Sure, the neutral exists, but it's very depleted, imo. This game involves tons of guessing due to super fast moves that are unreactable at anything closer than full screen. And a lot of these moves are safe, which encourages the guessing game even more.

I understand the intent. Capcom wants you to have to take a risk to get big damage or create an advantageous situation. In IV, you only have to land one poke, cancel into fireball, and hit confirm into FADC for a huge combo, which is an extremely low-risk opener. So I can't say I have a solution to what I am complaining about, but the complaint is there nonetheless.

>I don't buy it. The neutral is different, with crush counters
>and stubby hitboxes on normals, but it's there. You can still
>whiff punish, counter poke, and space like any other game.
>
>I will say whiff punishing is more anticipatory/read based
>than reaction based in 5, but you can still do it.
>
>Also this has been around in almost every game vs. Sim. Here's
>an example in 4.
>
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qlAaEQo0L0
>
>You could always counter poke or whiff punish Sim's buttons
>like that. This doesn't prove there's a lack of neutral in 5.
>


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