General Gaming Final Fantasy XVI – Information Thread, update: PC version in "final stages of optimization', pre-release demo planned

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

 

Final Fantasy 16: as close to flawless as we've seen in a long time

WWW.EUROGAMER.NET

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Final Fantasy 16 arrives in excellent condition, giving players exactly the experience the developers intended.

 

 

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Rather than using an off-the-shelf engine, Final Fantasy 16 is also built using technology created for this game - at least in part. Square has been remarkably tight-lipped, but it's likely we're seeing an evolution of work done originally for Final Fantasy 14, albeit greatly enhanced. As a PlayStation 5 exclusive, the development team has the freedom to implement new features designed for the new hardware. It's not the most cutting-edge experience on the market, mind you, but what's here is so remarkably solid and polished that it's hard not to be impressed.

 

 

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Unfortunately, performance mode delivers noticeably poor image quality throughout and also suffers from an unstable frame-rate. This was first noticed in the demo, and reappears in the full game even with the relatively small 300MB day one patch installed. In side by side tests, any improvement is negligible, with regular dips below 60fps and even below 48fps - so you're falling out of the PS5's 48Hz VRR window.

 

Weirdly though, I discovered something very strange about this mode - the frame-rate dips while running through the world, but the moment you start combat, the frame-rate rockets up to a near-perfect 60fps. The second Clive puts away his sword following combat, we're back to poor performance.

It turns out that when the developers mentioned they were targeting 60fps in battle only, they meant exactly that. The second you initiate combat, the internal resolution drops like a stone, hitting as low as 720p in the process. Image quality takes a gigantic hit and the game winds up looking more like an oil painting - but the frame-rate smooths out considerably.

 

My theory is that the developers intentionally increase detail while exploring the world then dial back resolution and perhaps disable certain world simulation features to ensure smooth performance in combat. Cutscenes work similarly, playing back at 30fps to ensure good image quality during major sequences.

 

 

[Mercury33]

Is 14 mostly doable solo now? How accessible is it for someone starting from scratch? I’ve been interested for awhile but held off becasue im way behind and have no friends 😂

[eventide11]

27 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

The director/producer of FFXIV did such a good fucking job that he's the one making this game, lol.

See I did not know that. Now I'm way more intrigued 🤔

[Xbob42]

35 minutes ago, Mercury33 said:

Is 14 mostly doable solo now? How accessible is it for someone starting from scratch? I’ve been interested for awhile but held off becasue im way behind and have no friends 😂

 

Yup, the vast majority of the game is soloable thanks to something called the Duty Support system. Duties are the generic term for dungeon/trial/raid. No raid is ever required for story progress, but several dungeons are and some trials as well, which are basically one-off boss fights.

 

So this system allows you to replace human players with NPCs from the story, meaning most content that previously required other players can just be done at your own leisure. It was only recently implemented so it doesn't apply to absolutely everything, but even the few you have to do with other players, you can enter a matchmaking queue and be in and finished in minutes, as experienced players frequently queue for everything as there's daily and weekly bonuses for it, so no long sits waiting for party members to show up or old dungeons with huge queue times.

 

I haven't started from scratch since it came out, so it's hard for me to say. I will say that it starts out slow and wordy, and can take quite a while to really get rolling. It's quite the opposite of FFXVI in that regard. But everything it builds to keeps being built upon, expanded upon, and made into something better the further you get. Early on you can really see them trying to find their footing and it can be off-putting for newer players simply because there's a lot of dialogue and many would be tempted to skip a lot of it. But I don't think I've ever seen anyone start getting into the expansions who didn't immediately see the dramatic improvements to every facet of the story and end up loving it. They've reworked the earlier bits somewhat to be less annoying, like making the transition from the end of the base game to the first expansion have less filler, redoing the early dungeons to have less weird annoying mechanics from the early days, etc.

 

I hate that every recommendation for the game has to come with an explanation of the slow start, but even then I recommend it over just about anything else I play, multiplayer or single player. So long as you like story, that is. I've never seen a game take parts that are initially kind of cheesy and predictable and then an expansion or two later weave them into an actual heartbreaking story (and not just because of characters dying!) -- it's great stuff.

 

And of course we must always present the meme...

 

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Did you know that the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV has a free trial, and includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn AND the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 with no restrictions on playtime? Sign up, and enjoy Eorzea today!

 

FFXIV is at this point easily my favorite Final Fantasy of all time, even above my precious FF6. It's not full of blood and gore and FUCKING KILL YOU like FFXVI, but it still deals with all kinds of "mature" themes, some it touches upon lightly or in passing, and some it explores over entire expansions. Despite being a T-rated game with goddamn cat girls, one of the first dungeons is a pirate den full of sex slaves. (Also all the voice actors get replaced with their current ones as soon as you start the first expansion, which is jarring but a sudden and massive improvement. Really hoping they go redo the initial game so new players don't get confused.)

 

I do wonder how FFXVI will deal with the emotional side of characters beyond just happy kid then mad revenge man. FFXIV's concepts start out simple but then you start dealing with real weighty existential concepts, complex moral questions and quite a bit into philosophy. Not to mention asking yourself why the tits jiggle at 30 FPS, but at 60 or higher they're like stone. Baffling.

 

Anyway that's enough paragraphs. I recommend checking it out. Some folks don't actually find the start all that slow and a few crazy nutjobs actually prefer it. But I definitely think the storytelling gets really, really good as you go on.

[TwinIon]

Reactions to the story are all over the place, but it seems like everyone agrees the game itself is quite good, looking forward to checking it out myself.

[legend]

I’m liking these review scores!

[Amazatron]

4 minutes ago, TwinIon said:

Reactions to the story are all over the place, but it seems like everyone agrees the game itself is quite good, looking forward to checking it out myself.

Seems about 80%-90% positive towards the story to me.

[TheLeon]

@Xbob42 That’s a great sales pitch! Basically all I remember of XIV the couple of times I tried it was having fun until the first story mission where I had to group up, waiting an hour to matchmake with people, then giving up when nothing happened. If that’s no longer a concern, I’ll check it out again. Although I think I screwed up with my SE account that was tied to my Steam and PSN at some point (something about an authenticator that I didn’t properly deactivate on an old phone). 

[Best]

@Bacon celebrate the review scores and be excited that it's 11 hours away from release. 

[stepee]

1 hour ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

Final Fantasy 16: as close to flawless as we've seen in a long time

WWW.EUROGAMER.NET

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Final Fantasy 16 arrives in excellent condition, giving players exactly the experience the developers intended.

 

 

 

 

 

The content here and the headline contrast in the most unusual way to me lol

[Biggie]

2 hours ago, Keyser_Soze said:

 

It wasn't the same guy who reviewed it but they also gave FFXV the same score. 

Oof

[Biggie]

31 minutes ago, best3444 said:

@Bacon celebrate the review scores and be excited that it's 11 hours away from release. 

He is busy touching himself. Check back later.

[Keyser_Soze]

He's making sweet love to his onahole in anticipation.

[Best]

36 minutes ago, Biggie said:

He is busy touching himself. Check back later.

 

I'm gunna buy this tomorrow morning and download before I head to work. 

 

[Biggie]

22 minutes ago, best3444 said:

 

I'm gunna buy this tomorrow morning and download before I head to work. 

 

Pre loaded ready to go

[Best]

3 minutes ago, Biggie said:

Pre loaded ready to go

 

I can't tell if you're just trolling or not. I'm more excited about this than I was Zelda. These are my type of games and I love a visual feast to the eyes. FF16 does that in just a short demo. 

[Biggie]

1 hour ago, best3444 said:

 

I can't tell if you're just trolling or not. I'm more excited about this than I was Zelda. These are my type of games and I love a visual feast to the eyes. FF16 does that in just a short demo. 

How many times do I have to tell you? Yes

[crispy4000]

2 hours ago, stepee said:

 

The content here and the headline contrast in the most unusual way to me lol

 

I think its because as unfortunate as aspects of it are, its still launching in a better state than most big games today.

 

4 hours ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

Final Fantasy 16: as close to flawless as we've seen in a long time

WWW.EUROGAMER.NET

---

Final Fantasy 16 arrives in excellent condition, giving players exactly the experience the developers intended.

 

 

This decides it for me.  I'll be sitting out until I can get through some of the other big games this year.  It'll be a Black Friday pick up.

 

Maybe by then they can patch in FSR 2.0 or something.  Although that's still going to be questionable upscaling from those low base resolutions.

[nublood]

7 minutes ago, crispy4000 said:

 

I think its because as unfortunate as aspects of it are, its still launching in a better state than most big games today.

 

 

This decides it for me.  I'll be sitting out until I can get through some of the other big games this year.  It'll be a Black Friday pick up.

 

Maybe by then they can patch in FSR 2.0 or something.  Although that's still going to be questionable upscaling from those low base resolutions.

This is pretty much me as well. I haven't finished Jedi Survivor, Zelda, or Diablo 4. And I'm really struggling to find time to bounce between those games. Getting this right now would be a big insult to my backlog. lol

[Bacon]

I might try out quality mode. Big shame about performance mode and that the patch wasn't a saving grace. I've also considered playing on a 1080p display since if can't even maintain 1440p.

 

Nice to see good reviews, but I don't really care about them and I'm not going to read them in case of spoilers. If I cared about reviews I wouldn't have gotten SoP:FFO or ELEX.

[Bacon]

For better or worse, I wonder if this will dictate the direction FF will go. As in making it more mature and strictly fantasy with a singular character focus and real-time action combat. This game is everywhere right now. I can't avoid it on the internet.

[Best]

6 minutes ago, Bacon said:

I might try out quality mode. Big shame about performance mode and that the patch wasn't a saving grace. I've also considered playing on a 1080p display since if can't even maintain 1440p.

 

Nice to see good reviews, but I don't really care about them and I'm not going to read them in case of spoilers. If I cared about reviews I wouldn't have gotten SoP:FFO or ELEX.

 

Quality mode was PERFECTLY fine for me on an LG OLED 65inch. 30fps is fine for me especially when visuals look this good. I watched 3 video reviews with no spoilers today and I'm hyped as fuck. 

[Bacon]

13 minutes ago, best3444 said:

Quality mode was PERFECTLY fine for me on an LG OLED 65inch

Yeah, I got a cheap ass 27inch 1440p DELL LCD TN panel monitor. Shit was under 200 bucks on sale I'm pretty sure. It's why quality modes are very unappealing to me. Shit ain't gonna look that much better.

[stepee]

1 hour ago, crispy4000 said:

 

I think its because as unfortunate as aspects of it are, its still launching in a better state than most big games today.

 

 

This decides it for me.  I'll be sitting out until I can get through some of the other big games this year.  It'll be a Black Friday pick up.

 

Maybe by then they can patch in FSR 2.0 or something.  Although that's still going to be questionable upscaling from those low base resolutions.

 

It’s just that it’s kind of like they aimed about as low as possible for performance and IQ and so yeah they totally nailed it lol

[BloodyHell]

40 minutes ago, Bacon said:

I might try out quality mode. Big shame about performance mode and that the patch wasn't a saving grace. I've also considered playing on a 1080p display since if can't even maintain 1440p.

 

Nice to see good reviews, but I don't really care about them and I'm not going to read them in case of spoilers. If I cared about reviews I wouldn't have gotten SoP:FFO or ELEX.

I don’t believe the patch is out yet, so how could it help anything?

[Biggie]

1 minute ago, BloodyHell said:

I don’t believe the patch is out yet, so how could it help anything?

I think the patch is included in the pre-load

[BloodyHell]

26 minutes ago, Bacon said:

Yeah, I got a cheap ass 27inch 1440p DELL LCD TN panel monitor. Shit was under 200 bucks on sale I'm pretty sure. It's why quality modes are very unappealing to me. Shit ain't gonna look that much better.

I have a 4k lg, but, I just literally don’t care about graphics. 
TotK is one of my favorite games. 
Im currently playing through FF2. I’ll take high framerates over image quality any day of the week. Im fine with 1080p if it was a smooth 60.

[thedarkstark]

Metacritic should really purge some of these smaller obviously clickbaity sites from their database. It's fine to not personally enjoy a game but if you're giving this and Tears of the Kingdom a 6/10... you are either in the wrong field or are very transparently trying to drum up controversy to generate ad revenue.

[BloodyHell]

1 minute ago, Biggie said:

I think the patch is included in the pre-load

Could be I guess. I had understood it wouldn’t be ready till day 1 or 2.

[BloodyHell]

Just now, thedarkstark said:

Metacritic should really purge some of these smaller obviously clickbaity sites from their database. It's fine to not personally enjoy a game but if you're giving this and Tears of the Kingdom a 6/10... you are either in the wrong field or are very transparently trying to drum up controversy for to generate as revenue.

The Eurogamer review is awful. 

[Xbob42]

8 minutes ago, thedarkstark said:

Metacritic should really purge some of these smaller obviously clickbaity sites from their database. It's fine to not personally enjoy a game but if you're giving this and Tears of the Kingdom a 6/10... you are either in the wrong field or are very transparently trying to drum up controversy to generate ad revenue.

I think this kind of post is the most confusing to me. Not everyone likes the same fuckin' stuff. I'd give Skyrim a goddamn 2/10 and I'd get called clickbaity for that if I was a reviewer. I honestly think it's a terrible fucking game. Like not even bad, actually terrible, and that Bethesda has hardly improved in the years since.

Judging someone else's intent is extraordinarily difficult even when you've got a ton of evidence, trying to purge "clickbait" because you think a game is worthy of some objective minimum score is some IGN ass thinking. How the hell could you even use this game as an example? None of us have played farther than 2 hours into the story! It could turn to total shit! Wouldn't be the first time a big hyped game turns to shit partway through.

 

Or maybe some people just don't find it very good. Also we're grown ass men, none of us should give the tiniest shred of a fuck about whether these games meet some arbitrary score threshold or if some outlet wrote a hilariously bad review or whatever.

With the exception of it being a widespread thing that could actually do big damage to a game, like how God Hand was reviewed like shit but isn't the awful game everyone said it was, but is actually a completely acceptable and mediocre title with some fun ideas! Or the greatest game ever if you're a pervert.

[thedarkstark]

14 minutes ago, Xbob42 said:

I think this kind of post is the most confusing to me. Not everyone likes the same fuckin' stuff. I'd give Skyrim a goddamn 2/10 and I'd get called clickbaity for that if I was a reviewer. I honestly think it's a terrible fucking game. Like not even bad, actually terrible, and that Bethesda has hardly improved in the years since.

Judging someone else's intent is extraordinarily difficult even when you've got a ton of evidence, trying to purge "clickbait" because you think a game is worthy of some objective minimum score is some IGN ass thinking. How the hell could you even use this game as an example? None of us have played farther than 2 hours into the story! It could turn to total shit! Wouldn't be the first time a big hyped game turns to shit partway through.

 

Or maybe some people just don't find it very good. Also we're grown ass men, none of us should give the tiniest shred of a fuck about whether these games meet some arbitrary score threshold or if some outlet wrote a hilariously bad review or whatever.

With the exception of it being a widespread thing that could actually do big damage to a game, like how God Hand was reviewed like shit but isn't the awful game everyone said it was, but is actually a completely acceptable and mediocre title with some fun ideas! Or the greatest game ever if you're a pervert.

I dont care what score it gets, but metacritic platforms and boosts the most negative reviews. They're feeding them clicks, that's the part that rubs me the wrong way. Just in general clickbait bullshit is rewarded far too often nowadays.

 

I pointed to TotK as an example also because obviously we've all played it already. Maybe it isnt intentionally clickbaity a lot of writers arent "gamers" they just take a writing job to pad their resume, but that sucks just as much.

 

Your skyrim take is crazy. I think Bethesda is a mostly shit company.I think starfield looks like fallout in space, but skyrim is one hell of a game.

[Xbob42]

13 minutes ago, thedarkstark said:

Your skyrim take is crazy. I think Bethesda is a mostly shit company.I think starfield looks like fallout in space, but skyrim is one hell of a game.

Yeah one hell of a piece of shit. Bad combat. Bad characters. Bad story. Bad quests. Bad writing. Bad animations. The few things that made the Elder Scrolls games interesting in Oblivion and Morrowind were further stripped away until it was just bad combat that was now bad for no reason instead of being able to do weird, wild stuff. Even wild Elder Scrolls lore like the sun being a fucking tear in reality was all lost in favor of... uhh, I dunno really. I can't actually remember any single interesting bit of lore about Skyrim. It's like a game I played and my mind just went blank because nothing interesting was ever happening. Fuck man I miss flying over the map in Morrowind, even if it still had the awful combat, at least making spells was dope.

[Bacon]

1 minute ago, Xbob42 said:

Bad writing

Fans who quote the mario dragon in shambles

[Bacon]

46 minutes ago, BloodyHell said:

I don’t believe the patch is out yet, so how could it help anything?

It came out with the pre-load.  The DF video mentioned it.