Digital Foundry: Final Fantasy 15 PS4 vs PS4 Pro Gameplay Frame-Rate Test

The current options seem to be:

XB1: Dynamic res up to 900p, some drops with tearing, perfect framepacing
PS4 Base: Dynamic res up to 1080p, some framepacing problems
PS4 Pro Lite: 1080p, good framepacing during gameplay
PS4 Pro High-Res: 1800p checkerboard, pervasive framepacing problems

I think it would stand to reason that Lite is the best choice overall, but XB1 could be the next best thing depending on your priorities.


I'd be tempted to wait for a patch going off the screens from the demo. Game, the hair :) look great in higher resolution. Give SE a chance to fix it. I'm sure they just want the game out in time for the holidays after all that's gone on.

I'd say PS4 Pro Lite the way to play (and how I have chosen to play).

That said, it still happens in Lite mode but almost always during cut-scenes.

Yeah sounds like the best way.

I've found cut-scenes to be a weird anomaly in video games period. I've got used to seeing issues with cut-scenes while the game performs perfect.
 
I seriously don't see the frame pacing as a big problem. Just stood there for 5 minutes and switched between high and lite mode and panned the camera around. Lite mode feels a little bit smoother... but calling this game breaking is a a little much, no?

thisisneogaf.gif
 
didn't they tweet or something a week or so ago that they would have news on a new patch coming out "soon".....


i think it's odd as a developer that you wouldn't see the frame-pacing issues, which also implies they think it's "good enough"....?
 
I'm used to playing games on my PC at 100 Hz and so far the Pro HQ mode feels fine to me.

I do notice the frame drops and it would make a more fast paced game unplayable but it is fine for FF.
 
I never get why these frame pacing issues seem to be such a big deal. I haven't played FFXV yet but I played a lot of Bloodborne and I don't think I ever noticed it and it certainly didn't affect my enjoyment of the game at all.

Put me down for playing this on hi-res mode
 
What is the point of a light mode if they are both 30fps? You'd think the lower res option would at least be 60fps or else why would anyone choose it?

To me it looks like they couldn't figure out the frame pacing so they inserted the light mode.
 
What is the point of a light mode if they are both 30fps? You'd think the lower res option would at least be 60fps or else why would anyone choose it?

To me it looks like they couldn't figure out the frame pacing so they inserted the light mode.

Lite is supposedly becoming 60 FPS next month.
 
Frame pacing issues are terrible when they occur, the game in certain areas feels like it's running much lower than 30fps even though technically it might not be but the frame pacing issues certainly makes it feel like that. I just entered Lestallum Outpost during chapter 3 and along with those issues I'm getting some serious drops in framerate all of a sudden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V0Vd8slgHU
 
Tried High mode for a bit again today.

I have no idea how people can't see the issue. If high was the only mode available, I think I'd struggle to play it.

I'm very jealous of those who don't notice it.
 
Frame pacing issues are terrible when they occur, the game in certain areas feels like it's running much lower than 30fps even though technically it might not be but the frame pacing issues certainly makes it feel like that. I just entered Lestallum Outpost during chapter 3 and along with those issues I'm getting some serious drops in framerate all of a sudden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V0Vd8slgHU

Base PS4 or high quality Pro?
 
I really, REALLY hope the 60 fps mode coming out for the Pro does NOT take the place of the current 30 fps Lite mode, because you just know it won't be able to maintain 60 fps most of the time
 
I just don't get the argument that bad frame pacing is fine for a slow paced game like FF XV.

This is not a slow paced game.
 
Frame pacing issues are terrible when they occur, the game in certain areas feels like it's running much lower than 30fps even though technically it might not be but the frame pacing issues certainly makes it feel like that. I just entered Lestallum Outpost during chapter 3 and along with those issues I'm getting some serious drops in framerate all of a sudden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V0Vd8slgHU

Man that is nasty. Surely that has to be dropping frames to be that bad.
 
