Stats entertainment
Not another goal drought… Over the past two seasons in Division 1 I have repeatedly suffered a run of matches without scoring many goals. Two seasons ago I went for a total of 9 matches without scoring any goals at all. And both of those periods came immediately after mid-season negotiations. And now it has happened again.
Hmmm. Three seasons in a row, suffering the same problem at the same time. How does that old saying go? Once is an accident. Twice is unlucky. Three times is enemy action—or scripting, as PES fans know and love it.
Could it be true? Is there a scripted drop-off of goals in the period immediately after the mid-season negotiations? Or is it just me and my fluctuating form at work? My averageness as a PES player?
Perhaps the game is programmed to ‘tighten up’ a little in those games immediately after the mid-season turnaround. But actually, thinking about it now, probably not. But you never know! Who really knows what goes on behind the scenes in PES and in Master League? One thing we can be absolutely certain of is that something goes on—the countless moments of match scripting are a cast-iron guarantee of that. (Is there anybody left who denies the existence of scripting in PES? Whether you call it that, or ‘momentum’ as Seabass does, it exists.)
The best thing to do in a goal drought is to just make sure you keep it tight at the back. If you’re not conceding goals then you’re not losing matches. Simple really. Thankfully my defensive record continues to be good, although not as good as it has been. In 30 matches I’ve conceded 27 goals, about half the number of my nearest rivals.
But the number of draws I am racking up as a consequence of not scoring goals is now proving a worry. In 30 matches I have drawn 13—almost half of my total matches played, and almost twice the number of draws of the next-highest amount of draws in the league. I don’t know. I’m not really interested in naked statistics (they’re my least favourite part of the Football Manager games), but these statistics tell the tale of my season. It’s a thoroughly mediocre one. I doubt that even a late run will carry me up to a European place now. Season 2016 is officially a washout on the league front.
Ah, but it’s not entirely a washout… For the first time in a long time I find myself still in the Cup at the back-end of a season. I’m in the semi-final, where my opponents are Rosenborg, a tricky team to play against in PES. I’ve already played the first leg at my place: 0-0. It was a turgid match, really—and yet another draw—but I didn’t concede an away goal. So I have got to consider myself the favourite to go through to the final. One goal from me in the away leg should be enough to do it.
When I moved back to Kansas and started supporting the Wizards (Kansas...
Welcome back and Happy New Year!
I was thinking about the whole scripting thing recently. and i decided that those games where:
every shot from even your best players skies over the bar;
every header goes freakishly wide;
the opposing goalie becomes a stopper of amazing force;
every one-on-one goes to the CPU
that this is an important part of the master league experience. without it after a while there would be a one-sided march to the championship. it keeps it exciting and meaningful, although of course it’s frustrating.
I recall earlier you said you like to play a passing, posession game, trying to break down defences.. if you dont score for a while using this tactic just have a bash at dribbling, its never been that hard in pes, and the ai cant handle a quick 90degree change in direction. Something else i have noticed is that using the old L1 + X then Triangle to do 1-2s is totally devastating against the ai, while most people i play against can deal with it well enough, i miss 6*
Surfer Dude – thanks, and it’s good to be back posting again, although my brief brea did see me playing a lot of ‘proper’ games again (Mirror’s Edge, Fallout3, etc.), and others, and I loved it. My PES mania (really Master League mania) really makes my wider love of gaming take a back seat.
And I agree—without the scripting we wouldn’t really have a game to play.
James—after PES2008 when even I, a non-dribbler, could dribble in figure-8s and score wonder goals in every match if I wanted to, I’m reluctant to try it in PES2009 in case it ruins the game for me. I’ve already found out about the sudden turn, and I find that 45 degrees befuddles the AI as much as 90 degrees does. I’ve used this technique quite a lot, albeit with mixed results, as the next week on the blog will show.
When this treble comes, it will be a memorable one!
