eFootball PES 2020 Discussion Thread (PS4/Xbox One)

I decided to split this up because frankly I saw some good things and bad things the has 2 nights. But before I start,

All the issues aside, and there are A LOT of issues, it's still the most fun I've had with a PES since the PS2 days.

I am indeed having fun with it. I enjoy scoring at Old Trafford a lot more than I would like to admit lol

So the good.


Bruno is pretty good at this eh. I also like the fact that Williams reacted with urgency and headed the ball to Martial instead of trying to control it and dribbling out of bounds.



Press feels so ineffective at times in this game. But here I managed to catch the defender sleeping. It felt good.



I've had a lot of cool looking deflections recently. Sometimes they lead to nothing and sometimes they lead to a tap in for Rashford. No idea how the shot made it through, but Rashford did what I expect him to do.



This is one of the coolest looking goals I think I've seen this year. Routine header but it's the way it ends up in the net that makes it cool; keeper almost makes a brilliant save but it sneaks in at the post.
 
And now the not so good.


Another cool deflection goal. Even better because, for some reason, Bruno and Pogba almost never score for me. But this clip is one of too many examples of egregious defending. No defender should ever attempt to clear the ball right down the middle when he is facing his own goal. He made the worst decision he could make and we scored as a result.



This is actually the second time I've scored a goal like this pretty recently actually (here's the other one). Everyone running into each other, everyone falling over, and I still almost miss the tap in lol (and then celebrate like I just won the world cup :D). These collisions are not fluid. At times it feels more like demolition derby cars rather than representations of footballers. You had a defender bigger than me some how colliding with me and falling over. You had a second defender attempting to control the ball at a full sprint, while almost in his own 6 yard box, and then colliding with his own keeper. And the first defender is too busy stuck in animation to react to the ball at his feet. It's a comedic mess. The three stooges would be proud of this performance.

As I mentioned previously, I started a new save. Wanted to do something a little different and focus more on using the younger United players in the game. So of course the first thing I did was go out and sign Diego Godin.


Here he is not reacting to a cross. This is something that I have seen over and over again; the player in the best position to deal with a ball not reacting/not being told by the game to react with the ball. Notice how he's moving in the direction of the cross then just stops. And then turns the opposite direction that Vardy is standing. It's really frustrating how many times I've conceded because of nonexistent defensive awareness. But wait. There's more.


Let me introduce you to Harry Maguire. Before Godin, he was my highest rated defender. He's also arguably been my defense's worst offender. If you can recall, here's his excellent range of passing on display against West Ham. And that was in my last save.


Here is Harry just surrendering the ball back to Roma immediately after picking it up. I don't know how else to describe it honestly. It's like he felt bad that they lost it in the first place. It's like he was playing in the backyard with his younger brother and decided to let the lad win for once. I say this because ole slabhead is 8 in/21cm taller and 55lb/25kg heavier than Carles Perez, the player who dispossessed him with ease. At least according to PES. What a nice big bro Harry is to Carles.

Jokes aside, I don't know what it is about the animations that causes them to freeze in certain instances. The worst being when a player loses the ball. It's been an issue for years. But lets not ignore Tuanzebe running in a straight line instead of marking Defrel who ultimately scores. I understand the importance of positioning but situational threats >>>>> positioning everyday of the week especially during the attack to defense transitional phase. Sound familiar? It should. Because I've said it before and I will keep talking about the lack of transitional logic in this game because it's important and fundamental to football, yes, but mostly because I have an awful habit of repeating myself lol.



Here's Harry heading the ball the one place he absolutely shouldn't be heading the ball. He heads it back to AWB who, instead of realizing he's under pressure and boots it clear, tries to control it and ends up putting it on a plate for Alexis Sanchez. Sidenote, I'm starting to realize how much of an issue defenders attempting to control the ball, in moments they should be clearing it asap, really is. But there's another probem here that I find more frustrating and it's the fact that clearances too often aren't just clearances. They are passes. It's another issue that's been around for years. Maguire shouldn't be 'thinking' about heading the ball to a teammate. He should be 'thinking' about clearing the danger. But too often I see defenders head the ball directly to teammates instead of clearing the danger. Which frequently leads to more chances for opposition attackers if said pass is misplaced.

