janguv
Premier League
- 2 November 2016
I don't think these replies really engage with what I'm saying though, and Chilleverest's in particular is just off the mark.
To be completely clear: I'm not talking about rebounds. I didn't mention them at all in my post, and I flagged at the beginning of the post what I'm talking about: the nutmegs instead of interceptions. (As for rebounds: I don't know what to make of it. I'll be honest that I'm dubious about the proposed scripting explanation, but I haven't played around enough with it to really notice such an effect, so I'm not committing either way.)
The reason I've come to the conclusion I have on how match-up interceptions are "supposed" to work is because I tried it out through trial and error, when it kept happening to me in games on and offline, across difficulties. Honestly, try it – try slowing down off the pace to a near standstill, facing the ball, and only pressing L2 just before the ball hits you. I promise you you'll stand a much higher chance of containing it instead of your player falling over.
Now, that doesn't mean it's a well designed or good mechanic. In particular, it does not mean it's "meticulous", and nor would it (even being meticulous) imply that the game would be "on the next level on every other aspect". That is an inference that simply doesn't follow. You can develop a mechanic in a specific way, following a particular design principle, but your idea may not match the larger design imperative or later changes. Or it can be good in conception but bad in application, when you factor in a number of elements you hadn't previously considered or planned for.
Broadly, I think that's what's going on with that animation. You could make a somewhat similar argument about that dreaded back-leg animation where the ball clips the heel of the player. (It doesn't happen if you face the play with a particular command on PES 2021, which I only realised after playing a lot of 11s. But it's still a terrible idea to have the animation in the game, or have it triggered as easily.)
So, to be clear: I don't think there's sufficient evidence to infer that the stupid nutmeg animations are a consequence of other players having higher stats, except insofar as those higher passing stats (say) and high PA level mean the ball is pinged more quickly and accurately, which gives you almost no chance of slowing down in time in a passing lane. It's an explanation that makes more sense, I think: that they had an idea for that animation as a downside of a feature (a feature they've advertised in exactly these terms btw)—match-up defending—and they've been careless with testing how that downside manifests in actual games.
Buggy, bad, incoherent design choices – that makes sense for this company and its track record.
EDIT: one way that player stats might well affect likelihood of interceptions in these circumstances is, of course, the "skill trait" of Interception itself. I never really tested it, but that would be a very Konami thing to do, to make successful interceptions more likely. And it would also be another terrible idea.
