One thing I like about this game is the fact that though it does have your typical archetypes, they still have things about them that make them different sorta. Sure, there were some "shotos", but both Marco, and Urs still don't cry out Ken and Ryu as much as any other shoto-esque character from any other fighter, especially considering what they can do in Heat Mode. Marco's mixups and combos become even more unique with a dragon assist, and Urs gets beefed up, and his projectiles don't even work they way they would normally.
DonValve is one of the best grappler concepts I've seen next to Satsuki (MB), Kanai (ABK), Goh (VF5) and Juzoh (LB2). He can zone pretty well (that damn st.C), but has the tools to suck you in and get command thrown. But he's balanced though, especially with the fact that he can't dash forward, and though he has combos, many are situational, 2-3 hits and the stronger ones require his super; but he doesn't need combos to win, of course. Come to think of it, you don't really need to use crazy combos in order to win at all... It puts the focus moreso on skill, but if you desire the crazy combos, you gotta work for it...
Not only that, the console version pretty much as been balanced enough that any character can win, regardless of matchups or whatever... People used to say that Watson had trouble against Deathbringer, but I don't see that being the case anymore. Every character has some good set of mixups and combo capability that can put them in the lead.
It's been said before that this is 3S with a dash of GGXX, and its very true. This game is definitely heavily yomi based because of the Gatchi system (parry). Once you get that down, you'll see how greatly rewarded you are, from stronger combos, certain chains are available, some chains that couldn't combo can combo now, and certain moves get property changes. It differs from 3S in that while some combos are available from a successful gatchi, there are some gatchi-specific combos that vary depending on if the parry is low or high.
The training mode is great, too... Really good imo... Throw some frame data in there, and it's golden...
I will say, the more and more I play this, the more I start to feel that Ono took more than just the 2.5D concept when he worked on SF4...