I got into game dev because for the creativity part and I started with a text adventure, so, it wasn't for the looks in the first place. But I have to admit that games like No One Lives Forever or Shenmue already raised a certain bar graphically wise. To understand how to do such a 3D game you naturally have to ask how that was done. The sooner you get to answers you will also naturally see that it is a burden to re-create that. Hearing stories like warehouses full of artists doing assets for Splinter Cell can be frustrating, actually.

So, if you realize that you can virtually do technically wise a game comparable with todays games (you just have to learn coding and how to do things, actually games are pretty easy to make), it breaks down to "the content problem" as I say it. Stores like Arteria3D and Dexsoft are solutions to this problem but only in a limited fashion because they are producing for an anonynmous market.

You are right that these limitations can be helpful, though. Knowing your limitations gives you freedom to do something different. Your game Dungeon Deities is a great example: you are making a highly modern game with artwork that had its heights 20 years ago (no offense). Along with the retro-movement and acclaimed games like Minecraft, you have found both a niche and a solution to the content problem.