Square Enix has surprisingly provided a hefty update for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth on PC which resulted in significant enhancements for the Steam and Epic Games Store versions. Bug fixes, stability enhancements, and most importantly, support for DLSS Multi Frame Generation are mentioned in the patch notes. This brings excellent news for gamers having the right NVIDIA cards, who can now enjoy excellent performance with a high frame rate, thus, making gaming a better experience altogether. The update in addition will resolve some very annoying bugs that have been bothering the community since the launch of the game.
Some people have been very quick to judge and respond while the new features are being reacted to. The new technology has been added but gamers are still talking about the long wait time of almost a year since the opening of the PC port. Ash, a user, was keen to share his thoughts and posted on Twitter, “Frame generation support almost a year later, you must be joking 😂”. Ouch. Omar, another user, expressed a similar view through a dry comment which reminded that it is “1 year after launch lol”. It is a fair question to ask – why the delay on a feature that many gamers consider essential for modern PC gaming?
DLSS Multi Frame Generation is a wonderful feature for the performance lovers. This technology simulates the great smoothness of wave-like movements in the game and also produces pictures of frames that are inserted between the ones your GPU is rendering. Citrina69, one user, claimed that MFG does, in fact, cause the frame rate to go beyond the native limit when it is on, though he/she was also at the maximum limit of 225fps. Camden Pike, another user, was also curious about whether the native limit of 120fps was still in place because of an engine-related restriction. This may sound all complicated but the gist of it is that the game will perform exceptionally well on any hardware that is compatible.
But not all gamers are completely happy. There are a group of gamers who claim the game still has shader problems and one user, Basheeros, even went as far as to saying that the game’s performance was “pretty solid” directly contradicting another user. Performance is undoubtedly a contentious issue in gaming and this update has not managed to settle all disputes.
The issue of censorship has also surfaced. A user, Punished YellowViolins, asked quite frankly, “Did they stealth-censor anything like they did with Remake Intergrade?” He was referring to past instances when gamers thought that the PC versions had altered or cut content. Another gamer, Arnold Arvidsson, went as far as to say that “turn-based combat is still censored”, but we do not know what precisely he means. The debate over censorship continues to be a hot topic in gaming circles.
It would not be wrong to say that PS5 users are feeling a little bit left out as they are missing out on the update primarily targeted at PC users. A handful of gamers even reached out to Square Enix seeking the company’s guarantee that console players would not be neglected. Joe de Lima tweeted, “Please, don’t forget PS5 players,” while the handle Console Gamer called for a “pro patch” for both Rebirth and Final Fantasy XVI. This is a typical complaint – console players many times think they are the ones who suffer the most when the PC versions come out with exclusive features and improvements.
The trophy hunters’ community also commented on the issue the update brought up, although their concerns were more about the game than the technical enhancements. Saeria, one of the users, who seems to have been frustrated with platinum trophy requirements, started a debate about the pros and cons of chasing virtual achievements. Paris Green replied “You trophy hunters are so weird. Imagine being over 20 and investing so much time and energy into this. Just beat the game and move on to another one.” Others came to Paris’ defense with one user asking if Paris had never set goals for himself. The battle between completionists and those who are just interested in the area of the main storyline is eternal.
Some users are demanding for more features that were not part of the update. __Screenshots__ have asked for the option to “disable depth of field and motion blur in both gameplay and cutscenes,” whereas DavetheWanderer73 has been advocating for FSR support for AMD GPU users. Another user, MFDOOM, is asking for the game to be added to GOG, which is a sign that some players still prioritize DRM-free gaming.
One interesting aspect of this update is that it has transformed into a facilitator for enabling various complaints and requests accumulated in the Final Fantasy VII Rebirth community over time to be articulated. The issues include performance complaints, requests for features and a more general discourse about Square Enix’s support strategy that can be boiled down to the patch of frame generation. Through the players’ comments, it is clear that they are very concerned about the treatment of their favorite Xbox platform as well.
