Is it true, Top Player is easier than Professional???

[RandyBass]

I've been playing on Professional, and have read in various forums that Professional is actually more difficult than Top Player.



I've been getting good games on Professional, but already feel like I have been improving to the point where I might want to bump up the difficulty.

But Professional is the hardest? Can anyone validate this???

[RandyBass]

Geez... Slow forum... I shoulda checked beforehand... The threads only a few spaces down are already three weeks old...



Well, if anyone knows...

[connoll3]

I actually recall the same issue being discussed back in old gen versions of PES -- PES 5 & 6, especially. A lot of people felt that the top level of difficulty was easier than the next tier down, but I don't think it's possible to definitively prove that's the case. Where the debate seemed to settle is that on the highest level the computer would attack more, opening up more space and defensive holes. This tended to make it easier for the human player to score and thus led many people to conclude that the top was an easier level of difficulty than the next lower level.

In my experience playing PES, I'd say that the top two levels are more or less interchangeable. The game plays slightly different on both, but whether or not one or the other is 'harder' largely depends on your own style of play. The only cardinal rule about difficulty levels with PES is never play the game on the default difficulty or below, even if you're new to the series. The game plays miserably at those levels, mostly because you get absolutely no attack from the CPU, which in turn distorts the overall flow and spacing of the game.

[RandyBass]

The default difficulty is not even a challenge and it makes me wonder why they even have two levels below that.

Thanks for the response. I guess I'll just eventually try some games in exhibition mode on Top Player, so as not to screw up the other modes I got going.

[thegut]

As already been pointed out, it depends on the cpu attack and space. When playing on professional against a weak team basically they produce no offense and just stack the defense leaving very little space. I guess it is realistic to a degree but I was finding that at the end of games I was lucky if the cpu attempted 2 shots on goal the entire game. Playing with the same teams on Top player the weak cpu team actually opens up and makes some attempts however I have noticed that their players are given a stat boost and you will see some very poor strikers dribble through your entire defense. Also your defenders will play looser and will routinely not pick up the forwards on a run. But Top player plays a more fluid game so that is what I was playing on.

[RandyBass]

Yeah I noticed there seems to be an exaggerated discrepancy between the weaker teams and the top teams, with the weaker teams being really poor.