I am honestly going to have to bite the bullet here, but it is something I should do, and something I realized after playing with my friend, I have to do for conscious sake.
Awhile ago, I made a scathing review on the game. Calling out many of its supposed faults, and criticizing its apparent randomness at times.
Moreover, although there are bugs, as there are in every game. (Videos online will show goalies just throwing the ball to the opposing player, which are funny, but frustrating.)
I do not feel I am able, in good heart and intention to give the game a bad review.

Initially, I posted a bad review with 75% favorable rating and 85 of 116 people finding it useful, and although it is my highest ever review, I honestly believe people just hate on the game because many of them do not understand Football. I realize, I sure didn't. I made these seemingly unstoppable tactics, that would work for a bit, and fall apart, or I would have downloaded tactics that worked for 90% of the people except me, random goals going in at random times of the game, back and forth stuff.
Honestly? I am an idiot. The game plays great once you start sitting down, and putting time into your players, your coaches, your strengths, and weaknesses, the game fully comes to life.
I had a friend, who has played 1000's of hours throughout the FM games, who stopped to help me with some of my tactics, we spent several hours going through players, my tactics, my squad's abilities, shortfalls, and the like. After he had offered some critical analysis and fine tuning of my tactical approaches, I began winning. I started doing things to fit the complexity of the game.

See, the thing is I think most of the people on here ranting about the game being horrible, are like myself. Over-zealous football fans who attempt to reflect the ideal tactic in their head. Many of these self-proclaimed managers will try these, and get mad when they do not work. Despite not looking farther under the surface. The games complexities are both shockingly beautiful, and somewhat scary, with hundreds of different combinations running at a single time calculating what the player will do realistically.
Those random short goals I had been on the opposing end of, were because of a lack of mental ability in my players. They simply were not able to focus and stay working for a full 90 minutes. After I had destroyed most of my defense core in favor of mentally sound players first, with the others coming secondary, I began to notice a stark difference in my previous attempts, as opposed to my revamped force. They were taking the field in style, pushing down when I said to push, retreating at the right times, their heads were in the game.

This is why I cannot in good heart give the game a bad review. The game has seemingly infinite complexity through player choice, decisions, and behind the scenes rolls. A player with great stats might do good for 20 minutes of the game, and fall apart to a worse player, who puts his heart on the pitch for the full 90 minutes and starts to pick the more skilled man apart.
I do realize that some people who play the game have a lot of previous experience with football games, and although I do not put their opinions on the hotpan, I do think that some of them are mis-informed, or simply not trying to change, perhaps to a excess of hubrus. Despite the reason, at the end of the day, Football Manager 2017 is much improved in terms of mental A.I on the pitch, many bug fixes, and the dreaded cross storm from last year.

If you like the Fm series this game is definitly a must buy.



If you are interested in what I had said in my previous review, I will keep it posted below for those curious.
A weight off my shoulders, for good reason.
-Jeep


This game is garbage.
Zero innovation, nothing has changed. Literally, watch a FM17 video on youtube and compare it to 16, they literally updated rosters and reuploaded it. U.I the same, Match engine the same, (Player decisions were apparently improved despite them STILL doing random glitchy stupid things.) You wouldn't even notice it was a different game.
Crosses, although drastically reduce, count for a ridiculous portion of goals scored still.
Random unexplainable breakdowns in this game are ridiculous. I swear half of them are thrown in just for drama, leading 5-0 at the second half, they score 1, 2, 3, all in 5 minutes. I sub, make changes, talk to my players, 4, I change more. 5, 6, and I lose at the end of the game 7-5, despite being full defensive and parking the bus, against a team half my size and skill, they make a 7 goal comeback? Okay?.... There are many other situations like this, this just being the most recent before I RQ.

The game hasn't had anything changed, the game is still random in scoring, look at other reviews other than my own. Unexplainable action players take despite player instruction riddle this game with randomness and half of your players don't listen to your tactics.
Another recent example from my game, I have a Short foot to foot passing on, dribbling there way up the pitch once control is established. That's the idea, but does he follow it? Of course not! Once we acquire the ball, he hurdles up the side of the pitch (against no dribbling instruction) cuts into the middle (despite me telling plays to maintain their shape and position on the field) and B-lines the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ball across the entire field into the chest of an opposing fullback, the ball comes back down the pitch and I get scored on.
This game is ridiculous with random breakdowns, defensive breakdowns, random inability to score halfway through the season despite being 1st place and most in scoring prior. SUDDENLY they cannot finish to save their lives. I want to say it is just the players on that team, but I cant, because looking at other reviews, everyone is having this problem. Not to mention it happens on 3 different teams I have tried playing as. You can have an entire team filled with hard working determined players who are not supposed to quit playing until the end of the game and give their heart. But they suddenly get complacent anyway and lead to goals against and you lose the game.

I am serious when I say, this game will make the most calm person into a raging lunatic watching every single lead they establish in a game fall away because players quit listening to instructions halfway through the game and lead to blowouts from teams 2 leagues below you.
And before anyone pulls the card that I just not know what I am doing, I have played FM games since 2013, take a look at my steam library. This game is just bad, no innovation, nothing improved, same seemingly random match engine, if you want to pay full price for an updated roster of 2016, then its just as good or better. But if you paid full price expecting a new completed game with fun features and the horrible match engine finally patched, it's literally a copy and paste.
4/10

EDIT: Love losing my final game because despite me teling my keeper less risky passes, pass it short, AND distribute to defenders, he take the ball and punts it up field and brings it back to score on me. Just happened. I swear to god I woudn't rage at this game so much if the A.I listened to basic commands like PASS IT SHORT.

