In 2002, Final Fantasy XI was one of the pioneering MMORPG titles on consoles, and Square Enix has kept the world of Vana’diel alive for nearly a quarter century. Now, as the game celebrates its 24th anniversary, Square Enix has announced that the free trial for Final Fantasy XI has been greatly expanded.
During a livestream on Square Enix’s Japanese YouTube account (via Reddit), the publisher announced that the previous 14-day version of the free trial is being revamped. The new free trial doesn’t have a time limit and players are free to explore the game’s world as long as they want. Additionally, the level cap on the free trial has been expanded to level 75, but the players will be limited to the base game rather than the expansions. But free-trial players will still be welcome to stick around after they reach level 75.
As part of the anniversary, Square Enix also unveiled an animated short that touches on various aspects from 24 years of Final Fantasy XI.
Last year, Final Fantasy IX reached its 25th anniversary with fresh rumors of a modern remake. So far, Square Enix has yet to confirm that the ninth game will follow in the footsteps of the Final Fantasy VII Remake trilogy.
The franchise’s other online game, Final Fantasy XIV, is coming to Switch 2 this August. Earlier this year, Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki Yoshida confirmed that he had thought about a single-player version of the game, but he feels that the only devs that could pull it off is the FFXIV team, and it’s busy on keeping that online world alive.