Everyone is smitten by Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the second entry in Square Enix’s ongoing remake of the beloved and critically acclaimed JRPG. While folks are all heart-eyes for the PS5 exclusive role-playing game, director Naoki Hamaguchi is aware of the complaints levied at Rebirth’s Performance Mode, specifying that the development team is currently working on a new patch to improve this setting’s graphical fidelity.
Speaking to the Philippines-based gaming site One More Game, Hamaguchi said that a new patch will address the myriad issues with Rebirth’s Performance Mode, the in-game graphics option that prioritizes frame rate over visual detail. While he didn’t give any specifics, Hamaguchi did touch on some things that will get fixed.
“We’ve received a lot of feedback on whether the graphics in the performance mode will be improved or not,” Hamaguchi told One More Game. “We hear you, and we are currently working on an update patch to improve that aspect. I don’t think the release date would be far away from now. We have [also] heard from players that in certain situations, the facial lighting makes some character shadows look very scary. So that’s one part of the update that we are working on.”
A bunch of folks have taken to the Final Fantasy subreddit to grumble about the Performance Mode since the game launched on February 29. One redditor said the graphics in Performance Mode are “extremely awful,” while another user explained that they had to switch to Graphics Mode because the other option “looks blurry.”
This isn’t the first update to address the game’s Performance Mode. After the game’s demo launched on February 6, we experienced “occasional jitteriness” when playing in this mode. Square Enix soon pushed out a patch that provided some noticeable improvements, but we still recommended the Graphics Mode to enjoy the stunning locales in the game. Maybe this upcoming patch, whenever it comes out, will finally make Performance Mode a viable option for folks—like myself—who prefer consistent frame rates over highly detailed visuals.
Kotaku has reached out to Square Enix for comment.
Issues with Performance Mode aside, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is another success for Square Enix thus far. With a score of 92 on Metacritic and 93 on OpenCritic, the sequel in the prettified trilogy is getting near-universal acclaim. It is a huge game, though, so I recommend you peruse our plethora of guides and tips to help you beat the shit out of Sephiroth. Again.