As you can see, Maguire is clearly earning his wage at United. I'm sure he'll love it in Luton next season.
 
And now the not so good.


Another cool deflection goal. Even better because, for some reason, Bruno and Pogba almost never score for me. But this clip is one of too many examples of egregious defending. No defender should ever attempt to clear the ball right down the middle when he is facing his own goal. He made the worst decision he could make and we scored as a result.



This is actually the second time I've scored a goal like this pretty recently actually (here's the other one). Everyone running into each other, everyone falling over, and I still almost miss the tap in lol (and then celebrate like I just won the world cup :D). These collisions are not fluid. At times it feels more like demolition derby cars rather than representations of footballers. You had a defender bigger than me some how colliding with me and falling over. You had a second defender attempting to control the ball at a full sprint, while almost in his own 6 yard box, and then colliding with his own keeper. And the first defender is too busy stuck in animation to react to the ball at his feet. It's a comedic mess. The three stooges would be proud of this performance.

As I mentioned previously, I started a new save. Wanted to do something a little different and focus more on using the younger United players in the game. So of course the first thing I did was go out and sign Diego Godin.


Here he is not reacting to a cross. This is something that I have seen over and over again; the player in the best position to deal with a ball not reacting/not being told by the game to react with the ball. Notice how he's moving in the direction of the cross then just stops. And then turns the opposite direction that Vardy is standing. It's really frustrating how many times I've conceded because of nonexistent defensive awareness. But wait. There's more.


Let me introduce you to Harry Maguire. Before Godin, he was my highest rated defender. He's also arguably been my defense's worst offender. If you can recall, here's his excellent range of passing on display against West Ham. And that was in my last save.


Here is Harry just surrendering the ball back to Roma immediately after picking it up. I don't know how else to describe it honestly. It's like he felt bad that they lost it in the first place. It's like he was playing in the backyard with his younger brother and decided to let the lad win for once. I say this because ole slabhead is 8 in/21cm taller and 55lb/25kg heavier than Carles Perez, the player who dispossessed him with ease. At least according to PES. What a nice big bro Harry is to Carles.

Jokes aside, I don't know what it is about the animations that causes them to freeze in certain instances. The worst being when a player loses the ball. It's been an issue for years. But lets not ignore Tuanzebe running in a straight line instead of marking Defrel who ultimately scores. I understand the importance of positioning but situational threats >>>>> positioning everyday of the week especially during the attack to defense transitional phase. Sound familiar? It should. Because I've said it before and I will keep talking about the lack of transitional logic in this game because it's important and fundamental to football, yes, but mostly because I have an awful habit of repeating myself lol.



Here's Harry heading the ball the one place he absolutely shouldn't be heading the ball. He heads it back to AWB who, instead of realizing he's under pressure and boots it clear, tries to control it and ends up putting it on a plate for Alexis Sanchez. Sidenote, I'm starting to realize how much of an issue defenders attempting to control the ball, in moments they should be clearing it asap, really is. But there's another probem here that I find more frustrating and it's the fact that clearances too often aren't just clearances. They are passes. It's another issue that's been around for years. Maguire shouldn't be 'thinking' about heading the ball to a teammate. He should be 'thinking' about clearing the danger. But too often I see defenders head the ball directly to teammates instead of clearing the danger. Which frequently leads to more chances for opposition attackers if said pass is misplaced.

As you can see, Maguire is clearly earning his wage at United. I'm sure he'll love it in Luton next season.
I haven't tried it but would not holding the manual button down work better for your issue ? Maybe worth a go
 
In my ML I've lost to fiorientina twice on the bounce , convinced scripting was the issue but on my 3 rd attempt i changed style. A bit less gung-ho more defensive and possession type play , got the first two goals then sat back. I conceded one but saw out the game. Scripting is there obviously but does the amount depend on how you set up and are easily exploitable?
 
