Alot of gamers can look past graphics if the gameplay is really good and the game has it's layers of depth. They like learning things at times and they look at how things tend to move and flow. An example is quake, lets face it, quake is a very, very old game. But if you watch someone play on a speed run, even, it's actually very entertaining to see them just move through the levels like a ninja. City of heroes had solid gameplay, just needed the graphics but when you look at all the powers it had...
Just look at us, many of us here have been unwilling to touch CO or even DCUO, which has the mighty Unreal engine 3, because the gameplay isn't something we liked. While I may like DCUO, can't say the same for everyone. But I also still play deus ex, and thats UE1, and barely looks better than quake.
And the artstyle matters, to me, far more than the technology behind it.
