Then why play CRPGs?
Your bestest CRPG game ever has piss poor character visuals. Even today with amazing 3D graphics, there's still rather restrictive limits on how character can look.
Is it even really possible to have a character "be yours" in a CRPG anyways? IMO there's waaaaaay to finite avenues to explore in any CRPG, excepting maybe a game like Morrowind. In Fallout I have to be THE vault dweller, and in Fallout 2, I have to be the vault dweller's decendant. Baldur's Gate => Bhaalspawn. Morrowind's pretty open, in that you're just a prisoner being put on an island. Gothic series is a bit more open as well.