Ditto. Nothing will ever replace that moment for me, playing ISS PE2 with friends and all of us simultaneously going "this is unbelievable" - years later WE6FE did something similar but not quite to the same degree (it wasn't as big a "jump" - we were going from SWOS and the original ISS games by a different studio, to the PE games, which was a huge leap in realism).
We'd have international tournaments practically every week - one friend would always be Romania (he dyed his hair blonde soon after the World Cup team did) and he couldn't bear losing. Football gaming went from an occasional thing to an obsession. Happy memories.
What makes me laugh is that I distinctly remember thinking about ISS PE "it is impossible for football games to get better than this" - then playing ISS PE2 and thinking "seriously, it can never get better than this can it".
What makes me really sad is that I've spent the rest of my life waiting for the next "holy shit this is 100% better, this is massively improved, this is so much more real" moment - and now I don't think it'll ever happen again, it's all incremental changes that shift away from realism.
Ok lets open my heart.This is an other topic i wanted to discuss, the biggest UP & DOWN in pes history. The story is not linear by i will try to keep it to avoid long post.My basic profile games as footie gamer in late 90s were, ISS snes,N64,FIFA 98-99-2000 pc and Virtual Striker coin-op arcade cabinets.
(I EDITED MANY TIMES my text trying to be focused on topic).
So in 2002 i bought from a friend a second-hand Playstation.After the downhill spiral of FIFA from 2001-2003 i decides to give a try to ISS in PSx.In the beginning i was sure it will be the same or inferior to the KCEO iss2000 i owned on N64.I went to a local game store to order and the shop owner confused me with all the verses:iss,iss pro,iss pro es,iss pro es 2, pes, etc. I was so confused i bought the last one ,PES (1).I went home,insert disc, seeing the different from KCEO menus and i told my self 'Holy Fack, i bought wrong game !
. So i thought lets play a friendly and back to fifa
or iss64.Starting a match and my jaw opened from the surprise!What a gameplay,what physics,shoot powergauges (virtua striker),it shows replays with the close chances omg,entrance scene,cup ceremony (after many games ),it has player editing,awesome, i could not believe it it was like i was flying in the air.After that i bought PES 2,and 2 iss pro evolution versions so my surprise was spoilled as i should try them in the different order,iss pes->pes,it was so mixed ,the only problem i had with the backwards playability was the difference in cancel button,some had Δ as cancel and some Ο.Then in a console club we tried PES 2 ps2 version,better graphics, highlights in halftime which we used to analyse for hours.So this era was the second biggest surprise .
The first one to return on topic, was when i saw in a strong PC that could handle back then, the extra demanding PES 3! My PC Graphics Card could not.
So i went to a gaming LAN/Internet cafe, and i saw that they had PES 3, so i tried it in max settings.The surprise i felt that day was the biggest cause of a football game until today . What an atmosphere,physics,animations, the players' feet have human shape and not square shape,you can see the ball spinning in the air.If the first pes was a flight in the air, my first contact with PES 3 was a flight in space.Really very very deep impact. I could not stop thinking about PES 3.I bought the game without the ability to play it,from my hype and after 3 months i upgraded my PC graphics card which played pes3 to 6 in full specs.
The biggest DOWN was the first time i rented to try PES 2008 PC version. I remember the distance from console club to home i was thinking, what they improved, oh please god wish they have not removed anything usefull again,how will improve pes 6,what new improvement they can add to the semiperfect pes5&6?,can they really go any higher.The answer came 30 minutes after,when the installation was finished.From the first match i played the whole atmosphere was suspicious about this nextgen PES. "WTF is this i wondered in halftime and i rage quit. It was a shock.After 2002 of consecutive playing PES,this one *2008, seemed from awefull to unplayable.What will i pkay now?I was so sure that it would be a good game,that i had uninstalled pes3/4/5/6 and deleted allkl my OFs and MLs just to make space in ky PC for PES 2008,NBA 2008 AND GTA san Andreas.My old pal had a hard drive of 80gb capacity back then.In the next month i gavr many chances to 2008,even pkayed 2 seadons in ML but it was so bad game, i uninstalled and never tried it again.I only played the ps3 version which was also nextgen and seened a little bit more polished than the pc,in a good HDTV.But game play wise it was the same awefull thing.
The only good part about Pes2008 was a scarf with the "PES2008 LOGO" that came as a present with the Pc-DVD purchase.Which sadly i lost in my latest house-moving
So now i am only left with DVD-CASE where M Owen and C. RONALDO are looking at me with their sad faces.
Colour of love is also in my head from pes6 as well.
