Final Fantasy 16: Quality Vs Performance Mode

Debating on whether to play Final Fantasy 16 in Quality or Performance mode? Look no further; this guide will take you through the pros and cons of both modes so you can decide how you want to experience the game. Final Fantasy 16 is the latest addition to Square Enix’s popular game series Final Fantasy. Although the environment and story have been a hit, some areas have faced controversy from the players.

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Key Takeaways

• Players can choose a Quality or Performance mode for the graphics in Final Fantasy 16.
• The Quality mode is 4K 30FPS, while the Performance mode is 1080p/1440p 60FPS.
• If visual fidelity is a priority, the Quality mode is preferred at the cost of FPS.
• The Performance mode is preferred if a smoother experience is required but at the cost of the graphics quality.
• Quality mode is upscaled to 4K from 1080p, and Performance mode is upscaled from 720p, reducing the visual quality.
• Both modes have upscaling issues as older AMD FSR1 is used, which causes terrible and grainy visuals.
• The Quality mode has smooth and consistent FPS, while the Performance mode can’t hit the 60FPS mark and jumps around 40FPS, causing stutters.
• When FPS gets very low, or when combat starts, the Performance mode changes to 720p, making the game look pixelated.
• Square Enix released a pre-release patch and is fixing the Performance mode issues.

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Quality Vs. Performance

In the latest Final Fantasy 16, players are given a choice between Quality and Performance for the Graphics settings. The Quality setting has better-looking graphics and runs at 4K 30FPS. This might surprise the people expecting to run the game at its full 60FPS, but alas, the PS5 doesn’t seem strong enough for the 4K 60FPS experience.

On the other hand, the Performance setting runs the game at 1080p or 1440p 60FPS. So you are losing a lot of resolution and graphical fidelity, but you can run the game at 60FPS if you want to.

The question of the best choice amongst these two is dependent on your preference. The performance will be the choice if you want the higher FPS at the cost of how good the game looks. However, the Quality setting will be your best bet if you have a 4K display on which the 1440p would look pixelated or if you value the graphical fidelity more than the performance and do not mind playing on 30FPS.

Although the release of Final Fantasy 16 was met with positive reception, it has some underlying performance issues which have caused controversy among the players.

Performance Issues

Upscaling

The major issue with the graphics setting in Final Fantasy 16 is the upscaling problem. For the Performance setting, the 1440p resolution is upscaled from 720p. Moreover, the 4k resolution is upscaled from 1080p for the Quality setting.

In addition to that, the fact that Final Fantasy 16 uses AMD FSR1 upscaling is hurting the visual performance. It is weird that Square Enix decided to use the older AMD FSR1 when the newer and better AMD FSR2 has been available for a long time.

Using older upscaling technology makes the game look inconsistent in terms of details. Moreover, the FSR1 has a lot of underlying issues making the game look blurry, with swirl marks in the details and a general lack of sharpness.

The dynamic resolution doesn’t help either, as your game can go from 1440p to suddenly 1080p or even 720p. This general inconsistency is hurting the otherwise beautiful game.

FPS

Upscaling isn’t the only issue; there are also general FPS issues. Although the Quality mode works like a charm at a consistent 30FPS, the Performance mode has a lot of problems. Although the performance mode is advertised as 60FPS, at the cost of visual fidelity, it barely hits 60FPS, with most of the time spent around 30-40FPS.

This seems to be worse than the Quality mode, as the Quality mode has consistent frames. In contrast, the Performance mode FPS seems to jump around constantly, which causes constant stutters and makes the gaming experience very unsatisfying.

Moreover, it seems the game drops the resolution to 720p when FPS gets low or when combat starts, making your game look like a 10-year-old game in an instant. This worsens if you are playing on a 1440p or 4K display.

Patches & Fixes

It appears Square Enix was aware of these Performance mode issues even before the release as they apologized and announced a 300MB patch to be followed with the game’s launch, which fixes some problems.

The FFXVI team apologizes as they're going to deliver a pre-release update to fix issues they found on the way to release:

– Fix progression issues
– Fix crash issues
– Optimize performance in several places
– Minor text errors

It will be ~300mb and apologize for that. pic.twitter.com/5buqKy9vce

— Dreamboum (@Dreamboum) June 17, 2023

There still seems like there is a lot more work to be done. However, knowing Square Enix’s legacy and the instant communication even before the release, there are high chances that this issue will soon be fixed as it appears to be hurting an otherwise pretty and story-rich game.