Amen.

I'm going to tell a long (possibly boring) story now, that relates to this - and to @gabe.paul.logan's question, "will PES ever be good again".

I've told this story before, but ten years ago I was lucky enough to be invited out to Vancouver to meet the FIFA team. We'd just arrived at their complex and were being given a tour of the place, when the producer of their Euro and World Cup games, Simon Humber, emerged from nowhere looking for "the guy from Evo-Web". (David Rutter was the main FIFA producer at the time, another good guy. Seabass was still working on PES.)

(Important note - a year or two before this point, Simon joined Evo-Web to do a bit of undercover research. He wanted to gather feedback, but specifically feedback from PES players, because he was trying to build a game that was more realistic and that gave PES fans a reason to try FIFA. Can you imagine a gameplay producer of a PES or a FIFA ever doing that again, given what we experience trying to get "sim" feedback through to the devs nowadays? His username was lemondoctor, check it out for a blast from the past.)

He came over to me, shook my hand and we got chatting. But he asked me, "if I walk away now and I was to start making your perfect football game, what would it be like" - and I said "a game where the guy who wins the match is the guy with the better knowledge of football and the players on the pitch, not the guy who knows the game's exploits, or even has the better reflexes - because sometimes you should need to play a long-ball game to win, and sometimes you should need to play a possession game to win".

Honestly, his face lit up, and he said "that's exactly what I'm trying to do" - and I was really excited. I still think the 2010 World Cup game he produced is one of the best EA football games ever made, and it's a pretty deep game in terms of its gameplay for the time.

David Rutter was integral in getting EA to invest money into the gameplay and (as far as the board was concerned) take a huge risk by developing the "Ignite" engine and freeing the ball from the players for the first time ("but what if the long-term fans hate it")... and they made the best FIFAs ever as a result. Simon sadly passed away in 2015 - and David was given a higher-level job around the same time. Since then (and the move to Frostbite)... Well. Sales are great. Critical reception, not so much.

If anything, I'd say PES and FIFA are now more "play one way to win, play any other way and you'll lose" than ever - and I don't feel like guys like Seabass, Simon and David are ever going to have the freedom to tear things up again and make a game that football lovers want.

BUT.

Konami have decided they need to take a year off from "full" PES development, to make something that they hope will be mindblowing. This is an absolute first. The producer (who according to the PES 2020 credits is Manorito Hosada - who was the Marketing Manager for PES 2014 incidentally, what a strange career progression!) has managed to convince the company to take a huge risk, not unlike Rutter did (even though Konami don't depend on PES for cash like EA depends on FIFA - which, incidentally, may never really change as a result).

If there's a chance of football games getting good again, PES 2022 will be the moment, I think.
If it isn't - then I don't think it'll ever happen.

 
I'll be honest, I should start learn how to make YouTube videos because I have way too many clips and have no idea what to do with them

Sidenote. I'm curious how much of an impact the addition of eFootball to the title has been. Because personally I forget it's there half the time
 
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Playing last night had me asking the same question over and over again; why?

Why did Rashford attempt a bicycle kick here?

Why is this the best my AI teammates (Bailly and Maguire) can do here?

Why did Martial pass me the ball here instead of getting into the box and shooting?

Why in the world would De Gea make this throw?

I have no idea how to even describe this. Just.......why?

Why is it that my overall experience is more frustration that fun? And that's despite me witnessing and being a part of some brilliant goals.

Like this one.

And this one.

And this one too.

And don't forget this one.

Why is it that the single player/fixed cursor/Become a Legend experience is such an underwhelming and disappointing experience? Why is almost every moment and memory of attacking brilliance is erased and overwritten by a moment of defensive ineptitude and calamity?

Because that's how what I was left feeling last night; as far as the attacking AI is concerned, it's heading in the right direction imo. As I showed, I've seen and been a part of some really nice goals. But the goals I've watched my AI teammate defenders surrender are just as bad, if not worse, as the goals my AI teammate attackers create and score.

