There he is. Steven Gerrard, aged 16, a fresh-faced Regen, rated 74OVR. Wearing my team’s (away) kit. I saw the special ‘big signing’ Cutscene to herald Gerrard’s arrival as well.
I got him in the January window, and he’s already pretty decent. Not too great attacking-wise just now, but he bites into tackles in a very Gerrard-like way. Schweinsteiger has been shoved down the pecking order a touch.
I also picked up another promising youngster: 16-year-old Franco Baresi, rated 98OVR(!). I released Reyes, who just wasn’t doing anything for my team anymore. No other comings or goings. I now have a nice feature-rich squad of 25 players.
So it’s June 1st, and the relentless march of time marches on—as does my Master League. I’m about 2/3rds of the way through season 14 now and loving it more than ever.
Changing up to Superstar at the start of season 12 hasn’t brought me any trophies (yet), but it’s brought me probably the best PES gameplay I’ve ever known.
The current season is really, really exciting. The games are so tough, and it’s so hard to get a result sometimes, that I feel any trophy will be a major achievement.
The League title would be the ultimate. I’d love that.
I’m in a rich enough vein of form to win it. I can handle the mid- and lower-table teams comfortably now. My team seems to respond to my every wish. Want to close the game down and keep things tight? We can do that for you, boss. Want to flood the CPU half with attackers and open up its defence? We’ve got that covered too.
Sometimes I enter a kind of meditative, almost trance-like state where I feel that PES’s much criticised on-rails feel is totally absent, when my players are capable of responding instinctively and individually, like the most lithe of ballet dancers. (Who needs Player ID when we’ve already got oodles of player individuality? It all smacks of Teamvision-type-speak to me.)
But then I played a run of big matches against my rivals for the League title, and didn’t have it all my own way.
First were Newcastle at home, whom I beat easily 3-0. They have since fallen away big-time, and are no longer real contenders for the title.
Manchester City away. God this match tested my newfound pateince with PES2012 to the limit. I conceded a bad goal just before half-time, but scored my equaliser just after the break.
I’d have taken that 1-1 the way the game was shaping up, with Man City launching wave after wave of super-dribbling attacks. It was tough to cope with, but I did cope—until the 89th minute, when one of the attacks got through. I lost 2-1.
In truth, I made little of my own opportunities. I was tense and hesitant. The secret of success in PES2012 is to be decisive and flowing. That’s what wins matches.
Next were Arsenal, the league leaders, away. A tight match, looking like 0-0 all over, which again I’d have taken.
On 70 minutes that hero of the season so far, Caracciolo, latched onto a loose ball on the edge of Arsenal’s box. On his wrong foot… I tried it anyway. The ball curled deliciously around the keeper. If I’d been recording commentary on this game you would have heard a most unmanly howl at this point. And then again at full-time when the whistle went. Oh yes, this was a BIG result.
A result that briefly lifted me up to second place, one point behind Arsenal
My next match was against Manchester United, another of the challengers. This match was very different. I was at home and I expected an easy win, in truth. Perhaps that was the trouble, right there.
Man Utd scored with their first attack, and then, incredibly, went down to 10 men. This was the second CPU red card of the season. You wait ages for one…
Sadly, it didn’t translate into dominance for me. As so often, the other team’s 10 men were just as hard to break down. With this being PES2012, Man Utd were still ultra-dangerous in attack. I struggled to contain their strikers in particular.
Strange things come about in long-term Master Leagues. Guess which two strikers Man Utd have playing for them up front? Mario Balotelli for one (and he’s the team captain). And the other striker alongside him? Only one Roberto Mancini… (Yep, the same Regen Classic Mancini whom I released a couple of seasons ago.)
Balotelli scored on a breakwaway to make it 2-0 to them. I kept hitting the woodwork at the other end. Eventually I got one back (Rooney), and rubbed my hands, thinking, I’m gonna get a draw out of this... I’d have been happy with that.
But no. Another unstoppable Man Utd attack on 85 minutes, and Balotelli rifled a stylish shot into the roof of the net from 20 yards. It was a good goal actually, the sort that human players score a lot of the time.
And so I’d lost 1-3, at home, to a team that had 10 men for 75 minutes of the match. Slightly embarrassing, and a huge blow to my title push.
Here’s the table afterward:
Perhaps that Man Utd match was the decisive one for me this season. With goal difference as it is, I need Man Utd to lose twice, while not losing any more matches myself. A tall, tall order.
But not an impossible one. I’ll keep playing and trying to win. I’ll see what happens. I am still within striking distance of that coveted #1 spot and won’t give up. I want that title more badly than I’ve ever wanted any title in PES history.
But I have to at least ensure Champions League qualification for next season. And take whatever else comes as a bonus. I’m still in the FA Cup, still in the Europa League.
Well it happened…I didn’t get sacked, I never have been yet, but only because I walked before it did. I’m struggling to understand why having the top scorer 2 seasons running I couldn’t scrape together enough from the others to make a decent show. Maybe it’s because I had the top scorer – am I too Ribeiro-centric?
Anyway…bring it on again. And sign the Brazilian again.
