Diving into the mix
Season number 6 in Master League PES2009 is my first in Division 1. I was interested to see the composition of the division. Unlike previous PESes, the leagues are not organised along national lines. Thus my Division 1 contains Inter Milan and Manchester United, Zenit St Petersburg and Blackburn.
This kind of mixing up is all fine by me. I don’t play Master League for its realism. Never have done. As I’ve remarked before, to all intents and purposes this blog might as well be called Master League Chronicles. This game I’m playing might as well be called Master League 2009.
I won my first game in Division 1 3-0 and my immediate thought was: uh-oh. As I found out in pre-season, the change up to Top Player seemed (for now) to have peculiarly made the game seem easier. So I suspected, anyway. The only way to test this hypothesis was to play a full season.
Still, that league table after one game made for good viewing:
Even as I steadied my hand and snapped the above photo with my mobile phone, I had a feeling things wouldn’t stay this way for long and I’d better make the most of it.
Reality soon struck—and it struck hard. I went on a wretched run of four straight defeats that saw me plunge back down the table. I was rudely dumped out of the Cup. Then, somehow (don’t know how), I managed to start drawing games.
Top Player definitely isn’t easier than Professional, I think it’s safe to say. Maybe sometimes it can seem that way, because of the way the CPU teams push up and leave themselves light at the back. But overall it feels harder to carve out the kinds of chances on Top Player that I was creating on Professional at the back-end of last season. It feels so different, in fact, that I’m having to seek out new ways to create chances and score goals. I’m not finding many at the moment…
My little run of draws started when I clinched a 1-1 in the last minute of a game. The CPU team I was playing (I forget who) somehow contrived to deflect the ball into their own net from a corner. I cackled with glee. Perhaps this was a turning point?
My 8th League fixture, and tenth overall of the season, was against Lazio. I was delighted with the 2-0 win that I somehow got—my first since the opening game of the season. I really am an average player of this game. I was pretty comfortable throughout the Lazio match, actually—which is a slight cause for worry. It’s still too early to tell for sure, but once again in a PES game it seems that the top teams might be easier to play against than the rest of them.
semi would be better for me.i tried be a pro dont really like it. february a bit of a long way away.
if your waiting for one person, surely we can get a cup done or a half season.i think this would be more fun then MM….(lol not difficult)
so whos up for it and what teams??
personally i would perfer 3 star teams.then theres room for class and weaknesses.
however, im easy really,lets get this shit started man!!
yehmate – i’ts a time thing for me as well, and February was all about making time at the time if that makes sense. I honestly couldn’t manage to play more than maybe one or two games per week online at the moment with various work commitments (yep, I’m Father Christmas). Having said that I’ll see how things are on Tuesday, my next day off.
not-Greg,
regarding free kicks, you probably already know this, but here it goes:
first play around with your free kick taker to see how much swerver he has, and see the best direction to position him.
when taking very close shots, near the box, press square and down to make the shot weaker. alternatively, you can press square, then press x while the gauge is on. if you’re in a position nearly touching the box, you can attempt a chip in by slightly tapping the circle button. it’ll probably only work if your player has good free kick stats.
for free kicks farther away from the box you can press square and up to give the shot more power (or square, then triangle when gauge is on) or you can try just pressing square if it’s not too far from the goal.
i’ve found juninho pernambucano style free kicks from very far are not possible on this game. even juninho’s virtual counterpart has trouble scoring from long range free kicks.
so if you’re not close, your best bet is to do a lay off.
as for pressing r2 or moving the d-pad in any way to add swerver, none of that works in my experience.
Adriano – thanks for the tips, I’ll try them out on the training ground next time I get a chance, but the PS3 version is a very different game. I remember we had this problem last year until I switched to the PS2/PSP PES2008 (still think it’s a fine game, and I still have my ML career saved game).
It’s a bit weird with the PS3-PS2 differences, as the differences between the two consoles’ aren’t as vast as the FIFA09 PS3-PS2 difference. You can still see on the PS3 the outlines of old-style PES play (which, for many, is a reason to bash the game) but it’s different enough – in pace terms, and in animations, physics etc. – to justify being a different game.
All the core controls are the same of course, so I’ve mentally filed away the tips about square/X etc. My probl;em fo not scoring enough goals is still continiuing and I need to maximise the opporuthities I get from free kicks around the box. So far I’m 0 from about 100. I’ve hit the bar/post a couple of times, and forced a few good saves, but most go over or hit the wall.
I actually find it slightly easier to score free kicks from distance rather than up close. I use the same technique as you in general. Scored a couple of beauties with Jaric who actually gets pretty good at free-kicks after a couple of seasons. For close freekicks I try to set the power just to the left of middle, for distance to the right of middle with ‘Y’ or triangle and up pressed. I also like the lay-off and shoot. I find it particularly effective at the edge of the box when the kick is positioned to the left or right of the D.
Never tried chipping from close range, will definitely give a try next time.