Thanks for claryfing!
And yeah, you're right, these are hugely subjective issues.
Also, there's a big difference between a book and a game. Books are intended to be purely storyline driven. Like you said there are no graphics, Where as a game is intended to have graphics these days.
The reason I brought up books is because they're at a unique point for this discussion: They feature both no graphics, and no gameplay (or any interactivity*), yet allow us to get attached to characters. So they're examples of how this can be achieved without graphics. The thought experiment then goes: Well, if it worked for that, how many "game elements" would I have to add until the attachment doesn't work that way without adding graphics?
Going from that, I s'ppose the next step towards games would be text adventuers or Interactive Fiction. If those are not game-y enough for you, I guess the next step would be Visual Novels.
At some point, we'd end up at Telltale's "The Walking Dead" series - much acclaimed for it's story and athmosphere, and there's definitely a sense of attachment. The graphics, however, are far from realistic, and feature Telltale's normal engine.
Have you played that game? You'll find dozens of people on the internet arguing how it's "not a game"; but don't listen to them. Setting aside the issue that there is no real definition for "game" anyhow, it clearly reacts and requires player input and decisions. Good enough for me. (And speaking of that - the inherent difficulty of marrying story and interactivity would also be a good topic for a thread)
As far as Acknex games go, going throw our very own Showcase-forum should give you some idea of what level of graphical fidelity is realistic. Yes, you can achieve more, but this has been discussed hundreds of times. The short version is: You'll need talented artists for good graphics. If you don't have that, shoot for something stylized. That can still be very effective!
I really like how you actually put the character-attachment into the first post. Are there graphical styles more suited to conveying realistic characters, expressions and emotions (an important part of making characters likeable)? If I don't wish to shoot for realistic style (since it's not doable for me), what others are there?
Are Wind Waker's characters more likeable than, say, To The Moon's sprite characters?
My stance is if theirs going to be graphics, they might as well be as good as I can get them.
Which means I disagree with this. I think a fitting style is more important than pure technical aspects.
Personally, I think a lot - and I do mean A LOT - is in the animations and movement of characters. Get that right, the rest almost doesn't matter much. Technically, you probably don't have to worry much about those, then - with the exception that Bones animation with weighted bones is a com-and-higher feature.
I mean seriously, nothing says move your ass like the ground crumbling into nothingness behind you
Sure, that's a good way to put some pressure on the player. But here's the thing: Once you're suspension of disbelief kicks in, I think the crumbling is equally as effective with worse graphics (within reason) than it is with today's top-notch graphics. If you manage to pull the player into your world, then you can get away with "worse" graphics (as long as it's somewhat consistent).
* - I am aware of "choose your own adventure"-books. I also hate all of them. ALL OF THEM
