Final Fantasy XIV - A Realm Reborn, can your computer run it?

There have been plenty of hot discussions on the Open Beta and Official Launch of Square Enix’s “Final Fantasy XIV – A Realm Reborn”(ARR) among Japanese and Western MMORPG players. I was a player of SE’s another Final Fantasy franchise, Final Fantasy XI, for over four years, but I gave up on it a few years ago because SE never released a PS3 version for it, and the PS2 that I had been playing the game on had reached end-of-life.

When SE released FFXIV in 2010, I was hoping it was a good replacement for FFXI so I tried playing it on a PC with an expectation of a PS3 version, but I abandoned it about a month later with great disappointment. Personally I felt its content and entertainment values were far behind FFXI. It simply could not bring me the kind of fun and excitements that I had experienced with FFXI.

SE finally called an end to FFXIV after all kinds of setbacks and troubles, but on top of those, complains and bad reviews from players and game critics simply drove players away. Then they decided to reinvent FFXIV and gave it a different name, “A Realm Reborn.” 

Could SE really do it? I had serious doubt even when I signed up for the early ARR betas, and I never participated until that day I received a reminder from SE to register my Beta 3 code and invited me to join Beta 4. On that same day I viewed some of the ARR trailers on Internet, and I was surprised to see some familiar FFXI elements among those video clips, thus I registered to play the PS3 version in Beta4, which was turned into an Open Beta later on. I also pre-ordered the PS3 version for the Early Access.  

During the Open Beta and the Early Access weekends, I and family played the game on its PC and PS3 versions. We had a blast! I was fully satisfied with the game and was convinced that SE had done FFXIV right in this new version! Both the PC and the PS3 versions were very stable and the graphics effects in the game were impressive. Story line aside, I was very impressed by all kinds of visual contexts in the game.

Now that the game was officially launched, after two weekends of long-hour playing, I am confident that ARR will bring me tons of fun and I have decided to return to this new “Final Fantasy” world which SE had created to indulge hundreds of thousands of MMORPG players.

Game player or not, if you are interested in this game, I want to share with you that, if you have a PS3, the game’s PS3 version is definitely stable enough to use. The visual effects displayed on PS3 are no less than running the game on a PC with high-end graphics adapter. But if you plan on playing the PC version, here are some benchmark scores on desktop as well as notebook computers for your references.  Overall, a PC with Intel Core i5 or above CPU, 8GB of RAM and a mid to high end nVidia or AMD graphics adapter shall run the game well. But you should also make sure your desktop or notebook PC has good heat ventilation, because once you get into the game you’ll most likely hang on to it for hours on each play, and the graphics adapter will heat up constantly to drive the ventilation fans nuts! 

On an Intel Core i7 Windows 7 64-bit PC with 16GBRAM and nVidia GT480 graphics adapter, this system gets great ARR benchmark scores. Connecting it to a big screen TV through HDMI will get great playing experiences.

This benchmark score was from a dual-boot 17" Macbook Pro with Intel Core i5 processor and 8GB RAM. It has an nVidia GeForce GT 330M graphics chipset. The benchmark shows that it can play the game with fairly high performance. 

This Intel Core 2 Duo systems with Intel G45/G43 Express Chipset is not suitable to play. The benchmark software could not even start when its Settings was set to test on High quality. 

To change the display quality for the benchmark, click Settings in the software and select a configuration from the "Graphics Presets" dropdown list.

Many high end notebook PCs in the market now come with both an Intel graphics chipset and a better graphics chipset for more intensive graphics processing. The DELL XPS 15z, for example, has an nVidia GeForce GT 525M chipset for 3D graphics. It could get over 3000 on ARR benchmark but some configuration to force the system to use the nVidia chipset is needed. 

On the system, launch nVida Control Panel and in "Manage 3D settings", change its "Preferred graphics processor" to "High-performance NVIDIA processor".

Then in the benchmark software's "Settings", change the "Display Settings" to the nVidia chipset. Although the benchmark screen still showed "Intel HD Graphics 3000", the result was definitely not from it. 

This retailed Asus desktop PC seems to have good system specifications but it only got a standard benchmark score. Which proves it playable though.

A Quick View on the 2nd Generation Google Next 7

Google started selling second generation Next 7 tablet recently. The box' content includes the tablet, a micro USB cable, an AC adapter and documentation.  

In the picture above, the one to the left is the 1st generation one and the other one is the 2nd generation Nexus 7.

Stacking both tablets together can easily tell that the new one is thinner.

The 2nd generation Next 7 is longer, narrower and thinner. Some reviewers already made the conclusion that it is easier to get damage during drop tests, therefore, those who are interested to purchase this tablet shall consider including a protection case at the same time.

The price of the entry level 2nd generation 16GB model is US$229, which is US$30 more than the 1st generation entry model, but it is still a good price considering that it has better hardware specification which includes 8GB more of storage, a 5 mega pixel rear camera, a faster CPU and a higher display resolution at 1200x1920.

This screenshot shows the picture size configuration in the Camera software..

The pictures above show the AnTuTu benchmarks. The 1st generation to the left and the 2nd generation one to the right.  AnTuTu detected more than 2GB of RAM on the new one, which is different from the 2GB size in the specification, perhaps the rumors on the memory size before the tablet's general availability were somehow accurate.

In addition, the new one's benchmark score is 5000 more, it seems the Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon model is in deed more powerful than the nVidia Tegra 3 processor in the older model.  The new one also has better better 2D and 3D graphics scores.

At start up, the new Next 7 received an update from Internet and restarted. Check its "About tablet" can confirm that it is using Android 4.3. 

Google's Android apps are pre-installed on the Nexus 7.