A few points:
- I saw in the Demo Opinions thread that people are complaining about player response lag. I can see what they are talking about - sometimes it takes as long as a second for a player to respond to my commands. This is extremely annoying when I've set myself up for a shot or a through pass, because by the time the player kicks the ball, the entire situation has changed, and my shots get blocked or my through passes miss my players. I think one major reason for the lag is animation seamlessness. And also the new pressure system - players barely respond at all when under pressure - which, I suppose, is reasonable.
- People also complain about OP lob shots - I haven't done many of those, but when the AI does them, they do seem accurate. I remember back in PES4 lob shots were insane...
- The game feels difficult. I suppose this is partly because the game has been rebuilt from scratch. It was easy to adapt to PES2013 having played PES2012; but PES2014 is brand new. I vaguely remember a similar jump in difficulty around PES5-6. Back then, most of my early games finished 0-0. Same thing now...
- But I do think that the game IS harder than before, because every little aspect of the game feels ultra-sensitive now. Before, I could push the stick in the general direction of a player, press "pass", and the ball would thread through straight to my guy instantly. Now I have to be extremely careful with both the pass direction and the pass strength and the timing of the pass. It is also much easier to lose the ball while dribbling. Though once you get used to the new dribbling system, holding the ball becomes a bit easier.
- Through balls have been reworked and nerfed significantly. Now they are useful, but you can't just send a perfect lobbed through pass at will.
- The shooting and goalkeeping system leaves something to be desired. Many shots feel too weak, and the goalies make too many godly saves. My top players also regularly make misses in situations that would have been more-or-less 100% certain in PES2013.
- Like in PES2013, I find it impossible to score headers. But maybe I should try a few more times.
- Animations have been improved drastically. Dribbling and passing around looks incredibly smooth and fluid. Let me stress this point a bit - byplay around the center line looks and plays just awesome, far better than before.
- Faces and expressions, on the other hand, tend to be a bit poor. Perhaps the PES team is struggling with the new engine.
- The game is a lot more demanding of machine power than was PES2013.
- Overall my initial impressions are positive. But I still need to fully get used to the game.