It's Snowing, Let's Talk About Icewind Dale.

I have a friend who has a little brother. This little brother claims to be an "expert" on RPG's because he completed Dragon Age AND Oblivion. Naturally I decided to question his knowledge by asking him about Black Isle studios. Now, this kid is eighteen, relatively intelligent and somewhat tastful in his choice of literature. I was of course, not surprised by the blank look the words "Black Isle Studios" was met by. Black Isle's name evaporated in 2003 when he was 11 and the beloved franchises were snapped up by Atari who proceeded to give them a half decent outing with Neverwinter Nights. Anyway I convinced him to give Icewind Dale a try. Now Icewind Dale and Icewind Dale 2 for me were the two finest Dungeons and Dragons based CRPG's out there, (thats COMPUTER Role Playing Games, not CONSOLE Role Playing Games btw, I get sick of people getting that wrong). ANYWAY He comes back to me a week later and gives it back. "I didn't like it," he tells me. I reel my jaw back in from where it hit the floor as asked him why. The reply made me feel like slapping him. "Crap graphics." Now I'm not one to tell people what they should and shouldn't like. I might tell them what i THINK they should like but that's different. I am aware that Icewind Dale and it's fellow Infinity Engine games are starting to look a little dated in terms of graphics although I'm sure they still have their uses *cough*iPad*cough* but does that really matter? Gone With the Wind isn't considered a bad film because it's black and white, it's two hours of boredom that finishes with a famous quote that every sitcom has to rip off at some point but the key thing is, nobody care's it isn't in colour. But then this brings another key point to the fore, what are good graphics? Let's compare Icewind Dale with say, Neverwinter Nights. Every single screen of Icewind Dale is hand crafted and entirely unique, every dungeon it's own little world filled with small artistic details and little nuances of style. Neverwinter Nights does not have this style, the dungeons are all made of cookie cutter sections and the interiors of buildings are expressed as being vast labyrinths of corridors that have gaping wasted spaces in between rooms. Now I'm no architect, but I know somebody who is and after in depth consultation and much reasearch he and I managed to establish that wasted space in a building is BAD and therefore if you want to create suspension of disbelief in a game you have to at least fool a basic sense like spatial awareness. I am sick of cookie cutter dungeons and badly proportioned buildings. Here's a list of recent offenders, Oblivion, Dragonage, Titan Quest, World of Warcraft, Red Faction 3, Mass Effect, Borderlands and Two Worlds, all good games but extremely repetetive in terms of environments. Therefore, what are good graphics? Are they bump maps? High poly counts? No they're not. Come on guys, make the effort.