Final Fantasy 16 Will Have a Day One Update, First Patch Notes Revealed
Final Fantasy 16 will have a day one patch after all, Square Enix confirmed this week in a pre-release stream about the new Final Fantasy game. Previously, Final Fantasy 16's creators said that there would be no plans for an update coinciding with the release date because the developers felt that the Final Fantasy game didn't need to be improved any further. That's changed a bit now given that a launch update is now planned, but Square Enix says this update consists only of minor changes and that you don't need it to play the game. An early set of Final Fantasy 16 patch notes has been released already, however, so show what some of those minor changes will be.
Producer Naoki Yoshida who's worked on all sorts of Final Fantasy games like Final Fantasy 14 and the new Final Fantasy 16 said in the recent stream from Square Enix that the game would indeed have a day one update. The developers said in the stream that they "didn't want to do any pre-release or release date updates" and that they were sorry that Final Fantasy 16 ended up getting one. An explanation from Square Enix translator Michael-Christopher Koji Fox (via Twitter user Genki) elaborated by saying that the update wasn't required to play Final Fantasy 16 at launch.
Still, we've gotten our first set of Final Fantasy 16 patch notes to indicate what all will be changed when this update drops at or just before the game's release date. Those patch notes can be seen below courtesy of the Square Enix stream, though there may be more changes to take note of once the update is actually out.
Yoshi-P says there will be a day one patch for FF16!
— Genki✨ (@Genki_JPN) June 17, 2023
He says sorry they said there would likely not be a day one patch but will release a patch to fix a a few bugs and performance issues for FF16. pic.twitter.com/wOczCOC7iS
Final Fantasy 16 Patch Notes for Day One Update
- Fix a control flag issue which an make progress impossible under very specific circumstances.
- Fix an issue wherein the game could close unexpectedly under very specific circumstances.
- Optimize performance in several places.
- Fix some minor text errors
For a game that wasn't supposed to be getting an update on its release date at all, those Final Fantasy 16 patch notes are pretty minor overall, so it sounds like players looking forward to the new Final Fantasy game won't have much to worry about anyway. That also seems to be the case based on what people have been saying about the Final Fantasy 16 demo. The demo released for the PS5 just recently and allows players to experience a bit of Final Fantasy 16's story, combat, and the new protagonist, Clive Rosfield, ahead of the game's launch. The demo contains a bit over two hours of gameplay and showcases why the game got the M rating that it has, and based on the reception to that Final Fantasy 16 demo so far, people are even more confident in the game.
For those who don't want to see more of the game beyond the Final Fantasy 16 demo until they're able to play the full game themselves, you may want to tread carefully on social media since the Final Fantasy game has had its street date broken in some places which means spoilers may be out there. It's also been confirmed that those waiting to play the game on the PC will eventually have the chance to do so since it's producer Naoki Yoshida said recently that a PC version is planned, but development on that one will only begin after the PS5 version is out, so it'll still be quite awhile before it's playable there.