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What games do you prefer?

  • AAA <Michael Bay’s explosion>

    Votes: 662 56.2%
  • AA

    Votes: 288 24.5%
  • Indie

    Votes: 227 19.3%

  • Total voters
    1,177

SprachBrooks

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,353
You're the same as me — I only play AAA games. I find they're the ones that offer the most in terms of pushing the boundaries of consoles can do etc.
 

leng jai

Member
Nov 2, 2017
15,114
As usual this thread basically just ended up being people telling us they find AAA games boring/too mainstream and they only find unique games with small budgets appealing. According to this thread you'd think every AAA game is basically Ghost Recon Wildlands. There's obviously a lot of derivative ones but at the end of the day it's better to have more money and resources put into something as long as you have the right developer.

if anything this thread is more like genre preferences. If you like shooters or open world games you sure as hell prefer "AAA" budgets. A lot of indie/AA games would be way better with more money put into them as well, but they just aren't popular enough to justify it.
 
Oct 25, 2017
11,665
United Kingdom
AAA to Indie and everything in between, including VR, I play pretty much anything really.

There are so many good games now days, I don't limit myself to just one type.
 

rochellepaws

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,448
Ireland
I play whatever interests me without any regard for the kind of budget it had, though I generally enjoy AA games the most for being more creative and ambitious in gameplay and story aspects.
 

Deleted member 18407

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,607
As usual this thread basically just ended up being people telling us they find AAA games boring/too mainstream and they only find unique games with small budgets appealing. According to this thread you'd think every AAA game is basically Ghost Recon Wildlands. There's obviously a lot of derivative ones but at the end of the day it's better to have more money and resources put into something as long as you have the right developer.

if anything this thread is more like genre preferences. If you like shooters or open world games you sure as hell prefer "AAA" budgets.
Smaller budgets can lead to innovation through necessity. I do not agree that bigger budgets always make something better.
 
Oct 25, 2017
3,959
Osaka, Osaka
I tend not to like the AAA Western stuff.

I dont know what you consider Nintendo, Capcom, and other Japanese high budget games to be, but I like those.


This year I bought Madden, Star Wars, and Call of Duty, which has shocked friends of mine. I like each one, though I feel like the way each one of the three was made leads to things I dont like about them.
 
Jun 26, 2018
3,829
Thread title got a hearty laugh out of me, thanks OP :) Naw, you're no way near in the minority when it comes to liking AAA games, just keep in mind that people can like AAA and other things at the same time ;)
 

Franco_Tech

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,742
I play everyting but sadly I'm not to much anymore on indies, I was a fan of them in the last gen era. But now to many good AAA and innovative AA games that had not buy a full price indie games in years. Maybe some of them on sales.
 

leng jai

Member
Nov 2, 2017
15,114
Smaller budgets can lead to innovation through necessity. I do not agree that bigger budgets always make something better.

More resources can alleviate budget limitations and expand the possibilities/scope of game. It goes both ways.

As I keep saying it depends on who the developer is and now they use it. Is the new Pokémon game better because they didn't spend as much money/resources on it?
 

MaverickHunterAsh

Good Vibes Gaming
Verified
Oct 24, 2017
1,388
Los Angeles, CA.
I play everything, but my tastes and especially favorite genres are more well-represented in the indie scene, so I tend to spend the majority of my gaming time these days with indie titles. The main game I'm playing right now is Dragon Quest XI S, though, so like I said, I'm good with AAA titles (mostly Japanese ones, occasionally Western) as well.
 

DGS

Member
Nov 2, 2017
2,264
Tyrol
This year I've played...

AAA: Resident Evil 2, Days Gone, Control, Death Stranding, Destiny 2 Shadowkeep

AA: Surviving Mars: Green Planet, A Plague Tale: Innocence, Spyro the Dragon

Indie: Kingdom Two Crowns, They are Billions, Sheltered

Surviving Mars, Kingdom Two Crowns and They are Billions are easily my most played games this year.

Still pretty balanced, I guess.
 

Deleted member 25606

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
8,973
This thread made me realize that the only AAA game I bought in 2019 was RE2, lol.
You played Death Stranding yet? I figure you might gel with it.

And I thought it was a good year for triple a I bought three full price day 1 (RE2, Sekiro, Death Stranding) and all three are excellent beyond my hands not being able to handle Sekiro.
 

litebrite

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
21,832
I'm more into if if the game is highly polished and if it executes well what it's aiming for. Ori and the Blind Forest to Inside to Cuphead is just as compelling to look at and play as Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order
 

Manzoli

Member
Oct 27, 2017
333
Brazil
I used to only play AAA games when i was primary a PC gamer. Ever since i sold my PC and went Switch only I've learned to enjoy smaller games since there's not a ton of AAA games there

I like it. If it wasn't for this change maybe i wouldn't ever be able to know the masterpiece that is hollow Knight.

