I don't think it takes months to learn how to play PA 0. That was my fear based on a brief attempt at it on Superstar, and based on my experience of FIFA manual resulting in less sophisticated football. But in truth, unless my occasional foray into FIFA manual has made a huge difference, I was able to put some great stuff together within a few games of playing.
I'll try and upload some example snippets of me playing manual passing later (with 0 game speed, advanced through balls, currently assisted shooting too as I don't feel that assisted shooting is a big deal at the moment - it just needs to be far more varied, possibly to depend more on timing as well as body position). I'll be happy to upload a full match soon, I just want a bit more practice first.
I only really had 4 hours or so with it yesterday so I still occasionally screw up a really basic pass, or I get a bit too casual and switch off, or I get a bit flummoxed by the crossing / advanced through ball which I rarely use. But I do genuinely feel like, most of the time, I'm not losing time because I'm more hesitant to pass (as I would be in FIFA), but more like I can be specific about where I want the ball to go, how I want the other player to receive it. I thought for all the world it'd feel like my passing would be dumbed down and players would be chasing loose passes all over the shop, but it really isn't the case most of the time for me.
The main difficulty is playing those really short passes - little lay-offs to teammates, a couple of yards or so. I think this is where advanced through balls come in, but it's not coming to me naturally just yet.
If you're learning it's essential you bump the difficulty down, even if it just means for the first 5-10 games the opposition are essentially mobile traffic cones for you to practice avoiding. I'm using Professional where on PA 1 I was using Superstar/Top Player, and I feel like by the end of tonight I'll be back up to Top Player.
It makes it all the more frustrating that PA 1 isn't just a slightly more guided version of PA 0. PA 0 and PA 1 feel like completely different games entirely. My biggest gripe with the passing in PA 1 (besides the lack of inaccuracy) is that the players won't alter the direction of a pass to go around someone who's in the way, even if you're clearly pressing to pass through that gap instead of directly to your target. You can either make a pass or you can't. Even in PS1, P2 era PES, the passer would avoid passing straight to a defender. The attacking team would keep possession but the defending team could slow a move down, or make the resultant pass loose enough for a second defender to intercept.
