overall beta impressions-
ryu - mk tatsu doesn’t hit crouchers any more, still kinda stubby, really satisfying DPing people in this game.
bison - v trigger combos got nerfed like crazy (can’t do ex into ex any more?) and also capcom changed the command for psycho flame for the third time which is driving me nuts. seems like scissors are much worse on block now, but that’s just a guess. you can’t combo low forward into low strong any more, which is something i hazily remember from the original beta. seems a lot worse off overall. what’s the purpose of the df+HP move if you can’t cancel it? i thought maybe it would be, because then he could at least preserve charge for psycho flame but …
mika - i spent most of my time playing her. fun pokes in cr.mk and s.mk, decent damage etc. overall i wish she had a v-trigger that was more useful (it’s just too slow) and maybe some other way to pressure people other than pressing stand strong. it’s really hard to hit confirm single hits online, but it seems really important for her to do s.mp into fwd+mp on reaction, which is totally doable offline 100% of the time. some of her buttons (cr.HP) seem pretty useless. i expect resets into either meaty MP or command grab will be what her game revolves around eventually. i found a lot of resets that could maybe side switch but i ended up with frame disadvantage, which is no bueno. idk wtf to do with crush counters off stand HK, seems like you’re actually worse off on counterhit because they get pushed away and you can already combo into whatever on normal hit.
chun - idk much about her but i enjoyed pressing stand MK and roundhouse a lot. is hk legs safe? cr.mk xx hk legs -> confirm super is pretty easy, much easier than trying a raw confirm off cr.mk. you can combo out of a close LK legs w/ crouch jab xx whatever, but you have to be point blank when you start the combo and i doubt LK legs is safe. ex SBK seems to have less active frames than sf4? i think i would have fun playing her if i got used to the new buttons.
rashid - i have no idea what’s safe, which will completely make or break this character. i assume that characters with airgrabs will ruin his day.
karin - fun pokes that actually feel ‘right’ (stand MK, crMK, sweep, low strong). otherwise super boring. fei players will enjoy turning off their brains and playing her. i wonder how legit her built in mixups are, or if you can just fuzzy guard / jab everything. if she had the rekka feint (backdash) move outside of vtrigger i think she would be more fun to play. vtrigger drains FAST when you rekka.
ken - didn’t have much time with him but target combo xx fireball xx super is still fun 15 years later. low forward sucks. counterhitting with stand roundhouse is fun. i uppercutted a lot of people.
necali - alioune seems to think he’s well rounded, which feels right. stubby normals. safe stomp special, invincible DP, armored rush move that beats fireballs, command grab. really wonder how legit his pressure really is, i don’t think button xx stomp is a real blockstring, so you can reversal or maybe press a button to get out. bad players will flock to him quickly and lose when you just hold down back and punish the charge move.
vega - the standout best character in the beta by a country mile. doesn’t matter that he has no invincible wakeup because you quick rise everything anyways. RCF w/o charge is dumb. incredible pokes, actual combos. izuna drop is still really hard to AA, even if you know it’s coming. seems advanced enough w/ the stance cancel stuff to be pretty fun. i expect him to be nerfed a lot, but i want some of those good buttons applied across the cast. still has the quick vega jump, the great normals, now has reliable AA button in cr.fierce.