PES 13 Master League Thread

[Suuuuupertalk]

Boro finished their first season in the Championship in 6th place, after a very strong final 3rd of the season. Emnes finished Top Scorer, but it was Ledesma that was awarded the Player of the Season award. We bought another few utility style midfielders including Yacob.

Newcastle, Reading and Wigan were relegated, so it's going to be tough to outmuscle those teams this season, but the plus side for me is that they will bring their fans down to Division 2 with them. So at least we get some chants this season.

We have yet to kick-off the new season, as I really want to play solely in Co-op with my son, and he was at his mothers last night. Instead, I ventured online and played some old PEEL players. I had a blast, and earned an Energy Drink, some more Banannas, and some Multi-Vitamins. I will use these to reduce Fatigue in my offline ML. People go on about how silly this is, I actually like being rewarded for playing online like this. A daft bit of fun with benefits.

Really looking forward to the new campaign, with a good F.A. Cup priority in the hope we can grab a UEFA spot out of it. Oh, and promotion of course.

Great hatrick by Costa that LT, lovely 1-2 for the first, classic early cross and volley for the 2nd, and the R2 to claim the match-ball at the end was sublime.

Your're hoping for some cup success despite being in Div2? That's some ambition right there!

I must admit I'm taking the cup more seriously now, my form has carried on where I left off the other day, and I progressed to the next round with a 2-0 win, that man Everton with the goals yet again. But the win netted Benfica around £150,000 so that's not to be sniffed at in my club's current financial state. Costa himself netted another two goals, the second a powerful header;

YouTube - PES2013

Speaking of Everton Costa, I'm enjoying how a lack of funds means I'm having to rely on him and build my attacks through him. I've accentuated this by equipping him with two training items (one that increases his responsiveness by a point and another that increases his shot accuracy by three points), as well as a lovelybew pair of green/white Nike boots that really boost his attacking stats.

These are miles better than the PES boots (which were the only types of boots I was awarded in my last ML), increasing shot accuracy, swerve and other attacking traits by four points in some cases. His overall rating is only 64 but I really examined his key stats for a striker and he's way better than his overall rating suggests. It might be very artificial and made Éverton a lot better than he actually is, but it's really fun choosing to use certain items to give my side a talismanic figure to almost rely on. Not realistic, but as an RPG fan it's kinda fun.

But since taking off the patch my form on Superstar has continued, which is bizarre as others haven't noticed a difference. I'm still top of the league after seven games now, my last win coming in the 89th minute to win the game 1-0 thanks to an absolute piledriver from substitute Orelaine;

YouTube - PES2103

I just don't get how the game is playing so differently. Rather than losing every game 5-0 I'm drawing and winning in low scoring games where I actually manage late goals, can withstand heavy CPU pressure without conceding thanks to some heroic blocks and last ditch tackles. It all seems to much fairer, like the boosting the CPU dishes out is gone. The game certainly feels easier, but seeing as I was being spanked before in such an unfair, artificial way then frankly I couldn't care less about that.

 

[Jimmy G-Force]

Your're hoping for some cup success despite being in Div2? That's some ambition right there!

I must admit I'm taking the cup more seriously now, my form has carried on where I left off the other day, and I progressed to the next round with a 2-0 win, that man Everton with the goals yet again. But the win netted my around £150,000 so that's not to be sniffed at in my club's current financial state.

Speaking of Everton Costa, I'm enjoying how a lack of funds means I'm having to rely in him and build my attacks through him. I've accentuated this by buying two training items (ne that increases his responsiveness by a point and another that increases his shot accuracy by three points) and equipping him with them. I also got awarded a pair of green/white Nike boots (which makes a nice change as in my last ML I only got awarded add up PES boots) and given them to Éverton too. These are miles better than the PES boots, increasing shot accuracy, swerve and other attacking traits by four points in some cases.

It might be very artificial and made Éverton a lot better than he actually is, but it's really fun choosing to use certain items to give my side a talismanic figure to almost rely on. Not realistic, but as an RPG fan it's kinda fun.

I agree totally about the boots and stuff. Good fun. Woodgate is a beast for me, but he always get's injured, so I bought him his own Physiotherapist.

Also, thinking of how the original Adidas Predators were marketed, and the quite considerable difference they made to both added power and swerve during those scientific tests, it's not a million miles away to be fair. Same with those new ultra light Nike boots, I'm sure you can move just the little bit faster with some of those.

I'm looking for a Semi-final spot in the F.A. Cup, as that could get me into UEFA, especially if it's the 3 big guns there with me.

 

[Suuuuupertalk]

I agree totally about the boots and stuff. Good fun. Woodgate is a beast for me, but he always get's injured, so I bought him his own Physiotherapist.

Also, thinking of how the original Adidas Predators were marketed, and the quite considerable difference they made to both added power and swerve during those scientific tests, it's not a million miles away to be fair. Same with those new ultra light Nike boots, I'm sure you can move just the little bit faster with some of those.

I'm looking for a Semi-final spot in the F.A. Cup, as that could get me into UEFA, especially if it's the 3 big guns there with me.

Nice, I never thought of it that way. Even if qualifying for the Europa league turns out to be relatively short lived, being a div 2 side and all, the group matches would generate so much extra income that you'd be well placed to build a promotion winning squad.

I'm gonna give the cups everything I've got just in case. In my team's case it's more than likely that Porto and Sporting will dominate the Primeira Liga and the cup, meaning there could be an extra Europa spot in there for a semi finalist! I'm drooling at the thought of the extra income I could use in Div 2 to expand the club!

