Much like tanstaafl. A good story/game play will allow me to over look bad graphics. And good graphic will make me stay with a bad game longer.
In terms of preference, it really comes down to effort / how good and consistent the art is. AI art can be good if the dev took the time to make sure that the characters dont all look like the same fashion model with a different hair style. The Daz / Honeyselect devs can also be annoying when they reuse the same 3 face models that every other game used. Or the fact that every coffee shop is always the same. Hand-drawn stuff can get too cartoony, but it can be pretty good too. Still the development time for Hand-drawn games is a major down side.
Overall, it mainly comes down to, does the art in its use break the immersion of the world at that moment. Was the effort so low quality that it is noticed that the dev cut corners to do this quickly?
Games are an escape, thus if the immersion is broken, then the game has failed for that moment. Bad story can do that just as easily though too. Sometimes more so, when you just can't connect with the MC, because he is whiny bitch that only 1 girl is falling over herself to sleep with him and not 20.
Thus, if the art works, even if it is realporn, because the dev took the effort to make sure that it fit, then I can appreciate it. But low quality effort, be it AI art, DAZ or hand-drawn stuff is notice and just a turn-off.
