I updated the initial post with Love Heart's character trailer.
I thinking about that. I think that they are trying to keep the costs low. I don't think they are expecting this to be a multi million seller game.
But is a pity that they are not considering other character to the game. I am still waiting for them to announce Shiki.
True, but even Blade Strangers is looking to ship with more characters than this, and given it's indie characters I'm not sure if it's budget is a lot different on what this would have, and it's made entirely from scratch, unlike SNK Heroines, with better graphics (if only gameplay didn't look so clunky). I mean that's Nicalis, and this is SNK and NISA with a deal with Nintendo (hence PS4 physical being Limited Edition NISA store only), so it does seem like 14-16 XIV girls + 4 + boss (apparently Kukri) would have been possible and would be there aim since they've said they're aiming this to get more casual fans. *shrugs*
It's became the norm for Japanese fighting game devs to get things backwards when it comes to casual appeal.