A brand-new update has dropped for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth that promises to fix the game’s controversial visuals.
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launched to critical acclaim, with many praising its story, open-world, and combat. However, one sore spot for most players and reviewers was the visuals. Despite being a next-gen title, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth often lacked the necessary polish, with murky textures and bad lighting. Fortunately, Square Enix is aware of these issues, and it has made it its mission to fix them.
Latest Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Update Enhances Graphics
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Update Version 1.020 has dropped and claims to fix the murky visuals with graphical enhancements and new “Sharp” and “Soft” options to the Performance Mode. While it’s unclear how effective this update is, the inclusion of the “Sharp” and “Soft” options does alter the quality of the image, as well as performance. Additionally, the update improves the overall frame rate, regardless of which mode you’re playing on. This was a huge issue for fans at launch, so it’s definitely a welcome change. You can read the full patch notes below (translation courtesy of PushSquare):
- Fixed typos and omissions in some text.
- Fixed a bug that occurred on the map under certain conditions when controlling a character.
- Fixed a bug in battle in which Red XIII’s abilities “Lunatic High” and “Watcher’s Spirit” could be easily canceled.
- Fixed a bug in battle in which enemies would stop moving under certain conditions.
- Fixed a progress bug that occurred during quests under certain conditions.
- Improved frame rate and overall game stability.
- Added “Sharp” and “Soft” options to the Performance Mode display settings.
- Improved the graphics quality.
- The camera’s reverse setting is now applied when controlling a gliding Chocobo.
- The camera’s reverse setting is now applied to the sharpshooting mini-game camera.
- Enhanced guidance support while climbing the ivy in the “Mythril Mine” location.
- Added difficulty settings to the customization screens for the mini-games “Fort Condor” and “Gears and Gambits.”
Does Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Update 1.020 Fix the Visuals?
We suspect that the “improved graphics quality” part of the patch notes refers, at least partially, to the lighting. Previously, the game’s director, Naoki Hamaguchi, has spoken about how fans had complained that in certain conditions, characters’ faces looked scary and that this was a major concern for them. Of course, it’s also likely that they’ve improved textures across the board. This also happened when Final Fantasy 7 Remake was ported to PlayStation 5, although that was a more drastic shift than is likely to have happened in this single patch.
Of course, there’s more to this update than simply fixing the visuals. Several quest-related bugs have been squashed, and the additional guidance support in the Mythril Mine area is greatly appreciated. We suspect many fans will also welcome the difficulty settings for Fort Condor, as it can get brutally challenging at times.
More patches are surely on their way, and the graphics will likely be further improved upon as time goes on. However, at least this update will help alleviate some of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s visual inconsistencies. What do you think of the latest update? Does it fix the graphical issues enough for you? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to check out our Guide Hub.