Stickers and Spirits are practically the same thing. Other than the weird Primary, Secondary system, they function the exact same. Stickers were able to boost characters skills. Equipment and Spirits just took the concept and improved it a little bit?
Brawl had 31 new stages along with 10 returning. So yes there is half, but at the same time Brawl came before it, so of course there would be less. It also hurts that Ultimate spent more time using old stages, than new.
I think my problem is that the game is using the Wii U engine and models clearly. There’s new lighting, but the characters seem unchanged significantly outside of a few. Sakurai now has a way bigger team, yet the content seems lacking.
With a smaller team, Sakurai got Stickers, trophies, a stage builder, more new stages, more new characters, and a full story mode.
Ultimate took out tons of modes, has most of its characters be clones/echoes which are easier to make and many are returning meaning no no move set is needed. Same with stages, they just took old ones, probably updating assets from Brawl and 3DS for the most part. Wolf, Snake, Ivysaur, and Squirtle were all probably Brawl assets that they took. This game should be bigger than Brawl, same with Wii U, but instead they up characters and stages but forget everything else existeted. It sort of hurts after playing Wii U and getting bored way quicker than with any other Smash.
No they don't Brawl stickers were balanced via Size and were only usable in Story mode. They are obtained in all game modes and the effects that they had were generally, "Give item" or stat increases. Spirits, on the other hand, have been shown to affect stats, abilities themselves, fighter properties, stage properties, etc. They appear available outside of the Story mode and obtainable only in story mode or their supported modes. Again, closest comparison is equipment, but it really is a loose comparison. That, and there is a consistent limit to the amount of spirits you can use. (1 primary and 1-3 secondary)
Brawl stickers are nothing like Spirits. I liked Brawl stickers, by the way. Made Subspace more interesting. No flinch stickers for life!
With the stages, that's just silly. "Of course it would be less." It's a direct comparison. And ultimate spent time not only improving old stages, but
remastering them. Layout is simple. Redoing all the assets for most of the non-N64 returning stages? That isn't a "hurt" situation. The stage addition count stands.
I understand why you might see that, in regards to engine. It's Smash 4's base engine, but it also appears to be revamped with a ton of tweaking. A lot of the models are either updated or outright new. I just can't see what you see, but then we might be looking at different things when we refer to the engine.
I disagree with the "with a smaller team" statement. We got more stages, with most of them completely re-vamped outside of layout, more new characters overall with more on the way, and, as per Reggie, another full story. Sure, we lost some modes, but I do fully believe that they may be includable later and/or were appropriate losses. Trophies I agree with, but then I understand the removal towards time gains as well. I can only imagine all the time that was spent gaining licensing for most of the roster.
Most of the characters are not clones or echoes. That's simply demonstrable fact and it can even be argued that some of the clone/echos aren't even really clone/echos. Ken is the strongest example there. As for new movesets no longer being needed, and stages, there is a ton of work that goes into updating those assets. And, for the most part, movesets were altered pretty heavily from the vets returning. Look at Wolf. Foundations are there, but actual moves are different on several moves. That's just an example. Also, I really hope you aren't saying that the assets of Brawl vets returning weren't taken straight from Brawl. That's just... Dude. They are clearly re-done.
Ultimate is bigger then Brawl and Smash 4. Spirits looks huge and we never know what they may add in the future. I've a feeling Spirits will scratch the 1p mode itch and Classic will be the most unique it's been ever. I can understand why some classic 1p modes were scrapped, but it's possible they may see a return. I enjoyed Home Run Contest as much as anyone, and I do miss the coin minigames from the previous entries. Even with that said, in my view, this game will have enough to keep solo players happy while also appealing to the competitive crowd.