I'm not one for paying for costumes but I do some off these alts are actually creative and detailed enough to be put up for sale, unlike their SSF4 counterparts.
Shame I'm still not buying the game, at least new, but what I've been seeing on streams is really fun and it looks like if you can look past the mountain of issues, there is a good game there.
My own impression so far is that the game under the hood really could be their best game since the classic era. For people who don't like such things, there's no focus attacks, parries, or really any "gimmicks" besides pure, core Street Fighter except with a tag system thrown in. And the tag system seems to reward skilled play and punish scrub play.
Unlike a Vs game, I don't think you can argue that there's "mindless" touch of death combos or super duper three hyper combo DHC chains that go on forever. Based on the early pro play, it looks like the game requires real skill to achieve big combos and tag juggle sequences. The boost chain system is just there to ease people in, but underneath it is a formidable game.
Ironically for all the cynicism and bitchin' that hounded it every step of the way, IMO it actually DOES achieve the goal of welcoming newcomers as gently as possible without neutering hardcore play.
Not going to comment cynically on the gems yet, as it's just too early for a lot of the negativity over the so-called "overpowered" gems because there's not even a damn metagame for the game yet. Nobody knows how to really use the gems. It's funny how people in the FGC gripe about noobs crying everything is overpowered within 15 minutes of playing the game, but everybody is bitching that X gem is GDLK and makes the game trash without even having seen the gem in action. (Or even played the game yet.)
Yes, it comes with the standard edition. I picked it up yesterday. DLC and special editions don't really take off here in Japan, so we get a much more lenient situation regarding that stuff. (another example being FF13-2's Omega retailer dlc being given away for free on PSN a week later). It's nice knowing we're all on an even playing field over here.
Ha ha... ha. It's funny... from a certain perspective this could make it seem as if the so-called "pay 2 win" gems were not meant to be pay to win, but a standard part of the starting gem set. And they were made pre-order bonuses in the US since the US is more exploitable.
Whether or not that is literally true, it does throw things into a different light to me.