So as we enter into the weekend after a busy PES2018 week, I thought I'd post something about why I love the series (for the most part) and why, in particular, PES2017 just scratches an itch. Or finds new ways to scratch an itch for me.
I started myClub and the Wild West that is online only last week. Have some excellent games, had some awful ones, but I am finding myself hooked to playing it over offline at the moment. Something I thought I'd never say about any game online, especially PES.
Tonight I had a couple of matches after doing the whole squad management thing and getting given rubbish in my spins (apart from Cuadrado).
In the first match the connection was flawless (for me) and I don't think I have ever had so much fun playing a football game in years, as I was allowed to play my own game against my opponent. The match was two-thirds of the way through the first half and was a pretty cagey affair as I just stuck to my gameplan while trying to suss my opponents style out. Then this wee 84 seconds happened...
Totally bossed them but got nothing from it.
The reason why "Love/Hate" is in the title of the video is not because I felt the game was dicking me over, but that I was using Advanced Shooting and simply fluffed the chances that came my way. While I hated missing them, I loved crafting them. I loved my passing game clicking together like it did thanks to some deft use of Advanced 1-2. I loved that I had him on the ropes. I loved Totti's wee touches. Everything just felt perfect about the game. Complete joy, except for the finishing. Maybe there are things "wrong" in parts. Maybe my opponent wasn't all that (though I did go on to lose the game 2-1) but in that 84 seconds I didn't notice. I was just completely immersed in crafting. That is why I love PES in general (for the most part) as it does allow for craft. You can shift gear.
After that it was a 1-1 against a dude with a totally absurd super-team. One of the most intense football videogame experiences I have ever had. Flawless connection.
I had to come back after his sub, some dude called NEYMAR, scored a Neymar run and curled finish. His goal came not that long before mine and up until then it was just two dudes from wherever playing their football. He was being direct with his play but it was often after he too was knocking it about and slowing the game down when he had the chance. It was a battle of two styles, but by players who seemed to have a respect for each others as well as their own craft.
Anyway, this is my equaliser...
It really isn't that special at all. Try telling me that when I scored it. I knew what I was doing with the Davids run as it was using Advanced 1-2 and using it have him make that wee slightly angled run, as opposed to just bombing forward in a straight line. I like to think that confused my opponent. as I
think he thought I was going to cross with Denis Suarez, but instead I used the Davids run and played to him, in space and in the box, to take one touch and plant a ball on Suarez's head from just over six yards out, who nods it in nicely.
PES is all about these moments for me; when the pace of the game is just right and two human players are just looking to express themselves. All the annoyances simply evaporate in these moments. I get that with offline play too and, yes, in Master League on Superstar, with all the scripting or whatever. I just get on with it because more often than not it clicks in one way or another.
Man, I hope PES2018 can live up to some of the moments I have had with PES2017 and if online does turn out to be much more stable that online play does become more of an enticing option.
I can honestly say I have never felt so much joy playing online in any football until recent experiences with PES2017. It surpasses some of the cool matches I had on the PES2011 Master League onlie; remember playing
@romagnoli in one game in the first few hours of that beta and playing a brilliant wee 1-1 against him. Again, two players being expressive and mixing up the tempo. I never saw this coming at all with PES2017 given all that I have read about online play woes which are surely true, so I am not suggesting otherwise, and can only hope the better experiences online far outweigh the poor ones as the series moves forward.