The adaptive offline season 2014-2015 classics challenge

*aLe,

your SUN-NCU.

What the heck happened to that defender of yours at 18'? It sounds like the software knows that your defender will freeze before we know it, because the announcer says that the attacker is through before it happens. Glad it wasn't a goal.

Nice passing play by the CPU at 33'. We should see more of that.

Lots of exciting chances all along.

The 0-1 though, classically boring. First your defender fails to respond, then the R2 shot from the angle.

Like I told before, this was one of my absolute favourite matches in the challenge.
 
*aLe,

your ManU - Man City.

Funny enough, this match began exactly like mine: ManU breaking through the center. Multiple times. :)

Nice pressing for the 1-1.

What an opportunity at 47' (extra time). But stalled...

And the mess at 67'. Some brilliant defending mixed with horrible decisions. Classic!

So you subbed in Jovetic for Aguero at half-time, and again it looked like the correct decision. You've got some management talent.

What a superb through ball at 84'! That's your specialty.

Nothing tastes quite as good as a comeback, right?
 
After the derby and after a pretty much "forced" pause, it's time for me to kick off the second part of the challenge.
And we'll do this with the KNVB Beker final.

PEC ZWOLLE - FC GRONINGEN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XX6B_kurDSA​
This is the first of many "finals" to be played.

Also, to make things more interesting, I had to play it with 10 men as during minute 3 I got Botteghin sent out for a mistimed challenge.
They had a player booked shortly after too, for what was looking like a very physical match (also, it wasn't a foul in my opinion).

They got us in difficulty on the flanks, we attacked more through the middle keeping their keeper busy in a couple of occasions, but the result didn't change.

0-0 at the end of the first half.

At the beginning of the second half, I tried to make Groningen play like Barcelona. To no avail, obviously, as the shot by De Leeuw ended over the bar by pretty much nothing.

Both teams had their share of chances, but at the end it was Groningen that ended the match victorious as De Leeuw received a great ball near the end of the match, got rid of his defender and then proceeded to kindly deliver it past the keeper.

And as the result didn't change after that, the KNVB Beker went to Groningen for the first time in its history. :BOP: :GSCARF:

MATCH: PEC Zwolle - FC Groningen
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW
MY TEAM: Groningen
RESULT: 1-0 WIN
NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL (higher)

Now it's time for the Superclásico. VAMOS RIVEEEER!!! :RSCARF:
 
Last edited:
EDIT: fixed. THIS match ghas been played BEFORE the Coppa Italia final. Now it's also back where it belongs.

And here it is. The Superclásico!

BOCA JUNIORS - RIVER PLATE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_58MT8Vb-M​
Actually, I really hoped to see this end in a different way.

The first half was pretty balanced, with teams having a couple of chances each.
Then, at minute 45 and counting, it happened. I lost a ball I shouldn't have wasted, and they hit on the counter. You can clearly see a player of mine stopping and letting the opponent by instead of tackling him, but what matters is that they scored. So the first half ended 1-0 to Boca.

The second half started with us pushing them backwards and gaining a yellow (awarded to Aguirre), then on the subsequent action equalizing. At that point in the match I thought it was overdue, as we had a fair share of chances already, but nevermind. We equalized.
Too bad that Calleri didn't like this. After scoring the opening goal, he made the result 2-1 to Boca with a great shot from outside that Chiarini just couldn't reach. Brace. And he wasn't done there.

Near the end I made a wrong clearance, allowing a player of theirs to go 1-on-1 with Chiarini. My keeper performed a great save but the ball ended right onto Caller's foot. Hat trick, 3-1 to Boca, GAME OVER. :COAT:

MATCH: Boca Juniors - River Plate
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
MY TEAM: River Plate
RESULT: 3-1 LOSS
NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW (lower)
 
Last edited:
It's time for me to comment on your matches now that I'm home and with a decent Internet connection :LOL:

Re: The Dutch cup > it's always great when a player of yours has one of those days. Dembélé against Arsenal in my ARS-TOT match came to my mind.
Actually, when a CPU player does that to you (Calleri in this last match) it's nowhere as good.

Re: the Superclásico > I would have smashed my gamepad if I had been you on that first attack. :LMAO:
The 1-0 goal, typical. I liked a lot the equalizer though, my headers are still pretty ridiculous.

