FIFA 20 Discussion (Console Versions)

[Anth James]

I picked this up yesterday for about £2 as it's the one FIFA i've never played, It's only 4 years old but still feels drastically different to FIFA 23. The animations are fantastic and there's a hell of a lot less skating than there is on the current game.

Better yet there's none of that 1v1 or no team pressing crap we have now here so team shapes are a lot more natural. I also think it looks really good visually, the models are more 19 esque where they're more grounded in realistic proportions and facial textures than the cartoonier ones we got post 21.

Was this game disliked among the community at the time? Was it mroe of "same old FIFA with new rosters" dismissal or was this considered to be a solid title when it came out?

Unfortunately 20 was the first year that brought in 1v1. The implementation of it isn't anywhere near as bad as 21, and I did enjoy it in large parts but it is still there and despite many efforts, it proved to be its undoing for me.

 

[Madmac79]

It's true this is the first chapter with the one v one curse, however midfielders are still tracking back so with a good set I find midfield action decent enough and the 1 v 1 problem kinda masked/not game breaking to me at least, plus what I like about this chapter is that generally I feel player stats a lot, I think it's one of the more stats based Fifas out there indeed. I play a friendly on it with OS sliders here and there on it and I'd say it feels like a relatively good one despite the shortcomings.

 

[ezosk]

For me this is one of the best combinations of game and football ever created. I am playing online friendlies on full manual and enjoying it more than I'm prepared to admit. If anyone is up for online friendlies, let me know via PM.

 

[Peter Withe]

I picked this up yesterday for about £2 as it's the one FIFA i've never played, It's only 4 years old but still feels drastically different to FIFA 23. The animations are fantastic and there's a hell of a lot less skating than there is on the current game.

Better yet there's none of that 1v1 or no team pressing crap we have now here so team shapes are a lot more natural. I also think it looks really good visually, the models are more 19 esque where they're more grounded in realistic proportions and facial textures than the cartoonier ones we got post 21.

Was this game disliked among the community at the time? Was it mroe of "same old FIFA with new rosters" dismissal or was this considered to be a solid title when it came out?

You’re not alone. FIFA 20 is great, I always go back to my Aston Villa career with it and still have fun.

What sliders are you using? Or just default?

 

[Marlon Anthony]

You’re not alone. FIFA 20 is great, I always go back to my Aston Villa career with it and still have fun.

What sliders are you using? Or just default?

Just default so far, I usually start FIFA games on default for a while so I can appreciate the changes sliders/mods do make once you implement them if they need it.

What about you, using sliders yourself?

 

[Topaz]

I just checked my playing time and I have 150 hours in this game. The only other FIFAs I have more is FIFA 16 and FIFA 17. The game is pretty good but I ended up finding it a bit too easy at the end.

 

[Anth James]

I just checked my playing time and I have 150 hours in this game. The only other FIFAs I have more is FIFA 16 and FIFA 17. The game is pretty good but I ended up finding it a bit too easy at the end.

It’s second to 16 for me in playing time too. 20 is the game where I learned all about the gameplay files!

 

[Peter Withe]

Just default so far, I usually start FIFA games on default for a while so I can appreciate the changes sliders/mods do make once you implement them if they need it.

What about you, using sliders yourself?

No I'm the same mate - default sliders but on slow speed. It's a nice game.

 

[cleanslate]

On my xbox, I have a seriously overmodified version of FIFA 20, with seemingly semi-updated squads for like top 4-6 teams in Spain, England, Italy (and only Frankfurt/Dortmund/Bayern in Germany) and some in France. And not only that but a lot of stats changes and all to lots of players and created players too.

I'm wondering what @Marlon Anthony will make of this game, if you decide its fine enough, then I'll see what I do with my game, some strange part of me feels like telling me to wipe away my efforts over 2 years of the team (although I'd be insane to do this), but more so I'm wondering what to do with the sliders and all. I always thought the shooting was somewhat of a strong point but the midfield is sort of missing until you play it on like Legendary with really skewed sliders, and the passing is alright I guess? I remember not liking the AI in the game though.

