We see how it can be dangerous and self-defeating to choose a game with many features and reduce the amount of content in that game. And, because some features are so time-consuming to develop, it's also dangerous to choose a fully featured game and start stripping features to reduce the scope of our project.

A much better approach, and one that you'll have much more success with, is to start with a game that has zero features, and then add them slowly, one by one. Using this approach, you can decide when your game is good enough to unleash on your players, and any additional features you had planned can go into the sequel. This is a winning approach that will see you through many small victories, and many finished games!