Final Fantasy 16 Update 1.03 Fixes the Most Annoying Thing About the Game
Be gone, motion blur.
It has been two weeks since Final Fantasy XVI’s grand new vision for the franchise arrived, and now Square Enix is releasing the game’s first post-launch update. Update 1.03 is a small but meaningful update with several quality-of-life improvements that should make fans happy. The most welcome change from the update comes in a motion blur slider. This allows players to tune down or turn off the game’s aggressive motion blur, one of the most annoying aspects of the game’s initial release.
Launching on July 6, update 1.03 was announced a day earlier by the official Final Fantasy XVI Twitter account. While Final Fantasy XVI has been met with wide critical acclaim thanks to its mature narrative and fantastic combat system, small things like motion blur have been a thorn in the side of players.
Motion blur distorts fast movements in video games, such as sword swings in Final Fantasy XVI.
Motion blur is a post-processing effect used in video games that attempts smooth out action, especially at lower frame rates — say 30 FPS. The effect attempts to recreate the real-life motion blur scene in photography and film that occurs because cameras do not capture images instantaneously, rather it occurs over a period of time (even if it is a very short period of time.) This means that the images produced have a slight motion blur to them. In photography and film motion blur makes action feel quicker and movement more natural.
In video games motion blur is quite contentious. While motion blur can help lower frame rate games to look more natural, the effect often smudges all movement in a way that can be unappealing, especially at higher frame rates.
Final Fantasy XVI’s motion blur has been especially troublesome for players, with one thread on Reddit’s r/FFXVI complaining that “Final Fantasy 16 has the most offensively atrocious motion blur I have ever seen in a video game.”
Update 1.03 will let players choose how strong the motion blur in Final Fantasy XVI is.
With video games, especially action-focused titles like Final Fantasy XVI, motion blur can obfuscate the movement and actions of player characters. As players try to focus on what is happening on screen, the game attempts to blur this. While it comes down to personal preference whether you like motion blur or not, general consensus is that giving players the option to control the amount of motion blur should be a given. Thankfully update 1.03 finally gives players the freedom to decide for themselves.
Motion blur is the most important change, but there are several others that update 1.03 brings. Here is a full list of the changes:
- Motion Blur Strength – Allows the player to adjust the strength of the motion blur effect when the character or camera is in motion. The default setting is the maximum of 5. This can be lowered to reduce the strength of the motion blur effect, or set to 0 to turn it off completely.
- Player Follow (Movement)
- Player Follow (Attack) – Turning these settings off prevents the camera from automatically following the player while moving and attacking respectively.
- Changes the maximum setting of the Camera Sensitivity (Horizontal) and Camera Sensitivity (Vertical) items from 10 to 20.
- Adds three new controller layouts: types D, E, and F.
- Corrects an issue that affected the stability of some menus.
- Corrects some text issues.
- Adds the hashtag #FF16 when sharing screenshots or video clips on Twitter or YouTube.
Final Fantasy XVI is now available on PlayStation 5.
