A whole bunch of the artwork and character designs were terrible. Like...yeah, Ralf. They basically turned him into the Hulk. Same for Clark. And they got tanned skin...when they were white all the other games. I actually made a joke about Heidern, if they decided to include him (before the game's release), and how he would probably be freakishly tall, just like how his (male) commandos were freakishly buffed. Athena also bothered me. She looked so...I don't know. Like she was designed to cater to really weird fetishes.
The rest of the designs were kind of alright, I guess. I loved Iori's new design, and I actually liked Mature's new design, though I do prefer her old one.
EDIT: Man, after seeing the official website, looks like they're keeping the aforementioned horrible designs from XII.
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The only thing that annoys me about Ash is how he suddenly appeared and is seemingly more powerful than two of the three treasures, so far. I mean, God damn, Iori was in Riot of Blood. The same Riot of Blood that violently killed Vice and Mature in '96, and gave Kyo and co. major trouble in '97, and yet Ash could defeat him with minimal effort. The power stealing is also kind of lame. He's just not a very believable character.
If he were just a normal addition, I might have actually liked him. My guess is that he's stealing the powers of the three treasures so he can awaken Orochi and steal his powers, thus becoming all-powerful. Hopefully, though, Orochi's power destroys him, as it did with Rugal.
EDIT2: What what, Vice and Mature are alive? It's canon?! HOW?!?!??!?!?!??!/1/1/1