The Final Fantasy XIV Thread [Endwalker - 6.45]

Tetsujin

Tetsujin

he/they
AKA
Tets
Didn't think they'd do a video for XIV, nice.

edit:
But yeah so far the PS5 version is kind of disappointing. It gives me...higher resolution icons. And that's it. And technically they could've patched those in for the PS4 version as well, they always were too low-res for 1080p to begin with.

The load times are more or less the same as just putting the PS4 version on the PS5 internal storage so this is whatever.
And if you want decent framerate you're left with 1440p which looks identical to PS4 Pro except it has occasionally worse performance for some reason.
I noticed the same thing that is mentioned in the DF video, that often frame drops happen in specific locations with the camera pointing in a specific direction and you can always get the frame rate to drop, even in 1080p. Meanwhile, no such thing in the PS4 version via BC.

They briefly addressed this at Fan Fest but just oddly handwaved the issue away and it seemed like they didn't understand it?
(Something along the lines of "some players say the PS4 version runs "faster" than PS5 but uh, PS4 is not actually 4K. PS5 is better for 4K" and it's like...what? What does that even mean??)

The only other big improvement is native 4K resolution on PS5 but for me it's not worth the hit in performance. I'm not going back from 60.

The footstep haptics don't bother me but should have a toggle for those that don't want it.
 
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Cthulhu

Cthulhu

Administrator
AKA
Yop
I don't think XIV has much more to give in terms of graphics / visuals at this point, wasn't expecting much for a PS5 update compared to the PC version. I mean the biggest visual update they could do at this point would be to increase texture resolution (especially at close range / cutscenes), or go ham on shaders - but that would change the atmosphere of the game. Pretty sure there's shader mods on PC at the moment.

But yeah nah, this is as good as it's going to get. Unless they manage to overhaul the whole engine / rendering / etc. Or outsource upscaling the textures. IDK

I really hope they're investing a ton in R&D for a next generation MMO, fix all the issues they're having with XIV that limits them (and the players).
 
Obsidian Fire

Obsidian Fire

Ahk Morn!
AKA
The Engineer
Cthulhu said:
I really hope they're investing a ton in R&D for a next generation MMO, fix all the issues they're having with XIV that limits them (and the players).
Click to expand...
This assumes they are making another MMO at all. SE already has two. They *really* don't need another one and FFXIV shows no signs of stopping being updated at this point.

What they really need are more single-player FF games that come out in a *timely* manner without years of bogged down development time. That has been their bread and butter for the brand and they need to get better at not just regurgitating the same old FF games on new game systems. It is painfully ironicly their weak point now.
 
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Theozilla

Theozilla

Kaiju Member
Obsidian Fire said:
This assumes they are making another MMO at all. SE already has two. They *really* don't need another one and FFXIV shows no signs of stopping being updated at this point.

What they really need are more single-player FF games that come out in a *timely* manner without years of bogged down development time. That has been their bread and butter for the brand and they need to get better at not just regurgitating the same old FF games on new game systems. It is painfully ironicly their weak point now.
Click to expand...
Unless they deliberately want to do retro style games, I don’t really think it’s possible for triple AAA FF games to come out in as a timely matter as they did before FFX. Like ever since the PS2 era it just takes a lot longer to create a JRPG at the most advanced contemporary technological fidelity it can be, while also having a comparable length/amount of content that the JRPGs of older generations had. Like just creating the tech demo of the FFVII opening for the PS3 took so much time for SE that it snowballed into FFXIII switching from the PS2 to PS3 game.
 
Lulcielid

Lulcielid

Eyes of the Lord
AKA
Lulcy
The only way SE will ever put AAA FFs at a "timely" manner if:
  • They take the Ubisoft model of having dozen of studios working simultaneous and reciclying lots of assets/systems between the games.
  • Drops every other IP and makes their subsidiary and in-house studios an exclusive FF production line.
 
Obsidian Fire

Obsidian Fire

Ahk Morn!
AKA
The Engineer
I'm not saying they should make FF games at the speed they were before FFX. That isn't possible.

However... you look at the release dates of main FF games (and squeals) *since* FFX and they're... really not great. And we all know the crazy long dev times certain ones had because of production mismanagement of assets.