Re: the Coppa Italia final > great save by Buffon when you were 1-1. You really made their defence look like fools in that occasion. They really split your defense in two for the 2-2 goal though. Again, typical PES 2015: the space between defenders is just too much. Glad you managed to score that late equalizer!

Re: the FA Cup final > That 1-0 goal. :SHOCK:
Apart from that, yes, switching is broken at times. And I must say that I loved the 3-0 goal, sorry. :)
About the 4-1 goal, well, really really unlucky.

Re: Auxerre - PSG > Nice to see you do so well when you get to penalties. I've just understood how to at least kick them towards the goal and not towards the stands.

Re: Athletic Bilbao - Barcelona > What a goal by Neymar. But also the 2-1 goal was great: perfectly placed shot.

Re: Juventus- Barcelona > I played that match a lot of times and I won it something like once in 10 attempts. Well done!

Re: Sporting CP - Braga > I often do those weird movements in defense so don't worry, I understand you perfectly! :LMAO:
 
And now we're back to Italy.
Seeing what happened in the Copa América challenge I made sure I got myself some training on penalties, and it looks it paid back.

Long story short: I had what most likely is my worst match of the challenge.
Poor passing, little-to-no shots on target, constantly outplayed by Lazio.

The only plot twist of the match came during the stoppage time of the first half: ball from the right across the box to Mauri that only had to gently push the ball past Buffon.
I thought I was going to lose it... Then I saw the flag up. :ANGEL:
Thank you, linesman. :SAL:

The rest of the match was just Lazio attacking and me trying not to concede, and eventually we went to penalties.

Did I already tell you I've been training hard lately? :COOL:

MATCH: Juventus - Lazio
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW
MY TEAM: Juventus
RESULT: 0-0 DRAW (WON on penalties)
NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL (higher)

That's all for today, next time I'll be playing as Aston Villa and I'll try to prevent Arsenal from winning the FA Cup.
 
Last edited:
*aLe,

your Inter-Milan.

The Italian commentary is perfect, used to listen to it when playing their league (as Napoli).

Good defending at the beginning; and then the (correct!) skill move to make it 0-1. Nice! Impressive start both defensively and offensively.

Did your controller survive the second half? Quite a few nail biters at your end.

Ok, at 94' I understood the I£$ter... ;)
 
*aLe said:
Nothing is better than a comeback... IN A DERBY! :D

But my favourite one still has to be this: 2003-04 Serie A, Inter went up 0-2 then Milan came back and made it 3-2
Click to expand...
I first saw the still frame and thought: "How did he get that fog into PES?"

That really was something. And you see how scrappy the play is, compared to the clinical play of our simulators. Except for that screamer by Seedorf, of course.

Were you there to witness the result?

...as a bonus, the same match as seen by Tiziano Crudeli
Click to expand...

They have nicely placed him next to an Inter man for contrast.

What a coincidence that you should mention this guy. Because until yesterday I had never seen him or heard of him, but then I was given a tip about this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSCuVDuuC00
 
Yeah I was at San Siro seeing that match... And I didn't believe what I was seeing at first. By the way, about Crudeli... I don't know if you're British but he became pretty famous some time ago in Britain for a series of commercials:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpAtUWPRA7A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV6EUibIowM
2a4rfp5.jpg

By the way, talking about Britain, here is another match... The FA Cup final!

Yeah, it didn't go really different than it went in reality.

I've been pretty much outplayed. They had me playing hoofball like I had eleven Tony Hibberts, and that's the most embarassing thing about this match.

I also had mi fair share of black outs here and there. Straight after the 1-0 goal, I gave away the second.

Then I completely missed a backpass for the 3-0 (it was meant to go to the keeper, believe it or not) and then again they scored the 4-0 goal and I just conceded the 5-0 straight after.

Not much to spare in Villa's performance unfortunately.


MATCH: Arsenal - Aston Villa
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SL
MY TEAM: Villa
RESULT: 5-0 LOSS
NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW (lower)
 
Last edited:
*aLe,

your Zwolle-Groningen.

Excellent match. I liked seeing the CPU cross, but in particular I enjoyed watching your imaginative attacking.

I don't think your red card affected the match that much. It looked balanced.

In addition to the controlled play of the attacker who scored, I was impressed by the little skill move by your FB at 49' (around 3' in vid). Such a small trick adds so much to the atmosphere of the match.

Great result, btw.
 
