I very strongly agree with your take. As an example, to this day, I find the Classic Warcraft graphics preferable to the latest expansions. Some of the later expansions were great with vey stylized “Warcraft-esque” graphics…like Pandaria. But, once all the models were redone, animations enhanced, textures made higher res, etc., Warcraft lost a lot of its feel.

There’s definitely a sweet spot somewhere in there. Many old 2D games hold up well. Games like BG1/BG2 are still incredibly playable and look good today. Some early 3d games are really impossible to deal with.