Been playing a lot of 2017 this week for the first time since, well... 2017.
Guess I couldn't care less what happens with 2021, This game is a masterpiece. It also makes me terribley sad to play because when you consider the things PES 2020 does well, All it really needs is an untouched 2017 to work off. How is it that a game from 3 years earlier is a perfect foundation yet principle things such as AI, Player positioning, Responsiveness and player physics seem to regress?
What is it with annual sports franchises this generation that seems to cause this?
Anyway i managed to track down
@Chris Davies "Best of Everything" OF which is basically his magnum opus

and thankfully the installation worked.
First of all, The responsiveness - Wow. I don't want to feel like i'm playing the blitzball of PES 2019 but compared to the trucks on ice of 2020, 2017 does feel like it's 100mph at first but it's not, It's just a culture shock. I've always maintained that modern day professional footballers are pharmaceutical athletes and thus should feel like them and their agility should be reflected. Especially when you're not sprinting. It's truly a joy to control with out the burden and stress of latency and sluggishness. Now your plays and passing moves have a chance of playing out as you envisioned.
The AI on this game is something else though. As much as i didn't remember about 2017 until this week, One thing that was always etched into my memories was the outstanding AI and it's just as creative as i remembered it. Again, when you're so used to the stale patterns of the AI in 2020 - Long drilled pass from the CB, striker perfectly controls it and does the 180 turn while your defenders practise social distancing or the horrible sprint down the wing, stop on a dime and cross the ball animation with the standing foot move... Both scenario's happens EVERY MATCH and just completely breaks immersion... The AI in 2017 is a genuine surprise. I used to remark that sometimes it was like playing against a human because they will do things that doesn't typically happen from a predictable robotic CPU. Their play-makers would actually work openings and play clever through-balls, They would pass diagonally or even across the the final 3rd to keep possession rather than reaching the attacking boundary and forcing a magic pass. The AI even uses skills against you with the appropriate players which was really surprising to see!
These are just things i can think of off the top of my head. I always bring up how no other football game apart from 2019/2020 and the recent FIFA games makes me swear about player switching and sluggish defenders more than those games and it kind of spoils the experience for me because i'm in constant stress about the controls and the ensuing wrestle but those worries disappear with 2017. Instead a new sadness takes over, Just how did they bugger it all up after such a damn good Fox Engine PES?
It's not all perfect of course as there's no such thing, I've been playing on Superstar to try and get the most merciless AI experience and to be fair it's not been as stressful as i'd hoped, Mostly because of the improved responsiveness and input accountability but on Superstar - You can "tell" when the AI really "Turns it on" and sometimes it breaks out the utterly unstoppable Inazuma Eleven hyper manic extravaganza ping pong passing which is just so utterly ridiculous it makes rocket league look like the dullest fishing game of all time. However i try to give it the benefit of the doubt because it's on Superstar and it's got to be brutal to an extent but i'd argue that Superstar is still really challenging even without the cheating.
So that's my quick thoughts. I really implore everyone to at least try PES 2017 and especially for the sake of the less than £3 it cost me, A PES that is nearly 4 years old now surely feels more progressive than it's contemporary counter part - A game that's so good, It'll just make you feel sad.