 

[xPJRx]

Alright Guys.
Its quite funny you mention that since you've gone back to 1.0 you're finding the game easier Supertalk.
Because I had the opposite, after patch 1.01 was released, I found the difficulty dumbed down a little and the games a bit easier after the patch.
That feeling has gone now though, started Season 4 with an absolutely dismal run of defeats, losing 4-0, 4-1 and 3-0 in my opening 3 games.
Have picked up a bit since then and have climbed to 11th but Im not finding the game easy at all thus far, I play on zero assists and Professional level.
Some teams, ie Hull, were absolutely unplayable to the point where I had to check if I was on the right difficulty level.

Have also signed 6 new players pre-season with good cover in a few key positions, including a new CF - Miller, who has been great for me so far, bagging a few goals already.
My best signing though has to be a very Pacy winger called Franz, bombing down the wings and whipping crosses in is now a possibility.

PS: After all the furor around boots etc, im quite enjoying it too, Don't ever play online though so haven't had any magic bananas or vitamins.
Jimmy - I was involved in the very original Adidas Predator tests, I trialled a pair when I played for my County, and then bought a pair (well my mum did) I was expecting sensible soccer style after touch shots - never quite happened ;-)

 

[radha1]

Alright Guys.
Its quite funny you mention that since you've gone back to 1.0 you're finding the game easier Supertalk.
Because I had the opposite, after patch 1.01 was released, I found the difficulty dumbed down a little and the games a bit easier after the patch.
That feeling has gone now though, started Season 4 with an absolutely dismal run of defeats, losing 4-0, 4-1 and 3-0 in my opening 3 games.
Have picked up a bit since then and have climbed to 11th but Im not finding the game easy at all thus far, I play on zero assists and Professional level.
Some teams, ie Hull, were absolutely unplayable to the point where I had to check if I was on the right difficulty level.

Have also signed 6 new players pre-season with good cover in a few key positions, including a new CF - Miller, who has been great for me so far, bagging a few goals already.
My best signing though has to be a very Pacy winger called Franz, bombing down the wings and whipping crosses in is now a possibility.

PS: After all the furor around boots etc, im quite enjoying it too, Don't ever play online though so haven't had any magic bananas or vitamins.
Jimmy - I was involved in the very original Adidas Predator tests, I trialled a pair when I played for my County, and then bought a pair (well my mum did) I was expecting sensible soccer style after touch shots - never quite happened ;-)

6 new players in the offseason? and in key position? and a run of losses? Check their teamwork stats...

 

[Jimmy G-Force]

Alright Guys.
Its quite funny you mention that since you've gone back to 1.0 you're finding the game easier Supertalk.
Because I had the opposite, after patch 1.01 was released, I found the difficulty dumbed down a little and the games a bit easier after the patch.
That feeling has gone now though, started Season 4 with an absolutely dismal run of defeats, losing 4-0, 4-1 and 3-0 in my opening 3 games.
Have picked up a bit since then and have climbed to 11th but Im not finding the game easy at all thus far, I play on zero assists and Professional level.
Some teams, ie Hull, were absolutely unplayable to the point where I had to check if I was on the right difficulty level.

Have also signed 6 new players pre-season with good cover in a few key positions, including a new CF - Miller, who has been great for me so far, bagging a few goals already.
My best signing though has to be a very Pacy winger called Franz, bombing down the wings and whipping crosses in is now a possibility.

PS: After all the furor around boots etc, im quite enjoying it too, Don't ever play online though so haven't had any magic bananas or vitamins.
Jimmy - I was involved in the very original Adidas Predator tests, I trialled a pair when I played for my County, and then bought a pair (well my mum did) I was expecting sensible soccer style after touch shots - never quite happened ;-)

Yeah, I hear you.

Funnily enough though, and this is 100% true....

About 6-7 years ago whilst I was still playing football competatively in the Northern League (Durham City), I spent £100 on a pair of new Nike boots. On the first day I was set to use them in a match, I left my house and put my boot-bag on the top of the car roof whilst I opened the car. Long story short, I turned up at the ground and couldn't find my new boots. I'd left them on the roof and driven off. I retraced the drive in my car but couldn't find my boot-bag anywhere, basically I'd lost them already. I managed to get my old boots and play the match, I can't really remember how I played in that one to be honest.

Anyway, like most footballers, I'm pretty superstitious, so when purchasing another pair of boots the following week, I opted to get a pair of Adidas ones, in white with the Beckham logo on them. I decided that Nike were 'unlucky'. I paid another £100 for these new 'Becks' ones.

During that week I went over to the local sports complex and spent over an hour working on free-kicks from about 25 yards out. I started striking the ball as if I was passing it a long distance, similiar to how Beckham hit's them, from the side on, and not with the laces. I had some decent success.

The following Saturday would be the day to try out my new boots.

Now, I can only ever remember taking one free-kick in my whole life in a competative match at that point, (there were always better set-piece takers than me) and that ended up getting smashed high, wide and handsome.

Anyway, during this game with my new Beckham boots on, I was having a nightmare. I wasn't playing well at all really, and was getting some stick off a mouthy player on the other team. The game was 0-0 with about 20 minutes to play and we got a free-kick. I picked up the ball feeling pretty confident, mainly due to the fact I'd been working on them. My play during that game had been average at best, so the confidence wasn't derived from that.