I still love AAA, but I can enjoy smaller games just as much now.
 

Khanimus

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
40,113
Greater Vancouver
Most AAA releases are boring and unimaginative as shit. Not to say there aren't afew alright-to-great ones every year, but there is so much recycled shit, especially with the lean-in towards GaaS models in the worst ways.
 

CaviarMeths

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,655
Western Canada
Definitely not the minority. Most console gamers, both on Era and off, are only interested in AAA. That's why AAA games have sales figures with 2 commas and indie games only have 1.

Personally, I don't care much for most AAA games these days. Not to get overly cynical here, but what it basically comes down to is that AAA games have massive budgets, and therefore need to have massive audiences. Publishers are wary to even greenlight games at that budget level that don't already have a massive built-in audience or come with a pre-approved list of marketable features. A lot of those features, such as heavy reliance on cinematic storytelling, open world environments, and gritty, realistic violence, are not really my thing. There's also the tendency for AAA games to have already market-proven gameplay and game design with very little experimentation in that area.
 

Raskol

Member
Sep 5, 2018
686
I like all types of games, budget-wise. But I think the strongest games are generally AAA.
 

pagrab

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,005
The poll lacks the option for "I like both". There are months when I crave for some technological eye-candy and want a familiarity of a conventionalized genre. There are months when I want to play something uniquely looking with original mechanics.
 

RedSeim

Banned
Sep 24, 2019
65
I think most people on this forum think the same as you. I love every style of game, but i do think that AAA is being really conservative and samey nowadays.



Most independent games these days are beatiful.
Beautiful? No doubt they are. Realistic? No they aren't.

And please, don't missunderstand me. I do play some indie games. I just say that I usually focus on AAA games because a realistic graphical approach catches my eye much more.
 

erlim

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,502
London
When I have the time to play games, I usually to play AAA games. I enjoy the polish and presentation. Of course I'll play anything, but the ones that often end up holding my attention and drawing me in are usually the AAA tier games.
 

Aaron D.

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,291
You played Death Stranding yet? I figure you might gel with it.

And I thought it was a good year for triple a I bought three full price day 1 (RE2, Sekiro, Death Stranding) and all three are excellent beyond my hands not being able to handle Sekiro.

I'm waiting on Death Stranding PC as I don't own any consoles. It's my most-anticipated upcoming AAA title by a pretty wide margin.

Hope my comment didn't come off as being snobby or anything. I just gel better with the AA/indie scene.

Still, I do dabble with the AAA titles now and again. REALLY enjoyed Doom 2016, Hitman 1 & 2 and Fallout 4 from years past.

And will be all over Death Stranding, Cyberpunk and Doom Eternal in 2020.
 

Patapuf

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,394
As usual this thread basically just ended up being people telling us they find AAA games boring/too mainstream and they only find unique games with small budgets appealing. According to this thread you'd think every AAA game is basically Ghost Recon Wildlands. There's obviously a lot of derivative ones but at the end of the day it's better to have more money and resources put into something as long as you have the right developer.

if anything this thread is more like genre preferences. If you like shooters or open world games you sure as hell prefer "AAA" budgets. A lot of indie/AA games would be way better with more money put into them as well, but they just aren't popular enough to justify it.

I don't think genre plays that much of a factor aside from stuff that just inherently raises up the minimum required budget like having a huge open world or lots of liscencing rights.

When you can do good work even with modest budgets (compared to 50 Million$+ AAA projects) i feel like it becomes more obvious that having a huge budget can also be a constraint due to how many people you need to appeal to.

In RPG's for example, a lot of smaller / mid sized budget games just have straight up better mechanics/stories than the mass market stuff. And that's not a genre that's underserved by big publishers.

There's also a higher likelyhood of discovering new stuff in small games. AAA games tend to be way more conservative in their approach. If you've been playing games for a while, the established genre conventions can look stale just by virtue of them being around for so long.

I'm not of the opinion that AAA stuff is all crap though, i have the franchises i like.
 
Last edited:

m_dorian

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,403
Athens, Greece
No option to vote.
I don't think about it. It is a case by case basis
If the concept of a game interests me then the game gains value in my eyes.

I think that one will be more safer going after AAA games but i kind of like the innovative efforts and experimentation i often find in AA and indies whether there are gameplay mechanics or narration.

