*throws rocks at sqwerts post* TAKE THAT POST :angery:

no i'm kidding of course. it's like being everything you want as a little kid... you grow up spoilt and weak and unable to do anything yourself, whereas if you have to work for stuff or you have limited resources you find ways of using them efficiently... actually i think i started mixing multiple analogies together...

texture/bump/normal/displacement maps solve a lot of the details issues anyway
not sure how much of a performance hit they have actually, but considering they are favoured over actual verts they must be better?