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Clever design just means not using fog and low frustrum to overcome design flaws like you saw. So much of what you don't see in DS is where the designers used the low frustrum, fog, and azimuth restrictions to get away with more compact regions. So much of what is missing from your first pic could have been mapped over, but was never seen with the limits in place. Modders overcome those limits, in any game they are used, by freeing restricted cameras and increasing view distance. A region designed with a frustrum of 100 or more would be easy enough to fill in and occlude, it would just take more mapping and an eye for finding and mapping over any flaws, which is what I'm on to with my next region, The Crag.

The Crag is a ravine that separates the Desert and Swamp areas of my map, so it's going to be very alive and hot and wet. I plan for the player to climb down one side and up the other, through a network of caves and ancient dwellings. You'd only be outside for short periods, with steep walls surrounding you as you get deeper. The mood will be set to change, and reflect your progress into basically an underground jungle. Were I to convert this map into DS2 and set frustrum to 80, I could map with that view distance in mind, using the skybox instead of fog, unless fog is part of the intended mood. I'll go ahead and map with a frustrum of 100, to give me some margin.