The Towering Inferno
Disaster has struck. Great, big, flaming disaster. Iceberg, dead ahead kind of disaster…
A few days ago, I met Barcelona in the first leg of the Division 1 Cup semi-final. It was a home fixture that I won 2-1. I was very disappointed to concede a late away goal, but remained confident that I could see out the away leg, maybe getting an away goal of my own. I’ve done it hundreds of times before on all PESes down the years. So, yes, nothing to worry about. The Treble was safe with me!
Wrong. Barcelona beat me 3-1 at their place, winning the semi-final 4-3 on aggregate, knocking me out of the Cup and ending my dream of the Treble this season. I suppose that when I said, and I quote, “[Barcelona] haven’t exactly intimidated me during any of my seasons in the top flight so far [...] I don’t think Barcelona have beaten me at all yet,” I was seriously tempting fate, or the gods of Pro Evolution Soccer, which amount to the same thing.
Barcelona flew out of the starting gate—and never stopped flying. I had pretty much a full-strength team on show, but there was nothing I could do. I could have a moan about scripting, and with some justification, I think. It was one of those games where passes often and inexplicably bounced off my players’ shins into touch, where great shots at goal flew absurdly high and wide or were saved spectacularly, where my out-of-position defenders just would not be controlled in time to intercept Barca strikers bearing down on goal.
But I had my chances. Just before half-time, when I was 2-0 down and still only needed one goal to square things up on aggregate, away goals and all, I had a spell of dominance. The CPU, try as it might, can’t keep the human player under lock and key all the time. I scored, making it 2-1 to Barca, a mirror image of the first leg. The second half went on and I had yet more chances. Another away goal from me would effectively kill the tie, so I went for it. Recklessly, I went for it—and of course Eto’o scored a killer goal for Barca on a breakaway. With about 5 minutes of game time remaining.
Ouch. That’s how it ended, of course. Whenever I’ve been going for a Treble and failed, it’s usually happened in a Cup game. And I can never quite believe it at the final whistle. It just doesn’t sink in. I experience real disappointment, even desolation. All that work for nothing. The whole season, wasted. It takes me a game or two to recover my wits and start concentrating again on whatever other competitions I’m still in.
Which brings me onto the next distaster. Yes, there’s another disaster. There are two disasters, the twin halves of one great big disaster—
All season I’ve prided myself on remaining unbeaten in the League. I’ve drawn lots of games, but not being beaten has kept me up there on top of the table. And so what did I allow to happen immediately after being beaten by Barcelona in the Cup? Yes. I lost to Osasuna, one of Division 1’s whipping boys. They performed the classic smash-and-grab—got themselves an early goal and sat on it for the rest of the game. I threw the lot at them but my forwards were strangely subdued (only 7 shots on goal, 4 on target, is very poor for me nowadays). I couldn’t get the goal. Once again I found myself staring at the screen in disbelief at the final whistle. If I was ten years younger, I might have burst into tears.
So I’m out of the Cup and I’ve lost a league game. In the space of two fixtures my Treble has gone kaput and my unbeaten season has followed it. This is exactly how it used to be for me on PES5. Throughout 40+ seasons I only won three or four Trebles, because somehow I’d always manage to lose one or two crucial games throughout the season. Is the same pattern going to repeat itself on PES2008?
Who knows. What I have to do now is focus on at least winning the League and D1 Cup. I have to remember that apart from the Division 2 title, I’ve won nothing at all in PES2008 yet. Coveting the Treble so badly might be a case of wanting to run before I’ve successfully walked. At least Real Madrid also lost their corresponding game at the same time as me, and I’m still on top. But it’s going to be tight. And I’m off form.
When I moved back to Kansas and started supporting the Wizards (Kansas...
hi greg
I am back in the country, been out at sea for the past 3 months. Flown by. You are sure flying through the seasons. Hopefully you can still win the double (the Big 2). Funnily enough in my previous campaign I never lost to the likes of Barca, Madrid, Man U etc. it was always the so called lesser sides.
I am about to embark on a new master league, I am using the squad players this time. The ML youngsters turned into world beaters.
I must say I am still enjoying playing on the PS3, I have never went on wonder dribbles, which granted is a weakness on this version. I take it for what it is, a computer game which has brought me months of enjoyment for £40, real value.
I have explained my house rules on my blog, there will be no signings until players leave or join Celtic for real. The squad players don’t develop as quick as ML Youngsters. See how it goes.
Good luck on the Big 2. I am away to start new campaign back in Div 2.
pesfanatic
pesfanatic (aka heraldo) – welcome back, and I look forward to seeing your site updated again at last!
As you’ve seen, there’s a new look to my blog and a new style of blogging. The minuscule, game-by-game style of blogging had to go—much as I enjoy writing the blog, it was starting to affect my playing of PES, as ‘d have a great game or two and then think “Damn, now I’ve got to write about that in exhaustive detail”. So I went for the more bird’s-eye view style.
I’ve also moved onto the PSP & PS2 version of PES2008 and I’ll never go back to the PS3 version. I respect the choices of all PES fans who’ve found some way to live with it, but I just found the game too easy, too rushed, and too un-PESlike.
After a couple of months now on the sublime ‘last-gen’ PES2008, I have to say again that it’s a shame Seabass evidently ran out of time and had to release an unfinished next-gen version, which it blatantly is. Still, only just over 5 months to go until PES2009….
not-greg
Funny you mentioned you have changed the game to game style. I noticed I had dramatic change in results when I couldn’t update my blog whilst at sea. I was forever taking notes and pics, therefore continually breaking up gameplay.
