good gameplay in a high profile fighting game is expected at this point and isn't enough to make people intrinsically give a shit about your game. mvci has good gameplay? big deal, so does tekken 7 and that game doesn't look like a mess.
I really can't agree with this. Expected? I mean, we all hope new fighters will be good but I don't think the FGC ever just assumes or expects something to be quality given the amount of times we've been burned these past few years. How many high profile games have been released these past few years that have been absolute garbage? Who out there, except maybe the anime community because they're mad consistent, really expects things to be great at launch?
Almost all NRS games, competitively, have been broken and absurdly stupid, especially at launch. Profit-wise, they're as high profile as it gets, and everyone expects almost nothing there. Nobody expects good stuff here.
SFxT had a debacle at launch, causing people to not necessarily expect the best. This has tempered expectations in the FGC.
SFV speaks for itself, but even before it's terrible launch there were a lot of people very hesitant to buy into the new system changes. But especially post launch, this has tempered expectations in the FGC.
Even Smash, every iteration, has the same concerns. Will there be combos? Will there be a neutral? Will there be good frame data? Will this game be ass?
This isn't even mentioning a lot of the issues people had with iterations of other fighters (Soul Calibur, Pokken, etc.). We are SO skeptical as a communtiy, and look no further than everyone's initial expectations of Marvel Infinite.
The 2v2 announcement, the auto combos, the control system, the dragonpunch rumor, the gems and more. All of it, in the initial announcement, even on GAF, had people running around like the sky was falling.
So now we hear that it IS Marvel, it IS hype, the gameplay IS good and all the grimy shit is there... so... now we switch gears and complain about Chun's face instead? Given how bleak the prognosis was when people first learned about this game, you'd think people would be overjoyed to hear all these wild fears seem to be a nonissue.