I've seen a man build a guitar -- an actual, playable, great sounding guitar -- using nothing but an axe, some saws, a few chisels, and a screwdriver. He started with a tree and limited tools, in the end he had a beautiful instrument.

Discussions about tools are pointless. Make what you can with what you have. Your limitations are your biggest stumbling block, not your budget or particle effects support.

Jap.... take the right input and your game will look good in any engine. Some will need more optimizations than other. But in the end, a well built game will hide all this limitations...

And also, just because you start on one engine doesn't mean you are stuck there until the end of the world. Just pick one, get good with it, and if you feel like it, try another one.