FC26: Teaching EA How to Make a Football Game!

Part Two

In reality, it's impossible for anyone to chain skill moves flawlessly without error! Why? Because when you perform an SM, the ball can be knocked too close, too far, slightly left or right. Even though you're the one performing the move and have a rough idea where the ball will go, you still need to readjust and move to regain control after the ball leaves your foot. But FC26 lacks this! In FC26, perform it 100 times, and the ball's final position relative to the player barely changes. So, FC26's cyber-players can collect the ball with clockwork precision and immediately proceed to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th SM... When I see my opponent's Mbappé in a crowd in my penalty area suddenly do a left spin (Right Stick ↑←), followed by a right spin (Right Stick ↑→), then a La Croqueta, then another SM I can't name, forcefully emerging from my defensive crowd to shoot and score... Even if during this process Mbappé bumps into my defender (my controller vibrates), sometimes I even see the ball intercepted or touched by my defender. But it's useless! Because Mbappé is locked into continuing his Skill Move animation, he will, with an "overcome all obstacles" attitude, complete his queued SM animation, instantly taking the ball back from your defender's feet, then shooting to score.

The continuity and success rate of SMs last night left an extremely deep impression on me, hence this lengthy section. To summarize the SM issue: Can Skill Moves be chained? From an input perspective, yes! But whether they succeed should depend on the player's physical condition. For example, 40-year-old Ronaldo, after performing a step-over, has a high chance of falling over (apologies again). Factors for Skill Moves should include:

1. The player's inherent technical skill (Star Rating).
2. The player's balance (a dynamic value influenced by remaining stamina). High balance allows them to withstand challenges during the move and retain control. Poor balance means they lose control easily if bumped.
3. The player's current stamina. Anyone who's played football knows Skill Moves require significant explosive power. So, after one SM, whether a second is possible, or if it succeeds, should depend on if the attacker's stamina (blue bar) has enough left to support another move.

Implementing these 3 points would simply bring the "invincible" SM back to its proper place. But FC26's dumbest design – the defending problem – isn't solved yet! Let me explain why FC26 is a pile of crap: the laziness and negligence in defensive strategy are the biggest culprits!!!

Many say defending in FC26 is bad, but they only describe surface symptoms, not the root cause. Here's the root cause!