Don't hate on indies!

[ghettoglamour]

zarx said:

 

Tho those are stupid requirements, hell most AAA games from big publishers don't even meet all of them. Divinity: Original Sun and Wasteland 2 definitely meet them tho. With 50+ hour campaigns, 3D graphics, good writing (better than most AAA games anyway), voice acting (tho not fully voiced, but you never specified fully voiced), deeper gameplay mechanics than most AAA games (especially Divinity). The Witcher 2 is another, in fact it beats most AAA games in it's genre in most of those requirements.  The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing 1 & 2 are kinda there as well but the story is deliberately chessy B-Movie style.

Depending on your definition of indie Dark Souls 2 would also count, was self published in Japan. Shadow Warrior (2013) as well of you don't count Devolver Digital as a proper publisher which they aren't really as they don't have any creatuve oversite and they didn't even have an office until last year.

I am not sure why you would rather have a mediocre game that ticks all the boxes than a exelent one that executes it's concept brilliantly within it's constraints. Transistor may only be around 6 hours long and have 2D art, but it has great innovative gameplay, better writing than 90% of AAA games, great voice acting and music and it's art is fantastic and works perfectly for the gameplay. just because it doesn't tick off everything off a arbitary 60$ AAA game checklist doesn't make it any lesser of an experiance. Plus it's only 20$ so for a third of the price you get a third of the length so that is fair. The story didn't need to be longer anyway and probably would have been ruined by the padding. And there is a new game+ option that allows you to get deeper into the gameplay. Games are experiances, not washing machines.

Dark Souls 2 is published by Namco, Shadow Warrior is a mediocre game published by Majesco Games. The Witcher indie game? Please...

Transistor I've platinumed myself, it's a good game - but great writing? Lol I don't even know what's going on there -  but it's no Skyrim or Dragon Age (assuming Transistor is an RPG). Using your own words, it's a "lesser experience" imo.

A great AAA title meets all my requirements, a mediocre one obviously doesn't (there are expections of course, like Heavy Rain). And I never said would rather play a mediocre AAA instead of a great indie. But a great AAA beats a great indie, no discussion.