I noticed change to your blog, I too have moved my blog as you will notice. I have been playing PES on the PSP, I just can’t get used to the controls. I was contemplating on buying the PS2 version, but I am still getting enjoyment on the PS3 especially against my mates.
We all get varying enjoyment from titles, I was reading a Grand Theft Auto IV forum today and people were complaining about no haircuts, tattoos and car custimisation. What a title, attention to detail, the benchmark of gaming. You can’t please all gamers.
Yes not long to PES2009, I just hope they still have licensed Celtic
Cheers
ps your clock is out by an hour
US Agent code designate ‘cklarock’ reporting as ordered regarding Special Project X57-11-7: Operation Test The Water (Tell Greg about the US Version of PS3 PES 2008).
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Good news: The faults you described hating the most (heavy-handed scripting, miracle runs, dodgy keeping, poor collision detection, etc.) just aren’t present.
I went up 3-0 in a match, and decided to find out if my fastest dribbler could beat defenses on a run. His stats: Top Speed 87, Acceleration 95, Dribble Acc. 95, Dribble Speed 92. Better, no doubt than guys you ran circles around people with. In each instance, he could beat one guy, but the defense would collapse on him, and he wasn’t able to worm free.
Runs just aren’t any better in this version than they are in the PS2 Euro version. If I could get a video off my TV, I’d show you an example.
But hey, don’t hate — congratulate. Look at the bright side — if you ever get a bit bored with the excellent PS2 version (which, to be honest, I’d be playing if my Euro CD hadn’t died), you can get and play a version of this game on your PS3. With the exchange rate in your favor, it’ll be like buying it half-price. If you wait another month or two, you’ll be able to get a used copy for tuppence.
Bad news: It’s still PES, and so it’s still vaguely annoying. Player technique is abysmal. I love that defenses are a bit tougher to break down, but one of the ways they make it difficult is that player touch is horrible. As in, literally as bad as the pick-up coed league here. Supposedly world-class players regularly fumble passes five to ten yards away before controlling them, giving defenders ample time to close them down. It’s a trend that’s been ongoing for the last few iterations, and I don’t like it. I’d like (for a change) to see a PES that maybe was a bit more cereberal, that allowed possession football, or circulation football.
Passing is therefore so poor that the only reliable tactic to spring an attacker (you won’t be able to along the ground) is the long ball. Route-1 is much more reliable than playing football (which will just result in a loss of possession).
Clearances out of defense are pathetically anemic. I literally can’t get players to thump the ball to the mid-field line — they pop a little floater twenty yards out . . . to a defender nearly every time. It’s kind of sad. A clearance is really just a way to say “hey, would you like to have another go at my goal before I can get my defense reorganized?”
As a result, you absolutely have to play the ball out of the back if you want to ever see any possession. Problem? The passing and control (which is shockingly poor) is even worse among defenders. In order to compensate, I dropped my DMF even further back, and made him a sweeper. This puts enough bodies in the backfield that the attacking players can’t aggressively mark my backs (a favored COM tactic in this game — it’s annoying), leaving me passing options out of defense.
In summary — this game just isn’t broken like the one you described. There is no way these are identical games. However, in order to win, I’m now playing a 5-4-1 and Route 1 ball.
PES 2008 has turned me into Gary Megson.
ck – interesting, very interesting… Thanks for the full report, and I’ll note a broad similarity between last-gen PES2008 and your New World next-gen PES2008. To whit, your remark: A clearance is really just a way to say “hey, would you like to have another go at my goal before I can get my defense reorganized?” Time and again in last-gen PES2008 I’ll clear a corner, only for the ball to drop to a CPU player in prime shooting position. Up the other end, do my corners ever get cleared to my players in prime shooting position? Nope.
Your account of the rhythms and quirks of your version of the game (next-next-gen PES2008? PES2008 reloaded?) makes me intrigued enough to want to check out my US PSN account later on, to see if the demo for your PES2008 is still up there. Yes, I have a North American PSN account, just to get my hands on the demos etc that you get before we do over here.
I still have half a hunch that in a week or two you’ll post back saying you’ve started wonder-dribbling, though
As I remember I went through a stage of finding my PS3 version very tough, and I mean really tough, in a way that I can’t believe I ever did, looking back now.
Yes, I keep expecting to wonder-dribble eventually. Then I try it with players who have fantastic stats, and still no-go. I have some players who can out-run guys if they get a head-start, but my players have a more difficult time beating defenders than in the PS2 version!
You know what else I just realized? When keepers bobble a shot, it tends to fumble to the ground in front of them, rather than in the path of strikers. This is surely a “fix” implemented into the North American Japanese version.
Regarding defensive clearances — they are as bad as the PS2 version! Except in this version, the CPU (when it’s feeling frisky, which is about 70% of the time) will “camp” your fullbacks — man-mark them, essentially — preventing you from passing your way out of the defense. Until you can get defenders with 75+ passing stats, you’re hosed.
Curse you Seabass!
ck – I’m getting curiouser and curiouser about the NA version of the game. I might have to try and lay my hands on a copy in a month or two – purely for research purposes, of course. Region-free console gaming ftw! woot, etc.
I had a look on the US PSN store using my US account last night, and there’s no sign of a PES2008 demo. Which is odd. I’m sure there was one. Or has it been taken down?
I’m pretty ignorant about these things as I just got my PS3 a few weeks ago.
In an irony, I’ll probably be firing up the PS2 for some of my gaming — I explain in the Aylesbury Vale thread, but essentially the PS3 editing situation is rubbish.
ck – good to hear you’ve picked up the Aylesbury Vale thread again. I’ll check it out later. Haven’t you got yourself a PSN account yet? Tons of great demos for you to catch up on by now. There’s just no PES2008 for me to sample the non-European release!