Square Enix confirms changes to FF14 Dawntrail Benchmark following graphics controversy

An new benchmark for Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail will be available later this month

Square Enix’s Naoki Yoshida has confirmed that a new benchmark for Final Fantasy 14 (FF14) Dawntrail is coming. This new benchmark will address the graphical issues of the original, giving users access to a better version of the game’s character creator and fine-tuned version of the benchmarking tool.

Final Fantasy XIV’s Dawntrail expansion is releasing this July, and with it will come enhanced visuals for the game on both PC and consoles. Gamers can expect improved material quality, enhanced texture/shadow resolution, and enhancements to characters, backgrounds, and other visual elements. With these changes, FF14 will have a different performance profile on PC, which is why Square Enix have released a new PC benchmark for  Dawntrail.

FF14’s original Dawntrail benchmark had several issues. For starters, character eyes looked “lifeless”, too little or too little gloss was used in specific weather conditions, and poor lighting caused facial contours to look “flat”. “Unimplemented high-resolution textures” and other issues also presented problems for benchmark users.

What went wrong with the FF14 Dawntrail benchmark?

To make a long story short, Square Enix overlooked some aspects of their benchmark’s graphical update. The company did not fully update their character creation environment. This resulted in some visual issues when combined with Dawntrail’s graphical updates. This resulted in the game’s updated visuals looking worse than intended. Thankfully, these issues will be resolved with FF14 Dawntrail’s new benchmark and within the full expansion.

You can join the discussion on Final Fantasy XIV’s updated Dawntrail benchmark on the OC3D Forums.