Ecchi is very popular in Japan.
Much of what I find exasperating about SC is because of Japanese taste / market. Siegfried's impossibly thick 1500 lb sword with a stick hilt and no pommel, modern-anime-inspired (rather than historical-fantasy-oriented) characters, loli, ecchi, armor break, Dampierre's butt-poke, characters announcing moves in cinematic cutscenes, etc. Of course, there are also aspects I enjoy that are due to Japanese influence, e.g. Yoshimitsu's hilarious weirdness, mystical / magical abilities, kiai… Just wish SC as a series was tilted slightly more towards the serious end of the spectrum.
I don't understand griping about graphics right now.
Graphics can be refined somewhat, e.g. with respect to lighting, DoF, and special effects. Maybe small model and animation tweaks too. But the fundamental engine, modeling, animating and texturing is already done. We're almost certainly not going to see a huge improvement or an essentially different system.
Therefore it is somewhat disappointing that we are re-using models from SCIV & SCV, as well as an engine from years ago. The improvement from SCV to SCVI appears incremental at best, rather than wowing with next-gen level work. Fighting games used to be able to push hardware to the limit since they featured relatively few models & environments. SCVI looks more like warmed-up leftovers than a stunning new cuisine. Now, the baseline is already high – it is not like SCV looked bad per se. But it is arguably no longer impressive.
Subjectively, I also find it annoying that the focus appears to be on stuffing the game full of special effects (explosions, trails, energy splashes, etc.) that make it harder to see the actual fight going on. It may be flashy at first but feels like it will be tiresome and detract from the main event, viz. a clash of two weapon-wielding warriors. Again, it's moving away from the idea of historical fantasy, and more towards anime magic. I know that is a big part of SC's DNA… I'm just saying my personal ideal for the series lies on a slightly different point on the spectrum of realism vs. cartoon.
All of this is coming off more negatively than I intend. In reality I am hyped for the game and eagerly consuming all the new content. I also understand that people have different tastes.