ML Difficulty.

[Kru23]

What does everyone have their difficulty set as? I started off with default ML on superstar and I could really only manage to get a few shots a game. I think I score 1 goal in 7 games. I really don't think i'm that terrible but maybe Superstar is a little too hard this year. I switched to Top players and it seemed a little more realistic. What's everyones thoughts?

 

[DunkLFC]

What does everyone have their difficulty set as? I started off with default ML on superstar and I could really only manage to get a few shots a game. I think I score 1 goal in 7 games. I really don't think i'm that terrible but maybe Superstar is a little too hard this year. I switched to Top players and it seemed a little more realistic. What's everyones thoughts?

How do you get on with the same match-ups in Exhibition mode? ML incorporates Team Spirit where Exhibition mode doesn't. You can either do as you have done and drop a level until games start to get too easy and then raise it again. Or battle through the dip like a real manager has to. Depending how low the Team Spirit is, the battling through can take a very long time.

 

[Kru23]

How do you get on with the same match-ups in Exhibition mode? ML incorporates Team Spirit where Exhibition mode doesn't. You can either do as you have done and drop a level until games start to get too easy and then raise it again. Or battle through the dip like a real manager has to. Depending how low the Team Spirit is, the battling through can take a very long time.

Good point, so I should just stick it out on Superstar and when my team spirt rises I should be able to get more chances?

 

[Kashik]

Should be said that team spirit isn't the only reason why exhibition game play differs from ML. The CPU gets a boost, ranging from small to massive, to their ability depending on the team/game/importance of a match.

So yes, you will get more chances as your team spirit improves, but it will still pale in comparison to what you get in exhibition.

 

[DunkLFC]

Should be said that team spirit isn't the only reason why exhibition game play differs from ML. The CPU gets a boost, ranging from small to massive, to their ability depending on the team/game/importance of a match.

So yes, you will get more chances as your team spirit improves, but it will still pale in comparison to what you get in exhibition.

That sounds interesting. I haven't had any 'big' games yet, though I'm almost guaranteed play-off matches this year. Also, no rival team matches yet as I'm playing ML with Liverpool in the Championship. I've got to say that the opposition didn't ever seem to get a boost in PES 2016 from big cup games, so that would be new to this year. The rival team hack fests are the only difference I remember from last year. :erm:

 

[DunkLFC]

Good point, so I should just stick it out on Superstar and when my team spirt rises I should be able to get more chances?

Yep. I went from Team Spirit in the 30s in August of my first season to 92 Team Spirit at the end of my first season. This second season had a small dip to 78 Team Spirit as I brought in a few more players and has taken most of a season again to rise to 92 again.

In PES 2016, Team Spirit rose faster and also went all the way up to 99.

Is anyone else encountering a cap on the upper rating?
Is this where we need players with the relevant Team Roles (eg Team Player) to boost past 90%? I have one Team Player in the squad, so I'm wondering if that is why I'm only able to get to 92%. There are a couple of players in the team that aren't glowing orange on the team sheet, so it could just be that they are struggling to adapt, even though they have started nearly an entire season of matches and we have a much higher win ratio this season than last.

 

[Kazuki_Ito]

The highest I've had my team spirit at is 96. I can't say for sure if this is down to team roles or or not - I've not studied things that closely. Depending on the XI I put out it normally varies between 90 and 96.

I've noticed that bringing in new players does not make it a certainty that your team spirit will drop; there seems to be more to it than that. I got Moussa Sissoko on loan and played him for a few games at RWF out of necessity and my team spirit was high 80's or 90. I then got Erik Lamela on loan and put him at RWF and immediately my team spirit jumped to 92. IMO Lamela is not exactly recognized as what you'd call a real team player like a Dier, Drinkwater etc.

Would be interesting to experiment with putting together a side of lower OVR players with all the team roles just to see how things turend out.

 

[DunkLFC]

The highest I've had my team spirit at is 96. I can't say for sure if this is down to team roles or or not - I've not studied things that closely. Depending on the XI I put out it normally varies between 90 and 96.

I've noticed that bringing in new players does not make it a certainty that your team spirit will drop; there seems to be more to it than that. I got Moussa Sissoko on loan and played him for a few games at RWF out of necessity and my team spirit was high 80's or 90. I then got Erik Lamela on loan and put him at RWF and immediately my team spirit jumped to 92. IMO Lamela is not exactly recognized as what you'd call a real team player like a Dier, Drinkwater etc.

Would be interesting to experiment with putting together a side of lower OVR players with all the team roles just to see how things turend out.

That would be interesting and could explain why some people find Superstar to be easier than others. Not me though with my current squad I hasten to add. Aside from the Youth Prospects and Protege players, I have a couple of Leaders, a Team Player, a Rising Star and a Creator. I'm definitely building a smallish squad of youth players for the future as I can't afford to pay decent salaries.

Oh, and forgot that I can get the team spirit to 94 if I swap out Huntelaar and Buffon for longer serving players, which occasionally happens if they are in better form.

 

[tokwan]

just got my team spirit up to 99. my CMF who is also the team captain, acquired Virtuoso and the team spirit jumped from 92 to max. 99 is the highest, rite?

 

[DunkLFC]

just got my team spirit up to 99. my CMF who is also the team captain, acquired Virtuoso and the team spirit jumped from 92 to max. 99 is the highest, rite?

Well 99 was the highest I saw last year, so it probably is the maximum this year. I like that you need players of a certain role to hit the highest possible.

 

[valencia5]

Well 99 was the highest I saw last year, so it probably is the maximum this year. I like that you need players of a certain role to hit the highest possible.

Player roles that's cool. But it should be a mix of complimenting ones....not a prerequisite for all right??

Do play styles have anything to do with this do you know?

For example if i made all CM Box to Box, all Wingers Prolific Wingers, all CF's advanced strikers, and all defenders so forth and so on....does this have any impact? If so do you feel you need all of them?

One thing I hate is, sometimes I will find a player let's say a prolific winger, but his Stamina is severely lacking....so for training I choose box to box to increase his Stamina faster with the best balance of other skills....it ends up switching his playstyle....after quite some time..

 

[tokwan]

I don't think play styles affect the team spirit. Some team roles affect team spirit a lot.

BTW, the edginess of facing big teams like Barcelona & Bayern Munich was gone with top team spirit; yesterday I beat them by more than 2 goals margin without tweaking or changing strategy. Now I'm making Arqas captain again (he was, 2 seasons ago) to get the team spirit down to 90 for a bit more challenge.

 

[DunkLFC]

I'm certainly not looking to have the Team Spirit raising roles in all positions, as that would mean I wouldn't have some of the other important roles. I like to have a Leader/General somewhere in the defence. I think I have Fighting Spirit and Team Player roles as well in the midfield.

I want the youth to get help with training, so I have a CB on the bench who is a Creator. I can certainly tell that my defenders are developing faster than the rest of the squad. Which is nice, if a little dull. :laugh:

The most common role in my squad is Protege, so I'm waiting to see what those guys can bring to the squad once they progress into the more specific 'stylised' roles.

 

[7Lamont]

What does everyone have their difficulty set as? I started off with default ML on superstar and I could really only manage to get a few shots a game. I think I score 1 goal in 7 games. I really don't think i'm that terrible but maybe Superstar is a little too hard this year. I switched to Top players and it seemed a little more realistic. What's everyones thoughts?

Felt the same, on higher difficulties it became much less enjoyable, it wasn't even the fact of being dominated, it was either defending like beavers most of the time, or sitting on the edge of the box trying to get past defenders that were all over me,

Top Player for me

 

[valencia5]

Felt the same, on higher difficulties it became much less enjoyable, it wasn't even the fact of being dominated, it was either defending like beavers most of the time, or sitting on the edge of the box trying to get past defenders that were all over me,

Top Player for me

I'm playing on superstar manual, and to to be honeset, after the latest patch/data pack. I find myself enjoying the game more. I was crushing the CPU by wide margins, from 3-0 to 8-0 quite often on superstar/manual. And was complaining about it.

The CPU defense has tightened up, with holding their overall shape and correctly choosing assignments and covering areas.

The CPU offense seems more competent, in a good way.

I know for a fact that heading speed has increased absolutely. I feel as though the game is faster, either overall or ball/shot speed have increased.

The only thing that is bothering me is the CPU is far too agressive with their slide tackles to the point I've played about 10 games since the patch, and have gotten so many injuries, 6 or 7. Slide tackle every other touch by the CPU, and slide tackles from all angles, if you beat them off the dribble and they catch up to you when you slow down they are taking your legs out, even if you pass or shoot.....

And there are some fouls, but a few yellow cards here and there......no reds which should be the case with these rugby / tae kwon do style moves.

I've had to adjust my strategy(on ball) to deal with it or I'll be out of players soon lol.

I'm still winning, have not lost one yet, but the scores are all within 3 goals difference maximum...

A welcome change, and I'm sure when you get used to playing more and more, you also will enjoy it at the higher difficulties, as I think once you're adapted to it learned enough skills to compete at Superstar the game flow is much more representative of real life, though we all know, PES's interpretation is a fast and furious exchange....which are like the most energetic points of real life matches, in PES they last for almost the full game....

But better than anything else that is or has been available on the pitch.

Cheers!

 

[MazyCZ]

Hello everybody. New here.

I just admire all of you who can play on top player or Superstar. I played PES from 2008 and usually played mostly BAL as controlling all players from my team was a bit hard for me back then. Last year I tried Master league and at least I got to a level where I can play okish. Still, in PES 2016, I was tired of no-fouling opposition, super fast opposition defenders even if they were low on stats, I hated the scripted goals when the opposition team, no matter how good or bad they were, just went into my box and scored, as my players were just looking to them usually in 85-90 minute.

