Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn is getting its first expansion patch this year in the form of Heavensward, and along with the content the game’s set to receive a bit of visual polish.
According to the latest FF14 producer’s letter, Heavensward’s arrival will also signal an upgrade from DirectX version 9 to version 11.
This won’t be a total graphical overhaul, but should make background details like water, reflections, and lighting stand out more.
“The depiction of rugged surfaces has been vastly improved,” says producer Naoki Yoshida. “The Ul’dahn terrain seen in this slide shows a significant difference despite using the same amount of resources. The difference is quite remarkable in dungeons as well. In addition, players will find that DirectX 11 will be less resource-intensive for GPUs that support it. In some cases this will also result in an improved frame rate.”
“Furthermore, with the DirectX 11 version, characters will be rendered with uncompressed textures, making them look even more impressive. The visual quality of objects in the background has also improved, and even the texture of characters’ skin will look more realistic.”
The DX11 client will be released together with Heavensward, at which point players can choose between whichever models suits their PC setup the best. The team are planning to add in further graphical upgrades to make use of DX11 further down the line.
Final Fantasy 14′s Heavensward expansion is expected to release this summer.
