I posted this on another forum the other day but I think it is worth adding my opinion here since there is plenty of discussion.
I actually think the AI are slightly more proficient in front of goal this year, they have score some nice long/mid-range shots and generally stick away clear cut chances. The problem is that they do not create too many chances overall because of their repetitive attacking patterns.
Plus, the defensive AI is poor, guys often are too concerned with running back into a set position that they allow the human player to pick up the ball and run 70 yards forward. They have no awareness of danger. Against human players this problem is mitigated somewhat as the human player always closes the man with the ball down, hence why the beta felt more balanced in this respect.
The game has no soul, it feels like a game devoid of any of the creativity, unpredictability, inventiveness, emotion, or satisfaction which exists in real football. I think this is due to the lack of player individuality, and the dull shooting and passing systems. Player individuality is not as pronounced as it should be, nearly every player has the same set of animations (and thus technical capabilities).
The shooting and passing is too guided even on manual; the trajectory is the same, always straight, always hit with pace. Additionally, every player has the same chance of making a mistake, because it is simply contingent on the human player making a mistake. There should be a greater chance of inaccuracy when passing the ball depending on the player who is passing it, same goes for shooting.
The game isn’t terrible, if it made adjustments in those areas it could be a good game. Another problem is the glacial pace that Konami seem to make improvements; when they do, it is usually cancelled out by something else that has been broken in the process. After 3 years of development time, people expected more.
PES needs its own identity, right now it looks they attempt to make the game as close to FIFA as possible and fail miserably. FIFA has a slick engine where every player has real, lifelike, fluid animations and PES tries to replicate that. As a result, every new animation they add, they fire it in without any regard for the context, resulting in Wes Morgan being able to pull off a backheel 25 yard pass with 100% accuracy. FIFA actually has a greater sense of player individuality now, by quite a distance, their traits and specialities actually feel unique. They kill off the great ML Online and rip off FIFA UT. It also feels like they tweak the gameplay to the competitive online gamers who want smooth, rapid end to end goal fests, and a game where both teams to have no discernible advantage over the other. That is what FIFA plays like online, and now PES. This is not a football simulation.
Go back to the basics Konami and build from there. Your priorities are all wrong.