is the only way to go. It's not perfect but it's more rewarding for me.

[greenhorn]

I play all manual except for shooting (semi). Tried everything manual for awhile, but found myself waiting till I was a foot from the goal mouth before shooting because my shots from distance were always way off target or right down the middle.

I haven’t played a ton online, but it feels like my control scheme carries over. I know my passing is manual and I’m pretty sure shooting is still semi. The matchmaking also seems to match you up with players running a similar control scheme.