Final Fantasy 14's long-awaited Xbox version has black screens and an overactive chat filter

Final Fantasy 14 has finally arrived on Xbox Series X/S consoles more than a decade after the MMO's relaunch in 2013, joining players on PC and two generations of PlayStation consoles. With an ever-expanding free trial and plenty of positive buzz, how does the game fare on Microsoft's current-gen consoles ahead of a big graphical update scheduled for July, and what's the score with the recently updated PS5 version?

Let's start with that relatively more mature PS5 version as the basis for our comparisons, given that the game has been available on Sony's current-gen platform since 2021 - and had some baffling performance issues even then. The PS5 version ran at a comfortable 60fps at 1440p, but suffered from distracting and regular frame-rate dips during traversal, even in basic areas, away from other players or when set to a 1080p output. This was fixed a year later, but the game still ran with a frame-rate in the 30s and 40s at 4K.

Now, the PS5 version finally seems (mostly) playable at that native 4K. Frame-rates seem to have improved by ~10fps in most scenarios, which is enough to (usually) stay within the PS5's 48Hz-60Hz VRR window and therefore avoid judder. The PS4 version also benefits from these optimisations, and the 'high draw quality' toggle is now a viable option when it tanked performance heavily before. A locked 60fps still isn't on the table on PS4, with plenty of judder evident, but at least things have improved somewhat.

Final Fantasy 14 Arrives on Xbox Series X/S + PS5 Update - DF Tech Review

Moving to Xbox consoles now, it's clear that we're looking at a similar output on Series X and PlayStation 5 in terms of resolution and settings. You can choose a resolution of 1080p, 1440p or 4K, with 'vintage' FXX anti-aliasing. (More modern FSR is likely to be included with the Dawntrail upgrade on consoles if the PC benchmark is any indication, with DLSS 2 and TSCMAA also offered on PC but not likely to make the transition to Xbox or PlayStation.) Meanwhile, Xbox Series S only offers 1080p and 1440p resolution options.

Thankfully, apart from the lack of a 4K output, the Series S looks largely identical to Series X - and by extension PS5 and PS4 Pro - when all consoles are set to a 1440p output. There are no apparent discrepancies in textures, shadow quality, or level of detail. The only visual thing to note on the Xbox side is that the Series S doesn't take advantage of the game's 4K-quality interface assets that arrived on PC and PS5 when the PS5 version launched, which the Series X also benefits from.

The only meaningful differences we're going to find therefore are in performance, but given that Xbox Series consoles both benefit from VRR with low frame-rate compensation (LFC), the higher resolutions that aren't particularly viable on PS5 or PS4 Pro might become great options on Series X and Series S.

Let's start with the Series X version at 1440p, which is the sweet spot for both Series X and PS5. You get a near-locked 60fps, from the most beautiful locations in the Shadowbringers and Endwalker expansions, in moderately populated cities and through typical instanced content with human or NPC allies. Dropped frames are a possibility, but these tend to be both rare and brief.

I was holding onto some hope for solid 1440p performance on Series S too, but the typical frame-rate reading is unfortunately well into the 40s. That means running the game 1080p may be required for a stable readout for players without a VRR-capable display, while those that do have that option can choose between a better-looking 1440p and a largely 60fps experience at 1080p. Drops in busy areas are still to be expected, but most other blips tend to correct themselves quickly. Using the low-detail models on distant objects setting tends to eliminate drops on Series S outside of towns, but the cost to visual quality is pretty severe - and obvious geometry swapping and shadow drawn-in distracts more than any framerate deviations in this case, I feel.

Of course, there's also that tempting 4K output mode on Series X - and it fares better than I expected. It's far from a locked 60fps, but most of the game plays out in the 40s and 50s, with occasional 60fps locks in four-player instanced content. Still, with the console set to a 4K 120Hz output mode with VRR and therefore benefitting from a wider LFC window, you at least get a stable experience despite the frame-rate fluctuations - and that also goes for the Series S with a 1440p output. Patch 6.2 also included dynamic resolution scaling (DRS), but this currently works too slowly to be practical and should be ignored.

Elsewhere, the Xbox version works well - mostly. Load times are faster than on last-gen console hardware, although PS5's are a touch better overall. For example, logging into an instanced inn room took around seven seconds on all current-gen machines, versus 10 on PS4, while teleporting from zone to zone takes around six seconds on Series X, versus three on PS5 and nearly 30 seconds on PS4. Moving from zone to zone without teleporting is also rapid on all current-gen consoles, taking only a second or two - though Series S does exhibit a small stutter that's noticeable even with VRR.

More alarming are the long black screens I noticed rarely on Series X and more often on Series S. These occurred during transitions or resurrections in instanced combat, and I was sometimes stuck for around 20 seconds while players on other platforms were able to move ahead, fighting monsters and bosses and respawning near-instantly. I play the lowest stakes role in the party, so these issues ultimately didn't matter, but this issue has the potential to seriously derail a whole group's experience if it happens to a critical tank or healer. I noticed other Xbox players online reporting similar black screen issues, so this certainly warrants an investigation and fix from Square Enix - even if other players on Xbox are unaffected.

Another Xbox-specific issue regards the over-active profanity filter in the chat log - which seems a requirement to be on the Xbox platform rather than the in-game setting, which works independently. The filter doesn't just replaced offensive words with question marks, it also affects any string of forbidden letters within innocuous words - and even across adjacent words and sentences. This even applies to NPCs and system text, like emote descriptions, which is laughable. That means that figuring out what the game or your teammates are trying to say can require thinking about what offensive words might fit in the gaps - or even learning some new ones. It goes without saying that this is a silly state of affairs for a social game like an MMO, and needs both public acknowledgement of the issue by Microsoft or Square Enix - and a proper fix.

That's the state of affairs on PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S as of now. Of course, we're not far away from the next big graphical update, Dawntrail, that'll no doubt transform the game on consoles in fascinating ways. I'd say that the game is still well worth trying on Xbox ahead of that July launch if this is your primary platform, but you may want to see how the black screen and chat filter issues are fixed before committing to the full release.