➤ Final Fantasy XV: Windows Edition review 🎮

Final Fantasy XV: Windows Edition is identical to the console versions in terms of content. More precisely, it is Final Fantasy XV updated to the latest version and with all the DLCs published so far: Episode Gladiolus; Episode Prompto, Episode Ignis; Comrades and all the countless downloadable packs, sets and weapons released over the months. For the details of the different contents, we refer you to the related reviews, which will surely help you to get a more exhaustive picture of the new features introduced patch after patch and expansion after expansion.

Unfortunately, the economic model of games as services, to which Final Fantasy XV belongs, inevitably creates a fragmentation that makes it difficult to keep track of everything. Also consider that over the months some inaccessible events have taken place, such as the crossover with the Assassin's Creed series. These are not tragic losses, also because usually these extras add little or nothing to the base title, but it is right that you are aware of it. For the rest the Windows Edition version remains the story of Prince Noctis Lucis Caelume and his three friends, Prompto, Gladiolus and Ignis, who must drive to Princess Lunafreya Nox Fleuret of the kingdom of Tenebrae, Noctis' betrothed. Unfortunately, their mission completely changes nature after a series of events that upset the political balance between the kingdom of Lucis and that of Niflheim, for years at war with each other. Will Noctis be able to recover the crystal that has protected his people for centuries? To find out, you just have to play.

Brotherhood e Kingsglaive

When it comes to Final Fantasy XV, it should never be forgotten that it is a cross-media project. In particular, the opening moments, including the events told at the end of the first chapter, may be unclear if you haven't seen Brotherhood, a free five-episode miniseries that tells the journey of the four protagonists before the start of the events of the game, and Kingsglaive, an animated film focusing on the events that occurred in Lucis' reign while Noctis was absent. By clicking here you will find all the episodes of Brotherhood collected, while Kingsglaive will necessarily have to be purchased in digital or physical format to be seen. In general we can say that they are not essential, but at the same time they help to get a more complete picture of the facts told during the adventure (Kingsglaive in particular).

The PC version: technical magnificence and mod support

In short, we know the game well. So, speaking of the PC version, it is important above all to understand if we are faced with a quality port or a listless transposition, done in economy (Chrono Trigger style). The short answer is that we are facing a great port, but let's try to explain. Square Enix, which evidently wants to use it as a test bed, immediately presented the PC version of Final Fantasy XV as the most technically advanced. It is not for nothing that he created it in collaboration with the hardware manufacturer Nvidia, whose Gameworks effects stand out in plain sight in the configuration menu. But is it graphically so much more beautiful than the other versions?

Let's go in order. Meanwhile, it must be said that it is very scalable. The configuration options are many and varied. For example, they allow you to set the image resolution, as well as the rendering resolution, but you can obviously also define the texture details, the tessellation quality, the anti-aliasing quality and so on. In general terms there is a bit of everything. The more geeks, however, can go deeper with retouching by editing the .ini files (only do this if you know what to touch). The Gameworks options that can be activated from the game menu are: HairWorks, which improves the rendering of the characters' hair; the VXAO, which activates the Voxel ambient occlusion; the Turf Effects, which improves the rendering of the grass and the ShadowLibs, which improves the shadows of the characters. By activating everything, there is no doubt that the final image quality is much higher than that of the console versions. We go so far as to say, given the PC that is needed to make it run at maximum detail, that we are faced with a first taste of next-gen. This is what we were referring to when we talked about "testing ground". Played at 4k on a 1080Ti the game is a real spectacle, with breathtaking landscapes and top-notch effects, evidently reworked for this version. Unfortunately we soon had to go back to 1080p and a GTX 960 to complete the test, with which however Final Fantasy XV behaved more than worthily (don't be scared by those who say that it takes a high-end computer to play it). In general we can say that, properly configured, the game has never given us any problems. The only moments of uncertainty occurred with some summons, which bent the framerate a bit, but it must be said that they never stopped us from playing and, above all, from understanding what was happening on the screen. (within the limits of the confusing combat system). That said, Final Fantasy XV might be a good excuse to upgrade your video card ... if it wasn't for data miners' fault it costs a fortune to buy one these days.

Another valuable element of the PC version is the support for mods. The Workshop of the game on Steam is active and if you want you can already download different objects and costumes, all made by Square Enix itself, like the Gordon Freeman suit for Noctis, or the Kiactus costume (with variations). However, if you search, you will also find other mods, such as the [Special K] FFXV Mini-Mod: Resource Mgmt. Performance, created to solve performance problems experienced on some configurations. As many of you may know, modder support on PC can often make a difference. For now there is not much (these are the first days, it is natural that this is the case), but something is moving, also because the dedicated forum is full of projects and requests, among which the most popular, needless to say, is a nude mod for Cindy. The control system also deserves a few words: we recommend that you play with a controller, because obviously Final Fantasy XV was designed for it. However, by tinkering with the configuration menus and doing a little practice, you can play safely even with a mouse and keyboard. So don't be afraid of being penalized.

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

Intel Core i7-4770 processor
16 GB of RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 video card
Windows 10 operating system

Minimum requirements

Windows® 7 SP1 / Windows® 8.1 / Windows® 10 64-bit operating system
Intel® Core ™ i5-2500 (3.3GHz and above) / AMD FX ™ -6100 (3.3GHz and above) processor
8 GB of RAM
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 760 / NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1050 / AMD Radeon ™ R9 280 Video Card
DirectX 11
100 GB of hard disk space

Recommended Requirements

Intel® Core ™ i7-3770 (3.4GHz and up) / AMD FX ™ -8350 (4.0 GHz and up) processor
16 GB of RAM
Scheda video NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1060 6 GB VRAM / Radeon™ RX 480

Comment

Digital Delivery Steam, Origin Price 49,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

9.0

Readers (52)

8.2

Your vote

Final Fantasy XV: Windows Edition is undoubtedly the best version of the game in terms of visual rendering (if you have a powerful enough PC). The developers of Square Enix have made a great port and, by working on the settings, you can make the game smooth on any system located between the minimum and maximum configurations, without it becoming hideous to see. There are some launch problems, such as the lag encountered by some using a controller to play (already solved by modders and, hopefully, soon developed by Square Enix with a fix), but in general you can't really complain . For the rest, it is the exact same game already seen on consoles, only with all the DLCs published so far already included in the package, including the multiplayer mode, an addition that greatly reduces some of the narrative problems present in the original. A few minor bugs remain, but it is very little compared to the technical achievements shown. The only note we can make to him is that he will not be able to convince those who did not like the stylistic turn taken by the saga. After all, this is certainly not his goal.