The position was left of central, about 30-33 yards out, it was a fair distance, and a lot further than the one's I been working on. The kid from the other team even laughed or smirked or whatever, when I picked the ball up. Anyway, I hit this ball as if I was whipping in a corner, like a long high pass really, with the instep. The shot smashed off the underside of the right hand angle, bounced on the line and in. I couldn't believe it, 1-0. And I made sure that I made that mouthy kid on the other team know all about it. We won the match by that goal, and as with football, I played a blinder of a last 20 minutes, Chest pumped out, the lot.

The next week we got another free-kick, just outside the box. I ended up bending that into the near corner with a lovely delicate whipped motion. At this point I truly believed I had Beckhams soul in my boots.

The following week, in another game, we won another free-kick, pretty much in exactly the same position as the week before. I tried the same technique, but hit the angle and didn't score. That literally would have been 3 free-kick goals in 3 attempts with my new white Beckhams.

I've never scored another free-kick since in a proper match, but I'll never forget those 3 consecutive weeks, and those magical boots. True story.

 

[OfficialAster]

Love reading your ML experiences so I decided to share mine! Started with my own team and added some decent English Championship players (mainly from Coventry since I replaced them). The name of my club is "FSV Koeyoe Forest", and we play in Yellow-Grey shirts. Game difficulty is Superstar. First three games of the season were away from home. After a painful 0-3 loss to Celtic in preseason, I decided to play rather defensively with the emphasis on creating attacks via the wing. Since I've got two wonderful players there, Alanzinho (on loan from Watford) and O'Donovan, I reckoned that tactic would/could work. And it did! Took all three points at Vickerage Road (early penalty easily taken by Eastwood and header by Platt), 2-1 it was (the Watford courtesy of a very weird own-goal by McPake). The next trip was a bit more difficult - away at Birmingham, but once again I managed to win, 0-1, an Eastwood freekick deciding that one. The third fixture was as I said away from home as well, this time at Bristol City.

To my big surprise I thumped City 3-0. It was enthralling to see how my whole team played together as a unit - usually when I play on Superstar I get beat, heavily. Now though we we're the side in top form, firmly on top of the Championship. Next up was Bolton Wanderers, a freshly relegated team with a starting eleven full of Premier League players (Eagles, Petrov, ...). I managed to go ahead after 30mins, a nice Eastwood-Platt combination making that happen. Petrov decided to throw himself into the game though and equalised within seconds after the restart, which meant we went into half-time with a 1-1 score. After the break Bolton continued their revival and two Kevin Davies goals made it 3-1 to Bolton. Eastwood belted one in after 89min but it was too little too late - the first defeat of the season was a fact. Next week we're away at league leaders Blackburn Rovers.. Time to pick ourselves up again!

 

[radha1]

I'm happy to say that Schalke has won promotion in the second year. All four of the final games mattered and we went undefeated with two draws away and two glorious wins at home. For the last four games I played the identical eleven players, even if they were on blue arrows. No player had a teamwork stat below 71 and we played (if I may say) some glorious football.

Unfortunately, two of those eleven players won't be with us in the top flight. Due to my policy of having to say yes to a transfer request if the team's club ranking is higher than Schalke's, I've lost my best midfielder (Hoger) to Chelsea and my LMF/LWF (Draxler) to Malaga. Good news is that over the previous winter transfer window I picked the young Italian Florenzi for midfield. He has hardly played as he has been slowly developing his teamwork (almost to 65). I think he starts the first game of the new season. Now I've got to replace the LMF. This one is going to be tough. I really didn't expect to receive any offers for him. He is only a slightly above average player but with a team work stat of 80 and very high responsiveness he has been on the end of a number of loose balls in the penalty area. He's clinical as well. What a loss. No way I can find a solid replacement with sufficient teamwork. The top left area of my formation is going to be trouble. I do have the option of putting my LB up their (it's his secondary position) and then expand my search for a LMF or LB. Better odds, I suppose.

It's been a wickedly fun season. My favorite times are when the cpu is down a goal or two and you can feel the gameplay just pick up a bit of pace. You start to feel that the cpu is looking to score, they get to the loose balls, they win the headers, and you've got to play such careful, intense defense. I think a dozen times this season I've felt this momentum and disrupted their play and then struck on the counter. When the cpu looks to score like that, they end up vulnerable, especially to the long ball.

Good season with a happy result. Now I've got a bit of spending money from promotion and the fan base that has reached 16,000. Big decisions ahead.

--Good day!

 

[Jimmy G-Force]

Love reading your ML experiences so I decided to share mine! Started with my own team and added some decent English Championship players (mainly from Coventry since I replaced them). The name of my club is "FSV Koeyoe Forest", and we play in Yellow-Grey shirts. Game difficulty is Superstar. First three games of the season were away from home. After a painful 0-3 loss to Celtic in preseason, I decided to play rather defensively with the emphasis on creating attacks via the wing. Since I've got two wonderful players there, Alanzinho (on loan from Watford) and O'Donovan, I reckoned that tactic would/could work. And it did! Took all three points at Vickerage Road (early penalty easily taken by Eastwood and header by Platt), 2-1 it was (the Watford courtesy of a very weird own-goal by McPake). The next trip was a bit more difficult - away at Birmingham, but once again I managed to win, 0-1, an Eastwood freekick deciding that one. The third fixture was as I said away from home as well, this time at Bristol City.

