i have seen games do all of thoses. Socom 4 can be argued as an dumb down, imbred with cod, deviation from the core gameplay and an tiny upgrade to an few aspects like graphics.
Really i have never understood "Dumming down" an making it accessable. Because this alienates current fans and potiental buyers that they aren't good enough and moving out to dum down your gameplay is an very risky venture because you can tend to go way too far.
If your game wasn't accessible to the causal auidence but some much hard core gamers bought the game but didn't reach the sales potiental. then either dont make an sequal and make an new game or make an sequel but improve not go back wards and you can attact an larger auidence, many games have done this and done sucessful.
Of Course That's Just My Opinion, I Could Be Wrong
