Just got the Champs League game today...cant wait to test it..

I fear Terra's Saha.

Wassup guys!!! ?? Anyone else had their first taste of Champions' League? My Ultimate Team is still at Level 3. Haven't been playing as I was travelling. I'll be back tonite though, rest assured.

So now zio and loko both have CL? Cool ... we should play our Ultimate Team online.

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Added on March 26, 2007, 11:22 amhahaha .... no la. My Ultimate Team still no Saha .... those Gold Pack players too expensive right now for my budget. Also, when I last played, I saw Manchester United home kit on sale at the Card Exchange for 5,000 Credits. And next hour I checked, someone actually bought it!! Lagi shock!! Now my total budget left only 2,300 Credits. Quite intesting .....



This post has been edited by terranova: Mar 26 2007, 11:22 AM

I played it last night and boy, was I amazed. This is what FIFA07 should have been. Other than the super dribbling abilities as well as the super goalkeeper of the opponent, the other stuff seems to have fit perfectly into the scheme of things.

You need to do more passing now although Cristiano "I am God" Ronaldo can still dribble half the field on his own. I agree that the face suffers from a certain unnatural glow but then, the graphics have improved by leaps and bounds. I mean, the face mapping is actually better. Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't look fat now.

Best of all, they fixed the replay system. Now that I am really happy about.

All in all, this is a much better game than FIFA07 although its only the Champions League. Looks like EA Sports sat up and took notice of their shortcomings in FIFA07 and took CL as the test bed for the improvements.

Good stuff indeed. I have yet to try out the Ultimate Team mode but I am sure I will love it. Seeing how I am into trading card games and all

Yup. Ive been playing the game for 2 nites in a row since I got my new 360. didnt even bother to hook up to xbox live. In terms of gameplay, its an improvement and the graphic is sharper. I love the glow effect that comes with playing games at night ala champions league...really nice feel to it..have yet to play the card thingy but will try it 2nite. Overall, very impressive...c

ant wait to dominate you guys in online play!

loko, add back me into your friends list. I removed you from my friend's list cause i thought you will never play 360 again. hehehe

Good to see everyone enjoying their CL. Yes, it's so strange that this is the first time I've picked up a footie game and hardly have the urge to go play online. The Ultimate Team mode is really getting very interesting now, as you progress through the levels en route to the Golden Ticket. I just completed Level 4 and on my final Level 5 now. You start to see those familiar big names appearing now ... both big clubs and big-name players.

The Card Exchange is now reasonably populated (guess more players in the swarm now), and with that you see many more choices on the Card Exchange. It's interesting to watch how capitalism works its way into this. As I mentioned earlier, saw a Man U home kit going for 5,000 Credits. Last nite, saw the Man U badge on sale for 2,000 Credits. Barcelona kit selling for 5k as well, Juventus for 2k, someone was selling Cristiano Ronaldo for 5k. I picked up a Chelsea home kit for 700 Credit becos I got tired of my Generic Level 2 kits. I wished I could afford the Man U kit. Bought my first Gold Pack last nite (Gold Packs are priced at 1,000 Credits per pack and available only when you reach Level 5 - Silver Packs are available from Level 3 onwards), and ended up with "golden balls" Beckham in the pack. He was up for sale in the Card Exchange for 5,000 Credits earlier, but I got him thru a Gold Pack for only 1,000 Credits + a few other Silver/Gold players and Cards. Not a bad deal then .......

The Contract Extension cards are beginning to become priceless now, as each player only has a finite number of games that you can play him. So you need a good Manager (with high Contract Extension attribute) + the Contract Extension cards to extend key players' contracts. If they are at their last game, they dissappear from your line-up after their last game. No bye-bye or anything (hahaha). So you better not play them if you intend to keep them. Keep them on the bench (don't use them as substitutes even) and wait until you have a Contract Extension card in hand. Therefore, I always find myself juggling my first 11 line-up due to contract expiration limitations or due to injury (my players always seem to get head injuries!).

Also, unlike FIFA07, the Chemistry factor plays a key role in the success/failure of a team. In FIFA07, most of us don't give a hoot about this Chemistry thingy. In CL, it's quite different. A low team Chemistry depletes Fitness faster and lowers other Stats/Attributes during a game. You have to buy players and build a team with players that make up good Chemistry, so sometimes even a lower-stats player is crucial to the overall team Chemistry and must be played vs a higher-stats player. Chemistry is determined by several factors, including nationality of the players, their preferred formation, Manager's nationality, etc.

My goalkeeper has proven his worth and I've been using him since early Level 2. He's still with me at Level 5. I have been using the Training Cards for goalkeepers to increase his diving/handling/1-on-1 stats etc, so now his overall rating has improved as we progressed through the game. Good keep that one. Surprisingly, Peter Crouch (got him at tail end of Level 3) is quite decent in this game and have been using him upfront together with Marlon King (of Watford) throughout Level 4. So keeping key players are vital, and for that you need Contract Extension cards, and that's why you can now see those cards on the Card Exchange selling for > 1,000 Credits a piece. I think it is cheaper if you just take a chance and buy the Bronze Pack at a measly 100 Credits a pop, and hope that there are some Contract Extension cards in there. If not, just throw those cards you don't need or put them into your Collectors' Album, and try buying another Bronze Pack. Eventually, the odds are 1:3 that you get at least one if not more Contract Extension cards with those Bronze Packs. Anyway, that's my strategy.

What irks me is the dribbling skills of the AI. Very hard to steal ball while in their possession. Other than that, this is truly a brilliant game. The more I play it, the more engrossing it gets, and the more you discover the many intricate layers of this game. Building & managing a team is now fun. Absolutely brilliant.

