The Final Fantasy XV demo, despite dynamic resolution, can’t deliver a solid frame rate
Last week, Square-Enix announced a giant multimedia blitz around the upcoming release of Final Fantasy XV. An anime series, a CG movie, and the release date were all unveiled at a big event, but the biggest news was the release of a completely new demo that’s available to anyone with a PS4 or Xbox One. Unfortunately, it’s disappointing in nearly every way.
If you move through the demo at a steady clip, there’s about 30 minutes worth of activities on offer. There are a few hidden objects here and there to keep you occupied, but this “Platinum Demo” is fairly light on content.
We weren’t pleased with the clunky character movement or the ultra-boring tasks in this demo, but at least this gives us a good look at the tech Square-Enix is working with. The folks over at Digital Foundry have running on both platforms, and the results are troubling. Both versions are running at a dynamic resolution, and neither one is particularly impressive.
The demo fluctuates between 1568×882 and 1360×768, but it’s mostly hovering around 1408×792. On the , a full 1920×1080 is possible in some environments, but it was seen dropping down to just 1568×882 at some points. Typically, it’s sitting at 1600×900.
Depressingly, the dynamic resolution doesn’t help maintain frame rate stability. Dipping down into the low 20s is pretty standard here, and it even drops as low as 15 frames per second. The PS4’s frame rate is slightly better, but it seems to suffer from a frame-pacing issue that makes even 30fps footage look choppier than it should.
We wish we could say that those are the only technical problems, but that’s not true. Thanks to the highly flawed anti-aliasing solution, there are some really ugly moments here. Not only does it cause very heavy-handed blurring in some situations, but it often fails to handle the hair properly.
At times, this seems like a PS3 game, not a PS4 release, and it’s easy to understand why. Sure, this console generation is a bit anemic, but this game is substantially uglier than many of its contemporaries. The bigger issue is that Final Fantasy XV has been in development hell for about a decade now, and the internal engine being used for this game has caused major problems. In fact, Square-Enix has licensed Unreal Engine 4 for other projects like and to prevent further setbacks.
With all that being said, there are some redeeming aspects of this demo. The lighting is legitimately impressive, and it delivers better-looking dynamic shadows than most other games on the market. Certain parts of the Platinum Demo look incredible, but those high points are hard to appreciate when everything else is crumbling around you.
Remember, we’re still about six months away from , so it’s still possible that the most glaring problems can be fixed. You definitely shouldn’t pre-order this game, but it’s unfair to write it off completely. Let’s wait and see how the full game pans out before passing judgment.