One thing people don't talk about regarding SFV which really grinds my gears: the tone.
Street Fighter should be Street Fighter. It has a specific tone. It isn't overly silly despite all the super powers and shit. In II you have every day stages like this:
In V we have that same stage but it's just full of silly hijinks in the background. The people aren't just cheering anymore. Any time someone hits the ground the people watching fall back and it's fucking DUMB. Or all the people doing all this silly shit in the background in the India stage. Or dancing bears.
And to make matters worse, if you get a win in the corner something happens that's fucking stupid. Like the ladies dancing in the Brazil stage chase the player into the tunnel or whatever and it MAKES NO SENSE. Or you'll have players with Russian dolls on their heads after it falls on them or whatever. The tone is awful and overly shitty.
Or take Karin's SFV stage. The design of the stage itself is fine. But NO ONE IN THIS STAGE is viewing the fight with an actual sense of spectatorship. They're just doing their own thing. You've got ninjas, and bell boys doing karate moves, and a posing waiter. I. HATE. IT.
Why is he posing? Why is not just cheering? FUCK.
This is the tone I look for in Street Fighter.
I'm not against silly stuff, because I liked the original China stage stuff like getting thrown into a wall or on a bus. But it feels like EVERY stage is that now and they've even went out of their way to try to ruin classics like the Dictator SFII Thailand stage with more silly bullshit (dancing monks for example). The tone does not scream Street Fighter. It feels WEIRD. It's almost like they put this stupid stuff in it for esports spectators. Fuck.
I have no idea who they're trying to cater to with these stages. IV handled the much better so far and had a much more fitting SF tone. Stages like Underpass, Morning Mist Bay, the temple stage, the festival...those stages GET IT. I have no idea who they're trying to cater to in V but it isn't SF fans and nothing seals this more than the tone of the stages.
Whoever designed the stage for Shadaloo base, with all the npcs doing stupid shit, REALLY doesn't get SF and I have no idea what series they've been playing the past few three or so decades.
/aspergers