It wasn't the case during PES 6 era when you didn't have gameplay patches. Nowadays, game X and game X after 8 gameplay patches are not similar at all, and usually for the worse. Both PES and FIFA suffer from this.
I would even say that it's a smart business model: release a good game, break it with patches, revert patches and release it as game X + 1, break it with patches and so on...
Agree about the patching trend.
Do you know what was back in that Era. It was every X game was strongly compared with the X-1, we were extremely strict with every new game and had the previous one as the base of comparison.
I don't remember the phrase "this is the best PES ever" to be so overused back in that era PES1 ~ PES6. Basically it was used very rare. Nowadays , every second day you read about the "Best PES Ever" we have this year, only to last until next year. And of course if you disagree, you are extra romantic or you wear nostalgia googles.
All this mess about "this is the best PES ever" started between PES2009~PES2010, when after years, PES2008 was the first time in PES history that could not convince the majority of the fanbase, for being a good game. You know since the PES players were deeply divided to those that loved every new game, those that thought PES6 should be the example for the future, those that played the modern games despite dont like it , etc..
And this happens because it is a natural inner Human desire. It is a mechanism of self protection. When you are after consecutive disappointments, your mind starts to work in this way to protect you from another disappointment. So even if you know deep inside your mind, that the game does not click to you, or you like it at basic level, you are trying to convince yourself and everyone that "this PES is the best".
Basically you start living in an illusion that "
you believe that this PES is the best ever". In the course of time you can develop it to levels of : " this is the best of the best, this is the BEST simulation ever made, this is the best simulation we could ever have, this is the greatest invention in the GALAXY, this PES is the greatest human milestone after the Pyramids , etc, etc, etc.." You enrich it up to the level of your desire. And of course when the next game comes, you never, never, never ever touch again the older version.
And the factual proof about this is that
1) If it was really the best PES ever ( and since someone is calling himself a GAMEPLAY-purist ) , they would play it even after the launch of the newer version. It does not make sense to not touch ever again a game that you consider as "the best".
2) When you really have something that is true "Best of the Best" and you know it, you do not need to repeat it everyday. You say it once and you repeat if once per century. When you say it so often and is your basic-core point to defend the new game, then you know you don't believe it, you just try to convince yourself and the others, in order to feel empathised.
Sorry for the psychology break.
) and they'll listen to no rational counterpoint.. but, assuming they'll won't bother about it first, who am I to told others how to enjoy stuff? In the end, live and let live 
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