Is FC25 better than PES 21?

Barry Smith

League 1
27 February 2021
Guys it pains me to say it but I think I may be leaving pes behind? After 3 years of trying every single gameplay mod I think that the AI is just to simple. Nobody has ever managed to get the AI teams to dribble or attack aggressively. There has been so much great work done with all the great patches, stadiums, faces everything. But after playing EAFC with good sliders and mods I think it’s more challenging and fun imho. Anyone else feeling this way or is it just me?
 
Pains me also to think alike!
Even tho I still can enjoy pes from time to time..ea fc24 with mods(especially anth james and paul's gameplay mods are making the gameplay so much diverse..
The cpu is far more advanced with those mods..
 
I have put probably 1000+ hours modding pes 21, but unfortunately I think there is only so much you can do with the gameplay and that’s what matters most at the end of the day. But I still have great appreciation for the work the modders have put in as it’s such a high quality. Maybe some of those guys will migrate to EAFC too? I have no respect for Konami anymore after the abomination that is efootball!
 
Maybe some of those guys will migrate to EAFC too? I have no respect for Konami anymore after the abomination that is efootball!
The current problem with FC 24 modding is that what can be done to FC 24 is a fraction of a fraction of what has been achieved with PES 2021.
Stadium makers, for example, currently can't migrate as far as I know (and I believe they're not the only ones).

While it's true that FC 24 is more immersive out of the box (in terms of TV broadcasting packages, stadiums, adboards), it can't be denied that we could add things to PES 2021 (like new stadiums for example) that make it more complete as a package than FC 24 is, and that not every of these things can currently be added to FC 24.
 
I agree the modders have done some amazing work on pes 21 and it is as complete as possible and a great game in its own right, I just wish as has been the case for decades with footy games we could combine the best that FIFA, PES and FM do! To be fair I would probably never leave the house if that game were made though 😂😂😂 at this time I think modded ea fc is the most fun and challenging and has the best visual expirience to go with it
 
PES has more potential but EAFC is much easier to mod, that combined with a lack of modders doing in-depth exe mods for PES means you will see more gains with EAFC.
 
PES has more potential but EAFC is much easier to mod, that combined with a lack of modders doing in-depth exe mods for PES means you will see more gains with EAFC.
Eafc has only career mode better than pes honestly (from a modding point of view)
 
There are some fundamental issues with fifa/eafc that can't be changed. The feef sliding and skipping and the ball travelling through body parts. When one of those happens and leads to a goal it kills the game for me.

The next thing is defenders switching off. I've watched loads of eafc mods and slider changes and there is always a defender of defensive midfielder who doesn't track a run.
None of this exists in a modded pes 21. Yes pes 21 is older but it holds up really well in the fundamentals
 
This might seem like a small thing to some, but to me FC24's biggest flaw is the lack of Match Intros.

This detracts a lot from the immersion, particularly in Career Mode. I mean I know there are some cinematics and such, but nothing replaces a proper and classic intro, with formations, entrances, a view of the stadium, etc.

There's also a lack of patches which complement/add leagues. I guess it's a matter of time until there are more available.

On the pitch, I found FC's vanilla gameplay to be unplayable (even with sliders). However! @Anth James' Gameplay Mods have DRAMATICALLY improved the actual playing experience IMO, making the game very enjoyable!
 
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This might seem like a small thing to some, but to me FC24's biggest flaw is the lack of Match Intros.

This detracts a lot from the immersion, particularly in Career Mode. I mean I know there are some cinematics and such, but nothing replaces a proper and classic intro, with formations, entrances, a view of the stadium, etc.

There's also a lack of patches which complement/add leagues. I guess it's a matter of time until there are more available.

On the pitch, I found FC's vanilla gameplay to be unplayable (even with sliders). However! @Anth James' Gameplay Mods have dramatically improved the actual playing experience IMO, making the game very enjoyable!
Adding leagues to EA games is easy compared to PES 21.
 