Defensive AI needs to be a priority. Situational awareness needs to be a priority. Positional awareness needs to be a priority. An AI tailored to a better offline experience, in general, needs to be a priority.
 
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.. hmm.. just got a new auto-update message for pc version, but guessing same for ps4... im guessing this datapack 8??? Interesting to see how this goes.. i liked 7 as it was an improvement over 6 (for me slower and a heavier feeling with more variations etc..) but surely 8 will be the final one. Its only about 500mb.. just less i think... impressions coming soon.. and here's hoping there are gameplay changes.. not just the additions of faces n boots..
 
All I want to know: any gameplay related changes, mostly AI behavior?!

Will check myself tonight but you know... I want your impressions!!
Too early to tell, only had one exhibition game before work and lost 1 nil to wolves on top player. Normally would breeze that but like i say too early. Initially it did feel and though Pa1 was more assisted playing as liverpool but im used to my crap team on ML, so went manual. Ill try some more at 10 am
 
Gameplay is:

giphy.gif
 
Faces, myclub updates, tactics and perhaps stadium fix according to the files(i doubt its a new stadium).

Gameplay is:

giphy.gif

Yes its unchanged. As possibly this is the last update, PES2020 is finished. What a shame after the promising demo, they would have just to made a few tweaks there, but they rather made a new PES2019.
 
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after a few more games feel heavier to me , i've gone up to plus one speed
heavier?! so its even more "delay" in player movement!? not that snappy anymore?!
what about AI behaviour on the pitch (mates and opponent)? any new attack pattern, any new animations spotted, anything different from what we had in this regard??

i was playing 2020 on +1 already...
 
Although im pretty easy to please, i have to say this, right now, is the best datapack version of PES20 there is.. ie. version 8.
Maybe i should have posted this in PC thread (as i first tried PC version), but i had about 5 Exhibition games, 20min, default speed, 0 pass, basic shoot, with my regular (lately anyhow) Barca vs. a handful of Spanish teams, on top player (moved down from superstar as this was influenced too much by so called scripting) and its definitely different.. and in a good way.

Since, ive been playing regularly over the last month, probably an hour a night, its pretty easy to spot differences. In 5 games, the most definite positive i noticed was it now seems easier to intercept the cpu's passes if positioned correctly.. I put it down to either the defender's response is better, or their initial positioning controlled by the ai, or the cpu just makes more mistakes. Not sure how, but seems this has also congested the middle a bit more, meaning its harder for attacking team, both me p.1 and cpu to get through midfield. Could be defender ai positioning, and although im using Klashman's tacktics for the top popular teams, i certainly didnt notice this in ver7.0. Further, i noticed more fumbling/bad touch mistakes from me, P.1, as well as the cpu. Thats a good thing. And just overall saw more variations in the box... just scenarios i havent seen before in terms of mis-kicks, and keeper saves. The weight and ball physics just feel spot on for me atm... again.. its PC version.. but im guess its similar. And thank goodness sider still works :)

Oh, and i may try Superstar again, to see if thats changed. I finally gave up on Superstar on ver7.0, as even with exhibition, everytime i took the lead, it seemed the cpu suddenly got powered up a tad, and I lost some ability.. weird.. and just things wouldnt go my way in terms of fouls and the 'bounce of the ball' so to speak. This doesnt happen on Top Player and Professional, where in fact, the good players like Messi, really shine and play like they ought to. And it also seems there is more randomness in Top player and professional -btw im talking about things in noticed in datapack 7.0. So ill try Superstar again on v8.0. Itll be interesting to see what Spoony Pizza's thinks as he's generally spot on (some may say overly optimistic, but he'll also detail the negatives).
 
heavier?! so its even more "delay" in player movement!? not that snappy anymore?!
what about AI behaviour on the pitch (mates and opponent)? any new attack pattern, any new animations spotted, anything different from what we had in this regard??

