Technical Breakdown Shows Differences in Final Fantasy 16’s Modes

Square Enix recently announced that Final Fantasy 16 would offer both a Quality Mode and a Performance Mode. However, it seems that the Performance Mode may not live up to expectations. Various outlets have now conducted technical breakdowns of the game to showcase how the RPG actually performs in practice.

Final Fantasy 16’s two modes are quite different

According to Digital Foundry, both the Quality Mode and Performance Mode utilize aggressive dynamic resolution scaling. In Quality Mode, the resolution typically fluctuates between 1080p and 1440p, and is then upscaled to 4K. This mode maintains a mostly steady 30 frames per second, as observed in multiple tests (cutscenes consistently run at 30 FPS regardless of the mode). Digital Foundry’s John Linneman stated that Quality Mode is the recommended way to experience the game due to its consistency, suggesting that Square Enix intends for players to play in this mode.

On the other hand, Linneman discovered that Performance Mode is somewhat uneven. While it can reach a maximum resolution of 1080p, it often dips much lower and hovers around 720p. The mode incorporates certain effects, such as temporal anti-aliasing, to reduce shimmering, but Linneman noted that the drops in resolution were noticeable. He also highlighted the decrease in shadow quality, increased pop-in, and distracting “swirling circles” within the game.

Interestingly, Linneman pointed out that these visual compromises do not even guarantee a consistent 60 frames per second. The game frequently drops below this threshold during exploration, but curiously, almost locks to 60 FPS during combat. Linneman speculated that the game rapidly reduces the resolution to ensure smooth combat performance.

However, one positive aspect highlighted in the tests was the game’s exceptionally short load times. Most loading sequences took only a few seconds, and booting into a save from the PS5’s dashboard required less than 10 seconds.

In response to these technical findings, Square Enix has committed to improving the game’s performance. The company has confirmed that an upcoming update will allow players to disable motion blur.