To my big surprise I thumped City 3-0. It was enthralling to see how my whole team played together as a unit - usually when I play on Superstar I get beat, heavily. Now though we we're the side in top form, firmly on top of the Championship. Next up was Bolton Wanderers, a freshly relegated team with a starting eleven full of Premier League players (Eagles, Petrov, ...). I managed to go ahead after 30mins, a nice Eastwood-Platt combination making that happen. Petrov decided to throw himself into the game though and equalised within seconds after the restart, which meant we went into half-time with a 1-1 score. After the break Bolton continued their revival and two Kevin Davies goals made it 3-1 to Bolton. Eastwood belted one in after 89min but it was too little too late - the first defeat of the season was a fact. Next week we're away at league leaders Blackburn Rovers.. Time to pick ourselves up again!

Nice post, and welcome to the party.

Radha, congratulations bud. Those are very nervous times, when your whole season's work is hanging in the balance with only a few matches to play.


Boro kicked off their second season in the Championship with a 2-2 draw away to Forest. Boro had been 2 nil up and coasting, but a silly error with 10 minutes to play brought the home team back into the game, and an injury-time equaliser secured them a share of the spoils. Gutted.

We then went, won 1, drew 2 and lost 2 in our next fives games. Bringing the new signing's into the team certainly had a detrimental effect, and the fluid football playing unit of last season was no-where to be be seen for the most part. Ledesma once again was Boro's shining light, adding more stunning strikes to his ever evolving 'wonder-goal' scrapbook.

YouTube - Ledesma Rocket !!

YouTube - Ledesma's last minute winner...





Then it happened............

Now this is the first time I've ever seen this in any PES game, and typically it had to happen when we least needed it.

Basically Gabulev (80OVR), our Russian keeper (signed pre-season) was fouled with a minute to play from a horrific sliding tackle, in our loss to Sheffield Wednesday. He picked up a serious injury that has ruled him out for 9 weeks.

If this wasn't bad enough, we then realised, that we had sold our 3rd keeper, and our 2nd keeper had left after putting his talks on hold. I had attempted to sign Steele and another keeper, but both bids had failed. Then we simply forgot to sign another keeper. A proper 'Brendan Rogers' moment.

So, the bottom-line is, we played Woodgate in goal in our last match at Brighton. We played on the old Keegan philosophy of having to score more goals than our opponents. We won the game 4-2, and restricted Brighton to only 3 shots on target. Which was good, because Woody is the shits in the sticks, 46 OVR.

We now have Fulham in the F.A. Cup first round at the Cottage, we have already forgot about the UEFA spot, that certainly isn't happening now.

Oh dear............

 

[OfficialAster]

Jimmy, well that's just.. Incredible. Cheers to Woody for only conceding 2 goals, and double cheers for winning that game.

I made an error in my last post, my next was at home to Blackburn, not away. Obviously that makes a hell of a difference. We once again started crisply, with Alanzinho going close. Also I've got to say that my two fullbacks always go nicely along in attack: only PES does this so brilliantly. My backs aren't top class though, and you can tell: sometimes the two of them are on the wing, which means danger when losing possession.

So as I was saying, I was on top and got the early breakthrough. Carsley slamming it from outside box, Forest fans in delirium. I managed to see the game through and I'm now joint leader with Wolves. Was also quite lucky in the FA Cup draw, we play Blackburn away.. But knowing that we avoided a Premier League team, everything's possible.

I'm absolutely loving this game, the balance just feel right. Oh and one tip - never get too smirky!

 

[xPJRx]

Am on a bit of a downer with the game at the moment.
Halfway through season 4 and should really be looking at promotion from D2by now, but as the seasons go by and I seemingly improve my team, the CPU teams all seem to get bumped up to ridiculous levels.
Playing against Hull City last night was unreal, they played like Brazil from the 1970's, apart from that am getting a bit sick of the uber-scripted CPU straight from KO goals and other moments.

Am 13th now in D2 in season 4 .... Ive lost 5 of my last 8 games.... at the moment they're not fun to play, and im sick of having to use super cancel all the fucking time.
I shall persevere and soldier on though......

A new post (player Profile) up on my site)

PESUltra

 

[Jimmy G-Force]

Am on a bit of a downer with the game at the moment.
Halfway through season 4 and should really be looking at promotion from D2by now, but as the seasons go by and I seemingly improve my team, the CPU teams all seem to get bumped up to ridiculous levels.
Playing against Hull City last night was unreal, they played like Brazil from the 1970's, apart from that am getting a bit sick of the uber-scripted CPU straight from KO goals and other moments.

Am 13th now in D2 in season 4 .... Ive lost 5 of my last 8 games.... at the moment they're not fun to play, and im sick of having to use super cancel all the fucking time.
I shall persevere and soldier on though......

A new post (player Profile) up on my site)

PESUltra

It's what makes PES, well PES.

The high's and low's, the peak's and trough's, that's football for me. We didn't have the most productive session last night, we just couldn't get going for the most part. But, when we did, the rewards were very satisfying.

Hull battered us also last season, 5-0, a real drubbing. Although we did have a very weakened squad, I still think Hull would have given us a real run for our money even with our best 11.

The low's are what define the high's for me in PES, you just got to roll with the punches and crack on. You know that better than anyone bud. I also remember last year, the 4th season was by far my worst, we finished 2nd bottom. The following year, with Giroud, we smashed it and got promoted. It's a funny old game.

