Amateur
Registered User
* Intro,
After reading a couple of early articles about PES 2011, I wanted to elaborate on a future problem that is looming. From what I read about the Eurogamer article, here’s one thing that stood out for me:
——————————————————-
Seabass: “Every time we release a new version we’ve found that the freedom of the game has gradually disappeared. We maybe made it too complicated.”
——————————————————-
Seabass has basically admitted that the original concept was far too complicated for the acclaimed pin-ball formula: the 10 Minute Simulation…
Neither Konami nor EA made the leap from 10 Minute Simulation to 20 Minute Simulation in order to kick-start a revolution in the genre, which is why PES and in fact the football genre has not progressed as much as one would expect.
This year, the slogan is “total freedom and control”, which is a must before even thinking about evolving in other areas…
But once again I must reiterate the importance of TIME: how much substance can you implement into a 10 minute game? do we really have “total control” when we barely have control over our Team’s off-the-ball movement?
Eurogamer tested a very early build of the game (PES 2011), and Johnny Minkley noticed that:
“further experimentation yields rewards and the flexibility becomes engagingly apparent the more I practice. Konami’s claim of total control over the direction and destination of passes holds up; the one potential downside is the need to rely on AI with no apparent way to send a free player into the space for which you’re aiming”
In other words, you can still send the perfect pass and the COM can still decide that the player who was supposed to score the goal decided to run a little too late or a little too early.
I’m not saying PES 2011 won’t be revolutionary in some way, I’m just saying that it will be affected by the same flaw of having to rely on the AI a little too much; lacking control and freedom in terms of off-the-ball movement, which is extremely important in real-life Football.
* Improving on Old Concepts,
Think of it like something dual, you have the manual side of the game where you have total control in terms of passing, shooting, dribbling, and marking; and you have the non-manual side to the game, where you get to dictate off-the-ball actions via intuitive controls.
Like for example, we know that by passing the ball and subsequently tapping the R2 button, this will result in a "pass and move" play.
Currently, be it PES 2010 or FIFA 2010, all the players have the same exact identical off-the-ball movement... When I pass the ball and subsequently tap the R2 button, the player who passed the ball proceeds by running forwards in a very linear and unrealistic way.
So an obvious improvement would be to implement new stats to determine more and more differences between individuals in terms of off-the-ball movement and approach.
As for the unrealistic and linear off-the-ball runs,
Let's take a look at Xavi Hernandez from FC Barcelona, he is very good technically but he is nothing special physically, thus in real-life he cannot do the linear forward runs that he usually does in PES 2010 or FIFA 2010.
Now looking at Xavi once again, you compare him with other players and the thing that stands out the most is his intelligent movement when he DOES NOT has the ball at his feet, that is his most outstanding quality; the thing that makes him XAVI is that he also has excellent technique to go with it.
Sebastian Veron on the other hand, has the brain but doesn't has the technique. So why can't we have special off-the-ball features for players like Xavi or Veron?
Well, for starters, it is a fact that off-the-ball movement is very close to meaningless in both PES 2010 and FIFA 2010. In other words, physical qualities stand out in excess whereas what we call "football brain" is almost completely meaningless or obsolete.
So what if by passing the ball and subsequently tapping the L2 button the player did a different off-the-ball run? What if only players like Xavi Hernandez could do it?
This would be nothing revolutionary, but it would most certainly be better than just having the old "pass and tap R2" as the only option, and it would also give players like Xavi Hernandez a bit of an edge.
* L2 Concept,
This very simple idea could kick-start a more ambitious idea... for example, you pass the ball with Carles Puyol and subsequently you tap the L2 button: what happens next?
Instead of Puyol darting forwards, this will trigger an off-the-ball run from the key playmaker of the team, in this case Xavi Hernandez, who will now move into the spot that Puyol occupied when he passed the ball.
This means that if Carles Puyol has the ball at his feet and is occupying a very deep position on the pitch (as should be expected), and you pass the ball with Puyol and subsequently you tap the L2 button instead of the R2 button...
Instead of Puyol setting-off in one of those linear attacking runs: Xavi Hernandez would subsequently run into the exact spot that Puyol occupied when he passed the ball, the destination of the pass is irrelevant to a certain extent.
Which means that regardless of where the pass is going, Xavi will run to his own half of the pitch and into that space that Puyol occupied when he passed the ball; now, having passed the ball with Puyol and after subsequently tapping the L2 button...
Puyol passed the ball to Dani Alves, the ball is still in the process of reaching Dani Alves and at the same time Xavi has already started his run; Dani Alves received the ball and with his 2nd or 3rd touch on the ball he passed the ball to Xavi, whom at this point must be in a deep position very near Puyol...
This resulted in a simple off-the-ball play that Barcelona uses all the time:
1st -- Carles Puyol or Gerard Pique sends the long-diagonal-pass through the ground to Dani Alves,
2nd -- before Alves had his 1st touch on the ball, Xavi Hernandez was already strolling down to a deep position,
3rd -- Alves (from the right flank) passes the ball to Xavi and then Xavi proceeds by playing with Iniesta or Messi or whomever...
Xavi could easily proceed with play by playing with Alves, for example, when Alves passes the ball to Xavi, if you decide to tap the R2 button right after passing the ball; this would result in the old "pass and tap R2" aggressive run, thus Alves passes the ball and then sets-off into attacking-run-mode through the right flank, and Xavi would then send the through pass with his 1st or 2nd touch on the ball.
