Ryse: Old and New Builds Compared; 150,000 Polygons vs 85,000 and Better Shaders

There has been a lot of talk about the "downgrade" of the Xbox One exclusive Ryse: Son of Rome, that now sports less polygons per character than previous builds, while shaders have been upgraded and the use of LOD has been removed.

Here's a very direct comparison between two screenshots portraying basically the same scene in the old build and the new one.

[2cents]

What a roller coaster ride this is.

Both the old and the new screenshots look good in my opinion.

Man, the 22nd can't come soon enough for me. I can't wait to get my hands on my Xbox one, and see for myself how the experience holds up.

[Gazondaily]

The new ones don't look that bad. I actually mistook the new ones for the older ones at some point. Still...the downgrade is disappointing.

[True_Samurai]

It looks good to me less darkness around the face where you can see their facial expressions

[XB1_PS4]

I don't know, I like the new shaders. It definitely makes it look more realistic. The skin tone, the oulines, the gloss on the armor, all look better on the new one. screw those polygons. I don't need em.

[Irishguy95]

There's alot better about the new, however overall the old looks better, just so damn crispy clear. But the lighting is a bit odd in the old ones imo.

Essentially, polygons are not the only important thing when it comes to the graphics.

On Pc you will not play 1080p on low settings, 720p on High settings is better, along with some anti aliasing anyway. That's whats happening with Ryse, believe it or not the Graphics have improved. I still like the crispyness of the old one though

[gaffyh]

So this is why MS posted those screens on their website. The old one definitely looks a lot better, and sharper. Need to see it in motion before giving any real judgement.

[JokesOnYou]

"The reduction in the polygons is quite visible, but we can also notice that the overall feels of the materials is now more realistic and textured, especially on metallic surfaces that now don’t look like polished plastic anymore, and on the skin, that shows more detail(check the neck of the character on the right for instance), while normal mapping also seems better defined with no visible jaggies, as shown by the etching in his armor. That’s most probably due to a higher resolution or less compressed normal map texture."
http://www.dualshockers.com...

-I dont know the old one didn't look at all plastic to me, the new one looks pretty much the same as the old one just somewhat darker, which is kind of funny because if I remember correctly this very same screenshot was nitpicked about the shiny armor, I actually like the pop of light as it looks just a tad bit more clear and defined to me. If I had to pick I go with the old one visually but I'll take the new one that both looks superb and performs overall better in combat animations as has been said and shown in the latest previews/hands on.

[NatureOfLogic]

Is a comparison really necessary. Xbox fan claimed the almighty poly's super graphics but now that doesn't matter now there's a downgrade. It just goes to show fanboys will defend and praise anything. I'm ready for the consoles to release so we decide for ourselves and there's no more PR bullshot smoke for these companies to hide behind.

[HammadTheBeast]

It doesn't look bad, but with the way they hyped up Ryse graphics and people ran will with it, that's the big factor.

They just eliminated a big part of their thing with Ryse, it better have a damn good story and game play that they can focus on now.

[Winter47th]

Is the new build supposed to be on the Xbox360?

[SilentNegotiator]

Too bad we'll never see a comparison that isn't so controlled by the party trying to make it look better (and also caught photoshopping screenshots to hide glaring graphics issues).

[Magicite]

Old ones are darker.

[Mystogan]

I don't think its a downgrade,its more of a trade-off. Everything looks more realistic now and with much more details in the faces and on the armor.

the old one had shiny armor. That just doesn't look realistic.

they both look good thiugh

[MysticStrummer]

In my view the only reason the downgrade is so funny is because of all the trolling on here talking about how many polygons Ryse was pushing with it's main character in comparison to KZ's NPCs and how many games were 1080p on both consoles. I always said the game looked cool and fun, and it still does.

[4Sh0w]

Yeah Mystic but its funny how the most blatant attackers have selective memory. The truth of the matter is the poly count was almost always brought up when sonyfanboys invaded every Ryse thread saying something to the effect "meh KZ SF is 1080p 60fps so it looks better then Ryse", blah, blah. I think in those cases its still only natural if you believe like me that Ryse is absolutely better looking to say yeah well Ryse is 150k polys and now Ryse is 85k polys which is more than TWICE as much as much as KZ highest charachter and the NPCs are much lower. Why are some so blind to this concept?

So its funny that sony supporters get so upset if you defend why a game you prefer looks great when they are almost always taking shots the 1st ones in every X1 game thread bashing positive news, seriously the sony fanbase seems more interested in whsts going on with the competition than the games they claim are the best while most, not all but most xbox fans just seem to be excited for X1 games and aren't in every ps4 thread downplaying ps4 games simply because they arent going to play Driveclub, Knack or whatever so why bother. Is it a crime to like and defend X1 games amongst all the ps4 cheerleading? Then with any negative news here comes the selective memory like "haha we only said this because xbots were braggin" nope every thread is invaded with sonyfanboys attacking anything positive, and so this is more of the same.

At any rate they have made a tradeoff for better shading and normal mapping so where they've downgraded in polys they've improved in overall look, personally I dont see much difference which to me makes much of the downgrade talk mute.

[TomShoe]

Relax people, nothing that the power of TEH CLOUD can't solve XD

[Sevir]

I don't get how a game get visual downgrades after a system gets GPU and CPU boost to help mitigate deficiencies... Ryse since it's reveal has always looked great, not mindblowing, but great, even now the game looks visually appealing, but a machine that's supposedly more than adept and capable certainly isn't making the case, it got 2 upgrades before launch, and it's biggest game gets 2 downgrades...

This Console has been quite a whirlwind of PR deception. MS didn't talk raw specs for well over 4 months, talked up cloud power helping games look better, but went ahead to upgrade, and games supposed to benefit end up having to cut corners to run "balanced"

After all the negatives surrounding MS and the Xbox one with policy changes and spec ambiguities, this type of thing with software suffering is just worrying.

I can't wait for head to head comparisons of multiplatform Next Gen titles we'll see how far the deception has really taken root.

