Using a shader based engine once you have your core shaders for handling lighting and shadows is more like using the native renderer of your 3D app. The problem is that shaders are not that artist friendly yet and very specialised for specific tasks. But once you have your core shaders established for your game creating good looking assets is much easier with shaders than fixed function.
Instead of having to put lighting in your textures, you just use bump, specular and masks for the majority of surfaces. Plus you can bake normal maps from high res meshes, which can be quite tedious and time consuming but gets easier as you get more familiar with projection cages and where errors in the baking are likely to occur and how to avoid them.
Instead of having to put lighting in your textures, you just use bump, specular and masks for the majority of surfaces. Plus you can bake normal maps from high res meshes, which can be quite tedious and time consuming but gets easier as you get more familiar with projection cages and where errors in the baking are likely to occur and how to avoid them.