yeah agentarrow, Hate to burst the bubble,
please take my word of advice, i'm not snapping or putting down here. just trying to give you a reality check that's all
also this is not an presumption of your abilities, I just don't want to see you get ahead of yourself thats all
ok with that said...
Because an engine IS capable of creating Huge landscapes and has a faster renderer than RF, doesn't meant you can go putting you 2 trillion poly actor in the game and expecting miracles.
optimization is still key, majority of real time models these days are around 5-6k in poly's.....which is not a huge step above where we are at, but
the trick is in the materials and shaders you create, [occlusion, parallax, defuse, normal map, height maps, this sort of stuff] - the prettier uppers! materials and shaders are the biggest driving factor in game engines for Eye candy ....not polys
you see the 30,000 poly UT models, ....used for baking only
they'll never see a game for about 10-20 years from now, engines just can't handle it.
ALOT of users fall in to the trap your walking towards,
because an engine is capable of great things, doesn't alway mean it will produce the kind of result you may invisage,
if you can have an engine that is Great and you can have a great model that is 2-3k in poly's and it handles more, you can cram in the detail and produce an amazing game. and you can have 5-10 of those great models on screen rather that 2-3
I hope this helps you understand what i'm trying to say, optimization should always play apart in your games no matter which engine or technologies you use
(seriously dude, I'm trying to say this in the nicest way possible!)