Frame pacing issues are terrible when they occur, the game in certain areas feels like it's running much lower than 30fps even though technically it might not be but the frame pacing issues certainly makes it feel like that. I just entered Lestallum Outpost during chapter 3 and along with those issues I'm getting some serious drops in framerate all of a sudden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V0Vd8slgHU

That looks like dropped frames/low frame rate, not frame pacing problems
 
Call me crazy but when I select HQ Mode I find the game to be blurrier (1080p screen)? The frame-pacing is also incredibly annoying so I've been playing on Lite Mode and it's been great so far.
 
Any response from squinix acknowledging this problem? I wasn't really getting bothered by it but the longer i play i can start go notice it now, shit....
 
Any response from squinix acknowledging this problem? I wasn't really getting bothered by it but the longer i play i can start go notice it now, shit....

No, but we do know they're releasing another patch some time in December for further optimization and enabling a high frame rate mode for Pro LQ.
 
Any response from squinix acknowledging this problem? I wasn't really getting bothered by it but the longer i play i can start go notice it now, shit....

I submitted a support request, so we'll see if that goes anywhere. Someone else did that for WoFF and got a response saying they were aware of the problem, so it would be good to hear the same for this.
 
3 second video I took here which just happens to show it very well.

https://youtu.be/9S10f1bZtN4

I didn't notice anything in the DF or Gamersryde videos, but if people are seeing those similarly to how I'm seeing your video then that really sucks. I guess what you showed is on the far extreme end of how bad it can get?

I played all the way through Bloodborne without even knowing of the term frame pacing, so I guess I just don't notice it in general. I do however feel a clear difference between 30 and 60 FPS, so I guess there's no connection in one's perception of those.

Edit: HQ mode is pretty horrible for me in this video too:

I made a video a few days ago from right at the start of the game in all 3 modes, and found much of the same. The high mode is not for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVJQvqz-KEs

Actually, watching the stuttering in there makes me think back to Bloodborne and I guess I did notice it at times. I just thought it was the PS4 struggling and the frame rate dropping.
 
Everything looks stable on the PS4 regular. Glad I don't expect perfection with every game. I'd go nutts. Final Fantasy 15 feels like I'm playing the cutscenes in FF8. That's an outstanding breakthrough in graphics if you ask me.

I dont get that vibe at all so far although I am just in the first area. Does it get better with the graphics?
 
Has everything to do with cost. That money is better spent elsewhere imo. So if I were to buy a Pro without a 4k tv then I'd be losing out.

I'll keep responding as long as you do. :D
And you'll be wrong every time. I mean, if you just want to type words without paying attention to what they mean, go ahead. But not buying a Pro means you lose benefits, no matter your opinions or your ratiocinations.

I cannot get beyond [framepacing issues], hard as I try -- I just have to put the game down. And I cannot recall a single instance of a dev actually fixing this with a patch.
Also, Destiny and Diablo 3 had it fixed after DF drew attention to it.
Mafia III patched it as well (I think without anyone mentioning it, but I'm not sure).

Yeah the XBO version has vsync so it tears when it drops below 30. I haven't seen any tearing on any PS videos but it does have frame pacing issues with Pro High mode being the worst and Pro Lite mode being the best.
adaptive vsync, which means when the Xbone version drops below 30fps it shows screen tearing. If it had full blown vsync on, it would dip to 20fps whenever it couldn't hold 30fps.
V-sync is specifically for getting rid of screen-tearing. Even at 30fps, with an irregular frame-times, you would get screen-tearing. Adaptive V-sync specifically fights against that, but makes sure it turns off when the framerate dips below a divisible fps by the refresh rate.
A little confusion here. I really think Digital Foundry should avoid the "adaptive v-sync" term, which was invented by Nvidia to sell a feature that should really be called "partial v-sync" or simply "framerate cap". Here's the most concise explanation I can manage:

