Bear with me as this is a mammoth post! But you asked me to give you reasons, here they are.
I'm not going to deny that PES 2010 has its flaws but you're going over the top and entering extreme territory, casting aside balance. It sounds to me like you're either not very good at the game or you haven't taken enough time to master it.
Here is an earlier post of mine that details the key reasons why PES is not only preferred by me over FIFA, but ones which make it a top game in its own right. And yes it does include player individuality, one of the key strengths of the game (and ANY sports game for that matter) that you do not seem to be taking seriously, something which is even more pronounced in 2010 than it is in the previous versions. Even FIFA fans acknowledge this, but you see it as part of an “abortion”. Even Darth in his response thought the game was ok but felt the animations spoilt it for him. Doesn't really sound like an “abortion” to me, and he's the one you that you directed the question towards!
You mentioned that it has the worst animations ever in a football game. Again that is going to extremes, they are rigid yes, but they are not all bad. There are a lot of good animations in there if you look closely enough, which as I've already suspected you do not seem to be doing. As Klashman says a lot of it is to do with the transitions.
When you talk about response times and button delay and foot drag, here is how someone else put it, probably better than me:
The game is trying to simulate how a player would need to take touches to control the ball in a variety of situations, adjust his body position, incorporating player stats and balls physics into controlling the ball. It is not flawed, it is hardcore. I understand it may not be to everyone's tastes, but for those who have mastered it, it is a REVELATION. It is not terrible programming just because you cannot get used to it. You have to appreciate that it CAN be learnt and mastered. You say the game might have lacked an animation that prevented you from doing something, no offense but it was probably you that lacked the skill. It's contextually based, you and the ball need to be in the correct positions, to do certain things. Using super cancel can also help at times to “free” up the movement when it seems to be on the rails. The defenders and unskilled players understandably are more sluggish at controlling the ball, just like in real life! If you want defenders with good ball control, try Lucio and Chivu, they reflect their stats quite well (e.g. dribbling the ball out of defence and free kick accuracy)
The shooting is again a combination of player stats and ball physics. Scholes does not have a slow and heavy shot compared to say Gary Neville, but he will if the ball and his body are in certain positions. I admit the keepers can be faulty, but they can also be lifesavers.
The passes likewise incorporate the stats and the ball physics. You have some measure of control but a lot of it is stat driven. You can feel the crispness and accuracy of a pass-master like Xavi more than, say, Nigel de Jong, who has awful short passing stats. Collision detection can definitely be improved (and has in 2011 to a massive degree
, but I can still feel the body balances working especially if you position your players well and time your tackling.
You need to play around with the deep tactical options, different types of man marking, using the different player indexes, tweaking the strategies and team style modifiers as well as learning to defend as a unit, when to press at the right times, when to back off, when to hold your position and simply use your body balance etc.. This is extremely useful when facing those who exploit the game online (any game can be exploited no matter how good it is, even 2011 as I've experienced in the MLO beta). Of course you need to have a good formation that suits your team and the players you select. It's a very sweeping statement to say that :
You probably have your team pressing and compactness set too high. Experiment. Again it suggests you haven't delved into the game deeply enough.
There are different types of fake shots, you need to experiment with the skills system, the R2/RT close control and dribble as well as the varied shimmies and jinks that you can do; some advanced ones only being available to certain skilled players.
A balanced view of the game would be that even if you didn't like it and it wasn't to your tastes, even if you HATED it, you'd at least be able to recognize a lot of its STRENGTHS; after all Konami were laying the foundation for 2011 as well. They didn't just develop 2011 overnight, a lot of good stuff is in 2010 (and to a lesser extent 2009) that makes it over, as well as the awesome new stuff in 2011.
I couldnt have put it any better myself, fantastic post in my opinion, you nailed it. It's a shame people never really got into PES 2010 to appreciate everything it does so well. Never mind, it was still easily the best PES to date for me, for all reasons above.
Also, Zee, I am a true believer of the Teamvision 2 feature. There was way too many times throughout my 9 seasons of ML that the CPU AI stopped me from doing what had previously been working. I would go 5-6 games unbeaten, fighting tooth and nail, and then have a run of 4-5 games where I couldnt seem to beat the Top Player AI. I had to change formation and tactics to regain my momentum, basically keep mixing it up. In all my seasons, I never won the EPL, or advanced further than the first knock-out phase of the CL. I didnt have a team of superstars though, and couldnt match the quality of the better European sides. It also took me 8 attempts before I beat Liverpool, and that was a game I didnt really deserve to win, I was gifted a last minute goal.
I really dont buy into the cheating AI thing at all. After reading some posts about it, I can only remember one time in all the games I played in my ML where I could have even questioned it. I then dismissed that. The bottom line is you can stop the flow of any CPU AI build-up at any time with a cynical challenge. You may feel hard done by at times, but that also works both ways. This is football, you dont always get what you deserve, and this is replicated in a simulated manner. I've lost count the amount of times this has happened to me in real life on the football field. You batter a team for 90 minutes, but somehow the ball just doesnt find the net. You opponent has a handful of chances, and scores. Likewise, your team gets dominated, but somehow you manage to get the goal the matters. Jimmy Greaves typifies this exact scenario perfectly with his infamous catchphrase ' It's a funny old game', it is, there are no guarantees.
Even if the CPU puts together a 15 pass move then scores, so what, how many times have we seen this happen with the likes of Barcelona, Manchester Utd, Arsenal et al. The opposing team cant turn around any say, 'Well that was scripted !! ' it just happens. Same goes for Liverpool's dramatic Champions League final win, or Manchester Utd's. Do you think Milan and Bayern players turned around after the game and said, fuck that, that was a glitchy scripted cheat. Of course not.
