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Final Fantasy 13 CGI vs Final Fantasy 16 Real-Time Graphics (DF Tech Evolution)

Werewolf Jones

Gold Member
16 looks great considering that this what we all thought 10 looked like 16 21 years ago.
Party_in_macalania_temple-2.jpg
I shit on X but damn... Wish we had a cast as vibrant and striking as this in XVI. Everyone is so dull.
 

Go_Ly_Dow

Member
I shit on X but damn... Wish we had a cast as vibrant and striking as this in XVI. Everyone is so dull.
X is my fav FF I think, but I really like XVI's designs.

We do 100% need more games set on tropical Islands with Thailand vibes and taking cultural inspriation from both South and East Asia.

More white beaches, crystal clear sky blue seas, palm trees. Man I hope the rumoured X remake is real. :messenger_loudly_crying: Spira is the GOAT game world.
 
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Meicyn

Gold Member
“The CG supervisor” lmfao I can’t even find this dude’s name in the credits so don’t say “the.”

And who cares what his opinion is? And from what I just glanced over, his most recent work was being involved in Callisto Protocol, which is supposed to be a graphical showcase and is all in-engine, so of course he’s going to downplay how good a game’s CG cutscenes look.

XIII’s CG cutscenes shit on XVI’s in-engine cinematics. I’m happy for you that you prefer real time. I don’t. I like my eye candy and I like those glimpses of how the world and characters would look with an unlimited budget.
Damn dude, chill out.

FYI, he also worked on FF7 Remake as the CG Supervisor there too.


BTW neither he, nor I are arguing that FFXVI’s in-engine stuff looks, just that we prefer realtime.
 

Bilu

Member
DF is without a subject to generate content? It seems that in the old days videos were better. Meh
 

Aaron Olive

Member
X is my fav FF I think, but I really like XVI's designs.

We do 100% need more games set on tropical Islands with Thailand vibes and taking cultural inspriation from both South and East Asia.

More white beaches, crystal clear sky blue seas, palm trees. Man I hope the rumoured X remake is real. :messenger_loudly_crying: Spira is the GOAT game world.
Final Fantasy in the Decima engine…🤤
 
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Damn dude, chill out.

FYI, he also worked on FF7 Remake as the CG Supervisor there too.


BTW neither he, nor I are arguing that FFXVI’s in-engine stuff looks, just that we prefer realtime.

I’m assuming you’re his BFF or something, because I just checked a full list of FFVIIR’s credits, and this guy is literally not even in it. So whatever his involvement was, saying that he was “the CG supervisor” is not accurate.

I’m not sure what preferring real time has to do with the fact that XIII’s CGI is overall leagues above XVI’s in-engine visuals.

I’m just being a bit hostile because I find this narrative about XVI’s supposed “CGI level visuals” to be disingenuous, plus I never want the series’ amazing CGI cinematics to go away. Thankfully, it just seems to be a CBU3 thing, as Rebirth will still be using them, along with other teams at SE for other franchises.
 

Meicyn

Gold Member
I’m assuming you’re his BFF or something, because I just checked a full list of FFVIIR’s credits, and this guy is literally not even in it. So whatever his involvement was, saying that he was “the CG supervisor” is not accurate.

I’m not sure what preferring real time has to do with the fact that XIII’s CGI is overall leagues above XVI’s in-engine visuals.

I’m just being a bit hostile because I find this narrative about XVI’s supposed “CGI level visuals” to be disingenuous, plus I never want the series’ amazing CGI cinematics to go away. Thankfully, it just seems to be a CBU3 thing, as Rebirth will still be using them, along with other teams at SE for other franchises.

ImG1JAM.jpg
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
What? FFXVI looks mediocre? What world am I living on? At every release, FF always looks great.

Don’t tell me people will start saying FFXVI isn’t a video game anymore…
 

Madflavor

Member
I'm over CGI Cutscenes now, I really don't give a fuck. 10-20 years ago I enjoyed them more, seeing what these worlds and characters could look like with future tech and higher budgets, but nowadays we're so close that it doesn't even matter to me anymore.

FFVII:R was the last FF game to switch between real time graphics and full blown CGI cutscenes, and frankly I found it jarring. The CGI models didn't even look as good as the Real Time Ones, they looked like creepy ass dolls:

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lyan

Member
I shit on X but damn... Wish we had a cast as vibrant and striking as this in XVI. Everyone is so dull.
I get what you mean but that is why I feel Nomura's designs are too "dominant" in flavor that the series had been chained for what it can be.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I'm over CGI Cutscenes now, I really don't give a fuck. 10-20 years ago I enjoyed them more, seeing what these worlds and characters could look like with future tech and higher budgets, but nowadays we're so close that it doesn't even matter to me anymore.

