Final Fantasy 16 devs clearly took criticism of 14’s grapes to heart

have you heard of final fantasy 14Grapes? Once upon a time, they were the talk of Eorzea: repurposed crystal shapes with a nice lush grape texture glued on top. Introduced in the Endwalker expansion, these low-poly elongated spheroids quickly became an internet sensation.

Sure, there was a touch of derision to people’s obsession with grapes, but it wasn’t all mean-spirited: I think a lot of the fan hype was due to FF14 players being genuinely impressed by the ingenuity of coming back. to paint a glass with grapes. It helped save resources in other parts of the game and allowed FF14 to run smoothly. Everyone is a winner! (Except for vitis vinifera enthusiasts, of course.)

However, Square Enix is ​​willing to make amends in Final Fantasy 16. The game, as many of you will know if you’ve played the demo, is one of the most polished and honed releases we’ve seen in a long time. Even the not-so-important areas and assets look amazing, and the way Square Enix Creative Business Unit 3 (who is the developer) has rigged the lighting engine to constantly reflect the glow of Clive’s sword and bring out the edges of her beautiful face is appropriate. , current generation magic. So props to the developers.

One area where you can really see improvement is, yes, you guessed it, grapes. The asset is used quite a few times throughout the game, but the most common place you’ll time your grapes is in an area you’ll be able to visit fairly soon: Oribelle Downs. These bucolic little hills produce the wine you’ll see virtually every NPC drink in almost every cutscene near the start of the game, and it seems to be the pride and joy of Valisthea’s exuberants.

But inspect them closely. Approach the vines and stick your nose in. Enjoy the bouquet, gazing at the softly baked light splashed over the luxurious red skin of the fruit. Do you see? Honestly, polygons, so many you can almost taste them. Start Photo Mode (pause, then press the touchpad on the character screen) and pretend you’re a sommelier: turn, zoom, size up. These are some very good grapes.

It almost feels like Square Enix has a point to prove here. Final Fantasy 16 represents a bold new step for the franchise, rewriting and reexamining many of the foundations that made the series what it is today. I won’t spoil anything here, but characters in the game often say the quiet parts out loud and draw some pretty obvious analogies about the impact of legacy and the importance of breaking with it.

The grapes represent a visual metaphor for that, really: these aren’t Final Fantasy 14’s cobbled together grapes, Macgyver’d in-game adds a sense of place while saving on processing power. These new grapes are a dedicated asset – proudly displayed in an area you will return to time and time again. It’s like Square Enix is ​​saying, ‘Look, we know everyone’s laughed at us a lot before, but look. Look! Grapes!’ before holding them in front of your face and practically forcing them into your mouth.

The fact that these grapes justify their own story may seem absurd to you, but honestly, Google “FF14 grapes” and you will see how much the world in general loves (or loved) the low-poly grapes that became a symbol of the FF14’s journey from failed MMORPG to global megahit.

FF16 did a great song and dance about not needing any patches at launch to, you know, work (even if it did need a little optimization update in the end) and I can see why: the graphics, the world, and the sense of place. it’s so complete in Valisthea that I spent a good 20 minutes ogling a bloody grape. That tells you everything you need to know, really.

Our good friends at Digital Foundry were also big fans of grapes. Not only did they provide us with those lovely grape images above, but they included grapes in their brilliant Final Fantasy 16 technical analysis, which you can check out below.

Final Fantasy 16 is out now on PS5 and is coming to PC at a later date. Probably. You can read our 4-star FF16 review at the link.