There's been a lot of talk about the overall flow and feel of matches, with some people claiming the gameplay feels faster now than before the patch. However, I'm not entirely sure myself.
My first match against the COM (in Master League, Top Player difficulty) after installing the patch had a very different feel compared to other matches I've played yet - the COM was
hammering my side, relentlessly attacking and pressing forward to reclaim the ball and get another shot at my goal. I think I barely survived the match with a 1-1.
Anyway, that kind of behavior certainly indicates a change in the COM's aggression (which I believe was mentioned in the patch-notes, but more in relation to fouls... right? :erm
I witnessed the same kind of "hammering" in most - but not all - the matches I played next, all with different results. The
worst experience was losing 4-5 to Queens Park Rangers after getting ahead 4-1 before half-time. It was one of those matches where you feel like something fishy is going on whenever the COM has the ball and just magically outplays your defenders and scores on every.single.chance.
I didn't see a huge difference in goalkeepers to be honest. If anything, they seemed just as solid as before the patch, perhaps even slightly better.
The situation with fouls seems to be unchanged at this point. I didn't notice any increase in "dangerous play" by the COM and certainly didn't receive any more free kicks than before the patch. Sadly, it seems you still have to "work" to get fouled, so there's nothing new here.
Of course, most of my points are based on one session of 10 + games, so my views may change the more matches I play.
Oh man, it looks like you're watching me playing... I feel the exact same things you mentioned. Glad I'm not the only one.
I played a few matches on superstar yesterday, here's what I noticed:
The first thing I noticed is the faster gameplay. As I started the game, I though that the update reseted the "Game speed" (or something like that) setting. But, for my surprise, it was still on -1 (the speed I like before the update). It's not entirely bad, but I have yet to try in -2 to see if it's better.
I was also playing a match (Arsenal vs Man. City, to try the new stadium) in superstar. I easily scored 2 goals in the first 15 minutes (I even though I was on intermediate difficulty or something like that, but I was really on superstar). However, on the second half, the COM started attacking a lot and getting past my defenders, and scored 3 goals. I lost the match 2-3.
Goalkeepers are still the same, or even worse. For example, on my game Chile vs Brazil (which I lost 1-2), the kepper could save an almost impossible to save header goal, but couldn't save a slow shot that deflected on a defender (and the ball still took some time to get to the goal). I don't know if that was a rare moment or if it happens often, I have to play more to be sure.
Fouls? Where are they? Still the same crap. The COM makes an average of 1-2 fouls per game, and they are not even intentional fouls. They look more like bugs than real fouls. It's the kind of fouls when they trying to take the ball from you and give you a "slap" on your face (it isn't really a slap, they just put their hand/arm inside your head. They should get a red card for violating laws of physics. (Yes, the PES physics are still the same, no change on that and I doubt it will change soon)).
Something that is missing are the hand on the ball fouls. They NEVER happen, since the ball just goes through the hand (Yes, PES physics are like that). We also need more red card fouls (in 2 years of PES, I think I only saw 2 red cards for the COM) and penalties (in 2 years of PES, I only saw 3 penalties. 2 in PES 2017, 1 in PES 2018 - yes, penalties are there, but they are very, very rare).
And regarding to other changes, not related to gameplay, Sporting kits still need to be fixed. 3rd kit (the one that Sporting uses in the Portuguese Cup) has errors and has wrong number colors. And league logos on sleeves get distorted and on wrong position, Konami didn't even care. The only positive thing here are the 2 new stadiums, which are beautiful, even though they could change the atmosphere for different stadiums. It's barely the same, whether you're in Estadio Nacional de Chile, Emirates Stadium or Sport Park. It doesn't feel good. At first, I played only listening to the fans. Now that I'm tired of the same atmosphere on every stadium, I play listening to music on spotify. Come on, if we can't add sound files, could they, at least, add some options like they had on ps2?
I don't know what Konami has been doing here, but they are shooting at their own feet. That's why FIFA sells more.
Better focus on making more leagues and stadiums instead of ruining the gameplay. Even more fake leagues would be awesome. Why? They cost almost nothing and would allow us to have more leagues in Master League, for example, instead of only Bundesliga, we could have Bundesliga, Scottish Premiership, Turkish League, Belgium League, Russian League and maybe even 2. Bundesliga or Ledman Liga Pro (2nd portuguese league). PES community is awesome, editors would fill them quickly, and there is an option to disable them on Master League, so there's no reason to worry about having an "amateurish database" with fake teams in Master League. Since PES doesn't have licenses, at least they could give us the possibility to create. Am I right?
