The question is, if PC games have minimum specs close to or above console equivalent, why do they have minimum settings that are below console quality? And why is it possible to make them work on significantly worse hardware than the "minimum" if you play with the hidden settings (I think LowSpecGamer on YouTube got W3 running on a 460 =P )?
If most PC games are designed with such settings in mind, it stands to reason that Squenix would do the same with FFXV, especially since we've seen some of the methods they have of reducing the amount of power needed to render the game (case in point: the "Gold Master candidate" footage). I could see hidden settings allowing for some particularly hilarious low spec footage, actually, given what the lowest LoD looks like. Kind of looking forward to footage of the "PSOne demake" that we'll get when someone reduces the resolution to 240p, forces the lowest LoD (with its ridiculously low poly models, cardboard trees, and ultra simplified level geometry), and switches the lighting to whatever the heck was going on back in July.
It's not like there aren't plenty of ways to use extra power without raising the floor. And since it's rare for the floor to be raised past consoles regardless of the listed requirements, that seems like a far more probable solution.
Now, if the game gets a next-gen Special Edition in 2019 or something, I could see greater changes being more viable, but pretty much everything we've seen that's PC-only* is an option for the high end rather than a change to the game's foundation.
* Adaptive AI is the closest thing to a foundational change, and even that could be implemented as a separate difficulty mode.
>The question is, if PC games have minimum specs close to or above console equivalent, why do they have minimum settings that are below console quality? And why is it possible to make them work on significantly worse hardware than the "minimum" if you play with the hidden settings (I think LowSpecGamer on YouTube got W3 running on a 460 =P )?
Simple frame rate he has the game running on
this type of PC but it's unplayable when using the official settings he used a mod to lower the graphical quality of the game also not all games are designed like this, some do some don't depends on the game in question, and when he did run the mod the games graphical quality took a massive dip.
Thing is most new PC Games aren't at least not at a playable level, in fact what you listed are more graphical settings, and when he got them to run the graphical quality took a massive dip, and the frame rate will still at 30FPS.
Square probably won't be thinking about low spec gamers, if let's say they can't get something like the Leviathan fight of 2013 or a overhauled Leviathan fight(I'm assuming this would be a PC exclusive feature, they can use to sell the game on PC, especially since the boss fight is pretty divisive) on a console at a graphical quality that they find acceptable for the PS4 or Xbox One), and the thing can't run very well on low specs to the point it's playable, then they won't bother catering to such people since only a small percentile will buy the game on such outdated systems and try what low spec gamer does.
While it may actually be possible to run something like the 2013 Leviathan fight on the PS4 if you lowered the graphical settings to something akin to the PS3 graphical quality level, but if not Square won't be thinking about the low spec market, at the very best they will think about the mid range, and those PCs could probably run it especially since at the time the most powerful graphics card was a NVIDIA Titan Kepler, now that's a mid range part, that can be had for sub 200 dollars, and I'm going to be that Square was running a GTX 680 when showing off that trailer, a RX 470 by today's standard, and by the time the PC Version comes out well more powerful mid range cards would exist.
I also think it's likely they are just going to focus on the mid to high-end market because those are the people they are going to sell this game to, those on casual laptops are incredibly unlikely to want to play the game at low spec levels, and they are also equally unlikely to go into the ini files to try and run the game, they may as well go out and buy a console.
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If anything what Low Spec Gamer shows is that if you are willing to lower the ini files, and mod games to look terrible then it's possible to run them, I don't believe the developer had any intention of such a thing in the first place, it just so happened to be possible, they don't advertise it because they know most PC Gamers won't do more than go into the game settings and tweak it there, and sometimes running it doesn't equal playing it, for example I could run a game below the minimum requirements doesn't mean I'm playing it though, because 15 FPS in an Action oriented game is beyond unplayable.
Now I want to look at Square as a developer to my knowledge Type-0 HD doesn't run well on an Intel HD which most low spec computers have, and I believe the current Intel HD is faster than a GT 540M, I can run but it can't run well, at least not to the point where any individual will say this is playable. To me unless FFXV allows for a huge graphical dip in Quality to run on something like an Intel HD which Type-0 struggles with, and Square has made no attempts to make it playable. I've seen it run on a NVIDIA 940M, but those laptops right now are above the price of a desktop. In fact here is Type-0 running on the same system set-up a GT 540M
The game is unplayable, it can run, but it's unplayable.
Similar in a case to games like Battlefield 1 the graphics cards that are low end like the GT 540 have the parts that can run the game keyword being run, but well is a different story that's why we have minimum requirements. In fact the youtuber said that if he lowered the game to 410 x 300 it would run at 23 FPS, and look awful. These developers don't take the low spec gamer into consideration, maybe through mods, but developers themselves no.
Hell take a look at Watch Dogs 2 another popular title, the game isn't playable it runs, but that's not the developers intention.
Also I'm aware that Luminous is scalable, but let's say Square decides to take another crack at getting the Leviathan fight of 2013 running on the PC(I don't think they will do this, but let's say they do), they won't be trying to run the game on GT 540, or Intel HD systems. They won't even have them in mind, similar to EA, they will target the minimum spec to be a PC that can be had at 300-400 dollars in 2018, and by minimum I mean what does it take for the game to run properly not just run.
Also when developers put graphic settings that are lower than the consoles in the game, it's for frame rate purposes, for those that are on minimum spec requirements, not for the low spec gamers it just so happens it can run. If there is something that they want to do something gameplay wise ie. Leviathan Fight overhaul, and it can't run on something like a GTX 460, they won't care since most Desktop PC users won't be running a GTX 460 in their systems if they cared about playing Final Fantasy XV on their systems so Square won't bother catering to them, if it means holding back on certain things that had to be dumped because the consoles couldn't run them properly. Especially since something like a GTX 1050 exists.
They would also have to choose between double dippers vs low spec gamers, and most likely they will go for the double dippers, and let the modding community deal with the low speccers(which let's face it most won't bother, they will just play it on console)
