Darkvision is as bad as an excuse as all other games with complete darkness. If you don't have Darkvision, going into dark areas is simply not fun and annoying. If you have Darkvision, you're forced to use it all the time and it usually desaturates colors, so you're still not playing a vibrant game.
Darkvision should give you better chances at passive checks for hidden buttons, levers, loot and whatnot. But not force you into a specific play style.
And as I said. Especially when you're having bad eyesight, you're punished twice when this is not changed.
Maybe, than again, if darkness is employed to enhance the game (stealth, using shadows to fuel spells, etc.) it can make for very enjoyable gameplay... fundamentally, though: Darkness SHOULD generally be annoying, and you should want to circumvent it somehow.
