1) Are you waiting any current patches to improve gameplay or anything like that? Reason i ask is that i wanna dive straight into Master league. Have not played that in god knows how long.
There are some in the pipeline, but they'll be a while yet I think. The main thing most people are waiting for in the short term is an option file with full Bundesliga, plus extra European teams and/or Championship sides. The WENB one is imminent, and there are others coming out too. There are already OFs with the kits.
The gameplay's fine at the moment, anyway. There are annoyances with this game which you'll discover for yourself, but few of them affect the actual gameplay. It's pretty amazing, once you've mastered the very steep learning curve.
2)I think Klashman suggested the CPU change tactics according to game situations. This is brilliant, can you actually notice it? E.g...CPU needs to win 2nd leg by a few goals, so they start the match with tactics on the attack.
Yeah you notice it. Every team has a range of different pre-selected tactics which they use at different times in different situations (e.g. last 15 minutes, if they're losing, they'll go "all out attack", whereas if they score in the first half they spend the rest of the game on "quick counter"), plus a set of sliders for how tight they press, how high a line they play, whether they go down the middle or down the wings, stuff like that. The problem, of course, is that Konami's default settings seem to have been done with their usual lack of knowledge of European football, with lots of teams playing the wrong kind of football compared to real life. You have to tinker with it a bit, and people are working now on how to set up team styles correctly. You can play around with these yourself though, it only takes half an hour or so to change settings for a league's worth of teams.
But yes you can definitely tell the difference. I started off with a Spanish season playing against nice pretty-pretty Spanish teams, then I got drawn against Fulham in the Europa League. I won't forget that away game in a hurry - suddenly everything was happening at double speed, I was being pressed and hassled all over the pitch, just what you'd expect for a mid-table Spanish side getting their first taste of English football. The game against Marseille was totally different - they sat back and soaked up the pressure then kept hitting me on the break with balls through to Gignac, then after I scored they all came surging forward. It's really good.
3)Is this more challenging than Fifa? I know its a matter of opinion but opinions are all we have
Depends what you mean by challenging. It's certainly challenging to learn the game: prepare for a few days of frustration as you try to get the hang of new passing system (although if you've played FIFA on manual it won't be such a culture shock) and battle with the eccentric player-switching and very difficult shooting system where you have to take into account body balance, angle of approach and so on. Get ready to see most of your shots sail over the bar or dribble into the goalie's hands until you've cracked it.
Once you've got the hang of the game it's quite easy to dominate possession (especially as most teams seem to have "quick counter" and "long ball" as their default strategy - you see a bit less of the ball if you play against a strong attacking, possession-orientated team). With a good passing side it's common to have 60% possession against weaker teams, but the thing is, if you make a mistake the AI will punish you. Some people have complained that Top Player is a bit easy, but most of us have found it's a pretty good level of difficulty.
The main strength of this new PES is its depth, which is another kind of challenge. You can play any kind of football you like, depending on the players you're using, as opposed to FIFA where it can get a bit one-dimensional. You actually have to counter the other side's tactics, and play to the strengths of your own team. I haven't started a Master League, but I'd guess that with the default players it would be very tough on Top Player. Some might disagree.
I'm no one's idea of a "fanboy" (I barely know what it means), in fact I pretty much gave up on the PES series for four years like a lot of other people. This has got me back in the fold, though, and when I went back and tried out FIFA 11 again the other day, it looked really hilariously bad by comparison.
Just remember that it takes a while to learn the game, and until you do it can be pretty alienating. Have patience and you will be rewarded.
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a lot more than i used to. Hence i started moaning and saying "dribbling is wrong now" 
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