But the backlash against SFV is also overblown, in many cases entitled, and most cases hyperbolic..
No, it's not. It's deserved. The thing is, sales and returns will tell if this actually has an effect on anything. If all the people bitching buy and keep the game, plus buy content when it releases, nothing will change and Capcom will have been "right" in releasing the game in the state that they did.
You have three ways to be versus CPU.
You have story mode, you have survival mode with various difficulties, and you have training mode.
None of which allow me to pick the character I want and play versus the CPU. Okay, to be fair: Training mode allows it. But that isn't "Vs. CPU" and neither is the other two. Stop saying people are "hyperbolic" for wanting a basic feature that's been there in other SF releases just because poor poor SF5 is getting (rightly) bashed for that and other design issues.
Exactly.
"What happened with the SFV narrative of "we're catering more to casual players, we want the FGC to grow and get bigger, SFV is the way to do it"?"
Capcom are morons.
They put this game out for the pro tour.
Which is really dumb, because as suggested, they could have just released an early access-style version or another beta, fully-open, for everyone to play and with the final balances from the retail copy as it is now, until the game was ready for a complete release.
I do feel SFV should have been cheaper. I think it should have been either 20 or 30 dollars. F2P? Nah. Can you imagine Capcom on an F2P model? I shudder to think.
Actually, yes, I can imagine it as a F2P game. It can be done successfully-- look at Dead Or Alive 5 Last Round. You get the F2P "Core Fighters" version, with a select number of playable characters and some content locked out, for free. Want more characters or costumes, or the story mode? You can buy them a la carte or in packs. Don't want to get into any of the F2P stuff and just want the full game? OK, there's a full retail version too. Makes total sense.
I think the lack of arcade mode is pretty glaring and easy to patch in. I have no clue why it's not included. I guess I just don't mind it much.
And that's fine. But to go "BUT WHO CARES ABOUT THAT DOE!?" is wrong. Obviously, by the blowback: A shit ton of people care. You are in a minority on that feeling.
And again...exactly.