eFootball PES 2021 Discussion Thread (PC)

This thing about scritping and having video proof of it, is kind of hard to show to be honest. I still play pes 2021 and I may well be one of the guys here that has the longest run on the same ML save. I've played my career through about 5 or 6 clubs and more than 15 seasons. Usually I used to start in a small portuguese team until I get invitation to Benfica. When I'm bored I accept some other contract. Liverpool, Man City, Rangers, Celtic, Anderlecht, and now Benfica again. Some things might get a bit crazy after all these seasons, like player value getting extremelly high (I just sold William for 500.000.000). I don´t look at it as stupid, but as a consequence of the market, even if it's not realistic.

On the gameplay though, the story repeats on any league. I always have a nice, quiet, friendly start. Then a shit storm hits the team and I can see it coming. Then, on the final 10 or 15 matches, everything goes back to "normal", almost looks like the game is giving me a chance to fight back.
Also, on most matches, this "shit storm" moment exists. I learned to live with it and pretend it's a part of the deal. Sometimes I hate it, sometimes I just put my controller down, take a deep breath, and pick it up again and finish the match with a sense of pure frustration and the question "why... WHY?.." on my head.

I have dig enough on this game to learn a couple things, one of them, and it was a major one, is the use of specific players, with specific traits, to each position. I change their roles depending on what I want them to do on the match, and I believe that no other game has done this as good as PES 2021 does... so yes, to me it's the best game ever. Being able to build a team around a certain mentality, and choosing the tools and weapons to make your way to the top is very satisfying. This also means I'm aware of what my team is capable of. So understand me if I get frustrated when Ronaldo has 5 consecutive attempts on target, almost clear chances, and none goes in. I'm already experienced at this, so I know I already saw lot's of real life situations like this. Every club has that day where nothing good happens, and every chance is missed against all odds. It happens. But this game loves to show it to much sometimes. It's noticeable. On those matches, I realised that at the end, things change a little bit, and sometimes it even gets easy, but I might be too frustrated to score and I still miss the chance to equalise or even win the match.

Is it interesting? Yes, by all means. But it happens very regularly and very obviously to say it's not frustrating sometimes.

Examples?
On every match, after I score, the CPU always gets a chance. ALWAYS. I know that it's trying to represent an urgent response from the opponent to the goal I just scored, but it always ends of some kind of dangerous effort, a shot, a corner, a free kick... whatever.
On some matches, more than I would like to have, after I score the first goal, my team dominates and creates 3, 4, 5 or more clear chances... but there's always something... some kind of invisible barrier, a miss, a player sliping and loosing balance on the moment of the shot even if it's running alone with no pressure, etc.
When nothing seems to work for the CPU, then things get a little strange, like first time 30m+ passes finishing with a dangerous shot, or a ball that goes through my defenders 3 times in a row, even when their are clearly blocking the obvious lane.
These things can all happen in real life, sure. But it's small things so obvious that make you say, at that particular moment, "of course... what else".

All teams, like I said, have a bad run sometimes. But it's not always on the first cup round, not always on a derby match, not always when the direct league adversary looses their match... In PES 2021, it's a rule.

It's a love hate relationship and I'm just there beacause the good moments clearly overcome the bad ones.
Ι had some similar thoughts, since morning, while i was thinking i wanted to reply to @koningfrikandel , but i do not own the words to express it correct. Pretty much i agree with what said, in the post i am quotting here.

I am a deep "script" believer, or to place it more politically correct, i believe that a tool for CPU to create challenge and drama, is boosting their own stats, handicaping human player controlled players, and input reading.

But i will leave the script part aside, as said before, even a video does not prove anything, if the video poster cannot transmit his controller input, and feeling, which is the case, you can't post the feeling neither with text nor with video, and feeling is the key word here, for me.

So back on track, what i've noticed too, after a lot of seasons, not very successfull i would say, and as a disclaimer, don't take me wrong here , i will just post my feeling, not schooling anyone, neither i am in an attidute "ye're playin it wrong" etc....

