'Playing' FIFA 14 career mode. That's to say, I just sign and sell players and simulate the matches. FIFA 14 gameplay on PC certainly hasn't aged well, and I don't have the time to play every game in a season.
Managing Real Madrid as Alfredo Torretta (fictional entity (Torretta, not Real)). Cristiano Ronaldo drops a bombshell in the first month; says he's unhappy and wants to leave. Torretta thinks no big deal, he'll get better when we start winning games. No major transfers, Real Madrid are set with a star-studded squad, with Benzema, Modric, di Maria, Pepe, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo, Xabi Alonso, Sami Khedira and of course CR7. First few games are disappointing as Real record losses, but pick up in November and are flying high by the transfer window (though 2nd in the league). First day of new year, another bombshell: Ronaldo has been sold by the club. Distraught, Torretta manages to snag a replacement in Osvaldo, but he's only here until we get CR7 back. Rest of the season goes on, Real reach the cup final and the UCL final, and challenging for the league championship. Atletico are top, Barca second, Real third and any of them can win it. Drama as the penultimate game is Real vs Barca. A tense match goes Barca's way. One game later we learn that Barca's win over Real had given them the 3 points they need to pip them to the title by 1 point. Even worse, if Real had won the game they would have been the champions. Torretta and his men put away their heartbreak as they prepare for the cup final. It is against Barca. A tight game, but Barca wins 1-0. No matter, at least we have the UCL. Torretta looks up the opponents: it's Barca again! A third clasico in 30 days! Another tight affair but Barca end up winning 1-0. So that's it. Barcelona win a historic treble, with all three titles being clinched against their eternal rivals. Hardly the most auspicious debut season for Torretta.
Surprisingly, the Real board decide to stick with him. Next season and Torretta (to the presumed disappointment of the players) is still around. With renewed confidence from the board's backing, Torretta asserts himself. Isco and Modric are promoted to the starting lineup replacing Xabi Alonso and Khedira as the formation is changed to a more offensive one. Torretta contacts Chelsea to sign back CR7, they agree, but Ronaldo hangs up the phone, citing 'history between [him] and the club' (what history?
). So Torretta signs Bale from Spurs. Real's youth scouting program has been successful so far with a bunch of up-and-coming talents loaned off elsewhere. A few auxiliary signings, Khedira is sold and Torretta's team is good to go. Disaster strikes early as di Maria is injured again. (He was injured twice in the previous season). Bale's time to shine as he comes clutch on a number of important occasions. Benzema though is disappointing as he barely nicks any goals. Ozil and Modric, though, have a great season, with Ozil playing in almost every position ahead of the halfway line to cover up for an epidemic of injuries that plague the team the entire season. Real are knocked out of the cup and the UCL, with only the league to play for as they try to play catch-up with Barca. Late in the season di Maria returns from injury, makes a cameo, then goes out injured again. Torretta's fury is beyond boiling point. The season ends, Barca don't get their treble, but they win the league, and Real are trophyless again.
Torretta thinks 'this is the end' and goes fishing in the off-season. So he is deeply surprised when he receives an email from the directors telling him they've decided to stick with him again (couldn't find someone else, huh?). So Torretta cuts his fishing trip and dashes back to Madrid to prepare for the 15/16 season. Even cockier than before, Torretta asserts himself even more. Still fuming at di Maria he sells him off before he can get injured again. Eden Hazard is signed and announced with a glitzy reveal. In a bold move Nuri Shahin is also sold (to Man City) as Real have an embarrasment of riches in midfield, with Isco, Ozil and Modric in the starting 11, a gracefully aging Xabi Alonso and a young and energetic Carlos Henrique Casemiro (yes, the game calls him by his first name) in the subs. Third time lcuky for Torretta as Real win the league at last, on the way recording their greatest-so-far victory of the Torretta era (6-0 against Deportivo) but also their greatest loss (though not really embarrassing) (1-3 against Barca). Real are knocked out of the UCL and the cup again, but the team and the board are stoked about their first trophy in a long (by Real's standards) time. Torretta gets to stay.
Real's preparations are underway for the 16-17 season. Torretta contacts Ronaldo again, but is once more rebuffed. No big deal. Enjoy your misery at Chelsea, Ronny boy. In defence Pepe and Nacho are sold off, and a surprising name is signed to replace Carvajal - the Northern Irish full back Joe Dudgeon, with a 85 rating edging him over Carvajal's 83. Otherwise Real retain their squad, with more youth signings padding the spaces (after three seasons Torretta knows just how commonplace and devastating injuries are at Real). Jese Rodriguez and Morata are two of Real's own who will be expected to compete with each other to prove a worthy successor to Benzema. The season kicks off, with various ups and downs, and terrible injuries. On the bright side everyone gets to play as each and every player in Real's extensive squad chips in to cover up for injuries, down to the teenaged Sultan Al Dosari and Lucian Iorga. Jese and Morata, in particular, shine out by putting in some heroic performances when Benzema gets hauled off. Real are knocked out of the cup and the UCL again, but manage to lift the league title for the second consecutive time.
At this point I left off playing anymore. All this happened months ago in the real world. But a few days ago I came back to the save.
Due to a stupid clerical error Jese is sold off to PSG. However Torretta decides that Real don't need to change anything this time around. Casillas and Carvajal are aging, but we reckon that they can go on for this season at least, they'll be replaced next year. So the season kicks off. Real are humiliated in the Super Cup against Barcelona, and lose their first two league games. However we rally in a UCL match against some minor team, then start climbing up from 11th in the league until we reach the 5th. Next two games are against Atletico and Barca - 2nd and 1st respectively in the league. Wins against them will bring us all the way up to the top. Real crush Atletico 3-0, but lose against Barca again. Real win 4-0 against Liverpool, and win big in the cup, but their decline in the league has begun. After a series of senseless 1-1 draws against teams which we absolutely should have crushed Real are now in 6th, 5 points off a place in Europe. Meanwhile Ramos got injured after the first two games of the campaign, then returned to play in a 3-0 victory against Barca in the cup, got immediately injured, then returned a while ago only to get injured for a further 4 months. Benzema is injured, with Morata playing in his stead while Samu Castillejo (an unsung hero of the previous two campaigns) is playing in Hazard's place. At the back Carvajal and Varane have been getting carded almost every single game, so Maicon and the young English talent Martin Brisley have been filling in. Dudgeon now has a 87 rating, and has played everywhere in the back this season from LB to CB to RB, and looks to be shaping to be the greatest talent from Northern
Ireland since George Best. Our hopes for a third consecutive La Liga seem to be dashed in the water, and it looks like just qualifying for the UCL would be achievement enough for Real this season. It's not over yet, though as half the season remains to be played.
... So the turns in Total War: Three Kingdoms are based on seasons rather than years. So you get 5 turns per year, Spring, Summer, Harvest, Autumn and Winter. I like it alot because it makes what you can get done in a year, like for example, travel times, battles, marriages, etc., feel more meaningful and realistic/manageable.
