My experience with eFootball (PES veteran)
Context:
Football lover, I play a lot IRL.
PES player since 1998. Always hated FIFA, never respected the sport or the players’ intelligence.
Div 2 player. Good player. Good tactician, not amazing technically.
PA lvl 3. SA off. Arrows (no joysticks, oldtimer vibes :D).
Never spent a cent on any videogames. (The only card I bought here is Gasperini)
I even beat top 1000 players with my standard squad.
My experience:
This is not just a rant (not only), it’s a feedback.
I might criticize some playstyles, but I know everyone’s free to play how they want. My issue is with Konami, not other players.
I’m a PES player since forever. Love football, love gaming.
My philosophy: I like to win, but not at all cost. A game should balance fun + difficulty. Too easy = boring. Too hard = frustrating.
Even back in PES days I avoided top teams. Why? Less fun, no respect for the game, and you actually get worse as a player because you rely on auto-assist + speed from stacked stats.
When eFootball came, I hated losing the Online Division mode (real teams). Didn’t care about the card system nor understand it, so I just rebuilt AC Milan (my club). And honestly, I still have fun.
I always reach Div 2 easily. Almost reached Div 1 (1780 pts). But lately it’s harder:
- AC Milan squad too weak compared to meta cards (even tho +90 in my standards is very high, feel almost ashamed).
- Smart Assist + straight-line runs ruined it. Now even noobs can beat me. Months ago spammers were easy to spot & beat. Today… they have a chance. Thanks Konami.
My critique of the game:
No need to rant about the script and hidden handicaps ... the community does it well.
- It’s not football anymore, it’s an RPG / card game. Player input matters less than card attributes. If I do the right move at the right time, it should work no matter the card. Because it’s ME playing.
- Konami going full FIFA direction: stereotyped, over-assisted gameplay. Even in higher divisions.
- Servers always lagging. Even with fiber in a European capital city.
- 95% of players don’t know how to actually play football. Running non-stop with OP cards just makes them worse players. And Konami doesn’t encourage proper football anymore.
- Card ratings = nonsense. CBs faster than strikers. GKs unbeatable. 1m70 players jumping higher than 1m92. The bully team (Viera, Gullit, Thuram, Rijkaard, Davids) gives me nightmares with my midfield :D
- No choice in skill training. A RPG without freedom, random skills added… I don’t get it.
My rant vs players:
- If you’re a beginner, fine, use Smart Assist, weird formations, anti-football tactics. But if you’re Div 1/2 with +105 cards and still play Smart Assist, 5 defenders + 3 DMs… what are you scared of ?
- Manual control on corners & throw-ins = pure scum. Nothing screams “I’m desperate” louder than that.
- And those who hide behind possession to refuse the game… the worst. I respect a guy with 200 passes, 15 shots, 6 goals. But most of the time it’s guys who can’t attack, keep the ball forever thanks to OP players, then do 1 shot in the match. Take risks, it’ll make you better.
So yeah, I’m losing hope of reaching Div 1. But still having fun, that’s why I wanted to share.
eFootball is not unique. Gaming now is all about instant gratification + microtransactions. People don’t want to improve slowly, they want easy wins. This mindset kills gaming, at least the way we grew up with it.
At the end of the day, it’s just a game. Everyone can play their way. But as a football lover, I feel sad seeing this state of things. Still… I’m having fun anyway.
Thanks for reading, sorry for the long post.
Ask me anything.
Posted Sep 28, 2025, 1:33 PM UTC