Sometimes, it seems that no game can release without any issues these days. The AAA market is perhaps most known for these issues on PC, most recently with Dishonored 2's launch having many problems. While PC release problems are nothing new, console releases tend to be smoother typically speaking. However, there seems to be a new exception with Square Enix's Final Fantasy XV, which has released with some major issues on PlayStation 4.
The first and more serious problem has to do with Final Fantasy XV cutting off the HUD and other display elements for many players on PlayStation 4. This appears to be due to how Final Fantasy XV interprets screen data and issues with older TVs. The first part of the problem is that Final Fantasy XV does not use the screen region setting option that the PlayStation 4 has, nor does it have any in-game way to adjust where the screen displays. This lack of an option means that some older 1080p TVs, which tend to have fewer options than newer models, are running into problems.
Many of the issues appear to center around the fact that these earlier models have overscan defaulted on, and either obfuscate the option to turn it off or lack it entirely. This is a relic from the CRT days where such space was used to carry TV metadata, and thus displaying it would look bad and cause issues. In Final Fantasy XV's case, however, with the HUD designed to run to the edge of the screen, and no ability to modify where your screen displays, many elements of the HUD are being cut off. This ranges from relatively minor points like some of a health bar, to major things like objectives text or in some reports item names, being cut off. Various communities are discussing the issues right now such as the Final Fantasy XV Reddit, the Final Fantasy XV forums, and GameFAQs among them. Those suffering the worse are calling the game unplayable in its current state.
Making this even more confusing and problematic is that the Final Fantasy XV demo was completely lacking in these issues, as it appeared to use the screen region configuration that the full game eschews. Here are a few images of the problem from the TechRaptor reader and Final Fantasy fan who tipped us off to the issue:
To make matters worse on PlayStation 4, this isn't the only issue. Digital Foundry is reporting that Final Fantasy XV on PlayStation 4 has major frame time issues. There appears to be a bit of confusion in some areas, but what it means is that frames are loading at uneven paces on PlayStation 4, given the perception and feel of sluggishness even with a steady 30 frames per second. The frames seem to vary in loading anywhere between 16ms and 50ms meaning they can move on too quick, or overstay their welcome. The exact severity of the issue varies some on mode and model, with the PS4 Pro High-Resolution mode having a lot, the PS4 Pro Lite mode having the least, and the PlayStation 4 base model being all over the place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nANRQ-NGPZQ
We have reached out to Square Enix for comment on this issue and will update as we find out more.