The L2 off-the-ball run would be flexible enough to work with the old R2 run, with the sliders and cards, and many other established features. As for the explanation of the L2 Concept, it may sound complicated, but on paper it's as simple as passing the ball and subsequently tapping the L2 button instead of the R2 button.
So with the introduction of this L2 feature, where a selected player will run (without the ball) into specific areas of the pitch whenever you want and wherever you want... This would be a very significant change in my opinion, even revolutionary, because it breaks the old worn out mold, it would not be about going forwards all the time with the linear R2 runs.
But even with such a feature, the game would still be lacking something in terms of off-the-ball movement and control, and that something can be addressed by implementing a similar feature to FIFA's L1 attacking run.
* L1 Concept,
So it is simple, the game also needs a differently-oriented off-the-ball feature to work in conjunction with the L2 Concept that I just explained.
This other off-the-ball feature could be very similar to FIFA's L1 attacking run but with a slight difference: by tapping the L1 button whilst dribbling with the ball, this would trigger an aggressive run from the selected target man; on the other hand, by tapping the L1 button when the ball is in the process of traveling from Point A to Point B, this would result in a different type of action from your selected target man.
So we would now have, the old R2 "pass and move" play, plus the revolutionary L2 feature and the FIFA-esque LI feature.
Going back to the example, at the point where Dani Alvez passed the ball to Xavi Hernandez, if you tap the L1 button when the ball is in the process of traveling from Point A (Alvez) to Point B (Xavi); this would produce a reaction from the selected target man, so that by the time that Xavi has his 1st touch on the ball, the selected target man will already be going through the motions.
* L2 Concept + L1 Concept,
These off-the-ball features would give us far more control over our Team's off-the-ball movement, without the need of complicated controls; simply tapping the L2 or L1 button at the right time or whenever you want.
It would basically give us the power of dictating or manipulation where and when we want the selected individual to move -without- the necessity of manually controlling that selected individual; therefore it is very compatible with the manual-technical side of the game.
This would add a whole new element to the core gameplay values, as we would now have some sort of Chess-like tactical element where you must learn when and where to make good use of the L2 Concept.
Only one individual can be selected, this means that if your team is Roma and the individual in question is Francesco Totti; you wouldn't want to tire out Totti by making him run up and down all the time without even thinking about the consequences.
So this is what I would like to see in the future, something more realistic and enjoyable, a game where the manual precision or "skill" of the user is important; but also, a game where the user's "footballing brain" can make a difference.
So that if you have Xavi Hernandez or Cesc Fabregas in your team, you must learn or know how to make good use of their "footballing brain" in the same way you should make good use of Messi's technical-physical qualities.
* 10 Minute Concept,
I wanted to once again bring up the element of TIME, and I must say that the whole "When i want total realism, il put on my boots and play for real for 90 mins" argument is very childish and pointless: a lot of people have learned to appreciate quantity as a necessity.
-------------------------------------------------
ccfc bloobird: "a ten min game is all most people will play. I play a world cup with my mates, on the same team, it takes almost 2 hrs to get thru! Then u factor in gettin beers from the fridge, toilet breaks, phone pauses, etc. Only the most ardent of pes geeks will tolerate a compulsory 20 min + match. When i want total realism, il put on my boots and play for real for 90 mins!"
-------------------------------------------------
You want more quantity at the expense of the actual quality of the product? That's your opinion and you're entitled to it, however, I do think that you are not looking at it from the correct perspective.
The difference between 20 minutes and 90 minutes, between 30 minutes and 90 minutes... is HUGE...
With PES 2010 and FIFA 2010 and every other Football Sim that I have played to date,
I don't think we ever get to really control how the game flows; if it even "flows" in under 10 minutes of play... The 10 Minute Concept has very little to do with Football and as far as I'm concerned it overlooks the essence of Football.
With PES 2010, I can play this game by only tapping the (x) button repetitively without even thinking about any of my actions because I know eventually the COM will simply decide to open-up so that I can have a clear shot at goal.
With FIFA 2010, I have to think about some of my actions, I have to think about the direction and weight of the pass, etc, etc; but it's the same old game at its core... it's an insult how easy and monotonous an experience it is.
This is what a vast majority of consumers consider fun and entertaining today, pick up and play games with zero substance at their respective cores; I mean, is it really that fun to invest time in a type of entertainment that has NO substance at its core and thus requires no actual skill?
This business is all about instant gratification, and it stinks, it really, really stinks when you consider the real potential IF money wasn't involved. The way I see it, you need to include the so-called "boring" parts of it so that the "fun" parts have an actual reason for being there.
Think about it this way, is it fun to play PES or FIFA without scoring goals?
In my opinion, it's only fun because of the goals. On the other hand, when I look at real-life Football, I prefer to watch good football as opposed to a mediocre level league in which 4-5 score lines are an usual occurrence.
In short, the 10 Minute Concept is only about frantic one-on-one battles and using your imagination so that illusions become a reality... but make no mistake about it, midfield battles are impossible in such a limited scope of time.
* The Wide View Perspective,
The problem is, perhaps more than anything else, how the AI reacts to the trajectory of the ball.
In real-life, human beings have what some of us call the "human perception", which means that when a human is looking to the north he cannot see whatever may be happening in the south.
Basic fundamentals of real-life Football are obsolete in both PES 2010 and FIFA 2010, simply because the players on the pitch don't behave like HUMANS.
Be it PES 2010 or FIFA 2010, the players on the pitch are perfectly aware of everything, south, north, west, east, etc, etc; and this results in a very deceptive and superficial pin-ball game.
