People weren't fine with that. There was tons of complaining about how barebones it was at launch.
Splatoon didn't have any microtransaction horseshit and SFV does, which is the key difference. Capcom intends for people to end up paying for the extra characters, whereas all the splatoon content was 100% free so far for everybody
Except for the Amibo content. That's locked behind buying a cheap little action figure. But lets just ignore that because Nintendo, right?
Even vanilla SF games have a proper versus and arcade mode.
How many different formats should they construct for people to play against the CPU? They have the prologue, survival, and are bringing out a story mode. The game isn't releasing in arcades and a CPU versus mode is basically a one off arcade mode.
Would people really have been happier if Capcom had just stuck more menu options on the front end when in reality you're just playing different packages of the same v. CPU fights?
As someone growing up with real quality games, seeing this trend of half-assed products released at higher prices than before (CAD sucks) is both incredibly sad and frustrating. There were a lot of titles I anticipated but didn't buy because of DLC or fear of getting an incomplete product. Stuff like Fallout 4 and now Street Fighter V.
It's pretty stupid that gamers think this is OK. Either most of them are too young to remember what are actually complete, great products or they don't care anymore and would rather spend more money to get the Complete Experience (TM)
Online-only for the most part is another slap in the face for SFV. We are lucky enough to get review codes, but I'd never spend $69.99 + tax for such a shallow game. Doesn't bode well for Resident Evil 7 either, which will probably also be plagued by microtransactions.
So how many of those "complete" games you reference from years gone by offered online play? How many had problematic bugs that got fixed or imbalanced gameplay corrected after release? How many of those games did you finish, want additional content in that world, and then have it delivered to you?
Gaming post-internet/digital distro revolution is different, obviously, but then so is everything else post-internet. Dating, looking for jobs, actually doing your job, hell even ordering a pizza is entirely different than what it was in the mid-90's.
Maybe try tipping down those nostalgia shades for a second and realize that:
1. SFV is a damn good fighting game at it's core out of the box. No one is being asked to pay for a game lacking proper balance, unable to run in a stable fashion on the hardware, etc..
2. SFV is going to see substantial upgrades down the road. A small part of those upgrades is additional characters that cost money. Another part is the first full story mode in a SF game, free. The most important of all however? Rolling balance adjustments. In the past if someone found an exploit in the system it was just a fact of life. Now we get to have those unintended issues ironed out and the game improved. Capcom can't provide us a feature complete SF on release because a HUGE part of what completes a SF game is handing it over to the competitive scene and seeing what they do with it, then responding.
The real phenomenon at play here is the misconception of what the fighting genre is today. Fighting games have not jumped on the "more filler content uber alles" mantra that so many other genres have. They have not been streamlining and simplifying their core mechanics to appeal to a wider base. The genre does not fit the stereotypical "even if you don't like X kind of games this one is so good you need to get it!" viewpoint great titles from other genres are often argued in favor of.
Fighting games have gotten more focused on the core, less focused on the filler, and as a result the "best" fighting games are not pick up and play experiences for the average person, no matter how good the core game might be. They're moving in literally the exact opposite direction as the mainstream shooters and action/adventure games.
The online issues are depressing but to be expected. This is every major competitive game launch basically for all time here, nothing new. But if you bought a fighting game expecting some kind of massive time sink single player mode or series of modes to keep you coming back without ever playing against real people you made the mistake, not Capcom.
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