PES 2012 PC Demo talk

[only1ronaldo]

BOW DOWN TO KONAMI GODS! NOW!

it will be a looong post but it has to be, subject of this post fully deserves it TLDR? This is PES I was waiting for, like in PS2 days, this is it guys, 2012 IS THAT GAME!

I'll start by saying I am PES3/5 lover and PES2011 hater, once I realized how poor 2011 is I sold it. And to have a good comparison, I happened to play this (pile of crap) PES2011 yesterday so today's demo coincidence makes it perfect for me to compare them.

Oh my god where to start! OK they nailed it this time, I've seen the demo and I can confirm : this is it, a game I wanted to see on nextgen console since 2008, Konami you're not hasty hm?

The first thought was : hey what's that? is this PES5? It really feels and plays like that PS2 gem, pace is exactly the same, and it has the same familiar feeling and same approach "easy to grasp, hard to master". You could also say it plays like fixed PES2011 or that this is what Seabass had in mind when he planned rehash/reboot of the series which PES2011 wanted to be. PES2012 is that game.

So my first reactions were "OMIGOSH THEY FIXED EVERYTHING I HATED", yeah good homework right there Konami, you know your $hit, they knew what had to be done, they always knew (and I doubted in them, silly)

What do I mean? what's so good?

- first and the most critical thing - the game is super responsive, think PS2 PES responsive, I want to make the move and player does it instantly, 180 turn, R2 turn, making circles is really quick now, and in a good way (not arcadish fast, doesn't feel like that) no more stupid clunky animations and slow turns slowing everything down and ruining ball control ; player control is finally enjoyable - fast, fluid, awesome

- you won't believe it, I can't believe what I'm saying right now but - ANIMATIONS! What striked me is that they are really SOFT and fit perfectly in the gameplay. A lot of stuff has been done with player movement with the ball, ie. you're going on defender with Rooney, you're going diagonally and Roo does little shoulder drop to go past him ; such details in player movement you can see all the time, same goes for passing animations, ball trap animations, tackles, defender evades with little jump skipping, new foul animations, tons of that stuff

- defence finally works as a unit, it's solid because tackle with works as intended (PS2 style) so if you time your tackle the ball is yours

- through balls are not so good anymore, defenders intercept it easily - no more triangle wars

- Valeny will never catchup Messi again, catch up bug is gone, freedom and variety of play is back again

- dribbling exists! and is finally useful ; you don't really need tricks to leave defenders in dust, it's as oldschool as it can - drop shoulder, wrongfoot defender with balance, shift your dribbling pace with sprint or R2, go diagonally and cut...the only limit is your imagination ; of course tricks are there too, I love to destroy some defenders with Ronaldo chop or elastico, so if you're controlling Ronaldo and you know how to dribble - you're a weapon and real threat because individuality is there, better players are better and you feel it, like in PS2 days

- AI is something extraordinary, first match? 2-2 and I was punished 2 times, 1st was bad positioning in defence, 2nd was badly done counterattack which resulted with cpu going through gaps in defence ; CPU plays fantastic piece of football, and you can learn from it a lot, its game looks like some skilled player broke and entered to your house and played with you ; what if I tell you that Zlatan tried to dribble past my goalkeeper and lob him? I've never seen such stuff in any PES, well in any game at all.

- I like shooting, shots vary, you can curl a lot with R2, I like 2011's rocket ones but now they're toned down and feel as they should ; again, Zlatan (cpu) scored against me with trivela shot (outside of foot shot with spin), not bad huh? (oh yeah and when cpu was winning, robinho started doing osme irritating stepovers)

- referee is not poor, gk needs some work but at least he's not missing the ball/player when he's going forward to catch or outside area 1vs1

So yeah, that's the state of the game as of now, demo SMASHED ME TO PIECES, I never thought Konami will pull it off this year, I thought "yeah they will fix some stuff but it will lack something". I feel stupid doubting in them, really. With PES2012 they made giant, colossal, gargantuan leap, they actually leaped forward and landed on throne It really feels like gameplay is copypaste from PS2, and this is what I always secretly wanted, just didn't expect it now So if online mode delivers then I know then the king will be settled on throne for years

GET IN! PES SCORES AND IS WINNING!

 

[Shearer_God]

YouTube - PES 2012 gameplay DEMO

Just wow

Few dodgy things I noticed in this video, is it definitely from the demo? The 'run bug' or whatever it's called seems to be evident again here.

The goalkeepers look absolutely rubbish, too.

 

[Rob92]

@only1ronaldo - PES 2011 was not a "pile of crap", I'm sure most of what PES 2012 is, is based on the foundations set with PES 2011.

I certainly got a full 12 months enjoyment out of PES 2011 anyway!

