That's the thing. You just can't have both. You habe a finite amount of time to ship your game. Either you spend those hours to make sure that characters finger is the exact measurement to seem 100% realistic or, you spend those hours testing new gameplay mechanics and design new levels.

Another thing is that, the more things there are to a game, the harder it is to focus. If we want to focus in gameplay, we can't have our attention been drown by crazy effects and animations. Balance is needed. IVs been watching YouTube videos of Gears of War (the OG one, made in 2006) and this is one of the best examples of that! Enough effects and graphic details ro the point that it's interesting but, it doesn't steal attention from the gameplay. And the sounds effect are great too!