[Dee_91]

Like I said before.They can model the character with roughly half the amount of polys and he will look nearly identical .Which is why its completely dumb to use the amount of polys in an argument especially when its any higher than 25k.I guess this is the new argument for next gen though.We will be seeing a lot wikipedia-esque / 3d modelers over night comments in the future on N4G, its actually already started , just take a look at jokes comment history.Its just a point of personal taste regarding the shaders.
I personally prefer the old shaders.Also I think its a good trade off to lower the poly count to remove the LOD system on the characters.But then again,if you have a good LOD system you really shouldn't be able to tell the difference..
As for all the people trying to rub xbox fanboys and trolls nose in this "downgrade", your obnoxious and your no better than them, then you guys wonder why everyone who think anybody who says anything negative about xbox is a sony fanboy..Seriously is the comments section to discuss the article or to exact some sort of dumb revenge on dumb comments posted earlier?

[ChrisW]

Does anyone know what they're talking about around here?!?

[ZodTheRipper]

This still doesn't fix clunky animations or boring gameplay.

[badz149]

wow...that's ONE hell of a downgrade! it's like the difference between HIGH and LOW setting on PC games!

it's kinda funny "realistic" is becoming the word of excuse now for this downgrade!

[pixelsword]

Something's fishy; it didn't look that dark in other pics:
http://storage.siliconera.c...

http://thekoalition.com/ima...

http://cdn2.dualshockers.co...

http://www.primagames.com/m...

http://wpmedia.o.canada.com...

http://www.explosion.com/wp...

http://storage.siliconera.c...

...even in the dark pic:
http://images.vg247.com/cur...

but now all of the sudden the shadows are overwhelmingly dark, and they only compare ONE pic?

Why wasn't the darkness this obvious earlier?

[nukeitall]

Diminishing returns!

You need magnitude of more performance to notice really spot a difference .

[BattleAxe]

When I watched the gameplay footage at E3, I was impressed. Now that the dust has settled, I could care less about this game.

On another note, I found an interesting forum post where someone has gathered up a list of polygon counts for various other games like Killzone 3, GoW 3, Uncharted 2, Gears of War, Mass Effect and a bunch of other ones.

- Gears of War - Marcus polygon count: 15,000
- Uncharted Drake's Fortune - Nathan Drake polygon count: 26,584
- Uncharted 2 - Nathan Drake's polygon count: 37,000
- God of War 3 - Kratos polygon count: 20,000
- Killzone 3 - Character polygon count: 10,000
- Crysis 1 PC - Nano Suit Character polygon count: 67,000
- Mass Effect 1 - Shepperd polygon count: 20,000

Even though Crytek is downgrading the polygon count, it's still better than what we have in the current generation. Now if only they can learn how to make a good game...

[kickerz]

LOL at all the people chucking up a stink over this story. 2 top stories on N4G about it. The new one looks better then the old.. Haha so why do numbers matter? Oh wait its cool to hate on Microsoft these days, I forgot (-_-)

[FamilyGuy]

The new version does not "look better", wtf are fanboys on? The new version is compressed looking, "muddy" in comparison to the sharper, more detailed look of the old version. They brightened the colors and gave a few extra "age lines" to one guys neck. That could've been done in the original build had they felt like it. It's NOT an upgrade, it's a design choice, as in shaders/textures adjusted.

Anyway, if the original version had never been shown or bragged about no one would care, they'd still be happy (if they were already happy) with the look.
I personally never liked the look at still don't, the characters face just does not look good to me. It's so basic and far from memorable. The coolest thing about him was the red bristles coming from his helmet and now the textures on them look current gen.

[RyuCloudStrife]

not gonna lie the new looks better than the old.. UNLESS and knowing M$ they made the old look bad via photoshop so that the new would look better

[GTgamer]

It freaks me how everyone keeps talking about the downgrade in graphics it still look good graphically, lets focus on the main thing that deserves real attention which is gameplay thats baaaaaaaad omg the game has un fluid combat and the fights have lack of depth clearly that's a indication of a lackluster quality game do we play games to look at them or to play them who plays a game and looks for polygons come on people. And lets hope it has a good story than worry about its poly count.

[troncoparati]

You are disappointed in a game you haven't played in a console that hasn't been out yet?

[Army_of_Darkness]

The new one looks washed up and blurry compared to the sharp solid, images of the older build.
It's like comparing a ps4 to a ps3. I would have said an xbone to a 360 but the gap is getting smaller between the two lol!

[Pogmathoin]

Well, if the natureofbullshit is true, i will defend PS to the bitter end, but I will not. I will buy it and play the bloody thing, same with X1 and not give a shit about what people think. I will play great games, not pause it and count polygons and check the shadow. As a matter of fact, there is a worldwide shortage of bullshit, due to this site... Oh no, I am not a fanboy/troll.... He is over there... 4>1..... F off.....

[ShinMaster]

There was an Xbox fan somewhere on N4G claiming how Ryse had the best graphics and most detailed main character out of any other next-gen game just because of the higher poly count of 1 character.

I told him that poly count wasn't everything.

I guarantee that he's agreeing with me now after the news of the downgrade.

LOLOLOLOLOL

[UltimateMaster]

@Anymore supporting the downscale
Truth be told, the PC version will feature this higher polygon count in it's settings when it will come out.
They didn't make a 145k version for nothing just to get it downgraded to 85k.

It's a drop to 59% of what it originally was supposed to be. Or if you upscale it back to the Original version, it's a 70% gain.

Originally supposed to be native 1080, now it's only 900.

All this downscale because they were "struggling" to get 30 frames per second. That's bad.

WTF? Is anyone even happy about this news?
Are you still willing to defend the continuous downgraded version of the games you were originally promised to be way better?

You're the consumer. You're officially getting less than what you were supposed to have. How is this a good thing? It's not.

Instead of complaining like actual customers, fanboys will defend it as if their lives were on the line. When in fact they should be demanding for what they were promised.

[awi5951]

The newer ones have better skin textures than the old one.

[cvflyboy]

Major Nelson " looking forward as truth comes out" regarding ps4 being 30pct stronger. We were also, just didn't think it would be this quick lol. He should change his name to major fail.

[gamertk421]

Yeah, because the PS4 version of this game looks so much better. Oh, wait...