Best of luck in you're next session, and don't forget, it could be worse, you could have fucking Woody in goal

 

[xPJRx]

It's what makes PES, well PES.

The high's and low's, the peak's and trough's, that's football for me. We didn't have the most productive session last night, we just couldn't get going for the most part. But, when we did, the rewards were very satisfying.

Hull battered us also last season, 5-0, a real drubbing. Although we did have a very weakened squad, I still think Hull would have given us a real run for our money even with our best 11.

The low's are what define the high's for me in PES, you just got to roll with the punches and crack on. You know that better than anyone bud. I also remember last year, the 4th season was by far my worst, we finished 2nd bottom. The following year, with Giroud, we smashed it and got promoted. It's a funny old game.

Best of luck in you're next session, and don't forget, it could be worse, you could have fucking Woody in goal

PMSL Thanks Mate, kinda cheered me up a bit. I suppose I'll liken my ML exploits to my beloved Liverpool FC - strong enough team on paper but not pulling it together well enough to get results.
Its definitely rewarding when you finally grab that 1-1 to pull you out of a losing slump, my only gripe is that I feel like im getting f*&*%ed over unfairly, but hey, like you said....its what Makes PES...well PES.

 

[bash]

Jimmy i tried registering on http://www.pesallstars.net/forum/ but im still waiting for admin to approve my application. Wanna see what its about!

 

[Jimmy G-Force]

Jimmy i tried registering on http://www.pesallstars.net/forum/ but im still waiting for admin to approve my application. Wanna see what its about!

Yes mate, leave it with me.

PMSL Thanks Mate, kinda cheered me up a bit. I suppose I'll liken my ML exploits to my beloved Liverpool FC - strong enough team on paper but not pulling it together well enough to get results.
Its definitely rewarding when you finally grab that 1-1 to pull you out of a losing slump, my only gripe is that I feel like im getting f*&*%ed over unfairly, but hey, like you said....its what Makes PES...well PES.

I never feel cheated on PES bud to be honest, I feel hard done by, especially when the CPU seems to be taking every chance they get. But the way I look at it, is that it's swings and roundabouts, it is what it is. There is no way I can complain for what seems like ruthless play from the CPU, when I have players like Ledesma smashing in goals from 35 yards out for fun. If anyone needs to be complaining to me, it would have to be the CPU after some of the crazy goals I/we, have scored.

Tomorrow is another day.......

P.S. I awoke this morning, and the first thing I thought was, 'Please tell me the whole Woody incident was just some bad dream'. It wasn't. I then woke my son up with the words 'We have no keeper FFS'.

 

[xPJRx]

Jimmy - as much as I love your passion and appreciation for all that is right about PES, surely you cant deny there are ridiculous moments of scripting when the CPU will wonder dribble around your team with players than struggle to stand up usually, or the CPU will massage itself a goal out of unrealistic extraordinary circumstances?!?
Those are the times i whince and want to throw the dualshock, because I know its out of my control and nothing i can do will prevent it happening.

LOL @ you waking your son up, seems like a right father-son-bonding scenario you have going on there.
Back when I was little it was my Dad and I wrestling withe the Quickfire 2 kempston Joystick on the Spectrum trying to score in Kick off.

 

[Jimmy G-Force]

Jimmy - as much as I love your passion and appreciation for all that is right about PES, surely you cant deny there are ridiculous moments of scripting when the CPU will wonder dribble around your team with players than struggle to stand up usually, or the CPU will massage itself a goal out of unrealistic extraordinary circumstances?!?
Those are the times i whince and want to throw the dualshock, because I know its out of my control and nothing i can do will prevent it happening.

I do see things like this from time to time, but it doesn't bother me. It is what it is. As an example, do you think any of the 5 defenders that were unable to stop Messi scoring a solo goal in real-life, think, I should have stopped him, that was under my control completely. I don't think so. Some things in football will be forever out of your control, no matter how much you try. Sometimes there is just nothing you can do.

Same difference for me.

Of course, if it was that blatant (ala pre-patch PES 2012 at times) then I wouldn't be happy. But I've never genuinely felt that this year, it all feels a lot more balanced, with the scripting hidden more under the hood. But like I say, if I can dribble around 4 players then smash the ball home, why can't the CPU be offered the same opportunity ?

I've yet to see the CPU score a goal against me, like I've done with Ledesma countless times against it.

 

[fda1993]

Hey guys! I'm quite new here, might've dropped a post once or twice in the past, but mostly just reading through these quite magnificent stories. The best of it is that they keep motivating me more to start a new ML myself. I did a pretty big one (6 season) on the previous edition with Nottingham, which after a while ended up in the usual world domination. This time I'm going to do it differently though, inspired by all these stories. Up to now I've played with the default settings - 3 pass assistance, no manual shooting, professional. Makes for nice gameplay for sure, but after a while it indeed does get a bit repetitive, and not quite reflecting realistic gameplay, being able to string passes around like it's nothing.

That's why I'm now going to give these settings a try: Superstar, 0 pass assistance and manual shooting. I don't really know whether it's a good idea, I don't have much experience with all this. I did play some exhibition games this way, and wow, how difficult this game has suddenly become. I'm constantly mishitting the easiest of passes. I sure hope that'll get better in time, I guess it takes some getting used to also. I don't hear much about people using manual shooting, not sure whether I made the right choice there. And last but not least, I do expect some interesting things from Superstar. I don't get much satisfaction anymore from having 60% possession all the time on professional - not because I'm that good at the game, but because the AI just constantly lies back, it's pretty annoying. Not sure whether this is the right method to change things, but I guess I'll see.