 

[_anderson]

Anyone noticed there's something similar to the FIFA "knock stick"? I'm not to sure how exactly I can trigger it yet but tapping R1 + direction before you get the ball sometimes makes the player knock the ball in that direction once you get it, so you can start a sprint in space!

 

[sindii]

Blurry on High with 1920x1200 resolution, but the more concerning issue for me is that I'm still getting the microstuttering I encountered in PES2011.

Im playing it on top res and it is super sharp and has no stutter. On lower resolution it is quite blurry though!

 

[Rob92]

Anyone noticed there's something similar to the FIFA "knock stick"? I'm not to sure how exactly I can trigger it yet but tapping R1 + direction before you get the ball sometimes makes the player knock the ball in that direction once you get it, so you can start a sprint in space!

That was kind of in PES 2011 if you used super cancel to meet the ball.

That's cool if they've simplified it, can be very useful.

 

[kevano22]

plays great but I still don't feel 100% in control of my players/defenders. I think it might be down to my playing on the PC, i'll judge properly on the xbox. Looks good, not as good as some of you are making it out to be, but good enough to play for ages.

 

[StayingPower]

Im playing it on top res and it is super sharp and has no stutter. On lower resolution it is quite blurry though!

Looks like another year of messing around with graphics settings until something fixes it!

 

[nekhi]

nope , if you time r2 tapping , you can knock the ball forward ...

 

[norsende]

Haha, just had Falcao chasing me through the pitch all the way to their goal line even though I had a defender and a defensive midfielder I think on me already... The pressure seems almost worse than FIFA 11, at least there the players knew when to stop tracking but here in every game you can get the CPU striker follow you infinitely.

 

[_anderson]

nope , if you time r2 tapping , you can knock the ball forward ...

But it's being triggered before I get the ball.

 

[pes2012gonbegood]

Anyone noticed there's something similar to the FIFA "knock stick"? I'm not to sure how exactly I can trigger it yet but tapping R1 + direction before you get the ball sometimes makes the player knock the ball in that direction once you get it, so you can start a sprint in space!

Yep im glad they added something like this, now if your walcott against a slow defender on the wing with loads of space u can use this.
Tho im still not sure how exactly you trigger it, tapping R1 sometimes does it, but my R1 is kinda used up and unresponcive so its hard to test.

 

[crapsoccer]

help
ive d/l all 8 rapidshare rar files to my comp
what do i do next steps to play demo
if someone can tell me the steps in order demo play
ty

 

[Onetimer]

The "passing assists off" thing just doesn'k work! Huge letdown. Otherwise everything looked so good. Besides the camera maybe. I hate when the camera angle turns during the game.

 

[sincover]

Yep im glad they added something like this, now if your walcott against a slow defender on the wing with loads of space u can use this.
Tho im still not sure how exactly you trigger it, tapping R1 sometimes does it, but my R1 is kinda used up and unresponcive so its hard to test.

I've gotten it to happen pretty consistently by tapping R1 and pushing the L Stick at the exact moment the ball touches the player's feet. Very useful for turning and losing a defender who is marking too tight. The little touches are what always made PES better in my book. After playing this I uninstalled PES 2011 and (to the astonishment of my wife) threw my copy of FIFA 11 in the bin without any regret. Jimmy I think you'll be pleased to hear that body position and distance from the ball matters a lot more than PES2011. Hopefully they don't tinker too much and just fix the shitty goalkeepers.

 

[nerf]

Some impressions after three matches:

+ Dribbling is fun.

+ Feels much more fluid, like everyone's saying. Everything is generally less stop-start/jerky than 2011, from the movement of players to the ball itself.

+ Most importantly, the AI appreciates space and 'passing angles' much better now. This was pretty terrible in 2011 and Konami clearly made it their focus for 2012; I think they've made healthy strides.

+/- You can string together some pretty football. Maybe almost too pretty... hard to judge after just three matches whether it's a touch too ping-pong or not. But it definitely feels more free and flowing in attack.

- Biggest disappointment for me is the control settings. I tried setting the Passing Assistance to maximum and then to minimum, and I can't honestly see a difference. Can anyone else? Either way it still feels horribly assisted. Coming from Manual FIFA this is hard to stomach. The power bar doesn't seem to behave consistently or matter all that much, I can just tap the button carelessly and the ball still arrives at the player I aimed toward.

- Top Player still doesn't seem that difficult. I played as Man Utd vs Porto, then as Porto vs Milan, then as Napoli vs Man Utd. I had 64%, 64% and 65% possession. I did lose the third match to a couple of nicely worked Man Utd cutback goals, but in general it felt too easy to a) dominate possession and b) win the ball back. Scoring wasn't easy for me, but I rarely feared the CPU.