[nypifisel]

Who wants this underwhelming game anyway? It's a bad comparison when each have different native sources, the IQ on the new ones are very low, how could one really make a fair comparison?

[FamilyGuy]

lol gametk,

Show me some PS4 fans that want/adit jealousy of this game. I agreed with you because it's not on PS4 but I personally couldn't care less because I wouldn't buy the game if it was. It just isn't impressive to me, it look like it's story mode is on rails and there were tons of glitches, jerky animations and poor combat shown every time they show thhe fighting in this game. Yet they only mention graphics like they're ignoring all the other problems.

I hope, for those that do care, that they fix those other issues before launch. They seem to only be focused on graphics.

[JokesOnYou]

lol FamilyGuy,

"I agreed with you because it's not on PS4 but I personally couldn't care less because I wouldn't buy the game if it was."

lol, but here you are in yet another Ryse thread with nothing new to add because we've heard that nonsense you're spewing before. I know enough about KZ SF to be informed and it seems like its going to be really good ps4 laumch game. I'm just not a fan and wont be getting a ps4 for awhile so I REALLY dont care about KZ SF thats why I tend to stay away from such exclusive threads....but I suppose with that gun to your head you were forced to not only click on a Rys3 related thread but also to take the time to tell us all once again about a game you have no interest in.

lol, Who are you trying to convince? Just enjoy Ryse and dont tell *them you got it. It wont hurt you can still stay in the club that way.

[GTgamer]

@Jokes why do u have soooooooooooo many bubbles i mean i read your last comments apparently all you care about is polygons and triangle smh the day ryse shows promising gameplay or a compelling story then maybe u can bring polygons wars in.

[FamilyGuy]

@Jokes

First of all, you're a huge hypocrite, telling me I've contributed nothing while only talking about me and mentioning nothing about the topic whatsoever. YOU'RE the one no contributing to the topic/discussion.

Second, if a topic is over 1000 degrees just about everyone will check it out. The only interest I have in Ryse is that I'm still trying to figure out what people like about it lol. Not a single aspect seems impressive yet you go on about it as if something revolutionary had been shown. I'm guessing a 6-7 out of 10 average on reviews once it's out, and that's me being gracious.

Only thing I'm "trying to convince" anyone of is that the fans make sure they request the other issues (mentioned in my above post) get fixed. No one wants to waste $60 on a crappy game, buyers remorse is real. Stop ignoring the problems and attacking those that see them and make your voice heard to the devs instead.

[BallsEye]

Actually the new one looks way better. Look at the light on the nose of the guy to the right...in old version its absent. Lights and shadows are way better. Look at the skin on the right guys neck. Shame the low res pic of new one was posted. Please upload higher res picture for new build. It's from livestream while old one shows full hd picture.
http://cdn.dualshockers.com...

Zoom in, eventho 2nd pic is low res. LOOK AT THE ARMOR TO THE RIGHT. In old build it's all pixelated. New build is super smooth. You guys need glasses.
Old one just looks flat in comparison. This is really an awesome upgrade!
Oh and half of the scenery s missing in old one.

[strickers]

Some of the new build looks better but you are cherry picking. Image looks softer now due to low res and lower Poly's.
I agree that in motion the pros probably outweigh the cons but don't pretend it's all improved

[tuglu_pati]

@ strickers

"Some of the new build looks better but you are cherry picking. Image looks softer now due to low res and lower Poly's. "

So he is cherry picking because there are aspect of the new build that looks better and the you go on and say the new build look slightly blurry but you're not cherry picking... right.

BTW lower Polys on the game (which i may add it still have more polys than most games out there) doesn't have anything to do with the image looking blurry and from the article: "the newer screenshot comes from a livestream, so it’s a bit more blurry."

[kickerz]

I agree ballseye. It's like the guys around here are gonna get out their calculators and punch some numbers while playing Ryse lol

[Mithan]

I agree with you, which makes me wonder what the 36 idiots that disagree with you think.

The screenshots ARE good. Are they better than before? No, but only an ass would say they are "terrible".

The main thing I noticed is the "glint" off the metal. Rest didn't matter as much.

[awi5951]

But look at the skin textures of the characters the new versions have more detail and wrinkles.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

Bought time they got that demo running on xbox..

PC version looked great while it lasted..

[WarThunder]

Not a big difference... This game don't look that impressive for a next gen title. Gameplay is terrible...

[black0o]

show me direct feed .. i'm not buying this BS

P.s it's still A downgrade just like 900p

[tuglu_pati]

Yes and no. Its a downgrade on the main character to make upgrades on other parts of the game. So really it depends how you look at it.

[itBourne]

Why does everyone care what this game looks like? The game play seems laughable at best anyhow. Get a PC if your that much of a graphic whore.

[SonyKong64]

consumer sloth you are.. how's ios7?

[PunisherRevenge]

@2cents.....yeah you're right even though it has been downgraded the 85,000 triangles still looks impressive seeing that Ryse is a launch title and it was originally a 360 Kinect game. Who knows with the talent at Crytek maybe the next Ryse will be able to achieve the 150,000 triangles they were shooting for when they build it from the ground up on X1 hardware. The same can be said about the PS4. Both consoles are showing impressive games and graphics and it's only gonna get better from here. I'm getting both but whichever console you choose you can't go wrong.

[donman1]

Yet another PR nightmare for XboxOne. Its now clear the XboxOne is not as capable as Microsoft what us to believe. Now both their launch flagship games have been dummy down since they are now actually running on XboxOne hardware and not a PC.

Damn Microsoft... telling lies to try and boast preorder sales.

[AlexanderNevermind]

Both look good, but the old one looks better without a doubt.

[Ps4Console]

They need to just scrap the Xbox One & start again because who is going to buy a console that is way to expensive to be begin with & less powerful , it's one fiasco after another .

[Android]

Wow so many disagrees for expressing an honest opinion. This world is simply doomed im afraid. I to think both images look good and so this game merits a day one purchase in my opinion.

Oh and haters of opinions, I own a ps3 and pre ordered a ps4........so tred lightly.

[dale_denton]

all in all this game was made specifically for kinect

[DOMination-]

Dualshockers (a Playstation site I assume) really are obsessed with Ryse.

