Reviewing EVERY God portrait in Age of Mythology Retold

[@lordoffortuneladies2755]

They insist not having used AI so if they truly commisioned someone that person definitely lied to them by simply using some AI instead of drawing

[@rafalst]

I think that is exactly what happened. It wouldn't be the first time this happened, other companies fell victim to that too.

[@funkle2645]

@@rafalst These are so blatantly AI that I don't believe they can claim ignorance to it.

[@SolitaryLark]

@@funkle2645not everyone knows art. It’s quite difficult for the average person to tell. We need better legislation that requires reporting of AI use.

[@ivayloivanov3744]

Yea, Zeus has double lats. This is comic level of muscle mass that doesn't suit the theme of the game. What a lazy job...

[@pindanetel]

cope

[@filipvadas7602]

1. The poses, the weird mistakes no professional artist would make and the general style of the art give it away. Most of the artworks just look really bland and strange. Like your eyes can *tell* something is off the more you look at it. 2. Either they straight up lied about it not being AI generated (and then touched up by actual artists) or whoever they commisioned scammed the hell out of them

[@miguelm.a7462]

they have an art director for the entire project, so they know, they could commission but they will know for sure if is AI, but usually in an important project the commissioned to famous artist in the industry

[@GunLobster]

Which is strange, since being under Microsoft, they should have good connections with well known artists with good portfolios. But you know with these guys, cutting costs is a far better solution for em. We'll have to wait and see once the game comes out, and look for the names in the credits. Then a proper investigation will start.

[@DrunkenGlums]

I reckon whoever did these used the AI generated images as a starting point to deliver faster. But in this case they have shown why this won't work because the AI doesn't produce a good starting point. It might be useful for really quick prototyping but not for drafting the final design.

[@DashMatin]

the eyes are too anime and detiled to be real

[@ALC0LITE]

Scrub the new Zeus one, and just redo the classic. The Zeus portrait is one of the most iconic images in video game history.

[@r0btech]

Zeus has muscles on top of muscles, it looks ridiculous.

[@TARDISES]

Funny thing is, this isn't even an exaggeration. That exact OG Zeus portrait is showing up all over the place irl, and not even just as Zeus.

[@ALC0LITE]

@@TARDISES exactly!

[@leftyfourguns]

I agree. Regardless of what they do with the rest of the art, Zeus should be as close to original as possible. I understand the original art is probably like 120 pixels but they should've recreated it as 1:1 as they could. It's THE image we all recognize this game by. Even people who never played the game could probably recognize it

[@joeykickassery]

Yeah, I've seen that classic Zeus portrait used so many times both online & IRL as the official picture of Zeus.

[@americanbard1721]

Horus' and Bast's faces look too realistic. It's like they took the real animals and stuck their faces on a cartoon background.

[@silvershine2261]

Horus has this probably even worse than Bast. Its so jarring

[@misster490]

In original Bast was very expressive. IN this one it is just dull stare of a ordinary animal

[@djudju8047]

I though the artist placed an easter egg by portraying his cat.

[@echoambiance4470]

Genuinely, no joke, 100% honesty, they should've hired furries to make those portraits.

[@RowanDrake47]

Okay, seeming tangent, but I'm a massive Warrior Cats fan, and an artist called Wayne McLoughlin (sadly deceased) did all the artwork for that series before he passed, including a massive number of character portraits for Cats of the Clans and the Ultimate Guide. Bast's face looks like it came straight from one of his pictures, no joke, it's the exact same style. I genuinely think it's the result of an AI scrounging from his work and plopping what it created on a body it doesn't belong on.

[@DetectiveElmo]

It gets worse -Google "grabbing an arrow from quiver" and you'll get the copy-paste stock photo right hand of Artemis -Ra and Horus' hyper-realistic animal faces -Anubis' khopesh has a weird angle that gives this strange illusion making the crescent pointing down or toward him -Poseidon missing a ring on his right bracer -Zeus' left arm has seven bands of different sizes, while his right arm has 6 bands, also his right thigh is crazy too big -Athena's sash wraps inside the armor and then suddenly pops out of her left side -Rheia's left tiger's paws merge in the background and somehow have nails popping out while the one on the right is normal, still, both animals have that hyper-realistic AI style -Atlas' broken left wrist and not even holding the planet -Loki's belt is not centered -Thor's weird right pinky but also inhuman right hand -Hermes' left arm missing an entire bracer or rather missing a bracelet on the right arm -Theia's asymmetrical crown -Helios' weird head merging with the background -Leto's left and right index fingers merge and little Artemis' index finger doesn't know how to wrap around the bow -Aphrodite missing an entire bracelet from one arm -Kronos' jaw and overall face look too human-like Dwayne Johnson -Sobek's collar covers the left shoulder but not the right shoulder -Prometheus' right index finger -Oranos' gigantic right index finger and familiar super uncomfortable left index finger position that seems an extra finger was edited out just like Prometheus -Oceanus' weird right bicep bump -Hekate straight up has AI Balenciaga faces -Freya's orange beads aren't even attached to the necklace Overall there are some inconsistent artistic styles and some obviously used AI, from cartoonish to realistic and then hyper-realistic AI style. It is possible that multiple artists worked on it individually. Comparing Odin's cartoonish semi-realistic art style to Thor's and Loki's hyper-realistic style is night and day. Personally, I think Odin and Oceanus have the best art style where they capture the direction of that clean semi-realistic rework graphics and should be a good basis when they DO rework the artworks from the beta. Nonetheless, the new portrait style still feels very cheap and the original artwork has set such a high standard. Also, what's with the weird hand fetish? Isis, Anubis, Forseti, Baldr, Tyr, Prometheus, and Oranos have reoccurring palm-face-up poses.

[@Zonalyre]

Great comment. Also, Bragi's harp perspective seems off, the top part doesn't match the bottom part.

[@danpower7416]

Also Rheia's rings on her fingers look kinda strange. I've never seen anyone wearing a ring like this, especially the one on her ringfinger, the gemstone looks weirdly out of position.

[@GunLobster]

I'm pretty indifferent when it comes to AI. But this just shows how little care or passion went into certain parts of this game. Far from what Forgotten Empires used to give us in cutscene artwork for AoEII DE.

