Crytek's CEO, Cevat Yerli, has weighed in on the 'graphics vs everything else' debate in an interview with X360 Magazine. Saying that it has always been graphics that drive the gameplay, Yerli uses Crysis to explain his point:

"In Crysis 3 it's the grass and the vegetation, the way the physics runs the grass interact and sways them in the wind. You can read when an AI enemy is running towards you just by observing the way the grass blades. Graphics, whether it's lighting or shadows, puts you in a different emotional context and drives the immersion. And immersion is effectively the number one thing we can use to help you buy into the world. The better the graphics, the better the physics, the better the sound design, the better the technical assets and production values are – paired with the art direction, making things look spectacular and stylistic is 60 per cent of the game."

Personally I've never been that big on graphics, equally preferring old and new games on the basis of their story - and being able to become equally lost in the worlds presented regardless of graphics. Hell, I read a lot of books and have found many of them to be more immersive than some modern games! In any case, make of Yerli's comments what you will.