DF Weekly: Final Fantasy 16 raises more questions about current-gen 60fps gaming
Is it time to accept the limitations of PS5 and Xbox Series consoles?
Another week, another DF Direct Weekly, and we kick off our show with 'reaction to the reaction' to our Final Fantasy 16 review. Square-Enix delivers a beautiful, visually accomplished game but one that is (in our opinion at least) best played in its 30fps quality mode. There is a 60fps alternative, but performance is highly variable and resolution takes a substantial hit. In our show this week, my colleague John Linneman suggests that the game may have been developed with 30fps in mind and that the performance mode was added later, explaining why it seems like a poor fit for the content. I'm inclined to agree.
Final Fantasy 16 is not a cross generational game, meaning that its visuals were designed from the ground-up with the features and performance of the PlayStation 5 specifically in mind - and that's important. We've perhaps been spoiled by so many games arriving with performance modes because they were primarily designed to accommodate the last generation of console hardware. In this scenario, the CPU and GPU power of the new machines makes doubling up on performance while improving resolutions and features a lot simpler. However, to push visuals to the next level, those same console resources need to work more intensively, meaning that 60 frames per second is not always possible.
- 00:00:00 Introduction
- 00:00:49 News 01: Final Fantasy 16 review reaction
- 00:23:19 News 02: June Nintendo Direct impressions
- 00:47:37 News 03: Microsoft raises Series X, Game Pass pricing
- 00:56:26 News 04: AMD blocking DLSS/XeSS in sponsored PC titles?
- 01:04:32 News 05: Quake 2 Remastered leaks
- 01:08:14 Supporter Q1: Could GPU makers offer cards with user-expandable VRAM?
- 01:10:27 Supporter Q2: Could a 'PS5 Pro' come in at a boundary-pushing price, like $1000 USD?
- 01:15:14 Supporter Q3: Would automatic frame-rate capping for games on VRR displays work?
- 01:18:10 Supporter Q4: Of the Halo games, which is your favourite? And which impresses most from a technical perspective?
- 01:25:29 Supporter Q5: How exciting is it that Todd Howard praised DF in a recent podcast appearance?
When you look at the dynamic resolution range of Final Fantasy 16 in its 30fps performance mode (native 1080p to native 1440p, with an FSR pass to 4K), that seems to be the primary target for the development team. The game's assets, levels and coding may well have been built around those specifications. To achieve 60 frames per second and to do it consistently essentially requires targeting that from the outset of development, which does not seem to be the case here. What is interesting is how the DSR target shifts. Square-Enix aims for 60fps combat as a priority in performance mode, lowering resolution in combat scenarios to just 720p, raising the lower bounds outside of that, resulting in lower performance.
Last year, after A Plague Tale: Requiem and Gotham Knights launched at 30fps, I made the case that in the former example at least, pushing visuals to the next level has to come with a cost and that we should expect to see more 30fps games - and I think we'll gradually see that come to pass. If there are to be performance modes, we also need to accept that these too will be compromised - and may not always be the best way to play. Final Fantasy 16 is dividing opinion on this, clearly. It's also interesting to see that A Plague Tale: Requiem has had a 60fps mode added - but it comes with a range of nips and tucks to content that I'm not sure are particularly successful.
All of which is to say that fundamentally, we need to accept that consoles are mass market boxes built to a budget and capable of excellent levels of performance for the money - but they are ultimately fixed platforms. Over time we will see developers get more out of the hardware, but at the same time, those hardware limits are fixed points and it's down to game makers to choose how best to use the available resources. As things stand, I think A Plague Tale: Requiem got it right the first time - the 40fps mode that kicks in with the consoles attached to a 120Hz display looks much smoother and feels more responsive than the 30fps alternative on a 60Hz screen. However, even here we have to accept that this may not always be possible for every game: cutting a 33.3ms render time down to 25ms is not an insignificant ask for the hardware and developers.
Does this mean that we won't see as many 60fps games this generation? That all comes down to the objectives of the developer. We won't see games like Call of Duty or Doom drop down to 30fps. Games designed for 60fps will be built with that consideration firmly in mind. Also, the designs of the PS5 and Xbox Series X are not as lopsidedly balanced as their predecessors were, so the balance between 30fps and 60fps titles overall may skew more highly towards the higher frame-rate. However, more 30fps titles are coming and we need to accept that.
Elsewhere in this Direct, we spend time discussing the excellent Nintendo Direct and AMD's non-denial in blocking competing upscaling technologies in its sponsored titles - a move that may ultimately backfire as AMD sponsorship becomes synonymous with a growing number of GPU users not able to access better quality features. We also mull over Microsoft's decision to raise Xbox Series X prices. This is (to the best of my knowledge, at least) unprecedented for a console into its third year of sales and comes off the back of a 1TB Series S coming out with a price premium over the original model.
And of course, what with this being DF Direct Weekly #117 - the Spartan edition, if you will - we spend some time reminiscing about our favourite Halo experiences over the years, and the entire panel are all of the mind that the original Halo: Combat Evolved is one of the defining console experiences. That's a topic raised by one of our supporters, which makes this as good a time as any to gently remind you that all backers of the DF Supporter Program can help shape each and every episode of DF Direct Weekly, submit questions and get early access to the show. Join us!