[@lostinthegrave7462]

Comparing the new ones to the old I have far more appreciation for the original's consistent art style.

[@JirkaGasik]

You know people (and gods, I suppose) are allowed not to have the same decorations on both their arms? I mean, the complaints like "Hermes is missing a bracer" is just stupid. I am sorry, but I can't put it any other way.

[@rioplats]

I think something not too many are speaking about is the posing of the gods. What I mean is that by default, if you ask a genAI model to generate a character for you without providing it a reference pose (i.e. image-to-image), they will generally spit out something uninspiring and bland - like a bored pinup model. The fact that this is basically universal across the board here, completely robbing the dynamism of portraits like Sekhmet's, is a key indicator for me. There's also the dozens of mistakes, dodgy lighting (such as on Hera's eyelids), artifacting, background inconsistencies (trees blending into the sky in Baldr's background), and lore inconsistencies (Atlas only using one hand to hold up the globe/representation of the sky, with the other resting on a random rock), that I simply have to conclude that the base of all of these images is AI generation. Maybe they were touched up by artists, but it's absolutely insane that they are denying its use in the process.

[@electroninja0]

Agree.

[@americanbard1721]

I'm not even sure real artists touched up these images. I mean, the fact that they missed Osiris' hand is kind of staggering.

[@undertakernumberone1]

@@americanbard1721 I thinK SOME were touched up (like... can't remember the name, that norse god sitting in his chair), others weren't. Or maybe HAVEN'T been yet.

[@charleslavoie7622]

@@americanbard1721 If you clamp your fist you'll see a tiny bit of excess skin under your pinkie. That's what that bump is, NOT a 6th finger 😂

[@charleslavoie7622]

What do you mean ? Most of those have super dynamic poses, and their features (both clothing and facial features) are way too close to the originals for it to be AI. There's photobashing in those portraits for sure, and a lot of digital brushes. But no AI.

[@cloudshifter]

Let's be real, having to buy the most expensive edition just to get the classic portraits is a straight up crime.

[@caiqueviola3359]

well generic AI is not that much better

[@moemuxhagi]

TBH most people don't buy it for the portraits, just for the expansions. The portraits will be modded out day one. I just hope the voice acting will be modded as well, or better yet, the devs bring back the OG voicelines.

[@4ArmedHug]

I love watching this controversy, but I kinda don't care. The old art was ok and the new art is ok too.

[@klavicus2276]

the most expensive edition isn't even that expensive... quite "cheap" for nowaday standards and more expensive from a 2002 standpoint for sure. if you have the EE you even get a small discount which helps a bit. makes it around 40 bucks which is really fine and support the possibility to maybe get an AoM2 in the future

[@caiqueviola3359]

@@klavicus2276 man... this is a miscrosoft product and you treat them like a garage indie solo dev... microsoft cant hire a single artist? you do have a point man and i get it maybe you are right. but man... they shuld a lest treat us whit a minimum respect too you know. also they lied that there was no IA.

[@yuridhjeeyn9034]

5:45 Aphrodite didn't give Paris the Golden Apple she got the Golden Apple FROM Paris Eris, the goddess of Strife, tossed it into the Party/Feast/Clelebration

[@MaxHohenstaufen]

Yeah, she gave him the love of the most beautiful woman in return. She offered to the dude who gave her the best gift and she stuck with the apple.

[@ChillyEmpire]

OMG. I’m embarrassed. how did I mess that up 😅

[@SirSpamaIot]

@@ChillyEmpire How dare you. Thumbs down, unsubscribed, reported, BANNED!

[@SP-cp3qu]

@@ChillyEmpire lol I'm sure you knew just a slip of the tongue!

[@funkle2645]

15:58 Hyperion got AI generated with space in the background because "Hyperion" is also the title of a famous sci-fi book series. This is one of the many reason AI art is just lazy dogshit.

[@zan4336]

Tbh space background makes sense for him since he's the god of light.

[@josephdoria5237]

Ai is fine for inspiration and conceptualization, but it shouldn’t be used as a crutch (which is what it seems like happened in AOMR’s case).

[@myronmason8170]

It also makes sense given his mythology as the Titan of Light, particularly celestial lights. Giving him a galaxy esq background does fit him.

[@AVM26]

@@josephdoria5237 AI is not fine in any case. Period.

[@leftyfourguns]

Most of the Atlantean gods seem to have some kind of cosmic background theme though. I think it's intentional

[@Thesp_The_Thesp]

For me the dead giveaway is the balenciaga cheekbones - especially with the greek and norse gods. Its one of the telltale signs of an AI generator being used.

[@charleslavoie7622]

Or, u know.. because they're gods and the artists interpreted that as "supermodels". They need to look above mere mortals

[@Thesp_The_Thesp]

Yeah sure, but AI art is theft. And selling the non-stolen art for £20 should be frowned on. Whether it "fits" or not. Also if you look hard enough you'll see ALL the Gods that are old men have the exact same cheekbone placement.

[@wladynoszhighlights5989]

​@@Thesp_The_Thesp Maybe the old men prepare for a Balenciaga and Gucci catwalk runaway show?

[@GunLobster]

Balenciaga lmao

[@rgal]

I thought these portraits gave AI vibes, but didn't look closely. Now that you mention it, though, Osiris's hands really do look like a smoking gun.

[@ashina2146]

I think there's an explanation that if you clenched your finger the excess skin does resemble a sixth finger below the pinky though it really ended up reinforcing the AI Assisted art where they have someone pose and have the AI do some of the work.

[@BVasquezp]

Horus and Bastet are way too obvious

[@Varunic219]

​@@ashina2146I hate that I really like your explanation, although I don't outright know if that's what I'm seeing: in fact, it really doesn't seem to be, but wow. Great thought.

[@josephdoria5237]

@@ashina2146 Yeah that’s what I thought as well, but then I looked at it again and noticed that he has 5 tendons connecting each knuckle to the wrist.

[@PhotriusPyrelus]

Apollo's bow, too. I mean, no artist would draw it like that. You have literally millions of reference photos for how archers nock the bow. Not a single one of them has the index and middle finger behind the bowstring while the ring and pinky are in front of it. You *cannot* hold even a low-draw weight target-shooting bow with your two weakest fingers, much less a high-draw weight warbow. For Pete's sake, the arrow isn't even actually nocked on the bowstring, it's behind it!

