CMF in BAL = Soul destroying rage fest

P

pj_puttz

League 1
13 October 2006
Glasgow
Rangers
Having already won everything as a striker in BAL and having no wish to play through another 12 seasons until retirement I decided to start afresh in a different position.

I chose to be an AMF (Pro difficulty) as I had visions of me as a classy playmaker supreme, skillfully holding up the ball, picking out inch perfect passes for my strikers and chipping in with a few blasted or well placed goals from outside the box. I was going to run the show, be the intergral cog in the machine, the genius behind the team's success.....

What I got was probably my worst gaming experience since I first loaded up "One Man and His Dog" on my Commodore 16 about 20 odd years ago.

The first thing I noticed was that there are hardly any teams that actually play with an AMF so I was put into the CMF position instead. That's OK, I thought, I can dictate things from the middle and occassionally burst forward to great effect. WRONG. What followed was game after game of mind numbing tedium which mainly consisted of me watching the AI (isnt the "I" supposed to stand for INTELLIGENCE?) stumble around the field like new born lambs suffering from the after effects of a flashbang exploding in their face. They ignored me, they ran straight into opposing players, refused to run off the ball, they gave away penalties, refused to defend corners, shot from impossible angles and on and on and on.

No matter what I did it made no difference, never before during playing a game have I felt so pointless, so much of a third wheel. If I held my position and marked up the comp simply passed it around me while my team mates looked on impassively. If I chased the ball around like an idiot to win it I only ended up feeling like weeping when I made a pass to a team mate only to watch him walk straight into an opposing player. The only thing I could do to make a difference is to try to take on the whole opposing team by myself and score. Not exactly the role I was hoping for and is THAT what football is all about anyway?

One of the worst things was when I was playing in the reserve games. When I was in the B team the A team were amazing, playing great passing football, using the wings, taking on players etc. Then when I played for the A team they were USELESS, it was the B team who was now playing all the football and carving us open at will. It's SO blatantly obvious that Konami have designed it so that no matter what team you are in, they WILL be crap. WHY?

I have never felt so frustrated when playing a computer game. I may as well have laid my controller on the ground and just watched and frankly that is CRIMINAL for what is supposed to be next gen football. The BAL mode is a tremendous idea but it needs serious work done on it before 2010 is released.

Anyone else got any BAL horror stories? Is there a more pointless position to play than CMF in this mode?
 
LOL, I completely understand your frustrations man, KONAMI has just made a turd of a game mode out of something that couldve been awesome. When I played CMF all I did was play the CMF-Steven Gerrard role where all I did was wait outside the penalty box until I had a good position to shoot a long ranger. Of course, long range shooting is scripted in 2010 anyways, so what's the point?
 
Cheers TC.

It's like they haven't even bothered to script an AI for your team mates in BaL so you're effectively playing against 21 players every time you take the field. 22 if you count the useless, card happy referee.

This mode could be the future of football games if done properly. 11 vs 11 online could be amazing but Konami cant even do 1 vs 1 properly at the moment. Embarrassing.

If they dont get PES 2010 right it should be seppuku all round at Konami.
 
I did the same thing in starting off as an attacking mid, only to find that I had to spend 90% of my time watching the game twat about as if I had evtered a women's league.

This frustration built up to the point that whenever I got the ball I would go on a buccaneering run towards goal, no matter how far out I was, because I couldn't trust my teammates not to cock things up.

I think I played nearly a full season before realising how terrible it was and moved to striker. Much better then.
 
Yeah the BaL mode definitely seems to be set up to be played as a striker only or maybe a winger.

I do think that if the AI was given a boost it would be possible to play in other positions and it would be a welcome break from being a forward all the time. That's what I was hoping for when I started my CMF career but like the badger says, it's just terrible.

Other people I've spoken to say that they enjoy playing as a CMF as they just bomb forward all the time and score 30 odd goals a season. YEAH BUT YOU'RE NOT PLAYING AS A CMF THEN ARE YOU? YOU'RE PLAYING AS A STRIKER!

Anyone else got any info or comments on playing other positions on BaL? So long as you're actually trying to play that position and not actually playing up front even though you're registered as a SB or something.
 
