When I saw the title of this article, my first thought was "I bet Myst is on there". Not because I think it should be, in fact, this is a point of contention between other gamers and myself. The difference between them and I, is that I am a graphic engineer (senor actually). Myst was not "so intricate", as you've said, it was pre-rendered, which takes up WAY more space than procedural, can appear incredibly more advanced (it's just a picture, after all - as much post processing as you like), however, are so static (non-dynamic), that most experiences are guaranteed to be "on rails", or limited. With dynamic graphics, you can expect more freedom of game play because anything can change, and space requirements are exponentially lowered. For example, newer games that use in-game video rendering for movie sequence, instead of pre-rendered, as Myst did, can show different weapons or outfits on your character - different genders, or creature types. Rain, snow, night, day, what ever dynamic affects - so the story can be more fluid.