- The CPU double-pressed a lot. This looks unrealistic and also makes it easy to play around them.

- Defending remains too individual. This is a pet peeve of mine. To me, defending in modern football, where zonal marking is omnipresent, is all about team shape and organisation. About retaining structure as much as possible, about denying passing lanes and about constricting space. Konami seem to have worked on their 1v1 defending and on individual marking, which is all well and good, but I remain disappointed in my hopes to find a football game that represents defending as the team discipline it should be.

- Crowd sound remains rather too repetitive, a constant background noise without the variations in tone and volume that I'd prefer, nor enough interaction with game events. Might be better than previous years though.

Overall it seems a lot more playable than last year's (which I didn't like too much, I should add) and there's some positive improvements. I've focussed on the negatives a bit here, there's other good stuff to like that has already been mentioned by others.

I'll see how it marinades over the next few days. The first encounter has been pleasing in some ways but has also given me some doubts about whether I'll be able to overcome the assisted controls and relative lack of difficulty (although we don't know what Superstar is like yet).

 

[mr_man]

Spoiler

Some impressions after three matches:

+ Dribbling is fun.

+ Feels much more fluid, like everyone's saying. Everything is generally less stop-start/jerky than 2011, from the movement of players to the ball itself.

+ Most importantly, the AI appreciates space much better now. This was pretty terrible in 2011 and Konami clearly made it their focus for 2012; I think they've made healthy strides.

+/- You can string together some pretty football. Maybe almost too pretty... hard to judge after just three matches whether it's a touch too ping-pong or not. But it definitely feels more free and flowing in attack.

- Biggest disappointment for me is the control settings. I tried setting the Passing Assistance to maximum and then to minimum, and I can't honestly see a difference. Can anyone else? Either way it still feels horribly assisted. Coming from Manual FIFA this is hard to stomach. The power bar doesn't seem to do anything, I can just tap the button carelessly and the ball still arrives at the player I aimed toward.

- Top Player still doesn't seem that difficult. I played as Man Utd vs Porto, then as Porto vs Milan, then as Napoli vs Man Utd. I had 64%, 64% and 65% possession. I did lose the third match to a couple of nicely worked Man Utd cutback goals, but in general it felt too easy to a) dominate possession and b) win the ball back. Scoring wasn't easy for me, but I rarely feared the CPU.

- The CPU double-pressed a lot. This looks unrealistic and also makes it easy to play around them.

- Defending remains too individual. This is a pet peeve of mine. To me, defending in modern football, where zonal marking is omnipresent, is all about team shape and organisation. About retaining structure as much as possible, about denying passing lanes and about constricting space. Konami seem to have worked on their 1v1 defending and on individual marking, which is all well and good, but I remain disappointed in my hopes to find a football game that represents defending as the team discipline it should be.

- Crowd sound remains rather too repetitive, a constant background noise without the variations in tone and volume that I'd prefer, nor enough interaction with game events. Might be better than previous years though.

Overall it seems a lot more playable than last year's (which I didn't like too much, I should add) and there's some positive improvements. I've focussed on the negatives a bit here, there's other good stuff to like that has already been mentioned by others.

I'll see how it marinades over the next few days. The first encounter has been pleasing in some ways but has also given me some doubts about whether I'll be able to overcome the assisted controls and relative lack of difficulty (although we don't know what Superstar is like yet).

What is the appeal of manual? I get the "freedom" thing, but that would be completely contrary to PES's philosophy and player individuality.

 

[wan_d7]

I had a goal conceded during corners, where the goalkeeper are still shouting and arranging his defenders, while the opposition head the ball in right on top of his head.

 

[Hawke]

help
ive d/l all 8 rapidshare rar files to my comp
what do i do next steps to play demo
if someone can tell me the steps in order demo play
ty

put them all in a folder / put folder view on "list", double click first .rar file/choose extract/choose a folder to extract to & when finished go to folder you extracted to & run setup.exe

 

[Rob92]

I agree to disagree if you compare it side by side with PES2012 then it's an abomination really is

Dunno about you but I never wanted to play foundations, I craved for real thing

Good to hear that it's apparently a good improvement, but for me PES 2011 was a great game, very much "the real thing" but with the potential to be so much better.

What is the appeal of manual? I get the "freedom" thing, but that would be completely contrary to PES's philosophy and player individuality.

Agreed, the longer fully manual control stays out of PES, the better.

The L2 modifier is enough.

 

[shank118]

Played a couple of games. I'm strangely finding it a bit too easy to dominate possession. 60-over % possession in both games i played. But I'm loving the feel of the game though. Patient buildup has given me some brilliant passing moves. Only thing I'm concerned about is how easy it is to keep the ball.

