User blog comment:The Joker~/TES games-Smaller and more detailed world or bigger and less detailed world?/@comment-3492791-20121204220312

Size alone mean nothing, the mistake of an outsider.

You seem to be confusing your idea of resource management. The size of the overworld has nothing to do with the programing of the game. The overworld is left to the level designers and the artists. A smaller world will allow better design and more unique assets, but will have zero impact on bugs and such, because that is a completely separate department.

I feel that Skyrim is a nice middle ground actually. It is fairly large, but most aspects of it seem unique enough to make the world seem diverse. Dungeon are also, for the most part, well designed, and for what they lack in artistic difference they make up for in structural difference. Artistically they are likely all similar because they are only allowed to use assets from the "Nordic Ruin" folder, so in trying to make similarity they achieve uniformity.

The bottom line is that it's obvious that the less work you have to do, the more effort you can put into what you do...do. But i'm not considered with how detailed the veins on leaves are, only a graphics snob would be. What I care about is that you can make your world feel unique throughout. All the holds have a unique artistic design, and most of the dungeons have a unique structural design.