- Framerate drops are always issues with framepacing.
- Normally, tearing happens when game framerate isn't a divisor of 60 (60fps, 30fps, 20fps, 15fps, 12fps, 10fps, 6fps, 5fps, 2fps, 1fps). That's due to what displays allow.
- V-sync locks framerate to those increments, stopping all tearing but making framerate drops worse. (example: 29fps doesn't happen, falls straight to 20fps)
- "Adaptive v-sync" caps framerate at a target, stopping higher framerates that cause tearing. (example: 31fps doesn't happen, stays at 30fps) Below the target, v-sync turns off, so framerate varies freely but tearing happens. (example: 29fps happens, and the screen tears)
- Triple buffering uses an extra buffer to always have a full frame available to draw. This means no torn frame ever has to be displayed, and framerate can vary freely. (example: 31fps or 29fps happens, but screen doesn't tear)
- Triple buffering with a framerate cap stops framerate from varying above the target, but below target it can vary freely. No torn frame ever has to be displayed. (example: 31fps doesn't happen, stays at 30fps; 29fps happens, but screen doesn't tear)
 
Can they comment on anything besides frame pacing? Don't need 7 minutes to point out one thing. At least talk about HDR and other elements that are different too fast.
 
I'd say PS4 Pro Lite the way to play (and how I have chosen to play).

That said, it still happens in Lite mode but almost always during cut-scenes.

Yep, I'm not sensitive to it in gameplay, and I'm not very far in, but intro cut scenes and the title screen camera pan out were horrendously jittery..it felt the the game was skipping
 
I feel like when I was playing the very first quest I was running into the frame pacing issues while using Lite mode on PS4 Pro. Either frame pacing or the game wasn't holding a solid 30FPS, disappointing.
 
PS4 Pro Lite is pretty good. The frame pacing is barely even noticeable most of the time so far for me and i'm perceptive.
 
I just spent an hour and a half playing on pro high and I didn't really notice any jittering. I may just be lucky or is my super bad eye sight. Anyway having a blast with the game.
 
I'm a PC gamer. I know what frame pacing is. I saw the graph showing the awful pacing. Yet the video on YouTube running 1080p60 didn't show any difference to me compared to no frame pacing or the base PS4. I guess I'm not sensitive to it like I am to framerate drops or tearing?
 
Welp, now that I've got the game and played a while, I'm content on my PS4 Pro in Lite Mode, but really hoping that a) they really nail that 60fps target in the December patch so I can go that route instead or b) they fix the framepacing in heavy mode. I do feel the frame pacing issues occasionally but it seems to be infrequent enough to not be a big bother, just a distraction.

I think heavy mode looks great on my 1080p monitor from an IQ standpoint -- it still has blurry and soft IQ issues, though, but I feel like I'm kind of accepting that as the norm for this game..

I will opt for the high framerate mode if it's really close to a locked 60fps with visuals at least on par with vanilla PS4 (900p average dynamic resolution, same asset quality) over anything else on this 1080p display, but I do still hope that the heavy preset gets its framepacing issues sorted so I can use that as a fallback in case that 60fps is too good to be true (which I feel it will be).
 
I feel like if it has issues both ways, I might as well play it in hi-res
The issues in Lite mode are pretty much limited to cut-scenes, though. The hi-res mode has bad frame pacing pretty much 100% of the time during gameplay.
 
I'll stick with lite mode. I hope SE does good with that December patch. HQ looks great but the pacing is just too distracting.
 
Man, this is one beautiful game.

z4gc.jpg
 
Lite mode atm is the way to go with Pro.

In HQ mode the frame pacing is ridiculous, I cant even understand how some people cant see it... In Lite mode in some occasions there are framepacing issues, but 99% of the time it plays beautifully.

This is very unfortunate and the game needs to be patched and fixed.
 
I didn't notice anything in the DF or Gamersryde videos, but if people are seeing those similarly to how I'm seeing your video then that really sucks. I guess what you showed is on the far extreme end of how bad it can get?

Yeah, that's pretty much as bad as it gets. During gamepad, if you just stare straight ahead while travelling, it's not too noticeable, but if your eyes wander to the sides of the screens it becomes really obvious.
 
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