FFVII:R was the last FF game to switch between real time graphics and full blown CGI cutscenes, and frankly I found it jarring. The CGI models didn't even look as good as the Real Time Ones, they looked like creepy ass dolls:

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final-fantasy-vii-remake-cloud-weapons.jpg_1200x500_.jpg

dMV4IG5.jpeg
51cc2e9578478fca9d92e285d29208be.jpg

v77zh9bgm2r71.jpg
games_ff7-remake_aerith.jpg


I agree, its same issue I had with Kingdom Hearts CG
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I actually like in-game models more then CG models.
 

hussar16

Member
I mean, not really. The faces in particular look very low-fi to me, way less detailed than even many last-gen games. Maybe that's just the look they're going for, but yeah. Edit: Mostly the female faces though, the male ones look better.
I got canceled when I called out their poor looking character's faces looking worse then previous gen more akin to ps2 faces
Not even close

DMC 5 characters are better than this
The faces are ps3 ps2 level
 

bbeach123

Member
Cutscene screenshot doesnt mean shit , they add tons of light source and effects to the characters to make it look good .
 
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Elios83

Member
FFXVI looks amazing, there are many sections especially with the Eikons battles that look like you're playing a pre-rendered CGI scene.
That level of graphical quality isn't found in every moment of the game but it's there.
Still a comparison with FFXIII CGI is a really lofty goal, real time rendering is still not quite there.
 
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xion4360

Member
still need the cloth physics to get there...hair has gotten there pretty much in other games that use strand based hair.
 

Raven77

Member
Graphics look so damn good nowadays, but AAA gaming takes such an egregious amount of time to develop now, I don't understand why some people demand more from developers in the graphics department. 5+ years and $200 million to develop TLOU2 and Horizon TFW.

I was in my 20s when FFXV came out. Now I'm 35. I mean jesus christ I'm going to be 40+ when we get FFXVII. I think life's too short to care so damn much about how pretty a character's face looks. I'd rather get as many great games for my favorite franchises as possible before dementia sets in and I don't know who the fuck I am in the morning.

Well, ai will cut development times and cost by 50+%.

Almost there, give it a few years.
 

squarealex

Member
Not even close

DMC 5 characters are better than this
Jesus christ, people can thinking once?

That's not the same artistic direction... pheew..
By far Square Enix did a 100% creation from drawing artist, not a 3D scan. (If we follow your reasoning, Forspoken has a better face than FF16)

Capcom process did just a 3D scanned lazy s**t and people easily "woah, man Capcom and RE Engine is great and so realistic"... no shit.. Max Payne 1 too for his time....

Personally I prefer the real time of FF16 than FF13. CGI FF13 is just a crazy camera shaking all over the place with unreadable action + art direction is quite meh... (remember all mechanics eikon... eewww)

Real-Time is just for the best for the artists dev, easily modification and creation.
CGI you need 10 hours of render for 2 secondes.
 
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Kumomeme

Member
for comparison here is FF14 1.0 cinematic trailer. FF16 visual reminded me of that. some of prerendered cutscene is pretty good.

 
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for comparison here is FF14 1.0 cinematic trailer. FF16 visual reminded me of that. some of prerendered cutscene is pretty good.


From the thumbnail alone you can tell that XVI is very behind it. The icicles in XVI, even in the pre-rendered opening with Shiva Vs. Titan, look like shit.

This is from a new FFBE unit. Look how much better the icicles are here.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
In-game models almost always look better (more natural) than CGI models
Because most of time CGI its too clean. If you look at FFVIIR in-game models they have proper skin texture but CGI everything is too clean and unnatural.

I enjoyed CGI in PS2 era because back then the character models weren’t all that detailed but now it just seem so pointless other than taking up unnecessary space.
 

Killer8

Member
What is most impressive about FFXVI visuals is how readily the CGI blends in with the real-time. There are specific times when I know for sure that it must surely be CGI, like some of the scenes in the big battle near the start, but the thought process behind that was more "the PS5 can't possibly be outputting this". Not knowing where the CGI is ending and starting is part of the magic and is a quality that was actually kind of lost during the PS3 and PS4 eras of Final Fantasy.

