Unfortunately, and I've seen this flagged on Twitter a fair few times now, that's the norm rather than "random". I'll beat Man United hands-down only to get destroyed by Burnley the week after. It feels like the best teams attack you and end up being too open, whereas the worst teams seem to have 10 in defence and then, when they get possession back, 10 in attack, and their perfect counter-attack passing cuts you into ribbons.
But I'm seeing a divide as to what people think makes a great football game. I saw this on Twitter earlier:
Twitter goal
I think some people will say "wow, amazing goal, well worked", whereas I just cannot get to that conclusion. If I was the opponent I'd be
furious because in my opinion, there's not a great deal of skill involved on the scorer's part (and you can't really do anything to stop it). It's just so so easy to put together passing moves that only the best teams in the world can do (with such regularity, intelligence and - most importantly - never-erring pixel-perfect accuracy), by just spamming the pass button.
And just as I stopped seeing so many lofted through-balls down the wings (playing as Newcastle in the ML, set up the wing backs to stay put) - the AI starts doing lofted through-balls through the middle instead, which always put the striker through with no defenders in-front of him. It's the same patterns over and over - and I feel no difference between my players at all.
I've seen "no game will ever be perfect" a few times but it's never been about expecting perfection for me - this year, I just feel like so much of what made PES "PES" has gone.
The goal variety went a few versions ago, but for the individuality to be gone IMO (but particularly in terms of the AI's variety of approaches depending on the team)... It feels, to me, like the "soul" we all talk about has become more of a ghost. Some of us see it, some of us don't, but nobody seems to be able to prove anything and so we all just call each other names instead...
It's apparently the first step of the next three-year cycle and that's great, but you can *really* tell. Like, the AI will run full pelt one way with the ball (like it's running for its life), put the brakes on and do a complete stop, then run absolutely full pelt again in the same direction (with nobody ever being near him).
But then, the goalkeepers are INCREDIBLE. They're unbelievable. They need no more work (other than too many palm-outs and slow-mo dives). Then, after they make a save, you'll see a defender under pressure do a calm back-heel back into his own box, which is full of strikers. Because it knows how accurate the pass will be. And then a defender sliding into a tackle will result in a simultaneous 50 yard pass that lands directly at his teammate's feet as he's running down the wing, ready to receive it as soon as the guy slid in. Then four back-heels in a row (just happened to me now, no exaggeration, and all pretty much in a straight line forward).
But the really sad thing is, I do keep whacking the "other" demo on for ten minutes and then going "it's still the better game".
All just my opinion and I know others are seeing individuality etc...