So that if you are in a defensive situation and you are very close to the opponent who's holding the ball; you can see very clearly what his intention is because, from the wide view perspective, you can easily see all his options and thus have a very good idea of what he could do next; and you can move accordingly...
When you play the 10 Minute Concept for 20 minutes (10 minutes per half), you can clearly see that the concept in question is not good enough for a 20 minute game... the outcome? Outrageous 10-8 score lines in each and every game.
Unfortunately, the problem is a growing issue as far as TV entertainment goes: it shows you what to do but it doesn't shows you how to think or rationalize, you only look at the screen but you rarely ever need to THINK for it to function properly.
In other words, the COM tells the user what to do instead of asking the user what to do. Now would you be entertained if you tried to play Chess without THINKING?
Real-life Football is similar to Chess, the more you understand it the more you enjoy it, and for it to function properly it is really necessary to think. When we consider that, in video games, we have control over the 10 players on the pitch... it's very questionable how little thinking is needed in order to create space and goals.
The lack of innovation in terms of what you can do with the ball, certainly doesn't helps, and only enhances just how much of a limitation the 10 Minute Concept really is.
* Radius Concept
Having talked about the fact that, in PES 2010 and FIFA 2010, the players on the pitch do not behave realistically; how can they react realistically? is it even possible? can it be implemented into a 10 Minute Simulation?
Well, before starting to explain on how it could be done, I must summarize on what I have explained so far: the L2 Concept and the L1 Concept.
We can see that with FIFA the L1 Concept works well, it can be implemented into a 10 Minute Simulation because it does not touches on the core gameplay mechanics; however, the L1 Concept that I have in mind is slightly different because if you tap the L1 button when the ball is still in the process of traveling from Point A to Point B, this would produce a different reaction from the selected target man.
This means that instead of running into the goal area, the selected target man could instead drop into a deeper position on the pitch; unlike FIFA's L1 Concept, the concept that I have in mind would offer an alternative as well as more control.
Now the L2 Concept would be a more revolutionary feature, but still, not enough to change the game on its own, not enough to function properly if the players on the pitch do not behave realistically.
So, how can the players behave realistically? how do they behave in real-life? how does it compare to either PES 2010 or FIFA 2010?
Well, in real-life, a defensive midfielder (in most cases, and, depending on the formation) cannot afford to man-mark one individual, simply because there is too much space in the middle of the pitch... which is why (for the most part) midfielders mark the space whereas defenders at the back would mark the player.
The bigger the space the more you need to mark the space, the smaller the space the more you need to mark the player; which is why the closer you get to the penalty area the harder it is to dribble with the ball.
When compared with either PES 2010 or FIFA 2010, one thing that really stands out about these 10 Minute Sims is that there is no difference between: how you mark/defend when in the middle of the pitch, and how you mark/defend when closer to the box.
In other words, there is barely any or none difference between marking the space and marking the player; it feels like the same thing...
However, fact of the matter is that in real-life Football: the closer you get to the ball, the more important it is to mark the player and the less important it is to mark the space.
There are thousands of examples in YouTube, hours of footage, that prove this fact: when a team passes the ball around the middle of the pitch, the defensive midfielders of the opposing team will run after the ball, defensive midfielders rarely stay on the player when the player doesn't has possession of the ball; in other words, almost always following the trajectory of the ball.
This is almost like talking about the core gameplay mechanics of real-life Football...
If defensive midfielders NEED to mark the space at all times or for the most part, this means that if you have possession of the ball; you can manipulate how the defensive midfielders will run.
And a very basic technique used in real-life Football, is the decision of offering support to the player in possession of the ball by either: moving in front of an opponent near you, in front of the opponent's visual perspective, therefore taking that opponent with you; or moving behind that opponent, therefore out of the opponent's visual scope.
In other words, the decision to become visible or to remain "invisible"
This technique is extremely important when playing Football, without it you cannot dictate the pace of a match, without it it's very hard to create space; if you do not know when you should move in front of the opponent or when it is better to be invisible, then your team will be very weak from a collective stand point.
If these basic fundamentals of the real game could be respected by a simulation, we would have a Football Simulation where the players on the pitch behave realistically.
So how can the players behave realistically? I have come up with an idea that would make it impossible to exploit the wide view perspective.
Now imagine a 10 Feet Radius surrounding the ball wherever the ball goes; so that whenever you have possession of the ball, if an opponent is within a distance of at least 10 feet... the mentioned opponent would now be COMPROMISED in the play...
Meaning that as soon as an opponent is COMPROMISED, as soon as this happens, the compromised opponent will loose his ability of moving in accordance to what the user can see from the wide view perspective.
The COMPROMISED opponent will loose part of his movement, only being able to move forwards or backwards on the same spot, or stretching either his left or right leg without moving from that space; in other words, there would be a transition, you would no longer be marking the space.
The trajectory that the player will take between that initial "spot" and where the ball is... you cannot move in accordance to what you see from your wide view perspective; instead, you would have total control in terms of marking the opponent in front of you.
At the same time, a compromised opponent can still read body language...
So if the player who has the ball at his feet feints that he is going to the right, this would give the opponent an option of moving to his left (your right), which gives the player in possession of the ball the power of manipulating the opponent's movements; thus making dribbling feints more useful, instead of an unpractical tool to show-off.
When you fall within that 10 Feet Radius, you have been effectively COMPROMISED in the play, which means that marking the player is now much more relevant than marking the space; the 10 Feet Radius Concept would make that transition a reality.
