@janguv, I don't like the word "scripted" either because it's the code representing attributes in the most basic way possible - i.e. "goalkeeper is better than striker, therefore shot must be saved, even if the keeper has to fly like superman to get there" (a PES classic).
However, I implore you (though it is masochistic) to play against the Legend AI for a few games, because it really, really clicked in terms of what's happening. Every instance where my player's limb would go through the ball, for example, was to allow it to run through for the striker, or create a situation of benefit to the opponent at least. It just
did not happen the other way around.
In the video, something I didn't notice is that the defender whose foot ghosts through the ball (his kick ignored)... The ball then bounces backwards off his heel so that the ball stays in the right area to shoot. Now you would say "that's just shit coding, sometimes your limbs ghost through, sometimes they don't". But throughout every game, limbs would fly through the ball to keep it rolling to where it needed to be for the team that won the game (and believe me, I was looking for instances to my benefit).
I've tried my best (over many videos) to show it - like when my online opponent's defenders were perfectly placed, but BOTH legs ghosted through the ball so I'd get the passes. On more than one occasion. He was powerless to stop me.
It just did not happen the other way around. Nor did my players zig-zagging all around the ball because they're running to where it used to be. That's absolutely shit programming - yet put the AI down a few pegs and it just doesn't happen.
I'm not saying it's strictly "scripting" but your input is so mashed up when you're supposed to lose (because of a "playstyle" rating deficit or whatever), it's blatant for me now. Crystal clear.
So that's the only way I actually do play this game now: Legend AI, normally the events, on FUMA. (For my sins.) I see clipping happen routinely, on both teams. I don't have a sense that I am at much of a disadvantage in the weighing up of dodgy shit on the pitch – other than fouls not given (Legend is very aggressive and the refs don't care).
Your definition of scripting here is definitely one more palatable to me than the definition a lot of people implicitly work with. I'm just not convinced the buggy/weird outcome is simply the representation of a stats-based advantage, and therefore as the sum output of a series of favour/disfavour decisions which amount to: you're meant to win/lose.
The hit detection in this game (vs any of the last PES games) is
shocking. There's a shit ton of clipping, there's weird animation cycles, etc. I think it's best to think about this game (and others) as bifurcated into
what's going on and
what you see. Many complaints about these games stem from a misalignment between these things. You execute a pass and see an animation, pass starts, travels, seems like it's about to hit an opponent's boot. That's all (bar the button press) at the level of perception. Underneath, the player who is to receive the pass is *there*, the opposition player whose foot
seems to be in the way is *not actually there*, so it just passes through him. They've failed to align what happens in perception with how the underlying code of the situation reads. All gaming is some such misalignment, and developers hope to minimise it as much as possible so it's not obvious – think of the very idea of a hitbox to get across this idea.
So one way of giving expression to just how poorly this game is coded is that this misalignment is frequently severe, and sometimes it's accumulative so that you have 4 or 5 instances of it in quick succession. Yes, as a result, you'll see that a pass is "meant" to be received by X player and so
will be received by him come what may – despite your best efforts to intercept – because your player's outstretched leg, so far as the code is concerned, is *not really there*.
There's no two ways to cut it – it's bad. Really, really bad.
I wondered whether they were playing the same build at this tournament yesterday. I couldn't watch more than a couple minutes of it. There were comical moments, such as
this one my mate captured. I'm sure, though, if you were masochistic enough to sit and watch the whole thing, you'd find tonnes of examples of exactly the dodgy shit you've been highlighting. But they're all playing with souped up Dream Team versions of players; I'm not sure how easy it would be to chalk the stuff down to better/worse attribute/playstyle stats. I'm certain you'll find laughable stuff though.
Graphical changes are things like lighting, textures, player models, stadiums. If it impacts gameplay then it is by definition a gameplay change.
Never mind the unbelievable mind-reading ability in order to be sure that Konami wouldn't want to communicate the improvements to gameplay they've made especially when they have done so for every other recent update. I'm almost certain you've tricked yourself into seeing changes that aren't really there as has been the case so many times before.