i was playing 2020 on +1 already...
Its not unresponsive but then i use auto selection which i find much better. After 5 games on 13 minutes

2 ML games DIV 2 Italian - professional level - Played 2 - won 2 - PA1 Adv shooting - what i noticed that i had never seen before - ball seemed heavier - noticed two players drained right down to red pretty early in second half - seemed more scrappy and one of the games where i scored 2 both goals deflected off the keeper - maybe coincidence but ive never scored that kind of goal before

Other games where in Euro - i felt it a bit sluggish so went to plus one speed - manual pass and adv shooting - played much better that was on SS level

To be fair i enjoyed all the games and maybe its all coincidence/placebo or whatever but it felt more like patch 1.03 where it was tight,physical and heavier - 1.03 was probably my favorite of all patches - anyway try again over the weekend on my new Philips pico max projector that i backed on startup project in December and arrived yesterday - PES at 120" 1080P its what i dreamed of as a boy :)
 
Its not unresponsive but then i use auto selection which i find much better. After 5 games on 13 minutes

2 ML games DIV 2 Italian - professional level - Played 2 - won 2 - PA1 Adv shooting - what i noticed that i had never seen before - ball seemed heavier - noticed two players drained right down to red pretty early in second half - seemed more scrappy and one of the games where i scored 2 both goals deflected off the keeper - maybe coincidence but ive never scored that kind of goal before

Other games where in Euro - i felt it a bit sluggish so went to plus one speed - manual pass and adv shooting - played much better that was on SS level

To be fair i enjoyed all the games and maybe its all coincidence/placebo or whatever but it felt more like patch 1.03 where it was tight,physical and heavier - 1.03 was probably my favorite of all patches - anyway try again over the weekend on my new Philips pico max projector that i backed on startup project in December and arrived yesterday - PES at 120" 1080P its what i dreamed of as a boy :)
thanks for the insights again!

you mean the PicoPix Max for around 899,-!?
it only has 800 Lumen dude! why do you spent so much money on a 800 Lumen projector (i recommend at least 2800)?! you know that there will be no good picture at daylight, right!? are you using this projector mobile anyhow??
i like the form factor and some teachers i know use them for presentations in class, but as a home projector you could get better value for the same amount of money.
sorry im taking this so far off topic. it ends here. @hitmanuk if you want we can chat in private.

i can fully understand your anticipation though! enjoy!! :)

1 hour left at work...
 
Just had a blast with another 5 or so games (on pc again, mainly because of the evopatch, plus endo turfs, nesa's cam mods and hawke's balls - just makes this too good). Yeah its really good. Still on Top Player... Things just seem more varied, and im seeing new animations as well. The opposition attacking AI is shooting more from distance if you dont close them down quick enough, and im seeing new types of attacks with mid-raised through balls that i havent witnessed before (previous versions).

Also..and this is probably the biggest noticeable (positive) change ive seen in the game, .. its noticeably easier to dispossess the opposition (sometimes leads to foul) with 'x' - whereas before, it seemed my defenders were just so unresponsive and when i went in for a tackle (x variety, non sliding), the ai would just get by me too easily. So its easier to dispossess if you are at their feet, and as mentioned before, easier to close down and actually intercept passes.. which for me is so much more realistic than how it was before. The cpu would often just ping the ball around and would be super hard to dispossess particularly if you were 1-0 up etc. I attributed this to scripting...
Bottom line: its more realistic as its now easier to defend, which ive always thought was important for good realistic gameplay (it should always be easier to defend, than to attack). What do you guys reckon??... Definitely makes the game looser and/or scrappier.. but in a good way. Also, i do think there has been a slight improvement to the weight of this game (referring to how the players move and feel on the ball, and how it feels passing ball grounded and through the air) - best its ever been i reckon. Anyways, just as i was getting used to dp7.0 and enjoying it, i must say... This version is just another step up.. they havent fked anything up, and have actually improved the defence part of things which i think was much needed. Hoping to find new things over the next week...
 
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