Not looking forward to having to push through Dynasty Warriors 9 again with Shu just to get a different perspective on the story, but I feel I have to since Cao Cao's characterization was changed a bit.
By nature of the game being significantly longer, Cao Cao got a bit of an expansion. There are a lot of conversations with his primary advisers on what to do next, and he seems more like the historical ruler, less like the character from the novel.