eg they have a fixed budget and they rather payed a guy with creativity to make a great atmoshphere and another guy to make awesome tunes so they only could hire a mediocore worker for the graphics...this is my childish example
so probably true
but yeah for me everything beyond ps2/dreamcast graphics is just a plus in a game, dialoges, story, music, sounds, characters much more important...for example i cand find a better jumping around from platform to platform game than Soul Reaver since 1999 not even the Tomb Raider games can beat it for me, the story is awesome, the music is stunning, the characters are charming, the voice acting...i have no words for it , piece of art --- YES the graphics are old now but the only part of a game that my brain can adapt after time
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwr9YylTE7Yshow me a better game in it's genre, i mean it, i would be pleased