 

[Marlon Anthony]

I'm wondering what @Marlon Anthony will make of this game, if you decide its fine enough, then I'll see what I do with my game, some strange part of me feels like telling me to wipe away my efforts over 2 years of the team (although I'd be insane to do this), but more so I'm wondering what to do with the sliders and all. I always thought the shooting was somewhat of a strong point but the midfield is sort of missing until you play it on like Legendary with really skewed sliders, and the passing is alright I guess? I remember not liking the AI in the game though.

I only played a handful of games last week so my impression isn't that thorough yet, It was very fresh to me last week and then it'll be very fresh to me if I played it again tonight.

I've played a lot of FIFA 23 this week and even with good gameplay mods, it's very jarring, especially in regards to the floaty skating of players and the passing just doesn't feel very coherent at all.

So going back to something like FIFA 20 already has many quality-of-life improvements despite being the older game, how ridiculous of a circumstance is that?

The inertia of players and ball physics are very good on this game by comparison and I wonder if this is more of a next-gen issue as once FIFA 21 next-gen comes along, all of the issues seem to be exacerbated. I can see elements of 1v1 and little congestion in midfield in 20 but it's nowhere near as pronounced as it is in FIFA 21-23.

 

[cleanslate]

I only played a handful of games last week so my impression isn't that thorough yet, It was very fresh to me last week and then it'll be very fresh to me if I played it again tonight.

I've played a lot of FIFA 23 this week and even with good gameplay mods, it's very jarring, especially in regards to the floaty skating of players and the passing just doesn't feel very coherent at all.

So going back to something like FIFA 20 already has many quality-of-life improvements despite being the older game, how ridiculous of a circumstance is that?

The inertia of players and ball physics are very good on this game by comparison and I wonder if this is more of a next-gen issue as once FIFA 21 next-gen comes along, all of the issues seem to be exacerbated. I can see elements of 1v1 and little congestion in midfield in 20 but it's nowhere near as pronounced as it is in FIFA 21-23.

You're really making me wonder how - in the moment - good of a decision I had made to not buy any FIFA after 20, like I see some really bad things about these FIFAs, and I've played 21 a few times and 22 once on the PS4 , not on my end of course, and 21 seemed like it was stupid easy to create chances, I remember having some 4-4 match with or so with a friend. 22 seemed a bit paler in comparison but it felt slightly rigid like in the way you had to play was so direct and pointless (but I'm basing my 22 experience off some vague memory). So I really wonder how bad did it really get? Might actually give FIFA 20 a bash some time soon, but I want it to be on Slow and with some slow sliders.

And well, I guess the further you go for FIFA, the better it gets, really. That's just how it is. But this is Limited to 2008-2016.

 

[Marlon Anthony]

You're really making me wonder how - in the moment - good of a decision I had made to not buy any FIFA after 20, like I see some really bad things about these FIFAs, and I've played 21 a few times and 22 once on the PS4 , not on my end of course, and 21 seemed like it was stupid easy to create chances, I remember having some 4-4 match with or so with a friend. 22 seemed a bit paler in comparison but it felt slightly rigid like in the way you had to play was so direct and pointless (but I'm basing my 22 experience off some vague memory). So I really wonder how bad did it really get? Might actually give FIFA 20 a bash some time soon, but I want it to be on Slow and with some slow sliders.

And well, I guess the further you go for FIFA, the better it gets, really. That's just how it is. But this is Limited to 2008-2016.

Well it's true that if you work backwards they focus more and more on the fundamentals of football, of course the chronology since last gen and onwards that each subsequent year there's more of an aggressive focus on online, FUT MTX and catering to eSports and casuals who don't care for serious football experience or strategy & earning your goals.

Combine that with a generation hooked on trivial dopamine release on a constant basis alongside lower attention spans than ever and you have modern FIFA - It's an ADHD cocktail.

 

[cleanslate]

I only played a handful of games last week so my impression isn't that thorough yet, It was very fresh to me last week and then it'll be very fresh to me if I played it again tonight.

