Improvements for PES 2022

The PES Series is beloved by millions of players around the globe, from many years ago, since Winning Eleven. And the series has an unbelievable community, that by love for the game, builds incredible mods and add-ons to the game.

But the last game entries have some issues and lack of features, specially on Master League, my favorite mode. And I believe PES 2022 can be more, can be the best football game ever. Every year, some ideas keep popping in my head, and this time I decided to write them down. Here they are!

MASTER LEAGUE

Improved Managers
The game needs to have all its managers as characters, like the players. The manager should be able to be fired, to move to another club, to retire, etc. That way, the players that retire, could keep their careers as managers, assistants or coaches. Which brings us to…

Addition of Assistant, Coaches and Other Professionals
We need to have assistants, coaches, medical staff, scouts and other football professionals in ML. Us, the players, as managers, would be able to hire and fire these professionals. The managers and other professionals need to be added to the database to enrich the simulation.

Main Team and U-21 Team
I think it would be great to have a U-21 roster to keep our players with potential. Keeping them in the main team, they don’t play that much and many times don’t evolve as they could. They should be kept in a separated roster and we should be able to loan them out, to bring them to the main squad and to put them back to the U-21 as we want (very similar as it’s done in Football Manager).

Stadium Creation and Management
Requested by many players. I agree this feature would be a hard one, since it involves creating an entire and probably complex tool only for this , but it would be awesome. I understand Konami could allow this to be done on clubs that have contracts with them, but the stadium could be a second stadium, and the player could chose which one to play on each game. Following that, each stadium should have a level. Lowered level stadiums should have a worse turf, specially during stormy weather. That would add another level of realism.

Variable Crowd
The last editions always have crowded stadiums. It doesn’t matter the club level or the stadium capacity. Specially in ML, the quantity of people in the crowd should be variable, depending on the club level and on it’s current form.

New Generated Players
This could be on Database, but it’s specific for ML, so it’s here. One of the biggest things the breaks my immersion in this game is to see a 16 yo Gianluigi Buffon in my youth team. This must end now! Konami needs to add a system of random generated players, using faces better explained further below, in the Graphics section.

Better Transfer Details
PES transfer system seems more basic when it doesn’t allow us to enter any amount we want on the player transfer and wage. Forget the limited slider, let us insert the price we want. We also need to add bonuses for leagues and cups titles when signing a player. Lastly, they need to tweak the possibility of buying a player under their release fee. I can’t remember the last time I bought someone under their release fee.

Budget Management
If I have 20 million, why the hell should 10 million be only for transfers and 10 million only for wages!? This makes me crazy! The manager should choose where to allocate the money, that’s obvious, but this game keep this ridiculous limitation. Please Konami, let us allocate the money freely!

Manager and Players Relationship Level
The manager should have relationship levels with the players, the board and the supporters. Each decision, each result and each press conference answer would reflect on that levels. And if one of these levels reach a limit, the job will be very hard to maintain.

Random Scenarios
This have the potential to be great! We could have different scenarios, that’d be activated when the player starts a new ML or at random, during the seasons. Example of these scenarios could be: the arrival of a millionaire investor, bringing a lot of money to the club; a suspension and fine due to Financial Fair Play failure; the club being penalized for supporters actions and having to play games in empty stadiums, among many more.

More Believable Injuries
Personally, since I rotate the squad often, I very rarely have injured players. In an unrealistic level. We know that, even on teams with very careful workloads, injures during training are somewhat common. PES needs to reflect that more realistically.

Richer News
The mode needs a rich news section, with news from clubs on the same league and big competitions, specially the World Cup. It’s the most important football competition, but if you are not managing a national team, it doesn’t even seem like it ‘s happening.

Add More Competitions
Some important competitions are missing from the game, like the Olympics and South American second tier continental cup, the Sudamericana (the South American version of the Europa League). Or… open the database and let the modders add new leagues and championship, as explained better in “Edit Mode & Database”.

Specific Attributes for Clubs
The clubs should also have some attributes differentiating them even more. Examples of this: home strength, some clubs, like Boca Juniors, are historically known to be very hard to be defeated in their own ground and should be high on that attribute, that would make the teams more close to reality; crowd involvement, some crowds are more intense and noisy than others and that should be different on the game as well; board patience, self explanatory; among many other options.

Move Clubs to Another League
Who never thought how would Barcelona and Real Madrid fare in Premier League? What if we could move them there and see? PES need more attention on YouTube and Twitch streams and “experiments” are something the streamers love to do. This would help that.

Start Unemployed
On the thought above, we could have the option to start unemployed and apply for jobs, probably starting in smaller clubs.

Add Backgrounds for Managers
Having the ability to add backstories for the managers, we would have many levels of difficulty in the game. For inexperienced managers, the boards wouldn’t accept ambitious goals at start and wouldn’t give a big budget. For known and experienced managers, it would be easier with the situations above, and the manager would also convince players more easily to come play with him.

Managers and Coaches Diversity
It’s already a reality (in a small scale of couse) and should be added to the game: female managers, coaches and physios.

Old Master League
To finish the ML ideas, this may be a crazy one, but I’d love to see a Master League like it was on the old old days. The current mode could be re-branded as “Manager Career” or “Manager Mode”, and turn ML in a long list of leagues, stretching down to 10 or 15 divisions, including almost all clubs in the game, ranked according to their reputation. The final positions would define who goes up and who goes down in each division. Normally, most people only stay in a few leagues and don’t play against a LOT of other clubs. This mode would allow players to play against several different teams they wouldn’t otherwise.