A bigger budget game doesn't necessarily mean a good or better game, plenty of examples here as, of course, we see horrible AAs and indies all the time.
 

RestEerie

Banned
Aug 20, 2018
13,618
Sorry, i only play SSS tier games.

devil-may-cry-5-mission-s-rank.jpg
 

Gelf

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,290
I'll just play what I'm interested in which vary a lot budget wise. I need variety in my life so indie and mid tier certainly provide types of gameplay that something going for a broad audience won't dare touch.

As a general rule this forum is absolutely focused on AAA as it loves big first party releases from Sony and Nintendo more than anything else. I do sometimes feel out of place here having little interest in much of either.
 

ffvorax

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,855
Depends... I cant care less about any Multiplayer game, or COD, or Assassins Creed, etc... so most of the famous games.
But I love SP experiences, so AAA for these like Spiderman, God of War, Pokemon...
Also love many indie or lower budget projects.
I could say i am in the middle.
 

Avantgarde

Member
Oct 27, 2017
486
While I'm not sure my estimations are always correct about every game's budget, which is AA and which is AAA, I think it's safe to say the vast majority of my favorite and most played games are AAA. The only AA games I buy and play regularily are the ones that cover niches underexplored by the AAA developers (like economic simulators or point&click adventures).

Looking at my games collection I see a clear trend of buying less and less over the years, in general, and the percent of purchased AA games is decreasing even faster. With a lot of AAA games at my disposal in my favorite series, and with my spare time shrinking, I am less inclined to experiment with smaller titles in the "could have been great with a bigger budget" category.
 

MickZan

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,404
I prefer AAA-games over AA and indie. I do play indie games and some AA-games though. Just the one's that are completely in my range of interest. On a AAA-scale i sometimes play games in genres i normally don't like.
 

twinspectre

Member
Nov 30, 2019
32
You can play what you want, but If you don't want to miss great games I suggest you to do what I do. I play all games I don't label these games AAA/AA/Indies because for me games are games :)
 

Deleted member 27315

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 30, 2017
1,795
There are one man made games that are better than games made by hundreds of people. This is kind of meaningless to me, personally speaking.
Of course but the odds are with the 200 people who make games with way bigger production values. I mean an indie game could be a side quest for those games.

Sometimes we confuse AAA movies vs Indies with games. It's not the same. Games need money and people to work with them, way more than movies.
 

texhnolyze

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,143
Indonesia
In RPG's for example, a lot of smaller / mid sized budget games just have straight up better mechanics/stories than the mass market stuff. And that's not a genre that's underserved by big publishers.

There's also a higher likelyhood of discovering new stuff in small games. AAA games tend to be way more conservative in their approach. If you've been playing games for a while, the established genre conventions can look stale just by virtue of them being around for so long.

I'm not of the opinion that AAA stuff is all crap though, i have the franchises i like.
Yeah, it's a fact that we never get a proper AAA RPG anymore these days. Even The Witcher 3, as much as I adore it, is not as depth as what we usually call RPGs back then.

That said, I'm not denying that there's some merits in big budget too. But some games are just not possible anymore in AAA scope.
 

z1ggy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,182
Argentina
I recently bought:

- Death Stranding
- Gris
- Disco Elysium
- Days Gone
- Star Wars Jedi Fallen order
- The Outer Worlds (well, played it on game pass PC)

So i dont care about if its AAA, AA or indie.
 

Chaos2Frozen

Member
Nov 3, 2017
28,010
While I don't need a game to be AAA, An indie game has to try really really hard for me to pay attention to it

Or just have mecha
 

Ryu_Ken

Member
Oct 30, 2017
1,782
I'm the same and a self confessed graphics whore. I have no interest in playing a game with 8/16 bit graphics I played 25 years ago.
 

FaceHugger

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
13,949
USA
I don't know. Think that with a forum with this many users there's probably no clear majority.

I myself look to indies and smaller developers for RPGS and adventure (Stardew Valley, really interested in Witchbrook, Disco Elysium, etc), but I love love love the huge AAA games too.
 

Deleted member 25606

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
8,973
I'm waiting on Death Stranding PC as I don't own any consoles. It's my most-anticipated upcoming AAA title by a pretty wide margin.

Hope my comment didn't come off as being snobby or anything. I just gel better with the AA/indie scene.

Still, I do dabble with the AAA titles now and again. REALLY enjoyed Doom 2016, Hitman 1 & 2 and Fallout 4 from years past.

And will be all over Death Stranding, Cyberpunk and Doom Eternal in 2020.
No nothing offensive, your just one of the posters who's opinions I listen too and I forgot your PC, I do look forward to seeing what you think of it.