"cheapness" and "generic-ness" are entirely subjective so I can't take any of that away from you. I find the term "generic" is tossed around far too casually however, as it seems as though every game has someone claiming that the graphics are not generic. What exactly are generic graphics, and what constitutes graphics that are not generic?
I consider things like animations though, when I say that I wouldn't describe the graphics as "just awful." The only graphical issue I saw as jarring was the first person animation for the close combat weapons (around the 1 minute mark).
As for recurring character models...the nice thing about it is that it seems like you're fighting uniformed soldiers (or hellish beasts) so I don't find it that unusual. Perhaps you'd like something like they did in Medieval 2 where they mixed and matched pieces that belonged to a particular uniform?