Early SFV impressions from about 5 or so games and chunks of training mode:
IMMEDIATELY so much more fun and satisfying than SFIV. From the movement to cancelling more in combos to the input buffer to how chip works. It's a refreshing but familiar feeling having a lot of those mechanics stripped away and it being a more intimate test of wit. MvC3 felt weird at first jumping into it, SFIV felt weird at first jumping into it, but the way the movement and jumping works just feels at home in SFV.
Still really think the prevalence of special cancellable chains in the place of links is gonna make the biggest difference for new players. Not only that but it makes the action so much more kinetic and fluid, with soft knockdowns being a big part of that. The combat is always moving and shifting, you have less time to think laying down.
Only played Ryu but he felt really good and covers the bases he should, I guess. My only complaint is that his hair looks like it's made of ferro fluid. Couldn't really use his V-Skill because of the lag, but his V-Trigger is lots of fun.
Game looks great in motion because you're paying attention to the action but when you slow things down it definitely still needs some aliasing and some textures replaced, particularly in the Forgotten Waterfall stage. I think it might be too much to expect but if something an be done about clipping belts and stuff that'd be nice.
Most of my matches were with other Canadians but they more often than not laggy. I have never liked the stutter of rollback netcode, but it was a lot more tolerable than the experience I had with Skullgirls' default settings, more like little stutters and freezes. I still felt the better player won but there was one instance where I felt the rollback fucked up my groove and ended in me being cornered because my input didn't appear to get out.
Crush Counters are hard to anticipate, at least right now. I feel like people will catch on to these situations and have the right normals ready to input in sequence but I don't think there's a way for Ryu to do anything right now after Crush Counter? Maybe super?
UI is clean, classy, and most importantly very clear.
Overall, most things conform to what I've observed in videos, but it's great to get my grubby mits on the thing.