I'm currently playing
Winning Eleven J.League 2009 on Super Star difficulty.
The challenge is absolutely insane and, at the same time, fascinating. Many of the little tricks and exploits that worked in PES 6 simply don't work here. The CPU defends extremely well, closes down space intelligently, and seems to have an impressive understanding of the game.
I played three friendly matches against Napoli and lost all three: first with Júbilo Iwata, then Cerezo Osaka, and finally Boca Juniors.
There are matches that feel almost impossible to win because a combination of factors makes everything extremely difficult. The CPU wins most of the physical challenges, their players seem stronger in contact, and sometimes they simply destroy your players in challenges without even committing a foul.
So, I decided to play one last match that night as a kind of experiment.
I made Napoli the home team and chose Atlético Madrid.
I thought: let's see what happens.
And then look at how the scoreline turned out, even though I was still playing on Super Star difficulty.
The most interesting part was that, suddenly, my players started winning practically every single challenge. The CPU looked as if it had completely forgotten how to play. At certain moments, I honestly had the impression that it had taken pity on me and decided to let me win. Hahaha
And this is exactly what I want to talk about.
Yes, obviously there are predefined difficulty levels. However, I have the impression that there is something much more sophisticated happening underneath them. The CPU's behavior seems to change throughout the match, creating a kind of internal dynamic of advantages and disadvantages. It almost feels like there is a living mechanism influencing certain aspects of the game.
I've already read and written hundreds of articles and discussions about handicap, momentum, and similar concepts. I'm not claiming that I have discovered exactly what is happening behind the scenes, nor am I presenting this as criticism of Konami. Quite the opposite.
To me, there is something almost magical about it.
It is a genuine piece of programming artistry, especially considering that we are talking about a game from an older generation. It almost sounds crazy to imagine that a game from that era could produce situations that feel so different and, above all, so unpredictable.
And perhaps that unpredictability is precisely what makes these matches so addictive and exciting.
You can walk onto the pitch believing that you have a certain advantage and, ten minutes later, the entire match has completely changed. On another occasion, you may be getting completely dominated by the CPU and then, seemingly out of nowhere, start finding space, winning challenges and creating opportunities that previously seemed impossible.
That feeling that you never really know what the game is going to throw at you is, for me, what gives this game such a unique personality.
I even started a Master League campaign in J2 with Tochigi SC and managed to end up almost at the bottom of the table. Hahaha
I didn't save that campaign because it was only an experiment. So, for now, I've been playing friendlies, trying to understand the CPU's behavior better and, of course, improve my own skills before starting another Master League campaign.
And that's exactly what makes it so much fun: even after all these years of playing Winning Eleven and PES, I can still step onto the pitch without knowing exactly what the game is going to throw at me.
I'm curious to know how this behavioral dynamic applies to human-vs-human matches.
I remember when I used to play against my friends, for example, using Controller 1, and after winning a series of matches, it would gradually become almost impossible to keep winning.
And one of the first things I noticed was the headed clearances, they are so contextual and realistic, the ball just travels as far as the defender can get it, no magic power pistons hidden in the player's forheads, like in recent Fifa games.
