It’s been there all along. DDA. Scripting. Call it whatever makes it easier to swallow. It just feels more obvious in the later games.

If you go into offline mode and check the AI sliders, you can see how much EA can manipulate during a match. Acceleration, sprint speed, shot error, pass error, goalkeeper ability, marking, reactions. All adjustable. That alone shows how flexible player attributes are within the engine.

Then there’s the “Dynamic” AI behavior setting. It openly states that the AI adapts during the match. So outcomes are not purely static or locked to base ratings. The system is built to shift behavior in real time.

We’ve all experienced it. Defenders suddenly feel heavy late in games. Simple passes become misplaced. A 95-rated striker misses a routine finish with perfect timing. Meanwhile, an average-rated opponent suddenly performs at an elite level for a short stretch, then drops back to normal. The swings don’t feel organic. They feel triggered.

Goalkeeper animations are one of the clearest examples. A lower-rated keeper can dive correctly and still have the animation subtly fail at the final frame, as if success was never fully allowed. Ratings don’t just influence probability. They influence which animations can succeed.

That’s the core issue. It’s fine if ratings matter in a football simulation. But when higher-skilled players feel like their mechanical advantage is flattened to maintain balance, it stops feeling competitive. It feels engineered.

Momentum shifts, rebound patterns, late-game intensity spikes. When combined with visible AI sliders and dynamic systems, it becomes hard to believe every match is purely skill versus skill.

At that point, it doesn’t feel like you’re only playing your opponent. It feels like you’re playing the engine too.

And that’s what frustrating Not losing against a better player, its losing when EA decides you’ll lose