EA Sports FC 27 Gameplay Deep Dive! 🎮⚡ | FUT in Review #739

[00:00:00] 50 straight days of World Cup daily are officially behind us. The muscle soreness is gone and the studio is cleared out. But taking a break? We'll do that later. EA has just dropped the prime time pitch notes for EA Sports FC 27. And the first gameplay deep dives promises a massive shakeup for ultimate team tactics. Grab a brew, settle in, because today in episode 739 of FUT in Review,

[00:00:27] we are diving deep into the newest mechanics, the gameplay, meta, and everything you need to know for the upcoming season. Welcome back. My name is Jordan and I am not alone. I am joined by Mr. Blue, wearing orange, it's not only then, Graham. Welcome back, Graham. Nice to have you back, John. How has it been offered 50 days of talking real-life football only?

[00:00:58] Not bad. Nice to get back into the FC content. There's also the real football season is kicking off this week for me as well, tomorrow night. So it's exciting times. It is exciting times. I have felt like I definitely needed like one week break. So there's been one week where there wasn't a podcast pushed. But I think we deserved a little rest up after 50 days of podcasting. The microphone got cold though, so we needed to get going.

[00:01:24] And luckily EA was in time providing us information about FC 27. Of course, footage is still going on in FC 26. Of course, the pricing and everything you get included with all three versions of the game is out as well. But John, Kirkham, and of course, Chris will talk about that in the next episode. So today, Graham, as we are gameplay aficionados, we are talking the gameplay deep dive.

[00:01:53] And this year, and we'll put the link in the description of this show, they not only wrote out a gameplay deep dive, but they also gave you like a six-minute trailer of it. That's something else. Yeah, nice wee video just to sort of summarize it and give you a visual outlook of it all. But I think the key details and the real meat of it all really comes in the pitch notes itself. Very much true.

[00:02:21] So I thought today in the next 20 minutes or so, I'll just run us through some of the changes. And then I've got something to say about it all the way at the back. But let's just first discuss the facts they put into this deep dive, shall we? Yeah, let's go. The first thing has to do with defending mainly auto-tackles. Also, there's going to be a lot of you have asked us, you have provided us feedback, we have listened to.

[00:02:50] And I'm going to skip all those sentences because of what I'm going to say at the end. But the following changes only apply to competitive gameplay. Once again, we have authentic gameplay and competitive gameplay. Competitive is the gameplay in foot. And that's what we're solely focusing on in this podcast, right? They say they made significant gameplay shifts in FC27 to AI defending.

[00:03:16] We are reducing the influence of AI-controlled defenders, putting more power into the hands of the manual defenders. AI-controlled defenders can still gain possession when a loose ball comes with a written reach or when a dribbler runs directly into them. With this change, we want to tackle an intentional player-led action while your AI teammates will now support the play instead of winning possession outright for you. Also, they've reduced AI defensive reach for interception.

[00:03:44] A manual controller defender will be able to reach further than an AI-controlled defender, encouraging you to switch to the player actively defending instead of relying on AI teammates to win possession. There's a whole lot of videos and examples of that. But Graham, basically, if you defend yourself, it should be easier and better to defend is the summary, right?

[00:04:08] Yeah, so they're taking away your desire or need to run with a center mid or strike a back and let an AI defender do it. So the advantage and the intent is that you control your center back, you'll win the ball. So we did have that sort of similar start of the cycle and then they patched the life out of it. So it'll be interesting to see what sticks. Well, there's my thing.

[00:04:36] Exactly what I actually wanted to wait with it until the end of the show. Because last year, we focused on selecting the correct defender. I did a whole podcast about which defender you should select because manual defending was the only way to actually defend. That took about five weeks and then they nerfed it to the ground and changed everything around because nobody liked conceding goals. Still, if I read this, it says we have listened to your feedback a couple of dozen times in the video they said that.

[00:05:07] Graham, if they listened to the feedback, why did they change an FC26? Because the feedback at the time. I've covered this. I think it's like a be careful what you wish for moment. And I said it quite a few times over this year. People wanted the manual defending. Then you got it and they're like, oh, I can't do that. I went back to AI defending. But then AI defending is so boring and so studded and just horrible to play against. Everybody wants to go back to the manual defending.

[00:05:38] So, A, I can say that they listen. But when the community flip-flops so badly on what they want or in some cases, I think it's some people don't say exactly what they want. They leave it very vague. So they say, I don't want that, but don't say what it is and truly everything that they want. So you say, oh, I don't want AI defending. Or I don't want manual defending. But they don't say where it is exactly. They want AI to fix it.

