I'm just a bit scared of devoting hundreds of hours to a game that no one will play.

Stop here, because this will most likely happens.

Also, if I currently have no "graphics guy" what are my options to make the game look good enough that sb plays it?

Looking good enough that somebody will play it is seldomly the issue. Look at games like Minecraft or dwarffortress etc. The issue is, that the devs themselves have often unrealistic and very high expectations. Yep, all this fantastic 3d rendering technique, so easy to turn some simple sphere into a wonderful PBR rendered piece of art, yet it is just technique and you need an army of artists to create according art. A monster of a graphics engine needs a lot of food ;-)

I wanna ask you guys, if it is by any means possible to create a game competitive to some market that is 3D and involves even a bit of a story, items, and just classic game design job like level design and not only spending days in code to create some fancy new puzzle that doesn't exist yet.

It depends. A lot of successful indie games were created by 2-4 people. I think that it is more important to utilize the skills the team have, instead of frenetically trying to compensate what skills are lacking. A team of artists could benefit from making an artful game with simple game mechanism, a team of story writer could deliver a fantastic story telling game and a group of coders could create some demanding and challenging game mechanism/effects.

I think key point is investing time in game design phase as most mistakes are done without writing single line of code, a study preferably based on some survey and A/B testing also involving monetization may eliminate most problems imo.

So I think it is wise to ensure that it will be a game people will play, then structure game according to your resources.

And for graphics, if can't handle in house or lack resources for next gen, better have a consistent style ( like Crossy Road, Call of Juarez : Gunslinger , Don't Starve etc).

I wish someone would make an alphadoku game so I could play it. Either on android or as a website like: http://www.dailykillersudoku.com/

I'd also be really happy if someone would make a new game like Plant Tycoon http://store.steampowered.com/app/16120/ since the company that made it and Fish Tycoon decided not to make any more in the series.

Another good goal is to create minigames (representing resource gathering, crafting, etc.) that can late be plugged into a larger game such as a virtual pet site or MMO.

Also, if I currently have no "graphics guy" what are my options to make the game look good enough that sb plays it?

forget about scott baio.

developing games is a lot like composing a complex piece of music or any art. might take you months and be completely tired of it when complete, but interesting on the way.

developing a game is like playing a game where you get to make the parts :D don't hit me, i'm going on -

equipped with some knowledge and paradigmatic considerations, your task is to fit your set of abilities to an ongoing set of developmental applications! pretty fun, eh. really the finer sport, as it not only engages what is known, it provides a foundation for going beyond it.