2001 - FFX
2002 - FFIX - MMO
2003 - FFX-2
2006 - FFXII
2009 - FFXIII
2011 - FFXIII-2
2013 - FFXIV - MMO
2014 - Lightning Returns: FFXIII
2016 - FFXV
2020 - FFVIIR

Probably the most awkward gap is the one after FFXV. Before that, SE is releasing Final Fantasy games at a pretty steady clip of one every 2-3 years. And then there was a four year gap of no single-player game. If you go by non-squeals/derivative works (bolded), then it's not as great. You're looking at a 3-4 year gap (or a 5-year gap in the case of FFXV to FFXVI).

That said, there's very obviously more than one devision working on all of these. And that's not even getting into the mobile titles and other titles by the same set of devs like Kingdom Hearts (and that new Final Fantasy Origin game).

And obviously, everyone has their own criteria of what "counts", which can make the gap in content larger. The MMOs are probably the biggest offenders because their entire dev cycle is nothing like a single-player game. The Sequals are also a bit... debatable... if what you want is new non-sequal mainline entries.

If you pull out the MMOs and sequels/derivative works... you get something like this.

2001 - FFX
2006 - FFXII
2009 - FFXIII
2016 - FFXV

Which I think is where the feeling that SE isn't making good progress with the FF series kinda comes from. They're spending longer and longer on each games prospective "lifespan" which means fewer and fewer new FF games with new worlds/casts. So if you don't like the "currently active" single-player FF game's world/cast, you're kinda stuck with nothing new out of FF for the next... five years on average... And that's not a great feeling.
 
Cthulhu

Cthulhu

Administrator
AKA
Yop
If I can be harsh, I think they really bungled development on their games since FFXII or XIII; for XIII they decided to make their own game engine (which I guess was feasible enough up until 12), for 15 they decided that their 13 engine wasn't good enough. For XIV they tried to use the 13 engine again (iirc), then for XIV 2.0 they went with the 15 engine. or something. TL;DR, they spent a fuckton of time trying to do in-house development. And there's been a lot of internal troubles for a long while now, with the new direction they took the 13 franchse in, the first version of XIV, and the half-botched development hell that was XV.

Contrast this with FFVII Remake's development where, thanks to not reinveinting the wheel again, they managed to build a full game in ~5 years (not uncommon for this generation of consoles) without (as far as we know of) any major hurdles.

But, I'm hoping they've reorganized and realigned enough at this point; XIV has been a steady money maker, so they're well funded. FFVII Remake has become a great success, proving that development direction and technology works. At this point we'll have to see if XVI gets finished, released on time, and is a good game until I'd call it for SE being redeemed from their decade of being a bit shit.
 
ForceStealer

ForceStealer

Double Growth
I don't understand why this is happening now. I'm happy for XIV and all, it's great, but...it's not like a major release has just come out. Did WoW release some catastrophically bad patch or something?
 
Wol

Wol

None Shall Remember Those Who Do Not Fight
AKA
Rosarian Shield
ForceStealer said:
I don't understand why this is happening now. I'm happy for XIV and all, it's great, but...it's not like a major release has just come out. Did WoW release some catastrophically bad patch or something?
Click to expand...
A lot of popular WoW streamers migrating or at least "trying" the game plus the amazing rep Shadowbringers got.

Many fans are dissatisfied with WoW's current state, and the latest patch didn't made much to change that.
 
Lex

Lex

Administrator
Yeah it's the latest (and largest) clutch of WoW refugees. I agree on it being weird timing but it's good for the game's overall ecosystem so I'm all for it.

According to the neverending stream of "Why I'm Leaving WoW for FFXIV" videos on YouTube, it's not actually that the latest patch was bad... it's that every patch has been bad and for example, they waited 8 months for this one. This being the first patch since their last expansion released, AND it apparently has very little content.

XIV definitely has the formula cracked in that regard. Waiting a very long time for almost no content is apparently just how WoW has always operated. And the general feeling from the WoW community is that the devs hate the fans.

This is really worth listening to:


It's actually the best time for this to be happening because ffxiv's "normies" are finished with content and unsubbing until Endwalker, and this is the best possible time for people interested to hop in because they have the time to get into it before Endwalker releases AND the game is very alive with lots of new players.
 
Obsidian Fire

Obsidian Fire

Ahk Morn!
AKA
The Engineer
It's really good timing for a lot of things. The FFXIV community is just in down time until a next expansion launches, so most people don't feel quite so rushed they don't want to help newbies out. The WoW community is looking for another MMO they actually *like* playing and where the devs seem to *like* the people playing their game. The FFXIV community is... very vocal that they do indeed like their devs.
 
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