[00:06:07] So you said there, the interceptions does more of an area for manual defenders to intercept. Now, I think that's sort of what people would want. For me, I don't like the idea of having a greater area of hitbox, per se, or radius around the defender where they can just sort of skip and win the ball. I think they should only be able to win it if it's within their own reach. But I think that's what people were hoping for.

[00:06:35] When you are manually defending, the radius that you have around the player that you're controlling is a little bit greater than what it was. So, time will tell. Is this, we went too far in FC26, but we like the idea. So in FC27, we go back to that area, or we go halfway through? We make it easier for you to manual defend? I think it is. I think it's sort of a halfway house idea that they've got.

[00:07:03] So it's like everybody that's left playing the game at the moment, for me, really liked the game at the start. But doesn't really like the patch that came, but still plays it anyway because we love the game. So to try and meet us with the ones that have left because they just don't like the game and they wanted the manual defending gone.

[00:07:25] I think it's the best place that they've got, which is go manual, but make it a little bit easier to be manual defending. So it's that sort of safety wheel, training wheels sort of technique, I think. Do you like that thought? No, I've said it before. I prefer to be manual. I prefer to be controlled. If I mess up, I don't want somebody behind me cleaning up my mess.

[00:07:54] If I can't clean up the mess and they score, that's my fault. I committed. Football is a very risk-reward game. You dive in. They get by you. You made that mistake. So if you're too far back and you can't win the ball and the ball's there to be one, that's your fault for not committing. So it's that whole risk-reward has them both ways. If you don't risk it, you're not going to be rewarded. If you do risk it, you might not be rewarded.

[00:08:23] So time will tell. It could be really good. I feel the game should be manual to 90% because obviously we can't control all 11 players. So the AI has to do some stuff for us to keep the shape, keep track of things. But I think that for me personally, when it comes to the actual making challenges, it should be on us. When it comes to shooting, it should be down to solely our input.

[00:08:49] That's why I went to Precision because if I miss, then it's on me because I want to be able to have that full control. Not the AI. So I can see it being popular, but I'd rather we went more manual. Yeah, and I understand. I think it's pretty positive, I'm quite honest.

[00:09:10] Because although I've always been like a manual defender and I think it's one of my skills next to talking podcast from A to Z, those skills, I think will benefit me in this FIFA then or this FC version. And I think it makes me more hopeful this is a permanent change because they also said, for example, later on in the pitch notes,

[00:09:39] these improvements put greater emphasis on manual defending and the decisions you make throughout a match, which is something we aim to preserve throughout the FC 27 lifecycle. That makes me sort of hopeful that they don't burn it to the ground once it gets rolling. And maybe they make it a little bit more manual. Although I've seen some examples where manual interception still goes wrong because you miss time it.

[00:10:03] So maybe that risk reward you hope it's there is actually still there. Well, that's what it should be. If you miss time it, you shouldn't be getting rewarded with the ball. You made the mistake. You didn't win it. So this whole safety net and training wheels future for me has to go. And I really do hope that they stick to that word of keeping things as their sister company, Codemasters, makes the F1 game. And I've hopped on about it. But they made the game and goes, here's the game.

[00:10:33] I know some of you won't like it. Some of you as well. But this is the game. See you in six, eight months time. And we'll be listening. We'll be watching all that feedback come in. But for the next six to eight months, this is what you've got. Like it or lump it. That's it. And then after the six, eight months, the game back goes, hi, guys. Remember when we said this? So here we are. This is your feedback. Some it was good. Some it was not so good. Basically get better at the game. We're not looking after you. You just do that yourselves. Here's what we've done.

[00:11:03] See you again in another six, eight months time. Bye-bye. And that was it. So I hope that the AFC team have learned from that and they've learned from the whole exercise this year of jumping too quick into feedback. And making too many changes too quick. It ultimately sways how the game is played. I really hope that they just go, this is the game. Let it breathe. Learn it. You might actually become a better player. Because I said this before.

[00:11:32] I was getting 11, 12 wins for the patch. And then after the patch, I couldn't get past 11 wins because that skill gap was really reduced for me. Because people that I could beat comfortably were now getting helped far more than they were. So I know they've got to try and look after players. But then that's what Challengers was for.