Thus the 10 Feet Radius Concept would establish a very clear difference between: marking the space and marking the player.
Let me elaborate on a simple example,
Barcelona FC has possession of the ball, we have Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta very close to each other; Xavi is holding the ball and two opposing players are within a 10 feet distance from where the ball is being held (in other words, we have four individuals inside the 10 feet radius); this means that if Xavi passes the ball to Iniesta, the two opposing players will follow the trajectory of the ball...
So that if Xavi passes the ball to Iniesta, the COMPROMISED opponents will now focus on Iniesta; whilst at the same time, would now be unaware of whatever Xavi did after he passed the ball...
So, even if you can see what Xavi is doing from your wide view perspective... you can no longer react accordingly to what you can see from your wide view perspective.
* "Footballing Brain"
With the Radius Concept you cannot simply run after the player with the ball without thinking, because not thinking about it would come hand-in-hand with serious consequences; therefore, what we know as "football brain" will gain importance.
So on paper, what we call a "football brain" would be equal to a player's IQ. It would be the same principle used for the technical aspect of the game, you can feel the difference in terms of technique as soon as Leo Messi gets the ball.
By the same principle, when you use the L2 Concept, you would see a clear difference in how a "midfield maestro" such as Xavi Hernandez would move without the ball; into the right space and at the right angle, automatically choosing to run in front or behind an opponent's visual perspective.
At the same time, as it is with Leo Messi from a technical stand point; you need to know how to make the best use of Xavi's "football brain" because thanks to the L2 Concept you would now have control over where he moves and over when he moves; so no matter how intelligent Xavi may be without the ball, if you use the L2 feature in the wrong place at the wrong time, it won't make much of a difference.
The Radius Concept will put an unprecedented deal of importance on: how good a player can be without the ball, and also, on how different can individuals be without the ball.
* The Defensive Perspective,
It may sound like the L2 Concept, L1 Concept, and 10 Feet Radius Concept, are concepts that will only benefit the team in possession of the ball,
However, fact of the matter is that when you don't have possession of the ball you don't need to worry about all the technical nuances of passing or shooting the ball; therefore, when you don't have the ball you have more space for tactical features such as the L2 and L1 concepts.
Currently, be it either PES 2010 or FIFA 2010, playing without possession of the ball is a very monotonous and boring experience; you just want it to be over as quickly as possible.
The purpose of all the concepts that I have discussed so far is an effort to make Simulated Football more realistic; like the real game, it should be fun to play even when you don't have possession of the ball, it should be fun even when you are not scoring goals.
So by the same principle used for the team in possession of the ball, the 10 Feet Radius Concept would work equally for the team that doesn't has possession of the ball; meaning that whenever the team with possession uses the L2 strategy or the L1 strategy, as a defender, you would have the tools to counter anything.
For example, whenever the opposing team has possession of the ball, you can tap the L2 button when the ball is traveling from Point A to Point B; by doing so, you would produce a response from the selected player.
On the other hand, if you tap the L2 button when the ball is placed in someone's feet, you would get a different response from the selected player; the selected individual could be the key defensive midfielder of the team.
You can even manually control two players at the same time: on one hand you control a defender whom is marking the space, and on the other hand, you can control a player who is marking the player.
In other words, you can manually control the off-the-ball movement of a relatively non-compromised defender, that is, a defender not within a 10 feet distance from where the ball is; whilst at the same time, also manually controlling the man-marking of a COMPROMISED defensive midfielder, via the Right Analog Stick.
This would be like the defensive equivalent for dribbling tricks, when inside the 10 Feet Radius, the Right Analog Stick will focus only on man-marking; unprecedented level of control and precision in terms of man-marking.
So basically, from an offensive point of view, you want to COMPROMISE as many opponents as possible; from a defensive perspective, you want to prevent that from happening.
* Taking the Initiative,
Keep in mind that when you don't have possession of the ball, it is riskier to take the initiative in a game; usually, the team without possession of the ball waits for the team in possession to throw the first rock.
In real-life Football, for the most part, the team who plays with the ball is the team with the initiative; defenders do not like to compromise themselves if they are not forced into it.
A perfect example of this would be Mourinho's Inter. When they played against Barcelona, Mourinho knew that they could not challenge Barcelona in terms of possession and attacking; so Inter sat back and allowed Barcelona to have most of the possession, Barcelona had the initiative and Inter would capitalize on any mistake.
And taking the initiative is in fact a compromising responsibility, you have to send players forwards and in doing so, not only is it harder to counter-attack or surprise the opposition; but you will also make yourself vulnerable to counter-attacking tactics.
Now when we compare real-life with either PES 2010 or FIFA 2010, we can see that there's no such thing as "taking the initiative" -- the game is so unrealistic that I can basically send all my players forwards and still play counter-attacking tactics successfully...
You can take Inter and easily take the initiative even without possession of the ball, you can go with a physical approach and simply run at whomever has the ball without even thinking about any of your actions; in real-life, against a team like Barcelona, that would be like committing suicide.
With the 10 Feet Radius Concept implemented into the game, this would no longer be a problem. If you try to take the initiative without THINKING about your actions, without using the L2 Concept; if your opponent knows how to use the L2 Strategy, your opponent will easily out-play you.
Therefore, taking Inter and trying to beat Barcelona at their own game would be close to impossible; as it is in real-life, you would need to play to your strengths... and playing to your strengths should be fun regardless of, if your team plays possession football or counter-attacking football.