Max – I always do invest £1m in marketing as it’s a great return, but 5 star trainer out of reach as only had £3.6m and wanted £1m youth investment. Have reduced playing staff with some great sales (Hamsun! Ordaz!) so might get chance next year. I’m working on a 3 year plan for promotion.
NG – have changed formation slightly – my middle of front 3 is now a deeper AMF – mainly because good SS/CFs are hard to find when you’re down at the bottom, and it means I can accommodate Irjescu (boo, hiss), Ettori and Maqualao. LMF/RMF are tighter so it’s more of a 5 man diamond – much shorter passing distances as Superstar has proved really hard to break down with such poor default abilities. Lots of interceptions.
I will not buy and will only go for frees if wages are low or quality high – I gambled too much on a couple of 350k earners last time and they were no better than Cinalton.
Love the pain…
uncle turf—good luck with the restart, sounds as if you need it. Out of interest, did you get the message about having to win/backing up your save etc.? From what I recall, a win or a draw in your next match would have avoided the sack. Unless you wanted to restart anyway of course.
You’ll have rerolled a new set of players in the new game, of course, so please report on how your Camacho/Schwarz/Irjescu are this time around. Maybe the latter will be better this time. Do you ever get a different Ribeiro too?
NG – no, I didn’t get the message – I remeber reading about it way back but I was down to 5 pt rating and had very little prospect of turning it around. Forward signings really let me down.
This time round Camacho looks poor; 57ovr but he is only 16. Oscar is not worth a punt 52 at 18! Schwarz is 56, 18 with some a handy 80 explosive power but they want 225k in wages so not for me. Big Rib has almost always played the same, it’s just that the CPU seems to ‘work him out’ better some times and cuts off the supply. I think SuperStar keepers come for the crosses much more often and hardly ever fail to collect.
so, at what Chairman’s approval rating does one get sacked? Is it zero? Think I’m down to about 8 now
abbeyhill – not sure, i’ve not had the message NG saw but I have been on 4pts and been told for many weeks that ‘he is openly criticising your running of the team’. I can’t stand the idea of being sacked so I’ve always pulled the plug!
abbeyhill—for the love of God, man! You started PES2012 completely cold on Superstar, when Regular—yep, Regular—will challenge even a seasoned PES-head for a long time.
How can you be enjoying any of the matches? Surely it’s only a matter of time before you quit PES2012 in disgust, without ever really playing it? Why do this?!
uncle turf—the final message, where you have to avoid defeat in your next match or be sacked, breaks the fourth wall somewhat. It tells you to back up your savegame if you have autosave switched on. I saw it just the once in this career, way back when, but got through it and here I am nearing my 15th season. At some point you might have to just go through it. But I am starting to appreciate that your initial multi-season career on PES2012 was perhaps something of an anomaly (to put it mildly).
I remember clearly that the final message came when I was down to 6% approval. That was on Regular difficulty. It’s probably the case that a higher difficulty means there’s a lower sacking threshold.
NG – do you mean anomaly in terms of player ability or anomaly in terms of what I want from it? Linking to your abbeyhill response I would say yes, superstar for starters is mad, I tried top player and gave up. After my Professional double I could have stepped up but it just didn’t feel right to be switching difficulty with everything in place and I feel I can be competitive if only I can get over the first painful hurdles. I want to win a cup, any cup, from superstar beginnings. I’m considering whether I should satisfy myself with this achievement and allow buying, although I am investing so heavily that I doubt I could buy anyone good enough anyway. One thing I am clear on, had it not been for this site and all its contributors I would have rejected PES2012 as another disappointment.
Good start – chairman suggested I play stremer – 35 mins 2nd half, job done, credit in the bank.
uncle turf—I meant that your original multi-season save was an anomaly in the sense of it going against your preferred way of playing PES and ML—always rerolling a new one in the quest for that perfect game. I’m much the same with the Civilization series of strategy games. In all my years of playing Civ I must have only finished 20 games out of hundreds of starts. I’m kind of similar with Dwarf Fortress too, although that doesn’t have an end-goal as such.
I suggest obeying the chairman missions as much as possible while you’re struggling in the early seasons. And if you get near the danger zone again, remember it’s not over until it’s over.
well not-greg I must confess that I do enjoy a challenge!
On another note, I’ve just spotted that Ruskin is right footed this year, despite still being a LB. Or has that always been the case? Please someone reassure me that I’ve not been using his wrong foot for the last few years!!!
NG – ah Civ, yes, I’m in that camp too – no city, no nation was ever perfect enough.
this game gets ever more bizarre. My new game, of which I’ve obviously experienced many, is absolutely racing. I have the worst overall technical skill I have ever had (57) and the opposition are flying like Top Player did. Seriously at one point I couldn’t keep up with the ball it was going that fast (I don’t touch game speeds). I wonder if my ‘random roll’ has come up double one or whatever the definition of ‘kill him’ is.
abbeyhill—you enjoy a challenge, but are you enjoying PES2012? Really?
uncle turf—see what the game speed is like on your next session, and the one after that—probably back to ‘normal’.