[00:11:54] I think that there's got to be something where they really give us, the manual players, something to cling on to. Definitely. Definitely. No, I'm curious. But I definitely am on your side. Just leave it be. Leave it be. And let's go for it. But to be fair, it does sound good. But because they messed up last year so much with over-listening to people, I'm a little bit skeptical.

[00:12:24] But let's give them the benefit of the doubt. Something else that changed, which I didn't consider for one actual second. Of course, there's a little bit more than defending teammate contains. I think these are all... And it's Peter Jock here, if you manual defend. Basically, the whole idea behind defending is if you do it manually, it's easier and better for you. Right? And we'll pick at the part once we get the game. But something else that changed was Corners.

[00:12:53] And I've been watching that animation. Let me just first say what they wrote down. So Corners and FC27 are designed to give you more control. Over the moments before the ball arrives in the box. Previously, players had few ways to influence direct deliveries. Which meant many opted to take corners short instead. Also, just saying in real life football. Except the World Cup for some reason. Short corners are usually the norm, right? But hey. After targeting your desired area for delivery.

[00:13:22] The camera will shift towards the box. Giving you a brief window to control attacking players. During this window, you can move, switch players, make runs sealed. Or use a new mechanic called avoidance. To jostle their position before the ball arrives in the box. This change does not apply to short corner kicks. Often short corner kicks taken. You revert back to your normal gameplay camera choice. Grim, how big is a corner change? I've watched that clip they put into about 17 times now.

[00:13:52] But the clip doesn't show that much difference. I think this is something you got to experience. That's maybe. Yeah. So it's just, it's like the mechanic that we already have. But you had to manually do the mechanic. So now it's the norm. Something needed to be done with corners. Everybody went short. You knew exactly what they were going to do. So there was like three or four different routines that everybody had done. You knew it was going to happen.

[00:14:22] And 90% of the time, it was never a cross unless you had somebody that was really good at the player lock. They would do that whole back post, head it back to the midfield or running in. And so if it can make the game more interesting from a point of view, as you don't know what they're going to do, there is more tools in your weaponry to attack, then it should be a good thing. I noticed in the video that the bottom corner, there was a D-pad thing for use set piece tactics. Yes.

[00:14:52] Which I seen was they haven't really expanded on. No, but it's on every single screenshot. Yeah. So I really want to know what that is. Can we, before the game, set up something where we can manually set up that people stand in one place and then they'll move to another place? Or is it for one corner you could... I hope it's not that though. I'm just spitballing here ideas. Is it a case that for one corner you could maybe have Haaland or a Gabriel

[00:15:21] or any big man that Dan Burnett at the front post, but then at the next corner you could hit the tactics and select the option down and then they go to the back post or they go to set on the goalkeeper. So the whole crossing it, it's just a new way of a mechanic they've already got. Could be, if it's redefined to better, then great. But I think there's more that could be done to make it better. Yeah.

[00:15:51] Well, it does sound like it's been thought through though, because they say, for example, players contesting for corner kicks in the box will no longer automatically move into the best positions to connect with the ball. So it's up for you to time the run, attack the space, and make the first contact manually. Not reaching the right position could mean the ball evades everyone, but when executed well, the outcome is intended to feel more rewarding, resulting in more varied passes or finishes, sorry, as players try to make contact with the ball.

[00:16:19] It does sound very more interactive and that you have to think about it. The only thing I keep going on in my hand is, isn't the one attacking run going to be super overpowered and broken when they start? People figure it out really soon and the long corners into the box, running up 45 degrees for the first, but whatever, it's always going to end up being a goal, some stuff like that.

[00:16:47] And they added more flexibility in free kicks, et cetera, before, right? And always ended up being broken. So I'm, again, happy they decided to do this. Yes, all the corners I took were definitely short, not going to lie there. So that's good. We've seen in the World Cup that actually corners can be very dangerous. There's a lot of goals being scored out of that. I'm just curious if they don't break it.

[00:17:16] If it is that there's one, I think with corners, there's going to be slightly different. If there's one thing that the people that done the player lock, if you knew they were playing lock, you just got a big defender and you ran up and won the ball. I made sure my defenders always have aerial fortress for that reason. So if it is a certain type of run, I think with corners, it could be easy enough to sort of manually defend it, especially if it's going to be, like they said, manual runs that you've got to control.

