It's refreshing on a lot of levels. Sticking to the same formula for 5/6th time (if you include Soul Edge) would just make the game stale and just another facsimile of the previous games. Its run its course and time to move forward. This allows the game developers more room to do things, write new stories, create characters, improve and add fighting styles, tweak the gameplay without the cumbersome restriction of sticking to the same old ways of whats been done already. Besides for nostalgia sake, they could always come back and fill those 17 lost years with a new game, spin off, perhaps even a CG movie (ahhhhh) if the series continues with success in the many years to come.