[Opinion]I think people are overreacting over the whole Metroid Prime 4 NPC situation

[PAOerfulone]

Norion said:

Why does it need to be more beginner/newcomer friendly? There's nothing wrong with a series being a bit hardcore other than its sales potential being reduced and an established series getting dumbed down to try to appeal to the masses is a bad thing artistically. Like just imagine if one of your favourite video game series had an element you loved about it stripped away to appeal more to general audiences. That sort of thing happening will bother basically anyone.

I don't even fully agree with the premise that Prime 1 is bad for newcomers since it was the 6th best-selling game on the Gamecube and was a notable system seller for the platform and one of the most beloved games on it. And the idea that adding NPCs is necessary to increase mass appeal for the series doesn't hold much water considering that Prime 3 only sold half as much as Prime 1 and not much more than Prime 2 despite the install base difference of the Wii and Gamecube and the former having a higher percentage of casual gamers owning it. Metroid is just a bit of a niche series and that's completely fine.

If anything it wouldn't surprise me if these NPCs make Prime 4 sell worse than if they weren't there since it's a game series with a bit of a hardcore fanbase and this one is doing something that a significant percentage of them dislike or even hate and the previews would've been extremely positive without this aspect. A somewhat niche series angering its established fanbase to try to appeal to more people can easily backfire with some of the fanbase avoiding it and it not really doing better with general audiences. If the goal is to try to increase mass appeal then there's surely a better way to go about it.

1. Because you need more newcomers and players in order for the franchise to grow and continue steadily and not stagnate or fade into obscurity and eventual death. You think Zelda fans were pleased to see dungeons practically non-existent in BotW and TotK? Or the green tunic replaced by a more general blue shirt and no hat? Those are the kind of decisions/sacrifices that need to be made to appeal to a wider base and help your franchise reach the heights you know it's capable of reaching. 

2. Prime 1 will kick your ass if that's the first Metroid game and unless you're stubborn, bull-headed, and driven to overcome it like I was - Almost everyone else will drop it and not give it a second glance. That's precisely why Prime 2, which is even LESS beginner-friendly, sold much less than Prime 1 and one of the reasons why Prime 3 sold less than Prime 1 - People were turned off by Prime 1's difficulty/learning-curve. The other reason? The Metroid Prime Trilogy came out just two years after Prime 3 did and you could get ALL THREE Prime games for $60. So why waste your money on just the third game, when you can get all three in one package at the same price? That totally knee-capped Prime 3's legs.

3. If these NPCs are seriously a reason why hardcore fans don't purchase Prime 4 - A game they've been begging and clamoring for 18 years. If they're THAT angry about an NPC that you'll barely see after the tutorial, if at all - then they weren't that serious about buying it or weren't going to buy it to begin with. I'm sorry, but that just comes across as pathetic, petty, and petulant to me.