Bought it myself. I didn't quite have much difficulty getting used to the button layout. But someone needs to tell them that "SNK Bosses" are beyond behind the times. On default difficulty, I only lost 1 round until the final boss of "Story Mode" (it really should have been called "Arcade Mode"). Then the final boss promptly curb stomped me. After trying about ten times I said to hell with it, quit, and then set difficulty to minimum.
I've beat her on my second attempt (on the japanese release, which was out on December 10th), saw what was killing me (the crystal pillars, occasional horizontal shots, occasional counterattacks, and learned about the unblockable lvl 3 black hole -- reminded me of King of Fighters '97's Orochi's Super Desperation Move's, and generally the way to dodge it was the same: to keep going back until it's over), and came with a plan that seems to increase my chances: to stay on the air (being on the air generally reduces combo potential, compared to being on the ground), to use assists (you can call assists while airborne) to score hits (and possibly convert them into combos) against the boss, and use long-range attacks while airborne (or occasionally punish the boss' recovery with invincible and/or fast attacks such as Variable Rushes and supers)
(for a little reference) this video shows that it's also possible to convert the boss' approach attempts into simple super combos, and to randomly punish her attempts to hit you from distance, while she's recovering from said attacks (although this video seemingly has lots of mistakes -- when you see the boss use her lvl 3, you don't go towards her.. lol -- and risky decisions that ended up working against the AI, such as the lethal blaze -- a.k.a. lvl 3 super -- at the end):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PEqQiOtWR8this score attack video seems like a better reference (even though it's a different mode), showing that the boss doesn't use vanishing guard often and can be chip-damaged (and pressured, which gives you a bit of super meter if she blocks you correctly, at least):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmAgmOopC3MI haven't played much more since my original post, but I have played some. The button layout thing isn't probably a general problem, it's probably just a me problem. I learned fighting games with four-button games and I've just never been able to wrap my head around where to put my fingers for anything else. I might be able to cheat around that limitation with creative button mapping if I sit down and figure it out, or maybe I just need to switch to a controller (from an arcade stick) for this game, but it's definitely a five-button game which really throws me personally for a loop.
And this may just be nobody knowing the mechanics yet, but I feel like this game is really, really slow-paced. The short combos are nice, but movement feels pretty slow too for most characters. That's not necessarily terrible or anything, but it's quite a shock after playing nothing but Blazblue recently.
I use my thumb for the D button, index/middle/ring finger on A/B/C (respectively), and either index+middle or ring finger on E; for A+D (A assist), I use both index+thumb, and for B+D (B assist) I use either index+thumb (rotating my wrist a little) or middle+thumb; for A+B+C (infinite blast), I use index+middle+ring, for B+C (throws) I use index+middle (moving my wrist to the side a little), and for C+E (variable rush) I use index+thumb (moving my wrist), then use index (or index+middle) on the buttons I want to press
about the game's speed, I think that it's one more case of the game itself not being slow, but being commonly played slower than it allows to; see this video for example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC_djOnwbjY
