It was very much like the difference between seeing a video of VR gameplay and experiencing VR yourself.
I remember seeing the screenshots in magazines (we used to update ourselves on the state of the industry with monthly or biweekly physical print media) and thinking "oh neat, but whatever..." and then I saw Battle Arena Toshinden being played at Toys'R'Us and that "oh neat" turned into "okay satan, you can have my soul for this"
We weren't blind, we knew the polygons were ugly as hell standing still, but seeing them move at 30 fps on a 25-inch CRT was downright sorcerous