Coming back to this, I decided to get on FIFA 20 and did a whole lot of tweaks to the sliders. Quite massive ones. I'll post them if you want but I don't think you'll or most people would like it anyway, but for me I managed to tweak them JUST enough for there to be a balance, and unfortunately I was still very annoyed by the lack of fouls (by the AI), even after I somewhat managed to increased Congestion in the Midfield

This is what will probably always keep me away from FIFA 20. After playing PES (more so 5-15 and 17) , fouls are a big miss in FIFA.

 

[Marlon Anthony]

Coming back to this, I decided to get on FIFA 20 and did a whole lot of tweaks to the sliders. Quite massive ones. I'll post them if you want but I don't think you'll or most people would like it anyway, but for me I managed to tweak them JUST enough for there to be a balance, and unfortunately I was still very annoyed by the lack of fouls (by the AI), even after I somewhat managed to increased Congestion in the Midfield

This is what will probably always keep me away from FIFA 20. After playing PES (more so 5-15 and 17) , fouls are a big miss in FIFA.

Yeah I imagine this is the kind era onwards where sliders don't make as much of an influence as they did on older games. Might speed up or slow down certain things but not much can be done to condense the teams on the pitch or make the COM more aggressive with sliders alone.

Fouls are a delicate balance though, PES 5 is my favourite PES of all time but damn I can't deny the fouls and infringements are excessive on that game. After coming from other great football games and going to PES 5, the match flow can almost get spoiled by the near constant fouls. Having said that they massivley improve this in WE9LE which is virtually the same game so my point stands.

But to the contrary I do agree, when there's next to none at all like in recent FIFA's, it removes a massive element of football which is freekicks and setplays. You can be lucky to even have any in like 3 matches.

 

[cleanslate]

Yeah I imagine this is the kind era onwards where sliders don't make as much of an influence as they did on older games. Might speed up or slow down certain things but not much can be done to condense the teams on the pitch or make the COM more aggressive with sliders alone.

Fouls are a delicate balance though, PES 5 is my favourite PES of all time but damn I can't deny the fouls and infringements are excessive on that game. After coming from other great football games and going to PES 5, the match flow can almost get spoiled by the near constant fouls. Having said that they massivley improve this in WE9LE which is virtually the same game so my point stands.

But to the contrary I do agree, when there's next to none at all like in recent FIFA's, it removes a massive element of football which is freekicks and setplays. You can be lucky to even have any in like 3 matches.

I had 1 foul in 4 matches when I was trialling my sliders trying to find a balance

PES 5 does have a lot but it can also sometimes vary on your playstyle. on the usual there are about 8 fouls in a game, which I think is pretty realistic, sometimes slightly more which happens against better teams but does piss me off when they keep running at me and anything results in a foul by the ref

 

[cleanslate]

@Marlon Anthony @rockstrongo @Anth James

Have you guys played FIFA 19? So since 20 was the first game where they introduced all the 1v1 and stuff , How does 19 fare in comparison to 20 and then further releases? What do you make of it in that case? Is it better than 20? At the time 19 came out, I didn't buy it - but a small hindsight part of me makes me feel like I played the Demo of 19 when it came out and liked it.

Was it heavier than a normal FIFA? For some reason my vague clouded memory of 19's Demo makes me feel like that - although I have no idea otherwise.

 

[rockstrongo]

@Marlon Anthony @rockstrongo @Anth James

Have you guys played FIFA 19? So since 20 was the first game where they introduced all the 1v1 and stuff , How does 19 fare in comparison to 20 and then further releases? What do you make of it in that case? Is it better than 20? At the time 19 came out, I didn't buy it - but a small hindsight part of me makes me feel like I played the Demo of 19 when it came out and liked it.

Was it heavier than a normal FIFA? For some reason my vague clouded memory of 19's Demo makes me feel like that - although I have no idea otherwise.