[00:17:45] I'm pretty sure you could easily put somebody off enough to make sure it doesn't become too overpowered. Yes. But then they must help. Because also the avoidance thing they talked about. Yeah. It means if you trigger avoidance during corner kicks, which you just do by holding the R1 or the RB button, it says attackers will manually trigger a new mechanic called avoidance. This allows any attacker or defender you control to become more evasive moving throughout crowded areas without getting blocked by position players.

[00:18:13] So they'll be more nimble once you hold the button. If that means you always get a, if you get the positioning good, you get the header in, it might sound a little bit too strong. We don't want corners to end up being the old FIFA 17 free kicks, which always go in, right? That's the only worry I have here. But to be fair, it does look good, especially when you combine it with another change they made into crossing rework. And Graham, if there's anybody in the world

[00:18:43] that hates crosses in video games, it's me. So maybe this changes for me or very much against me. Because when you play the game, I always say you got to take up the highest chance to score. Crossing is so inconsistent. Headers are so inconsistent that there's just no reason to actually do a cross in FC26. That's been my statement. It will be my statement. But they added more crossing control on FC27,

[00:19:11] because previously they say crosses had more predictable trajectories and similar finishing animation because they were heavily assisted. But crosses will now be delivered into space more often rather than directly into a specific player, allowing for more attacking variety. Your aim and power now have a much bigger impact on where you cross lands, meaning it can miss everyone if it isn't placed with precision. And when darting down the wing and identifying space, we want success to be more about your ability to aim and play the ball

[00:19:41] in front of your teammates rather than locking onto your current position. And I have seen the animations. I've seen examples. Once again, we'll link to the link in description. But Graham, this actually, don't tell everyone, makes me excited for crosses. Same here. I do love a cross. Yeah, but I mean, that makes sense in your case. Yeah, being Scottish, I do love a cross. And as much as I know it doesn't work,

[00:20:11] I will at least once or twice again make the mistake of trying it. And I try all the different modded versions of crosses to try and get something to work, and they never do. There's nothing better when you see the screenshot on the pitch notes that they've got. The wingers on the line of defenders, there's a striker about to make the run. You should get that gully of death that you want to put a ball into.

[00:20:37] And then the current generation of FIFA, you can't put the ball in there. 90% of the time, it curves back to the fullback covering you. So if we can really whip a ball into that area between the keeper and the defender and between the penalty spot, I am going to be so happy because the amount of goals that we should be able to get from there. Also, headers, like you said, is so bad. So, look, I do love, I know it's not FC,

[00:21:06] but one of the old PES games years ago, I think it was when Michael Owen was at Real Madrid. You could whip a ball into the back post, knock it back down. From one striker to the next striker and score. So something like that would be lovely to just have again. Just more tools, like I said. I want to be able to play the game and I want it to be, every game feel different in a way that I want to be able to score as many and different types of goals as possible. Yes, I will probably pay the back end with defending it,

[00:21:35] but then if I'm not conceding the same goal, I won't be as annoyed. So I really hope this is something that they have worked on and it really pays off because it could make the game really interesting and fun again. Yeah, I 100% agree. They did change the finishing variety and headers. You can see some animations where they just slide it in, hit it on the toe, take a header. At least it looks far more realistic, let's put it like this. And it feels less assisted.

[00:22:03] The ball seems to carry a little bit more weight with it when I see the crossroads going on. Of course, it's just from seeing images. Even if I touched the game, I wouldn't be speaking about it today. So it's just a feeling putting it out there. But yeah, it does look awesome. Random question, Graham. How good of shape is your controller? And then I mainly mean the L1 and the R1 button or the LB and the RB button on your controller.

[00:22:32] Are they still clickety-cluck? On my Elite Series 2, it's dead. I need to try to send it back, but my warning is out. So it's awful to me. I've refubbed first half price, I think. On my current Game Store controller, my L1 button is probably 50%. Every now and then, it doesn't really work. I'm still playing FC at the moment,

[00:23:01] but I've started playing Starfield again. And I've noticed when I try to press the L button for certain mechanics in that game, it takes a couple of clicks or really get my finger precisely on a certain part of the L1 to get it to work. But that is my buff to coming up, so I wouldn't be surprised if my good half, or I really should say my better half, has something like that lined up for me. We'll make sure we send her this clip.

[00:23:29] The reason I was asking that, Graham, is you will be needing the L1 and the R1 button or the LB and the RB button. A whole lot in the new game, it seems. Yes. They have been introduced with new features or new mechanics behind these two buttons. And I'm going to... This one got me hyped. One of my favorite things to teach people is the use of a proper directed run. L1 tap it or R1 tap it.