[Kayant]

Finally a written article. Thanks Abriael :)

Also in video format not the same scene btw -

E3 ---> http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Newer build of single player --> http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Abriael]

I don't think the one you labeled as the new build is really the new build, It's from September 7th (and it was showcased at a halo tournament 2 days before), and I think it's the Gamescom build.

As far as I'm aware, video of the new build hasn't been shown yet, but I may very well be wrong.

If the version shown at gamescom was already the new build, then it looks great (I've seen it first hand).

[Kayant]

Hmmm true... It's the latest footage we have of the single player since E3 and from looking at the armour especially the colour palette and the facial features(hair), skin tone it's more in line to the pic from the new build which will probably be close to what was shown from the halo tournament.

It's a downgrade in what we were told and shown true but it still looks just as good IMO.

[Tooly]

the new looks burry or is it me

[aviator189]

from the article: "Note: the newer screenshot comes from a livestream, so it’s a bit more blurry."

[Computersaysno]

Plus potentially less resolution in action there now.

I think the new build looks more subtle and so it should. But the blurriness almost simulates the sort of downgrade of image quality you might expect from lowering the resolution even if its not the main reason for it.

[Tooly]

oh didn notice

[G20WLY]

Who cares? I'm bored of talking/reading about this game being visually downgraded anyway; it's what it plays like that's important.

IGN's video preview of the multiplayer killed this for me, so the looks feel irrelevant now. I was very disappointed (but grateful for knowing at the same time) and it's too close to launch for them to fix it enough that I'd consider buying it again. :(

[fossilfern]

Youd be amazed how many people dont read the articles.

[BallsEye]

Because it's low res screenshot of livestream. New build looks way better with new shading and more stuff going in the background. I'm happy with the change.

[aviator189]

The new build looks better, imo.

[Nekroo91]

are you blind? the armor as way less reflection and detail, as the helmet. at least the draw distance is better

[Abriael]

Actually the detail of the armor of the dude on the right is much more defined (better normal map there) with no jaggies.

Also, the old reflection was way too artificial.

[tudors]

Grrr people complained the armor was too shiny! now you want it shiny again?

[BallsEye]

Are you blind? look at lighting on new one, the skin, the shading, is WAY more realistic. Only problem is that the screenshot is low res, compared to high res. Also look at how much more is going on in the background. It looks phenomenal! Did I mention the skin difference? Look at the neck in new build, guy on the right.

[Nekroo91]

oh yes it looks so great, textured chainmail, the skin shading...and now compare to the order 1886 and what happens?!

Look ryse is a great looking game but as for the "next gen" armor and skin i was expecting for what we see in the order.

and i know that the x1 can do better, i really think they rushed the game because it as lots of potential.

[I_am_Batman]

On this screenshots the new one does look much better to me as well.

[Kuse]

New version definitely looks more refined and robust.

[B-radical]

The faces look lit way better

[Manic2014]

The new build looks better in my opinion, much more detail....

[EverydayGuy]

The old armor looks better, but everything else new version is better.

[TheOneEyedHound]

Look at the Skin texture on the big picture, Old one is clearly better. Look at it closely;Big differences
http://cdn.dualshockers.com...

[Tooly]

i see it its more detail on the old

[EverydayGuy]

I see what you are saying, I guess I just thought it was better because there was more brightness.

[Niv]

Looks like a lighting downgrade also, new image is too dull and grey.

[torchic]

the way light bounces off the armour in the new build is less realistic than that of the old build, especially with the dude on the left.

[Hellbringer]

The new build is a massive improvement (btw the first one is a bullshot.)

-GI is activated only in bottom screenshot (lighting under helmet, for example in the mouth of guy on the left)
-Skin shader is a lot better (sss for example in nose of the guy on the left) and wrinkles too.
-Bump map resolution is doubled (armors details) and corrected (rivets in the helmet part over the ear of the guy on the left)
-SSreflections over metal parts (top of lion head, Maximo shoulder..)
-Clipping fixed (bottom of lion head)
-Better shadows (Maximo ear, every armor piece cast shadow now ...)
-Rain effect and more people over the bridge.

There is no donwgrade. Now it looks a lot bether.

[Goku781]

The colors pop more to me, but a downgrade is still a downgrade. Who jumps up and down for joy if you're paying for a first class plane ticket but get downgraded to fly coach? Maybe it will end up fun to play.

[B-radical]

they downgraded the polys but upgraded the shaders for it. I reckon the faces look alot better

[Goku781]

IMO it still got downgraded and sounds like more spin to me. I have never seen a system with so much bad news, and its not even out yet. But this could turn out like the Sega Saturn. I had it like a year before it came out in the states. When it came out, playstation destroyed it, yet I still had so much fun with that system. Less than two months left.

[ape007]

@Goku781

not a downgrade, it's a re balance, it's better overall, they are pretty smart, they cut the unnoticeable and improved the noticeable(draw distance, shader, rain etc...)

wanna see a TRUE DOWNGRADE, compare Current Deep Down with E3 build, huge downgrade in everything, Macroscopic downgrade, obvious to the naked eye

[aviator189]

I wouldn't say it's a downgrade. More of a downgrade in one department to make the overall game more balanced and look better in all departments rather than focusing it all on one aspect.

So, what you see as just a downgrade in one department, I see it as giving into something more fluid that allows all aspects of the game to be shown off.

[MajorMayhem70]

I think it will look great on my big screen Samsung. I don't have time for this numbers ish. If it looks good and plays good then I'm good.

[LackaJaKane]

So i guess the people who are against ryse didnt notice it downgraded in some areas but upgraded in others. I guess the downgrades is all they want to see

[ninjahunter]

Eh, counting polygons is pretty much void when shaders come into effect, since shader's allow the illusion of more geometric detail without as many polygons. No days polygons are mostly used for rounding out edges and adding a bit more detail and fluidity into faces.

Halo is a really good example of this, in halo:CE The master chief had about 2,000 polygons, yet in halo 2 he had a reduction in polygon count, and they added normal mapping. Which as we know made the look much much better.