[@Thunderbirdmovies]

They’ve all been AI generated and then an artist went back over it to “fix” the super egregious stuff, like weapons, letters (as needed) and probably a lot of hand/finger fixing, some of the clothes, as well as add the little details that tie them to the original portraits

[@GBlockbreaker]

let's hope they actually acknowledge this and get their shit together before the official release

[@TheFullPackage]

Definitely not happening unfortunately

[@maxidis3941]

It is difficult for this to happen, at most they will retouch them superficially removing the artistic errors that the community found, but you will still see the most obvious, it is the same thing that happens with everything Microsoft touches, it gives the minimum necessary, if not go see Mojang or 343 industries.

[@puritech1609]

They changed them! The new ones look significantly better, closer to the originals, and more consistent in style too.

[@TheFullPackage]

@@puritech1609 Oh baby, I stand corrected

[@vallytine]

Given the quick turnaround, I'm convinced they must have been working on them already and the AI were just placeholders. But they should have come out and said that from the get go.

[@Hoopsnake]

People mention Osiris, but I think Tyr is probably most damning that this was done with AI - that interpretation is a very AI solution to a prompt. "What's tyr known for? Getting his hand bitten off. Better put his hand in a wolf mouth". But the AI doesn't have the context to properly stage that scene.

[@VividVoid]

I agree. Tyr’s is laughably bad and is blatantly ai

[@xolotlnephthys]

If the new Osiris was done by AI, so was the old one. Because his right hand is awful in the original as well, honestly worst than the new one

[@biggali]

@@xolotlnephthys The only people who had AI art in 2002 were the US government.

[@xolotlnephthys]

@@biggali that is my point - there were blatant errors in the original artwork when there was no chance of it being AI generated, why chalk up errors in the retold artwork to AI generation?

[@pokemonduck]

@@xolotlnephthys because you expect an expensive project in 2024 to not get that wrong

[@cmlcml415]

They made Gaia into Groot 😢

[@TheMonkeystick]

I'm guessing they fired their 2d artists, focused on their inhouse 3d art (which is gorgeous) and outsourced the rest. Feels like there were several outsourced artists for this, and one was pretty decent and referenced the original art, while the other one ran them through AI and tried to clean it up. Big L for the art director for not noticing though, especially since a lot of the AI ones ended up in promos for the game

[@Progeusz-]

Yeah that seems to be the case. A lot of those AI generations are poor quality while others are pretty good but still off. Definitely looks like several different models were used. Regardless, AI art needs to have proper corrections made by actual artists, it shouldn't be shipped out as is.

[@FrankENFeld-ow6lh]

That's actually not that uncommon. There are quiet a few "background" stories from the C&C remaster and they openly told that lot "repetitive tasks" like upgrading textures were simply outsourced instead of binding the main devs for weeks. So, outsourcing "smaller" tasks like such profile pics is not that uncommon. And I guess 3 years ago, we would not have faced that problems here... a shame

[@avalokitesvara4092]

AI is not the problem per se (imo). The problem is : 1 - This is (mostly) bad. 2 - They outright lied about it, taking us for morons as well, given the obvious use of AI. 3 - They are Microsoft, which is by far capable of hiring talented artists who will do a much better job. 3 - bis: I'm sure, given the popularity of the license, you can even get better artwork for free by organizing a contest. 4 - You have to pay extra to get the originals you already had 20 years ago. You pay for crap, pay more to get as good as what you already had.

[@roderic3261]

back then I was able to replace some of the Chinese gods originals with others versions from mods, it wouldn't be difficult to go into the image folders to replace those with the the original portraits if they are found or you have them from the OG. Paying extra for that content is abusive

[@akhileshp6419]

Anyone paying extra instead of waiting for mods is a moron

[@VITAS874]

They should give remaster for free who already have original game. Greedysoft

[@ChenAnPin]

It's such a shame that the new portraits, however much AI was used to make them, just overall look bland and bereft of style. The old portraits were a product of their time but were at least genuine attempts to portray the deities. Some details like muscles on muscles and weird hands aside, it's such wasted potential. Compare this to the designs of each and every single character in Hades by a developer that probably has a smaller budget but then spent that wisely to hire talented artists to create a series of cohesive designs.

[@TheGielnik]

These portraits look ten times better than anything in Hades

[@buildinasentry1046]

@@TheGielnik This comment could have said "Look at me, I have zero taste" and nothing would have changed

[@TheGielnik]

@@buildinasentry1046 But then it wouldn't have been pure unadulterated truth, now would it

[@etarckneus9702]

How delusional can you get, I wonder ?

[@ldalcinm]

Agree 100%, the old one have so much more personality and consistency, it feels like im looking at one of those old mythology books. The new ones are so different from one another in style and layout, and it feels like a cheap mobile game art

[@tokagerkun]

Even the "good" ones, look more like cool cosplay of mythological figures, than actuall Gods.

[@johnfredriksson9565]

YES! exactly. They are missing the point here and it is not about being good at coloring shapes and draw straight lines. the portraits are supposed to depict gods and dieties in their divine and dramatic essence. Like league of legends skins nowaday are mostly ''cool'' cosplays.

[@G1ingy]

Considering all the gods are fictional and the game are just depicting fictional characters based on really really old drawings...your comment just sounds more like another variant of "I hate new because it's not old"

[@stinkybutthole3765]

@@G1ingyit does seem that way but I weirdly agree the aura of the old portraits seem more like looking at powerful cosmic beings while the new ones felt like looking at superheroes

[@Diie89]

No mention of Anubis's ear is getting cut off at 9:34 ?

[@JM-zy4pp]

Omg I just realized !

[@congcrab6360]

good eye

[@zzickos]

Ok that's really bad, didn't even notice, now I can't unsee

[@jedimasterdraco6950]

I prefer the original Hel. The new version doesn't really seem to emphasize how half of her is dead.

