Many console users asked, over the years, for more extensive graphical options in order to better customize their experience, but the ability to select the game's native resolution has pretty much always been an exclusive of PC gamers.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn changes that, and the beta that opened its floodgates today has an option that lets you switch whenever you like between 1080p and 720p straight from the game's menu.

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That's definitely an useful option for a MMORPG like Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn,  that runs with unlocked frame rate (capped at 60 as the upper limit). In normal conditions it runs butter-smooth, but MMORPGs can have situation in which over a hundred highly detailed characters are displayed together on screen, which bogs the frame rate down even on most gaming PCs.

That's why Square Enix allowed us to choose. Want the best detail but a bit less performance when you're killing Odin (that notoriously attracts hundreds of players)? Run the game in full HD. Do you want better frame rates in very crowded conditions? Take a visual hit and select 720p as native resolution.

Below you can see a series of screenshots captured directly from PS4 portraying the same scene in 1080p and 720p, with each pairing accompanied by an animated GIF to let you better appreciate the difference. Of course you can click on each screenshots to see a full resolution version, and on the GIF to start the animation.

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Resolution isn't the only option that lets you influence performance. The game also lets you toggle spell and ability effects between on, limited and off for yourself, your party and everyone else. Less effects displayed obviously lead to better frame rates.

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While the implementation of a resolution toggle between 720p and 1080p may seem a subtle innovation,  it's very far from an irrelevant one, as it puts more control on performance in the hands of the player, and more options are always a good thing.

Hopefully the rest of the industry will take notice and more titles will start to support this kind of option, finally letting players choose whether they want better visuals or better frame rate like PC gamers can already do.