The main storyline is full of twists and struggles that give some meaning to the surrounding eye candy, even if at best it's little more than another tale of good struggling to overcome evil. (Odd, too, since you see good beards on NPCs.) I went with the latter. The detail even extends to the decent character generator, although as a proud owner of an epic beard, I was disappointed that my only beard options consisted of a scruffy, depressed-looking Hyur Highlander or the hulking Roegadyn. A Realm Reborn’s toned-down approach lets it run smoothly on mid-range PCs and PlayStation 3 and 4 while retaining much of the beauty. It seems counter-intuitive to praise a game for reducing its graphical quality from a previous version, but in this case it was a good move. I also note that my character can sit down on most surfaces that looked as though they were made for sitting – a test I use to determine how much attention a world designer pays to detail. True to Final Fantasy tradition, Masayoshi Soken's entirely new musical score is a constant pleasure, and it jumps smoothly from soothing tracks to heavy metal riffs on bosses like Titan. It's even easy to get around in, thanks for aetheryte crystals that serve as teleportation locations at every major town, although the zones remain large enough that the immersion of walking or riding isn't lost amid crowded portals.
It's filled with weather effects ranging from simple fog to torrential rainstorms and even humdrum overcast days. First there's the continent of Eorzea itself, a stunning world of forests, deserts, and coasts that often delivers wallpaper-worthy moments, such as a the sight of watching the sun rise over the waters of the resort of Costa Del Sol.