SCIV's problem was a non-existent story mode in a game that was created to emphasize laying the series to rest. One of the core complaints about SCIV was the lack of a proper story mode when that was considered among people who aren't gameplay purists to be the shining bright spot of the series. Fighting games were known for being all about gameplay with any story elements tossed in as uninspired and lazy extras, Soul Calibur was a fighting game that proved there's room for adding worthwhile story to the mix. It was pretty clear some concept of a story was thought up for each character in SCIV based on who each character has to face during story mode, but the ball was dropped pretty hard there.
I do not think a repetitive core story ("seek out Soul Edge") is necessarily a bad thing. The name of the first game was Soul Edge (or Soul Blade), and every game after was Soul Calibur. The name of the series cues to what its focus is, in this case on these two swords. I think that story-wise, the real draw was the evolution and development of the characters involved in much the same way as Walking Dead is a zombie comic book series and TV show that isn't really about the zombies. It's about how the character behave and change in that context. We were doing fine before. Sophitia started out as an innocent pure girl type, then evolved into a motherly protector type while her sister took the spot she once had. People change over time, and Soul Calibur WAS doing a good job of presenting that in a natural form. Until SCV.
But even if we go with the notion that a repetitive core story is a bad thing, there are plenty of other possibilities for changing that which did not require forcing a time skip which served the primary purpose of giving Daishi an excuse to kick out a huge chunk of the old roster to replace with his fanfic ideas for additions, particularly two of the series' core characters, Sophitia and Taki. Don't want it to be about Soul Edge and Soul Calibur themselves anymore? Options. Make it about the emergence of a new sword of their type. Or, don't have all the characters go after the same goal. Sophitia could be hunting down Tira to rescue her daughter while Taki is out destroying demons that were created by Soul Edge, and their paths don't even have to cross. Of course, there could be better ideas than that, those were off the top of my head just to show there were ways to go to revitalize the series that did not require jumping ahead 17 years and removing core characters from the series for stupid reasons.
SCIV, however, introduced to the storyline a character who we had never even heard of before this storyline, and wanted to bring him in as the main focus with a backstory that could have at least been mentioned in past games, but was not. Even through all of the story in SCIV, the focus on Algol only turned out to be a subplot, and was instead about Siegfried Vs. Nightmare. Same situation as SC3, but less detail and a different person in the middle of it all.
SCV is also in that same vain as SB as far as the new characters go. They start out in a clean slate, and they develop as the story progresses. Yes only few were given that chance to even develop-ZWEI, Patroklos, Pyrrha-but just because PS didn't do so for the others in this game doesn't mean they can't for the next.
I'm not opposed to whittling down the roster, but I AM opposed to the way it was handled by Daishi. 1) Time skip was not needed and never should have happened. 2) Characters like Sophitia and Taki should not have been removed from the roster at all, they are core to the series and it would be like removing Princess Zelda from the Legend of Zelda games while keeping Midna (Ivy) around as the new top dog. 3) Even when characters are removed, they should get a respectable final send-off to celebrate that they were a part of the series before they're taken out forever.
This is the last time fans of the character will ever get to see that character in action in a Soul game. At least give them something to celebrate the character by. Don't just shove them aside like they're gutter trash that outlived their usefulness and don't deserve the time of day. Especially not characters as important as Sophitia and Taki. That kind of treatment of such core characters, all because Daishi doesn't know how to respect anything that doesn't fit his personal interests, is why I see no reason for the series to continue if SCV is not essentially undone.
The comparison between Zelda and the two characters have no comparison at all. Why Zelda wouldn't be removed? The game is named after her, but even then our attention leans towards her and the real main character, Link. Not to mention the storyline is built around them, the individuals. Zelda is kidnapped, while Link goes out to rescue her. Soul Calibur, however, is built around the swords that many characters around the world become involved in. Taki and Sophitia, even though they are popular characters, are not particularly the "core" of the series. The swords are. Even without them, the world is still in shambles because of the many malfested characters. Taki and Sophitia just have a wide fanbase, seniority, and other things that equates to them being fanservice. If you look beyond these two, many people are affected by the events coming from Soul Edge and Soul Calibur. If you look towards the individuals being the "core" of the series, then I can say that Pyrrha is also the core of the series.
It is also still possible to provide a proper exit for the past storyline characters that were not in SCV, even with the current storyline since both characters have something to fall back on. Their replacements, and potential replaces in future installments, which could be the case for the Koreans. Only exception of a character physically present is deceased Sophitia, who will likely be included in flashbacks. It depends on Cassandra. Taki, since she is still alive, can still be provided with a proper exit while Natsu takes the wheel after that, and that's where her storyline begins. Seems like it would be the same situation for Setsuka too.
From the gameplay aspect, it's not like the weapons/movesets of these two (Sophitia and Taki) were completely removed. Even if the game was based on the past timeline, would PS still reduce the moveset? That's the main question. If SCV, with the moveset reduction, was in the past storyline and Taki was in the the SCV roster and not Natsu, it is likely that she would play just like Natsu because of the moveset being reduced. Only exception is her Critical Edge attack, which is all because of Natsu's curse, but ninja abilities, and Soul Edge shard on her weapon, can still make it possible for Taki. That's how I see it, and that's why I am not complaining over Natsu replacing her. Taki's style is at least in the game. Another reason is because I'm willing to adapt to these changes between SCIV and SCV. The only ones I would say that were "removed" were Talim, Yun-Seong, and Zasalamel. It's bad for them in SCV because these characters' players had nothing that could recover from them being removed. Not even a replacement, and in the story/artbook, no mention of their whereabouts, except a small one about Yun-Seong. At least now, some players have grown to accept that and move on to another character. Talim players, especially. I'm sure these three will return anyways, so these "put downs" on the game because of them being absent should not be validated just yet.
Let me steer this topic back here....
I personally agree here. SCV leaves me with many questions. Such as in Arcade mode. Why does Yoshimitsu the Second go against Natsu as the second to last opponent? I understand Leixia versus Natsu, but the Yoshi vs Natsu raises me a question. Did Manjitou and Fu-ma form an alliance during the past 17 years? Is that why Yoshimitsu the Second was raised from the same village as Natsu?
I mean Fuma blade to keep Yoshi in check from Fu-ma ninja clan? Yoshi saying Lady Natsu forgive me when doing the rainbow drop?
There's just lots I'd like to know if I wanted to know what every character has been doing.
This is exactly how I feel. I also feel that future installments can provide unanswered questions, either visually, or in text in the game, rather than an artbook that only Japan was provided with and we were lucky enough to find out about because someone translated it for us. Not only could future installments discuss the whereabouts of characters not in this game, but also:
-What is the state of Raphael, and I'm only saying this because of the Raphael=Nightmare speculations. I doubt it will come out true though, because this determines Raphael's moveset being in or not, or he'll appear as a non-story character instead.
-Will Natsu erupt at one point, because of Arahabaki?
-Why are Xiba and Leixia in need of the artifacts in the first place? I think I know why.
-When will Xiba find out that his father and mother are Kilik and Xianghua, and what's with Xianghua hiding it?
-What are the identities and backstories of ZWEI and Viola?
-Speaking of ZWEI, what is the condition of ZWEI after being stabbed by Pyrrha and falling down a cliff?
And these are only a few examples. That's just me believing that PS can still improve on the storyline from the endpoint of SCV.
You see what I did above? That is called "constructive criticism".