I dont expect the offline ML in PES 2011 to be any different to PES 2010, there isnt really any need to change that infrastructure, it had a massive revamp last year. For those who never played it, I'll copy and paste some posts from my PES 2010 ML campaign, just to give you more of an idea about what it's about and how much depth it has. Like I said previously, with a small team its all about balancing your budget, and trying to keep your club stable and proficient in all areas. As a smaller team, you wont have the benefit of having Level 5 staff, which makes a huge difference. You have to build not only your squad, but also your club.
You will start off with a Level 1 staff across the board. You can train each player in your sqaud from week to week on certain attributes you want them to improve on. These range from Shooting, Dribbling, Passing, Goalkeeping, Fitness, Tackling. A Level 1 Coach will only up their stats a small amount in comparison to a Level 5 Coach. A Level 1 fitness Coach will pretty much guarantee your team has poor form arrows for the most part from week to week. They will also tire quicker and be more susceptible to injuries. Expect mostly green or blue arrows. A Level 5 Fitness Coach on the other hand will have your players fitter and mostly on Orange and Red form arrows. A Level 1 Doctor couldnt cure a cold, and any injuries sustained require alot longer lay-off. When I was in the Coca Cola League with a Level 1 Dcotor, Leroy Lita got injured in a game and was out for 9 months.
I increased my level of Doctor and Fitness Coach after a couple of seasons and I got less injuries and when I did they were only out for 6 weeks at most, usually less. It made a huge difference but it come at a much bigger cost financialy.
A Level 1 Scout is terrible. Unlike any other PES ML, you can no longer find a player and automatically see his stats. You need to send your Scout to watch the player and have him feedback the information. The better level Scout you have, the quicker he comes back with the information, and the better he is at negotiating a deal. Also, only Level 4 Scouts or above give and insight into what Player Cards the player your looking at has at his disposal.
Your Fan Club is another part of the club you need to look at. The higher level the Fan Club, the more fans come through the gates, and the more merchandise is sold via your club shop and season tickets. Buying a well-known popular player also brings in more fans through the turnstiles, generating more income.
Lastly, your Youth Academy is a must. This can cost anything from £1 million a year to £10 million ( I think ). I opted to spend £5 million on mine after 2 seasons, I think that was a Level 3 maybe 4. The level of youngsters talent rose quite dramtically, and I brought through a wonderkid called Pagonelle from Senegal. He was only 16 years old but had a rating of 82. He also have the Covering, Slide Tackle, Man Marking and Passer Player Card. My Youth Team Coach said he reminded him of a young Jamie Carragher.
He was superb, and just got better and better. The investment in my Youth Academy had paid off.
What I will say though is, if you start an ML with a top team, you will have alot more money and already Level 4-5 staff across the board, which does take a huge amount of fun away from building your club.
I started my first ML with Stoke City as I awaited the Coca Cola Championship option file, I then started a new one with Middlesbrough.
Well I managed to finish my first season on my ML and finished 11th in the Premier League, with a quarter final placing in the FA Cup. Not a bad season really bearing in mind I'm Stoke City and lacking any real quality in my team. It was a struggle, but very realistic, I had to fight hard and dig deep at times and ground out results. Final stats for the season were W10 L10 Drawn 24 .
I made a few panic buys as I couldnt seem to tempt any decent players so basically, in true lesser fashionable Premier League team style, had to look to pick up the scraps. I signed ex Coventry star Hadji, McFadden and Cisse and a couple of kids for the future that I'd found.
My biggest disappointment last season was my keeper Sorensen. He was happy and having an excellent run of form up until the January transfer window, when three clubs came in for him. Roma offered my £3.4 million, I rejected that. Lille then offered my £3.6 and I rejected that, then Lyon offered my £3.9 of which I rejected but then changed the terms and asked for £5.9. Lyon turned me down with that.
After I shattered Sorensen's dream move to Lyon and the lure of Champions League football, he was never the same player again. He was all of a sudden unhappy at Stoke, and his heart, which dicates his loyalty towards the club was showing as snapped in half. After that, for the rest of the season he had a permanent dreaded 'Purple' arrow for every game. He really did spit his dummy out. The prick.
He never played another game for me all season as I played my young keeper instead. During the close season, Sorensen's heart was fixed, and no longer broken. But he had burnt his bridges with me, and I sold him to Ajax in the close season for £2.6 million. Good riddance.
This game is incredible.
must admit, in for first ML season, I'm yet to score a 30 yard screamer, in fact, apart from hitting the bar once, I have never really come close. I like that. It makes them all more special when they do fly in.
I'm not sure whether 10 minute games are long enough though. I will change to 15 minute games once I qualify for Europe and knock it up to Top Player. I had four 0-0 games in a row at one point. Many of my games ended 1-0, 1-1 or 2-2, I think Konami have the balance perfect. You really get nothing unless you earn it. Patient football is rewarded with created chances, but then its all about taking those chances, and when you dont, you seriously struggle.
I also find that teams play completely different whether they are playing at home or away. I managed to hold Chelsea, Liverpool and Man Utd at homes, but they all battered me at their place, and played some ridiculous football at times.
I laughed when I played Man Utd at home. One of Stoke's chants is 'Who the fuck are Man Utd, who the fuck are Man Utd .....' I was thinking, for fucks sake, dont wind them up. Within 10 seconds of my crowd taunting Utd with that chant they scored through Rooney.
I hope this six difficulty is rock hard.