[00:23:58] And especially you can, well, switch your right stick to move a player in a certain direction. L1 sends it forward. R1 makes the player run towards you. But those are always in direct lines. And this one that feels like they implemented this for me because we can now trigger curve runs. The spatial awareness has changed, but I'm going to leave all that flick-flap behind. I mean triggering curve runs you can now do

[00:24:26] by tapping the L1 and the R1 button at the same time. So tap, tap, tap. Got to make sure these buttons work. But if you tap the R1 button, it will come towards you in a direct line. You tap the L1 button, the player will go on a long run. But if you tap them both, the player will go for a curve run. Of course, a curve run is a little bit slower than a direct run, obviously.

[00:24:54] But it looks very strong to get someone sending behind, especially when passing seems to be a little bit better as well. So yeah, the trade-off is these runs may take longer to complete because of the longer and more curved path they follow. But these look absolutely amazing, Graham. Yeah, it's something that I think a lot of people ask for. There's a little bit more creativity in the runs. Because generally, I would prefer we didn't have to press buttons to make runs that they just done on the self.

[00:25:24] But you can't... Now you can choose, right? Yeah, you've got to pick and choose your battles and not everything's perfect in the world. So it's a bit annoying that we have to do it, but at least we can do it. It's probably the best way to look at it. But yeah, just being able to have that ability to... When you send them on a run, you don't know necessarily straight away if they're going to go a straight run or a curved run. It's going to open... With manual defending, it's going to really open up the game. I really reckon there's going to be

[00:25:54] some really weird scorelines that 10-10s and things like that because until people really get used to this game, which I think will take a while, you're going to have to really try and learn if there's any tells before the actual curve kicks in, whether or not where that run's going, if it's going to be straight or it's going to be curved. But it's something that I've been looking for a long time because I said at the start of the year, people complain about the through balls and I said they are overpowered, but I don't play them...

[00:26:22] I don't play a through ball straight. I like to play in between a centre-back and a full-back and have my winger come down the outside of them. So having that extra tool is going to be so good for me. Yeah. And it feels more like football where you don't only play 90 degrees angles or 45 degree angles. So yeah, I'm looking forward to that change. Similar to that is a new pass and follow runs. Basically, you can do one, two pass with L1

[00:26:52] and pass into a player and the player will go get the ball back for you, right? But now if you hold the L1 and the R1 button plus the passing button, you do a new pass and follow run. So that means the player that passes the ball to the teammate will go for a curved run in behind as well. It was a little bit weird to see, but they say the pass will follow with a curved run to exploit available space,

[00:27:20] choosing to overlap or cut inside depending on the situation. I'm really curious how predictable that is because if you can't predict it yourself, you might end up being in a position where you forget to shoot because you didn't expect it to be, but maybe we just have to see how that works. Again, this is a little bit longer, but it does look amazing as well. So that's why I think the L1 and the R1 are going to be the most used button in FIFA this year along with the passing button, right? Yeah.

[00:27:49] Again, for attacking, it's something really, really needed. I think it's going to be such a... It's going to be... I think people probably call it overpowered to start with because you're not going to understand what's happening. All the muscle memory of the mind where you know where runs and things are going, I think this is going to break a few controllers until people figure it out. But I think it's something valuable,

[00:28:17] especially if they do tweak the defender and make it a little bit more AI. I hope, again, I hope they don't. But just having more tools in your arsenal is always a good thing to have. So I'm really looking forward to trying it out. Yeah, one of the things that might break my game style is the velocity changes, which means there will be a limited distance for manual triggered runs. So what I used to do is I was on the field, watched my fullback, pressed TL1, but my fullback will go for run-up while I'll dribble around, meaning I will have an extra attacker up front

[00:28:46] because my fullback will suddenly be all right on top. That's not possible anymore. Because they have limited the amount of meters they will start running before, they will turn back into position to make sure the inauthentic attacking situations, like the one I trigger a lot, to be quite honest with you, are not happening anymore. So it's something I got to adjust to as well. But I think it's honestly a good change because it's one of the major changes why people need to go six at the back, to be fair, right?

