I actually also came back to it (26) after mentioning it there.
I don’t hate it - For me there’s some decent stuff in it and it’s far better than all the FIFA’s and FC’s since 20 - I wouldn’t say that it fully lacks ‘realism’ - eg one thing I do enjoy is that I don’t always dominate the possession of a game 60-70% against the CPU which is the case for me in practically all other football games.
However the thing that sticks out to me, after playing a mountain of Pes 18, is that so much in FC games just doesn’t happen contextually. Like say, on Pes 18 if I pass with certain players like Hamsik, Modric or Totti etc - they’ll attempt balls that match the context of the situation - they might be short little dinks to avoid a nearby defender or longer curved passes with the outside of the boot.
Switching back to FC26 - every pass is standard unless I memorise a certain button combination - and even then it feels flat in not really in tune with what’s going on around me. It just makes everything feel two dimensional - like it’s a game of Tekken or Street fighter. But to be fair, a lot of FIFA/fC games stretching as far back as I can remember, are like this to some extent.