Final fantasy xv windows edition review in Spanish (full analysis)

After a year and a half of exclusive on consoles , Final Fantasy XV finally appears on PC. The wait has been long, but Square-Enix has been in charge of bringing an edition loaded with additional content and the occasional exclusive novelty. During all this last year the company has been working to make a port as optimized as possible and incorporating new graphic options to increase the already realism that the game offered.

Requirements to play on the PC

Minimum requirements

• CPU: Intel Core i5-2500 / AMD FX-6100 GPU: GeForce 760 / GeForce 1050 / Radeon R9 280 RAM: 8GB Storage: Between 85 and 155GB

Recommended requirements

• CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 / AMD FX-8350 GPU: GeForce GTX 1060 6GB / Radeon RX 480 RAM Memory: 16GB Storage: Between 85 and 155GB

Recommended requirements to play 4K

• CPU: Intel i7-7700 / AMD Ryzen 5 1600X GPU: GeForce GTX 1080 Ti RAM memory: 16 GB Storage: 155 GB

Remembering the plot

Before evaluating the new technical aspects of this version, let's do a brief review of the plot before which the game places us as soon as we start. We embody the role of Prince Noctis, who is entrusted by his father with the mission of reuniting and marrying the character of Luna. That marriage of convenience is an attempt to strengthen ties between the nations of Lucis and the Niflheim Empire that have been fighting for years with each other and are close to signing a peace agreement. There are those who do not want such peace and soon we will see how all the plans fall apart. With all this, we have our inseparable companions for travel and battles: Igni, Prompto and Gladiolus.

We will have within our reach the vast territory of Eos to enjoy its landscapes and submissions while we carry out the main missions.

Breaking down the extra content

As is normal in late editions, we are in this edition with all the DLC released so far. This includes the Gladiolus, Prompto and Ignis episodes. In each of them we will control their respective character and relive moments of the main adventure from their point of view. This allows us to get to know them more in depth and in turn bring the plot together. Fortunately, these episodes can be started from the main menu if desired.

However, the inclusion of all the game updates leaves the aforementioned DLCs somewhat in its infancy. Well, it is now possible to change characters at any time during battles.

Another addition that was added a few months ago to the console version is the multiplayer expansion: Brothers in Arms (Comrades). This online mode allows us to create a custom character and carry out missions either with three other players or with three characters controlled by the AI. We find a huge number of main and secondary missions to level up and access other areas. Along with this, it is possible to continue improving our weapons or customizing our avatar. Despite everything, they still need to polish the camera, especially in combat and optimize the loading times between missions a little.

There was much controversy with chapter 13 of the game, both for its linearity and for its tedious length. Therefore, the game also has the update introduced that now allows you to choose if you want to play the original option managing Noctis or if you prefer to select one of our partners.

But there is much more: New weapons and items, customization aspects for the Regalia car, a boat to navigate, new missions, a new map to guide us through the final stage, new techniques and even a first-person mode. This first person mode allows us to better appreciate the details of the world of Eos, especially in this PC version.

Finally, and as a curiosity, buyers who get the Steam version will be able to get until May 1 the costume and accessories of the Half Life character, Gordon Freeman.

It is also important to highlight the care that has been put to the sound of the game and its configuration options. The sound is very well implemented and it sounds really good. We will have the option to appreciate it in its splendor if we have a home theater equipment.

Regarding keyboard and mouse operation, the possibilities of configuration and use are very wide. And even the default configuration is more or less well chosen. The mouse works well to move the character's view, but in the menus it only serves to move as if the keys were being used, there is no way to move the mouse freely. In any case, the use of command is also possible as always. Which gives an experience very close to that of consoles.

Squeezing all the juice out of the graphics cards

Since its launch on consoles, Final Fantasy XV has positioned itself as one of the games with the best graphics, but it is truly on PC where the game reaches its maximum detail. Look where you look, you can see the detail of everything around us, it is difficult to find any texture at low resolution. The quality of the textures is even better if you download the free 4K texture pack. It is an option that will require an additional 60GB and that will only be recommended for those with a 4K monitor and powerful graphics. HDR10 support is also included. This will offer a better dynamic range in terms of colors and contrast for those who have a monitor or television that supports this technology.

Fortunately Square-Enix has optimized the game to the point that it is possible to play it on a multitude of graphics cards, not just the most cutting-edge ones. Although obviously, the jump between the minimum and maximum settings is very large. We will briefly highlight some of the most relevant settings.

The well-known Anti-Aliasing filters, FXAA (Fast Approximate Anti-Aliasing) and the TAA (Temporary Anti-Aliasing) developed by Nvidia are the only options we find to avoid saw teeth. Although the TAA does a better job than the FXAA, smoothing the edges apart from styling the image causes it to appear slightly blurry. In a game of this level and with so many options, it would not have been wrong to include some more Anti-Aliasing options such as SSAA (Super Sampling Anti-Aliasing) of higher quality for those who own a powerful GPU.

Since the game appeared on consoles, the good work of the developers regarding the drawing distance has been appreciated. Sharpness at a distance was clearly less. Therefore, in this version we can improve the quality of the drawing using the anisotropic filter. However, this option will demand a good pinch of power from the graph.

Increasing the quality of shadows to their highest values ​​will cause shadows to be generated in more detail on virtually every object in the game. It is true that our environment and characters gain integers and realism, but at the cost of sacrificing a good percentage of processing.

In the case of having a GPU with a large amount of VRAM, it will be possible to increase the TRAM (Texture Random Access Memory) option. Which will allow the game to use more VRAM for the textures. In high resolutions you can order even more than 10GB.

It is really difficult nowadays to set all the above options to very high values ​​if you are also playing in 4K resolution and you want to achieve a high frame rate per second. Speaking of fps, the Japanese company has included the option of being able to reach up to 120 fps during the game.

To know approximately to what level of quality we can take the game, Square-Enix has made available to anyone who wants a web application that performs a Benchmark. After receiving a score, we can compare it with the table available on the website.

In the newsroom we made several Benchmarks using both a GTX 970, which is located between the minimum and recommended requirements, and a GTX 1080Ti, which is the recommended graphics to play 4K.

GTX 1080Ti to 1080p

GTX 1080Ti to 4K

More realism from Nvidia

If all the options mentioned above seemed little, Nvidia has specially developed for the Luminous engine of this game some technologies called Nvidia Gameworks.

One of the most spectacular is Nvidia Turf Effects, which renders an enormous amount of grass and bushes that is influenced by the physical interaction of the characters. In some game scenarios, such as the meadows, this technology brings great beauty and it is a pleasure to visit these places. The representation of this vegetation is designed in such a way that the consumption of processing is not very high.

On the other hand, Nvidia Hairwork technology influences how the fur of the animals and enemies that populate the world of Eos is represented. When activated, you can see how the fur is more realistic when the wind blows or the creatures move. That realism has its counterpart since it needs a large computational calculation.

Not all technologies are so easy to appreciate or attract so much attention. This is the case of Nvidia VXAO (Voxel Ambient occlusion) that helps to appreciate an improvement in light and shadow for ambient occlusion. When activated, it will be more noticeable in the GPU than in the game itself.

Shadows, which already provide a great level of detail in normal settings, can see their quality increase if the Nvidia ShadowLibs option is activated. With this option, the shadows are generated in real time and you can see their good work on the characters.

For fluids, fire or smoke, Nvidia has also included an option to improve volumetric rendering or dynamic simulation of its behavior. With Nvidia Flow, it is also tried not to have a big impact on memory usage. In one of the first scenes of the game you can see how well this technology is achieved.

Capturing Chocobos… as wallpaper

Finally, we must not forget the Ansel technology seen in other games and that allows capturing scenes from the game in different ways:

• Take screen captures and the camera can be moved freely. Use post-processing filters for the image. Capture the image with the raw data to edit the dynamic range and depth of field later with another program. Capture with a Super Resolution of up to 33 times greater than 1080p and then cut a piece of the image and continue to obtain good quality. Capture a scene in 360 degrees. Then it will be possible to view it in 2D or 3D from the PC, a smartphone or virtual glasses.

Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition Conclusion and Final Words

Regardless of whether you like the game or not, it must be recognized that Square-Enix has done a great job with the compatible port. It is noted that they have not been in a hurry to port the game from consoles, but they have dedicated a little care to optimizing the game and adding options to spare to get the best possible performance from our graphics. Special mention, it also requires the technologies implemented by Nvidia that add one more step of realism to the game. All this, however, has a considerable impact on the graphic power. And it is that we are facing one of the titles that demand the most graphically. Lacking a powerful GPU if you want to enjoy the highest settings. The recommended configuration is a GTX 1060 with 6GB of VRAM or a Radeon RX 480 and an i7 in terms of the processor. Although greater enjoyment is possible with a GTX 1080 or 1080 Ti if you want to achieve high resolutions.

We recommend reading the best graphics cards on the market

Not only is it to be praised that they have dedicated time to the graphic section, but after a year it is a fair payment that they have added all the additional content and all the available updates. The original game sinned in having some gaps in history that have been largely amended. However, you have to keep track of the following four DLCs that the company plans to release this year.

It can be said without a doubt that, in terms of game hours, graphics and content, Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition is worth every penny it costs.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
- All additional content to date.	- Powerful graphics are needed to take advantage of it.
- Lots of hours of play.	- Need to improve navigation with the mouse.
- Good optimization.
- Numerous and new graphic adjustments.
- Support for 4K, HDR10 and up to 120fps.

The Professional Review team awards you the platinum medal:

Final Fantasy XV

GRAPHICS - 100%

SOUND - 95%

GAMEPLAY - 97%

DURATION - 94%

PRICE - 90%

95%