* To be continued...
After reading a couple of early articles about PES 2011, I wanted to elaborate on a future problem that is looming. From what I read about the Eurogamer article, here’s one thing that stood out for me:
——————————————————-
Seabass: “Every time we release a new version we’ve found that the freedom of the game has gradually disappeared. We maybe made it too complicated.”
——————————————————-
Seabass has basically admitted that the original concept was far too complicated for the acclaimed pin-ball formula: the 10 Minute Simulation…
Neither Konami nor EA made the leap from 10 Minute Simulation to 20 Minute Simulation in order to kick-start a revolution in the genre, which is why PES and in fact the football genre has not progressed as much as one would expect.
This year, the slogan is “total freedom and control”, which is a must before even thinking about evolving in other areas…
But once again I must reiterate the importance of TIME: how much substance can you implement into a 10 minute game? do we really have “total control” when we barely have control over our Team’s off-the-ball movement?
Eurogamer tested a very early build of the game (PES 2011), and Johnny Minkley noticed that:
“further experimentation yields rewards and the flexibility becomes engagingly apparent the more I practice. Konami’s claim of total control over the direction and destination of passes holds up; the one potential downside is the need to rely on AI with no apparent way to send a free player into the space for which you’re aiming”
In other words, you can still send the perfect pass and the COM can still decide that the player who was supposed to score the goal decided to run a little too late or a little too early.
I’m not saying PES 2011 won’t be revolutionary in some way, I’m just saying that it will be affected by the same flaw of having to rely on the AI a little too much; lacking control and freedom in terms of off-the-ball movement, which is extremely important in real-life Football.
* Improving on Old Concepts,
Think of it like something dual, you have the manual side of the game where you have total control in terms of passing, shooting, dribbling, and marking; and you have the non-manual side to the game, where you get to dictate off-the-ball actions via intuitive controls.
Like for example, we know that by passing the ball and subsequently tapping the R2 button, this will result in a "pass and move" play.
Currently, be it PES 2010 or FIFA 2010, all the players have the same exact identical off-the-ball movement... When I pass the ball and subsequently tap the R2 button, the player who passed the ball proceeds by running forwards in a very linear and unrealistic way.
So an obvious improvement would be to implement new stats to determine more and more differences between individuals in terms of off-the-ball movement and approach.
As for the unrealistic and linear off-the-ball runs,
Let's take a look at Xavi Hernandez from FC Barcelona, he is very good technically but he is nothing special physically, thus in real-life he cannot do the linear forward runs that he usually does in PES 2010 or FIFA 2010.
Now looking at Xavi once again, you compare him with other players and the thing that stands out the most is his intelligent movement when he DOES NOT has the ball at his feet, that is his most outstanding quality; the thing that makes him XAVI is that he also has excellent technique to go with it.
Sebastian Veron on the other hand, has the brain but doesn't has the technique. So why can't we have special off-the-ball features for players like Xavi or Veron?
Well, for starters, it is a fact that off-the-ball movement is very close to meaningless in both PES 2010 and FIFA 2010. In other words, physical qualities stand out in excess whereas what we call "football brain" is almost completely meaningless or obsolete.
So what if by passing the ball and subsequently tapping the L2 button the player did a different off-the-ball run? What if only players like Xavi Hernandez could do it?
This would be nothing revolutionary, but it would most certainly be better than just having the old "pass and tap R2" as the only option, and it would also give players like Xavi Hernandez a bit of an edge.
* L2 Concept,
This very simple idea could kick-start a more ambitious idea... for example, you pass the ball with Carles Puyol and subsequently you tap the L2 button: what happens next?
Instead of Puyol darting forwards, this will trigger an off-the-ball run from the key playmaker of the team, in this case Xavi Hernandez, who will now move into the spot that Puyol occupied when he passed the ball.
This means that if Carles Puyol has the ball at his feet and is occupying a very deep position on the pitch (as should be expected), and you pass the ball with Puyol and subsequently you tap the L2 button instead of the R2 button...
Instead of Puyol setting-off in one of those linear attacking runs: Xavi Hernandez would subsequently run into the exact spot that Puyol occupied when he passed the ball, the destination of the pass is irrelevant to a certain extent.
Which means that regardless of where the pass is going, Xavi will run to his own half of the pitch and into that space that Puyol occupied when he passed the ball; now, having passed the ball with Puyol and after subsequently tapping the L2 button...
Puyol passed the ball to Dani Alves, the ball is still in the process of reaching Dani Alves and at the same time Xavi has already started his run; Dani Alves received the ball and with his 2nd or 3rd touch on the ball he passed the ball to Xavi, whom at this point must be in a deep position very near Puyol...
This resulted in a simple off-the-ball play that Barcelona uses all the time:
1st -- Carles Puyol or Gerard Pique sends the long-diagonal-pass through the ground to Dani Alves,
2nd -- before Alves had his 1st touch on the ball, Xavi Hernandez was already strolling down to a deep position,
3rd -- Alves (from the right flank) passes the ball to Xavi and then Xavi proceeds by playing with Iniesta or Messi or whomever...
Xavi could easily proceed with play by playing with Alves, for example, when Alves passes the ball to Xavi, if you decide to tap the R2 button right after passing the ball; this would result in the old "pass and tap R2" aggressive run, thus Alves passes the ball and then sets-off into attacking-run-mode through the right flank, and Xavi would then send the through pass with his 1st or 2nd touch on the ball.