I will stand by the idea that A talented artistic team on weaker hardware will almost always create a better visual experience than a generic dev on more powerful hardware.

[dazzrazz]

You gotta love people comparing screenshots which don't even come straight from the console frame buffer and most likely went thru Photoshop especially the ones with rain in the background

[Abriael]

Polygon density and shaders don't change depending on compression.

[Studio-YaMi]

I actually think they made better figures with the new build even if it won't have as much polygons.

[Kuse]

The new looks a lot better, I don't see how people this as a downgrade. The level of detail is much sharper and has more depth.

[HeavenlySnipes]

Looks pretty much the same

Old build had a better colour palette for the faces and armor though

[jay2]

This is what you get for using the weaker hardware cut backs, good improvement though.

[MasterCornholio]

Some things look better to me some things look worse to me. What's important is that the frame rate will be better due to the changes that they made.

Nexus 7 2013

[byeGollum]

You guys can continue the politics. I just wanna play the game, I'm so looking forward to it.

[Boody-Bandit]

The older version is more colorful, more dynamic, armor looks nicer. The visuals on the characters just pop on that build.

The newer version is grey, the lighting is toned down and it looks less colorful over all but the backgrounds look much better. In that they actually exist now.

In a perfect world it would have the characters from the older build with the background detail of the newer.

[LackaJaKane]

the best way to compare the old and new build is to open the vid in two different tabs. Pause one vid at the the beginning and pause the other one at the end and click between the two you'l get a better comparison of the overall scene. And Wow, it's actually stunning how much better the new build looks compared to the old when compared that way.

EDIT. @ the disagree(s) if you cant see it, you are BLIND

[Hellbringer]

Try this GIF: http://i.minus.com/ibweIYsu...

The new one Looks bether.

[LackaJaKane]

@Hellbringer
that'll work

and @ anyone saying the old build looks better, can you honestly look at that gif and say the old bild looks better? COM'ON NOW!

[4Sh0w]

Damm thats really good the new shading works well and notice that they've added more details to the background.

[xKugo]

The older is noticeably superior to the newer build, with more detail in textures, armor mapping, VASTLY superior ambient occlusion(it's not even funny, the difference is night and day) the life-like character facial detail in the older build is gone in the newer build and the colour palette in the newer build is greyer and dull in comparison to it's PC counterpart. REALLY bad downscale graphically, not to mention it's 900p/30fps instead of 1080p/60fps like it was.

[skydragoonity]

Ah another day with Microsoft... Deceiving customers as usual

[Chris12]

Coming out 2 months before the game is launched and explaining what is happening, but they're deceiving customers? This is the saddest type of trolling

[ape007]

if that unnoticeable difference(the new one is better overall actually) is called deceiving then what do u call the ps2 toy story level gfx or the 120FPS 1080 ps3 cell processor or the ps4 50% stronger than X1 while MGS V look Exactly the same, ryse looked better overall than E3 while deep down looked waaaay worse than the E3 build....................

LoL

[fattyuk]

*WARNING WARNING XBOX FANBOY ALERT WARNING WARNING*

@chris12 the worst type of trolling is like the comment above mine.

[4Sh0w]

OK fattyuk skydragon labels microsoft being very upfront when changes occur as deceiving customers, Chris says its trolling and explains why, ape gives real examples of things sony hyped in the past that never materialized or current rumors no one has proof of as a comparison to what skydragon calls lying to customers.

So please then explain what part of apes examples are wrong and why defending a X1 game in a thread about an X1 game is trolling?

This is exactly the kind of thing Im talking about above, sonyfanboys feel its OK to bash anything X1 but when you font dtand quietly by and fire back they cry foul and wonder why, once again even in a X1 relsted thread where naturally FANS of the game belong.

Looking at your comment history ughhh, Ok so I know you won't give a sensible response because skydragoonity is just doing what you yourself do all the time.

[girevik]

I'm not buying an X1 but I think the new shots look better overall. there is more background detail. I think it's fine for gen 1 game.

[lifeisgamesok]

People need glasses lol

Everything in the new build looks better and more realistic

The armor, character skin, and even the bokeh background,with the added rain look better

Some just want to trash the game especially after hearing it was a "downgrade" in the other article when in actuality it's being improved

[PFFT]

Yeah the new build looks WAAAAY better. Especially the faces and the armors. Its looking mighty fine to me. And not only that BUT the character themselves have more detail to them like wrinkles and such.

[True_Samurai]

Exactly the old was just more shiny than the new but if you look at the new one with guy on the right has more details on his skin now. You can the scars on neck from previous battles or either he's just turning his neck. And you notice their skin tones and much more background details. The new one has a much more realistic view point

[thejigisup]

Damn push the game back and save us the downgrade. Push the console harder and give us the best possible experience with this game. I hate hearing about a downgrade, I'd rather wait and have it be better. There's obvious things from both the old and new that I like but why can't you just combine the old and the new and have something visually mind blowing?

[thejigisup]

Oh right I forgot we have a deadline so let's gimp our game.

[IWasHere]

To be honestly, the new version looks better! Better lightning, more realistic shader on armors, more details in background, more shadows and so on. The less polygoncount is not good but Marius still looks great with 85000 polys. That's almost 3 times more than Jodie in BEYOND: Two Souls and this looks also impressive.

[Gozer]

85k triangles is still double that of Killzone SF characters.

[windblowsagain]

85k is for the main character only in Ryse, which is 3rd person view.

All of just the Npc's in killzone sf are 40k alone.

Think of it like this.

Nathan Drake has 80,000 polys on PS3.

Kratos has 20k on PS3

[Golden_Mud]

@windblowsagain Actually it's all the characters on the screen , they're all gonna be 85k polys (aka triangles) . Also Halo 4's
Master Chief was rendered 80147 polys yet the game didn't find that success as Halo 3 , why ? I'll tell you why , cause the gameplay wasn't that impressive neither the story .
A game isn't made out of graphics , it's made out of gameplay and story

[Grown Folks Talk]

Old build is just more glossy. New build looks like skin, backgrounds are better, & looks more realistic and natural. Majority saying the old build looks better are probably the same ones who complained about Unreal making everything shiny.

