I always loved your videos and appreciate the time and effort you put in each one, but at this point it is starting to feel more like wishful thinking than actual reality. Besides dribbling I can’t see how eFootball is superior or more realistic than PES 21.
Let me put it into bullet points:
- Match up: Players in PES will routinely ignore balls moving past them, even if you deliberately move your player into the passing lane. In EF, engaging match up makes your player actively attempt to intercept these balls.
- Physical Defending: Defending in PES is simply too automated. The 2-step tackles in EF rewards proper timing and positioning when tackling.
- Stunning shot/cross: Explosive shots were contextual in PES. They happen out of your control. In EF, you decide when you think you have the time and space to put a little extra care into your shot/cross. It's not guaranteed either and requires good timing of both button presses which adds a realisitc element of variability to the outcomes here. Every player IRL wants to pull off a perfect cross or shot, but it doesn't come out as expected everytime, does it?
- Tactical movement: Tactics in PES are a mess, where you can combine possession style with a counterattacking player and a long ball build up. Wut? And even if you set a combination that makes sense (e.g. Possession style and short passing + Tiki Taka), off ball movement is simply dumber than in EF, where players attack empty corridors in a way that makes sense, even if they don't have instructions that tell them to do it. Same goes for defense, where player will cover others if it makes sense to.
- Legend AI: Extremely frustrating to play against in PES. It seems more like Superstar with biased odds of scoring a goal and enhanced accuracy. Rubberbanding sucks with Legend AI. This is why offline gameplay is way more fun in EF, if only they had the actual modes needed to make the most out of this gameplay.
- Better passing physics with better ball friction with the ground, although shooting physics and ball physics in general are better in PES.
- Overall slower pace which allows for more deliberate and rewarding build up
And as you said, dribbling and maneuvering in tight spaces.
So yeah, sorry but there is plenty that is objectively better in EF, and that's coming from a manual player who also never played online football in the past 30 years.
I made an hour long video about this,
including everything that is better in PES: