That's true, but then... I don't want the computer to randomly select their tactics, I want them to... you know, play tactically. I also don't want every flippin' AI team to play the same tactics against me, it has gotten to that stage in my ML. I have teams like Arsenal starting with 2 def mids, then changing to 3 in the 2nd half.
I understand what you mean, my point is that the game currently is and has always been very simplistic in this respect. The tactical side of the game is and has always been completely broken, as far as I'm concerned.
Without midfield play the tactical side of the game is only imaginary. And if the movement without the ball is actually determined by the left analog stick, as a result the players on the pitch will move like people watching the game from the stands.... therefore completely fucking up the purpose of midfield play, since you can move in accordance to the future; why follow the trajectory of the ball when you can move directly into the space where you know that the river ends?
There's a great difference between (a) actually playing football, and (b) simply running like a headless chicken and basically playing basketball in a football pitch.
(a) the necessity of critical thinking in order to actually be there when the play reaches the end of the river.
(b) the computer spoon feeding you the exact space where the culmination of the play will take place, before the actual play starts to take shape, therefore making midfield play completely insubstantial and redundant.
Without midfield play, the game is a hectic end to end basketball game where the speed of the game is completely redundant, because the speed of the game will never compensate for the lack of substance.
The bottom line is, the computer cannot play tactically because the game does not function around tactics.... the video game is completely scripted by the computer and the script itself does not work around tactics, the footballing brain of the user does not really play a part because the tactics work automatically; therefore how can you play tactically when you have no control over the actual tactics? It cannot be done.
For example, if the sprint button determined (a) the direction in which the player runs without the ball, and (b) the speed at which the player runs without the ball, and (c) the exact position that the player without the ball occupies. And at the same time, the mentioned sprint button system is conditioned by flawless things, such as when the ball carrier passes the ball.
If that was the case, the game would revolve around tactics, because getting close to the ball carrier would not simply be a matter of directing the left analog stick and pressing the sprint button; instead, getting close to the ball carrier would require critical thinking, the user would need to predict what the team in possession will do with the ball before the ball carrier passes the ball, the user will need to react by either holding or not holding the sprint button at the exact time that the ball carrier passes the ball.... therefore making it necessary to play tactically because it would be impossible to disregard the tactical side of the game.
Not only would you need to employ the correct tactics, you would also need to manually know how to play the football. As a result, the tactical side of the game would be an RPG/MANUAL type of game.
Anyways. The point is that with the current game, your footballing brain means fuck all, because the game has nothing to do with tactics, it's all about the technical side of the game.
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Though of course, one could be more simplistic about it and simply blame it on the lack of detail that has gone into the tactical side of the game.
If you could go to the team settings, select one midfielder and one forward, and design very specific patterns of off the ball movement for the selected targets, specific enough so that you can determine the exact space where the target starts his run and also the exact space where the target finishes the run.... that would no doubt make the game feel much more tactical.
As a result, it would be possible to take David Villa as the selected forward, and design a pattern of off the ball movement where David Villa starts his run from somewhere near the opponent's penalty area, and finishes his run somewhere in the middle of the pitch. The fact that you would know where the selected target starts his run and where he finishes his run, would no doubt add a great deal of team individuality.
If you could press the pressure sensitive L2 shoulder button, and as a result Xavi Hernandez started running towards the position of the ball, that would make the game feel much more tactical.
But the fact is, that neither Konami nor EA Sports seem interested at all, in trying to produce a serious football simulation. It's all about cheap thrills and spills without ever thinking, designing your own patterns of off the ball movement would be far too substantial for what Konami has in mind.
There's really no other explanation I can find, to justify the complete lack of invention that has gone into these video games. If you compare PES5 on the PS2 with PES11 on the PS3, when you play without the ball, it feels like the same exact fucking game.
When I go through on goal, it does feel like the game is rolling a virtual dice to see if the player will finish, and that the players attribute only determines the chance of that "roll" resulting in a hit (there goes the strength of my RPG knowledge
).
Fully agree. That's why I think that the technical side of the game should be more manual and less RPG, whereas the tactical side of the game should be less LITERAL and more RPG/manual.
The fact that movement without the ball is LITERALLY determined by the left analog stick, is one of the main reasons for why the technical side of the game feels like the computer is rolling a virtual dice that completely undermines the ability of the user.
