:O 

Understandable though  

Half of the titles I don't even know and others like Dust, Machinarium or Amnesia don't match all the AAA standards.

Stuff like Brütal Legend is funded by EA, Stacking - THQ, Flower, Journey - Sony

Just because Doublefine is independent it doesn't mean all the games they make are indies. In that case you could say Bayonetta 2 and LittleBigPlanet 3 are inides.

Sorry but I guess we have to agree to disagree on this one (I still think you're a sexy motherfucker though) :-p

Because, if we take the same game, without changing losing its quality. It's clear that:

15h > 5h

nice 3d graphics > simple 2d graphics

good story with full voice acting > simple story with text

deep gameplay > limited gameplay

And like I said, I don't think that in this day and age an indie game with limited budget is able to deliver the same package as a big budget publisher funded AAA.

Just take your favorite indie, imagine it would be remade with a 50 million budget, without losing its "soul" or "essence". Wouldn't it be better than it already is?

Neh, for every great indie game, there are tons of bad ones so I don't really care much about most of them

"Hey guys, check out my new awesome indie game! It's a 2D platfo- *shot*"

That pretty much summarizes indies for me.. kinda wish we actually got some good indie games, with nice storylines and characters, something to actually build up a fandom to.

Agree with OP, but some of the posts in this thread enrage the fuck out of me.

Seriously, it makes me absolutely livid. Something as superficial as the status of a game's developer and or publisher determining its quality rather than you know the game being good or not..its comments like these that make me want another video game crash. {Expletive}s like you are the reason we can't have AAs any more.

I find interesting that this comment comes from a guy with a Mighty No. 9 avatar...

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.

Skyrim and Dragon Age have poor writing IMO, Skyrim also has shit combat and spotty quest design. Dark Souls 2 is only published by Namco in America and Europe, From Software put it out themselves in Japan. Mejesco only distributed the physical copies of the console version of the game, the PC version came out a full uear earlier it was co funded by Devolver Digital and government grants along with Flying Wild Hog's own money.  The Witcher games are fully funded and published by CD Projekt, they only use publishers for distribution of physical copies outside of Poland. That meets every criteria for an indie I have ever seen.