The Miscellaneous PC & vidya Games Thread

[Josquius]

Yeah. I wish they added more economic factors which were often a part of German football managers (who knew German developers liked that kind of stuff). I forget which one it was, one of the Bundesliga Managers or one of the Anstoß ones which essentially had a city builder mini game where you plopped/upgraded your facilities and infrastructure on the map. Doesn't have to be like that, but sponsor negotiations, TV deals etc. Let me be a club owner, not just a manager/director.

(Though I'd argue that it leans even more into the bloat )

I loved this stuff in the various 90s/early 00s manager games.
Yes. Its not realistic for a manger to do that. But the stadium builder bits are nice.
Can't say I ever encountered a full city builder but this would be awesome.
I remember FIFA Manager fondly with its nice stadium builder.
And Mega Drive Premier Manager choosing your advertisement boards and lots of other nice graphics.
I also miss the casual feel of a lot of these older games. Going through multiple seasons quite easily. In contemporary FM I don't think I've ever gotten more than 5 years or so into the future. Yes yes FM has its casual mode but...it seems lacking.

Something I'd love to see is a writeup on how the cancellation of the last edition of FM had impacts in the world of real football. Apparently it is heavily used as a scouting tool by teams in lower European leagues.

[celedhring]

In FM23 I was playing Como in lowest Italian league. Was a bit surprised to see they're top floor now.

Como was my very first save in Italy waaaaaaaaaaay back in the 1990s. Have had a soft spot for them ever since.

[Syt]

I liked spending a couple days there in 2016 for a work event, so that's why I picked them

[Syt]

I loved this stuff in the various 90s/early 00s manager games.
Yes. Its not realistic for a manger to do that. But the stadium builder bits are nice.
Can't say I ever encountered a full city builder but this would be awesome.
I remember FIFA Manager fondly with its nice stadium builder.
And Mega Drive Premier Manager choosing your advertisement boards and lots of other nice graphics.
I also miss the casual feel of a lot of these older games. Going through multiple seasons quite easily. In contemporary FM I don't think I've ever gotten more than 5 years or so into the future. Yes yes FM has its casual mode but...it seems lacking.

Something I'd love to see is a writeup on how the cancellation of the last edition of FM had impacts in the world of real football. Apparently it is heavily used as a scouting tool by teams in lower European leagues.

Dug up screenshots from Anstoß 3, I think.

The detailing of the stadium were nice (though I don't recall it having a fully realized 3D match engine yet - 1 and 2 for sure only had the pre-rendered scenes or the rather good for its time "radio" text only mode).

Note how you can plant single apple trees in the second screenshot.

[Syt]

Sidenote - came across Austria Klagenfurt when I was looking at teams. I was sure their in game logo was a default one, generated by the system, based on how generic it looked. But no. This is their actual real life logo.

[Grey Fox]

I wish we could get a motorsports manager with the depth of FM.

[Norgy]

So what have been your best FM stories?

I'd say my Lyn (from Oslo) is ranking high along with my FM23 Carlisle team that made it into the EPL. Granted, Carlisle did not do great in the EPL, but it was a fun ride.

Lyn had a very adamant demand of not signing players over the age of 23.
So, when we won the league the average age was barely 21. Now 2/3 of the team has been sold, I turned down a move to Fiorentina and one to Rennes.

I've stuck with my gegenpress counterattack football and 4-1-2-3 formation, and whenever we play a really good side, like Liverpool, we're undressed more quickly than a teen at a Trump pageant.

I might need to re-think whether a high defensive line and high pressing is the right way to approach a team of world stars when half our team played reserve games three days before.

[Syt]

I usually don't play more than two or at most three seasons before I get distracted by a different game.

[HVC]

I played a few times, but I follow the same pattern of getting impatient and just doing random things rather than following my initial plan. It doesn't end well

[celedhring]

Waaaaay back in the CM days I managed to win the CL with Queens' Park, while staying amateur. That's my favorite achievement. The game back then was way rougher and exploitable, but it was still a fun thing to do.

In more modern FM I managed to take my hometown's team (CF Badalona) from Segunda B to the top division while fielding only locals (as in, born in the town). This was super though for real players (since most pregnant women in Badalona usually will give birth in a Barcelona hospital), but easier once I got regens.

Winning the Club World Cup with the Philadelphia Union. In that save I also managed once to own the entire draft, not that the players were worth a damn.

I also periodically (once every WC cycle) run a game in the Spanish EUOT where they collectively run the Spanish national team, it's usually hilarious.

[Syt]

In Germany national coach was considered to be one of the most thankless jobs, because every time you fail you'd have 80 million armchair coaches who think they know better than you, telling you you're an idiot and that you made stupid rookie mistakes.

[frunk]

I wish we could get a motorsports manager with the depth of FM.

I used to play Motorsport Manager (2016), and it doesn't have the full depth of FM it at least scratches that itch.

[Syt]

I've tried the latest Tennis Elbow Manager, because there was a C64 tennis manager that I loved (though it had a bug, I presume, because once you were number 1 in the world you kept losing to nobodies in the first round of tournaments). It seemed .... less casual than I guess I hoped for.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/760630/Tennis_Elbow_Manager_2/

[Syt]

I guess there's also Tennis Manager 25 which seems from a smaller team (though positive reviews, just not as many as TEM2; though some negative reviews indicate an "FM light" or that the company seems shady with annual releases that don't really add/change much), who took Football Manager's design as ... inspiration, let's say.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3549220/Tennis_Manager_25/

[Norgy]

In Germany national coach was considered to be one of the most thankless jobs, because every time you fail you'd have 80 million armchair coaches who think they know better than you, telling you you're an idiot and that you made stupid rookie mistakes.

This is the case in any country, I think.

Solbakken has been criticised (rightfully) for not making the most of what arguably is the strongest attacking line Norway has had since, well, ever. Everyone's an expert.
"Why don't you use Patrick Berg as a regista and play with a mezzala and use Ødegaard as an advanced playmaker in a support role?".

I will give Sports Interactive some credit for having supported FM 24 after they'd normally not give a shit.

They made an ice hockey (sorry for adding "ice") management simulation too. I have now idea what it was like.

My first game in management was Football Director, where you were basically screwed once you had a bit of success (a few wins in a row). Then your star player would retire, and the difficulty of the opposition would increase.

I still think Sensible Soccer is one of the best football games made, though.
Dino Dini's Kick Off series were also great. Kick Off 2 made scoring impossible, except for from a very specific angle. Bending it like Beckham was not of any use.