Final Fantasy XVI Director Reassures 60 FPS During Combat In Performance Mode

Hiroshi Takai, Final Fantasy XVI director, revealed more details regarding the performance mode in an interview with GNN during a recent press tour. Upon being asked about rumors of 30 FPS in exploration and stutters in-game, Takai said that the game targets 60 FPS throughout. However, the stability of the frame rate will depend on various circumstances. According to him, this issue should be addressed in later patches.

About the stutters, because the game is going to be released soon, it is hard for us to fix it before launch, but that is not to say we cannot fix it in a future patch. Regarding the performance mode, we did not design to game to run at 30 FPS in exploration and 60 FPS in combat. Although we target 60 FPS throughout in performance mode, the actual FPS will depend on the particular circumstances in the game,” says Hiroshi Takai [translated].

Thanks to Reddit user Kanon14, who translated the bits about performance mode from the interview, we now know that Hiroshi Takai was asked regarding the rumors of 30 FPS during exploration and stutters in performance mode. He clarified that while the stutters are prevalent, they can only fix them in future patches as the release window approaches. Moreover, the performance will be much more optimized during combat.

One reason why people may feel that the game run at different FPS during exploration and combat could be that we spent a lot of time tweaking the combat, so the optimization in combat will naturally be better. Another reason could be because we did some tricks in combat, and players’ attention will be put on the MC instead of, say on the lighting/shadow and the background, they may feel the combat FPS to be higher,” says Hiroshi Takai [translated].

So, stutters will mostly be noticed during explorations, but the game shouldn’t be unplayable even then. Overall, Final Fantasy XVI is well-optimized from what we already know. The performance mode will target 60 frames per second throughout your gameplay, with some instability during exploration, which should be fixed soon. On the other hand, combat is shaping up to be more exciting, especially with all the hard work put in to optimize it.

Later in the interview, Hiroshi Takai discussed some details about the side quests in Final Fantasy XVI. They will vary in length and the steps/objectives that must be completed. There will be different types of side quests, ranging from combat-heavy to delivering important items, but the one thing they will all have in common is the story they convey.

When players complete a side quest, of course, they will get some kind of reward, but the rewards aren’t the main focus. What is important is that we want players to understand the world of Valisthea better through these side quests. Players will see why they must go kill these beasts, why they must do what is asked, and what connection these events have with the NPC. Those with no interest in the story can also find motivation from increased reputation or new abilities as rewards for completing side quests,” says Hiroshi Takai [translated].

The interview is rich in details for all those curious minds, but these were some of the more interesting bits that were worth sharing. So, it seems like the game will cater to each player’s needs. Moreover, the launch trailer for Final Fantasy XVI was recently shown during the PlayStation Showcase 2023, revealing that the game will be a timed PlayStation 5 exclusive.