Sometimes or most times, when the CPU plays in a normal mode, and you are playing against a lesser team, it most usually adapts to your style, IE, you are attacking with score 0-0. When the CPU is packed its defense in a deep line, it's difficult to break that defense, without some very charismatic players.

So what you do in this scenario? First you try to penetrate form the center, but the center is cement concrete, with two zones of deep defensive line. So next step, you get the game wide, to the flanks, trying to do some cross, or some cut back. Once the CPU AI realises it, it adapts to defending the crosses from the flanks.

Here is the most often mistake i am doing. If i am tired, or get frustated, i am repeatitive rushing and rusing from the flanks, doing almost an One-Dimensional game, which is more rinse and repeat. AND I repeat, i don't even mention, handicap or anything, to keep it objective to everyone.

In this point, if i keep my pressure to waves crushing in a wall, it is very possible for the AI, to do that long pass from defense to Attack, and the opponent CF to do the usual , one touch control, super shield, pivot and goal. Then it is very probable, since it is a lesser team, as i said previously, that the CPU team will drop the ATT/DEF mentality to -1 and -2, which is often game over for you, if you couldn't penetrate a team with 0 mentality, good luck at -1, or -2. It's more possible to concede a 2nd or 3rd and want to throw your controller.

So at that soft point, where the score is 0-0 and i have the feeling that my attacks are like waves breaking in an iron wall, i have figured out, that it is better to do something different, much irrelevant to attacking. I know it does not make any sense, but making something unpredictable that does not make sense, is the only hope to get something better from the above scenario, which is a draw or a 1-0 win.

What i try to do is pretend that i am playing in the midfield. As most of you know, midfield battle is usually non-existent, and most part of the game is played in the first or last thirds, with rocket passes , trespassing the midfield as non-existent place.

So, me playing passes without any reasonable sense in the midfield, while it doesn't make any sense, it just confuses the CPU, which is adapted to a player attacking from center or the sides, but is not expecting someone to make non-sense passing game in the midfield.

Then i take i deep breath, and wait for the CPU to "create a gap" in their formation, either by pressing high, or by trying to counter attack after stealing me the ball (with a foul not given but the ref), and i steal them back to back.

The hard part, is when and where you decide to create this "midfield" scenario by your own, cause it usually does not make any sense, and your AI teamates do not help a lot, cause their programming is usually binary, on the ball =we attack, off the ball= we defend. You must make safe passes, but try to decide passes in teamates that will not cut your team in two pieces, by a possible mistake.

I end it here, cause i already posted a lot and log text. :))
 
This "tool for CPU to create challenge and drama, is boosting their own stats, handicaping human player controlled players, and input reading" aka scripting (@slamsoze haha nice definition :LOL: ) to me is most present in PES 2019, where Superstar in ML is to me, absolutely unplayable.

I don't want to beat an old drum here, but I think gameplay mods can definitely help in these cases. For example, in 2019, there are gameplay mods by @incas36, @*Supernova* and others which make Professional harder (injecting superstar parameters in professional), so the "scripting" is much less present while retaining a challenge.

In PES 2021, I think it is way less pronounced than in 2019, but still present in Superstar. One thing that can be done though, is to play some of @Holland's mods which do not have Team Spirit. I think TS is a big part of this phenomenon in Master League.

You guys could give these a try. Gameplay mods are part of the PC PES experience!
 
My default experience, as a fixed cursor player, with 2021 was not good. Modding really saved the game for me. For the people who do not like the game I understand completely. It took a long time for me to figure out the game and find mods that brought me enjoyment. I'm in a decent place with it now.

As always, I've got a couple clips

Adams is quickly becoming one of my favorite international teammates because he like to shoot and does so without hesitation:

It's nice seeing my teammates score.

It's not so nice seeing my teammates do this:

Quite the miss.

This goal shouldn't have counted whatsoever:

Completely impeding the keeper. That's most definitely offside.

The game has its ups and downs, but I can have my fun with it which is all I ask from a game.
 
I tend to agree about players awereness boosted (so just difficulty) but no stats. And ever less stats decrease, only felt that when i played too much and forced a player.

