I only played for about 30 minutes last night but early thoughts:
1: Anybody under the assumption Akuma is the best character in this version, need to take a hard look at the other characters and have another think to themselves. He's still a pretty good character but they haven't done anything to help him, they've hurt him in a few areas. The ex demon flip -> ex air fireballs 'buff' is absolutely useless, keep trying to find a use for it but struggling as of right now.
2: So much for Viper being nerfed, she looks stronger than ever.
3: They didn't balance the twins, they destroyed them. I don't use either of them, maybe a little Yun now and again if I was bored but I feel bad for the people who do use them. I'll probably use Yun a bit more now, might get a little more satisfaction out of doing something good with him after what Capcom did to him.
A lot of people on forums have been raving about Seth, I don't use him at all but I know some of you do. Is the hype justified about him?