This post has been edited by terranova: Mar 27 2007, 03:10 PM

wahhh..
i just sempat play demo onli

I found a way against the uber dribbling skills of the AI. A well timed sliding tackle and its quite easy to execute.

Either that or gang up on the dribbler by pressing B and holding on to it. A second player will join in and try to rob the ball.

Yesterday I was playing the CL mode and went against Olympiakos in the Second Round. First leg 2-2 where they went 2-0 against me and I clawed my way back via Ronaldo and Scholes (brilliant left shot I might add).

Second leg beckons and I was 1-0 down in 20 minutes. On the stroke of halftime, Larsson equalised and in the 82nd minute, Rooney hit the winner. It was so intense, it felt so real.

Still yet to explore the Ultimate Team yet, I wanna go win Champs League with Man Utd first. Next up, Juventus!

Point noted. I agree with you and I've tried that several times. Just make sure you don't slide from behind, and must go for the ball, or else it's an auto yellow card.

However, in Ultimate Mode, I cannot afford to get yellow-carded because 2 yellows in 3 games and its an auto 1-game suspension. I just cannot risk it, seeing that I have so grapple with injury and make sure I have a full field of players to choose from.

In hindsight, that's a good way to progress through the game. Because by the time you finish with the Champions' League tourney, you should already have accumulated enough Credits to start with a bang in Ultimate Team mode.

Maybe I should continue with my Champions' League tonite. I stopped playing once I got to the knock-out stages. Then I started on Ultimate Team mode and never looked back.


This post has been edited by terranova: Mar 27 2007, 11:36 AM

sorry for hijacking this trend.....

@Terra, commander of the BOCP. pls come back to GRAW!

Hahahaha .... ROTFL!

Edit - Damn! Just realised 3pm onwards got Live Maintenance until 5am tomorrow. Looks like no Ultimate Team mode tonite. Good also ... I can finish my Champions' League offline mode.

@ loko - looks like we won't be playing tonite after all.

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Added on March 28, 2007, 11:43 amIMO, the Demo doesn't do the game justice.

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Added on March 28, 2007, 11:40 amFor those of you who have yet to play the Ultimate Team mode, take note of the following known bug in the Card Exchange server.

You will know that when you want to sell your unwanted Cards online, you post them onto the Card Exchange server and from there, others online will know what Cards you're selling and your asking price. You can post up to a maximum of 10 Cards for sale at any one time. When a Card is sold, you remove it from the Exchange. No problems here.

If a Card is posted online for 10 days and remain unsold, it will automatically go back to your Trade Pile. Mine hasn't reached 10 days yet, so no conclusion on this.

There is also a feature that allows you to withdraw (retract) Cards that you have posted online but have remained unsold, to make way for newer/better Cards. Currently, the server is screwed up because this withdraw function doesn't work. That means those of us who posted our earlier Cards for lowly players e.g. ratings of 50s-60s cannot withdraw these to make way for Gold Card players with high ratings, ie higher asking price. Hope EA fixes this soon.

So for those of you yet to start posting your Cards online, suggest you take note of this, and perhaps defer posting useless Cards for sale on the Exchange. Or you may end up with a lot of Silver/Gold cards in your Trade Pile that you cannot sell on the Card Exchange because of this bug.

This post has been edited by terranova: Mar 28 2007, 11:44 AM

haha guys... is it a really good game???
I thought of getting one...

@loko - are we ON for tonite?? We can try out our Ultimate Team. Btw, I finished the Champions' League with Man U last nite (when Live was down) and earned some achievements and more importantly, about 4,000 Credits along the way!! Wohooo!!!! Bought a Gold Pack and ended up with Oliver Kahn as my goalkeeper now.

How to say for sure - different people have differing views on the same thing. Personally, I love the game and think it's the best football game todate for the 360. You should try it out (demo) first and decide for yourself.


This post has been edited by terranova: Mar 28 2007, 05:49 PM

Can, but i still have yet to try the ultimate team..got home yesterday from work and so damn tired went straight to sleep...old man lah..no stamina...need to drink red bull or one of those tongkat ali drinks....

c u online mate...

Cheers

Brudder, if u r an old man, then that makes me a dinosaur. I haven't slept well all week due to longer than usual hours at work, and have to fly off again tomorrow morning until Sat nite. So let's get it on tonite, otherwise I'll catch u on Sat nite.

Sorry bro, another late night at the opis last nite..catch u on saturday while i try to beef up my ultimate team!

Cheers

@ loko and zio - when are we playing together again, bros? Hand itchy to try out my Ultimate Team with u guys la ....

Bought the Man U home and away kit from the Card Exchange. Cost me 1,500 Credits ... good buys! Hahaha .... With that, I'm selling off my Chelsea home kit for 3,000 Credits ...

Still haven't got a good fit for my Ultimate Team .... have a weak mid-field line-up, got a few Gold Players but they don't fit well into current team. Overall team Chemistry only 53. Wanted to buy Alex Ferguson as manager, but his preffered formation of 4-3-2-1 would have made my overall team Chemistry even lower. Most of my players now 4-4-2.

Played an online game with my current Ultimate Team last nite and beat the other guy playing as Juventus. Muahahaha .....

Still tweaking my Ultimate Team before i use the Golden Ticket to join the Champions' League.

This post has been edited by terranova: Apr 2 2007, 01:00 PM

Lol I suck at the Ultimate Team thing. Using the starting roster they gave me. Got my ass handed to me by Shaktar Donestk

Cant even get past first level...i think i need to spend some money on more Bronze packs..

If u have finished the Challenges or offline Champions' League tournament, you should have accumulated easily close to 5,000 Credits by then. That should be enough to buy some Silver and Gold packs, no?