Any recommendations would be very much appreciated, of course! (I'm playing the PC version, with a patch which allows me to use the NPower Championship, but no gameplay tweeks.)

Now I'm off to start a ML experience with these settings, default players with Brighton & Hove Albion. No real reason for picking them apart from that I didn't want to pick a team whose players I'm familiar with - since these would then disappear. I sure hope it won't bring me the same frustration I've read here from Supertalk, though not holding my hopes up too high

Off we go!

 

[Jimmy G-Force]

Hey guys! I'm quite new here, might've dropped a post once or twice in the past, but mostly just reading through these quite magnificent stories. The best of it is that they keep motivating me more to start a new ML myself. I did a pretty big one (6 season) on the previous edition with Nottingham, which after a while ended up in the usual world domination. This time I'm going to do it differently though, inspired by all these stories. Up to now I've played with the default settings - 3 pass assistance, no manual shooting, professional. Makes for nice gameplay for sure, but after a while it indeed does get a bit repetitive, and not quite reflecting realistic gameplay, being able to string passes around like it's nothing.

That's why I'm now going to give these settings a try: Superstar, 0 pass assistance and manual shooting. I don't really know whether it's a good idea, I don't have much experience with all this. I did play some exhibition games this way, and wow, how difficult this game has suddenly become. I'm constantly mishitting the easiest of passes. I sure hope that'll get better in time, I guess it takes some getting used to also. I don't hear much about people using manual shooting, not sure whether I made the right choice there. And last but not least, I do expect some interesting things from Superstar. I don't get much satisfaction anymore from having 60% possession all the time on professional - not because I'm that good at the game, but because the AI just constantly lies back, it's pretty annoying. Not sure whether this is the right method to change things, but I guess I'll see.

Any recommendations would be very much appreciated, of course! (I'm playing the PC version, with a patch which allows me to use the NPower Championship, but no gameplay tweeks.)

Now I'm off to start a ML experience with these settings, default players with Brighton & Hove Albion. No real reason for picking them apart from that I didn't want to pick a team whose players I'm familiar with - since these would then disappear. I sure hope it won't bring me the same frustration I've read here from Supertalk, though not holding my hopes up too high

Off we go!

Welcome to the party and the wonderful world of ML, again.

I would probably give Manual Shooting a miss until you have become comfortable with Zero Assistance Passing. It takes a lot of time, and don't forget to hold R2 when pressing X for a more controlled and accurate pass.

On Zero Passing Assistance I'm averaging at 82% Pass Completion. So it definitely gets easier with practice.

Good luck.

 

[fda1993]

And so my first session comes to an end. As said I started with the default squad. I signed five youth team players, all pretty standard, except this one guy, Niellender. More about him at the end of this post. I also released quite some players, 5-10 or so even. Btw surprising the default squad is so young really.

I played three games, the first a boring 0-0 draw. This manual passing thing is so difficult, it'll really take some time before I get this. Either my passes are misplaced, or the weight on them is wrong - though most of the time it's both. That said, the AI was quite soft on me for Superstar really, they didn't create any chances either really, a bit disappointing.

The second game I lost 1-0. Still not creating any chances (didn't have any shots at all), though again the AI didn't either. Their goal came from a set-piece, a FK about 50 yards out, crossed in towards the centre, where my defender and keeper made a mess of it and it went in easily.

The third game I finally scored my first goal, a lucky touch by their defender set Minandinho through and finished nicely. However, finally the AI seemed to react, at least towards the final 20 minutes. Suddenly they started creating and I conceded two. Also an interesting point, the previous games I easily dominated possession (despite being awful at passing), however this one ended up in 50/50 possession.

So, for now I don't know what to think. I don't really feel a difference compared to Professional. Maybe that is because the opposition is pretty weak though?
The passing is so difficult. Hope that'll improve, should be rewarding in the end. A bit disappointing the opposition can't make more of this really, I really should be losing all these games by a lot more I think.

One thing still, about this Niellender guy. His stats are unreal, and he's a Youth Team player! Here are some screens:

​

This isn't normal right? Not that I'm complaining, just, wow. Quite lucky.

 

[radha1]

And so my first session comes to an end. As said I started with the default squad. I signed five youth team players, all pretty standard, except this one guy, Niellender. More about him at the end of this post. I also released quite some players, 5-10 or so even. Btw surprising the default squad is so young really.

I played three games, the first a boring 0-0 draw. This manual passing thing is so difficult, it'll really take some time before I get this. Either my passes are misplaced, or the weight on them is wrong - though most of the time it's both. That said, the AI was quite soft on me for Superstar really, they didn't create any chances either really, a bit disappointing.

The second game I lost 1-0. Still not creating any chances (didn't have any shots at all), though again the AI didn't either. Their goal came from a set-piece, a FK about 50 yards out, crossed in towards the centre, where my defender and keeper made a mess of it and it went in easily.

The third game I finally scored my first goal, a lucky touch by their defender set Minandinho through and finished nicely. However, finally the AI seemed to react, at least towards the final 20 minutes. Suddenly they started creating and I conceded two. Also an interesting point, the previous games I easily dominated possession (despite being awful at passing), however this one ended up in 50/50 possession.