James Beaver said:
I don't think your red card affected the match that much. It looked balanced.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I usually wait a little before making tactical changes after a player of mine is sent off (thing that, being I a little aggressive with tackles, sometimes happens). In this case I really didn't feel the difference, probably because it happened so early in the match and his contribution to the match was still little to none.

James Beaver said:
I was impressed by the little skill move by your FB at 49' (around 3' in vid).
Click to expand...
I often try some simple tricks as they help you gain space if timed correctly.
Of course I don't always time them correctly, thing that results in me losing the possession more often than not. But this is something I hardly ever show in the videos (unless it leads to a dangerous situation of course). :LOL:

By the way, I wish I had found these before :(
http://www.evo-web.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=75373
http://www.evo-web.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=74944
 
Last edited:
James Beaver said:
If you are in doubt about whether stats matter when playing against superstar, play this match as PSG. :)
Click to expand...
Done.
And I didn't like what happened. But let's have the video talk for me.

That's it. We lost.

We vastly dominated the match, and got punished on the counter: it looks like the players from Auxerre studied very well the "hoofball for dummies" manual and applied it to perfection in their pretty much only chance.
Then their striker pulled a great lob past Sirigu and had me suffer and equalize only at minute 90, missing every kind of chance in the meantime.

Uh, they also tried to hit again on the counter, props to Sirigu for rushing out and closing the space.

And then on penalties, I don't know, they've been awarded a goal in which Sirigu deflected the ball on the bar and then out. :THINK:
Then Sirigu just fefused to pick up a ball that I would've saved myself (also blindfolded). :SHOCK:
And he then proceeded to miss the last penalty when the score was 10-9 to Auxerre. :CURSE:


MATCH: Auxerre - PSG
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: SW
MY TEAM: PSG
RESULT: 1-1 DRAW (lost on penalties)
NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TL (lower)
Let's forget this match and move on to the Copa del Rey final.
 
ATHLETIC CLUB - FC BARCELONA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SAyvLpHCxw​
This is how Barcelona defeated Athletic Club. Well, at least this could be foreseen this time, unlike the last match between Auxerre and PSG.

There's not really much to say about the first half: the match has been very physical. Rakitic got booked straight away, and I entered their half only a couple of times after that.
They, playing the usual tiki-taka and suddenly trying to find Suarez with the through ball were indeed more dangerous (as expected) with me struggling to stop them.

During the second half, seeing that I couldn't stop them by normal means, I decided to activate the 'Gattuso' mode which only rule is "if he goes past, he goes down".

You can clearly see it worked a charm, as I conceded two penalties in 5 minutes or so (not sure about the second of them though).
Messi hit the bar on the first, but scored the second. I really hoped he would pull a 'Palermo' but unfortunately he didn't.

Straight after the goal, they started playing keepball even more and that's when I went full berserk. The mixture of anger and frustration just made me evaluate the timing of the challenges even worse, and I gave away a series of fouls of which Materazzi would be proud.

MATCH: Athletic Club - FC Barcelona
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TL
MY TEAM: Athletic
RESULT: 0-1 LOSS
NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TW (lower)

Let's hope at least Sporting will be able to bring me back up a little. :GSCARF:
 
Superclasico,

1-0: Just looks like you fell asleep for a sec there. Or did the software force the freeze even though you tried to challenge?

1-1: Gutierrez to the rescue! Great individual performance. Nice dribble around the last defender.

2-1: You were mowing them down like grass, and still they push through.

3-1: Well, the CB making the pass had a bad day. Not much to be done after that - it was superstar after all.

I was disappointed to see so little of your offensive play, but I could see from the stats that they clearly dominated possession.
 
Juve-Lazio

First half: Buffon is a great asset in this game as well. The pass into the box at 46' (extra time) by the CPU was actually very nice (before the disallowed goal).

Second half: Looks like a tough match. Not many chances.

This is going into OT; full value for the spectators.

120': Penalty time. Buffon saves the day! And what a finish by Pogba...

You wrote that you have been training: penalties or just in general?
 
James Beaver said:
You wrote that you have been training: penalties or just in general?
Click to expand...
Finishing, mainly. Especially penalties because coming from FIFA I really didn't have a clue about how they worked. :LOL:

But now, talking about finishing... Let's move on to the next match. Taça de Portugal, I'm here to get you! :GSCARF:

There's been a moment in the match in which I thought I was going to lose again.

