Morrowind did okay with this, Seyda Neen is more or less normal looking, if not a bit swampy, but then you get to Vivec and the ministry of truth and that's just amazing, or the telvanni towers.
I would like to see main cities like Solitude and Winterhold to look rich and grand, but too fantasy like, then blow us away with High Hrothgar (the throat of the world) with amazing architecture and artifacts.