Well, I play(ed) PES2009 on PC but things are more or less the same here.. I started a BAL as a winger and everything went fine (except for that annoying resolution issue affecting PCs that forced me to play it in 1024*768): I made a decent load of assists and some nice goals.
Then I installed the 1.2 patch and started again as an AMF.. Yes, the gaming experience was ruined..
The only thing you could do to feel "part of the game" was trying some long range shots, but it's frustrating when you're 18 and your skills are still so poor..

AI is not enough "I" to manage a "reliable" football, so the gaming experience is a bit of nonsense.. Indeed, the poor IA is one of the main reasons I went back to PES6 to be honest..
 
I've found that it really does make difference regarding which team you are playing for. In my career as a striker I started out at Portsmouth, then moved to Man City, then Aston Villa. All were pretty poor, AI-wise, walking into opponent's tackles, failing to close down properly, shooting wide etc etc. Pretty disheartening but occasional good play kept me hooked.

I then moved to Valencia in my third year and the passing improved a lot, but still defending was a serious issue. I did come close to just packing it in here as it's painful to put your side into the lead just to watch your team mates piss it away. After a season with them I managed to score 9 goals as a super sub and got an offer from Athletico Madrid, who in my game are the 4th ranked side in the world.

Finally, I'm really enjoying the game. The passing is really crisp, Aguero and Forlan are awesome, as are Maxi Rodriguez and a few others, but crucially, the defence is tight and ACTUALLY CLOSE DOWN the opposition. In my first season there we lost the title to Real Madrid by a single point and got the CL semis, again losing out to Real. I'm now in my second season with Athletico and the game is now playing how I want it to.
 
All I play is BAL on pro evo. Sadly the normal mode is shockingly bad at the moment. BAL certainly has floors but it's not as bad as your making out. I've played CF, SMF, DMF/CM all fine for me. But I understand your frustrations!
 
just1moreperson said:
All I play is BAL on pro evo. Sadly the normal mode is shockingly bad at the moment. BAL certainly has floors but it's not as bad as your making out. I've played CF, SMF, DMF/CM all fine for me. But I understand your frustrations!
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My making out is just fine at the moment, thank you. She's already very experienced.
 
just1moreperson said:
All I play is BAL on pro evo. Sadly the normal mode is shockingly bad at the moment. BAL certainly has floors but it's not as bad as your making out. I've played CF, SMF, DMF/CM all fine for me. But I understand your frustrations!
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Confusing post there! You seem to both agree AND disagree with me! :THINK:

If the normal mode (whatever you mean by that) is "shockingly bad" then how can BAL be anything different? It's the same AI running things, the same game.

LOL @ MokBull's response. :P

I'm a little further on in my AMF career now and it's not quite so torturous but still annoying beyond belief. I went from West Ham to Bolton (BIG MISTAKE) to Boca Juniors and now I'm with Porto. I've been played as an CF, CMF, DMF, SS and on the odd occasion as my chosen position in AMF. Porto seem to either start me as a CMF or bring me on around the 60 min mark as a CF then switch me to DMF later on, even though on their contract offer they said the wanted me as a CMF only! It plays havoc with your match rating I'll tell you! The other night the coach brought me on as a sub, we immediately got a free kick and he whipped me straight back off again! I didn't even get a chance to move let alone touch the ball! :CONF:

I quite enjoy being a box to box CMF type but you need a high stamina rating for it that's for sure. The defenders still bug the shit out of me with their nonsense, especially when they walk straight into attackers and the fact they insist on hoofing the ball into the stands every 5 mins.

I stand by my original assessment of BAL, it's almost unplayable at times but it's all we've got till the next Pro Evo comes out. Then we get to be disappointed all over again!

(Yeah I'm cynical, blame Konami) :)
 
Well normal mode...as opposed to the BAL mode...is that clear enough for you to understand?

I agreed with you that the BAL has floors in it, no not the floors on a multi storey building. I'm talking floors as in issues. These issues can make the game frustrating. That part I agree with. But I disagreed with the fact you said it was a soul destroying rage fest playing in midfield, simply not true. You've just put in your last post that your quite enjoying it. So where I both agreed and disagreed with your post, you're now saying you enjoy it and don't enjoy it...go figure.

