Ball physics in FIFA:
For me, in terms of my opinion, it's very clear. FIFA's physics are totally organic. But also largely ridiculous. That the ball physics were a main selling point this year tells you how little of a fuck they give about reality - "improved" means "easier", improved for eSports, not necessarily more realistic.
PES's are categorically "fixed". I'm not saying this to be a prick, I promise - but I genuinely have laughed out loud at some of the ridiculous deflections, where a hard cross-field pass hits someone and ends up a *perfectly* delivered pass to feet to the opponent, it's so crude and so obvious that the code can't cope with a loose ball (even on manual there are situations where a ball is "magnetised" to someone). But in being "fixed", you never get moon physics. (But you get "cheats". Sometimes in your favour, often not.)
Which is better? Personal preference. Neither is factually better. I'm amazed more people can't accept that.
You see more unique goals in FIFA, sure (and I love that) - then a minute later there's a deflection and the ball spirals off like a malfunctioning helicopter.
You see very little variety in shots in PES (though some argue otherwise, I won't argue) - but as a consequence, the ball always behaves properly. So. What's best? Whichever you prefer.
Frankly, they're both shit options. In my opinion.
This sums it up for me. Freedom and actual physics calculations where everything feels nothing like football.
Or a kind of facsimile of football where somebody had literally pasted a hundred different ways a football behaves in a match onto the game engine.
So yeah, looks and feels nice. But it very quickly reveals itself to be a con job.
I'm not sure there is even one element of actual physics in pes. I think everything we're seeing is an animation. Pre-calculated.
Case in point. Playing as Genoa, my letter winger takes a heavy touch...a millisecond AFTER peter Drury says hes taken a heavy touch. The game knew it was going to happen.
It feels like some shots are more connected to the goalkeeper than the player I shot with. They way my longer range shot goes at goal...and the keeper is already in midair on the perfect diving trajectory and then meets the ball at its apex as if it was all decided the moment I pressed shoot...
I think this far and away the best pes since pes 5 (maybe pes 2008 and pes 2010 on ps2). But the game is starting to give me that feeling...the feeling of stale ness. Part of this is me playing version 1.4, I think 1.00 will keep me.going a little longer. But mainly it's the fact there is so little actual physics and bio-mechanic technology in this game that the patterns begin to reveal themselves. Thankfully, konami have rediscovered how to programme teammate AI so the freshness of attack
king patterns is almost at pes 3 and 5 levels.
But then you get into the box...and the shot, the actual goal, rather than being the peak event of the move, the moment of release and ecstasy instead becomes a moment of calm far too often.
The goal I want to score is like the one in that fifa clip. A shot that fades away and does something unexpected. I cannot remember ever happening in any pes since ps3...
(I keep lamenting the way EA ruined fifa 19. After the second patch it still felt heavy and the game was so unpredictable, every moment felt fresh. Then it became light and floaty and there was no feeling in playing, even with the great shot physics).
button in PES. Nearly always an anticlimax that ruins the satisfaction in the nice gameplay in the build up.
That's the best thing left this year. Kidding.
