Immense contribution as always. Thank you very much, Switch! This additional information about the essence of Shenmue hasn't been shared before, and it is one to progressively reflect upon as time go by.
[...] human eyes represent one of the most sensitive and delicate parts of the human body and functions [...] "a full-action game having a sensitive point of view".
Shenmue is full of and has delicate details for the delicate and sensitive eyes of the player; both the world and the player react to each other; the world reacts to the interactions of the player, and the player reacts to images/messages of the world.
I don't agree with the "full-action" part; Shenmue's aesthetic is generally calm/relaxed immersion in a nostalgic or exotic atmosphere.
"What’s really important is communicating a message to the people that play, and the thing I’m most afraid of is that the message I want to tell gets disrupted for some reason like the game being too difficult . For this day and age, I want to properly convey to children those precious things that should be held dear. That’s the strong wish I have, and I hope to be able to make that kind of story." (emphasis mine)
The main-stream and the majority of the mass public considers Shenmue as "boring", because of: the slow pacing (you need patient, concetration, focus and you have to wait); the low frequency of fights etc. I wonder if Yu Suzuki never thought of including elements that will entertain the masses. However, I don't think so. I believe he was fully aware, and that is reflected in this interview :
[...] From the very beginning, just with that, they told me that my game will not sell. But we went even further!
Yu Suzuki has a pioneer spirit. For example, he changed the audience in the arcades with Hang On. I believe he wanted to change the market/audience (who plays entertainment software and what?) once again, with a project of a massive scale, in order to impact a certain part of the masses.
Even nowadays the mass public neglects the appeal of Shenmue and ridicules it and its fans. From experience, this happen when something has spirit. And Shenmue has spirit. It's not the game-play that changes people's lives. But the information/messages, emotions, empathy and everything that touches the player's heart, and is not necessarily reflected as data, scores etc in-game. But it's part of the player's psyche and memories.
Yu Suzuki undestood that from the point of view of the players, in this interview , and lately with all the pouring of fans' deep love of Shenmue through the Kickstarter that was also expressed creatively (videos, art etc):
When we made the game, we put a lot of feelings.
Interactive story-telling/narrative/fiction seems to have a long way to go to become one of the main ways for the mass public to have entertainment. But lately things seem to change. And titles like Beyond: Two Souls, Life is Strange, Until Dawn etc are becoming million sellers and critically acclaimed. While general game buffs turn their face to the idea of this, a certain part of the mass public are charmed by the same idea to interact with worlds that is more about to feel empathy with humanness, than mainly having challenges to beat and win.
The words from Robin Hunicke (co-creator of Journey ) really reverberate the desires of these underserved players:
“Our culture is one that prides itself on the immediacy of everything, from hamburgers to information. That expectation and hunger for feedback right now causes challenges for game designers who want to encourage players to slow down , think , and feel emotions that are deeper – or at least different – than quick adrenaline shots.”