Final Fantasy XIV has recently made waves as the latest big game to make the jump to the PS5 system. As the biggest MMORPG available on consoles, this has been an exciting development for the lucky few able to get their hands on a PlayStation 5. More than that, the arrival of the game on the new system also brings to mind the types of evolution that video games have increasingly embraced in the last few years. It’s no longer just about new titles, it’s about giving older titles a way to achieve new heights. This is a curious step, and as FFXIV illustrates, it’s one that fans welcome with open arms.
What’s New in PS5’s Final Fantasy XIV
The translation of FFXIV onto the much more powerful new system looks to bring with it some appreciable performance gains over the PS4. On PS4, the game operated at an unlocked framerate, with the player able to choose between 720p and 1080p output. In simpler or less populated areas this could allow the game to hit the 60 FPS mark, though such performance was inconsistent, and near impossible in battles like dungeons or raids.
For PS5, the developers have stated that players can expect a solid 60 FPS output at 1440p, an appreciable step up. This is in combination with far improved loading times as made possible by the PS5’s much faster solid-state drives. Going a step further, the team at Square Enix has even included haptic feedback in the controller for odds and ends like mount footsteps and some crafting actions. Add this to support for mouse and keyboard, and much higher graphics settings in general, and the PS5 version easily finds itself as a competitor to its PC counterpart.
FINAL FANTASY XIV – PS5 Upgrade Edition (Beta Version) is up on US PSN https://t.co/kYwFVAwnev
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Games over Platforms
Originally, FFXIV was released with support for the PS3. This support was dropped in 2017 when the demands of new expansions put too much strain on the aging hardware. What this means is that FFXIV is one of the rare games to play on three consecutive console generations. This is more than just trivia, however, it also indicates a shifting focus of the greater interactive entertainment industry.
For decades, gaming has traditionally been about locking titles to specific systems. In the age of smaller studios, this was a perfectly viable strategy, but in today’s developed world it isn’t enough. Now, recuperating development cost requires more than the consideration of translating games across different systems, it means translating across different generations of systems.
This isn’t just the case for video games either, as other interactive experiences like casino games follow a similar path. To accomplish this, games on quality casinos have made the jump to HTML5, a flexible system that works on an enormous number of devices, some of which are over a decade old. Of course, this is paired with other bonuses like deposit matches and weekly rewards, but the core concept of availability being king remains key.
With the PS5 embracing backward compatibility like never before, and systems in general opening their infrastructures, the idea of the platform is much more nebulous than it has ever been. No longer are players locked out for their choices, and this a development the gaming community has widely embraced. Even if you don’t play FFXIV, being able to centralize your gaming into fewer systems is a good thing, for your convenience as well as your wallet, and it looks to be a big part of gaming’s MO in the future.
This is a paid guest post.