The PS1 games actually blended the CGI into the visuals fantastically well, because you'd have these sections where the FMVs would almost freeze into a pre-rendered background and suddenly you were in control. You can notice it in a Youtube video but on a CRT back in the day it was seamless:




Due to being fully 3D, it was games like FFXIII which could actually feel like there was more of a gulf between the CGI and the in-game visuals, ironically enough. It goes to show the heavy lifting that pre-rendered visuals did for so many games back then.
 
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Griffon

Member
I think people have a hard time noticing the graphical evolution because FF16 has an incredibly drab color palette. Feels like a western PS3 game, all brown and greys and desaturated puke green.
 
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Gambit2483

Member
Because most of time CGI its too clean. If you look at FFVIIR in-game models they have proper skin texture but CGI everything is too clean and unnatural.

I enjoyed CGI in PS2 era because back then the character models weren’t all that detailed but now it just seem so pointless other than taking up unnecessary space.
Agreed. CGI had it's place in gaming when in-game just couldn't pull off certain scenes, but for the most part it should stay in the past (barring a few instances)
 
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mortal

Gold Member
FF16 has an incredibly drab color palette. Feels like a western PS3 game, all brown and greys and desaturated puke green.
I don't think that description is accurate whatsoever. I think the entire game has a rather nice range of natural lighting and deeply saturated colors in some of the more fantastical settings.


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There are certain points during the game where familiar settings are a lot more drab, especially after Ultima casts Primogenisis over all of Valesthia. Or Waloed being overtaken by the blight.
Which kind of makes sense that things would look a lot more emotionally depressing and bleak during that period.
 

Kumomeme

Member
From the thumbnail alone you can tell that XVI is very behind it. The icicles in XVI, even in the pre-rendered opening with Shiva Vs. Titan, look like shit.

This is from a new FFBE unit. Look how much better the icicles are here.
never said it was on par. it just it remind me of that, probably due to the art direction since it come from same division.

but still, FFXVI visual is pretty good despite not CGI.
 
Because most of time CGI its too clean. If you look at FFVIIR in-game models they have proper skin texture but CGI everything is too clean and unnatural.

I enjoyed CGI in PS2 era because back then the character models weren’t all that detailed but now it just seem so pointless other than taking up unnecessary space.

SvUjWov.jpg

It’s the chosen art style + lighting for the scene that might make it look “too clean,” but to suggest that in-engine scenes have skin texture but CGI scenes don’t is laughable.


Btw, the in-game model for Sora looks much worse than the CGI model; I can’t believe you actually put that comparison up as an example. Perhaps you don’t like the “shiny sheen” that usually comes with CGI, but CGI models always have way, way more detail. Period.

They’re not unnecessary at all. They make scenes more memorable, there can be a lot more going on compared to in-engine scenes, and cinematography is almost always better.

And again, XVI’s in-engine models are not impressive at all. I wanted to see the main characters and Eikons in CGI.

This is from a new FFBE unit and the icicles here take a massive shit on the pre-rendered icicles that Shiva produces in FFXVI.
40964db0-f88e-11ed-b792-bc607bfd13d7.cf.jpg

Again, I’m happy that other divisions at SE are still using CGI cinematics. CBU1 can stick to their unimpressive in-engine models and then masking scenes that they can’t handle with a bunch of CGI effects.
 
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Punished Miku

Gold Member
XIII still looks stunning across the board.

Haters can say what they want about the gameplay and "moms are tough" line but the realtime and CGI graphics still looking stunning in 2023. This is not up for debate.
Moms are tough. It's not even really a bad line. Writing a mom that protects her kid and dies is not awful. People fail to realize what even goes into translating dialogue for games back then. Most of the time they would have to translate the lines, and then take creative liberties to come up with an English version that matches the timing of the mouth moving in Japanese, creating some short sentences, some long sentences, some unusual timing gaps, etc.
 

fart town usa

Gold Member
Moms are tough. It's not even really a bad line. Writing a mom that protects her kid and dies is not awful. People fail to realize what even goes into translating dialogue for games back then. Most of the time they would have to translate the lines, and then take creative liberties to come up with an English version that matches the timing of the mouth moving in Japanese, creating some short sentences, some long sentences, some unusual timing gaps, etc.
Trust me, I agree. Sometimes I feel like I gotta toss out the obvious *thing* that people will bring up in order to get ahead of it. 😅
 
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