In other news, I've been playing a ton of "EA Sports FC 24", in the Master League-equivalent "Career Manager" mode. As is my usual wont, I picked a tiny Serie B team-- in this case, the "only existed since 2009" Feralpisalò-- and have built them up from an aging squad worth less than ten million Euro, to essentially an all-star U-23 team worth over forty million Euro.
The game has an avatar builder for your manager, this is as close as I could get to myself-- it's not bad, he's even wearing a collared shirt and a sweater beneath a black pea coat, almost identical to me in reality! I'm just a lot more bald in real life, and my glasses aren't of the hipster "Clark Kent" variety. As usual, click on any of the images for the larger originals:
One of the games took place in the snow, I thought the artwork was really good:
Too bad Lazio isn't licensed in the game-- the players are real, but the team name and kits are imitations. I faced them in the Coppa at the Olimpico in this screenshot:
Here is how the initial season finished. I won the league and the Coppa Italia, playing on the middle "Professional" difficulty. I've gotten a lot better at the game with practice, it was really a struggle coming from "Pro Evo", which plays a lot differently. Look at Jebbison's goal contributions, and Yildiz's assists. In real life, I wouldn't be surprised if Yildiz is the next Cristiano Ronaldo; similar physique, similar abilities as teenagers:
Here is what the team looks like now, as I'm just beginning my maiden Serie A season. I have some of the most promising young players in the game according to "SoFIFA":
These last few are just of my avatar. When you negotiate, a pseudo-random model is picked as your sparring partner by the game logic, from a preselected bunch. Sometimes you get the real coach of a team, but other times not. One of those preselected models looks exactly like a friend of mine from work-- I just had to take a couple of screenshots, for laughs.
If I get bored with the "Manager Career" mode, the tradeable card game "FIFA Ultimate Team" is pretty fun too-- it's like squad building-lite: a bit more low-key and relaxed than the full-fledged franchise mode-style experience I'm accustomed to.