A hard game to rate tbh.
I found it quite "direct" from the CPU, always quick always straight forward when building attacks.
But all in all a good game.
För me( no pc patching etc)
17
15
16
19
18
And that's all console FIFA's
Might have 16 higher, but prefer the ai of both 15 and 17 before 16.

Give 19 a try, it's a pretty decent game

 

[cleanslate]

A hard game to rate tbh.
I found it quite "direct" from the CPU, always quick always straight forward when building attacks.
But all in all a good game.
För me( no pc patching etc)
17
15
16
19
18
And that's all console FIFA's
Might have 16 higher, but prefer the ai of both 15 and 17 before 16.

Give 19 a try, it's a pretty decent game

Interesting that you rate 17 that high. For a long time I didn't like the directness of 17 in my memory, so some days ago , I finally decided to jump on 17 again - with Matt10 OS Sliders (slightly modified runs and length (but very little) to my liking) and the first game - City vs United :

It ended 0:0 but it was AMAZING, 8 Minutes and Slow Gameplay Speed. If I remember correctly.... like 3 fouls from me (United) and 5 from the AI. 8 Fouls in total felt quite refreshing..compared to 16 where there are fouls but 3-4 a game which is ok.. But I consider at least 4 fouls a game (2 from user and 2 from AI) the minimum for a good Foul system.. World Class difficulty I should mention on that first game. (and all games)

Now I started playing some more games - Barcelona vs Real Madrid , Juventus vs Barcelona, Udinese vs Fiorentina etc. And Suddenly, there were not as many fouls from the AI? All on the Same Settings

I noticed more fouls from me (3-4) but way less from the CPU (1 or 2) compared to that City game where the City AI had 5 fouls on me..
It pushed me back from the game again after that first game I was so happy. Not to mention I felt some Physicallity being helpful (like Big Fellani in that United team) and AI having more build up in that City game.. suddenly a lot of that seemed to be reduced 50-70% in the next games I played..

I don't know what happened or what sort of effect this is. But could you think of something?

 

[rockstrongo]

Interesting that you rate 17 that high. For a long time I didn't like the directness of 17 in my memory, so some days ago , I finally decided to jump on 17 again - with Matt10 OS Sliders (slightly modified runs and length (but very little) to my liking) and the first game - City vs United :

It ended 0:0 but it was AMAZING, 8 Minutes and Slow Gameplay Speed. If I remember correctly.... like 3 fouls from me (United) and 5 from the AI. 8 Fouls in total felt quite refreshing..compared to 16 where there are fouls but 3-4 a game which is ok.. But I consider at least 4 fouls a game (2 from user and 2 from AI) the minimum for a good Foul system.. World Class difficulty I should mention on that first game. (and all games)

Now I started playing some more games - Barcelona vs Real Madrid , Juventus vs Barcelona, Udinese vs Fiorentina etc. And Suddenly, there were not as many fouls from the AI? All on the Same Settings

I noticed more fouls from me (3-4) but way less from the CPU (1 or 2) compared to that City game where the City AI had 5 fouls on me..
It pushed me back from the game again after that first game I was so happy. Not to mention I felt some Physicallity being helpful (like Big Fellani in that United team) and AI having more build up in that City game.. suddenly a lot of that seemed to be reduced 50-70% in the next games I played..

I don't know what happened or what sort of effect this is. But could you think of something?

Hmmm , no clue
But i always feel that the first game/games play a lot better than game 3-4 and onwards, not sure thats the case but ive always felt that with Fifa.
When it comes to Fifa i dont think ive ever played as a big team,or hardly in the big leagues.
Think Bundesliga and La liga could be fun when playing as a smaller team, but Premier League has always felt overpowered on Fifa.

edit: i know sometimes WC can be tricky/cheaty, even though thats my prefered difficulty, i sometimes play on LEG or the case with Fifa 19 ultimate difficulty with (cant remember his name) sliders that have very high first touch error and pass/shooting errors and that takes down the cpus sharpness but still very tough to beat in defense
Klebstar is the name of the slider maker, you should find those slider on Operation sports

