The problem is that, you can make up for meh netcode or the variety of bad connections by making it so people can always find the best connections that are possible.
With XIII, you can't trust that ability and that only goes to make things a lot worse.
Netcode's only half the battle. If you can't FIND the optimal connections in order to have a match run well, then it don't matter if it's KOF02UM all the way to GGPO netcode, the game will run shitty half the time and there's nothing you can do about it. And if the game DOES have a shitty netcode, then the online might as well be nonexistent.
this is why ggpo netcode is so good. can have playable connections to other countries with smoothing. used to play NY to Japan for super turbo (220ms ping), smoothing 1 or 2, far more playable than input delay netcode which is what kof13 is
input delay netcode makes their shitty connection that much more apparent, which means you have to stay within a reasonable distance relative to your region to even have good matches assuming both you and your opponent have strong connections, and have everything configured properly
I'm aware of that Art, as I play on GGPO every so often (less so these days because I got my laptop and I don't feel like turning on my desktop computer for the SOLE purpose of playing on GGPO). The problem is I have absolutely no faith in any company to actually implement GGPO well enough to make that a reality.
My biggest worry in all of this is that I think that honestly, half the people who will play this game will proclaim the netcode as good JUST because it's not a Capcom game.
I mean, look at the comparison to the UMvC3 Netcode and its reactions. Took NO time for people to call it shitty and proclaim it the worst thing ever, but with this game, people want to see something that isn't there.
The fact that the ONLY nice thing I can say about the game's netcode is that it's not as bad as 02UM is not a good thing at all.