Have you heard about Final Fantasy 14’s grapes? Once upon a time, they were the talk of Eorzea – repurposed crystal shapes with a nice, lush grape texture pasted over the top. Introduced in the Endwalker expansion, these low-poly prolate spheroids quickly became an internet sensation.

Sure, there was an edge of mockery to people’s obsession with the grapes, but it wasn’t all mean-spirited – I think a lot of the overblown fan reaction came down to FF14 players being genuinely impressed at the ingenuity of repainting a crystal. With grapes. It helped save resources elsewhere in the game and allowed FF14 to run butter-smooth. Everyone’s a winner! (Except vitis vinifera enthusiasts, that is).

Square Enix is keen to make amends in Final Fantasy 16, though. The game – as many of you will know if you’ve played the demo – is one of the most polished, well-honed releases we’ve seen in a while. Even the not-so-important assets and areas look incredible, and the way Square Enix Creative Business Unit 3 (that’s the developer) has wrangled the lighting engine to constantly reflect the glint of Clive’s sword and highlight the edges of his handsome face is proper, current-gen magic. So props to the devs.

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