Final Fantasy 16 PC port is a bag of mixed goods

Depending on which section you’re playing, Final Fantasy 16 is either where video games have reached their final form or a boring by-the-numbers cinematic action-adventure flick. It's a game of incredible highs undermined by eye-roll-inducing lows and everything Lucas said in his review of the PlayStation 5 release holds water after a year's worth of updates and two DLCs. But how does the PC port fare?

It was Moss the Chronicler who said...

In terms of graphics, there isn't a noticeable bump in quality over the already gorgeous-looking PlayStation 5 version. With my trusty RTX 4070, I was able to get some pretty impressive results though. At 1440p with all the settings bumped up to high and DLSS, DLAA, and Frame Generation enabled, my game would usually hover between 80-90 frames per second (FPS) in most situations. In some of the towns and busier stages it would bounce down to 70 and rarely 60 FPS often depending on the number of NPCs on screen. Switching between different DLSS presets and toggleing the Dynamic Resolution option may have offered way better results framewise but the image quality in cutscenes turned them into a blurry, pixelated mess even if it didn't bother me during gameplay.

Even during Final Fantasy 16’s all-out Eikon fights when your screen is blasted with particle effects performance remains stable for the most part. The same goes for combat, even if the game can occasionally dip in frames here and there depending on what is going on. Compared to the PlayStation 5 version, I cannot overstate how much better the gameplay feels at high framerates. In an action game like this having twice, thrice, or even four times the visual information to react makes all the difference. FF16 is a game that wants you to learn timings for parries, dodges, and basic combos and stuff I had difficulty nailing 100 percent of the time on the PS5 came much easier to me this time around. And if you’re an action game sicko with the necessary hardware to run this game, that’s the main selling point of this port. 

From High-Frame Action Feast to Stuttery Movie

It's not all sunshine and rainbows, though. Final Fantasy 16 locks its cutscenes at 30 frames and sometimes goes in and out and back into these cutscenes causing the occasional stutter. There’s also the cinematic depth-of-field effect the game just loves to apply in cutscenes which doesn’t get along with the DLSS. It can also create some eerie artifacts here and there or it is so blurry that things in the background turn into mushy ghosts of Christmas past. Some of these cutscenes will look very choppy thanks to the locked framerate which can sometimes take you out of the experience.

I also encountered issues with textures not being scaled correctly in some locations and a character’s pupil textures missing in a crucial cutscene. There were some funky issues with foliage generations, one tree would flick between three different sets of leaves and I encountered a similar scenario with one particular patch of grass. It may have been tied to the Frame Generation but it only happened in a few spots.

Compared to other PC ports, there are only a few options to tinker around with to get the performance you want. There is no native support, for widescreens or weirder resolutions and there is no anti-aliasing option outside of DLSS, XeSS, or FSR either. Final Fantasy 16 is also extremely resource-hungry so I doubt it’ll run on a Steam Deck anytime soon. If you don’t have a decent modern system you won’t get everything the game is capable of.

The PC Port Unlocks FF16s Potential as an Action Game for Sickos

Which now begs the question: Was the PC port worth the wait? The answer is a bit complicated. If you have a decently specced PC this is one of Square Enix’s better port jobs, even if it lacks many of the options PC players would appreciate. If you’re only here for the sights and story of Final Fantasy 16 with no interest in its jaw-dropping combat system, the PC version has little upside over the console version aside from a higher resolution and potentially better performance. Some of the issues mentioned here, like the framerate cap for cutscenes or lack of proper widescreen support can already be addressed by mods which makes me wonder why those weren’t part of the release in the first place. 

The port is still a valiant effort considering the game already punched above its weight class on console and hopefully shows Square Enix that a same-day PC release is worth the effort. Final Fantasy 16s PC version might not be perfect but being able to play at uncapped framerates alone makes this the definitive version of the game.

Final Fantasy 16 is available now for the PC. A review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this feature.

Timo Reinecke

Contributing Editor

Timo is an avid enjoyer of all things video games hailing from Germany. After being abandoned as a child on the Rolanberry Fields of Final Fantasy XI, he has since developed an undying love for the digital worlds of MMOs. But if you can't find him crafting up a storm in Final Fantasy XIV, you'll probably find him workshopping combos in action/fighting games or being extremely passionate about the latest mobile title.

Outside of gaming, Timo is usually skimming through the Criterion Collection or praying to whatever Eldritch horror that his latest favorite manga doesn't get damaged in shipping. You can find live reactions to all of that on X @ALahftel.