This myth that a utilizing a newer DirectX version somehow makes the graphics amazing is completely and utterly retarded.
Yes, there are optimizations in the rendering subsystems, and new shader capabilities (not to mention hardware tessellation) - alas these are very minor things in the grand scheme of graphics programming.
Every single game on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 are currently DX9 - and admittedly there are games that look absolutely stunning.
Far more important than any DX version numbering, graphics wise, are elements like atmospheric scattering model utilized, impostoring, LoD code and a billion other things that depend on the art and code - and not which graphics API was used in the creation.
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