Final Fantasy XIV mod Upscaled Monsters takes every enemy you might face in Eorzea and revitalises them with a few added details and texture enhancements, transforming Square’s MMORPG, and available now at the low, low price of absolutely nothing.
Created by kartoffel and available at Nexus Mods, Upscaled Monsters sharpens the textures for every entity found in Final Fantasy XIV’s vast /chara/monster index. This means that anything hostile – and that’s a long list – gets a sleek, HD-like makeover, adding extra definition to hair, tattoos, and other details. The mod however does not apply to other NPC creatures such as minions, mounts, and pets – like the name suggests, this one’s just for the monsters.
It’s available for free, but the download itself is pretty whopping, with a 9.2GB zip folder, which when unpacked expands into a gigantic 31GB. Installing it all might take some time, but if after nine years (or 12, if you count FFXIV’s chaotic first release) you want to give Eorzea some modern visual flair, Upscaled Monsters is well worth the effort.
There are some handy instructions for adding it to your game files. Just remember that you’ll first need to install the FFXIV quick launcher, which is also available for free, and just received a new update. You’ll also need the penumbra mod folder, which you can add to your Dalamud settings in-game. It’s dead easy, and kartoffel has even shared a handy video guide on the Upscaled Monsters mod page.
It’s a little addition, but it should help tide you over until patch 6.18, and the release of four new worlds in July. Beyond that, some hefty details have started to emerge about Final Fantasy 16, including confirmation that you will be able to directly control your summons, known as Eikons, but unfortunately not your party companions.