[jahfen83]

How sad!

[whoyouwit04]

The newer ones actually look better to me.

[LetoAtreides82]

Good demonstration of the differences between 1080p and 900p. You can see a lot more detail in the 1080p version. With http://cdn.dualshockers.com... you can see that in the 1080p version you can see most of their upper torso and the nice art on the right model's chestplate, all of that is missing from the new 900p version.

And yes I do see that they added more background detail on the new version but that was their plan anyways. It's too bad they couldn't keep 1080p.

[PsylentKiller]

I remember when they first showed Ryse, a lot ofeople complained about the armor looking new when it should look battle worn. Well, now it looks battle worn and I like it. The character models are slightly different as well. Look at their noses and the details on their necks. I also like the rain with the new as opposed to the cloudy sky in the old. Maybe the cut in triangles and no lod allowed for some other things that weren't possible before.

Edit: much better skin tone as well now.

[Flames76]

Hell the new one looks better some how.So looks like this is a good thing has more details and looks more relastic

[LetoAtreides82]

They were going to do that anyways. Look how much information is lost when going from 1080p to 900p, that's the big issue here. In the second picture the 1080p version you can see most of their upper torso and the nice art on the right model's chestplate, all of that is missing from the new 900p version.

[CrossingEden]

As an animation major I guarantee that at release no one would've been able to tell the difference, especially with the new shaders in place, character shaders add alot more to the visuals than a triangle count.

[assdan]

I'm sorry, I just think this is hilarious... I don't know how anyone could even attempt to argue that xbox one is stronger. The fact that they're making all of these downgrades so close to release probably means they are having trouble pushing 30fps on this thing.

[mhunterjr]

I'm not sure why people are still calling this a downgrade when it looks better than before...

They took away from the poly count, but upgraded the shaders. That's called a trade off, not a down grade.

The skin and metals look much more realistic, and they allegedly removed LoD. The only disappointment here is no native 1080...

[cell989]

the only reason it looks better, is because the new pics have been heavily optimized, while the old models have been scrapped, can you imagine how much prettier it could have looked if the XBONE could handle the ols specs and with full optimization? dont kid your self like that man

[H0RSE]

It's not the polycount that seems to show the downgrade, it's the texture res.

150k down to 85k isn't what's going to be noticeable to players, but texture res is. Also, the shaders appeared to have helped. The armor used to look like they were ran over with a buffer, the new, less dramatic look, is more appealing.

[tuglu_pati]

Finally some one making sense.

[cell989]

for once I have to agree with you

[MadSientist89]

god some of you people are either hard at work trolling or really just blind, the new one has more depth, more detailed armor, no clipping, better textures, just everything looks better..

[strickers]

I think some ( not the entirely negative ones) are pointing out that some of it is better, some is worse. Probably a better overall look. Game visuals are always compromises.
GTA looks great for open world but it doesn't look like Last of Us quality. Many factors involved. Suggesting this is all good or all bad is immature but better result in general is fair.

[arbitor365]

this was all a bunch of marketing fluff to begin with. neither of them even look like they have 85K polygons. beyond two souls has better facial animations and that is a last gen game.

[Dan_scruggs]

This is so pointless. They new stills are clearly better than the old regardless of poly count. I suppose it's just the gaming news community trying to find even more "controversy" surrounding the Xboxone when there isn't one. Polycounts have never been and issue and changing them to accommodate the game development process is a common practice in the industry. This was never a problem until now.

[AbortMission]

So the game still has those crappy casual QTE's every second?

Yes?

Lol, it's obvious that this is a Crytek game: More graphics, less interesting gameplay, story etc. (except with Ryse, it has LESS graphics Lol)

[redwin]

Now it looks better.. Lol. Cool

[TheKingWilliamV]

Hmmmm and it begins

[GrandpaSnake]

just goes to show you that those high numbers on poly count are something not to base your decision on, different dev's will use them in other ways.

[gamer7804]

New ones look better, they traded off triangles for better lighting.

[sephy]

I see what they did here its another excuse for removing the dreaded DRM issue...

[ZeV]

The Old one looks far better with no aliasing problems...

MS lies about their games ! Look at Forza 5, the downgrade is awesome since the E3 build !!!

Shame on X1,it sucks so much !

Go buy a PS4 !

[AllroundGamer]

The new one uses different lighting and it looks like they used more detailed textures to fight the lower polygon count. Crytek knows how to make graphics, but sadly the gameplay will be as always just mediocre...

[cell989]

Im sorry XBONE fan boys, but that is quite a difference lol. The Old pics look way more sharper and detailed, the new ones look blurry and less shine to it. WOW definitely a big downgrade, if you cant see it, you either need glasses or are in total denial.

[WorldGamer]

Proof, MS/CT should have stayed away from ANY technical discussion until things were solidified. The controversy, they brought that upon themselves, the game, still looks okay to me.

Still, I'll be getting a PS4, but it seems like X1 fans are getting a solid game visually.

[nosferatuzodd]

lol when i said that Microsoft is going to pull a gears of war on us i got crazy disagrees but look now so said so done they do this every time i cant understand how people can trust Microsoft they shaft gamers every chance they get yet the gaming community love them sooo much

[AllroundGamer]

don't worry about such disagrees, just blind and dumb people and MS employees doing damage control on the interwebs. You can see a rise of such damage control here on N4G nearing the Xbox One release date, cause if they wouldn't try to hide the truth nobody with some sense would buy One...

[GadgetGooch]

Just played Ryse at Eurogamer...was absolutely epic...Graphics - Smooth, Gameplay - like butter.....the XBOX ONE is gonna be an amazing console

[Izzy408]

Here's something PS4 fanboys can't seem to comprehend. Ryse's best looking characters have 85k polygons while Killzone SF best characters only have 40k polygons. So sure, scale down the polygons by over 100%, the number of characters and chaos going on in Ryse, this game could easily run at 1080/60fps on the X1. Oorrr, scale it down to 900fps, and have a better looking game. I'll take the second option.

[Condemnedman]

Doesn't matter still can't play it on a ps4!