[@marcoantonio2046]

You're wrong

[@pumpy2728]

with that furrie pose xD rawr

[@karolicker2]

Old helios looks like his spidey sense is tingling

[@DaxMarko]

I don't understand why people can't take a step further and refine the AI art manually, it is supposed to be a tool, not a complete replacement of an artist. You can do so much with AI if you give it a smidge of real effort and creativity to incorporate different results into one picture while fixing the errors. And for company all it takes is hiring a single average confident artist. Literally one person can do it to save on time and resources. Zero excuses, quit being lazy devs. PS: Seems like they did try and do what I described, but it still wasn't enough work for some portraits.

[@BombaJead]

Because the only people using image generators are those that don't care about art in the first place. They are not artists they are grifters.

[@lgr9793]

Or better yet, they could have commisioned real artists to do the gods portraits instead of going the lazy route of using ai generated images

[@DaeZey]

Honestly knowing what goes into shading... fixing details sounds almost like more work then starting from scratch. You always wanna build up colour and shape from the big and simple to the small, fixing art you have to go backwards... At the very least it'd be a lot of work. Which if you're using AI... not what you're going for.

[@DaxMarko]

@@DaeZey I think its up to personal preference, some people can anaylize and continue/edit upon premade art without deriving too much from original style and idea. Maybe some studios employ multiple artists to work on same image, not sure, but I know its not something that's necessarily harder for some.

[@33shin33]

you're suggesting artists to "refine AI art" are you fucking kidding me?

[@YeenMage]

AI art is an issue in the sub-culture that I belong to, and yes, the indication that these god portraits are AI-generated or AI-traced is very strong for me.

[@ryanrose9786]

I gotta say...Gaia looks bad. I honestly dig the idea behind "hey she can wear plants!", it's more about the actual execution behind it. Honestly feel it would have been more well received if they had gone that route with each of the Atlantean gods. Instead of most of them just being human looking. Gaia is basically what they did with Kronos. Not sure if I'm explaining myself well. English is my primary language, I just suck at it! Honestly prefer most of the original art but that's more of an aesthetic choice. It's for the dame reason I haven't liked Games Workshops art for years. Too clean. I prefer a strong aesthetic style, flaire, flavor. Mistakes and all. Most art in games and entertainment just seem... So clean and plastic if that makes sense. I still crow about Okami to this day. Not graphically better than say the new God of Wars but aesthetically more appealing. Style. Now I'm not sure how much of this could be due to AI art or just the switch over more to digital tools or what not. Take it for what it's worth though. I'm old and even after over 40+ years of life can't even draw a stick figure right to save my life from one of Jigsaws traps if I had to.

[@consonaadversapars]

Yea, all the modern art (in various franchises) is really way too clean and sanitized. The old art is way more evocative. Some Retold portraits look good, but they don't have the "artistic"/"expressive" vibe, even if they in some aspects may look better than the originals.

[@undertakernumberone1]

Next ot it just not loking good, my biggest issue with Gaia is that her look IS JUT NOT CONSISTENT! Uranos looks like "old guy". Gaia is Groot. If Uranos, the sky, would look like, say, a humanoid cloud, Graia would make some sense. But no, instead Uranos is the standard old guy.

[@ChillyEmpire]

Yeah I would’ve enjoyed the Gaia treatment happening to all the titans. Would be a cool aesthetic.

[@undertakernumberone1]

@@ChillyEmpire in fairness: Technically, Gaia and Uranos ain't Titans. They are part of the Primordial Deities. Like Chaos, Nyx and Erebus (Night and Darkness). If they had decided "these primordial concepts actually reflect their stuff in their very body" and the Titans (and the Olympians) are the "classical" Greek God look, I'd say that would've been consistent (for those who read up) and would've made some sense. For Kronos, I can get the look as, maybe, the idea being that he was burned and bla by his imprisonment, and he is the Big Bad, so he needs to look the part. But as is, Gaia sticks out like a sore, barky thump.

[@boing5106]

Come on it is clear that they used AI cus no artist paid to make these portraits would make mistakes such as the shapes of body and their weapons being out of proportion like no way an arist hired by microsoft would mistakenly make 6 fingers like do they think we r dumb?

[@dekumutant]

Maybe the artist used it?

[@Eilandfreier364]

This isn't an AAA product like the original AoM was. In the A and AA market you will definitely see artist of that skill level or lower so I don't think using AI overpaints is that big of a deal.

[@lordoffortuneladies2755]

@@boing5106 my theory is they got scammed by the artist

[@BigdaddyDalaodie]

​​@@Eilandfreier364Yes,But some of the low-level artists definitely use AI generation instead of their own works. Because most of time.The AI works just look much better than their own ones.They just look cheap but not means they are bad.

[@Eilandfreier364]

@@BigdaddyDalaodie Not every game can afford super high quality art and I don't think they need to. AoM Retold looks weaker artistically speaking than the original. Noisier color palettes, weaker silhouettes, lack of detail due to a lack of resources rather than a lack of computing power. But I'd much rather have a cheaply made remake than none at all. There's barely any RTS games out there and any game that can breathe fresh air into the RTS e-sports scene is a net positive in my book. So yeah, I'm fine with them making shortcuts. You know what they say. Perfect is the enemy of done.

[@SporeDemigod]

Some of the most odd examples to me are: - Zeus' muscles, like you pointed out - Dionysus' uncanny face and really stiff pose - Hephaestus looking like a generic blacksmith compared to his mythological depiction (especially when just this year, Hades 2 had a great rendition of Hephaestus that fully embraced his "ugliness" as well as his physical disabilities) - Skadi's bow is floating in midair - Gaia's legs looking like they're each the size of her torso. Proportionally, they don't work with the size of the rest of her body. - Kronos keeping the generic lava-monster look. Like you said, in this case he's not a victim of AI generation but rather artistic direction, but I wish that Retold took the chance to make him look more like his mythological depiction, more human-like and carrying the sickle/scythe he wielded against Oranos. Since Prometheus has a clear stylization distinction between his portrait and his Titan unit, they could have taken the chance to do the same to Kronos.

[@CisnePelado]

Yeah, but both Kronos and Gaia are their titan unit. The Prometheus we can worship with atlanteans is not the same titan fought in The New Atlantis campaign, that is just a titan-sized promethean crafted by Prometheus

[@Thwze]

Freyja went from a matriarchal strong warrior figure to an OF E-girl

[@Diogolindir]

What is the meaning of that term?

