How come there's no option to run this game in 640x480?

[Squa11_Leonhart]

Safe mode in Vista still 600x480. I'm using Vista Ultimate on my home desktop PC.

no it isn't, Vista doesn't even allow less than 800x600 to be set from the display settings.

The following is an extract from 'Windows Vista Inside Out', page 815. You
will notice that it states 'a generic video driver at 800 x 600 resolution'.
Dwarf

"Using Safe Mode
Like previous versions, Windows Vista gives you the option to start your
system in Safe Mode if you’re unable to start reliably in the normal manner.
In Safe Mode, Windows uses only those services and drivers that are
absolutely required to start your system. The operating system runs with a
generic video driver at 800 x 600 resolution, with support for keyboard,
mouse, monitor, local storage, and default system services. In Safe Mode,
Windows does not install support for audio devices and nonessential
peripherals. Your USB flash drives, hard disks, keyboard, and mouse will be
supported, provided your system BIOS includes the option to recognize and
enable these devices. All logon programs (programs in your Startup folder,
for example) are bypassed."

[ShiloEET]

no it isn't, Vista doesn't even allow less than 800x600 to be set from the display settings.

ok but you forgot about booting from low resolution mode which is 640x480. it means it is not an abandoned format yet.

edit: also sleeping dogs runs in 640x480 and this is a square enix game as well.

[Bixby]

Because SE likes their games to look good. They don't want someone seeing the game in such a low resolution and deciding not to try it because it looks like crap.

Minimum system requirements are a thing not because you can't possibly ever get away with worse, but because the companies in question don't want their products to look any worse than that.

[BobbinT]

My advice to you: Play the game in 1080p. You'll get used to it in about a week. Get over the "retro" feel of it, because that's more than 20 years ago. FFXIV was MEANT to be played in 1080p; that's how it was intended. Otherwise, you're GOING to encounter problems.

I did play on 1080p on my home desktop. Kinda stretched my eyes trying to see the whole screen. Sometimes small is good, you can see everything. lol

[Squa11_Leonhart]

ok but you forgot about booting from low resolution mode which is 640x480. it means it is not an abandoned format yet.

edit: also sleeping dogs runs in 640x480 and this is a square enix game as well.

FF14 was developed inhouse
Sleeping dogs was not.

[ShiloEET]

FF14 was developed inhouse
Sleeping dogs was not.

oh alright i forgot about this. i saw this game in 720p. i thought this is the normal way of running it. So the resolution is no lower than 1024x768 because it is a ps3 port? if so this is lazy.

[Alurwen]

Not sure if OP is elaborate troll or serious business......

[Nutz]

There's really no reason to support outdated technology that virtually nobody would even want to use. They'd have to add more resize options to every UI element just so that you could fit them on screen and still see anything other then the UI. The chat box would be nearly useless unless made much larger and they'd have to rework all system/ NPC pop up text to either show less at a time or for the dialogue bubble to cover half of the screen. There's no way you could effectively use the active quest log element -- it takes up a large amount of space at 1080p. There are probably even more reasons I can't think of at the moment.

If you're just craving a tiny screen, why not buy one? I can't see why having a blurry image specifically is desirable to anyone.

[ShiloEET]

There's really no reason to support outdated technology that virtually nobody would even want to use. They'd have to add more resize options to every UI element just so that you could fit them on screen and still see anything other then the UI. The chat box would be nearly useless unless made much larger and they'd have to rework all system/ NPC pop up text to either show less at a time or for the dialogue bubble to cover half of the screen. There's no way you could effectively use the active quest log element -- it takes up a large amount of space at 1080p. There are probably even more reasons I can't think of at the moment.

If you're just craving a tiny screen, why not buy one? I can't see why having a blurry image specifically is desirable to anyone.

This game is in 1024x768 at the lowest it's because its a lazy ps3 port. I know this because serious performance increases occurs at 640x480.

edit: it might just be lack of pc game knowledge by square enix not lazy. im just being expressive literally anyway.

[Bixby]

This game is in 1024x768 at the lowest it's because its a lazy ps3 port. I know this because serious performance increases occurs at 640x480.

edit: it might just be lack of pc game knowledge by square enix not lazy. im just being expressive literally anyway.

It's not laziness. It's being smart enough about their profit margins to not flunk How To Make Money 101.

Adding support for such low resolutions would cost more in development, maintenance & support time than the infinitesimally tiny increase in player base would bring in in subscriptions.

That's generously assuming the player base actually would increase instead of a net decrease (via the number of people who subscribe because it supports 640x480 being lower than the number of people who get turned off and decide not to try it after seeing it at such a low res).