Which is best company games or indie games YOU decide

What do you prefer RPG's like KOTOR and Elder Scrolls or stuff like M&B??

  • Big company games eg. KOTOR

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Indie games eg. Mount&Blade

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • None of the above

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    0
  • Poll closed .

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Well, it's kinda two different things and all. Sure, Mount& Blade rocks ****-but so does KOTOR. So if i could say "both", that would be my choice.
 
Well considering that the question itself is already pretty suggestive... oh well. I voted for Indie games as they often incorporate the "innovation before graphics" principle which made computer games popular. Games like Mount & Blade may not have the newest DirectX 9.0 Ub0r Pwnz0r Graphics and Physics engine, but still are simply more fun to play because they are something new.
I mean, when did you see something really, and I mean REALLY innovative (a la Alter Ego or Way of the Samurai or the likes) from a big company? Sure, Lionhead still has some innovation, but in practice even their games are much less innovative than they seem (B&W was more of a populous meets Tamagotchi and The Movies is also not going to be as incredibly miraculous as the screenshots may suggest).
 
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.
 
Well, the Computer Game Industry came from being a whole lot of small firms and teams to today's corporate dominated industry - which is a sad development as it does, as you said, result in games solely serving to make money off of them or at least the licences connected with them (Valve, for example, makes more money of the Source Engine than off Half Life 2). However I also think you're right that, on the long term, the large studios will again split up in smaller groups and if we are lucky we might go back to quality gaming - indie titles are for sure the pioneers in that area.
 
KOTOR is crap and KOTOR2 was even worse.
there are lots of good large productions though
x-com 1,2
jagged alliance 1,2
fallout 1,2
TES 1-3
etc

sadly we only get to see a good big production every 2-3 years..
 
I love M&B but I don't like KOTOR. The only mainstream RPGs I like anymore are the Suikoden series, and IV was a joke so I am thinking even that is about to slip from my favor. The only people who truely know how to make a decent RPG anymore are the Indie developers.
 
Indie games often have more heart. The commercial game industry is getting stale, so I definately voted MB all the way.
 
Indie companies like Taleworlds generally have the most innovative games with high replay value. GTA1 was from a small indie company before getting huge.

Kotor was a great game with high production values..something you only get with big, well-funded companies like Bioware. Didn't do anything new but everything it did was refined to Nth degree. Story was open ended and huge, flashy combat/sounds/voice acting, etc. It was RPG of the year and GOTY on many lists, and I don't disagree it was the best RPG of 2003.
 
i am seeing a trend develop in this thread: indie devs are innovative, corporate devs have polish. and i would completely agree with this. games like GTA 1 and Halflife came from then no-name devs and made something truly groundbreaking (and i would pose that most devs before 95-96 were much more indie than corporate thus why so many classic games seem so superior to the gameplay offered today, that and its harder to come up with new ideas now since so much more has been done).

meanwhile the big name devs like bioware and valve post-HL suddenly have the money to put the extra mile into the little things that create more of an interactive movie than just a game.

i dont know that the question is which is better, but more which do you prefer? the gems that come from corporate devs are amazing and sometimes do manage to innovate in some way or another. but finding a little gem like M&B can really instill a sense of hope for the future of gaming despite its rough edges.
 
Personally I'd say big companies, from my experience with most indy games M & B is an exception (in that it's not overpriced garbage that wouldn't have sold in 1997 nevermind now).

Really so many commercial games I love, so few Indies, I mean 400 studios, Grey Dog and this are really the only indy outfits I know of who's games don't suck.
 
garlar said:
hmm mount and blade lol i dont know what kotor is
Knights Of The Old Republic

On topic, I've found that I don't particularly like either, but more of the games I like have come from big companies. Metroid Prime, Rouge Leader (not Rebel Strike, they screwed that up) and the rest of the games I love come from big companies, but I also love M&B. So my stance is basically judge the game by playing, not by its devs.
 
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