 

[nekhi]

help
ive d/l all 8 rapidshare rar files to my comp
what do i do next steps to play demo
if someone can tell me the steps in order demo play
ty

1.install winrar
2. place al lthe part in a single folder
3. right click on the part 1 and select extract here
4. thats it , you will get 'Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 DEMO' , click on that and your installation will start imediately. the njust next next next finsh..

 

[AlaaEG]

Anyone noticed there's something similar to the FIFA "knock stick"? I'm not to sure how exactly I can trigger it yet but tapping R1 + direction before you get the ball sometimes makes the player knock the ball in that direction once you get it, so you can start a sprint in space!

I scored a goal using this to place the ball ahead of Gattuso and shot.

 

[JimboPL]

Player-ball interaction still feels very very glitchy.

Spoiler

 

[nerf]

What is the appeal of manual? I get the "freedom" thing, but that would be completely contrary to PES's philosophy and player individuality.

It doesn't have to be, at least not completely. Manual controls does not mean zero impact from attributes, it just puts the initial direction and weighting under your influence, and you can still apply the abilities on top of that. Personally I just find it much more interactive, more tactile, more stimulating and more satisfying... and as such it's hard to go back to assisted afterwards. I was hoping that the passing assistance setting would overcome this to some degree, but it seems not.

 

[uksix]

I really enjoyed it, love how the ball dips alittle more at the end of the shots. Overall, I really really like it. Hope it doesnt change in the final game tbh.

What cameras are you all playing on? I love the FIFA style one.

 

[gergerger]

Firstly, I have to say I've tweaked PES 2011 beyond recognition, seeking absolute realism. For this reason, I have no memory of PES 2011 original gameplay. Having said that, this is point-by-point review on the bad aspects of PES 2012:

-ATTACKING AI: When not being a SPRINT WHORE, the AI behaves as a DRIBBLE WHORE. HOW ABOUT A "PASSING WHORE?" Neh, in your dreams...

-DEFENDING AI: AI will chase your defenders in desperation (which bothers the hell out of me, as build up begins in the triangle between the defensive line and the defensive midfielders), and then, for unknown reasons, they will loosen any pressure in midfield. Shouldn't it be... ya know... the OTHER way round?

-PASSING ANIMATIONS: passing animation is worst than in PES 2011. Most pases are performed without the inside or the outside of the foot. It's "move you leg forward and hit the ball" movement. Only normal girls and people not interested in football kick a ball like that.

-THAT STRANGE FEELING...: I get the feeling that every single attack by me or the AI will result in a goal. It just bothers me.

Apart from those details, the game is GREAT and I've seen amazing things happen. But until we can tweak this baby... time will tell.

 

[norsende]

S- The CPU double-pressed a lot. This looks unrealistic and also makes it easy to play around them.

Good thing someone else mentioned this now too so it wasn't only in my head seeing as nobody else was saying anything about it.
I actually uninstalled the demo already because of this (double-pressing and strikers' continuous pressure) and I will wait to give the second demo a chance when it comes to redeem the game for me. But coming from the past 3-4 FIFA's where pressing has been the single most annoying feature for me and to see it utilized here almost exactly the same way that FIFA 12 is now trying to remove is just too much, and it's a shame for all the other things PES does a lot better than FIFA. I just can't stand the double-pressing at all anymore, no matter how good the game around it is.
No idea if FIFA can remove it successfully either, the gameplay videos haven't looked all that promising so far.

Firstly, I have to say I've tweaked PES 2011 beyond recognition, seeking absolute realism. For this reason, I have no memory of PES 2011 original gameplay. Having said that, this is point-by-point review on the bad aspects of PES 2012:

-ATTACKING AI: When not being a SPRINT WHORE, the AI behaves as a DRIBBLE WHORE. HOW ABOUT A "PASSING WHORE?" Neh, in your dreams...

-DEFENDING AI: AI will chase your defenders in desperation, and then, for unknown reasons, they will loosen any pressure in midfield. Shouldn't it be... ya know... the OTHER way round?

-THAT STRANGE FEELING...: I get the feeling that every single attack by me or the AI will result in a goal. It just bothers me.

Apart from those details, the game is GREAT and I've seen amazing things happen. But until we can tweak this baby... time will tell.

Completely agree on these points, hopefully the final code either fixes things or these can be tweaked or something. Until then, the demo/game stays uninstalled I'm afraid.

 

[_anderson]

But the CPU has been a complete passing whore on me. Tons of 1-2's and stuff...

 

[Cris7naldo]

Well I've tried everything and the game still looks awfully blurry at lower resolutions (1024x768 medium quality), and only starts to look half decent past 1280x960 or something, which my rubbish PC (more like rubbish gfx card) simply cannot handle.

I can only hope it's just bad optimisation and that it'll be fixed in time. If not, there won't be any PES for me this year