Only nine months to go… Comments Off
This morning, I gathered the lads together for a team photo. There they are below – all my beauties. I’ve never even considered lending out or trading in any of them, with one exception…
No, not PES2008. The PS2 version of PES4 is missing from the line-up. At the time of PES5’s release, I was unemployed and poor. I had to trade in PES4 to help make up the cost. There was no choice at the time.
I also have the PC version of PES5 somewhere, but I couldn’t find it just now.
The PSP version of PES5 is also missing. I lent it to a work colleague after I got the PSP version of PES6. I hadn’t worked at the office for long. He overheard me talking about PES6 with another colleague, and asked to borrow PES5. I didn’t feel that I could refuse. It was one of those awkward dilemmas – you know? He resigned a few weeks later and promised to bring back my game on his last day – but he didn’t, and he gave me a mobile phone number that nobody has ever answered. I haven’t seen him since. Pete, if by some miracle you’re reading this, I haven’t forgotten and I will get you one day…
I did consider excluding PES2008 from the photo, as if it was the idiot son whom no one likes to talk about. But I relented and allowed it to join in. It would have been churlish not to. I played PES2008 for 130+ hours. There are plenty of other games on my shelf that I wish I’d got a fraction of the play-time out of. PES2008 is by no means all bad. It’s just not good enough.
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So I’m about to start playing PES5 again. I had to have a break from PES today. I had to lick my wounds, which are still raw. I still cannot BELIEVE that Konami and/or Seabass EVER thought that next-gen PES2008 was worthy of the name.
In my opinion, PES5 was the best that PES has ever been. I played it almost every day for its entire year, right up until the night before I got PES6. I played around 45 seasons with the same ML team. I loved it to bits. How will PES5 seem to me now, after my months on PES2008?
The switch shouldn’t be a massive shock. I’ve been playing a sneaky PES6 Master League career on my PSP that I’ve never mentioned on this blog. It’s just something to while away bus journeys and lunch breaks. I play an average of one or two matches a day in it; progress is slow. But it has kept my eye in, so to speak, when it comes to ‘last-gen’ PES. PES6 is not that much different from PES5. I’ll re-adapt to PES5 very quickly, I think. I hope.
Having said that, I’m going to treat PES5 as if it’s a brand-new PES game. My routine with a new PES game is set in stone and cannot be altered.
There can be no instantaneous jumping into a Master League. First I’ll acclimatise myself by playing several Exhibition games on the default difficulty level. Then I’ll play some International Tournaments on the higher difficulty levels. My tradition dictates that I have to win one of these tournaments before I can even think about moving onto ML. In addition, I’m not allowed to reload the tournaments if I’m eliminated – I have to start all over again in a new tournament. It can take a while. I think it took me a week or so to progress to Master League back in 2005.
The only potential fly in the ointment is how PES5 will run on my PS3. It failed to start the other day when I tested it out, but was fine on the second attempt, and played very smoothly thereafter. If it gives me much trouble I will switch to the very PS3-friendly PES6 – another great version of the game. I could get my PS2 out of mothballs, but I’ve got used to a wireless controller now.
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Today I fancied having a few games on next-gen FIFA08. So I did.
It’s a dangerous game, is FIFA08. It has the siren-call of a fully-functional (offline and online), nice-looking, solid and enjoyable football sim. It breaks my PES heart just to think about next-gen FIFA08. The game’s got its knockers, missus. Yes, it’s tough to dribble, it’s tough to shoot, it’s tough to do anything well on the higher difficulty levels. And that’s why I think it’s a great game.
But this is still peschronicles. I am still a PES man. Only another annus horribilis for PES would see me turn my face permanently against the franchise. And even then I’d probably just play the old versions forever.
PES2009 has a lot riding on it. It’s more than a little odd to think that there is almost certainly a playable version of PES2009 running on a development console somewhere in Japan at this very moment. Only nine months to wait for us. It’ll be gone in a flash.
For now, I’m off to play some PES5.