[@caspramio]

​@@DiogolindirOnlyFans Electronic Girl.

[@lano3466]

@@Diogolindir onlyfans streamer girl basically

[@Doctor5ex]

​@@Diogolindir Electrónic girl Idk wtf is OF

[@HenriqueRJchiki]

​@@Doctor5exOnlyFans. Do you live under a rock

[@esesel7831]

God the new portraits look like shit. Even if AI generated pictures were good you just feel the soullessness

[@alexkappa156]

soulnesness is the word that I was looking for to describe this indeed! I can barely forgive only a couple of pictures.

[@waltersimmons9512]

I feel like the less usage of AI, the more similar to the original art

[@isaacPc9]

My main issue with all of this is the fact that the companies assumes that we are slow.

[@ivanquintana8608]

If Gaia had a nose the design would improve x1000 for me

[@ReluctantWarrior]

Same. But, still not as good as her original portrait (emphasis on 'portrait,' not her scantily clad in-game model.)

[@sapiensfromterra5103]

@@ReluctantWarrior Exactly, the original portrait could almost be a classical painting and has more character and more dignity, we a talking about a greek goddess here(yes the atlanteans have her in the game I know), not some weird MMO Spriggan...

[@jedodedo]

Oh so that is why something is weirdly missing when I saw Gaia's face. She hasn't got a nose. OMG I didn't noticed hahaha

[@herpderp3916]

​@@sapiensfromterra5103While I do still like classic Gaia, I don't necessarily mind the new look, since she's literally Mother Earth and also being a titan she's more of a primal force than the later gods. Although, if that were the case then I wish Ouranos would also look more inhuman, maybe with a beard made of nebula dust and a stone body that brings planets to mind, since he's associated with space. It would also make him resemble his son Kronos more.

[@sapiensfromterra5103]

@@herpderp3916 That is not how the Greeks really imagined them, they are still imagined having a human form, Prometheus and Kronos both are wrongly depicted in AoM as well. The aesthetic of the game should really follow the classical interpretation of the different religions. Otherwise Zeus would have to be a mix of lightning and the daytime sky if you follow the logic of primal forces. The perfect human form was really one of the most important ideas in classical Greece and the gods are the highest embodiement of that, they were the ultimate conclusion of that idea. I understand, that we are talking about a fantasy game and thus the team working on it might have different levels of knowledge on the subject of greek paganism, but if you depict classical Greece and its religion, you should take mainly inspiration from the things the Greeks were inspired by...

[@strategygame40k179]

OLD Age of Mythology ART looks Realistic and true ART!

[@Active0Bserver]

Yes! The original art has so much soul! It adds SO much to them game itself...

[@BiondiniFett]

Meh, nah, you are just having nostalgia, it doesn't look that good

[@XochiCh]

@@Active0Bserver It was all hand painted oil on canvas that were digitalized.

[@fabiocosta3830]

I would rather prefer they picked the originals and enhanced/updated them, rather than take shortcuts with ai art. Example, Bast.

[@AndrCPC]

If I recall correctly, Horus' hat is actually combined Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. They likely wanted to emphasize his Pharaoh's connection. But I agree- end result looks weird. Also - regarding Odin- I don't like that his armor has fewer details. Compare original helmet and new. And with the context of campaign-raging look of Prometheus wouldn't be a shock.

[@evangelostse2477]

10:53 Tyr's sword is not even in the same direction as his fist. The way his fist is held, the sword's blade should be facing the camera, but instead it's the flat of the blade facing the camera. That means the hand and the sword are drawn separately.

[@Pac0110]

I think that the uncanny feeling and other of the bad ones seem to be heavily done with AI, like the animals, they’re too realistic and it’s like badly photoshopped on top of a cartoony/mobile game person, also less details, even than the old ones. An example of this is the fingers, a lot of the new ones look like playdoh sculptures, so no wrinkles and just straight in the fingers. I didn’t like almost anything, if it was only art that I don’t like, I wouldn’t mind it, but being so heavily AI generated is sad, because that makes me think that they’re not putting effort into the game, with the closed bets some things were definitely not good, although gameplay is good, I’m afraid they’re not going to fix the problems, because of this AI reliance, it’s just too much, and it’s completely unnecessary

[@IIAnnaBananaII]

I love David Cherry artwork for Thor, Gaia so on OG just have this them fitting style. New ones feel 100% off whether its AI or not.

[@Aries.69]

I remember seeing a documentary on KZbin about making AOM, the studio artist made the art with ink and paper, this had a huge impact on the game.

[@IIAnnaBananaII]

100% I love David Cherry artwork for Thor, Gaia so on

[@happyiang]

I think the biggest problem with this matter is that they clearly stated on X that they didn't use AI-generated art, but in reality, they did. You can tell just by looking at Osiris' hand, only AI would draw six fingers. This gives me a feeling of being deceived and makes me distrust the production team, wondering if they will deceive consumers like this in the future. However, there is another possibility. The production team might have outsourced the artwork to someone else who claimed not to use AI, and the production team believed them and made the announcement to the public. If this is the case, they should clarify to the public that it was that person's fault and take legal action against them to quell everyone's anger. By the way, I think the other parts of this game are very well done. Apart from the AI-generated art, everything else truly deserves full marks in my opinion.

[@brianmayabella5992]

You guys scrams over an AI potrait? Woke gamer are u

[@happyiang]

@@brianmayabella5992 Just like I mentioned in my comment, the issue here is that the official statement was a lie. For me, there's absolutely no problem with using AI-generated images. The problem lies in the fact that the officials claimed on X that they didn't use AI-generated images at all, but the truth is that they did.

[@brianmayabella5992]

@@happyiang youre mom even lie to u. Accept the fact our world is full of lies. Just focus on mechanics, strategic changes, gameplay or any aspect of a game other than aetwork

[@fatfrogge8753]

​@@brianmayabella5992 Lol, Are you serious? Not even raising your voice against bs is just helping the world becoming more bs. Bs is not the default. We can have nice things.

[@brianmayabella5992]

@@fatfrogge8753 why not create ur own

[@funny_liquid7111]

I assume Kronos's purple designed is based on the unit Model. In the original he had purple smoke coming from him, I assume the Retold version looks like the portrait.

