Demigods graphics are high and work fine. It's because the engine is actually fantastically well coded (if not the game itself) and does a fantastic job using parallel processing. It also offloads most of its work to the CPU which makes it have a lower cost barrier of entry because it's playable on Notebooks (which typically have decent CPUs but terrible GPUs)
The reason SC2 camera (and graphics, really) are the way they are is because Starcraft is a spectator-based eSport. It matters more that the thousands of people watching the game on a projector screen can tell exactly what each unit is and what it is doing rather than an "awesome" factor for the unit itself.
That said, Teseer, DoW II has ... not very huge battles. It's not a blob v blob game. However, there is pretty much constant fighting and it does HIGHLY reward micro (though not as much, in some ways, with SC. For example, the Mutalisk (I think...?) firing on the move backwards with proper micro).
DoW has a very streamlined economy. Some might call it "simplistic", but that isn't exactly accurate. The system doesn't reward a high APM, and doesn't need very much management on its own. However, the economy itself is pretty abstract:
A player described it well here:
Basically, the core definition of an RTS, from a dev PoV (or, from my PoV
which is the PoV of a start-up game designer working on RTS games who has also put some time in at EA and who has spent tons of time just looking at strategy games and analyzing them), is a strategy game that contains both micro and macro components, that unfolds in "real-time", and that has a trade-off between micro and macro (specifically, players trying to focus on only one component will be punished; the punishment doesn't need to be equal, it just has to be there).
Micro relates to the player's direct actions and short-term goals. Personally, I consider every mouseclick and keyboard press to be included in micro, therefore including APM and other such measures fully in micro despite that some such actions may only be taken for macro purposes (building units from a factory, queuing a generator, etc). Micro also includes short-term tactics such as kiting, Shuttle/Reaver micro, Vulture micro, stance toggle micro (w00t Burna Sluggas), flanking, etc...
Macro relates to pretty much anything long-term. Foremost among this are economic concerns. But economy, ultimately, is simply a representation of game-state. Economic harass allows for a player to alter the game-state without necessarily engaging in direct combat. The threat then of economic harass thus creates areas of significance where they otherwise did not exist. It is also notable that economic harass actually goes both ways. When one player is able to take more economy than is "standard", then that player is effectively economically harassing the opponent (by speeding up his/her own economy and therefore game-state while either reducing or leaving the opponent's where it is), and this creates its own conflicts.
DoW 2's macro component is streamlined. It's designed so that players do not spend much APM or devote much direct attention to it. Because of that, the game is moved towards the micro end of the spectrum of RTS games. Rarely will you lose because you didn't produce enough units (compared to StarCraft, where it can often be best to not micro certain battles at all because in doing so you will use attention/time/APM that would have been better-served just making more units that would have overwhelmed your opponent). At the same time, you do benefit from efficient macro by accelerating your timings and therefore your game-state in comparison to an opponent with sloppy macro.
But anyway, while DoW 2's macro is streamlined, it still contains the requisite economic and game state depth that impact micro and gameplay massively. There is a tech tree that offers varying tech paths. Choices of how to navigate these paths have long-term impacts on the game, and directly impact game-state and the movement of game-state. The game has multiple kinds of resource points (req, power, and VPs) that affect game-state. Capturing these always requires a high-level trade-off of spending time on econ or spending time in combat (consider PvT in StarCraft; the Protoss player gets a quick Dragoon out and Dragoon range quickly as well; the Terran fast-expanded; the Terran erected a Bunker to hold that expansion while he/she works on getting a Siege Tank out and/or Vultures w/Spider Mines; the Protoss player attacks the Bunker from beyond Marine range; the Terran player pulls SCVs from mining to repair the Bunker; besides from the direct cost to the Terran in the minerals that he/she pays for repairing, there is also the opportunity cost that those SCVs could be raking in minerals faster, but instead must keep a Bunker alive; this move by the Protoss is calculated- the Protoss may not destroy the Bunker, but he/she will slow the Terran's economy and reduce the benefit the Terran got from fast-expanding). Power has the added bit that it can be fortified, thus adding a double game-state layer onto such points. Upkeep, pop, to reinforce or not to reinforce, req bleed, etc... They're all quite deep economic components that win and lose games.
And it once again bears mentioning that DoW 2 overall is a more complex game than StarCraft (and SC2) mechanically- game design mechanics here, not player mechanics. Deeper combat systems and even the macro- while nicely streamlined- is far subtler yet profound (consider how many new players you face in DoW 2 that do not retreat versus how many new players in StarCraft/SC2 that do not defend their bases/mineral lines). That, and I've had first-hand experience with helping new players learn both DoW 2 and SC2 almost simultaneously (from those who had played other RTS games to those who had never played RTS games), and they nearly all had a much tougher time with the first (many are high Diamond-level in SC2 atm but under TS10 in DoW 2, despite liking the latter better).
With all that said though, DoW 2 is designed so that you get craptons of mileage out of good micro, and with a standard force composition you should rarely run into threats you are not equipped to face.
