I've just played a few games and what a breath of fresh air to see the pitch so compressed! 100x better than all the space and retreating we see on 2020 (2015+ to be honest). This change alone can make me forget about so many other shortcomings in a football game because you are required to THINK and pass your way up and down the pitch. Really enjoying it so far.
I even went back to FIFA 20. Wow, has PES 2014 opened my eyes. From kick-off you can run through a team and get a shot off. No resistance whatsoever, even with mods and sliders. There is, again, no thought involved. Just, point the stick towards the goal and wiggle it to get around each player.
I'm so sick of being intelectually passive in modern football games, of being able to turn my brain off and just wiggle a player around to earn a shot without pre-match preparation or tactics coming into it. It's not remotely satisfying.
I'd upload them to the Google Drive but I've not got much space left - I'll see what I can do!
Yup, it's one of the main reasons I've pretty much stopped playing Career Mode and Master League this year. Modern football games aren't stimulating enough from an actual football perspective. This is why I used to play exclusively on FUMA on past titles because at least it was
mechanically difficult, but the AI in 2020 is too cheap for me to intentionally handicap myself. Even with Klashman's tactics and modified DT18 files, it's still such a glaring issue that it detracts from the fun.
I'll boot up an exhibition in 2020 every few days or so, and I'm just left feeling empty by the end of the half. It's too rote and passive. Depending on the opposition, carving out a chance should feel rewarding. I should sit there and go, "fuck me, what a passage of play. I did well there." I rarely feel like I'm being mentally taxed when it comes to creating chances so ultimately, it doesn't feel rewarding. If it doesn't feel rewarding, I don't feel like I'm accomplishing anything of significance which at that point, I close the game.
The problem is on rare occasions, I'll have a match that is well poised and creating clear cut chances proves to be a challenge. I'll finally score, take the lead, feel proud, and what am I rewarded with? A 50-yard laser to their striker that upon closer inspection via replay, could have been intercepted about 5 times over, but alas! It's too late! Taxi For Barthez Syndrome has spread to my entire back four! Avoiding replicating proper human locomotion and reaction speed like the Bubonic Plague, my defenders will stumble around whilst their forward shields the ball with the strength of 10,000 Spartans. He'll then proceed to turn, shoot from 20 yards out, and nestle the ball into the side netting with the utmost of ease. 80 ingame minutes of work down the drain. Again, what's the point? There isn't one, so I close the game. Late upsets happen, but this is how the AI creates the vast majority of their chances every single game. It's straight up dumb. The lack of balance is
dumb. It doesn't make for a compelling gameplay experience.
Now, I could easily rattle off just as many or more positives about PES 2020, but games don't typically hinge on arbitrary numerical parity. If I have a carton of eggs and one half is pristine, but the other half is rotten, then that's a pretty shit carton of eggs, isn't it? Houses built on shoddy foundation and all of that. Don't build on a swamp. The difficulty in modern football games derives from how cheap/poorly programmed the AI is. You have to treat it like you're playing FUT and adopt a "win at all costs" approach. Real football be damned.
If PES 2020 played as good as it looked, we wouldn't be talking about past football games.