Summary

  • Anti-Stutter mod boosts FF16's performance without altering files, beneficial for all system types.
  • 60 FPS Pre-Rendered Cutscenes mod enhances the cinematic experience, making visuals smoother.
  • Reduced Skill Cooldowns mod amps up gameplay by boosting skills use frequency, keeping players challenged.

There are few games that hold up to the standard and polish found in Final Fantasy 16. This is an epic, dark fantasy story with a unique magic system and a compelling plot that we've come to expect from Square Enix - humanity, plot twists, and intrigue across a well-realized world await players coming into this title.

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Final Fantasy 16 might be a great title, a little heavy on the action side of the action-RPG genre, but overall an incredible installment in this prestigious JRPG series. That doesn't mean, however, that modders haven't discovered ways to improve this game even more. For those looking for the best mods available for this title, here are a few to keep an eye on.

5 Anti-Stutter - High CPU and Disk Priority

A Great Mod For Smoothness On All Systems

Final Fantasy 16 mod Image Credit: Chemboy1

This is a simple and subtle but incredibly useful mod for Final Fantasy 16. When trying to maximize the settings and performance of this title, it's easy for the game to begin getting choppy and start dropping frames, even on high-end systems designed to weather that kind of strain. This is an unobtrusive mod by Chemboy1, who is involved in a few modding scenes, that shifts up the Final Fantasy 16 program higher on the CPU's list of priorities when allocating disk space.

What this means is that, when playing this game, more of the CPU is focused on making sure it's running smoothly, and players on both higher-end and budget systems should see an improvement and lack of stuttering to the gameplay. This mod doesn't tamper with any in-game files and is safe to keep after updates.

4 60 FPS Pre-Rendered Cutscenes And Cinematics

Adds A Level Of Polish To Cinematics

Final Fantasy 16 mod Image credit: Tenshiken

Final Fantasy 16 is an incredibly polished game, having been developed and reworked several times over before hitting the shelves. Like many of the games in this series that have come before it, Final Fantasy 16 is incredibly cinematic and filled with large set pieces and flashy graphics that set the tone for a fast-paced and action-packed story. Players utilizing high settings might notice a discrepancy, then, between the fluidity of the animations in the game and the ones during cutscenes.

This simple mod seeks to fix that by doubling the FPS of the pre-rendered cutscenes from 30 to 60, making sure the cinematic aspects of the game are just as smooth as the gameplay itself, especially for players on higher-end hardware.

3 Reduced Skill Cooldowns

Helps Players Get Into The Action Faster

Final Fantasy 16 Image credit: Akeela_Darchiev

Players getting into Final Fantasy 16 will mostly be doing so for the slick, fast-paced action and the way it blends melee with magic through its intuitive battle system. Whether it's a player's first time through the game or if they're a veteran on a new run, sinking their teeth into the plethora of skills available is a massive part of the appeal to many people who have gotten their hands on this title.

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The Reduced Skill Cooldowns mod does right what it says on the tin, changing the cooldowns of almost every skill in the game so they can be used more often and to greater effect in the various battles that unfold across Final Fantasy 16. Players will feel a lot stronger and a lot less inhibited as they continue to charge through enemies with their skills available to assist them no matter what comes their way. This mod doesn't necessarily make the game easier, but it does make the player characters feel stronger, without a doubt.

2 XVI - Natural Colors

A Subtle Graphics Enhancement

Final Fantasy 16 mod Image credit: Instanity
 

The graphical fidelity of Final Fantasy 16 is very hard to ignore. It's a game that is constantly impressing players with the vibrant action in combat and the incredibly well-detailed cutscenes that breathe life into the world and characters. When exploring, however, sometimes the over-saturation or especially bright lens flare can take players out of their immersion for a moment. It's in situations like these that this lightweight shader mod comes to the rescue.

This mod simply dials down the saturation and draws more attention to cooler colors and shadows to give a more realistic and natural look to the game. It doesn't affect performance in any way and exists purely to add that extra level of realism to Final Fantasy 16.

1 Basic Difficulty

Gives The Game More Challenge

13-1726685507-10323081 Image Credit: Gladias9

Many people, especially once they've gotten their head around some of the game's more obscure mechanics, might find themselves having too easy of a time in Final Fantasy 16. The game does have a variety of difficulty modes, but the higher-scaled ones like Ultimaniac might still be a bit too intense, and leave people in need of a middle ground.

This mod allows enemies to attack more often and grants them slightly higher health, without inhibiting the player at all. It's a great, lightweight way to infuse some difficulty into the standard modes of the game without completely ruining the experience overall.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image
Final Fantasy 16 Tag Page Cover Art
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Action RPG
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Systems
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Top Critic Avg: 87 /100 Critics Rec: 91%
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Released
June 22, 2023
ESRB
M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence
Developer(s)
Square Enix
Publisher(s)
Square Enix
Engine
Proprietary Engine
Franchise
Final Fantasy
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL
Checkbox: control the expandable behavior of the extra info

Platform(s)
PC, PS5
OpenCritic Rating
Mighty
Genre(s)
Action RPG
Final Fantasy 16