The L2 off-the-ball run would be flexible enough to work with the old R2 run, with the sliders and cards, and many other established features. As for the explanation of the L2 Concept, it may sound complicated, but on paper it's as simple as passing the ball and subsequently tapping the L2 button instead of the R2 button.
So with the introduction of this L2 feature, where a selected player will run (without the ball) into specific areas of the pitch whenever you want and wherever you want... This would be a very significant change in my opinion, even revolutionary, because it breaks the old worn out mold, it would not be about going forwards all the time with the linear R2 runs.
But even with such a feature, the game would still be lacking something in terms of off-the-ball movement and control, and that something can be addressed by implementing a similar feature to FIFA's L1 attacking run.
* L1 Concept,
So it is simple, the game also needs a differently-oriented off-the-ball feature to work in conjunction with the L2 Concept that I just explained.
This other off-the-ball feature could be very similar to FIFA's L1 attacking run but with a slight difference: by tapping the L1 button whilst dribbling with the ball, this would trigger an aggressive run from the selected target man; on the other hand, by tapping the L1 button when the ball is in the process of traveling from Point A to Point B, this would result in a different type of action from your selected target man.
So we would now have, the old R2 "pass and move" play, plus the revolutionary L2 feature and the FIFA-esque LI feature.
Going back to the example, at the point where Dani Alvez passed the ball to Xavi Hernandez, if you tap the L1 button when the ball is in the process of traveling from Point A (Alvez) to Point B (Xavi); this would produce a reaction from the selected target man, so that by the time that Xavi has his 1st touch on the ball, the selected target man will already be going through the motions.
* L2 Concept + L1 Concept,
These off-the-ball features would give us far more control over our Team's off-the-ball movement, without the need of complicated controls; simply tapping the L2 or L1 button at the right time or whenever you want.
It would basically give us the power of dictating or manipulation where and when we want the selected individual to move -without- the necessity of manually controlling that selected individual; therefore it is very compatible with the manual-technical side of the game.
This would add a whole new element to the core gameplay values, as we would now have some sort of Chess-like tactical element where you must learn when and where to make good use of the L2 Concept.
Only one individual can be selected, this means that if your team is Roma and the individual in question is Francesco Totti; you wouldn't want to tire out Totti by making him run up and down all the time without even thinking about the consequences.
So this is what I would like to see in the future, something more realistic and enjoyable, a game where the manual precision or "skill" of the user is important; but also, a game where the user's "footballing brain" can make a difference.
So that if you have Xavi Hernandez or Cesc Fabregas in your team, you must learn or know how to make good use of their "footballing brain" in the same way you should make good use of Messi's technical-physical qualities.
* 10 Minute Concept,
I wanted to once again bring up the element of TIME, and I must say that the whole "When i want total realism, il put on my boots and play for real for 90 mins" argument is very childish and pointless: a lot of people have learned to appreciate quantity as a necessity.
-------------------------------------------------
ccfc bloobird: "a ten min game is all most people will play. I play a world cup with my mates, on the same team, it takes almost 2 hrs to get thru! Then u factor in gettin beers from the fridge, toilet breaks, phone pauses, etc. Only the most ardent of pes geeks will tolerate a compulsory 20 min + match. When i want total realism, il put on my boots and play for real for 90 mins!"
-------------------------------------------------
You want more quantity at the expense of the actual quality of the product? That's your opinion and you're entitled to it, however, I do think that you are not looking at it from the correct perspective.
The difference between 20 minutes and 90 minutes, between 30 minutes and 90 minutes... is HUGE...
With PES 2010 and FIFA 2010 and every other Football Sim that I have played to date,
I don't think we ever get to really control how the game flows; if it even "flows" in under 10 minutes of play... The 10 Minute Concept has very little to do with Football and as far as I'm concerned it overlooks the essence of Football.
With PES 2010, I can play this game by only tapping the (x) button repetitively without even thinking about any of my actions because I know eventually the COM will simply decide to open-up so that I can have a clear shot at goal.
With FIFA 2010, I have to think about some of my actions, I have to think about the direction and weight of the pass, etc, etc; but it's the same old game at its core... it's an insult how easy and monotonous an experience it is.
This is what a vast majority of consumers consider fun and entertaining today, pick up and play games with zero substance at their respective cores; I mean, is it really that fun to invest time in a type of entertainment that has NO substance at its core and thus requires no actual skill?
This business is all about instant gratification, and it stinks, it really, really stinks when you consider the real potential IF money wasn't involved. The way I see it, you need to include the so-called "boring" parts of it so that the "fun" parts have an actual reason for being there.
Think about it this way, is it fun to play PES or FIFA without scoring goals?
In my opinion, it's only fun because of the goals. On the other hand, when I look at real-life Football, I prefer to watch good football as opposed to a mediocre level league in which 4-5 score lines are an usual occurrence.
In short, the 10 Minute Concept is only about frantic one-on-one battles and using your imagination so that illusions become a reality... but make no mistake about it, midfield battles are impossible in such a limited scope of time.
* The Wide View Perspective,
The problem is, perhaps more than anything else, how the AI reacts to the trajectory of the ball.
In real-life, human beings have what some of us call the "human perception", which means that when a human is looking to the north he cannot see whatever may be happening in the south.
Basic fundamentals of real-life Football are obsolete in both PES 2010 and FIFA 2010, simply because the players on the pitch don't behave like HUMANS.
Be it PES 2010 or FIFA 2010, the players on the pitch are perfectly aware of everything, south, north, west, east, etc, etc; and this results in a very deceptive and superficial pin-ball game.
