Final Fantasy 11 is the MMO that just keeps on ticking. It's the game's 24th anniversary today, which still isn't old enough to make it the longest running MMO, but does make it old enough for those of you that played it when it came out to have grandkids. The game isn't just still running either, but getting new updates too, with a livestream held on the Japanese Square Enix YouTube channel yesterday marking the anniversary with details of what's still to come. Quite notably is the fact that the free trial is getting massively expanded.
The details of said free trial update comes courtesy of this Reddit post (as GameSpotted by GameSpot). As it currently stands, the free trial only lasts for a paltry 14 days, an amount of time that's like a single grain of sand in the desert in the realm of MMOs. With the new version of the free trial, however, you'll be able to play for as long as you like, as there won't be a time limit at all.
This doesn't mean there won't be any limitations at all. The level cap is getting a bump up from level 50, but only to level 75. Hitting that cap won't stop you from being able to keep playing, at the very least. Director Yoji Fujito explained that they had considered raising it to 99, though that would allow you to do and use a lot of stuff for free, so they decided against it. You'll still also be limited in how much gil you can have and how much you can trade, and there's no tells, shouts, or the ability to invite people still. No expansions for you either, it'll be the base game only.
It's an interesting move from Square Enix. Where many of their mobile games seemed to have ultimately failed, where they've had to switch to a multiplatform approach to actually start making money with their tentpole series, through it all Final Fantasy 11 isn't just there for the stragglers, but continuing to grow in more and more accessible ways. It's mostly just nice to see something so old survive amongst all the rest of the live service noise.
Oh, and there's also this incredibly cute, anime opening-esque anniversary movie that was released yesterday too. What a treat!