There's one thing like the don't remember thing about players "mood", not everything like stats boost but they perhaps keep it but hidden and not as proeminent as it was before. I was melted about that feature : for me it's more to you having a crush to play good with X player than another.
Sometimes too high stats everywhere could be a bit confusing, like when the player is too fast, too agile especially. Exemple : i managed better Di Vaio than god Maradona. He was too fast for my own time of reaction lol.

Nice observation regarding a full season mate. Too me it's more a difficulty system than "cheating script". Now i suppose in Legendary as i did it on league mode, teams i played against were 100% every matches. I love to play that difficulty but i like to win sometimes too 🙃
 
I love the game as it is, despite all those things I said on previous post. The game keeps me hooked, I like to come back and play a couples matches here and there in a relaxed way. I just feel sorry that somethings could be better and allow me to play Legend on my ML. Like Vialli says, I love how legend plays, there's a real challenge there, teams play more offensive instead of deep defence all the time, big teams are way harder to beat etc. But I struggle to win on every single match, even against low tier teams, and as it wasn´t enough, I'm constantly cursed with this invisible thing that keeps the ball from going in, but yeah I would love to win sometimes ahaha.

I must be honest though... tactics make a huge impact on the match outcome, they really do! And sometimes I'm too lazy to adapt them acording to the CPU mentality. In the end, I know there's always a way to break CPU's defense. Sometimes all I need is to change a ST for a false 9 for example, and its a joy to see my team moving and causing havoc on the CPU side. That's why I can't stop playing the game, it's the tactical decisions I have to make, and when it pays off, it's a great sense of satisfaction.
 
I love the game as it is, despite all those things I said on previous post. The game keeps me hooked, I like to come back and play a couples matches here and there in a relaxed way. I just feel sorry that somethings could be better and allow me to play Legend on my ML. Like Vialli says, I love how legend plays, there's a real challenge there, teams play more offensive instead of deep defence all the time, big teams are way harder to beat etc. But I struggle to win on every single match, even against low tier teams, and as it wasn´t enough, I'm constantly cursed with this invisible thing that keeps the ball from going in, but yeah I would love to win sometimes ahaha.

I must be honest though... tactics make a huge impact on the match outcome, they really do! And sometimes I'm too lazy to adapt them acording to the CPU mentality. In the end, I know there's always a way to break CPU's defense. Sometimes all I need is to change a ST for a false 9 for example, and its a joy to see my team moving and causing havoc on the CPU side. That's why I can't stop playing the game, it's the tactical decisions I have to make, and when it pays off, it's a great sense of satisfaction.
This is true! Good point. For all its faults, the game does try to push you to think and re evaluate tactics. It's just that it does so in a very blunt, on-the-nose way either when handicapping or helping you.

If the "hand behind the curtain" was more subtle, this would have been a timeless classic for me. Now, it's just the most fitting footy game and I need my footy gaming fix
 
Thinking some more about this while playing another game. All bullshit is present and I'm just so tired of this shit.

The conclusion for me is that a good game is good all the time. It might be hard and unfair sometimes, but it has to be consistent. In that sense, pes21 cannot be considered a great game or even a good game imo. There is no consistency.

It can be great, but only at times. And just sometimes at that. Therefore I'm only going to try to play this in bursts of 2 games maximum. As soon as it annoys I will quit or cheat back. I'm sick of going through dozens of mods that can't - as good as they are - address this issue.

And the underlying problem there is that Konami philosophy on difficulty is just wrong for single player, master league players. There is no modding to be done to counteract this. It's rotten at the core, so to say.

Just a little addition, because I keep banging on about this. No game evokes so much emotion for better or worse, than pro Evo did and still does. It makes me want to grind my controller to dust or punch the air from joy.

So that's where that comes from. Just a little venting
 
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Yeah I get your point as well. I might take a more torelable approach, but the feellings are pretty much the same.

I actually want a game were I loose matches. I don't mind loosing against FC Porto, Barcelonas, Real Madrids etc, and also having the odd draw or loss against Boavista... The thing is how I loose those matches. One key factor here is that the game doesn´t stop me from doing what I usually do. I create the same amount of chances, I usually create shooting chances, I dominate lots of matches etc. The only diference I see here, is the ball not going in. I would prefer a match were I actually cannot create as much chances because of midfiled battle, or because I had to play on defense levels. But no, what happens is that I always shoot several times on goal, but the ball simply wont go in. And then, the CPU does one move, one shot, one goal and that's it. A frustrating loss. Sometimes I see it coming and I sweat my fingers and even get proud because I avoided the goal. CPU tries again and I defend well again. What happens next? One of my defenders ignores the ball completely, only to leave a striker unmarked, with an easy goal chance. It looks like I was forced to loose the match, and now when that happens, that's when I say "ok, that's enough" and shut down the game. Next day I'll try over again with another mind.
 
I think one of the main problems I have with the cheating cpu bullshit is that the cpu boost and handicapping of your players (and the cheating refs, scripted "physics", etc) is that it's not based on aspects of football that are already supposedly simulated in the game - ie. if your players play terribly because they have low stats, they're off-form or are fatigued, then fine, from a simulation point of view, that is perfectly valid and indeed, what probably all of us want to see simulated.

But when your players are on-form, are not fatigued and have been playing fine in a match, then the in-built narrative determines that you've scored enough or it's time for the cpu to score to make it "exciting", having you players suddenly turn into hopeless, stumbling morons, co-inciding with the obvious cpu boost and changes in the laws of "physics" to ensure every deflection goes to the cpu and all your shots hit the post or are wonder-saved, etc, is just a cheap, arcade, rubber-banding gameplay mechanic that flies in the face of the supposed simulation aspects of the game.

I chose to play the game on a particular difficulty - if I find it too easy, I'll decide if I want to up it - I don't want Konami upping it mid-match for me.

The only other games I play are racing sims and if any of them used a gameplay mechanic where, if you're winning, it gives the AI cars a physics-defying boost whilst making your engine, steering and brakes stop working properly, I'd never play it again and choose to play one of the many other excellent sims on offer.

The only reason a lot of us still play PES21 is that we have such a dearth of choice - the other offerings are all worse.
 
Totally true.

What I've done, and it helps, is to make me believe that when the script begins, it's just the CPU trying harder to win the match, just like a real life team would do. I can tolerate the "shit happens" mood for a while. But when I have a match where the "Murphy's Law" is high on steroids, I just quit and play something else.
 
the game has a damn script... and I love it, I love that my 5-star team plays badly against a second division team and beat Real Madrid 5-0 a week later, these are things that only happen in real football that the game takes it to the extreme, if all the matches are developed according to the logic of the statistics, the master league would be very boring.
 
That's the thing. I love those unexpected results, yes I do! I hated when in previous PES versions you would win everything once you dominated the gameplay. The problem is how the game achives this "random" story.

If a team plays well against you, it should be hard to play in the midfiled, it should be hard to create chances. Instead, I create the same chances, I dominate the match as well, but the ball simply won't go in, even after 20 shots, 10 on target, 4 of them with only the keeper to beat.

Once in a while? Yes I can take it. But match after match? That's not very pleasant now, is it?
 
Well I'm still relatively fresh to the game compared to others (I'm in my fourth ML season at Superstar), however I kinda agree.. with all posts. There definitely is some kind of adaptive difficulty (if you don't like the word "script") that takes things a notch up in some precise moments. Just a quick example.. I was doing the first Coppa Italia turn against Pordenone, low serie B team much weaker than me.. match went as expected for most of the time, so me dominating them, but the moment I score.. they went crazy and almost draw. Same thing in the first game against St. Mirren in Europe League (where they even scored me indeed). Maybe it's not always after a goal, but you get what I'm saying.

Thinking about real life, it's a fact that low table teams to sometimes have their moments despite quality disparity. I remember distinctively I was watching Empoli Milan months ago.. Milan was winning by one goal, then Empoli somewhere in the second half found the draw and started to play even with them, going near the second goal (only to lose the match later). While Empoli was all out attacking, I clearly thought "well, if this was a Pes or Fifa game, we would call this momentum, script or whatever" :D.

