I suppose we can agree on that. It's like saying this is an Atlus game without explaining all the differences and nuance in the way everyone say hard action games is a soulslike game when it doesn't fit. 

If there is one thing about modern gaming is there is no clear definitions of genres now and even subhenres are blending together. People are pulling out old games like Legend Of Dragoon, Lost oddessy and other trying to pin this game down, even Sekiro and Souls is mentioned. How do you define something like Dace the Diver or Nier Automata, you can't pin it down or recently Khazan, all you can do with that is compare it to a blend of Sekiro, Souls and Nioh 2 to get an idea of what you're explaining. 

With the above said, I think party focused, turnbased JRPGs are the the best to compare Expedition 33 to, a Persona/Metaphor lite game but with an asterix that it is also a skill based game or perhaps a rythymm game on top.

I'm just few hours in and ... wow. This is one of the most unique experiences I had in a LOOONG time, and I don't even like JRPGs that much. 10/10 so far

^ Exactly @Kristof81 (quote won't work) Non JRPG gamers will enjoy this and I hope the word gets out to those gamers that it transcends genres and if you're a gamer who likes games of varying genres there's a really solid chance you'll enjoy this. There's a lot in here, games like Journey and what not, plus it's an effortless game. I'm not saying it's not difficult at times, it just feels effortless even if you fail a few attempts on a boss. No punishment. 

@OT. I've hit 30 hours which is the estimate for the game but only at 67% completion on the games home page. I know those figure can slow down and speed up but I feel I have a chunk left yet. Got side tracked a few times and attempted many a super boss sometimes with success, sometimes not. I'm level 44 and I see people under 50 hours at level 99 so I don't know how that works or if playing on expert effect the experience I get. Anyway, being away from this game is a real pain. Getting on for the entire evening now hopefully and just going to get lost in the bliss of the game.

There are 403 professional credits for this game, granted a non-insignificant portion of these are from publishing, localization, music and voice acting

This not a small-developed team game by any means. I would classify it as an AA game, it has an workforce similar sized with It Takes Two (624 professional credits), Astrobot (514 professional credits), Psychonauts 2 (674 professional credits) and A Plague Tale: Requiem (639 professional credits)

Nonethless, looks like a fantastic game. I'll be playing it soon

I haven't played many "JRPG's" so I don't know how unusual this is, but I really appreciate in this game how consumables behave like Estus in the Souls games rather than being gone forever unless you buy more. It actually encourages you to use them once in a while instead of being in this situation for yet another game:

[

The examples you give have somewhere between 25-50% or more contributors. Would not call that similar

The game has Souls like side content but where Souls is obtuse and confusing to engage with and keep track of this is all so natural, there is a LOT more of it, like many many hours but what's fantastic is it all remains in your mind, even quests I started ten hours or more ago, I find myself coming across something new and going, oh yeah, that fits with that thing from some hours back. I have not once got the urge to look at a guide. It flows so well into itself and none of it is marked or holding your hand so there is this sense of wonder but oddly enough, unlike Souls you always know exactly when you've wrapped a side quest with a feeling of closure snd finality, no exhausting dialogue wondering was there more to it. This is how video games should be designed and I really, really hope this isn't some fluke and there was purpose in what they have done here and it becomes one of those games other devs study and pull from after understanding what exactly in its design is making it so great. Regardless of whether it was a fluke, it should be directed, there isn't an open world, action or RPG sub genre that wouldn't benifet from so aspect of this game.

Now, what I don't like is I'm going to have to run through the main quest path again to 100% this game and that means many low level enemies along the way which will either become tedious or a matter of dodging around them to the point, I'll spend muvh time running around the map to certain enemies I skipped and paths I didn't take. It's a tad bit confusing right now what exactly I have to do in that regard or was there some random Mime I missed in some random branching path of a random level but I'm going to try as much as I can organically before I get a guide on that path to make sure I don't have to do it a third time. Another fault, is there is one part of the game that has you fight a random merchant to unlovk all his items, like a dozen times. I don't know what they were thinking there, it's the exact same fight. 

On a positive note, there is an endless dungeon and it increases in increments that are really demanding, it's so much fun to test yourself and attempt to get further. 

It's surely similar. When you look at the workforce of industry AAA games they all approaching 2 thousand people in workforce. I will agree with Shikamaru347 words, nowadays the biggesdt games are no longer AAA, they are AAAA

Real "indie" games are bellow 30 people, discounting workforce witth things like localization 

Clair Obscure is much closer to the games I listed than something like Celeste or Hades

I don't know about this, Blue point is like 100 max and while they remake games it's clearly at AAA level but anyway, yeah, I knew after 10 hours of this game there had to be much more man power behind CO E33. This is kinda like black myth Wu Kong, they started small, added members every few months and ended up with a large ammount of people behind the project but it's hard to gauge if you can call it AA or AAA by any standard asides from the price. SandFall seem to have gotten funding from somewhere at some point for the talent they brought in and the work they contracted but this project seems like it evolved over time into something bigger much like Wu Kong. 

Also, noone is comparing to Hades or Celeste, they seem like odd games to pull out for comparison. 

The AA, AAA or AAAA moniker doesn't really mean that much to me honestly. It's really a western thing invented by marketing. You never hear companies like Capcom or Nintendo use those therms.

At best it means 'How much money we've thrown at it', but doesn't say anything how good or fun a game really is. Or in other words the quality of the experience.

At 400 or so contributors (in some shape or form) to bring this game to market, it looks like quite an impressive feat for what is delivered. Most of those are roles were not full-time involved during the creation of the game, but that is normal for game credits in general. Including those that list 2000.