[00:29:15] Closer to midfield together because of all the people bombing upwards. That seems to be far more restricted now. On the fence with this one, I get why they're doing that, because of the German crosses technique, which wasn't really that much of a strength this year's game, but it has been in previous years. But for me, somebody that likes attacking fullbacks, I like to send them on a big run,

[00:29:45] try and play through it, and then get them into attack as an extra wide option. I feel it's going to hamper my play a bit, but again, it's something to learn, something to try. It might be that if you have the rules on overlapping fullback, it might still just work the way you intended to without being too overpowered, right? Yeah. Because you could also do it with the centre back, and that's definitely possible anymore now. Yeah, like I said, I'm on the fence.

[00:30:14] There is times where, like I said, the German cross and maybe send a centre back up for a run by mistake, because even looking at it not from necessarily an intentional thing, but sometimes when you're, you accidentally trigger the centre back and he ends up up front, you lose the ball and you've only got one centre back back, so it could be really, looking at that point of view, it could be really helpful as well that your centre back goes, ah, well, this is no split territory, let's get back into defence. But,

[00:30:43] on an attacking sense, like I said, I can see where it's come from, but then, we haven't been given some new tools with the curved run and the passing goal, so, give and take, I'm going to have to say here, so, I might lose something from my arsenal, but I may have gained two new tools, so, it's interesting, hopefully it's something they are opening feedback on, maybe it's that they have, if they can programme it, that maybe certain players don't have that full length of run, but other people, like full backs, maybe do, like, who knows, but,

[00:31:14] I just need to see what it's like, personally. Basically, there's more off-site awareness and more on-site awareness from strikers as well, but the summary of these changes are, all of these changes are aimed at making attacking movements more intentional, I think you still have powerful tools to create runs, but you will need to manage those runs more actively, and if you want to run to continue, you'll need to actively trigger it again, instead of relying on unlimited trigger runs. It doesn't sound bad to me

[00:31:44] if I'm on this room, I think I'm very much enthusiastic of these changes, because curved runs is something you'll need to do when you want to play possessive football, for example, right? It was hard to keep going, especially against a block of six guys and two CDMs, right? Four defenders and two CDMs. Well, if you are doing curved runs in between, suddenly having a 4-3-3 might sound a little bit more enticing, especially when crosses work, you need to cut inside

[00:32:14] and make a run with the holding both triggers and do a pass and let the winger come inside the box or the winger goes outside and actually gives a cross, which could be viable as well. So I'm looking a little bit more forward to using wingers than I ever did before in the last three years because I think wingers are used best to cut inside and take shots and that sounds like they will be more versatile. Looking forward to that. Yeah. There's been

[00:32:43] lots of updates, passes updates, ding-pass updates. I'm going to be focused on that too much. The other interesting one was for me the off-balance dribbling, where if you look at some of the examples they give, off-balance dribbling is looking at your balance, agility, and dribbling attributes. And even if you knocked off balance, that player will sort of stumble and dribble along with the ball. Like you see a lot of footballers do, right? The Finney Juniors, stop battling them doing at the World Cup. Basically,

[00:33:13] when a dribbler who has the required attributes is hit by a collision bump or shoulder challenge, they will enter an off-balance dribbling animation. During this animation, the player looks like they are stumbling, but you will still have control and you can continue moving the player as they are dribbled, touch in the chosen direction to keep possession. Of course, this is only next gen only because it's attributed by play styles and stuff. Going to be overpowered or you think it's fine? No idea until we play it,

[00:33:43] but I'm not. It looks very strong, let me put it like that. I'm not keen on all the animations that they put in because sometimes it causes a few issues. I wonder if you could trigger it, how many fouls you could win. I don't know. There's part of me think it's cool from an advantage of attacking. If you do get knocked, you can still keep going. I think there's going to be some things where you

[00:34:12] could nefariously use it to an advantage. I don't know. I guess it's something I'm on offensive until we really get to play with it. You can watch the video and it can show you the perfect world idea of how it's going to work, but I think there's certain things where it could work really badly against you. That's it. Really need to see it, feel it, before I could say what I think of it.