I am honestly going to have to bite the bullet here, but it is something I should do, and something I realized after playing with my friend, I have to do for conscious sake. Awhile ago, I made a scathing review on the game. Calling out many of its supposed faults, and criticizing its apparent randomness at times. Moreover, although there are bugs, as there are in every game. (Videos online will show goalies just throwing the ball to the opposing player, which are funny, but frustrating.) I do not feel I am able, in good heart and intention to give the game a bad review. Initially, I posted a bad review with 75% favorable rating and 85 of 116 people finding it useful, and although it is my highest ever review, I honestly believe people just hate on the game because many of them do not understand Football. I realize, I sure didn't. I made these seemingly unstoppable tactics, that would work for a bit, and fall apart, or I would have downloaded tactics that worked for 90% of the people except me, random goals going in at random times of the game, back and forth stuff. Honestly? I am an idiot. The game plays great once you start sitting down, and putting time into your players, your coaches, your strengths, and weaknesses, the game fully comes to life. I had a friend, who has played 1000's of hours throughout the FM games, who stopped to help me with some of my tactics, we spent several hours going through players, my tactics, my squad's abilities, shortfalls, and the like. After he had offered some critical analysis and fine tuning of my tactical approaches, I began winning. I started doing things to fit the complexity of the game. See, the thing is I think most of the people on here ranting about the game being horrible, are like myself. Over-zealous football fans who attempt to reflect the ideal tactic in their head. Many of these self-proclaimed managers will try these, and get mad when they do not work. Despite not looking farther under the surface. The games complexities are both shockingly beautiful, and somewhat scary, with hundreds of different combinations running at a single time calculating what the player will do realistically. Those random short goals I had been on the opposing end of, were because of a lack of mental ability in my players. They simply were not able to focus and stay working for a full 90 minutes. After I had destroyed most of my defense core in favor of mentally sound players first, with the others coming secondary, I began to notice a stark difference in my previous attempts, as opposed to my revamped force. They were taking the field in style, pushing down when I said to push, retreating at the right times, their heads were in the game. This is why I cannot in good heart give the game a bad review. The game has seemingly infinite complexity through player choice, decisions, and behind the scenes rolls. A player with great stats might do good for 20 minutes of the game, and fall apart to a worse player, who puts his heart on the pitch for the full 90 minutes and starts to pick the more skilled man apart. I do realize that some people who play the game have a lot of previous experience with football games, and although I do not put their opinions on the hotpan, I do think that some of them are mis-informed, or simply not trying to change, perhaps to a excess of hubrus. Despite the reason, at the end of the day, Football Manager 2017 is much improved in terms of mental A.I on the pitch, many bug fixes, and the dreaded cross storm from last year. If you like the Fm series this game is definitly a must buy. If you are interested in what I had said in my previous review, I will keep it posted below for those curious. A weight off my shoulders, for good reason. -Jeep This game is garbage. Zero innovation, nothing has changed. Literally, watch a FM17 video on youtube and compare it to 16, they literally updated rosters and reuploaded it. U.I the same, Match engine the same, (Player decisions were apparently improved despite them STILL doing random glitchy stupid things.) You wouldn't even notice it was a different game. Crosses, although drastically reduce, count for a ridiculous portion of goals scored still. Random unexplainable breakdowns in this game are ridiculous. I swear half of them are thrown in just for drama, leading 5-0 at the second half, they score 1, 2, 3, all in 5 minutes. I sub, make changes, talk to my players, 4, I change more. 5, 6, and I lose at the end of the game 7-5, despite being full defensive and parking the bus, against a team half my size and skill, they make a 7 goal comeback? Okay?.... There are many other situations like this, this just being the most recent before I RQ. The game hasn't had anything changed, the game is still random in scoring, look at other reviews other than my own. Unexplainable action players take despite player instruction riddle this game with randomness and half of your players don't listen to your tactics. Another recent example from my game, I have a Short foot to foot passing on, dribbling there way up the pitch once control is established. That's the idea, but does he follow it? Of course not! Once we acquire the ball, he hurdles up the side of the pitch (against no dribbling instruction) cuts into the middle (despite me telling plays to maintain their shape and position on the field) and B-lines the god damn ball across the entire field into the chest of an opposing fullback, the ball comes back down the pitch and I get scored on. This game is ridiculous with random breakdowns, defensive breakdowns, random inability to score halfway through the season despite being 1st place and most in scoring prior. SUDDENLY they cannot finish to save their lives. I want to say it is just the players on that team, but I cant, because looking at other reviews, everyone is having this problem. Not to mention it happens on 3 different teams I have tried playing as. You can have an entire team filled with hard working determined players who are not supposed to quit playing until the end of the game and give their heart. But they suddenly get complacent anyway and lead to goals against and you lose the game. I am serious when I say, this game will make the most calm person into a raging lunatic watching every single lead they establish in a game fall away because players quit listening to instructions halfway through the game and lead to blowouts from teams 2 leagues below you. And before anyone pulls the card that I just not know what I am doing, I have played FM games since 2013, take a look at my steam library. This game is just bad, no innovation, nothing improved, same seemingly random match engine, if you want to pay full price for an updated roster of 2016, then its just as good or better. But if you paid full price expecting a new completed game with fun features and the horrible match engine finally patched, it's literally a copy and paste. 4/10 EDIT: Love losing my final game because despite me teling my keeper less risky passes, pass it short, AND distribute to defenders, he take the ball and punts it up field and brings it back to score on me. Just happened. I swear to god I woudn't rage at this game so much if the A.I listened to basic commands like PASS IT SHORT.