How, HOW do you understand all this???

This fucking game is the most convoluted fighter I've ever played in my life. I like the style and all that, but OMG it's so unnecessarily complicated. There's like 4 different kinds of counters alone, there's high, normal, and low guarding, etc. I just wanna know your secrets, I played one online match and got absolutely curb stomped. Keep in mind, I'm someone who can do those stupidly complex street fighter combos, so I'm not new to this kinda stuff, but I'm completely lost on all of this. I've got the basics down (after sitting in the training area for like 2 hours), but I haven't even scratched the surface. Is this like... normal to all of you? Are you able to comprehend what's happening? Cause I'm sure as hell not.