Consoles are holding this game back (graphically)

[Imoen]

I find it incredibly difficult to believe a player character only had 1,000 polygons.

Indeed. My sentiments exactly. I think the shader count like I said previously was the bigger thing they were pointing at.

Basically I think it was misinterpreted, I think they meant "HOLY CRAP LOOK AT THIS SHADER COUNT ON THIS 1K FLOWER POT!" That is just speculation on my part. Doesn't mean the 1k wasn't a little high for the subject matter but ... meh.

Off Topic: The wasteful tris I have seen in my experience would blow your mind though. This pot pales in comparison to the crap I have seen lol General rule: if it doesn't help the silhouette, you don't need it. (Obviously there is quite a few exceptions to this, that I won't bother rambling on anymore about the topic of asset creation & optimization.)