There are some fundamental issues with fifa/eafc that can't be changed. The feef sliding and skipping and the ball travelling through body parts. When one of those happens and leads to a goal it kills the game for me.

The next thing is defenders switching off. I've watched loads of eafc mods and slider changes and there is always a defender of defensive midfielder who doesn't track a run.
None of this exists in a modded pes 21. Yes pes 21 is older but it holds up really well in the fundamentals
You won't hear one argument from me that 1v1 is the worst thing EA have introduced. But it's a mistake to judge FC24 on videos alone, from vanilla or even on past iterations.

We've come a long way with what can be done with mods regarding this. This is the first year positioning hasn't been a major problem due to some of the progress.

I'm not saying it's perfect at all, but don't believe that mids or defenders won't track. Look at Foden in the below clip come all the way back with intent. This has been 3-4 years in the making to get this type of behaviour.

https://x.com/AnthJamesFBG/status/1757320388860854635?s=20
 
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I find PES 2021 very predictable and repetitive. PES 2019 is 100% a better game than PES 2021. PES 2021 have good animation flow and that's about it. Positioning is bad, marking tightness is non-existent, stats doesn't matter as much(you can have a league 2 team destroying Man City and struggle against Sheffield), animations gets stuck and unresponsive, huge gaps between midfield and defense, extremely 1 dimensional AI. The only goal i concede in PES 2021 is the CPU defender plays a long pass to the striker and the striker turns and shoots and goal. FC 24 out of the box is just as bad as PES 2021 out of the box. They got different issues. But PES 2021 gameplay modding doesn't have as much power as FC 24 gameplay modding. @Anth James turned FC 24 to a new game with his mod and modded FC 24 gameplay wise is much better than modded PES 2021. Also career mode is way more indepth in FC 24 and with how much you can mod the career mode, you can get very realistic career mode saves. FC 24 with @Anth James's gameplay mod and a realistic career mode mod is the best modern footie game you can play.
 
This might seem like a small thing to some, but to me FC24's biggest flaw is the lack of Match Intros.

This detracts a lot from the immersion, particularly in Career Mode. I mean I know there are some cinematics and such, but nothing replaces a proper and classic intro, with formations, entrances, a view of the stadium, etc.

There's also a lack of patches which complement/add leagues. I guess it's a matter of time until there are more available.

On the pitch, I found FC's vanilla gameplay to be unplayable (even with sliders). However! @Anth James' Gameplay Mods have DRAMATICALLY improved the actual playing experience IMO, making the game very enjoyable!
The lack of match intros is crazy. If they could add what they have now to a couple of screens with the teams and squads on it, it would be perfect. The funny thing is they still have the FC 24 Live in the top right corner for that 'TV experience', so what has this intro have to do with live matches? Even MotD highlights on BBC has squad screens
 
Good to see this is turning into a good discussion. I hope it encourages more people to give EAFC another look. I discounted FIFA From 2020 now after 10 mins of playing them and got stuck in a horrible cycle of trying every PES 21 Gameplay mod and seeing them go weird after a few games did my head in! The modders have done some amazing and i mean amazing stuff with PES but its maybe time to let it go?
 
The current problem with FC 24 modding is that what can be done to FC 24 is a fraction of a fraction of what has been achieved with PES 2021.
Stadium makers, for example, currently can't migrate as far as I know (and I believe they're not the only ones).

While it's true that FC 24 is more immersive out of the box (in terms of TV broadcasting packages, stadiums, adboards), it can't be denied that we could add things to PES 2021 (like new stadiums for example) that make it more complete as a package than FC 24 is, and that not every of these things can currently be added to FC 24.

and the good mod in FC 24 pretty much need $$$.

You want face ? $$$
Tool ? $$$
Graphics ? $$$
Pitch Mod ? $$$
Gameplay mod ? $$$

I always find it funny cause sometimes these guys complain about EA being greedy and yet doing the same thing, just look at the pricetag to get mods. Unbelieveable. And tbf there are some paid mods in pes 21 aswell it is true but the amount of free stuff from pes to fc is night and day. There are still some passionate modders out there who work to mod the game for free as hobby.

Anyway that's just my 2c

Guys it pains me to say it but I think I may be leaving pes behind? After 3 years of trying every single gameplay mod I think that the AI is just to simple. Nobody has ever managed to get the AI teams to dribble or attack aggressively. There has been so much great work done with all the great patches, stadiums, faces everything. But after playing EAFC with good sliders and mods I think it’s more challenging and fun imho. Anyone else feeling this way or is it just me?

Speaking of gameplay, i agree pes 21 gameplay is too simple & limited. I've also tried ton of gameplay mods while these guys who work on gameplay mods are doing good job i keep coming to vanilla. I've said in the past if someone could manage to port efootball gameplay atleast the ai dribbling, i probably don't need new football game anymore, lol.
 
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and the good mod in FC 24 pretty much need $$$.

You want face ? $$$
Tool ? $$$
Graphics ? $$$
Pitch Mod ? $$$
Gameplay mod ? $$$
Well, it depends on what you’re looking for.
I agree that there’s a lot of stuff that is only available through Patreon, but there’s enough free stuff to have a good experience in my opinion.

Both Paul and Anth released their gameplay files for free. They’re different enough to appeal to almost everyone, and while Anth’s might not be the bleeding edge one it’s definitely solid nonetheless.

There’s a handful of licensing mods that work with TU9 and that work for the Italian teams (with third kits and mini kits too!), some boot packs are free…

Bogo released a performance fix for free that instantly fixes the stuttering and FPS drops…

EEP, which I considered for years my go-to mod no-question-asked, always used to be free (even though it’s not been released for FC 24 yet and I am not that positive that it will ever be)… But let’s keep it out of this discussion for a moment as it’s not for FC 24.

That’s still a lot of stuff!
 
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Good to see this is turning into a good discussion. I hope it encourages more people to give EAFC another look. I discounted FIFA From 2020 now after 10 mins of playing them and got stuck in a horrible cycle of trying every PES 21 Gameplay mod and seeing them go weird after a few games did my head in! The modders have done some amazing and i mean amazing stuff with PES but its maybe time to let it go?
The exe modders are the only people who can make the discoveries required for the gameplay. I've been trying to add unlimited data to the game, then I can focus on gameplay to fully delete the script.
 
The exe modders are the only people who can make the discoveries required for the gameplay. I've been trying to add unlimited data to the game, then I can focus on gameplay to fully delete the script.
In my opinion, if there's any hope to really make PES 2021 gameplay great, the tactics of the game needs to be moddable. It's just far too reliant on rigid tactics. Context is secondary, tactics/zones override everything.
 
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In my opinion, if there's any hope to really make PES 2021 gameplay great, the tactics of the game needs to be moddable. It's just far too reliant on rigid tactics. Context is secondary, tactics/zones override everything.
IMO, from a modder's perspective, you've got to crack the hardest stuff first.
 
IMO, from a modder's persepective, you've got to crack the hardest stuff first.
Oh yeah not taking away from what you're doing at all - you're doing amazing work. I'm just talking from the gameplay side of things, I feel there's often a lot of discussion around the mechanical side of PES 2021, when I think the tactical side is a bigger area of concern.
 
Oh yeah not taking away from what you're doing at all - you're doing amazing work. I'm just talking from the gameplay side of things, I feel there's often a lot of discussion around the mechanical side of PES 2021, when I think the tactical side is a bigger area of concern.
I agree that the tactics are too limited, others disagreed when I said that.
 
I agree that the tactics are too limited, others disagreed when I said that.
I can see the alternative perspective, as the tactics clearly work, so some would think this is great (and it is really nice in certain moments).

However, what creates the problem is the fact that they override context of what's happening on the pitch. It's why defenders run away back to their allocated off-ball 'zones', etc.
 
The graphics & atmosphere of the match, and other features of FIFA/EAFC 24 such as commentators, and other match schedules in the game are very impressive. However, for me, there is only one very unfortunate thing, the gameplay.

For me, looking at the FIFA/EAFC gameplay, the animation of the player's movement/footsteps is like floating or ice skating, the physical movement of the ball is like a balloon, not natural like PES. If the gameplay could be like PES, it would be even more amazing, especially as this is a new version from EA Sports. And finally, if this could adapt to the new UCL 2024 format, that would be amazing
 
I still prefer PES 21 (and 19) over EAFC 24 / eFootball 24. The modding community keeps PES 21 alive. I particularly hate the videogame-ish visual style of EAFC

This. I don't like PES 21, but I cannot bear the visual estetics of EAFC. Everything looks so cheap and cheesy somehow, when I look at it my brain cannot make this mental leap of thinking that what I see here is football. It looks like a cartoon with terrible animations and sliding everywhere. As much as I respect and acknowledge what modders are doing with the gameplay, it's just too much for me to see any chance of me enjoying it.
 
I play pes 21 and FC24 in my opinion, perfect game would be the ball physics from pes 21 and the movement , animations and driblings from Fc 24 i liked both games i think i play most of the time Pes 21 if anyone could mix those things in one one for me it would be great , ithe dribling on pes 21 is very bad , ugly movements and great ball physics on fc 24 great movements ( too fast) but great and very bad pyhsics you can modificate some things you can get better on the game but not enough
 
The graphics & atmosphere of the match, and other features of FIFA/EAFC 24 such as commentators, and other match schedules in the game are very impressive. However, for me, there is only one very unfortunate thing, the gameplay.

For me, looking at the FIFA/EAFC gameplay, the animation of the player's movement/footsteps is like floating or ice skating, the physical movement of the ball is like a balloon, not natural like PES. If the gameplay could be like PES, it would be even more amazing, especially as this is a new version from EA Sports. And finally, if this could adapt to the new UCL 2024 format, that would be amazing
I’ve been playing a bit of FIFA 23 after playing PES, and to me the quality of the commentary seems to have deteriorated compared to something like FIFA 15? Haven’t got into Career mode though yet, as I’m struggling with difficulty levels and the right gameplay mod right now.
 
I think the most important aspect in a football game is the gameplay and the immersion in the management side, like being able to make your own formations and instructions, having a depth transfer market, training options, stuff like being able to hire scouts, medics (like in older PES games), more leagues within the master league mode/career mode, 2nd/3rd divisions leagues, more slots lets say for players and teams, kind of a modular game where modders and players can easily build leagues and players and add to the game, something like creation kit bethesda has for some of their games.
Licenses are not even important in a modable game cause the community can just do it by themselves, if a game is good, people will work on it to make better if it's mod friendly.
Remember how Skyrim modders made their own game and also Endereal? it would be great to have the same interest for a football project, but it's probably only a dream.
Anyway, I heard 2k is also making a new football game to be released probably by 2026, but I don't have high hopes on 2k since I lost faith for the 2k nba games long ago.
 
In terms of presentation, I think PES has more atmosphere in general. The intros, the crowd animations, not to mention the personalized chants and effects are, IMO, more animated in PES than in FIFA. I also prefer PES' celebrations, I think they better capture the happiness and elation that the players feel when scoring a goal. :)

That being said, I'm having tons of fun with FC24 at the moment, playing exhibitions. :) With Anth's gameplay mods, there's something that feels very fresh about it. EEP (European Expansion Patch) also used to be my go-to patch for FIFA, it's a bit unfortunate that it doesn't seem like it will be released this year (keeping fingers crossed).
 
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