That’s because the game borrows alot (priority system, frame data, etc.) from 3rd Strike.
I think the game only feels hard initially for those who where introduced to the series via SFIV. In SFIV there were a lot of things that kept you safe and saved your ass. I.E Invincible backdash, FADCing to make moves safe, Ultras that didn’t use up normal meter, mashing jap etc. But in Street Fighter V all that is gone. Like many people have stated this game is more honest. Sometimes when you miss a anti air, or get out footsied and your foe gets in. You can’t just mash DP, or jab like in IV. You have to sit there and block and wait for an opening.
And honestly this lower execution barrier and more emphasis on fundamentals may actualy make the game harder for newer players lol. Because most of them don’t like to really think ahead and plan in a fighting game. Which Street Fighter V is about.
Game feels like Street Fighter x Tekken minus tagging combos and long rolls.
Now you got white damage and minor back rolls.
There’s some weird shit in this game that you need to play the game on an intermediate level that is hard as fuck to do.
Some meaty setups need 1-2 frame timing, then you got cr. lk>cr. lp xx CA/HP SRK hit confirms that are hard as fuck, and last but not least 2 frame walk forward combos, opposed to all other stuff that is super easy in the game.
As the game evolves it is going to become harder and harder if you want to keep up with the tech, unless Capcom patches everything out that’s difficult.
Probably the same case as with SF4, where when it came out people thought it was easy, but when the tech was developed, people complained it was confusing and hard.
I’m actually referring to the 2 frame buffer you get for input timings for links. It makes it so much easier for me as I could never get the hang of the 1 frame links and I can’t plink for shit. I’m sure you are right though, that tech will start to get harder and harder to perform.
Coming from SF4, which is the first fighting game I actually got half-decent (though never great) at, there are a few habits I have to ditch.
Currently I’m eating a lot of throws, because I’ve grown used to SF4 late-crouchteching, and that will get you killed here, so instead I just fail to react to walkup or tick throws.
Thankfully my SF4 mains were characters that generally had to block a lot anyway (Rufus and Cody), so I’m not having too hard a time adjusting to that. Nor to the lack of safe specials, because while I could blockstring into tornados all day with Rufus, Cody had to be careful about that stuff already.
I will say that despite the simpler surface mechanics, there are a few execution barriers here too. The LK/LP-Bullrush combo feels essential to mid-level-and-up Birdie, and that is TOUGH to time right. There’s also a much higher emphasis on counterhit punishing, which is a skill I honestly never developed through SF4. I’ve yet to even do a single V-thing… V-gedoffame… V… That thing where you hit forward and 3P to interrupt a blockstring. See, I don’t even know its name.
On the surface, I’d still say that SF4 is easier to start off with, since it’s much easier to just throw out attacks. In SF5, I swear half the damage I deal comes off of blocking and punishing people’s HP/HK/sweeps, and that’s BEFORE I’ve got the proper combo punishes down.
After leveling up some online I realise I suck at exactly the same things I sucked at in SFIV. But because of the links and FADC stuff that took so long to learn SFIV is more difficult…
V-Reversal
Yes ryu feels very 3s, alot of the game does. Kind of a mix of ST and 3s for me 
It’s not so much that they don’t like to, it’s that they are concerned with the basics of the game - controlling their dude, what the buttons do, how things work - and so don’t really have the headspace for thinking ahead!
It’s only through practice and experience that you can run most of the game on autopilot, and then consider strategy. It’s rather like learning chess - no point in thinking about forking and board control when you’re still trying to remember how the horsey pieces work!
The problem is, they were so hard that they frequently get dropped even after years of playing a character, and online it becomes much worse.
In SFIV I actually use 2 entirely different sets of combos with Balrog depending on if I’m online or offline.
Offline I use his 1f cr.LP > cr.MP link into incredibly unsafe headbutt to end most combos (more damage and range), online I use cr.LP > cr.LK xx headbutt. The 1f link simply isn’t worth the risk online, and that’s something I decided on after ~2 years of stubbornly using the harder combo.
i do way better at this game than i ever did at sf4
Ultimatly making the fundermentals more part of the game is ALWAYS going to be better for casuals in the long run. If you obscure the fundermentals like in IV then noobs just have more ‘stuff’ to sift through before descovering the fundermentals
For those coming to sfv from usf4 may find it hard that a lot of the combos are not started with a string of lights
The simplicity is what makes it harder. There’s a lot of commitments, a lot of risks, and a lot of reads, even in relatively “safe” footsies. Yet you can’t turtle up and try to avoid those commitments because the corner is so dangerous in this game due to the weaker defensive options.
Although I was somehow eager to learn and perfect my 1 frame link timing in IV, I never liked how your whole progress, whether you had read or not, could vanish only because you failed to execute 1 frame link combo. Losing to ultra 1 finishing Ken was never that amusing to watch.
It’s like how xrd is milder GGXX while sf5 is milder alpha. More lenient alpha.
Would you mind clarifying something that has been confusing me for a while:
I’ve heard lots of people talk about how “safe” or “defensive” SF4 was as opposed to the offensive, risk-based style of SFV; however, I’ve also heard people say that SF4 heavily favored rushdown due to the strength of vortex characters in that game. It seems to me those things sort of contradict each other. Am I missing something?
Rushdown = vortex?
Ok.
Well as for the safe part, sf4 was safer in the neutral. You had your focus, your invincible backdash, your reversal dp FADC etc. There was less commitment in the neutral and more ways to avoid it and play the way you wanted, depending on your character of course.
Vortex being effective doesn’t mean sf4 favored rushdown. It favored knockdowns. You don’t need to rushdown to get knockdowns. For example I can play a fireball zoning game with Akuma and still snag you with a sweep and go into setups. I didn’t get that from rushdown.