Just to let you know online PES 2009 (which i have finally got to work with my awful router) is okay. It’s, just like the game, acceptable. I did notice one incident of lag and teleportation, but this was once in 4 or 5 games. The rest of it played smoothly, resulting in a 3-0 victory, 0-0, 1-0 loss and 5-1 thumping. This will likely be my only taste of online PES though, like you I dislike the online experience immensely. My Xbox Live gold membership has run out for the final time as it will not be renewed. The PS3 can handle any occassional desire for the odd match online.
Happy New Year Guys!
I havent visited this blog for a few weeks what with the busy festive period, so I have some catching up to do on your exploits but just thought Id check in with a little update.
You may have remembered in the past my whining about the inadequacies of this game, scripting, players not doing what you want etc…. well I have persevered and stuck at it and just finished my 4th season stuck in Div 2.
Pre season i signed a few players, 5 in total, mainly youth players between 17 and 21 as I only just scraped through paying the team salary and had minimal points left. I got lucky I feel in the transfer market this pre season as I managed to pick up some players in key positions with excellent stats and fantastic growth rates, for minimal salaries.
I signed a SB, AMF, WF, GK and CB, changed my home and away kits and had an air of optimism going into my 5th season, but fully expected that to diminish after the first few games. Alas, to cut a long story short, I finished my 5th season in Div 2 by doing the double, League & cup champions!!
I only lost 2 games all season and they were both back 2 back after having a 2 week break over xmas and playing lotsa other games in between, including FIFA, so my excuse was a bit of rust
So now I am promoted to Div 1, have a bunch of players that are forming a great team and actually reliable to get me results, although one gripe I have is the pre-season transfer period, im a newly promoted team, my team popularity is B, after paying salary I have about 20,000pts to spend yet as Greg eluded to in one of his previous posts, im still treated as a Div 2 team, so players are reluctant to join my team, even offering silly money for them doesnt sway the club to sell. Looks like il be pitting my luck in Div 1 with my core team and having to wait until the mid season window to try and pick up some div 1 level players!!
But finally, im actually enjoying the game now and scripting, bugs etc arent so in your face!
Not Given – I’m actually pleased to hear that PES2009 seems to have worked OK for you online. As you know I care nothing – literally nothing – for the online aspect of any game, but I know that many PES players do play it and love it so I’m happy for them. With PES and Konami and Seabass there is a chance that the single-player game could get more love and attention because of the traditional Japanese indifference to online multiplayer, but for the game to grow in the West long-term they’ve got to get it right.
Whilst reading your comment I was momentarily inspired to think about setting up my online Konami ID and having a go. But that quickly faded away… I’m just not into it. It’s not even worth ten minutes’ work to me. The only reason I ever played FIFA09 online (and will do so again) is because it was literally pick up and play. None of that crazy registering nonsense.
Which reminds me… we’ll have to have that FIFA09 game soon. Did they sort out the PS3 setup?
Paul—As you’ll have seen I had myself a festive break as well. I think it was needed on several levels, not least wanting to actually play some other games for a change.I finished Mirror’s Edge (disappointingly flat overall, but when it was good it was great) and made a dent in Mass Effect and some of my DS games.
Re PES2009, I think you’ve crossed the threshold! For those of us who were appalled by PES2008 (PS3) and intrigued by FIFA08 and delighted (however patchily) by FIFA09, PES2009 presented a challenge. At first it seemed ludicrous that we could have ever liked PES, and this PES2009 was an insult. And yet, and yet… I can’t help noticing that its January and I’m playing PES2009 more than FIFA09. Whether this’ll still be true in April is anybody’s guess, but for now PES2009 is still doing it for me.
Oh, and how annoying is that thing where you get promoted but the game still treats you like a D2 side? I made the best of it and decided to see how well I could do with my D2 promotion-winning side. Not very well as it turned out. When it comes to the peculiarities of Master League this is just another one to add to a list that is still too long.