I think a better example of big company games would be anything EA (LOTR: Return of the King) or GTA: San Andreas. KOTOR had a pretty sucky battle system: the characters were too powerful, and, given that it's realtime and pausable, you didn't have access to more refined strategies than rushing the enemies. The story was nothing special, character development: fairly interesting, but what could've really been improved, is the possibility of a branching plot. You always have a good/beutral/evil answer, and it doesn't matter what kind of character you have, you'll always have the same paths open to you. But in Fallout, for example, you could intimidate people with a high Strength, or talk your way past them with high Charisma.
But I'm deviating from the topic. So.
In short: there were good "company" games, a few years ago. There are some nowadays, too, but fewer. The games that are created only bearing the possible profit in mind usually suck, but there are still some innovative designers that are willing to break away from the rules and common formulas. Ever wonder why the founder's of big companies quitting and founding another team (Blizzard, Interplay)? I say we're going to witness a revolution soon.
The bad thing about independent developers is that sometimes they create something great, and you start to wonder what could have possibly been achieved with a greater budget and bigger team. This is the case of this very game.