- Staff
- #751
I've been speaking to a handful of people who have been playing, and most of them fit into that category, so (as much as I appreciate every bit of feedback they give me, and am eternally grateful for it considering the NDAs) I do have to take it with a pinch of salt.
However, there are two guys who played FIFA 20 for a week and hated it, who play against the AI exclusively, who have told me they're enjoying it - not because it fixes even 50% of "what's wrong" with the game (which is subjective, but I mean it's still slidey and the 1v1 stuff is still a problem, even though it's toned down a little)... But because the AI is fairly challenging and variable.
If it's challenging, and it's not repetitive... I've got to take that. I've got to lower my expectations. A sim will never exist. Not until @gabe.paul.logan gets his finger out of his arse, learns Unity and makes the best football game ever. COME ON GABE.
These guys played FIFA 20 and were destroying the AI on Legendary from day one. That's not happening right now. The scary thing is - if they do patch the beta and it becomes faster, I have no doubt it will become unplayable again, because a huge part of why they're finding it challenging is that they can't just speed past defenders. If they turn the speed up because all the kids are saying "so slow and boring zzzzz" - which they are saying... Then, it's over.
But yeah. Nobody who hated FIFA 20 is giving it glowing reports, but by the same token if two people who couldn't play 20 are playing the 21 beta and having a good time - then layer the Career Mode stuff over the top of that (which, as always, looks excellent) and I'm in.
Yet I do absolutely agree with you as well. I hate that certain gameplay elements will always be tied to "fun" over "realism", and so you have an engine where players regularly break bones to hit that shot you just requested, because "responsiveness is KING".
However, it'll never go away. So it's (at least try to) put up with it, or never buy a football game again.
I honestly think PES 2022, which we're all hoping will be a sim, will be redesigned to serve those responsiveness needs EVEN MORE! I dread to think what it will play like. But I hope I'm wrong.
A frustration I have is this - we (and devs) assume that fun games will always outsell more realistic ones. But as someone I spoke to years ago said (from Evo-Web), how do we know? Because nobody's tried it. Maybe people are just so used to the fast and the furious, that's all they'll ever want - OR, maybe they'll play something more mature and be blown away that they're having to think a lot harder about who's on the ball and what system the opposition is playing.
Maybe PES 2022 will be that game and we'll find out - but I don't think Konami are going to allow that to happen. Not when PES 2014 (a similar experiment) was a huge sales flop, and not when it potentially risks throwing away all those juicy microtransactions.
It's a different option. Competitor mode is on by default and everyone I know who's played with it on says it's absolutely awful. Unplayably so. Constant tricks from every player, even at the lowest level. It feels (and looks) like absolute shit.
)
