i am a keen PES fan.
Since Pes 2013 till today, i think PES represents the real sport better.
Back in 2011, FIFA 11 was a revelation for me. I think it was my top game i fell in love in my gaming history.
The day i tried FIFA 11 demo (it was night tbh) i couldn't stop playing. Everything seemed too perfect, smooth, solid, and next gen for me (coming after the stale and obsolete PES 2010). I can recall that i played 14 consecutive seasons.
FIFA 12 killed some of the smoothness, Fifa 13 was ok with the free ball spining and unscripted controlling, but PES 2013 demo was better for me for some reason. PES 2014 was the most anticipated game and a huge let down after trying it, FIFA 14 was ok with some fidel doctor mods (soccer gaming modder).
Any way for me PES 16, 17, 18, 19 was a must buy, not giving a real chance to FIFA's as i was dissapointed from the jerky animations. I skipped tottaly FIFA 18, as i was astonished by the smooth PES 2018 (but boring somehow).
PES 2019 is a very good game for me, highly playable, so PES 2020 is well anticipated.
But.....
5 days ago i tried FIFA 18, with 2 mods (fidel doctor agpe gameplay mod, and Lod Fix that makes level of detail in game much higher, and animation quality also).
I think this is the best soccer simulation i ever played.
The reasons why FIFA 18 felt better and why PES 2019 felt cheap and very off-gen are below:
-footplanting : The best till today. Fifa 19 was a little worse in order to become more responsive
-shot variety: Shots differ a lot, with many misskicks, and variable trajectories.
-cpu fouls/penalties: Cpu does commit fouls and penalties (In PES 19 thats a major problem)
-stats matter more: Stats like speed agility and strength are noticable in field
-marking and midfield play: I love the fact that cpu marking makes me to follow a more build up style of play, i use my body and inertia to protect the ball, i have to think the next pass etc. PES is more end to end with a lot less midfield play
-collisions: Better but not the best ever, good body and ball interaction, shouldering and minimal clipping
-more than 2 players jump for headers. In pes only 2 players jump, sadly...
-graphics: compared to vanilla PES 19 graphics i think FIFA 18 has better lighting and more realistic turf.
-content : not much to comment here
-skills do work: Skills are effective with right timing, whereas in PES 19 a lot of skills are a sure loss of possesion no matter how
-misskicking: i ve seen it a lot in shooting and in passing, pes 19 is more forgiving.
-tactical defending: makes you sit on the edge of your chair, with very focused defending and well timed standing tackle. PES 2019 makes you pushing cross plus square the most of the time, making defending less immersive
-atmosphere: Stadiums, crowd, intros, chants, effects are much more well worked than PES 19.
-pass and shoot target lock: you can change the direction of your kick just before the player kicks the ball. In pes the target locks just after you press the button, which is very restricting and leadingo to dumb pass misplacing
-commentary: That is the state for many years now. PEs is repetitive and somehow staged.
-no rails : the rail feel (players stucked to a certain path) of PES 19 is not present in FIFA 18.
-better visuals :Like crowd animation, waving kits and hair, shirt pull, and much more weather effects.
-cpu do dribble the ball and is not constantly passing like in pes 19
-handball: no such thing in PES
-better net physics: In pes every time the ball hits the net it travels towards the center of the net mesh, no matter the direction or the power.
-better modern menus
-overall much better presentation
Being an offline player, FIFA 18/19 is a joy to play
My biggest FIFA 18/19 gripes are:
-Ball feels too linear, and does not follow curved trajectories in passing. Also it does not bouncy realistically even in a heavily worn pitch
-Some animations are executed too rapidly. That happens mainly in cpu passing.
-Some animations are a little bit cartoonish
-Ball size is somehow a bit small. Fifa 19 fixed that.
So i really can't wait for FIFA 20!
One week earlier i thought PES 2020 would be the way to go.
Quoting myself, i mentioned some gripes for FIFA 18/19, before FIFA 20 and PES 20 release.
Now it seems that all these gripes are gone, EA fixed the ball linearity, animation are much more fluid, ball size is fixed since fifa 19 patch.
In the same path went KONAMI. PES 20 has added physicality, ball physics and freedom, some respectable shooting variety.
A certain step up for both games.
The problems that still need to be sorted out are:
PES 2020:
-Cursor change still erratic
-Feel of movement in rails is still there
-Collisions need more improvement
-Ball physics need more detail and variety in spin and bounce
-Shooting needs more variety
-Footplanting and animations need to be much more fluid and detailed, especially in turning animations.
-Target lock should be changed to late
-Overall need of more contextual animation variety
-Some minor graphic issues like lighting in shaded areas of the pitch, where player and ball shadowing are non-existend
-Foul calling needs a total overhaul
-Physicallity also need a lot of improvement
-Unpredictability and freedom is decent but certainly not adequate
-Please bring back cloth animation (like PES 2014)
-AI does not dribble the ball, hardly ever does skill moves
FIFA 20:
-Player movement needs more weight
-Ball needs a little more weight especially in long passes
-Some passes are executed way to fast, with fast forwarded animations
-Running at full speed is like galoping
-Some body postures are funny, like shoulders are lifted up, and some unnatural torso bend
-Backstepping is also funny, like player tries to move in a tornado
-Headers are too strong sometimes
-Highly worn pitch should have more effect on ball movement (like it was in FIFA 17)
-Shooting need more zip and explotion in animation and ball trajectory
-Grass is nice on replays, but in gameplay looks very bland