(O.O) - First off, Thanks, Bio!
I... Didn't expect this today! LoL. Also, I didn't expect to like these characters changes as much! Gotta go over it all in detail;
System Changes: I thought I saw alot of avoidance of crouching roundhouses on wakeup lately! That sounds pretty big for KoF crouch-low-spam, and like it'll bring a new dimension to wakeup games. Unexpected, but welcome!
Kensou: WOHOO! He can get combos off his chain combo! (So He, Andy, and Terry are the only ones who can, it seems?) Looks like you have to link for this to happen, but that's cool; I love these changes that are making him seem like such a serious little martial artist. Quicker fireball recovery gives a buff to his zoning games and his corner combo damage. Along with what we knew, he seems much better.
Yuri: I like how her DP buff basically gives her "Chou Uppa! ! DOUBLE!" back, in some form. I'd missed that about her. She got an anywhere juggle buff to her d.flip -> air throw (this is cool, wish this was a universal air throw change, lol), and the jump.a -> divekick idea is pretty nice, a nice reaction to lowered jumpstun from arcade version. A great encouragement to the KoF superior Airplay VS most other games. Otherwise, her buffs seem to fall in line with what the other Kyokugen's recieved, so it's all good. She didn't need buffs as much, but I think it keeps her in line with the other console characters, and helps her stand out individually more, which is great.
Sexima (thanks prof! (T_T)): CANCELLABLE GUARD POINT??!?!?! -throws a party- With all the others getting GP variety now, I'm glad to see Maxima still knows how to use it best! The Buff to EX Maxima Press FINALLY being able to hit after counter hits (Enabling a new extension after EX Vapor Cannon, and a dangerous followup to counter-hits) is something I've wanted to see since the beginning. Any buff to the M9 command normal is great, I love what that move has become since 2002UM. It's so much more solid and versatile, and makes it so I don't miss MONGOLIAN as much. Hop C -> EX Air Vapor is a better, meatier, nastier overhead option, anyway. I don't even care about the random Makushima-Puuressu EX Nerf; they raised it's combo options, so it's more for THAT now, to me, anyway.
Duo Lon: So, basically, since he's the only one of the "new" hero team, that doesn't have his Leader DM, they have him the ability to replicate it's "brokeness" through EX moves, now. Oh, Ok. He's absolutely crazy now. Makes me wanna get over my poor execution of his Rekka's, and make him a full member of a team. No way I CAN'T have Vampire Hunter D on the team, right? His combo options are just fun and refreshing now, and I'm glad there hasn't been a removal of his "Corpse Hop" CD trick either, it even showed up in one of the eLive vids. Great, Duo!
Kim Kaphwan: So great that f,f+A can be used to pressure, reguardless of stand or ducking now. I guess he loses the obvious wallbounce corner shenanigan, but gains more solid midscreen pressure, which he'll need with the return of unsafe-on-block Hangetsuzan. Great that he has a chance to use his EX Hisyokyaku to combo now; always wanted that. So will the fierce version of his qcf x2 DM now be useable in vertical-friendly, grounded combos? Or did he just recieve a nice "Get off of me!" knockdown now, that lets him move the enemy back, and set up new pressure / mixup? Kim got more changes than noticed before, and I'm happy for him!
K': Ok.... so the old "best battery ever" now has loads of reason to really, REALLY wanna use meter, while getting most of his meterless high damage combos from arcade taken away / changed. I can live with this. K' having a chaseable fireball with EX is sooooo odd. This is gonna be fun to see in combo vids... He still retains... and even gains, new strength, after now losing out on his stupid lack of recovery from the arcade. A nice balancing trade. And it appears he (liek him) won't be able to DP-style reversal VS low hits on wakeup anymore, which forces them to possibly take advantage of the new backdash 1f runaway. I like this change. More of an anti-air, and less of a total anti-pressure tool.
Kula, guest-start in Skullgirls! (Parasoul has a Kula color Palette): Ok, so... Stand B is an even better pressure tool now, and better combo tool. Ok? It makes her rely on spam crouch B less, which is a nice side effect. It sounds like most of her recovery changes are more to make her reply on using EX for combos, rather than getting so much work out of EX-less options. She lost the Derpversal EX qcb+k, but gained more reasons to use her EXDMs, and... did EX counter shell need a better hitbox? I guess the move had no use in the past (did anyone do anything with it?), so they're encouraging her to use some meter on it now.
Overall: I like these overall changes to make meter-moves much more useful. Characters shine more when they use meter, which makes them more unique, but also, we have a chance that we won't see as many "Save it for final round!" victories, since there's more reason to use meter in the interim matches. This all works out with the increased meter gain from long combos and on guard well; should make the matches much more dynamic to watch, with less falling into long, overly-long combos, and more encouragement of creativity and even character play.
At least... this is what I'd like out of it!
SNKP continued to impress all throughtout the changelogs. They did a great job. These changes do more than just buff the characters, but they also reflect the overall system changes, and are like a re-imaging of the entire game, as a whole. This game truly deserves some serious tourney play, as the new depth added to the arcade cast should really shake up tiers, drive new characters into "main" status, and basically make the game into a very fresh, new experience.