This year, I started again from scratch with PES 2017 with deafult ML squad of noobs and on professional level. (i lost or draw most of my matches but then I lost to a 1.5star team 8-1 LOL) And it is a pain. I had to switch to regular as I was not really enjoying the play as I couldn't get a shot as it is blocked all the time, the opposition players were like gods with super balance and speed.

At regular, I have ups and downs which I like. It is a bit noobish but at regular, the goalkeepers are still great compared to 2016, the defence of the other teams still deflecting my shots most of the time, but at least I can score some goals now and have overall good experience. As far as I have read across the forums, I am the only noob with Regular so far

When my team gets better and I will get better with the game, I will up to the professional

 

[Kazuki_Ito]

Welcome!

You paid the money for the game so it's totally your choice what difficulty you play it on! Anyone who tries to tell you to play it on a difficulty other than the one you find it most fun on would be stupid IMO.

I'm sure you will get better with time and as your team improves. A potentially game changing tip that has been mentioned elsewhere is the super cancel - hold R1+R2 when moving your player around. This gives you completely free movement of the player so he's not moved automatically in any direction by the computer. It helps me deal with some of the dreaded 'scripted' parts of the gameplay.

Good luck!

 

[valencia5]

Hello everybody. New here.

I just admire all of you who can play on top player or Superstar. I played PES from 2008 and usually played mostly BAL as controlling all players from my team was a bit hard for me back then. Last year I tried Master league and at least I got to a level where I can play okish. Still, in PES 2016, I was tired of no-fouling opposition, super fast opposition defenders even if they were low on stats, I hated the scripted goals when the opposition team, no matter how good or bad they were, just went into my box and scored, as my players were just looking to them usually in 85-90 minute.

This year, I started again from scratch with PES 2017 with deafult ML squad of noobs and on professional level. (i lost or draw most of my matches but then I lost to a 1.5star team 8-1 LOL) And it is a pain. I had to switch to regular as I was not really enjoying the play as I couldn't get a shot as it is blocked all the time, the opposition players were like gods with super balance and speed.

At regular, I have ups and downs which I like. It is a bit noobish but at regular, the goalkeepers are still great compared to 2016, the defence of the other teams still deflecting my shots most of the time, but at least I can score some goals now and have overall good experience. As far as I have read across the forums, I am the only noob with Regular so far

When my team gets better and I will get better with the game, I will up to the professional

Nothing to admire bro...it's a video game above all....doesn't make anyone better or more skilled, just more experienced...

I think difficulty settings are for the individual, you play what's comfortable/acceptable to you. There are aspects of Top Player that are better than in Superstar and vice versa....Like Kazuki said, it's your game, so play with whatever makes you the happiest..

There are no medals or prizes won for difficulty level in respect to other players my friend...

It's almost a guarantee, like with any game, when you figure out the nuances of the AI, you'll need to increase the difficulty....

There were times on FIFA I purposely downgraded the difficulty from the top level, to one notch below, and adjusted the sliders, to make it more realistic, because some aspects of the top level were, obsurdly unrealistic...

 

[MazyCZ]

Welcome!

You paid the money for the game so it's totally your choice what difficulty you play it on! Anyone who tries to tell you to play it on a difficulty other than the one you find it most fun on would be stupid IMO.

I'm sure you will get better with time and as your team improves. A potentially game changing tip that has been mentioned elsewhere is the super cancel - hold R1+R2 when moving your player around. This gives you completely free movement of the player so he's not moved automatically in any direction by the computer. It helps me deal with some of the dreaded 'scripted' parts of the gameplay.

Good luck!

Yeah, thanks. I started using super cancel just yesterday It helps greatly when the ball is in the air to move in front of a player or to change the auto trajectory sometimes. But still, even here, i get those moments when the oposition attackers just walk into my box and no matter what I do, my defenders and other players aren't quick and are lazy. But I have to take it. At least I'm not going into matches knowing I win 100%

 

[valencia5]

Yeah, thanks. I started using super cancel just yesterday It helps greatly when the ball is in the air to move in front of a player or to change the auto trajectory sometimes. But still, even here, i get those moments when the oposition attackers just walk into my box and no matter what I do, my defenders and other players aren't quick and are lazy. But I have to take it. At least I'm not going into matches knowing I win 100%

If you're getting your bum rammed in like that. Consider using advanced tactics...if you're back line is getting smoked like that, consider dropping your back line deeper....as well as doing the "crowd" the box....

It will help, but offensively your forwards and midfielders will have a lot more ground to cover, may be out of position, and will gas, but it might alleviate some pressure defensively at the right times.

Consider the abilities of your players and the shape of your D as well as the attacking pattern of the opponent wide/center.....figure out how to cover your weaknesses and push them towards your strength....

Example: if I'm playing a deep 4-4-2 and I have fast, good defending fullbacks, and they wanna push up wide. I let them...the LMF/RMF/ + fullback will give my team time to cover.