Lately I've been playing, among the others,
Winning Eleven 6 J-League, finally dedicating it some decent time after a literal lifetime I wanted to. Man, such a jewel it is. I'm doing a J-L with Tokio Verdy and I'm having loads of fun, I started it with no commitment but it quickly turned into a "just another game" situation soon. I've had one truly weird run - did two points in my first 8 matches, lost 6 games on a row - then grab a victory in an extra time game and since then I'm on a no-loss streak of 5 games, just went out of the last two positions drawing my latest match.
Gameplay wise, I find it such a pure expression of the saga - it came out months after We6 and Pes 2 but before WE6FE, there surely was some tinkering compared with the previous two but maybe FE is the more evolved one. Anyway - when you have stats THESE extreme:
the game is a quite different experience compared with the one you have with Euro and National teams.. every game turns into a battle to do a mistake less than the opponent, and the tension when you have to defend the result with your clunky defenders, or when you have to search for a goal with your likewise forwards, is really enjoyable. It's
really hard to score screamers and generally nice goals.. but when you do so, the satisfaction doubles. Here is a small example of the typical shoot with these players:
it's a shame the second one cuts out before as the ball did such an extreme curve it came back on the field lol, would have been nice to show you.
It came to my mind for a moment how AFC teams were still more than decent in Pes 14 onwards and I can't help but applaud the courage they had back then to mark this strong line between european football and eastern one.
Only downsize to it all is that in this patch I have, I have some translated stuff here and there (like stat names), but all the rest is japanese.. and while playing and navigating menus isn't diffcult, it's hard to become fond of players when you have no idea how they are named lol. Apparently my two brazilian forwards should be a certain Marquinhos (never knew him before) and the more famous Edmundo "O'Animal".. he had a great season here in Italy in Fiorentina back in the days, but lately he falled hard, and his stats reflect that since except from some good base and shoot technique, he's just plain bad lol.
Anyway.. really love the atmosphere and how it all seems so different. From the two extra times with golden goal you have to play if you draw (if you score you get two points, if it still ends in a draw just one), to the stadium and the various chants and effects they put in; I was playing at Vegalta's home and at a certain points I heard the fans doing some rythm thing with.. plates I think lol? I imagined it really was something the fans of that team did back in the days and stuff like this really helps with immersion. These J-Leagues transpires such a love for football and details that you (or at least I) can truly feel the magic even two decades later.
I've also been playing some Pes 10 and WE8 LE here and there but i've written enough, I'll save it for another time

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