[ion53]

I was hoping the difference wasn't noticealble. It is... Wow, Microsoft. Stick to one thing! I'd rather be told the actual poly count, then lie, and, tell us it's something quite lower.

[bligmerk]

You would have to be blind to not see the "new" build is much blurrier, less color, and a lot less detail.

This is so typical of what has been happening with XBone the past few months. They show screens of Ryse from the PC version and the MS lapdogs screech "Best grapix evar!". Then Crytek has to announce, well, XBone isn't going to make it at 1080p, but 900p. Then the MS lapdogs yoddle, "The rez doesn't matter, it's about the frame rate". Then Crytek has to announce the XBone version gets the polycount reduced almost 50% but the lighting is better. Then the MS lapdogs howl, "The new 900p lower poly count, lower rez textures, less detail is WAY BETTER than it was before! Ryse is the bestest looking game evar!".

MS lapdogs are the poodles of the video gaming world.

[gedden7]

i personally think a lot of you guys are focused on the wrong elements here... who about sharper more detailed textures and higher poly counts.. animations are way more important and gameplay is just even more important.. but i think are lacking in this game.. the AI looks almost brain dead and the transitional animations are rushed and or horrible... its obvious that this game is being rushed so that can be launch title..

[S2Killinit]

that's a HUGE difference man

[ONESHOTV2]

lol these ps fan boys disliking people comments about a game thats not going to be on P.S all u fan boys just get me mad every time i come on this web site for some gaming news its funny that u guy just come on here bashing the X1. and BTW i own almost all of Sony products from PS1 to vita i dont even own any thing from Microsoft but it still pissed me off what u guys do on here.......... the game looks good BTW....

[cyclindk]

Shader improvements definitely noticeable, but so is the downgrade, but I'd take those improvements any day for less polys.

[90Supra]

That blur, though...

[Gaming_Guru]

Lol, it's like the shadowing moved from the faces to the armour, but in the end I'm not really sure if it makes a significant difference at this point.

[oscarcat59]

Both looked fine to me and I prefer a stead frame rate.

[maniacmayhem]

So once again N4G flies off the handles for details you can't even recognize.

Too funny

Of course none of the same perps are in this thread, but wow was it a party in the other.

[jc48573]

downgrade is a downgrade. don't try to change the words around. And yes, it doesn't look as pretty anymore.

[Tigan]

If it doesn't look as pretty even though its still has the highest poly count in a character what does that say about the competition ?? They must look like shat.

[bligmerk]

These game journalist posers should start distinguishing the XBone version of Ryse from the PC version, or are they implying these downgrades are also happening to the PC version? Yeah, make a big deal of how it is console exclusive to the XBone but it is a PC game, then a console game. The MS PR was trying to make Ryse its next Halo or Gears but the artificial hype is sputtering out way too early. When it releases, then the direct comparison between the retail PC version and the retail XBone version is going to be so freaking obvious that even a paid shill will gag trying to spin that.

[Reem]

What a joke this game is. 900p, 30fps and now they can't even run a single character with 150k polys and had to cut it to 80k lol and this is a next gen game? Good joke, KZ runs in 1080p at 60fps and just 2 enemies on screen match Ryse poly count for the main character. Considering all the enemies in Ryse are a copy & paste work with much lower poly count, I'm damn sure KZ has a much higher poly count on screen and this in 1080p at 60fps. That's next gen folks. Oh and the Ryse screenshot isn't gameplay, but a beefed up cutscene, also probably running on PC lol

[Hercules189]

How are the helghast different from each other, can u show me the different armors, the different classes.Also there might be an explanation for why theyre all bald, maybe they are part of a tribe where everyone is bald.

[marcofdeath]

PS4 fanboys, you will soon realize that Xbox one is in fact the most powerful videogame console ever made. I found a video on twitch TV where the creator producer of RYSE states that all characters use the same rigging on screen, rather it be cut scenes or gameplay. Or like I said 85,000 polygons per character on screen someone please show me post a link to Sony's PlayStation 4 doing this type of GPU work.
http://www.twitch.tv/dice/b...

[Reem]

Seriously are you kidding me? Why are you repeating the same lies again and again? Even in your link Cevat says Marius features 85k polys and NOT per character like you are saying. Every statement from Crytek about the poly count is only about Marius, the main character. When they donwgraded the game, Cevat said "Hero Marius 85k polys? It was choice: 150k polys w LODs vs 85K + better shading + no LODs (stable). The latter wo at better quality!" and not 85K POLYS PER CHARACTER. You are in such a denial, it's simply too funny. Get this buddy: Just 3 KZ enemies surpass the poly count of the main character in Ryse and considering Crytek makes no statements about the poly count of the other characters, their poly count must really suck, probably 10k like in KZ on PS3. So truth is KZ moves more polys and this at a higher resolution and framerate. And phleeeease don't link me some dummy wannabe journalist who don't know his sh1t and states 85k per character. It's not Crytek's words, but of this dummy wannbee writer. If Ryse had several 85k characters on screen, Crytek sure as hell would say it and wouldn't use 85k polys only in reference to Marius. Got that? Good

[marcofdeath]

http://www.twitch.tv/dice/b...
In this video he will clearly state that all models in the game use the same rigging throughout the game in cut scene and in game play. You don't have to like it but that's a fact. Please post where I can see a PS4 character rendered in game with 85,000 polygons just one, just one.

[Reem]

"marcofdeath: I already posted a video where the producer states every single character on screen has the same polygon polygon model. Now I have found a list of polygon characters count. So not only is all the characters render at 85,000 polygons and the producer stating in his tweet "polygons"Not triangles. now I can show you how that stacks up against not PS4 but A PC. Halo or any other game has ever had a polygon count of 80,000 polygons, Matter-of-fact there wasn't a single game in the last generation with even 40,000 or 30,000 polygons per character and that's why he didn't post a link."I told you so." http://wccftech.com/ryse-po...

Again a LIE. He states they use the same BASIC rig modules and this has NOTHING to do with the poly count. Ryse moves more polys on the main character than any game before, I give you that, but at what cost? 900p and 30fps LOL and as I said, just 3 KZ enemies surpass the Ryse main character poly count and this in 1080p and at 60 fps haha

@Hercules189

Errrrr not for PS4, but for PS3 easily: http://static.giantbomb.com...

