I see it that way too. Having been a football fan for over twenty years, following my local team, playing in my spare time when I was younger, and playing football games all that time too, one thing is for sure.....I "get" football.
I find some of the self-righteous proclamations on here insulting, untrue and, ultimately, disappointing. You know who you are and should be ashamed.
But, in the end, I respect everyone's opinions on here and their right to make them.
I'm anything but ashamed James. Hey look, this is how it is, you have your views and I have mine. I've not once attacked your opinion, and like-wise you haven't mine. Until now.
As for Puttz, he attacked me right from the off when I took time to try and explain some of the subtle techniques now required. This isn't old gen PES, times have moved on a million miles since then. Sometimes, we need to re-invent ourselves, as what once worked, now no longer does.
For the record, I personally find your accusations of PES being a 'mess' as highly inaccurate. You may not like the path Konami have taken, and I respect that, but by no means is the game a mess. In fact, I've never played a better replication of football in all my life. This game, in my opinion, is light years ahead of PES 2011 and all prior.
After a hell of a lot of frustrations, and re-learning, I've found a truly amazing experience. I only have two minor niggles with PES 12, which I'll come back to. Apart from that, the game plays an amazing game of football on my own preferred settings, which I firmly believe was how the game was designed to be played. The addition of Assisted controls, for me, was something that was applied to appease the more casual crowd. It's a step back in my opinion.
I hear things like shooting is broke ? That's funny, because mine isn't. In fact, I've never been able to execute as many differing techniques as I can now. The same goes for passing. I hear that the CPU 'camps out'. Sure the CPU is much better organised than 1.00 or any of the demo's. But that is a positive for me, that's how football is. Scoring and creating goals should be difficult, nothing should be easy. The satisfaction that is gained from scoring is exactly how it should be in my opinion. A goal should really mean something, and now it does. Breaking down defences has never been as hard as this since PES 5, another title that was blasted for being too hard after initial release.
As an example, my ML is playing out at present, just like I would hope it would. With Middlesbrough it's a struggle, this is my 4th season, and I'm constantly fighting Form, a lack of funds, and a small squad of players. When I have my best 11 out, I'm strong. If I'm missing one or two of my main players, it's a slog. Tactics and strategies are required to be mixed up to get results. This is my 4th season in Division 2, which is unheard of, but I wouldnt have it any other way.
The techniques that I'm having to apply to get results are all major fundamentals of football, which are rewarded as they should be. I'm not playing this PES like I've played any of the others, I play this completely differently. I'm forced to, but I'm happy to, because the way I'm having to play sits perfectly with how I believe real football is played. And for that reason alone, I'm in pure heaven. There are no cheap glitches, go-to moves, nothing. You earn everything.
As Lami suggested the other day, I truly don't believe you have given this game as much time as required. In fact, I don't believe your anywhere close. In saying that, I totally understand the frustrations, it's a very hard game to even begin to master. I had all the patience in the world with this PES, and finally, 1.03 cracked it. I appreciate your favourite genre isn't football games, I'd suggest it's racing games or FPS. With that said, maybe this years PES isn't for you at all. For me, the deepest games, are the ones that require the most time to appreciate, understand, then attempt to master.
What I don't agree with though, because it's impossible for me to do that, is admit the game is a mess. For me, it's the best offline experience I have had in my life, and for so many reasons I observe with every game I play.
I'm not arguing with you James, I'm just stating my point. I agree and I accept that I've lowered myself with Puttz, but my points and arguments are in no way compromised. I don't believe you can pass final judgement on a game without fully understanding the full picture. I think that's harsh on what I know Konami have achieved so well.
I asked the question with regards this years new shooting techniques ? Nobody knew the answer. Yet, the same people claim the shooting is broken ? Do you see where I'm coming from with that ? Just saying.