So, for now I don't know what to think. I don't really feel a difference compared to Professional. Maybe that is because the opposition is pretty weak though?
The passing is so difficult. Hope that'll improve, should be rewarding in the end. A bit disappointing the opposition can't make more of this really, I really should be losing all these games by a lot more I think.

One thing still, about this Niellender guy. His stats are unreal, and he's a Youth Team player! Here are some screens:

​

This isn't normal right? Not that I'm complaining, just, wow. Quite lucky.

Yeah, those are not the stats I got my first year with Neillander. His explosive power in your iteration is off the charts. However, he reminded me of Shimuzu of days gone by: a great passer, good dribbler, very fast, but also light as a feather. Give him some free weights when you can. He's a good one.

 

[xPJRx]

Welcome fda1993 !!!
I'd give manual shooting a miss - its not needed, the shooting in PES13 is sublime, you don't need a manual option as you can put the ball anywhere you like, obviously the accuracy is affected by the players stats, as it should be.

Persevere with 0 bar passing - once you played on that you wont want to go back, it does open the game up alot more, even if it isnt actually proper full manual.

I installed an OF so I didnt have Niellander in my youths but I know friends who have and he has been amazing for them, I do have Minandinho though who is up to 85 OVR and if you equip him with boots that increase shooting power, his shot is like a cannon, even when hes on a purple arrow i'll bring him on when chasing a game and try shots from anywhere!

 

[Jimmy G-Force]

Ok, so a little update.

We played our F.A. Cup game against Fulham with one of our Youth Team Grads in goal, all 26 OVR. I decided that it would be best to play Woodgate and Williams (my best player, who usually plays DMF but can play CB also )in the centre of defence. With Yakob in the DMF role. I figured it would be better to try and stop any shots, and Woody and Williams were our best option for that.

We out-played Fulham for the most part, had the better of possession and shots on goal, but we went down 2-0. The first was from a penalty, and the second came very late in the game when we were chasing the equaliser. The CB in goal was absolutely terrible, I'm not sure he could even dive.

So out of the F.A. Cup we went.

Next up was Reading, away. They took all 3 points with a 3-1 win. We did level at 1-1 through Carayol, but a couple of late goals sealed our fate. Again, the keeper was shocking for us. Basically just a player standing on the goal-line.

The next game we decided to put Woody back in the sticks, he played well, and we beat Brighton 3-1.

We then smashed Bolton 4-0 with goals from Emnes, Carayol and another couple of stunners from Ledesma. And Woody kept a clean sheet !!

 

[Suuuuupertalk]

Good stories lads, keep it up!

As for mine, I'm now at the halfway stage of season 1. I'm persevering with Superstar, zero assists, ML default players, but this time no patch.

Anyways, the season started with a bang, winning several matches to go top of the table early on. Everton Costa, my summer signing, was absolutely on fire, netting a host of goals.

As the season progressed, however, things got a little tougher, and I soon found my Benfica side under more pressure and managing to grind out several hard-fought draws. Things went off the boil in October/November, seeing Benfica win just once in eight attempts, but the team, marshalled by the absolutely rock solid Nouhei, rallied and picked up their form towards the winter break.

Notable matches included a 1-1 draw away at Feirense, where I'll never know how it ended a draw. Managing a rearguard action for most of the match, Benfica scored early on the breakaway, before being pinned back in their own half for most of the 90 minutes. With time running out Feirense equalised, and a winner looked on the cards, but two goal line clearances from corners and my keeper saving when Feirense were clean through saw the game finish 1-1.

Another notable match was a 4-2 home defeat to third place Vizela. Minandinho's two goals saw Benfica comfortably lead 2-0 at half time, but Vizela came storming out in the second half and trounced me with 4 goals, one of which was a comedy own goal by myself. Never use the pass button to try and clear the ball! And if you do, don't hammer it at your own keeper!

But there have been plenty of great wins too, and some spectacular goals. This match was won 1-0 thanks to a late wonder strike from Paljic, his first for the club:

YouTube - PES2013

My final match before the winter break saw a 2-1 away win, with Everton Costa scoring his eleventh of the season with an R2 finish that wrongfooted the keeper, the Niellendner hammering home from long range.

YouTube - PES 2013

That means that at the halfway stage of the season, Benfica are currently fourth place in the table, five points off the lead, with a record of P17, W8, D6, L3, GF 26, GA 19, PTS 30.

I've made two potentially huge signings in January, shelling out a combined total of £700,000 on two attacking midfield/side strikers, both from the French Ligue 1. In comes Frenchman El Hany from Ajaccio, and Moroccan attacker Adnane, from Evian. El Hany has tons of stats in the mid-late 70 range, and the 'Classic No.10' card. Adnane also has high attacking stats and carries a ton of attacking cards too.

All in all I'm loving it now, I am finding that I'm scoring a LOT of goals however form the edge of the box using R2, which is bothering me a bit, but then I think it could be down to the Div 2 keepers being a bit shit and simply not getting to the ball to be honest.

I certainly didn't find shooting easy in the cup when I got drawn away at Academica, from the Portuguese First Division. I soon got brought back down with a bump as they absolutely dismantled my side 5-0. I hope this means that the teams in Div2 aren't proving that tough to play against simply because they aren't very good, stat-wise. Hopefully a jump into the top division, whenever I do get there, will see the level of CPU difficulty jump up a fair bit. Certainly that match in the cup showed how out of depth my ML defaults were!

