Agreed. There needs to be more consistency with the in-game graphics vs. what is equipped on the character.
I can't understand why a sword (like the Nobleman's sword) looks really cool on the ground (so obviously it has an in-game graphic associated with it), yet when you equip it, it looks like a lame regular sword. It might have taken too much resources to make it work the other way, so I guess it's understandable. But I definitely hope this will be different in DD2.