The system requirements of Final Fantasy XIV

It's an open secret that Final Fantasy XIV is going to be quite intensive on computers. Even with the release of the official benchmark program, no one has been quite sure how accurate the test is for gauging performance. (The fact that the benchmark focuses on performance during congested periods of gameplay isn't helping.) If you've been fretting because your computer got a low score on the official benchmark, or just because you prefer having hard data instead of loose guidelines, then you're in luck -- the team at FFXIVCore has the official system requirements.

Although the recommended system requirements are still going through revision, even the minimums are on the beefier side. They're nothing unreasonable, but those with older machines that manage Final Fantasy XI will need to take stock and invest in some upgrades. On the other hand, if you scored just fine on the benchmark, you'll be happy to know that there are also a bevvy of new screenshots available in the same post. Keep your eyes peeled as we get closer to Final Fantasy XIV's release, as there's little doubt the team at Square-Enix will be tweaking the code for optimal performance.

Reader Comments (34)

Holy crap they recomend that we get a core i7 and Geforce GTX460 just to play an mmo..

Strange it doesn´t look much better than Aion and that runs on very low end computers.

Wrong. It looks a million times better. It's by far the best looking MMO I've ever played, and that's only based on the beta.

That's nothing. Mafia II said we should get a GTX 480 @.@

http://s131.photobucket.com/albums/p294/ronixenclave/?action=view¤t=AionvsFFxiv.jpg

Really now?

Well based on seeing all these screenshots I have to say I agree. They aren't much better than any other mmo like Aion. Why such high requirements if we aren't seeing something breathtaking?

You'll see the difference clearly in 2 years. Why? Because PC systems will be able to crank up the graphics. The alpha/beta screenshots out on most sites and interviews do not have all the glitter implemented that's why it doesn't SEEM much different.

Aion looks great now but as with Lineage 2 it will not age well unless NCsoft upgrades their graphics as they go, which I think they said they would.

If you want to see what FFXIV has the potential to look like you need to be looking at the official screenshots and you can't tell me those don't blow out Aion out of the water.. ;P

Then again I've seen people argue L2 looked way better then FFXI when to me that's just not possible.. The quality of textures by SE is just way higher then NC.

When it comes to MMOs you have to make your game for the players you've got today, not the ones you may or may not have tomorrow. Vanguard taught us one side of this lesson, WoW the other.

@Daemodand

Vanguard was so riddled with problems internally and out that you cannot use it for this example. Vanguard taught us you need a team with direction and releasing a product that barely works is not a good idea.

If you want to bring up high specs EQ2 and Age of Conan are better examples, but they are also full of their own problems that pushed people away, and continue to do so in AoC's case.

WoW taught us if you keep things to the most common denominator you get lots of people. Low graphics, low leveling curve, done with grace. I enjoy WoW but I don't feel it's all that special, that said I do think the game overall is very well done.

;P

Holy crap, those recommended specs are insane, I can't believe those are real! At least they are honest though, but the screenshots and video out there sure don't look like you need much of a machine to handle it, so I'm curious to see new video come out of the current beta builds to see the difference. Even my high end system I built last Summer barely beats some of their recommendations!

Minimum:
Windows XP SP3 / Vista / 7
Intel Core 2 Duo / AMD Athlon X2
1.5 (X) / 2GB RAM (Vista/7)
NVIDIA GeForce 9600 512MB+ / ATI Radeon HD 2900 512MB+
15GB HDD Space
Broadband connection
DX9c

Recommended:
Windows 7
Intel Core i7 2.66GHz
4GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 768MB+
DX9c

The minimum specs is about a 3 year old machine. If you haven't upgraded in the last 3 years or have been getting by on budget machines, you may have problems with the game. I am hoping that what they mean by "recommended" is "run the game with all settings maxed out so that you're too breath taken by the beauty radiating from your monitor to notice your eyes turning to liquid."

Hit the nail on the head here. If your a PC gamer / MMO player and havent upgraded it's time anyway. The next waves of PC games are going to require more horsepower. I myself was able to run Crysis at full settings and still only scored a 3200 on the benchmark. However I'm sure I'll have no problem running FFXIV at whatever settings I choose.

I think I'll wait for the PS3 version then should I get it at all... oO

I wish I wasn't so broke right now -- I'd like to upgrade my motherboard/processor. I meet the minimum, but not by much. Not that it matters, I guess. I'm still holding off on FFXIV anyway... I really didn't like XI.

I got an I5-750 Quad with 8gigs of ram and a Nvidia GTX465 1gig mem. I'm not worried at all. Bring it on SE! :D

I would have thought that by now developers had learned the lesson about what happens to MMOs that launch with high specs, clearly not.

People like you are what have held back the genre for the last 5 years. I'm tired of my MMOs looking like shit and I'm glad Square has the guts to make an attractive game with cutting-edge graphics.

PC requirements is a beast with a changing appetite year after year, but a nice constant is the PS3, and many have that to fall back on.

Problem is there is no PS3 version out for a long long time :/

March next year at the earlist for the PS3 version unless that gets delayed again.

If Squenix thinks I'm going to build an i7-based system - which would involve scrapping my Mobo, my RAM, my "old" CPU and, possibly, even my PSU - just to enjoy a smooth FFXIV experience, they are GREATLY mistaken...

I'm surprised I made the cut. My custom-built computer is 4 years old. It was built with the intention of using it for gaming, but it was by no means a top of the line machine. The minimum requirements don't seem too steep to me, but then again I -have- upgraded my video card since I built the computer.

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The system requirements of Final Fantasy XIV

Reader Comments (34)

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 9:16AM Verus said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 4:34PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 9:29AM Tizmah said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 9:46AM Tizmah said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 10:16AM Thac0 said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 12:29PM Cendres said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 2:38PM Daemodand said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 3:33PM Cendres said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 9:37AM Dandmcd said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 9:50AM Blancmanche said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 10:00AM Pewpdaddy said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 9:53AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 10:08AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 10:53AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 11:07AM Renko said

Posted: Jul 23rd 2010 12:36AM Laephis said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 11:15AM Cirocco said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 11:50AM Verus said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 11:44AM Wensbane said

Posted: Jul 22nd 2010 11:46AM Evy said

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