So that if you are in a defensive situation and you are very close to the opponent who's holding the ball; you can see very clearly what his intention is because, from the wide view perspective, you can easily see all his options and thus have a very good idea of what he could do next; and you can move accordingly...
When you play the 10 Minute Concept for 20 minutes (10 minutes per half), you can clearly see that the concept in question is not good enough for a 20 minute game... the outcome? Outrageous 10-8 score lines in each and every game.
Unfortunately, the problem is a growing issue as far as TV entertainment goes: it shows you what to do but it doesn't shows you how to think or rationalize, you only look at the screen but you rarely ever need to THINK for it to function properly.
In other words, the COM tells the user what to do instead of asking the user what to do. Now would you be entertained if you tried to play Chess without THINKING?
Real-life Football is similar to Chess, the more you understand it the more you enjoy it, and for it to function properly it is really necessary to think. When we consider that, in video games, we have control over the 10 players on the pitch... it's very questionable how little thinking is needed in order to create space and goals.
The lack of innovation in terms of what you can do with the ball, certainly doesn't helps, and only enhances just how much of a limitation the 10 Minute Concept really is.
* Radius Concept
Having talked about the fact that, in PES 2010 and FIFA 2010, the players on the pitch do not behave realistically; how can they react realistically? is it even possible? can it be implemented into a 10 Minute Simulation?
Well, before starting to explain on how it could be done, I must summarize on what I have explained so far: the L2 Concept and the L1 Concept.
We can see that with FIFA the L1 Concept works well, it can be implemented into a 10 Minute Simulation because it does not touches on the core gameplay mechanics; however, the L1 Concept that I have in mind is slightly different because if you tap the L1 button when the ball is still in the process of traveling from Point A to Point B, this would produce a different reaction from the selected target man.
This means that instead of running into the goal area, the selected target man could instead drop into a deeper position on the pitch; unlike FIFA's L1 Concept, the concept that I have in mind would offer an alternative as well as more control.
Now the L2 Concept would be a more revolutionary feature, but still, not enough to change the game on its own, not enough to function properly if the players on the pitch do not behave realistically.
So, how can the players behave realistically? how do they behave in real-life? how does it compare to either PES 2010 or FIFA 2010?
Well, in real-life, a defensive midfielder (in most cases, and, depending on the formation) cannot afford to man-mark one individual, simply because there is too much space in the middle of the pitch... which is why (for the most part) midfielders mark the space whereas defenders at the back would mark the player.
The bigger the space the more you need to mark the space, the smaller the space the more you need to mark the player; which is why the closer you get to the penalty area the harder it is to dribble with the ball.
When compared with either PES 2010 or FIFA 2010, one thing that really stands out about these 10 Minute Sims is that there is no difference between: how you mark/defend when in the middle of the pitch, and how you mark/defend when closer to the box.
In other words, there is barely any or none difference between marking the space and marking the player; it feels like the same thing...
However, fact of the matter is that in real-life Football: the closer you get to the ball, the more important it is to mark the player and the less important it is to mark the space.
There are thousands of examples in YouTube, hours of footage, that prove this fact: when a team passes the ball around the middle of the pitch, the defensive midfielders of the opposing team will run after the ball, defensive midfielders rarely stay on the player when the player doesn't has possession of the ball; in other words, almost always following the trajectory of the ball.
This is almost like talking about the core gameplay mechanics of real-life Football...
If defensive midfielders NEED to mark the space at all times or for the most part, this means that if you have possession of the ball; you can manipulate how the defensive midfielders will run.
And a very basic technique used in real-life Football, is the decision of offering support to the player in possession of the ball by either: moving in front of an opponent near you, in front of the opponent's visual perspective, therefore taking that opponent with you; or moving behind that opponent, therefore out of the opponent's visual scope.
In other words, the decision to become visible or to remain "invisible"
This technique is extremely important when playing Football, without it you cannot dictate the pace of a match, without it it's very hard to create space; if you do not know when you should move in front of the opponent or when it is better to be invisible, then your team will be very weak from a collective stand point.
If these basic fundamentals of the real game could be respected by a simulation, we would have a Football Simulation where the players on the pitch behave realistically.
So how can the players behave realistically? I have come up with an idea that would make it impossible to exploit the wide view perspective.
Now imagine a 10 Feet Radius surrounding the ball wherever the ball goes; so that whenever you have possession of the ball, if an opponent is within a distance of at least 10 feet... the mentioned opponent would now be COMPROMISED in the play...
Meaning that as soon as an opponent is COMPROMISED, as soon as this happens, the compromised opponent will loose his ability of moving in accordance to what the user can see from the wide view perspective.
The COMPROMISED opponent will loose part of his movement, only being able to move forwards or backwards on the same spot, or stretching either his left or right leg without moving from that space; in other words, there would be a transition, you would no longer be marking the space.
The trajectory that the player will take between that initial "spot" and where the ball is... you cannot move in accordance to what you see from your wide view perspective; instead, you would have total control in terms of marking the opponent in front of you.
At the same time, a compromised opponent can still read body language...
So if the player who has the ball at his feet feints that he is going to the right, this would give the opponent an option of moving to his left (your right), which gives the player in possession of the ball the power of manipulating the opponent's movements; thus making dribbling feints more useful, instead of an unpractical tool to show-off.
When you fall within that 10 Feet Radius, you have been effectively COMPROMISED in the play, which means that marking the player is now much more relevant than marking the space; the 10 Feet Radius Concept would make that transition a reality.
