A.C. BONZAI:
Beyond esohomerics, game play on '18 is different in several ways:
- the side lines feel a lot "closer" making the pitch seem narrower
- rolling, ball movement continues for longer, seems like upon ice instead of grass requiring precision release timing for passing (so these first two combine to make wing play more challenging than central play)
- the manual direction indicator is faintly visible with no apparent opacity setting, it's lime-green like the pitch cuts and not mustard yellow
- increased sens on power bar progression for passes and shots, and the red-zone is smaller hehe
- higher block-success rate for opposition defenders on non-manual & non-knuckle shots I've taken (1 timer, volley, straight shots)
- increased dip on non-knuckle shots (a definite FIFA mimic)
- chest/shoulder/thigh/heel trapping is intuitive enough as I did a chest trap in the 4th game or so w/o studying how
- short passing is much slower at identical numeric values for '13 and '18: "87 ain't what it used to be"
"109 should do jus' fine" - this is prolly the change that stands out to me the most because there is no short pass speed value
- kicking power value affects long passing distance more
- PK defense: a) shooter's movements appear to "telegraph" their chosen side a bit more b) keeper controls are better captured when diving in chosen direction
- PK offense... we shall see
- I can't figure out how to toggle offsides trap during game, there is an auto-trap setting but that applies to the entire game. I like to turn it on right as teams approach my back line and thru pass, catches "people" sometimes
Administrative:
- even though they licensed it, champions league won't be the same as there are way less euro club teams in 18, they expanded Asia and Latin America haha
- there is no name player search or filtering for the editor, you have to scroll thru teams one by one to find players which takes forever
Housekeeping:
Went on a binge assembling Bayern from scratch by replacing some crumby fake euro team with the appropriate intl player (who are all "free agents") + a custom irl Ribery, gotta make Süle and Coman today. Maybe it's overkill but I want to have at least 32 euro teams in game as close to their irl rosters (up to 16 players) for CL sim. Also, completed the first 50 summer transfers from Neymar to #50 as listed on transfer markt.com, the goalie transfers suck because you have to telephone the players that replaced them - Ederson's Xfer to Everton required a 4 generation transfer as I looked up who replaced who on the affected squads, then lost my willingness to continue, but it will be a custom "mod" that can provide the canvas for FC Eso ML and Homeric's BaL!
So far so good, I can't wait for your chance to play and report/retort
DRANATH:
An absolutely tremendous review. Surmised by a true devotee of a brilliant strategy/sports game that has infinite potential to be the greatest soccer game ever but simply isn’t. I admit some of the omissions you included are probably specific to last-gem releases of the game (such as the edit filter missing - which ruins me) but that isn’t an excuse for the all-gen focus on pro-evolving game play but entirely ignoring a broad and vast mode-play. From what I’ve read and watched, Konami hasn’t made a single alteration in BaL from ProEvo15 to this version. A few news stories per week doesn’t cut it and the overview looks like NCAA Football 2004.
That’s inexcusable. As much as the licensing is out of their hands, truly rehashing modes must be a priority. With another release only merely upgrading ML and not even watering a single plant in BaL, they have decided that Pro Evolution is a game meant to be played online and that’s that.
After watching some youtube play-throughs and reading your initial reactions and exceptional summation, I’ve made my decision. Even if I did have a system to play it on, I will rely on hearing about it vicariously through you.
In the case a PS4 miraculously arrived on my doorstep with a pre-installed PES18, I would play it but before editing anyone other than Dranath, I would have to ask myself some questions.
Why sludge through season after season, perhaps decades of goal-scoring and transfers in a Become a Legend save if there is no redeeming outcome? There would be no way to track my player beyond a brief summary of three or four stats of his entire career. I’m not sure on this but in PES15 there was no way to see individual accomplishments nor any previous season stats.
As much as it hurts me to say it, I can’t see embarking on a new Legend being rewarding. As cause and effect goes, now there the isn’t the incentive to make an entire utopia consisting of colorful kits, titillating team titles and an ample menagerie of 109 perfect-pitch players. Why spend years cultivating a garden of ultimately actualized talent inside a game that isn’t evolving in the immersive way other sports games are?
If I can somehow get a next-gen gem, this would be the year I transgress my faithfulness to Konami and switch to FIFA. I said it. Just watching a single play-through of FIFA’s BaL equivalent blows my mind. Points based on how well a pass was delivered and from where, how and whether it led to a goal? Now that’s an idea Konami! A detailed stat inlay and history of your player’s development is something that entices me and it seems like FIFA offers a lot of that. More ways to play and more at stake. International play matters! Having said this, I haven’t played FIFA in over a decade and am probably getting ahead of myself. I do know that the player-career mode in FIFA’s career mode enables your retired player to continue and become a manager, after which users play the game in the equivalent of PES’ Master League. Sounds a lot like Football Manager. Oh yeah, FM! Everyday I think about making that project so you can understand the magnitude of this game! It’s unbelievable man. A part of me wants to say it’s better than PES but it’s not quite true. Comparing them is the old apples and oranges, really. In FM you can’t control the players but everything else that could possibly be maintained in a football team (and if you pay $5 more for the editor - every single thing in the world of soccer) is at your fingertips. FM - I’ve got the whole wide soccer world in my hands. But I can’t ever have the satisfaction of shooting and scoring a goal.
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