I intend to create an online game with a huge focus on being in your home town, but I'm really not sure what type of graphics would be good for this.
I've posted about it here http://www.gamedev.net/topic/608184-town-based-game/


In case you don't feel like reading it, you'll have your own house in a town with not too many people. The house will have to be easily expandable, so the models can't be too set in stone. There will also be a center town which may have a large group of people, but trading will done remotely, so there shouldn't be too many people in one place, unless they're just hanging out.

I haven't much in mind for monster maps, so they can be made to work with any style of graphics, and since there won't be too many people on the screen to load at a time, the graphics don't have to be toned down for that.

One important detail is that there will be a lot of house customization, and items should be shown in full inside your house.

I'm pretty open as to what graphical style you think would work for this.
Cel-Shaded/3D a la Wind Waker, 2.5D Ragnarok Online like graphics, Animal Crossing style, what have you?

I hadn't really thought of doing this sci-fi style, seems like a pretty great idea. That also opens up a rather wide range of possibilities for town themes, and house upgrades.
Disappointed that you hated Wind-Waker's graphics though, I loved them, and have modeled quite a few things off of them. Ah well.