To be honest, they could make the outfield a flat tessellated pattern of wangs for all I care as all as long as the core gameplay elements are working at release.
Well everyone who plays the game have their own views on what they find most immersive or enjoyable. I personally prefer Gameplay, Animations and Graphics to make me enjoy the game. Some people prefer Customizations. I guess there are no right or wrong preferences here.
However, it is important to know what the Developers’ vision is for the game and if it is aligned with yours then you buy the game. BigAnt have always been upfront about the fact that gameplay is their first priority, which includes AI, while customisation is the close second. They have worked extensively on the other aspects like animations etc, however if there were any conflicts, it’s the gameplay that would have received the preference being the higher priority.
So you may not like the animations or the graphics, but it’s ok. They weren’t the first priority at this stage anyways. However, you should be constructively vocal about it as well so that BigAnt knows about your requests/wants.
Well, I got bored halfway writing this post so please forgive me if it didn’t make any sense by the end of it