The recentFinal Fantasy 16State of Play has shown just how far the game’s graphics have come since it was originally revealed all the way back in 2020.It feels like we’ve seen a lot of Final Fantasy 16 over the past few months, but that didn’t stop Square Enix and PlayStation from putting together a dedicated State of Play showcase last week to show us even more. While the showcase mostly focused on gameplay elements (when it wasn’t accidentally spoiling major plot details), it also showed off how far the game’s graphics have come in the two years since it was unveiled.Related:Thank Goodness Final Fantasy 16 Isn’t Final Fantasy 15Of course, it probably doesn’t come as a surprise that Final Fantasy 16’s graphics have improved as it’s got closer to release, but you might be surprised to see just how much better it looks.Twitter user LegionzGaming shared a few comparisons of scenes as they appeared in the State of Playshowcase versus how they looked during the game’s reveal trailer, and it’s clear that there have been major improvements across the board.
The most obvious improvement that’s been made is to the lighting, which is noticeably better in all of the new scenes compared to how it was in the reveal. For example, the scene where Clive is sitting next to a campfire is much more realistically lit, with the fires even making his hair look realistically brighter. Then there’s the scene with Shiva, which seems to take place at a completely different time of day in the finished game, which makes the Summon shine a whole lot brighter.
It’s not just the lighting that has changed in the finished game, however. Generally, textures just look a lot more detailed and less washed out, such as the fiery chest of the Ifrit Eilkon that can be seen in the third comparison shot. Another great example is the jewellery that Shiva wears, which is no longer too shiny to see in the final game and actually has a lot of intricacies.
By far the scene that has changed the most is the one where Joshua is covered in blood and presumably about to turn into the Phoenix Eikon. The rocky background looks a lot more realistic, his clothes are more detailed, and the blood that’s staining his hair and clothes is a lot less shiny. Shame that something tragic is probably about to happen.
Again, of course Final Fantasy 16 was going to look better as it neared the end of its development andcontinued to use the power of the PS5 that Square Enix keeps bringing up, but the latest State of Play did help the studio put its money where its mouth was.