More “Old Master League” Features
[Added on Jul 24th] Each division would have only one way games and one year would have 2 seasons in it. Transfers have limitations on the quantities of players signed. The young potential players randomly generated by the database wouldn’t be scouted or appear on the youth squad, but be available in a Draft. The promoted clubs and top ranked clubs on each division would have preference over the players pool choice.

Playing With/Against Friends and Guests on ML
[Added on Jul 24th] Great addition for online players and streamers. The player can choose if he will play some ML games as co-op or against a friend online. For streamers, they could invite someone who is watching to play as well.

Strucutre Level for Each Club
[Added on Aug 4th] Each club would have a infra-structure level and the manager would be able to improve the level of the training ground, gym, press conference room, etc. That would reflect visually on more sofisticated ambient, depending on the club level.

BECOME A LEGEND

Ask to Be Subbed Out
Many times we have a very important next match but our stamina is low. The player must have the ability to ask to be replaced early in the game or ask to be left out, aiming the more important match.

Exclusive BAL Cutscenes
This mode is a great option for exclusive cutscenes, like pre-game talks from the manager asking you how he wants you to play, or do the same before you enter the game from the bench.

Realistic Youth Career
If you start in a big club, make it more probable to loan you out, since the player wouldn’t have a lot o chances in the first team.

Relationship Levels
Similar to the relationship describe above for managers.

Brands Contracts
We should be able to receive offers and sign contracts with various sponsors. This would impact on the player reputation, increasing bigger clubs interest. It would also impact on the supporters relationship.

Injuries System
I believe the injury system also needs improvement in BAL. During matches, if you dribbles a lot, yes, you will get injuries, but rarely during a training section. We should also have the option to ask to play a big game with a light injury, having bigger chance of worsening the damage but not missing the important game. It would add a risk/reward experience to the mode.

GAMEPLAY

Referees
It’s not a secret that the AI for the referees is problematic on PES 2020, since the demo. It needs to get a lot better.

VAR
It will probably be included, but I added here anyway. I think it will be great to score or concede a goal and the tension to wait a VAR decision.

AI More Diverse Formations
[Added on Jul 30] Create more diverse formations for teams controlled by the AI. Konami must bring fluid formations for all teams by default.

GRAPHICS

Presentation
I think I don’t need to extend myself on this one, right? Just suck it up and inspire in FIFA to improve the game’s presentation.

Generic Faces
This is a huge issue to me. While the modeled “premium” faces are incredible, the generic ones are sickening! Konami have two options here: one, create a very good tool to generate new faces changing many parameters, but creating photorealistic, believable faces; or two, create dozens or hundreds of base scanned faces, with different skin color and face structures, so the one that resembles the player the most is chosen. Personally I prefer the later one, with the option to add more “generic” modeled faces by the players/modders.

Add Our Own Face
Today, if you ask someone capable or if you take the time to learn, you can add your face and play a BAL or add as manager on ML, but only on PC. Konami needs to add an official tool so players can add their own faces to the game, in a easy way and on consoles as well. Maybe this tool could even help to create more “premium” faces for the other generic players on the database.

Kit Physics
Konami needs to implement soft cloth physics. I’m sick of watching replays and cutscenes with kits and clothes that seem like made from cardboard.

Better Player Body Models
I think the players’ bodies in the last versions didn’t improved enough. The arms are too straight, the knee structure and texture is odd. They need to be more natural and deform the flesh, when the arms and legs are bent.

New Menus
It was nice to see Konami change a little the menus but they still need improvement. Maybe they need to hire someone new to handle only the manus visuals.

ANIMATION

Celebrations and Cutscenes
We need more animations for titles celebrations, coach interactions, press conferences, players warming up, etc. After the first or second season on ML, I’m tired of watching the same interactions, the same celebrations… we need much more variations.

EDIT MODE & DATABASE

Live Editor
One of the things I’d love the most: to have a Live Editor on the game for solo game modes! Those who use Cheat Engine tables on PES or, specially on FIFA, know how incredible they can be. Having an official and always available editor ingame would be mind blowing!

Adding More Leagues and Divisions
I’d love to play Master League as “Road to Glory”, to bring a club from lower divisions to become a continental and world champion, to create a history, to be a legend of that club. In recent PES games, the lower we can go is the 2nd division. Let the players add more divisions and even more leagues by their own. On the current consoles generation I believe there could be limitations, but with the power of the new gen, it can be achieved.

Create Clubs
Following a similar idea to the one above, it’d be great to create a club with the colors, the crest, the kits, and the history you want.

Players Names
The names database needs a complete overhaul. Each character needs to have a first name, second name, an alias (common in many Brazilian players) and as the name is shown in the shirt. The way Konami handles it today is very poor. For example, the Spanish last name Fernández is very common in many hispanic nations, so a name like “B. FERNÁNDEZ” can be replicated several times for very different players. This shouldn’t happen!

Mental Attributes
Many mental characteristics would make the ML a lot richer. Examples: a player with a higher longevity would play for many more years and would decrease their physical attributes more slowly, like C. Ronaldo; a player with higher controversy would force to be sold, while one with lower stat wouldn’t force to be sold and be happy to stay.

Add Referees to the Database
[Added on Jul 24th] I’d like to have referees, with their own atributes and specific faces, added to the database as well. Make them editable too.

OTHERS

New Engine on PC
On previous games, Konami advanced to a new engine on consoles, but let the PC players with the older engine. For the love of God, Konami! Don’t even think about doing that again!

New Commentators
I usually play PES with English or Brazilian Portuguese commentaries. They both need to be changed. They are not interesting, a new, energetic one would make the match more authentic.

PS: if you miss any mention to myClub, it’s because I don’t play the mode. So I have no idea if it’s good or bad. Or what needs to be improved on it.

What do you think of these ideas? Do you have any of your own? Feel free to comment below!