We were absolutely stoked to see Final Fantasy 16 arrive on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S earlier this month at the Xbox Games Showcase, but following a period of testing, Digital Foundry has criticisms about the Series X version.
In a brief analysis on the DF Clips YouTube channel (as seen up above), it's mentioned that FF16 delivers some "bizarre" results on Microsoft's most powerful console - and from a visual perspective at least, it looks worse than on PS5.
"I compared a number of matching shots and a cutscene in the early game across the five mode and console variations we have, and the results are bizarre."
So, basically, both the graphics mode and performance mode in FF16 on Xbox Series X are delivering these "bizarre" results. The graphics mode seems to have all sorts of visual drawbacks compared to the same one on PS5, including a resolution drop, although the frame rate is said to be basically the same at 30FPS each.
In performance mode though, the Xbox Series X version drops to as low as 720p resolution, but with a much improved frame rate over the PS5. Sony's version is said to drop to around 45-60FPS, while Xbox is essentially a locked 60FPS.
"The graphics mode [on Xbox Series X] has some weird problems relative to PS5. Firstly, the Series X is softer and lower resolution... there seems to be some contrast differences... and there are also some issues on shots where there's a dramatic divergence in foliage rendering, where the Xbox just kind of looks broken."
"And then there's the frame rate mode, which threw me for even more curveballs! It's similar, but the resolution difference is even bigger, it's a huge difference. So, in [one particular shot], PS5 is 1080p, Series X is 720p. It's consistently lower throughout the shots I tested... but, in performance terms, the PS5 in this area is super wobbly in this opening section... but Series X is basically a locked 60FPS."
After seeing this, it sounds like Square Enix still has more optimisation to do with Final Fantasy 16 on Xbox Series X in terms of visual quality. Here's hoping they'll continue to work on the game post-release, although it's still perfectly enjoyable as-is - we recently talked about how much fun the free FF16 demo is on Xbox!
And if you're wondering about Series S, that port doesn't seem as noteworthy - it looks a bit worse than the performance mode on Series X but generally sticks to 30FPS, described as "more in-line with what we'd typically expect".
That's what Digital Foundry says, but what have your experiences been with Final Fantasy 16 on Xbox so far? Have you noticed any visual or frame rate drawbacks? Let us know down in the comments section below.