Please forgive me for the same issue. But the difference is huge. Check this out.

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

by Giuseppe Nelva Sep 28th 2013 7:23AM 25  @abriael

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.

The discourse has even reached Crytek Founder and Ceo Cevat Yerli that tweeted about it to explain that it was a deliberate choice. But how do the two builds stack against one another? We don’t have much material for a comparison, but we do have two relevant screenshots that portray basically the same scene, in the old build with 150,000 polygons per character model and in the new build with 85,000.

Below you can see a through comparison of the two screenshots, and draw your own conclusions (Note: the newer screenshot comes from a livestream, so it’s a bit more blurry. resolution isn’t important towards our comparison though, as what we’re looking at is polygon density and shaders).

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.

Which version looks better? That’s for you to decide, as it’s mostly a matter of taste here. Definitely let us know your opinion in the comments. In the meanwhile I leave you with a brief clip showing a dynamic passage from the old version to the new one.

Source: http://www.dualshockers.com/2013/09/28/ryse-old-and-new-builds-compared-polygons-vs-shaders/

IMO, I think it looks better overall.

seems fine to me

It's a horse trade, but the new one might be a little less dark and I like that concept better.

Yep, looks better overall. Less plastic, and a bit grittier. Clearly some parts are less detailed now on the armour too, but on the other hand certain areas like the necks look better and there's much more detail in the background now.

You're right OP, difference is huge
In a good way

pretty dramatic difference really.

characters look noticeably worse but the field of vision draw distance (is that the right term for the increased number of background details?) is noticeably better.

edit: pretty sure i had the wrong term the first go.

looks better now.

Draw distance is much better now. Armour looks more realistic and not many details are lost. Also you can actually see the detail in the faces now due to better shading. I think the trade was definitely worth it. Game looks better overall now.

Its not looking better, Its looking more natural, Its less sharp, you are feeling the work of time of a material. you don't think: hey! its a well good looking fresh new armor you have.

Better is more or less opinion.

Natural is better.

better shaders > better polygons