As you can see from the first seconds of the clip, I had to start this match already in 'Gattuso mode'. Luckily enough, I managed not to have them get past without committing fouls as getting booked that early would surely have been a problem.

Shortly after, yet, I make two defensive errors in the same action as compensation: the first is to let Eder get past my CB, the other is managing to bump into another opponent when I switched player, thus missing the only chance I had to try and catch up.
Shot, post, keeper's head, the ball crossed the line. 1-0. **it happens.

We didn't give up though. On a corner, the ball got headed out of the box, and landed on Geraldes' feet. He stopped, he adjusted the ball, he fired. ONE-ALL. Yeah baby!
Possibly my best goal of the Challenge till now.

During the stoppage time, though, **it happened again. A series of deflections and rebounsd in my box and they scored the 2-1 goal.

The second half pretty much followed a much more simple plot: we attacked like no tomorrow, they tried to sting on the counter.
We equalized straight away, then Geraldes stood up and took a very difficult decision: he decided to face a red card to avoid the 3-2 goal. :R1

His sacrifice saved our day though, as after that we managed to score the 3-2 goal and bring the cup home.


MATCH: Braga - Sporting CP
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TW
MY TEAM: Sporting
RESULT: 3-2 WIN
NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TL (higher)
 
James Beaver said:
1-0: Just looks like you fell asleep for a sec there. Or did the software force the freeze even though you tried to challenge?
Click to expand...
Sorry I thoguth I had answered.
I didn't mean to tackle him that early, I was trying to run along and close him down near the box (also considering that, even in case of a foul, CPU can't score a FK to save its life :P) but my player for that weird split second refused to do what he was told to. That's why he just let the opponent through.
What made me angry the most is that it happened during the stoppage time nonetheless. :CURSE:
 
Last edited:
We're almost there... Match 19 of 20 is done! :)

JUVENTUS - FC BARCELONA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yctd1SEyeB8DISCLAIMER: I had to modify the video as U€FA apparently didn't like people showing the anthem from the Cup Without A Name in Youtube videos, even if it is an ACTUAL PES 2015 CUTSCENE as played in the game, and I've been asked to take the video down before they did.
luw4gWs.png

Do you really think... That I would allow you... To post MY anthem and get away with it? LOL!
V
michel-platini-2011-3-22-9-20-26.jpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcyXJpuZwA8
(This can only be understood by people speaking Italian though)

Match analysis:
They pretty much owned us. :LOL:

Buffon saved me a couple of times, then from minute 19 onwards you can see tiki-taka in all its beauty. Hannibal Suarez went for the shoot, Buffon saved but he only managed to parry right onto Neymar's feet.
We went in panic mode and Pepe tackled Neymar in a very harsh way to try and dispossess him.
Penalty, red card and 1-0 to Barcelona. :CRY:

I really had no big chances until the end of the match and I threw away the only one at minute 84. They then proceeded to score the 2-0 goal (what an assist by Neymar though) and to bring the Cup Without A Name to Spain once again.

MATCH: Juventus - FC Barcelona
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TL
MY TEAM: Juventus
RESULT: 2-0 LOSS
NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TW (lower)

Only one match left. We can do it! :D
 
Last edited:
Finally I've managed to play the last match of this challenge... And it went pretty much downhill. :LOL:
But this game, as you will see, is PES 2015 in a nutshell so it's the right way to say 'goodbye' to PES, hoping that we'll see each other again in little more than a month (note to Konami: release the PC demo already! :RANT:).

VASCO DA GAMA - CR FLAMENGO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5SDct0jI-k​
I'm glad this was the last match of the challenge, as it represents both the strengths and the shortcomings of PES 2015.
On the first goal of theirs you see me dispossessing an opponent with a last second sliding tackle. I've been loving how you could actually be clean and effective with the right timing. One of the main strengths of the game.
Then, on the corner... One of the most noticeable failures: I got a man kicked in ste stomach, and the referee couldn't be a**ed. That's right, my man got KICKED. IN. THE. F'N. STOMACH. But the ref said 'play on'.

Then they scored again and the first half ended 2-0. Please notice that every foul of mine got sanctioned properly.

