Graphics is set to the highest preset ("extremely high"), but the textures look very low res. Also, it looks like there are strange artefacts. Is this normal?

I know that the blurry background can somewhat be fixed by turning off depth of field. However, I am talking about the following things:

Screenshot 1: The "blocks" in the water (which look like compression artefacts).


Screenshot 2: The textures on the rocks and beams in the foreground. It is relatively close to the camera but not that close (look at the rope for comparison).


Screenshot 3: The banner, especially its borders.


Screenshot 4: The textures on the boat. Again, it is close to the camera, but I am not sure it is supposed to look like this, even up close.


The render resolution is 1440p (the screenshots have been scaled up to 2160p and back down to 1440p, but it does not matter for my problem). I had to crop the images due to size limitations. HDR does not change anything.

@braindead_paul Yeah, I've noticed this as well. Some of it is just down to some poor quality textures, but things like the blocky water and fire is something else, and it ruins an otherwise nice presentation... The water especially, as it looks great close too. When in command of your ship towards the bow, on the inside also becomes blocky/pixelated.... it's really strange and like nothing I seen before. Settings, drivers or tweaks make no difference, so it's inherent to the engine, or the way it's used in this game.

@ruanseth Thanks for the reply. It is good to know it is not just me. I have noticed the effect you describe as well (I think it's the same thing). The boat's sail is another example for the "blocky" look.
This is really unfortunate, since the game does look really beautiful in other scenes.