But yes, DF is not for everybody. I personally like games where you tell units to do stuff, and they do it on their own. Micromanaging people is my dealbreaker. Having units do stuff on their own is the dealmaker.
When dealing with one character and direct control, I like good fluid movement. I dunno why, but the Halo games always had a good movement to them. Not too fast and twitchy, not too slow and tank-like.
Thus why I like Halo and DF. And Maplestory, because sometimes the brain just needs to shut down.
I'm just into any game that has something original to offer or was clearly made with a great deal of passion and care.
The way I see it, graphics are nice to have, but are certainly not a necessity. Whatever was the graphical marvel of the day 10 years ago wouldnt really stand up for the same reasons today, but something that had immense playability wont have changed.
in another 10 years time, people will scoff at stuff like CRYSIS because other than its blistering graphics it hasnt really made any lasting impact on its genre.
Compare this to a game like Metroid, Dune 2, XCOM, The Legend of Zelda, (all games which kinda set the mold) or anything along similar lines, and they still stand up (and in many cases have never really been bettered) against games today for good old fashioned playablity.