I will never forget my Ultima IV cloth map. Still have it around in one of my computer drawers, banging around with the 5.25 floppies. Maybe it's just me, since I also spend hours staring at topo maps for hikes and climbs, but there is nothing like looking at a place on a map and thinking "I wonder what's there?" or "That looks like a nice place for a dungeon/secret/etc, I want to find out what is there."
I have not personally seen one of the cloth maps for PoE, but if they really are low quality that is a pity. Wonder who the printer is, had anyone determined whether the same printer was used for Wasteland 2?