Some of the games do successfully dragged you into their game world, like metal gear series, the latest final fantasy series...which you couldn't denied the sensation the verisimilar graphics give you.
Here comes the question, "should you have a realistic graphics in order to make a good storytelling or even make it a impressive game for the players?
I can just agree to disagree. It's only depends on the story, no absolute true or false in this argument.
A verismilar graphics do make it essential if you are telling a non-fantasy and serious story. Giving you an extreme example, a horror game/story, If I use a stylised graphics, like:
Stylised aesthetic do more or less reduce the tension of the game because of its non-realistic graphics...like horror games became less scary, shooting games became less bloody. Some of the game just don't want you to be so deep to your emotion, so they choose their stylised graphics and make you enjoy more of the gameplay.