Do you think indies make a difference on consoles this gen?

To me the answer is BIG FAT STERN NO.

Indies of console variety are very limited in scope and have also a limited appeal. On this barren wasteland of faux-avantgarde, serious space exploration games like No Man's Sky seem like an epiphany, but there's still very little of it.

I have never been compelled to really play even one indie game on a console this gen.

THEY ARE A NON-FACTOR TO ME, THEY DON'T EXIST EVEN IN MY SUBCONSCIOUSNESS THE SAME WAY THE AWARENESS OF ROMAN CATHOLIC HOLIDAYS NO MATTER HOW BIG DOESN'T REGISTER IN AN ATHEIST MIND.

The best indie games, to me, are still to be found exclusively on PCs, mainly strategy games and RPG-like games, including sandbox ones.

Will this trend reverse and we will witness a somewhat respectable indie library like last gen? Or will we be perpetually confined to one trick ponies totally not worth their initial price of admission?

I turn on my PS4 ... and I have 20+ games....

only 2 of which are not PS+/Indie games.... that I couldn't already get on my PC ages ago. similar outcome applies to my vita but even that currently has more unique games than my PS4.

I would agree on the "no" .... there are some indie gems... but as you said, the scope of indie games that work on consoles is small.... so it ends up being quite "samey".