So, yeah.. I think it's their way to replicate a similar concept in game. Of course it's often unbalanced, intrusive and so on.. there is no deny it, it could be a bit more contextual, as I said maybe in some other thread if there were displayed mental stats, or clearer triggers that caused those situations less ambiguosly, we could accept it perhaps with more peace. That said, as long as OVERALL my team's strength is reproduced in the field in the long run (meaning that if I have a strong team and I know how to play, I'll accordingly win the adequate number of games).. I can live with that. I can produce an headcanon where my players do have "hidden" mental lows and what not, if a football logic based on values do work most of the times. Only time I can't accept that is indeed if it's a thing that neuters your players and boost the others for the majority of the time despite any stat and strength comparison, like it was in 2018 for example.. but luckily that's not the case.
 
One of the things that I dislike is when you have a regular performance and the teams that are above you in the table magically lose to keep the competition alive, that does not happen in real life
 
Some matches you know about 10-15 mins in (I play 12 mins matches) that you’re gonna get scripted to hell. You create great chances and they just won’t go in.

Also, does anyone find that it’s easier to score in first 20 mins in most matches? Maybe it’s just something in my mind.

I agree with those that say the scripting gets annoying when it happens a few matches in a row. Sometimes when I lose a scripted match I do a rematch to get ‘revenge’ but the scripting is still there and I end up getting more pissed…🤣🤣🤣
 
This thing about scritping and having video proof of it, is kind of hard to show to be honest. I still play pes 2021 and I may well be one of the guys here that has the longest run on the same ML save. I've played my career through about 5 or 6 clubs and more than 15 seasons. Usually I used to start in a small portuguese team until I get invitation to Benfica. When I'm bored I accept some other contract. Liverpool, Man City, Rangers, Celtic, Anderlecht, and now Benfica again. Some things might get a bit crazy after all these seasons, like player value getting extremelly high (I just sold William for 500.000.000). I don´t look at it as stupid, but as a consequence of the market, even if it's not realistic.

On the gameplay though, the story repeats on any league. I always have a nice, quiet, friendly start. Then a shit storm hits the team and I can see it coming. Then, on the final 10 or 15 matches, everything goes back to "normal", almost looks like the game is giving me a chance to fight back.
Also, on most matches, this "shit storm" moment exists. I learned to live with it and pretend it's a part of the deal. Sometimes I hate it, sometimes I just put my controller down, take a deep breath, and pick it up again and finish the match with a sense of pure frustration and the question "why... WHY?.." on my head.

I have dig enough on this game to learn a couple things, one of them, and it was a major one, is the use of specific players, with specific traits, to each position. I change their roles depending on what I want them to do on the match, and I believe that no other game has done this as good as PES 2021 does... so yes, to me it's the best game ever. Being able to build a team around a certain mentality, and choosing the tools and weapons to make your way to the top is very satisfying. This also means I'm aware of what my team is capable of. So understand me if I get frustrated when Ronaldo has 5 consecutive attempts on target, almost clear chances, and none goes in. I'm already experienced at this, so I know I already saw lot's of real life situations like this. Every club has that day where nothing good happens, and every chance is missed against all odds. It happens. But this game loves to show it to much sometimes. It's noticeable. On those matches, I realised that at the end, things change a little bit, and sometimes it even gets easy, but I might be too frustrated to score and I still miss the chance to equalise or even win the match.

Is it interesting? Yes, by all means. But it happens very regularly and very obviously to say it's not frustrating sometimes.

Examples?
On every match, after I score, the CPU always gets a chance. ALWAYS. I know that it's trying to represent an urgent response from the opponent to the goal I just scored, but it always ends of some kind of dangerous effort, a shot, a corner, a free kick... whatever.
On some matches, more than I would like to have, after I score the first goal, my team dominates and creates 3, 4, 5 or more clear chances... but there's always something... some kind of invisible barrier, a miss, a player sliping and loosing balance on the moment of the shot even if it's running alone with no pressure, etc.
When nothing seems to work for the CPU, then things get a little strange, like first time 30m+ passes finishing with a dangerous shot, or a ball that goes through my defenders 3 times in a row, even when their are clearly blocking the obvious lane.
These things can all happen in real life, sure. But it's small things so obvious that make you say, at that particular moment, "of course... what else".

