Not unless you are doing something that Bioware is doing for Mass Effect. SImply start the design of the game as a trilogy, then start withthe basic engine and game mechanics. After that is done apply the graphic engine. Obviously the Graphic Engine is going to determine how dated a game looks. I mean, take a look at NWN 2. It uses the same basic engine, minus the Graphics Engine, as NWN 1, yet it looks pretty damn modern to me.