the game has been fully downloaded multiple times. i have deleted and trimmed the SSD multiple times. even on a fresh install of Windows, after formatting the drive, the issue is not fully resolved. again, the game only launches once. after that i have to make a new user account to launch the game each and every time. not really good for an SSD to perform a full/secure format. at least, not for earlier models. i have a Samsung 860 EVO 1TB. it has a good max TBW value, but a full/secure wipe isn't essential for anything but security purposes.

the game is non-steam version.

i only own the the SSD for storage, and it is brand new. already performed the benchmark/diagnostics with Samsung Magician when it first came in.

as far as i know, Windows 10 has no update for DirectX 11. i found an update, but it is for Windows 7.

well... i don't know... i have absolutely zero comprehension how this error could be caused by anything on my end. again, plenty of people received the same error directly after update 5.2. and i am not the only one who hasn't found a solution. where is Square Enix in all of this? it seems like to me they aren't going to fix this. *so sad*

an absolutely fresh install of Windows using all the basic drivers and without any driver/system updates the issue is still persistent. even on the iGPU still the error is here. so, it seems impossible to be anything on my end. the fact the game was just fine before the update makes that all that much more evident. EVERY component in my PC has a release date of less than 3 years. all-in-all, Square Enix really needs to fix this. sadly, they seem to be ignoring it completely. *so very sad*