You can be sure that on PS4 the classes will differ as much if not even more and it sure as hell won't be a copy&paste job like in Ryse. All Ryse characters other than Marius must be really super low poly count if Crytek don't even dare to give the info about the poly count of other characters. And all this in 900p at 30fps LULZ

[bligmerk]

There is a hands-on impression of XBone Ryse posted by aussiegamer, graphics were poor and it's a button masher:

"Controls are easy to grasp but feel clunky. ‘X’ is your standard attack, while ‘Y’ is a shield bash (if you have a shield). Mash these in combination to hopefully defeat the enemies while battling poor collision detection and last generation textures.

The ‘B’ Button comes in handy sometimes when a skull appears at the top of an enemy’s head. This allows you to enter a finishing mode where you press “A, B, X or Y” buttons in succession to pull off a somewhat violent finishing move. This feels like quick time because, well, it is quicktime. Except the buttons don’t flash up on the screen so you can press whatever you like. The game keeps track of this, though, and you will be rewarded with a rank if you manage to pull off the finishing move to its violent conclusion.

It’s a shame we came away with this impression, but as it stands the graphics were poor, the controls were clunky and the context — gladiator gods in ancient Rome — is largely uninteresting, especially since the developers have opted to go for an “as realistic graphic style as we can be bothered”."

[CrossingEden]

Omgerrd gais, I SOOOOOOOOOOOOO can tell the difference between the polygonz gaissssszzz, sure I would'n't have know if they didnt tel me, imma polygonz wexpert
http://www.cgexplorer.com/_...

[YoungPlex]

This is a downgrade of poly count but the shaders actually make it look more dynamic. Poly count is important but I rather have shaders that make it look the way it does, without the shaders Ryse actually looked more plastic but now it looks more dynamic imo.

[buynit]

Damn... I m going to lose a bubble or get "labled" but i like the new look better.

[tigertom53]

I like the new look better facees also look better would also like to see some gameplay..

[marcofdeath]

I already posted a video where the producer states every single character on screen has the same polygon polygon model. Now I have found a list of polygon characters count. So not only is all the characters render at 85,000 polygons and the producer stating in his tweet "polygons"Not triangles. now I can show you how that stacks up against not PS4 but A PC. Halo or any other game has ever had a polygon count of 80,000 polygons, Matter-of-fact there wasn't a single game in the last generation with even 40,000 or 30,000 polygons per character and that's why he didn't post a link."I told you so." http://wccftech.com/ryse-po...

[Obamanationn]

lol they unveiled the Xbox One with Computer driven video game's and No hardware but an empty Box for a photo OP

[AO1JMM]

https://twitter.com/Realtim...

Downgrades or upgrades the game looks good to me. The only issue I have is the gameplay.

[marcofdeath]

http://gearnuke.com/crytek-...
OzzDee,
Here is another article explaining exactly what I told you 85,000 polygons per character. And by the way I too have played RYSE already. The ass kicking will continue.

[ballsohard2013]

no real news here... but looks good still. im actually lowering my expectations for both ps4 and x1's first year of games while developers grasp the coding. if rockstar can do gta5 on current gen then imagine the next gen

[jairusmonillas]

I wouldn't be surprised if the new one is photoshopped to make it look good. :P

[deno]

I love this, I'm reliving my Genesis/Snes years, except now it's a new battlefield with new soldier nerds.

[SpideySpeakz]

Looks crappy. One more reason not to buy the Xbone.

[knoxin]

The Dark Sorcerer PS4 Tech Demo Used Only 4 GB of GDDR5 RAM, 1 Million Polygons Just for the Set
source http://www.dualshockers.com...

The demo, that has absolutely no pre-rendering, post production or video inserts, represents only the first iteration of Quantic Dream’s development cycle for the PS4, and while it runs between 30 and 90 fps (the frame rate wasn’t optimized yet), it does so at native 1080p resolution, textures included. The developer still didn’t have access to full PS4 development tools, so they had to make do with the same PS3 development pipeline used for Beyond: Two Souls “shoving in a bunch of high-fidelity assets”.
The set alone is made of a whopping one million triangles, and the volumetric lighting is completely dynamic between “movie” conditions and “studio” conditions. It can be switched at will within a single frame. The most impressive part? It only uses four of the eight gigabytes of GDRR5 RAM under the hood of the
PS4.

Maurice the Goblin is made by 70,000 triangles, 40 different shaders, 150 Megabytes of texture data, and can be defined a CG-quality model despite running in real time. He has 388 different bones in his “body”.

so if that's done on 4Gb of ram I wonder what 8Gb could look like

[annus]

It doesn't matter if they had 100GB of RAM available, if you don't have the GPU power to render it it's not going to matter.

[ufo8mycat]

Old one is technically better
But there are some things better in the new one.

The guy on the left - His face is TECHNICALLY better on the old one, but MUCH MORE aesthetically pleasing to look at in the new one.

More aesthetically pleasing > technically superior

Another thing - I honestly don't know peoples interest in this game.

It's made by Crytek - thats more enough reason to stay away.

[thereapersson]

Didn't even have to consider this twice to notice that the new screens look much better than the old screens, despite the higher poly count in the older versions. Shaders can do wonders for lower poly counts. Just ask iD Software...

[EditorAtGNG]

I know graphics are overall prevalent when a new generation of consoles is expected (we PC folk know nothing of this, *cough* ;)) but this trend is becoming truly cumbersome. Polygon comparison? Are you freaking kidding me? Like anyone is going to hunt for the amount of details on their screens when they could be enjoying the gameplay. When did we become so obsessed with "x console plays y game better because of GRAPHICZ" and not gameplay?

A game can be carried by its visual fidelity by so much. If it's a tech demo - fine, but a brand new title... I would like to see some new gameplay element, a new take on existing trends or a completely new direction. Why isn't anyone (in this particular case) mention the boring, repetitive button mashing in Ryse and how the game is just "bland" overall? Why are we fixated on pixels and polygon count?

The faq people... seriously, the faq?

[Tzuno]

at this point i call it 360-2 and nothing more.