Right at the opening of the second half, they made it 3-0. I mean, I couldn't even get close to the ball. This happened way too often in both this challenge and the Copa América one, still it's probably my fault. :FAIL:

On the other hand, the 3-1 goal shows the biggest flaw of this game: LITTLE TO NO AWARENESS.
There was an innocent pass (from relatively short range also) to their CB Marcelo Mathias, but he acted like the ball wasn't there. It actually bounced off his foot straight towards my forward, and he did nothing. Absolutely nothing. He just stopped and watched me scoring.

Well, it was just a little moment of glory as they soon scored the 4-1 and the 5-1 goals.

MATCH: Vasco da Gama - Flamengo
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: TW
MY TEAM: Vasco
RESULT: 5-1 LOSS
NEXT DIFFICULTY LEVEL: PL (lower)

Tomorrow I'll post the final results table. I believe it hasn't gone that bad after all. ;)
 
Eventually we got to the end :)

Thanks for another great challenge James, and as promised this is my challenge table:
ltCcSmu.png

Some interesting data in there. Apparently, I did better than during the Copa América one even if I felt my passing wasn't up to par.
This is most likely due to better finishing so I create less chances but also score more of them than before.
Again, this challenge shows that Superstar isn't my thing. Top Player is the level I feel most comfortable with and will be my starting point in PES 2016.

Throughout the challenge I had many 'WTF?!' monents, but I still believe PES 2015 is a fairly acceptable/good game.
Just fix the awareness and the fouls, and PES 2016 will be a classic.

Now is the time for me to say goodbye to PES and to move towards something else for a while... Waiting to see how PES 2016 will look but, most of all, play. :)
 
Going through the rest of your matches before joining the final analysis.

ARS-AVL: For me this was the most difficult match of the entire challenge because I controlled AVL. You ended up with the same fate. No wonder your player was swiping sweat off his face at full time. They just dominate. Really liked the way you pushed through in that counter at 2-0! Another good counter immediately after. Actually the fact that they made you play "hoofball" as you say is a good indicator in a football game.

AUX-PSG: The AUX goal is classic rebound-through material, where you have no time to recover. Great attacks by you again; I also had great trouble scoring in that match. Do they have some super goalie? Ooh, an equalizer at 94'! Well, they gave you a run for your money.

BIL-BAR: Some excellent defending in the first half to keep Bar from scoring. Nice offensive play by the CPU in this video. I see you decided to go for a penalty shootout already during the match. 0-1 is an excellent result.

Braga-Sporting: What a nice match with plenty of action at both ends. Always enjoy watching your offensive play, so highlights of matches where you score often are in great demand.

Juve-Barca: Sliding tackles are one of your trademarks, but the one by Pepe was a bit violent. It looks like you dived to into the correct corner in the penalty, but the game had decided Barca would score. Buffon making some great saves there, and you doing many solid defensive moves. But Barca are one tough opponent, and with 10 men... And then with 9, after which they casually punish you with another goal.

Gama-Flamengo: A brilliant block by you at 15' to stop an almost certain goal. Unfortunately they score during the corner kick hassle. Two small defensive mistakes and it's 0-2. Great chances for your team, but they and their goalposts resist. That's one gorgeous dribbling run by the Flamengo player to lay the groundwork for 0-3. 1-3: your attacker gave them no mercy for that mistake. Solid finishing. And they score again right from the kickoff. I suspect their attackers were in orange/red form. Such a nice dribble by you at the end - and then the post!

I will post my summary a bit later. Btw: manual controls really are manual in the PES 2016 demo (PS4), so we may have some excellent challenges ahead this year.
 
My final $0.02.

I think this last challenge contained my best PES 2015 matches. Which is pretty convenient since like you *aLe stated, this is where PES 2015 ends.

PES 2016 demo feels quite nice. In particular attacking full manual against top player is much more interesting (read challenging). CPU attacking is in some ways better but still quite boring. I had a series of four consecutive matches against superstar where the goals(shots) of the CPU were 1(1), 1(1), 2(2) and 1(1). The CPU shoots too little and almost always looks for the sure goal. And at least in the demo superstar still modifies the stats to its advantage.

But like I said: top player feels better. Maybe our first PES 2016 challenge could be champions league, highest level top player, varying between stronger and weaker teams. Especially in the group stage we might have some electrifying matches, like Malmö vs. Real Madrid. :) How about it?
 
I'm glad to hear that the PES 2016 demo is good, as Ive yet to try it... Less than a month to release and we don't know anything about PC, this is how bad Konami decided to treat the glorious PC master race. :LMAO:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom