Final Fantasy XVI is on the horizon. Oddly enough for a PS5 title, there has been little to no mention of the available performance profiles in the game. The release of the demo version has allowed prospective players to get a taste of the available performance modes. What do they entail and what do they do? Read further to get details and impressions of Final Fantasy XVI’s Performance Modes.
How to Change Performance Modes
There are two performance modes to choose from; Graphics and Frame Rate. You get the option to select your preference when starting a new game. You can also open the Main Menu any time you wish during gameplay, tab over to the System Settings, then go to the Graphics Settings section.
Graphics Mode vs Framerate Mode
The Graphics mode targets a higher resolution, has higher quality shadows, slightly better lighting, and has improved anisotropic filtering. There is also very stylish motion blur that some may not be a fan of. The framerate is also capped at 30 fps. A target that is kept under most circumstances if the demo is anything to judge by.
The Frame Rate mode has a lower resolution, slightly lower quality shadows and lighting, and lower anisotropic filtering. The motion blur is dialed down in this mode as well. Despite these settings being lowered, I couldn’t notice a difference in certain FX and particles even when using Photo Mode. The big boon to this mode is that the framerate cap is 60 fps instead of 30 fps. However, in the demo, the framerate isn’t consistent. Battles do usually hit above 50 fps, meanwhile, exploration scenes are roughly around 40 fps. During a large-scale Eikon Fight the fps will crash down all the way to the bottom 20s and hover around 30 fps for a few moments. Even in Frame Rate mode cutscenes are locked to 30. This includes mid-battle Cinematic Actions. Meaning, the game will go from smoother gameplay and swap to a 30 cap. I wonder if this means that it swaps to Graphics mode during these scenes? This is understandable; even prior Square Enix games like Kingdom Hearts III did this. However, this can be jarring to some.
Will the Full Release Offer Superior Stability?
This is a demo after all, so it may not be fully representative of the final product. The fact that save data can be carried over is worrying. I have seen some people online trying to push the idea that the State of Play for Final Fantasy XVI showed the Demo at version 1.03. The current demo release on PS5 is at version 1.01. I will refute this by saying, please check the State of Play footage again. The title screen they show is for the full game as it lacks the prominent ‘Demo’. Just because it says ‘Version: 1.03’ doesn’t mean anything. Games can release past the 1.0 state. Maybe this means they truly did take the polishing of the full release seriously. The FFXVI team has touted that the game will not require a day-one patch. Maybe that means they didn’t bother sparing resources on improving demo performance. However, this still leaves me with some uncertainty about whether or not there will be improvements.
Final Fantasy XVI Performance Modes Related Links
Purchase the game from here!
Keep an eye out for more top-notch coverage of Final Fantasy XVI, right here at Final Weapon!
Be sure to check out our extensive Final Fantasy XVI coverage!
