Before I played Bastion I had seen some gameplay footage, seen the "narrator" gimmick and felt more or less the same way you do about Transistor but once I played it, I felt drawn to the world and the subtle yet simple ways that the world was built, both figuratively and literally around the main character and I found it to have more charm, creativity and ingenuity than you could squeeze out of most AAA games of the past console generation.
I don't think that with both Bastion or Transistor you can truly understand and value them unless you play them first hand and explore them at your own pace. Journey was similarly priced, was a relatively short experience but one that I repeated and a game that marked me much more than others, just as Bastion did, so I guess the question lies with what you value in a game.