[@jujo5874]

To Tyr: In the Norse Saga its kind of like its depicted, he is stoicly looking don't giving a F*ck, because they made a deal with fenrir. they tricked fenrir with an invisible chain and fenrir - to make sure the gods are not playing a trick on him - only allowed them getting close when one of them put his hand in his mouth and tyr was the one who did so - knowing he will lose his hand.

[@jonasl3757]

But Fenrir is a little small in the picture isn‘t he?

[@muffinheretic994]

Something that I feel hasn't really put out there much in this video, is how a lot of the gods have a more generic Pose. Especially Poseidon, Hades, Hephaestus, Osiris and Skadi (but really most of them). Before, it looked like they were about to smite someone with divine power. Now it looks like they are posing for their picture to be taken. Also, while some of them have more accurate clothes now, I find the white toga or dress on the women is slightly overused, giving them less distinctiveness. I actually preferred the old Rhea over the new one for this reason. Although I also never disliked Xenas Design, so I might just be biased. Lastly, and that's a nitpick, but some of the Corpse-ified Gods, like Hel and Nephtis looking conventionally attractive and young rubs me the wrong way.

[@Vaios7G]

Some thoughts on the Greek gods: Hades (Old is better). The most important part: Old Hades is depicted as having dark hair and a beard. This is something that bothers me with the portrayals of Zeus, Poseidon, Ares and Dionysus that only Hades gets right. The Greek gods weren't just immortal, they were also eternally young (the myth of Tithonos and Eos show how immortality and eternal youth are separate, and the gods possessed both). In a Homeric hymn, for example, Zeus is said to have dark eyebrows. Poseidon is usually called κυανοχαίτης ("dark-haired"), an adjective that was used for Hades also. None of the Greek gods should've been depicted with white/greying hair because none of them were old men. What is used to distinguish them from young men, a sign of being venerable, mature, and powerful, is the beard (the absence of which implies youth, for example, Apollo, Hermes). The only improvement with new Hades is the addition of the bident. He looks more as a human-like alien than an actual person; hair and beard are missing. The chains and the garment choice are a weird choice. The background being red/fiery most likely alludes to the fires of Hell since he was the god of the Underworld, but that would fit better in a Christian conception of Hell; the ancient Greeks conceived the underworld as a place of darkness and shadows. Zeus (Old is better). Personally, I like the body stance better. The top of the hair and beard look closer to Zeus' statues than the new one. While Hades realm is placed deep in the darkness of the earth, Zeus' realm is up in the bright sky of Olympus, so I think the brightness of the background fits better despite its simplicity; the new one is too dark, plus looks weird for the reasons mentioned in the video. The new Zeus is too muscular. Yes, the ancient statues depict gods and heroes having well-built bodies, but never to such excess. Poseidon (New is better). I never liked mermaid-Poseidon, the new one seems to also depict him like that, but at least you can't see the bottom half lol. The addition of horses and seaweeds is excellent, as some places had epithets for Poseidon associating him with those things (Ἳππειος "of horses", Φύκιος "of seaweeds"). Apollo (Old is better). On top of what you mention in the video, Apollo is usually depicted as a young man, which I think the old portrait captures better. He was athletic alright, but the new one is too muscular. Apollo is usually shown with longer hair, though, which none of the portraits show, and depictions of laurels are sadly missing, even though they're more associated with Apollo than any other god in the pantheon. Ares (Old is better by a margin). You were spot on where the new one fails. The old one at least gets the hair/beard right. What both do wrong though, I think, is portraying Ares as old. Many statues of Ares show him as a young, beardless man. Not that there aren't any depictions of him with a beard, but I think these two portraits depict him as more grizzled than he needs to be. Age usually comes with maturity, restraint, wisdom, qualities that are not associated, and perhaps even antithetical to the nature of Ares' personality. He's usually contrasted with Athena, as they're both associated with warfare, and them both being Zeus' children, he should at least shown to be the same age as her.

[@SP-cp3qu]

interesting!

[@CaesarCJ15]

9:30 i didnt see anyone mention it, so here i go, Anubis's kopesh clips straight into his right ear, not only that, his ear ends ON the sword! Also the pose is completely awful, he's supposed to be a guardian afaik, in Retold he's just daring you to fight him.

[@ChillyEmpire]

Yeah saw some other folks call it out. It's hard to see unless you really zoom in though - the colors are almost the same. It's a weird mistake on the artist's part. And I agree with the pose being lame. My guess is that some kind of AI art was used as the base piece for most of these god portraits. And they tend to have the same handful of generic fantasy poses as a result. Makes everything look uncanny. The old portraits had much more dynamic poses/interesting silhouettes.

[@KuutinKujeet]

Athena's owl is a dead giveaway: the species in the picture is a great horned owl, a species that exclusively lives in the Americas. That, and it's feathers get cut off. Absolutely disgusting, will not be buying.

[@actuallyKriminell]

The old Zeus is so incredibly iconic that I cant forgive the new 0% bodyfat mogging bachelor

[@cl8804]

yes. yes, it is

[@onlywithbuts1781]

This is definitely one of the things i was afraid of and i do wish someone can forward it to the World's Edge or Forgotten Empires ( whoever is in charge of the visual department ) and seriously get to the bottom of it. The speaker said they were assured portraits were not AI, but clearly that seems to be a lie at this point as some of them do scream it loud while others are perfectly okay. Best example - some portraits straight out have brush strokes and imperfections that from a further view look really pleasant and add to the detail, while other ones the more suspicious actually do not have any brush strokes and even the backgrounds are way too smooth and sharp making the blending between foreground and background transition poorly, so i would simply revamp the ones that are proven to be ai by hiring a different artist that actually delivers the authentic result cause i am willing to forgive if the studio genuinely didn't know and they trust the artist perhaps because they had a good reputation ( until this moment ) maybe this is the turning point for them but they did choose ai over making real art so i wouldn't really feel bad for them. It would be shame if this would pull down the whole game cause i wouldn't blame people for not wanting to touch it if it has anything to do with generative stuff and i hope modders will also not implement any of that, cause i think it is worth mentioning that Extended Edition has a mod that added "Aztecs" and when i tried it, i noticed quite literally the same issue there where the portraits were clearly ai gen, so this makes it more believable something similar happened here without people knowing. Let's hope it can reach the right place and be corrected, i really do love what they have done in every other department and this would just stain it badly.

