Home Gaming Final Fantasy XV Episode Duscae still has jarring technical issues

Final Fantasy XV Episode Duscae still has jarring technical issues

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By now a large chunk of you Final Fantasy fanatics have probably picked up Type-O, thrown the box and disc aside and dived head-first into the real reason everyone is going bonkers about the PSP remake – access to an early slice of Final Fantasy XV. Episode Duscae is the only glimpse we have of Square Enix’s in-house Luminous engine, and at a glance it seems extremely beautiful. Only at a glance though.

The Director on FF XV warned that this early vertical slice of the upcoming sequel is a very early look at a game still deep in development, and doesn’t represent any of the final technical targets the team is aiming for. That’s a relief to hear, as the guys over at Digital Foundry found a lot more to be depressed than overjoyed over when taking a look at Episode Duscae’s performance across both Xbox One and PS4.

Firstly, neither version manages to reach 1080p, despite being such a small part of a bigger game. The PS4 version manages to hit 900p, while the Xbox One rings in at a lower custom resolution of 1408×792. That doesn’t seem to affect environmental detail, which has a nice depth of field effect to make it look sharp, but the overall lack of edge enhancement across the board leaves a lot to be desired. The poor texture filtering also adds to these woes, with textures looking muddy at the best of times.

These elements wouldn’t be as alarming this early in development if the framerate at least impressed, but it often struggles to keep up with the action on screen. The PS4 version is the lesser of two evils here, trying its best to hover around 30FPS but taking long dives into 25FPS territory for extended periods. The Xbox One version, on the other hand, is far worse, trailing the PS4 version consistently by 5 FPS. That means drops into scary sub 20FPS in some combat-heavy scenarios.

These are all problems reminiscent of a title that hasn’t reached the optimization stage, and acts as a reminder as to why this process sometimes takes months to finish. I’m sure Square Enix did their best to prepare the demo for public consumption, but with an incomplete game there’s fairly little they can do for this slice alone.

So while Episode Duscae is a great way to build hype around an intriguing Final Fantasy sequel (and making series skeptics like me drool endlessly), it still has a very long way to go before it’s a stable, truly gorgeous game. But considering there still isn’t a release window, never mind a concrete date, I wouldn’t stress too much.

Last Updated: March 23, 2015

12 Comments

  1. Gets me pitch fork and torch. Ready to makes village mob (idiot included) at front door of Square Enix !

    Someone yells it’s only a demo!

    Reply

    • Chad Beasley

      March 24, 2015 at 15:44

      thank you.

      Reply

  2. Hammersteyn

    March 23, 2015 at 09:50

    You know the funny part? People paid for the demo on E-bay.
    *snickers

    Reply

    • Guest

      March 23, 2015 at 09:53

      So what did you pay in the end 😛

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        March 23, 2015 at 10:05

        LOL, I’m geeting Type-O

        Reply

    • RinceThis

      March 23, 2015 at 10:00

      hehe *UmarbeStrong

      Reply

  3. Ottokie

    March 23, 2015 at 09:58

    Was watching this on Twitch the weekend, and praying really really hard for it to please be good and give me that long lost Final Fantasy feeling… it did not 🙁

    Maby its just me but… turn based > active combat

    Reply

    • Gerhard Davids

      March 23, 2015 at 12:25

      I too am a turn based junkie but have made peace with Square and active combat.

      The streams looked great to me and the major change for me is: No shift to combat scene with pseudo atb system. It’s now active real time battle. Since this is their first take on it. (I gues XII touched on it) I will give it a spin.

      The story is a big part of it and hopefully a fluid combat system with great story will still make it a worthwhile title to own.

      Reply

      • Ottokie

        March 23, 2015 at 12:47

        And I was so hoping for something that would finally give me an excuse to buy a new shiny PS4.

        Reply

  4. Goal9

    March 23, 2015 at 10:34

    It’s their hair that’s taking up most of the processing power.

    Reply

  5. Keithisonfire

    March 24, 2015 at 05:39

    I thought the demo was beautiful on PS4.
    I am very impressed with FFXV so far.
    But I must say, I found that it was too easy to level up. I was at level 35 in just a few hours. Can you imagine getting to level 99 in a day? That would be so stupid.
    I see weapons can be leveled up which is cool. I also hope magic can be leveled too…
    If they:
    – include more playable characters (I don’t like how there are just 4 white guys. I’d like to see female/diversity/color. I find these 4 guys are just too bland.)
    – card game like in FF8 or FF9
    – Materia. Nothing like organizing your own materia and leveling them all to MASTER… could substitute crystals (as Materia is really an FF7 thing)
    – I DID NOT LIKE how once you acquire a summon, once you fall in battle your party members no longer come to help you and just expect you to use your summon. I’d rather they come revive me so I have a choice.

    Reply

    • Panda

      March 25, 2015 at 05:05

      Your party members do help you, but if you hit x at all they think you are going to summon and avoid reviving you, or you can always just use a potion

      Reply

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