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We all knew this day was coming. Even before it launched on the Playstation 5, there were already rumors and slyly worded non-denials that the game was heading for a PC release not long after the Playstation version. Well, it turned out a bit longer than expected (I honestly expected the game to launch late last year) but here it, Final Fantasy XVI is now on the PC.
To be honest, I’ve been anticipating this version.
I have high hopes that the game will perform much better than it did on the Playstation 5 hardware. On console, the game looked helluva nice…but its performance was a bit uneven.
So how does it perform on PC hardware?
What is Final Fantasy XVI?
Final Fantasy XVI is a single player third person action RPG. It is developed and published by Square Enix and is available right now on the PC and Playstation 5.
Our review copy was provided by Square Enix! Thanks so much! Oh yeah, there may be some minor spoilers in the review, but nothing major so no worries.
A side note, the base game on PC does not include the two DLC expansions; Echoes of the Fallen and Rising Tide.
Your mileage on how bad this is will of course vary.
On one hand, it sucks not to get the complete package (since the DLC is already available alongside the game at launch) unless you pay for the premium version of the game.
On the other hand, the DLC is rather new (Rising Tide came out April 2024, while the other DLC came out late last year), so Square Enix is justified somewhat in for charging them. They do need to recoup their investment, right? Game companies are businesses first and foremost.
Whether or not you think the DLCs should’ve been included free or Square Enix is right is irrelevant though…because it is what it is.
Now, for this review, I won’t go through much of what Final Fantasy XVI is…for that, you can always read my review of the game on the Playstation 5. Instead, I’ll focus on the game running on PC hardware and how it fares compared to the console version.
For this review, I ran the game on three different systems. The desktop review rig, my laptop and the ROG Ally X. Here are the specs for the desktop and notebook.
Desktop setup –
CPU – AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
GPU – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080Ti
RAM – 64GB DDR4
SSD – 2TB Samsung 980 PRO
Notebook setup –
CPU – Intel i9-13900HK
GPU – NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080
RAM – 32GB DDR5
SSD – 1TB WD SN810
On the desktop, I’m running the game on 4K, with DLSS 3 selected, Dynamic Resolution turned off, Upscaling set to Auto and NVIDIA Reflex Low Latency enabled and boosted and Variable Rate Shading turned on.
Every setting is set the maximum (High). Frame rate limit is set to 60FPS with V-sync enabled.
Needless to say, this is above and beyond what the System Requirements are on Steam.
Running the game on my desktop, this is pretty much what Final Fantasy XVI would’ve been in a perfect world. I love consoles, but I also see the appeal of running a monster gaming rig to chew up the latest games.
Final Fantasy XVI is beautiful running unfettered by inferior hardware.
The game was already a looker when it was on the Playstation 5 (even on Performance mode) but the PC version looks even better than the game running on the PS5’s Graphics mode (or whatever it’s called).
The frame rate is finally a stable 60FPS with zero stutter or hitches. None in gameplay, none in cinematics. None. Period. Textures look sharper, which means character models look better. Not by much, but still noticeable. That’s especially true in closeups.
Out in the field, the higher framerate and visual fidelity means a boost in the game’s response time and the draw distance. I think you can see enemies from farther away, though this might me just misremembering things.
There does seem to be better background effects for sure.
Fog, water and other environmental factors all look nicer. Water isn’t ray traced, but it’s featuring better reflections for sure. The particle effects during the fights and cutscenes also look much better, though the PS5 version still holds up.
The game doesn’t have ray tracing of any kind sadly but considering how effects later some of the cutscenes are, I reckon no current rig would be able to acceptably render them anyways.
The early fights between Ifrit and Phoenix look spectacular with incredible lighting and effects being thrown around. It was cinematic as hell on Playstation 5 and it’s just as cinematic (if not more) on the PC. Ray traced, I think this would’ve launched many gaming rigs into orbit.
Thank God (or Square Enix in this case) for not implementing Ray Tracing.
I don’t mean I don’t miss it though because the day will come when the tech can handle it so not having it now for use in the future, kind of sucks. Like I said earlier, it is what it is.
On my notebook, I dialed back the settings to a more respectable 1080p. Everything else was on par with the desktop settings.
Final Fantasy XVI didn’t disappoint here too.
