I can only speak for the PC versions of the game, since it's what I play. I would say that, in terms of the mods and so on, PES 2021 is the superior game. Bear in mind that I'm not talking about the Vanilla versions of the game, but only the ones with modded gameplay (all of which I've found thanks to our friends here at evoweb).
The sheer variety of gameplays and different styles that you can find here in the forum are astonishing, and it's a pleasure to see all the different variations. Even though PES 2019 has a lot of good gameplay mods as well (for example, I'm using
this one, (credit goes go
@aninazare24) which in my opinion decreases the "scripting" and makes the gameplay more enjoyable, I think the fact that there are so many modded .exes for PES 2021 makes it so that you have more options in terms of modded gameplay. I use a lot of
@Holland's and
@Kolesnikcr7's .exes, and the best part is they are still constantly working on them!
Also, PES 2021's modding community has other nice mods that are not available for PES 2019 (for example, no regens mod, stadium small details, rough patches on the pitch, muddy kits, and so on), which, even if they are not complete game changers, are nice additions to the game.
Now, that aside.. There are a few other things I like about 2021 better..
- I like the manager screenshots and more showings of their personality. I'm a huge ML fanatic, it's pretty much 90% of what I play, so for example to see the manager reactions and other nice cut scenes (both on and off the pitch), makes it quite enjoyable and increases the immersion.
- I think that gameplay mods notwithstanding, PES 2021 has less "scripting" than PES 2019. I know there are people that doubt the existence of scripting/momentum, and that's cool everyone has their own perception of the game, but to me, taken as a basis, 2019 has the most pronounced scripting in the series. Thank goodness for the mods that IMO decrease it.
But then again, there's a few things I like about PES 2019 better:
- More midfield battles. The game's structure is designed as such, and PES 2021 seems a little bit "end to end" at times, like box-to-box football. Again, gameplay mods improve this, but at a base, I think PES 2019 does this a bit better.
- Dribbling is a bit more fluid like you mention, while you can still feel physicality. I also like the palette in PES 2019 a bit more, it feels like it is more atmospheric.
So anyway, I'm sure there are plenty of other reasons I forgot to mention. In conclusion though, I'd give modded PES 2021 the edge over 2019. My two cents!
Edit:
@TheWolf BTW, here is a similar thread that might be interesting to you:
https://evoweb.uk/threads/pes-2018-vs-2019-vs-2020-vs-2021.89362/ 