[00:34:41] Yeah. Well, I agree on you there. Then there has a whole list which you just have a look at for changing in play styles. Basically, I think they made the boost you get from play style more attribute dependent. So the higher the stats are on the player, the higher the boost counts, if I read it correctly. Most of the play styles have reduced gap between the regular play styles and the plus play styles, making more players at the start, I think,

[00:35:11] far more useful. That sounds like a proper idea. Notable changes is that Joke key is a little bit faster, but hey, your manual selected should be faster now. I think the precision header, again, the difference between the plus and the regular one has been shown down because they want to emphasize that you can do headers now as well. We might see that change once more players get the plus style, but

[00:35:41] basically the biggest one for this, I think, is they removed the speed boost applied to low driven shots on a low driven play style, making it not the only viable option to take shots, and they increased it on finesse shots, making those two more closer to each other, I feel. That was my summary when I read all the changes. You can, of course, look in yourself. Is there anything you want to highlight there, Graham, them, or is it just read up? Do you want me to

[00:36:10] go through all of them? We don't need to go through them all. I think there's two places I was hoping to see something added on or reduced on, which was Bruiser and the power shot. When they're talking about adding to your arsenal and refining, defending, I thought maybe Bruiser, but then if you go back and you look at some of the things that talk about defending, especially to try to tackle from behind, I think that might curb the whole Bruiser thing. Plus, if you

[00:36:40] get a boost, if you are selecting your player, the AI defender with Bruiser doesn't matter. Maybe that's also. Like you said, they've removed the speed boost with low driving, which hopefully works well. Obviously, the velocity is scaled to the core stats and input, which is good. finesse, they've added, obviously to make it a little bit more better. I was just hoping Power Shot's maybe got a little bit of love as well.

[00:37:10] Not mentioned. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I don't mind what they've said about the ones that they have said. I just feel that I was hoping that there's maybe something on they too. So far, so good. We said this last year, so you touched on it. Everything seems okay, but they've written down, but once we get a hold of the game itself, what they've said and what they've done could be two different things. So I'm very weary on jumping in and going, oh, this is amazing. But I do

[00:37:39] like what they've said. It's just now waiting to see what they've done. Yeah, the thing is, though, I haven't realized it until we're talking about it right now. You are basically, when you're attacked, there's a very big chance you are hovering your fingers above the L1 and the R1 button. You take a power shot holding both and taking the shot. You do the new pass as while holding both and taking the pass. It could be far easier to pull off a power shot now we're clinging

[00:38:09] our fingers above these L1 and R buttons as well. So maybe it's actually in the right place, but not many people did it or got the option to do so because everyone was blocked by an AI defender. Yeah, that's actually a good point. It could be that though these new changes, they don't need to touch power shots because what they are could be effective. So yeah, that's a good point. Again, it's just waiting to see what it's like once we get a hold of it. Definitely. Talking about getting a hold on

[00:38:39] it, we'll be talking about the new show where we'll talk about how do you get a hold on this game and how much it actually costs and that there's certainly are three versions of this game. Grim, I want to know your opinion before we go out. I am in doubt. I've got all the consoles available here and I've got a pretty meaty PC that could also play it. I've not played on PC since my What The Foot, there's a shout out, base, because I absolutely got

[00:39:08] my mood destroyed by cheaters. Of course, EA yearly does a press conference where they say we don't have any cheaters anymore, but it takes a whopping eight euros to buy an application and get rid of that and they never come back to that point. Is this the right year for me to hop over to PC or should I just stick to PlayStation? I don't play on PC, so I really don't know. Nathan does. People in the comments, let us know, let us know. Yeah, if you play on PC, let us know.

[00:39:40] Nathan plays PC, he says he thinks he's maybe faced one or two. I think I've faced maybe more of that because I know there was a period in time where they could present as Xbox or PlayStation players, so I did face a few on my Xbox, so that could be that you may not face many on the PC because they've got a way of playing against console players. I don't know, it's up to you, really. I'll stick to my Xbox because me and

[00:40:09] Phil do a family share thing with our Xboxes, so I was thinking of going to PlayStation, but because Phil's playing it, so I'll be the good dad and let him family share off of me, so that's up to you. Yeah, let me know in the comments if I should try PC this year. I do have, what is it, a 49-inch widescreen monitor to see the whole pitch on, so that could be cool. Also be unlimited frames per second and highest resolutions and stuff.

[00:40:39] But I'm so wary of cheating. I haven't bought it. I haven't pre-ordered yet, but we'll see. What we'll also see is we'll see you soon in the new episode. Drop us a five-to-review on every podcast platform you are listening or watching us. Of course, check out the youtube.com slash for a review. Check out patreon.com slash for a review if you want to support the show and could we use the support? Oh, for sure. And of course, check out footinreview.com for everything the podcast has to

[00:41:08] offer as well. Graham, thank you so incredibly much. It just leaves us with one thing left to do and see if you still remember. Drop it. Drop it. Drop it.