 

[cleanslate]

Hmmm , no clue
But i always feel that the first game/games play a lot better than game 3-4 and onwards, not sure thats the case but ive always felt that with Fifa.
When it comes to Fifa i dont think ive ever played as a big team,or hardly in the big leagues.
Think Bundesliga and La liga could be fun when playing as a smaller team, but Premier League has always felt overpowered on Fifa.

edit: i know sometimes WC can be tricky/cheaty, even though thats my prefered difficulty, i sometimes play on LEG or the case with Fifa 19 ultimate difficulty with (cant remember his name) sliders that have very high first touch error and pass/shooting errors and that takes down the cpus sharpness but still very tough to beat in defense
Klebstar is the name of the slider maker, you should find those slider on Operation sports

Do you think starting a Career mode with a 2nd tier Spanish / German / Italian team would make the gameplay a bit more physical and more like the first game I played vs City with more fouls? (Considering the teams are closer in proximity and not like First tiers where there are top 2-4 teams and then the mid table is close and then the gap gets bigger towards Relegation sides)

And yeah World Class is good but sometimes you can definitely feel the script - and sometimes this happens quite a bit: When the AI strings literal Sting rays speed tiki taka passes continuously to the attack like a script (even with lowered passing speed and all); So makes me feel like Professional might be the best balance after all.

 

[rockstrongo]

Do you think starting a Career mode with a 2nd tier Spanish / German / Italian team would make the gameplay a bit more physical and more like the first game I played vs City with more fouls? (Considering the teams are closer in proximity and not like First tiers where there are top 2-4 teams and then the mid table is close and then the gap gets bigger towards Relegation sides)

And yeah World Class is good but sometimes you can definitely feel the script - and sometimes this happens quite a bit: When the AI strings literal Sting rays speed tiki taka passes continuously to the attack like a script (even with lowered passing speed and all); So makes me feel like Professional might be the best balance after all.

Not sure if more physical if you play lower league but deffo more fun and less cheaty.
when it comes to 19 i remember getting a lot (for fifa) freekicks, but that might have changed with patches during its life span.

 

[TheWolf]

@Marlon Anthony @rockstrongo @Anth James

Have you guys played FIFA 19? So since 20 was the first game where they introduced all the 1v1 and stuff , How does 19 fare in comparison to 20 and then further releases? What do you make of it in that case? Is it better than 20? At the time 19 came out, I didn't buy it - but a small hindsight part of me makes me feel like I played the Demo of 19 when it came out and liked it.

Was it heavier than a normal FIFA? For some reason my vague clouded memory of 19's Demo makes me feel like that - although I have no idea otherwise.

19 has become my favorite FIFA overall. The graphics are so much better than 23 in terms of smoothness, non-skaty and the gameplay blows 21-23 out of the water.

 

[*aLe]

I've just done a very, very stupid thing...

I bought FIFA 20 for Xbox One (after all, it didn't cost much at all and, of course, I didn't have it boxed for PC).
Well, I'll see how it plays unpatched, hopefully it's enjoyable.
If it's not, well, I just wasted 6€.

 

[Tibokan]

I've just done a very, very stupid thing...

I bought FIFA 20 for Xbox One (after all, it didn't cost much at all and, of course, I didn't have it boxed for PC).
Well, I'll see how it plays unpatched, hopefully it's enjoyable.
If it's not, well, I just wasted 6€.

It’s not as bad as people make out, most of the bad reviews you see online are due to Ultimate Team gameplay exploits (near post goals, super-meta players like Ben Yedder), which pissed a lot of people off.

Outside of the introduction of 1v1 defending (worst thing EA has ever done), the game plays pretty well and is relatively fun in Volta and career mode, some good variety to the AI, player stats actually matter, minimal skating/animation issues, nice graphics and stadium selection (e.g. lots of new stadiums that weren’t in 19, particularly for the Bundesliga).

 

[Tibokan]

Well, I'll see how it plays unpatched, hopefully it's enjoyable.

