Recoba the moon Comments Off
I was 3-1 up on aggregate going into the second leg of the D2 Cup semi final against Spartak Moscow. Within 30 minutes of kickoff I was 2-0 up (5-1 on aggregate).
Both of my goals were scored by Recoba from medium-range in an utterly startling first-half performance. Most startling of all was that he was even on the pitch…
Recoba very rarely actually plays a game. He’s just never fit. Maybe one game in six, on average, he’ll be fit enough to play—but otherwise? Forget it.
He’s the most innately unfit player in the game. I have no idea what he’s like in real life, but in PES2008 he either has a grey form arrow or his stamina is so feeble as to make it not worth picking him. He was exactly the same in PES5, so I knew what I was letting myself in for.
Recoba’s brace made the score 5-1 to me on aggregate, and with two away goals to boot. This meant that Spartak would have to score five goals without reply to win the semi-final.
The remainder of the game was farcical. It was the usual thing. Missed tackles, stumbles, stray passes. My fastest and freshest players visibly being slowed down as I chased for loose balls that I would have easily got to if the score was 0-0. Micro-scripting, in all its anti-glory.
Spartak scored three goals in quick succession just after half time, making it 3-2 to them on the day, and 5-4 to me on aggregate. There were still twenty or so minutes of the game left for them to get the two goals they needed to win, and boy did they try. They didn’t get get them, and I went through to the Final, but I was still mightily annoyed.
For two thirds of the game, after scoring my two early goals, I hadn’t been allowed to play at all.
Some PES players dislike talk about scripting, either because they disbelieve in its existence or they simply regard it as a necessary evil. I’m in the latter camp, but I still like to talk (and complain, ad infinitum) about it. For me it’s one of the joys of being a PES fan.
Scripting sceptics contend that what we are seeing is, in fact, realistic. They say that the suddenly supercharged CPU teams are only reproducing the strenuous efforts that a real-life team will make to get back into a game when behind.
This argument would be persuasive to me, but for one thing: What about the strenuous efforts that the real-life winning team will make to protect its lead? I’ve never seen a slow pass to a defender in open space randomly bounce off his calf into the path of a striker, or a fresh, speedy winger suddenly lose the ability to run with the ball just because their team is winning.
The nearest parallel I can think of is from racing games like Gran Turismo, where if you are behind you can always catch up to the car(s) in front; and if you are ahead the cars behind can always catch up to you. The game is just coded that way. Ditto PES. Sometimes, of course, you can be too far ahead in both games for anyone to catch you. But the underlying ‘auto-catchup’ mechanic is there nevertheless.
Scripting is a reality in PES and has been very much in-your-face and blithely unashamed about it for the past couple of versions. And yet the denials keep coming from Konami Towers. Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Seabass? (That was going to be the title of today’s post, but in the end I went with the usual tabloid-style pun.)
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Back in the League I took on Parma at home and then Benfica away. Parma turned me over 1-2. I had two players sent off—Gatti and Pjinatnigh—but gave myself hope late on with this goal from Caracciolo:
Against Benfica I ended up drawing 3-3 despite being 2-0 and 3-1 up at various stages. This time I felt that I was just sloppy in defence rather than the victim of any kind of scripting. Caracciolo got two of my goals, Altintop the third. Those two are a great partnership up front.
And then it was the eve of the D2 Cup Final. My opponents are Sampdoria. It’s the biggest game of my season and of my Singers FC career so far. There are points and prestige at stake. If I win I should get that team ranking up to ‘C’ and be able to sign some better players for next season’s big promotion push.
I was all set to play the match, but late in the game against Benfica I’d seen a pop-up system message from my PlayStation3.
My wireless controller is almost out of juice and must be recharged. The console is too far away from where I sit for me to comfortably plug in the charging cable and play on from my usual reclining position on the bed. I’d have to stand up and play in the middle of the room. I’m not going to do that, so… it’s a roll-over.