I don’t think it’s a hurdle preventing Yuri from getting in, it’s just something that would make me a little less hyped if he did. Maybe I’m underselling Yuri’s moveset potential. It has been a while since I played Vesperia, and while I did love Yuri as a character, I tended to use Rita Mordio to more often because I like her even more. That being said, I would still be happy if Yuri got in, just less so than Velvet.
Another example of a character I loved in his game but I don’t think would be overly interesting in Smash is Dunban from Xenoblade. Dunban was my favorite character but he is just another one handed sword user that doesn’t really have many flashy attacks when compared to other characters. I think Fiora would probably be a more interesting Smash character despite me liking Dunban more.
I’m not really against more sword fighters getting in, I just tend to prioritize characters with different fighting styles.
I respect your point.
At the same time, I'd say Yuri would definitely bring an unique concept moveset wise. Well, him and any Tales protagonist.
I mean, if he was to be in Smash and he just uses his sword, with very few Artes as part of his entire moveset and not being able to do combos in a similar fashion to what he can do in his game, then I'd also would rather have another character. But I assume that he would bring some Tales gameplay inspirations with him (which would also happen with Lloyd or Velvet), so I wouldn't be worried about that.
As far as I know we don't have any sword character that fights almost like a brawler and able to chain his different specials (which is something you can do in Tales). Then there are other mechanics such as mortal attacks or burst/altered Artes that I could see being a part of his Smash moveset, even if it could be hard to balance.
What I'm pretty sure is that he has moveset potential. Any Tales character would be toned down from what they're capable to do in their games, but even with that they could still offer a very cool concept as a fighter.
Worse case scenario, maybe Yuri could come with Repede? Not the most faithful representation of both characters, but it's not impossible, and after Pyra and Mythra fighting without Rex, which isn't the most frequent representation of both girls, I could see that happening if Sakurai has a hard time balancing a more combo focused moveset for Yuri.
PD: I also liked Rita a lot, though I still played as Yuri most of times.