The game looks good, plays fantastic and I don’t even need to bring up how stellar the music is, do I? The drop to 1080p did affect the quality of the textures noticeably, but that’s mainly because how close I am to the display of my notebook.
Here’s my setup. The desktop’s hitched to a 55-inch 4K TV (60Hz refresh rate with VRR) with a Dolby Atmos 11.1.4 surround system, while the notebook I use just has a 2560 x 1660 (165Hz refresh rate) and its built-in speakers.
I suppose the game can handle running on the monitor’s full resolution, but I wanted to run it on 1080p because that’s pretty much what most people will be running the game on. There was one difference; I bumped up the frame rate limit to match the monitor’s refresh rate.
I had zero issues. The higher frame rate limit made Final Fantasy XVI into an ever smoother beast. A beast with a drop in visual quality, but a beast nonetheless.
Now here comes the bad news.
Well…not so bad really.
Surprisingly good even, at least from a certain point of view.
The ROG Ally X cannot handle the game running at 1080p with its settings maxed, even on the 30W Turbo mode.
WHAM! That’s the bad news in case you were wondering.
Even with FSR 3 enabled, set to Ultra Performance and Dynamic Resolution on. All the bells and whistles to eke out every single drop of GPU horsepower in the thing. The ROG Ally X has failed us all. Profound sadness ensues.
It simply does not have the powah to do it.
I boosted the RAM allotment from 8GB to 14GB and it still didn’t hit 60FPS most times. The only time you get that FPS is when there’s pretty much nothing going on indoors.
For gameplay purposes, I hit a range from FPS from the mid-30s to the high 40s.
The sections I played the game in (both indoors and outdoors), the game hit an average FPS of 41. That’s…not bad considering, this is with Dynamic Resolution off. It’s honestly about the level of performance you’d get out of a Playstation 5…although with one other drawback.
The game hitches and stutters. Like a lot!
Pan the camera around and it’ll hitch and stutter. Get into a hectic battle and it’ll hitch and stutter. Hell, the cutscenes with battles stutter and hitch so much I thought my ROG Ally X was going to blow any second.
There’s also the matter of the FPS drop for cutscenes.
You’d think pre-rendered in-engine cutscenes wouldn’t do much to hurt performance right? Nope, this is honestly where the ROG Ally X performed the worst.
How bad?
High teens to mid-20s FPS. Now add in the stuttering and hitching.
It’s like a slideshow at times.
Ouch.
Ok, that’s a bit of hyperbole because the FPS never dropped into the single digits. But still…painful nonetheless.
There’s a silver lining to all of this though.
If you’re up for it, limit the FPS to 30 and most of the problems go away. The framerate stays solidly locked, the hitches and stutters are massively reduced. Cutscenes still bring the handheld to its knees, but what can you do? It is what it is.
Is the game playable in this state? Sure.
If it’s the only way for you to experience Final Fantasy XVI, you might even like it. It’s certainly a more enjoyable way to play than with the massive stutters and fluctuating framerates.
Whatever you do though, do not venture into 720p territory if you value your eyes. The FPS gain is negligible and the drop in resolution makes everything blurry.
It’s UGLY. Yes, ALL CAPS!
Just pretend there’s no 720p option at all and you’ll live a longer and more fulfilling life.
The Bottom Line.
Unleashed from the hardware holding it back, Final Fantasy XVI finally shows the world what it’s capable of.
On a capable PC, it’s nigh perfection.
The game’s visuals blows pretty much every other RPG out of the water. The story’s no slouch either, and the epic music easily rivals anything Square Enix has put out in recent years. The mavens as Square Enix still have what it takes to deliver a monumental masterpiece of an RPG, even if it doesn’t feel like a Final Fantasy game.
If you have the hardware for it, this is the best way to experience Final Fantasy XVI, even if the game doesn’t come with the DLC included.
TLDR:
A great ARPG. It might not be the Final Fantasy we all know and expect but it’s quality nonetheless. Excellent in every facet. Just make sure you have capable hardware to get the most of out it.
The Good:
- Excellent port that shows what the game is capable of.
- Lots of options to tweak on the PC.
- Story expansions available from Day One.
The Bad:
- Story DLCs not included.
- Needs decent hardware.
- Huge
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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