I really hate this technology. First I saw it in Far Cry. Basically it makes it look like you're being abducted by aliens everywhere you go, or like you're walking around drunk while a nuke is going off over every horizon. Last I remember, the moon does not blind you to look at it at night, neither does someones face.
Now in AoE3, it still looks bad. I know that it's used to try and hide rough edges and create softer looking models, but if the world looked like that in real life, we all need sunglasses to walk the dog on a winter night.
Now I *hope* you can disable HDR and bloom lighting, I hate it. It's okay to use this for... say a REAL nuclear explosion, or a vision from heaven, the sun, a really, really bright spotlight. Other than that, it really is not realistic.
"I have curly pubic hair. If I don't gel it down, it puffs up into a miniature afro and looks rediculous." -Kman