[@jeremyluce4354]

I think using AI art for the Aztec mod is fine because they aren’t charging people for it

[@shuraman1723]

For the release of the game they changed every portrait of the game. I think they use IA for the beta then replace them with portrait made by their artist for the true version of the game. Because now in the actual portrait i don't see any proof of IA art in the new portrait.

[@IAmMrGreat]

Apollo just has the safety on, that arrow is going nowhere even if some kid comes and bites his ankles to make him release the string.

[@hirvielain9013]

This also explains why he looks like he's not aiming anywhere.

[@Zonalyre]

This comment cracked me up 🤣

[@DaxMarko]

9:25 Funnily enough, Anubis looks a but like "The Death" wolf from that Pus in the Boots movie. But I also think its the weakest portrait, the og looks menacing as all hell, and new one kinda looks like a mildly-spooky werewolf rather than an iconic black jackal.

[@pumpy2728]

old Isis looked way more serious, like a fcking queen

[@Havinstroke]

This video is outdated, all of these portraits were redone for the release of the game. They have a similar art style as the ones in this video but seem a lot less like AI.

[@RennieAsh]

0:28 you sure it's not that wideboy elephant unit? Lol

[@TheDolphinTuna]

Thanks for this video. I’m glad to know that I’m not just crazy with nostalgia for thinking that a lot of the new portraits look like slop churned out by a machine.

[@Keatosis_Quohotos]

Having ai in a game I paid for feels like a slap in the face. It's like someone singing the happy birthday song but not saying your name. It's like you don't deserve something about above minimum effort generic

[@commonwhitedude3726]

I really REALLY hate Gaia’s new design🥺

[@Circurose]

Old ones were iconic, at least the Greek gods were. New ones are too generic. I wish they could just keep the same poses but redraw them to be high def.

[@seanwhitehall4652]

zeus just looks goofy

[@consonaadversapars]

Yea, the old one is way better.

[@seanwhitehall4652]

@@consonaadversapars 100%. All the new art just seems too idealized, especially compared to the actual art we have from ancient Greece.

[@Ballistic-vn6em]

No. It's just nostalgia.

[@mattplaysciv143]

Tyr's is actually great, its not showing the hand be bitten off yet, but him placing his hand in Fenrir's mouth, which was the only condition that the wolf gave when being chained up by Gleipnir

[@evangelostse2477]

15:28 "I was never a fan of the original Prometheus, cause' they made him look like some kind of raging lunatic..." Me remembering how Prometheus was in the Atlantis Reborn campaign:

[@alexkappa156]

The biggest issue is that most of them look to me irellevant and lacking personallity. Many of the portraits are decent but still feel soulless.

[@ShadowTheHedgehogCZ]

Why did they redesign how Kronos and Gaia looked? You may think Kronos looked ugly for no reason, but I think the classic Kronos look is basically a staple of Age of Mythology. If somebody sees the image of original Kronos, they will be like: "Oh yeah, that's Age of Mythology!" Why then intentionally cause confusion and break this visual reference using some new generic design? And both Kronos and Gaia actually show up personally in the campaign, don't they? They are basically the only gods in the game (except Osiris and Athena) who physically manifest and you can see them. So if they are redesigned in their portraits, are they redesigned in the campaign too? Why? Isn't the point just bring everything to high definition while keeping existing designs? These random artistic liberties seem very uncalled for.

[@Qibus]

They've updated portraits, you should review new ones. They are all amazing.

[@ChillyEmpire]

aye aye!

[@lernaeanhydra5766]

Yea they really mostly look so much better. Hera I think I preferred before though.

[@hombrejose8164]

Everyone does look better except some of the Greek gods. Hera like you said but also Hephaestus, Dionysus, Aphrodite and Apollo come to mind.

[@electroninja0]

Most of them hace clear signs of AI use. Not only the mentioned here. Bragi for example, his hair is weird. AI used in one, used in all. It doesnt matter you like the result, but that they are AI and afterward modified. Also not really good artwork.

[@L3monsta]

Kronos, Zeus and Hades all seem like straight up downgrades to me

[@sagittariusa9012]

I mostly agree with you. But Aphrodite doesn't look badly proportioned for me. 14:56 Maybe i'm stupid but the Horse looks closer to Helios for me. The Horse leash are shorter. So for Me, it looks like the Horse is further away from the "camera" so it doesn't look badly proportioned for me. Hyperion is the titan of Light, so the background makes 100% sense. I also don't like Gaia's look in retold.

[@JaylukKhan]

Giving Aphrodite a top is sacrilegious.

[@leftyfourguns]

I love the Tyr portait LOL He's just like "here, boy! Nice tasty snack for my good boy!" *holds out hand while he zones out thinking about Norse god stuff*

[@sanguiniusi8187]

Aphrodite didnt give the golden apple to Paris, she received it from him. Also no Aphrodite side boob? Its so over.

[@Arcodus]

That was a pretty good and fast run through. I disagree in tagging some of the old artpieces' goddesses as wearing pornstar clothes though but I'm Danish and thus not as prudish. But I do like the conclusion of if god pics and voice acting was the major concerns then the game might do well. I am missing playing the beta already and I look forward to the release of the game proper🙂

[@VitorEmanuelOliver]

In this day and age, people need to record themselves making their art. Or else people will start speculating they use AI

[@paulstein8854]

The Ares portrait reeks of God of War, which I'm sure the AI must have had in its training set at some point

[@7PlayingWithFire7]

Small correction: Aphrodite did not give the apple to Paris. Paris gave the Apple to Aphrodite. Discordia gave the apple to Paris to instigate chaos.

[@emanuelelamattina4264]

Thor's mjolnir seems talen directly from gow ragnarok

[@yana140]

11:58 Björn from Vinland Saga spotted. Btw everyone should watch the anime, it's amazing.