It’s actually better patched in my opinion, as unpatched is a game breaking bugfest for career mode (it’s where #FixCareerMode came from). Fully patched gameplay is also mostly similar to unpatched too, so you aren’t gaining much.

 

[rockstrongo]

FIFA 20 was a weird one for me.
didnt buy it on release, think i got it 6 months later.
Anyway, a broken game for sure when released, teams didnt play their best players etc, loads of bugs in it
But once patched, and once i got used to the dreadful 1v1 i acctually liked it.
The best thing with this version of 1v1 defending was that i brought in an element of difficulty to it.
You could dominate teams on the offensive end but one slip in defending and you could lose the game.
So it added that extra "stay sharp" to it which i liked

One thing i remember is that pre patched teams who won the league could do it on quite few points since there were so many draws.
But after the patches it got very tough to win leagues, palyed both PL and BL careers on it and both Liverpool and Bayern could win the league only losing 1-2 games-
Still to this day one of my most played FIfa games.
Think it looked something like this
Stuttgart 2 seasons
Leverkusen 4 season
Schalke 3 seasons
Dusseldorf 1 season
Aston Villa 2 seasons
Dusseldorf 2 seasons (again)
Thats 14 seasons

Would i like it today vs my 15, not sure, but liked it then

 

[Tibokan]

didnt buy it on release, think i got it 6 months later.

I played it on console (Xbox) on release, hated it for ages, mainly due to the ridiculous amount of bugs, and then started to enjoy it a lot more once it was fully patched. I grew to appreciate it a lot more after FIFA 21 was released (which, in my opinion, is the worst FIFA ever released).

Would i like it today vs my 15, not sure, but liked it then

There is no comparison in my mind, 15 (and pretty much any FIFA pre-20) is on another planet. I reckon a better comparison would be that FIFA 20 is the best of the old gen 1v1 FIFAs (20 to 22), but that's not saying much lol. If FIFA 19 had all of 20's content (mainly all of those tasty Bundesliga stadiums that were introduced in 20, and Volta mode), I would uninstall 20 instantly and never play it ever again.

 

[rockstrongo]

I grew to appreciate it a lot more after FIFA 21 was released (which, in my opinion, is the worst FIFA ever released).

I tried playing FIFA 21 when it was free on gamepass, this immidiately after/during my FIFA 20 gaming, and yes it was absolutely horrible,worst game ive played.
Lesson learned and that was my last fifa played of the modern ones, skipped 22-23 and will not touch EAFC 24

 

[*aLe]

@rockstrongo I've been playing for a couple of hours with FIFA 20 tonight, following the discussion about the Bundesliga we had yesterday.
Is it me or the 1v1 is almost bearable in FIFA 20, at least when attacking?

I remember seeing defenders stop dead in their tracks many many times in FIFA 22 exactly when another defender would start challenging my forward like it was a relay race (haven't played FIFA 21 enough to judge it) but I don't see that much in FIFA 20. I think that it is implemented in a less "obtrusive" way than it is in FIFA 22.

While defending, well, also in FIFA 20 1v1 actually shows more and throws spanner after spanner after spanner in the works when you're trying to defend a tiny lead... It forces you to occasionally "jump" to another defender and to correct his position so the attackers of the AI team would not end up totally alone in the box, but...
Other than that it's not as annoying as I thought it would be, in FIFA 20.

I'd probably still pick a vanilla FIFA 19 over FIFA 20 (even fully patched as @Tibokan suggested) but I've had my share of fun also with 20 tonight.

I feel it's a little easier than 19 though.
I'm playing friendlies and I'm always trying to make teams with similar ratings face each other (for example, if I pick a two star rated team, also the AI would get a two star rated team): I get mixed results in FIFA 19 on Professional (and get regular beatings on World Class) but I consistently win in FIFA 20 on Profesisonal, getting those mixed results on World Class.

 

[millossobek]

I've decided to give FIFA 20 a shot. Let's see how it goes for me!

I was about to post this at the PC discussion thread, but that one's largely inactive.