All teams, like I said, have a bad run sometimes. But it's not always on the first cup round, not always on a derby match, not always when the direct league adversary looses their match... In PES 2021, it's a rule.

It's a love hate relationship and I'm just there beacause the good moments clearly overcome the bad ones.
Since you’ve played 15 seasons in ML, has there been many managers that have changed clubs in your league, does that happen more
often than pes 2020 ?
 
I do see manager changes here and there. Now that you asked I’m curious about it, as I don’t usually pay much atention to it.
as for pes 2020 I do ‘t really know because I didin’t play that much to be honest.
 
I do see manager changes here and there. Now that you asked I’m curious about it, as I don’t usually pay much atention to it.
as for pes 2020 I do ‘t really know because I didin’t play that much to be honest.
I find that there is a decent number of changes, i would say in every PES with the current system 2015~2021 there is mild mobility in managers, to a degree i like it, at least for my taste.

I mean, i believe they have forgoten about this feature, and they never messed again with it after 2015, in order to "fix" it or "break" it.

Of course you will see some dubious moves here and there, like a British manager of an EFL club, resigning his position to move to Monarcas Morelia, but i pretty much tend to not pay attention to such "guffs".

Also managers, have some alternative default formations, which do exist in database due to live update and MyClub. For example in my 4th season or after 5th season in other older saves, i meet big clubs playing with some MyClub cheasy formations, like 5-2-3, etc.
 
Played with Brighton against Liverpool testing 30 minute matches. My first impression is that it feels a lot shorter then i anticipated but naturally it does decrease the feeling off being rushed to attack and my focus would be more on controlling the game and picking my moments. What I also enjoyed in switching from 14 to 30 is the extended period of the scrappy phases, those periods at the end of the first half and after the 65 minute when players are getting tired, make more mistakes and there is more space to exploit. The game tends to be more unpredictable and open in these phases and I really enjoy having more of that.

While I normally play Legendary on neutral form and CPU on neutral - 1, this time I opted for +1 vs -1 instead, because it was my first time playing with Brighton and with Liverpool being a top team (at least in 2021). While Liverpool did have some good chances that could of led to one or maybe two goals I never really felt I needed to give it my all because my players felt very alive on +1, so 0 vs -1 should be just fine next time.

In the end I won 1-0 quite comfortably and below FUMA cross and finish felt very satisfying, especially because I tend to fail getting my crosses exactly where I want.

 
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Played with Brighton against Liverpool testing 30 minute matches. My first impression is that it feels a lot shorter then i anticipated but naturally it does decrease the feeling off being rushed to attack and my focus would be more on controlling the game and picking my moments. What I also enjoyed in switching from 14 to 30 is the extended period of the scrappy phases, those periods at the end of the first half and after the 65 minute when players are getting tired, make more mistakes and there is more space to exploit. The game tends to be more unpredictable and open in these phases and I really enjoy having more of that.

While I normally play Legendary on neutral form and CPU on neutral - 1, this time I opted for +1 vs -1 instead, because it was my first time playing with Brighton and with Liverpool being a top team (at least in 2021). While Liverpool did have some good chances that could of led to one or maybe two goals I never really felt I needed to give it my all because my players felt very alive on +1, so 0 vs -1 should be just fine next time.

In the end I won 1-0 quite comfortably and below FUMA cross and finish felt very satisfying, especially because I tend to fail getting my crosses exactly where I want.

Lost a rematch against Liverpool 0-5. This time I opted for +1 vs -1 form arrows instead of +1 vs -1, which makes such a difference in the aggresiveness of their pressure. I wonder how it would compare to 0 vs -1.
 
Regarding the scripting, I'm happy that the sentiment is shared amongst many of you guys here and have similar experiences. I understand boosting and handicapping is a necessity somewhat in sports games in which a human is competing against inferior AI. The developers have to create these moments of artificial challenge and drama to keep things stimulating and to emulate the real life variables of real football matches - Football is volatile and unpredictable at times, sure.

My issue is that with these more contemporary games such as PES 21, the scripting is almost too frequent to the point it's hardly subtle at all. It's almost as if the scripting mechanic is broken and gets permanently activated throughout an entire play session. We all know when it happens, as many here have described, you feel it coming.

Something I resort to is if I feel the sabotage bullshit kicking in, I shut the game down, restart my PC and reboot the game and usually it gives you a fresh "session" almost like going to a new slot machine and the variance welcomes the new player to make them feel like they can win, that they're good at the game and keeps them playing until it's decided you must start losing.

The above sounds insane but many people including those who work on gameplay mods have suggested there is some kind of variable that the game activates during a play session that suddenly spikes the COM and sabotages the player. It just seems like once it activates, the game doesn't switch this boost off which is what leads to the revolting frustration we all experience.

The main problem is the difficulties have a wide ass gap between them. Professional is the most reasonable in terms of responsive control, realistic pressing from the COM and giving you a lot of freedom but it's problem is that with no interference from the script, it becomes pretty easy and you never feel under threat as the COM just can't compete with your vision and creativity.

Once you start going up to Top Player, Superstar and even the sadomasochistic Legend difficulty, the game is just unplayable as to create the illusion of challenge, all the game really does is handicap your inputs, players are slower than your nan covered in tar and the homing missile pressing is almost as persistent as the T-1000 out of Terminator 2. It's not football and it's unplayable.

I'm almost certainly convinced that people who claim to find Superstar and Legend on FUMA easy are attention seeking liars 😅
 
Regarding the scripting, I'm happy that the sentiment is shared amongst many of you guys here and have similar experiences. I understand boosting and handicapping is a necessity somewhat in sports games in which a human is competing against inferior AI. The developers have to create these moments of artificial challenge and drama to keep things stimulating and to emulate the real life variables of real football matches - Football is volatile and unpredictable at times, sure.

My issue is that with these more contemporary games such as PES 21, the scripting is almost too frequent to the point it's hardly subtle at all. It's almost as if the scripting mechanic is broken and gets permanently activated throughout an entire play session. We all know when it happens, as many here have described, you feel it coming.

Something I resort to is if I feel the sabotage bullshit kicking in, I shut the game down, restart my PC and reboot the game and usually it gives you a fresh "session" almost like going to a new slot machine and the variance welcomes the new player to make them feel like they can win, that they're good at the game and keeps them playing until it's decided you must start losing.

The above sounds insane but many people including those who work on gameplay mods have suggested there is some kind of variable that the game activates during a play session that suddenly spikes the COM and sabotages the player. It just seems like once it activates, the game doesn't switch this boost off which is what leads to the revolting frustration we all experience.

The main problem is the difficulties have a wide ass gap between them. Professional is the most reasonable in terms of responsive control, realistic pressing from the COM and giving you a lot of freedom but it's problem is that with no interference from the script, it becomes pretty easy and you never feel under threat as the COM just can't compete with your vision and creativity.

Once you start going up to Top Player, Superstar and even the sadomasochistic Legend difficulty, the game is just unplayable as to create the illusion of challenge, all the game really does is handicap your inputs, players are slower than your nan covered in tar and the homing missile pressing is almost as persistent as the T-1000 out of Terminator 2. It's not football and it's unplayable.

I'm almost certainly convinced that people who claim to find Superstar and Legend on FUMA easy are attention seeking liars 😅
I totally can tell the difference with how PES 21 plays/level of scripting each time I boot it up. Sometimes there’s script from the first match, sometimes it takes a couple matches for the script to kick in, and sometimes (which is heavenly) is when there is little to no script at all. It’s like a game of roulette.

Your advice to restart the game makes sense and I’ve thought of doing that, but me wanting to ‘beat’ the script and replay the same match to do so leads to a painful cycle of getting scripted and frustrated 🤣😭😭 I’ll really try to re-boot next time
 
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