GGXrd people seem to like. Marvel 3/TvC as well for the most part.
I think the newcomers in SF4 were modeled better than the original vanilla batch. They took out the whole "everyone is on steroids" modelling concepts (except Hugo of course)...
This art style argument is kind of irritating me. Why should these developers abandon their primary market to chase an audience that has never shown to accept their games at a mass market level? You're basically asking Japanese FG developers to do what the big Japanese publishers did this generation... and we all know how well that ended up. (And even then, the biggest hurdle is to make a good game -- which covers all of your other points.)
Frankly, in this day and age I don't think it's possible to make a 2D-based game that doesn't smack of being a budget release, regardless of what the art style is.
My snap answer is Tamaki... giving a grappler Godpress is one of the dumbest decisions I have ever seen in my life (and I love it). It would be like giving T.Hawk an EX rekka with 3 frames of startup. That and she has K-groove rage, just because. Kira was only really strong in the original Arcana Heart, where she had 43543543 ways to force a clash and then wreck you for trying. One other character I would add is Lilith from Vanguard Princess -- she has some of the dumbest tick throw setups I had ever seen in my life.
I don't think that anime aesthetic is as bad of a knock as most people think it is. I wouldn't suggest going to the extreme a game like Arcana Heart or Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax. (Hell, even Aquapazza with just the Utawarerumono and Tears to Tiara characters looks about as anime as Fire Emblem -- then you have the To Heart 2 characters looking anime as fuck). I think it won't be a huge problem for Xrd, especially as ArcSys had made something that looks very distinct in this day and age, and some of the stuff they did with UE3 is attention-grabbing IMO.
SF4 is actually a native SD 4:3 resolution and stretched for HD, instead of the reverse. It's why the models look so oddly proportioned in today's "What's SD?" world.
The speed of the game makes the animations a bit janky at times for sure.
I'm talking absolute strength here, not relative strength. For example, Kira in any other game, retaining all her native options, would absolutely wreck shit.
That would then depend on how literal they would be translated vs. trying to confirm them to the game. Kira in SF4 unmodified would be some Ivan Ooze level of brokenness, whereas Tamaki even unmodified would still be broken as hell but not to that level, although that would depend on implementation details. Would Godpress require a full SF4-style super bar? Is it an EX? Would she just carry over the super meter from AP straight? What if you put them in another game, like BB? UNIEL? Tekken? (I would totally play Tamaki Tag Tournament).
I think the actual models when zoomed in close up (like during hypers) look really basic and derpy at times but in normal game play camera focus they look absolutely stunning which is what you will be seeing for 90% of the game. I mean when you look at stuff like Nova's model or RR's model that is some top notch artstyle right there.
Phff... increase your power level son.
Old school fighter backgrounds are so much better than modern ones. I guess nobody wants to put the budget into making stuff like background elements anymore? I want more of this:
I like them all really, including Brawl and the new one.
I hope the location from the CG trailer is an actual stage in X.
