There are plenty of changes that could have been made to Samurai to address button bloat:


Have Shoha upgrade to Shoha II with a high potency plus AE fall-off damage

Combine Shinten and Kyuten into 1 ability with high potency plus AE fall-off damage

Have Tsubame replace Iaijutsu after using Iaijutsu

Combine Guren and Senei into a single attack with high potency plus AE fall-off damage

Combine Gyoten and Yaten into an ability similar to Icarus/Thunderclap that just takes you to a target

Have Ogi Namakiri replace Ikishoten


but the idea that Kaiten was removed because of "button bloat" was a misunderstanding/mistranslation. It was removed due to _action bloat_. It was just another button you had to press before every Iaijutsu and was one of the most used abilities as a SAM (though, that just means that instead of pressing Kaiten 10 times, you'll press Shinten 8 more times. So.... I imagine a Kenki generation "balancing" is coming)