[@GehtRektSon]

[9:19] That "HAT" is the crown of a unified Egypt, worn by the first Pharaoh of both upper and lower Egypt, it's actually two crowns combined. Interesting fact, not a single one of them has ever been recovered. They've only been seen depicted in art. Also, the studio DEFINITELY took the original artworks and plugged them into an AI and said "fix it" basically.

[@SiodogRehane]

The other day Twitter banded together to say we don't need more localizers and AI could outmatch us any time. You can imagine how much IDGAF now about AI art when I was told my work was useless now (most were "artists")

[@LimakPan]

I think they processed the original art through the AI to help it design similar images.

[@TheSakurambou]

I like the new concept for Gaia but I feel the face clashes a bit with the rest of the model. Would have liked it a bit more lean and green.

[@TheUberjammer]

Artemis feels weird because it's supposed to be a 'reloading' position, but after you'd loosed an arrow, the bow would have drooped down, not been held up.

[@AHaber007]

I dont like the Faces of the Agyptian Gods. I like the cartoony faces of the originals much more than the more "realistic" ones. It looks weird.

[@flindude2681]

Some checkmarks for findout of if something is AI art seem to be looking for flaws but that can be on any picture. People don't draw muscles or shadows realistic all the time, and simplify things which are small or hard to draw. 3:42 the shadow on the arrow is fine but looking at where the arrow on the string is it looks wierd, its not at the center where the fingers should be too. But it also looks deliberate, its not like the string is inside of fingers or some merged mess but made to have those bottom fingers draw it, the string does look intentional to be drawn with bottom two finger's. This has vibes of fallout guns not making sense because its made by people who have no idea how they work. If something is AI or accused of being it, its kind of way saying its bad regardless of how much is AI. With all the identical elements (the same style of crests) it does seem to have been made.

[@xefjord]

There is obviously some art that is pretty scuffed as you have pointed out. But I am not really bothered by the existence of AI art in this case, regardless of whether they claim it was used or not. It doesn't make me any difference. Art is art and it was still directed by a person. I do want to see all the examples you marked fixed. But the one fortunate thing I have to say is that I doubt most people will hyper analyze any of these portraits to the same degree we are, and they almost all look fine from a distance. Appreciate the detailed breakdown though.

[@MannerdDesert7]

I honestly dont care if it's AI or not, the issue is most of these are worse than the originals. Hopefully they redo these before release.

[@eXcommunicate1979]

ATHENA has the WRONG SHIELD type, and the OWL IS THE WRONG SPECIES.

[@JazzJackrabbit]

So your art wasn't done by AI? Then may I suggest you actually give the credit for each artist's contribution?

[@dradonie]

Ngl I kinda like what they did to Hades, he is the one tasked with the Underworld so he is supposed to look menacing

[@riakaraofficial]

5:50 slight correction, Paris gave aphrodite the apple instead of the other goddesses because he liked her proposal of getting Helen as his bride. That's all.

[@hirvielain9013]

To me most of these are pretty good. Even the obvious mistakes don't really bother me much. What bothers me is lying about not having used AI. Admit using AI and we're good. Although I appreciate worse art made by humans much more than detailed art made by AI, I also understand that Microsoft wants to make profit and AI art is cheaper. This is just how it is nowadays. Maybe one day games will have "organic free range art" certification on them if AI hasn't been used.

[@arontuske9348]

I think the animal spirit circling around Loki is supposed to be a reference to him being a shape shifter

[@klavicus2276]

i agree with most of your criticisms. in a few you were harsher, in some others softer in critisicm than me personally. but lets be real here if you complain slightly about aphrodite than horus really needs the same amount of fixes too. (aphrodite face and maybe background and horus hat and face)

[@Blazingwheel]

5:41 Original shows a bit of booba under the armpit, new one doesn't

[@yurinogueira4693]

In Helios portrait in 15:19, the rope in his hand become the halter. It shoud be connected with it. Like, it becomes gold.

[@Chfoulu]

Just a precision on Apollo's arrow : He's holding it the right way, on the right of the bow, and the way to hold the string (AI problems aside) is a thumb draw, the index is keeping the arrow on place, thus not needing to "hold" the arrow with the hand that grips the bow. This can be seen in all of greek ceramics and is used continuously throughout history, still being used in "traditionnal" archery A problem I have with the new ones are the obvious fact they didn't know what Ancient times looked like. Athena's got a corset and a wierd sword when she had a Chalkothorax and a xiphos before. Several occurences with the Norse, corsets and wierd armors. I know, it's MYTHOLOGY, not HISTORY, but we have enough misrepresentation of historical stuff already and proper historical arms and armors seem wierd and mythological to most people anyway, let's stick to better looking stuff. Yeah it seems they AIed everything and then drew on the most outrageous parts of the AI, I suspect they just put their previous artwork on midjourney or such and let it do the job, correcting the biggest mistakes. Too bad the animal parts are not fitting and too realistic with the smooth polished stylised bodies around them That's all for me, thx

[@ConscriptDavid]

There are rumours of Demeter being added as a 4th Major God (which would make sense, representing more Chtonic gods and myths), which would explain why they'd change Gaia. Gaia is Earth and Nature, Demeter is more associated with Agriculture and the Season. So she'd probably look like the original AOM Gaia did.

[@Active0Bserver]

Age of Mythology was my very first video game. I grew up watching my mom play it, until she taught me how to. For over twenty straight years, I've had an unyielding love for this game. When I heard about AoM: Retold, I was ecstatic to say the least. It breaks my heart that they've treated this franchise, and it's fan base with such little respect. As an artist, it was clear from the get-go that most, if not all the artwork for the god portraits were made primarily with AI, which I personally can't support. It honestly crushes me that the only way I'll be willing to play it is through pirating, because I'll be damned if I'm going to show any kind of support for this.

[@oscarm4095]

Is it just me or do Ares' traps look insanely inhuman lol. Might be just weird composition though.

[@solaire07]

I don't really mind, if it's just the art portraits of the gods it's fine with me, we're here for the gameplay, plot and other thing's, why let one thing being a possible A.I art of the gods be something that turns you away from such an awesome experience but I definitely think that the god portraits are A.I generated.

[@MS-Melas]

And thats why I still play AOM on CD Rom, but with the "Window Play" trick to get Extended Edition FULL HD.