theD&A: Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 or Fifa 16?

The Konami Show - Starring: Konami 

Words came right out of my mouth there. For a sudden, everything was right in the world - or at least, in Konami's offices. September 1st was Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, and then we've got PES lined up! Surely, they can't mess that up... can they? This discussion is also a combination with Fifa 16. 

Welcome to theD&A where I talk post discussions and analysis about games and this time we're going to talk about Pro Evolution Soccer 2016, or PES 2016 for short, alongside Fifa 16. 

Cards vs. Missing Players! 

It seems quite easy to judge a game before it's even out. Fifa fans are claiming Fifa 16 hosts an array of changes, such as!... well, at least crosses don't work on the game anyway. It's not more about how Konami is going to step up rather than how EA, Electronic Arts, are going to put 

​themselves on the bulletin board and make no wholesale changes whatsoever, and rather, put out the same thing of Fifa 15. While I do get that a new Fifa game is like Christmas -- you open the game up, and go straight into Ultimate Team, and yes! That's where EA screws the holes in with as much comfort into player's wallets as possible. Now I'm not saying it's a bad move for EA, but does it look disgusting that their shoving 'football cards' out the door rather than giving us the 'gameplay'? We're using cards to play football in an innovative way where it only makes no sense. And in previous years they shoved Dice's Battlefield 4 out the door and we all know that it slipped and fell like it broke it's own walking stick and only has it's parents to blame. 

It may seem like I'm a Fifa hater, or a PES fanboy, and while admittedly I did like PES 2015, one can see the differences in both games quite clearly. While Fifa has been taking mandatory baby steps into unknown territory, PES has switched up and started back up from the bottom. Players from the PS2 and the original Xbox days would know how Winning Eleven was a fantastic game. So much so that Fifa wasn't able to stand up to it. It wasn't until 2009 when Fifa managed to reign supreme with their new engine and overhauled system that they caught up to Konami that has now had their roles reverse and switched. 

While EA is waving their visual, imaginative stick up, Konami on the other hand shoots themselves in the foot because... why not? The main problem it seems to be are graphical downgrades -- PS4 having an improvement over PC when PS4 can't even run Witcher 3 at a stable frame-rate. I know this FPS-war and console war is like a war between to blindfolded sheep trying to get across the finish line (showing how I detest both wars), it does seem like Konami doesn't even respect PC players. What's worse, is that the clubs aren't even updated. That for me, was probably the straw that broke the camel's back. 

Personal Preference Scores a Hat-trick

Is Fifa 16 better than PES 2016? Is PES 2016 better than Fifa 16? Who's to blame for either's incompetence or competence? It is true that there really isn't a big difference over either game, substantially or not, that really tilts it in either's favour. Though most people who have taken a liking in the past to Fifa will hand over their money to EA simply because it's preference and comfort. If 15 was the same as 16, of which they've already been playing it, why not purchase and play? Especially when there's influence from peers and friends? 

It's easy to take stones and throw it at a glass house when you're outside looking in. Do both games have things to show for it? Yes. Are both games the best football games period? No, not by a long shot. Some have considered Fifa 13 and PES 2013 to be the greatest, but even then those two games were competing at the highest level. While we're still down to Fifa vs PES, there is no denying that both companies are just trying to sweeten their deals by not really doing too much and too little. 

Is Konami the Worse Devil? Or EA? 

It's pretty simple - but not far-fetched - to point to Konami and say "hey, where's the updated rosters!" and to point to EA and say "hey, you didn't deliver on your promise". Both of them, while both having their own weaknesses and extremes, isn't ultimately the bad pawn in a game of chess. Largely, they are the spectators of that sport. The same way Konami pissed off their multi-dollar franchises (Silent Hills, Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania), EA has remained in secure positions. Who has better to lose from this point of view? Konami by a long stretch. 

While I do believe PES 2016 to be the better game in this scenario, one cannot argue and justify whether that is right in the same way whether or not penalty shootouts should remain at the end of a tie. Fifa 16 is different, but most people keep forgetting that we need both of these games to coexist so that there is choice and rebound. Choice in a way where people are tired of EA's re-hash and re-skin, they can pick up PES. And rebound when Fifa eventually becomes the better game, players will choose. Don't pick the game and don't devalue either one because it's easy or just to live with the fact of being a 'fanboy'. 

When both games coexist, there is competition. Intel vs AMD, Nvidia vs AMD, Liverpool vs Man United, Chelsea vs Arsenal, La Liga vs Premiere League, Barcelona vs Real Madrid... the list goes on and on and on. With competition, the two will out-muscle, and outfight each other to simply be the best so that they can sell copies and... you know the rest. AMD GPU's have been catching up to Nvidia's, so that is the perfect example. Having both company's test and stretch each other's limits garners much more potential in future possibilities. However, as fanboys are in tandem, it's really hard to just put Fifa in a crosshair and do a headshot, whereas a headcount is so much easier.

If PES succeeds in the future, nobody will care because Fifa's card game is just too addictive to put down. And hey, 1 million YouTubers, who's going to change?