"I've always hated the perfectly square, tiny maps of the IE games and Neverwinter Nights"
Um. Neither game has tiny maps except, of course, shops and houses for obvious reasons!. And, they don't have to be square! They can be rectangle as well!
"Ok, they're not huuuge, but they're big worlds"
They are huge. I'll give them and they are detailed pretty well too.
And, we agree that Hades is being silly in regards to his engine comments. So, at least that's something.