Thief wrote: The public has never liked shenmue.
I disagree. Well, depends what you mean by public. If you're referring to all people who play games (including mobas), then yeah I agree. However, if you consider the public to be anyone who regularly follows gaming news and has heard of or goes out their way to play Shenmue, then I'm sure the majority have a positive opinion on it. And, if anything, that target market has become larger today. I find that those who dislike Shenmue tend to be a vocal minority who over emphasise its flaws for comedic or controversial reasons. Then there are those who don't care about the game but just hate Kickstarter. However, just look at youtubers, people who post on forums etc who have just played the game blind; they tend to enjoy it.
It's also clear that Shenmue is a game best played alone the first time; those who record themsleves playing through it alone tend to have a more positive opinion than those who stream/play it with others on camera. For examples, compare Joel from Vinesauce, Vashzaron, Rock Paper Mario, Bonefoot and Goodbye18000's playthroughs with Game Informer, Giant Bomb and Funhaus's. These are all people who played it blind (mentioning GT wouldn't count); the Ines who played it alone liked/loved it. This is because such an immersive game is best played alone (ie you wouldn't play a JRPG with others usually). A little off-topic, but goes to show that maybe it's not as rare to like shenmue with no attachment to the series as one might think.
Whilst I do believe Shenmue can be considered niche, I do think its niche is over exaggerated at times. There is definitely demand out there for ''slice-of-life'' games; just look at the sales of The Sims, Harvest Moon, Animal Crossing and the recent Stardew Valley. Something about those games draws us to them. Even Persona starting selling a lot better after Persona 3, which included slice-of-life stuff.
Sorry if I rambled haha