Darkfyre
Raphael is both my fav and my best character. I had actually decided I liked Raph best before I got the game because of concept art, screenshots, and comments by people who had already played the game. I picked him purely for style. Then I started training and stuff with Raphael, and now I can do pretty much anything with him. I also like Yoshimitsu and Cervantes a lot, though I'm not as good with them as I am wih Raph.
I don't like any of the 'extra' characters (Link, Heihachi, Spawn, Necrid) because they don't really fit in the SC storyline. I don't really like the way they play either. I'm currently practising a lot with Voldo to learn his moves, so I can counter them more effectively.
One character that never stops surprising me is Voldo. For some reason, only Voldo players can crush me on a regular base. Ivy can be nasty as well, sometimes.
I think SC2 is really a game that you should play against other players. The single player modes are too easy, even on a high difficulty level. Even though the Weapon Master Mode is fun, and it's nice to see the endings for each character, it doesn't really provide the challenge a real opponent does. Even on the hardest difficulty setting you can freak out the CPU with certain moves, and beat them with simple tactics. The fact that the CPU sometimes almost automatically GIs against attacks, can be abused too easily. (kgK, for example) Also it's way too easy to follow the same pattern over an over again. With Raphael for example, you can abuse his 6BBB against the CPU almost forever, and when they block you just leave off the last B to prevent a GI. I've beat the entire Raph arcade mode on highest difficulty without using any other attack than the 6BB(B) and G...
Since you seem to be most knowledgeable on Raphael's character...
He is my favorite to play with, although I am better with Mitsurugi.
While fighting Raphael (CPU) on hard, he did a lot of spinny type evasion moves. As I found these very neat, after I had beaten the arcade mode ect ect I moved on to his move list to see what in hell the button combinations were.
It says "Preperation I: During preperation IV"
there is no preperation IV ;.; all the preperations are used DURING other preperations, which are not listed on the move list. Am I missing something?