Thus the 10 Feet Radius Concept would establish a very clear difference between: marking the space and marking the player.
Let me elaborate on a simple example,
Barcelona FC has possession of the ball, we have Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta very close to each other; Xavi is holding the ball and two opposing players are within a 10 feet distance from where the ball is being held (in other words, we have four individuals inside the 10 feet radius); this means that if Xavi passes the ball to Iniesta, the two opposing players will follow the trajectory of the ball...
So that if Xavi passes the ball to Iniesta, the COMPROMISED opponents will now focus on Iniesta; whilst at the same time, would now be unaware of whatever Xavi did after he passed the ball...
So, even if you can see what Xavi is doing from your wide view perspective... you can no longer react accordingly to what you can see from your wide view perspective.
* "Footballing Brain"
With the Radius Concept you cannot simply run after the player with the ball without thinking, because not thinking about it would come hand-in-hand with serious consequences; therefore, what we know as "football brain" will gain importance.
So on paper, what we call a "football brain" would be equal to a player's IQ. It would be the same principle used for the technical aspect of the game, you can feel the difference in terms of technique as soon as Leo Messi gets the ball.
By the same principle, when you use the L2 Concept, you would see a clear difference in how a "midfield maestro" such as Xavi Hernandez would move without the ball; into the right space and at the right angle, automatically choosing to run in front or behind an opponent's visual perspective.
At the same time, as it is with Leo Messi from a technical stand point; you need to know how to make the best use of Xavi's "football brain" because thanks to the L2 Concept you would now have control over where he moves and over when he moves; so no matter how intelligent Xavi may be without the ball, if you use the L2 feature in the wrong place at the wrong time, it won't make much of a difference.
The Radius Concept will put an unprecedented deal of importance on: how good a player can be without the ball, and also, on how different can individuals be without the ball.
* The Defensive Perspective,
It may sound like the L2 Concept, L1 Concept, and 10 Feet Radius Concept, are concepts that will only benefit the team in possession of the ball,
However, fact of the matter is that when you don't have possession of the ball you don't need to worry about all the technical nuances of passing or shooting the ball; therefore, when you don't have the ball you have more space for tactical features such as the L2 and L1 concepts.
Currently, be it either PES 2010 or FIFA 2010, playing without possession of the ball is a very monotonous and boring experience; you just want it to be over as quickly as possible.
The purpose of all the concepts that I have discussed so far is an effort to make Simulated Football more realistic; like the real game, it should be fun to play even when you don't have possession of the ball, it should be fun even when you are not scoring goals.
So by the same principle used for the team in possession of the ball, the 10 Feet Radius Concept would work equally for the team that doesn't has possession of the ball; meaning that whenever the team with possession uses the L2 strategy or the L1 strategy, as a defender, you would have the tools to counter anything.
For example, whenever the opposing team has possession of the ball, you can tap the L2 button when the ball is traveling from Point A to Point B; by doing so, you would produce a response from the selected player.
On the other hand, if you tap the L2 button when the ball is placed in someone's feet, you would get a different response from the selected player; the selected individual could be the key defensive midfielder of the team.
You can even manually control two players at the same time: on one hand you control a defender whom is marking the space, and on the other hand, you can control a player who is marking the player.
In other words, you can manually control the off-the-ball movement of a relatively non-compromised defender, that is, a defender not within a 10 feet distance from where the ball is; whilst at the same time, also manually controlling the man-marking of a COMPROMISED defensive midfielder, via the Right Analog Stick.
This would be like the defensive equivalent for dribbling tricks, when inside the 10 Feet Radius, the Right Analog Stick will focus only on man-marking; unprecedented level of control and precision in terms of man-marking.
So basically, from an offensive point of view, you want to COMPROMISE as many opponents as possible; from a defensive perspective, you want to prevent that from happening.
* Taking the Initiative,
Keep in mind that when you don't have possession of the ball, it is riskier to take the initiative in a game; usually, the team without possession of the ball waits for the team in possession to throw the first rock.
In real-life Football, for the most part, the team who plays with the ball is the team with the initiative; defenders do not like to compromise themselves if they are not forced into it.
A perfect example of this would be Mourinho's Inter. When they played against Barcelona, Mourinho knew that they could not challenge Barcelona in terms of possession and attacking; so Inter sat back and allowed Barcelona to have most of the possession, Barcelona had the initiative and Inter would capitalize on any mistake.
And taking the initiative is in fact a compromising responsibility, you have to send players forwards and in doing so, not only is it harder to counter-attack or surprise the opposition; but you will also make yourself vulnerable to counter-attacking tactics.
Now when we compare real-life with either PES 2010 or FIFA 2010, we can see that there's no such thing as "taking the initiative" -- the game is so unrealistic that I can basically send all my players forwards and still play counter-attacking tactics successfully...
You can take Inter and easily take the initiative even without possession of the ball, you can go with a physical approach and simply run at whomever has the ball without even thinking about any of your actions; in real-life, against a team like Barcelona, that would be like committing suicide.
With the 10 Feet Radius Concept implemented into the game, this would no longer be a problem. If you try to take the initiative without THINKING about your actions, without using the L2 Concept; if your opponent knows how to use the L2 Strategy, your opponent will easily out-play you.
Therefore, taking Inter and trying to beat Barcelona at their own game would be close to impossible; as it is in real-life, you would need to play to your strengths... and playing to your strengths should be fun regardless of, if your team plays possession football or counter-attacking football.
* To be continued...