PAOerfulone said:
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. |
1. A series changing direction can work out and it has for Zelda but a key difference is BotW went in a direction that many fans liked since there were ones who preferred the more open Zelda's and loved exploring so it took that facet and built on it in a big way. Metroid fans in general and hell tons of video game fans in general don't want a quirky comic relief NPC following you around and suggesting what you should do so Prime 4's direction with that aspect doesn't seem like it'll please current Metroid fans or people not already into the series.
2. Some people might've gotten turned off but it being more beginner friendly than the previous two did little for it sales despite how much more successful the Wii was. The Prime Trilogy point is fair but it didn't sell that much and later in the Wii's life there was Other M which was even more beginner friendly and that one didn't do any better than Prime 3. Attempts to broaden appeal by adding NPCs, cutscenes and simplifying things hasn't worked and Dread barely outsold Prime 1 despite so many Nintendo series smashing sales records on the Switch so I really think it's just a case where a series is niche so to significantly increase mass appeal you'd have to make it lose its identity and basically turn it into a different series.
3. For some people the isolation and atmosphere is crucial to why they like the earlier Prime games and that's fine cause the reasons someone can get into a a piece of art can vary drastically. Others don't care much about those aspects and care way more about the exploration and combat which is also fine. Though in this case specifically it's more the quality of the NPCs since people largely didn't mind how Prime 3 handled it that much. If a TV series known for its seriousness and atmosphere suddenly added a quirky comic relief character that was spouting this sort of dialogue then that would understandably get a big backlash. I do think people should still wait and see how the rest of the implementation goes before giving up on it but as that trailer I posted earlier shows Miles will show up again after the beginning so it's currently up in the air how much of a presence he'll have long term.
Last edited by Norion - on 23 November 2025
