Final Fantasy games are well-known for their elaborate CGI movies - pre-rendered sequences which have traditionally highlighted key in-game moments where real-time rendering might prove insufficient. Final Fantasy 16 uses the technique rarely though, with a mix of real-time and pre-rendered in-engine footage largely used instead. With that in mind, I thought it would be interesting to investigate how FF16's in-game or in-engine sequences compare to the last mainline Final Fantasy title to use CGI, 2010's FF13. Just how close is FF16 and can its visual qualities and techniques exceed the CGI movies of its predecessor?
Despite being famous for it, the Final Fantasy series has used less and less CGI over the past decade or so. Final Fantasy 13 featured almost an hour of beautiful CGI footage, but Final Fantasy 14, 15, and FF7 Remake have only used CGI for a few key sequences per game, like opening movies. Final Fantasy 16 appears to feature no fully offline CGI sequences, with just a limited use of pre-rendered video on occasion that's entirely or almost entirely in-engine. So if significant use of CGI is a thing of the past for Final Fantasy, can FF16 replicate the same glory within the strict budgets of real-time rendering?
The characters in Final Fantasy 13 were lavishly rendered in CGI form. Excellent materials were paired with very detailed models, highlighted of course by the signature expressiveness of their Final Fantasy hair. If you do look very closely you can make out occasional flaws - like a broken shadow or the slight hint of a polygonal edge in tight close-ups, but the work holds up well.