I just stuck to the defaults too. I wanted to use the Guilty gear style button layout, but it just made throwing and dashing awkward. Now that I’m used to them, they aren’t so bad.
After 10 - 15 minutes of play with Arcsys’ traditional Type A & B layouts, it’s clear that the default layout is designed specifically for this game(A+B, B+D, A+C and C+ D)…The only thing I found myself doing is disabling the extra shortcut buttons.
The only problem with switching from default is the challenge mode for some reason insists on displaying the button layout on the screen, but it doesn’t change from the default settings. So all the time you’re doing your trial combos, the game is showing you the incorrect layout.
That was annoying for awhile but I eventually just got over it, wish it was more like BB challenge mode where it just said the buttons ABCD instead on what they use.