As for the difference between BAL and "normal mode". I think BAL plays smoother than the normal mode. The fact your always playing as the same player rather than switching between your team seems to help the game AI run better and makes the defenders a little bit more believable. Maybe that's just me, I have no proof that's the case but it certainly feels that way to me.
 
just1moreperson said:
Well normal mode...as opposed to the BAL mode...is that clear enough for you to understand?

I agreed with you that the BAL has floors in it, no not the floors on a multi storey building. I'm talking floors as in issues. These issues can make the game frustrating. That part I agree with. But I disagreed with the fact you said it was a soul destroying rage fest playing in midfield, simply not true. You've just put in your last post that your quite enjoying it. So where I both agreed and disagreed with your post, you're now saying you enjoy it and don't enjoy it...go figure.

As for the difference between BAL and "normal mode". I think BAL plays smoother than the normal mode. The fact your always playing as the same player rather than switching between your team seems to help the game AI run better and makes the defenders a little bit more believable. Maybe that's just me, I have no proof that's the case but it certainly feels that way to me.
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It is now thanks! I had about as much idea of what you meant by "normal mode" as I did when you were talking about "floors". Do you mean to say "flaws" by any chance? :BLINK:

Yeah I'm sort of enjoying playing as a box to box midfielder but that wasn't what I started my AMF career to do. The part that I like is that I'm constantly involved in the game because I'm running around the entire pitch like an idiot to try to limit the damage done by my team mates AI. That doesn't mean I think the BAL mode is great, it means I've managed to make the best out of a bad lot. I stand by my comment that it's a soul destroying rage fest because there's never a game goes by where I dont feel like screaming at the TV because of the terrible AI of my team mates and the fact that I'm constantly being played out of position.

If you think the AI defenders are "believable" in BAL then that's fine but I cannot for the life of me see where you get that opinion from. Dont you ever see them hoofing the ball into the stand every 5 mins? Dont you ever see them run straight into an opposing player rather than try to go around them? Dont you ever see them ignoring the ball completely even though it's right next to them? Dont you see them passing straight to the opposition? Dont you ever see them give away ridiculous penalties? Dont you ever see them refusing to tackle then sliding in like maniacs once the player has run past them?

I mean all of these things are well documented on these forums so it's not just my imagination. Maybe you dont see them though and that's cool. If you really like BAL then who am I to tell you any different? :SNACK:
 
Dont you ever see them hoofing the ball into the stand every 5 mins?

I play for Man Utd at the moment as striker, also have a side game as a DMF with Villa. I don't see the defenders hoofing the ball into the stands all the time, in fact I was just playing last night and noticed that the Man Utd defenders tried to play their way out of trouble pretty much all the time.

However online in legends they will hoof it into the stands but only if you put pressure on them to do so, which is good play...not bad AI.

Dont you ever see them run straight into an opposing player rather than try to go around them?

No...that's usually me doing that:BLINK:

Dont you ever see them ignoring the ball completely even though it's right next to them?

Yes but oddly only on legends online, not offline.

Dont you see them passing straight to the opposition?

Doesn't everyone at some point? Do all your passes go to your team? I don't see anything out of the ordinary.

Dont you ever see them give away ridiculous penalties?

What do you mean by ridiculous? I see bad penalties given by the ref all the time. But I don't see anything ridiculous.

Dont you ever see them refusing to tackle then sliding in like maniacs once the player has run past them?

Don't see them refusing to tackle. The AI never refuses the opportunity to make a tackle lol :R1 I do see them make plenty of bad tackles from behind that make me cringe, but then again I see those tackles sitting down watching footy on tv too.

There are stupid things in BAL. Being subbed just after you come on. Subs like clockwork. I know my striker will be subbed once 75 min passes or if he's on the bench I know he will come on as soon as 60 min passes, that's ridiculous. The manager doesn't exist. The way clubs just stick with the same old players all the time. There's probably alot more but I can't think of them right now.

I agree with your last paragraph on your original post. BAL does need serious work done on it before 2010 is released, the whole game needs serious work done to it.

OH yes I meant flaws :P
 
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