So, with the second half of the season to come, I'm amazing myself that I'm in contention for promotion on these difficulty settings and ML defaults. Being 1 point off the promotion places, with two new exciting attacking additions, I'm again hoping I can improve on the first half of the season, though results have been gradually tailing off a bit since the blistering start to the season wore off. Having been scrimping and saving (I let go three and sold one of my fringe players just to bring in El Hany), I could use the extra funds promotion would bring to really start expanding the club from the ground up.

 

[OfficialAster]

Great stories lads, keep them coming! And Suu..uupertalk, hats off to you sir. You're doing a tremendous job.

So after that Blackburn win knew we were going to be up against it at Pride Park. Derby aren't the most talented of teams but they sure as hell can grind out a result at home. We had to thank our goalkeeper Westwood, who was the main reason we made it through the early running. Particularly his save against a Robinson strike was vitally important. And then, after 30min, we got very lucky. Alanzinho tried to play a through ball into Platt, but Bailey stuck out a foot and the deflection took the ball into Platt's path, who sliced home. 0-1!

The start of the second half was crazy. Kilbane brushed a freekick ever so neatly in the top corner to make it 1-1. But our reaction was immediate: Eastwood sent Platt through as he caught the Derby defence napping and rounded the goalkeeper, 1-2. Despite some late pressure we managed to hang on. Incredible. I used to get hammered and now I get the luckiest wins!

 

[Suuuuupertalk]

So, I go into the winter break one point off the promotion spots, sign two players far better than any player I currently have, look forward to a good promotion push....

Since I've resumed the season in January the game's totally different, I can't score a goal, I'm getting mugged off on the counter attack every match, nothing, and I mean nothing seems to be running my way. I hit the post, ricochets always fall for the CPU, oppostion players seem to have mysteriously upped their dribbling ability, and I think I've lost five out of my last 6.

So far El Hany and Adnane have been next to useless. When on the ball, they're vastly more nimble and better to control, but their off the ball runs are woeful and frankly I can't get the ball to them in any kind of advanced position up the pitch. It's like signing them has totally fucked up the composition of my side, players feel more sluggish, they KEEP doing this thing now where you lay a sideways pass and they just completely run past the ball and have to stop, check back, and scamper back to try and retrieve the ball again.

Don't know what's going on, it's like the game noticed that I'd pulled off two decent signings and adjusted the difficulty accordingly. It just hounds me all over the pitch and plays on the counter with crazily deep defences. It wasn't anything like this in the first half of the season.

Not sure what's going on but that's my promotion chances gone now. I think I've fallen from one point adrift to about ten points in just six matches.

 

[Jimmy G-Force]

So, I go into the winter break one point off the promotion spots, sign two players far better than any player I currently have, look forward to a good promotion push....

Since I've resumed the season in January the game's totally different, I can't score a goal, I'm getting mugged off on the counter attack every match, nothing, and I mean nothing seems to be running my way. I hit the post, ricochets always fall for the CPU, oppostion players seem to have mysteriously upped their dribbling ability, and I think I've lost five out of my last 6.

So far El Hany and Adnane have been next to useless. When on the ball, they're vastly more nimble and better to control, but their off the ball runs are woeful and frankly I can't get the ball to them in any kind of advanced position up the pitch. It's like signing them has totally fucked up the composition of my side, players feel more sluggish, they KEEP doing this thing now where you lay a sideways pass and they just completely run past the ball and have to stop, check back, and scamper back to try and retrieve the ball again.

Don't know what's going on, it's like the game noticed that I'd pulled off two decent signings and adjusted the difficulty accordingly. It just hounds me all over the pitch and plays on the counter with crazily deep defences. It wasn't anything like this in the first half of the season.

Not sure what's going on but that's my promotion chances gone now. I think I've fallen from one point adrift to about ten points in just six matches.

Has someone sneaked into your house and applied 1.01 ?

 

[Suuuuupertalk]

Has someone sneaked into your house and applied 1.01 ?

Feels that way! Maybe I was a bit hasty claiming the pre-patch version isn't as tough, I have no idea why but since the winter break I've lost 7 out of 9 games. Each one exactly the same. Dominate the game, concede a goal I could do nothing about, then the CPU changes its formation to something bizarre like six at the back with two holding midfielders in front of them, and they see out the game 1-0.

But it's the goals I'm conceding that is pissing me off now, they're so clearly scripted it's insane. Nothing I can do about any of them.

 

[SHAYMAN]

After failing to get to grips with my first attempt at ML on professional with 2 bar passing and fifteen minute match, with Olympique Lyonnais having lost my first twelve matches in a row.
Won two drew two and lost fourteen.
Restarted it again with the same team, altered it to twenty minute match and to one bar passing the game seems far better, still bonkers defending and goalkeeper AI though.
Passing is better with one bar than two!
Not having your experience with low scores in the league though perfectly normal scores-could be because I edited all my own French League.

Just had a good match losing one nil with ten minutes to go, gambled and sacrificed two players, played four up front got a last minute equaliser-best moment in ML so far, had another chance just went wide, after the opposition dominated most of the match.

Do you guys use all this shop stuff or just ignore it. Like a personal trainer GP 5000 how long would it take to get that.

 

[Dundalis]

Just curious with what setting to put transfer activity to get the most realistic transfers?

I currently have it on low because I don't like seeing the top players like Rooney, Messi etc moving all over the place. But I'm also hearing it can be hard to get offers for your players. So what's the most realistic setting?