New Story Content Coming to Final Fantasy XI (Updated)
Producer Akihiko Matsui revealed that MMORPG Final Fantasy XI will be getting some new story content. In a forum post detailing some of the changes coming in the game’s August 2020 update, he revealed that the new content will be released over the course of multiple updates. The new story content will require that players have first completed the Rhapsodies of Vana’diel story content.
As part of celebrating the game’s 18th anniversary, Square Enix is holding a Return to Vana’diel campaign. The campaign will run from 1am PDT on August 7, 2020, to 1am PDT on August 17, 2020, and will let those who have previously subscribed to the game play it free of charge.
Final Fantasy XI was originally released in Japan in 2002 for PlayStation 2 with a PC version released later in the year. North America received the PC version in 2003 and the PlayStation 2 version in 2004, with Europe receiving the PC version in 2004. An Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in 2006. The game received five official expansions — Rise of the Zilart, Chains of Promathia, Treasures of Aht Urhgan, Wings of the Goddess, and Seekers of Adoulin — with Rhapsodies of Vana’diel released in 2015 and intended to be the game’s final main scenario content. The PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 versions were shut down in 2016. Square Enix announced a mobile version of the game in 2015, being created with Korean developer Nexon, but no further official details have released since.
Update — Square Enix has released the official website for the new story content. The new content is titled The Voracious Resurgence, and is available for free by requires that players own all of the previous expansions and has completed Rhapsodies of Vana’diel. A new piece of key artwork from Akihiro Yamada for The Voracious Resurgence can be seen below.
Just make the game free to play and make it have a single player option. It’s pretty old now.
I have to respectfully disagree. FFXI is still running after 15 years because it has a dedicated playerbase that happily pays $13+ a month to maintain those servers. I haven’t played in two years but I still pay my subscription because I want those servers online.
SE tried to shutdown the game when FFXIV came out and the players refused to leave. They finally stopped fighting it and as long as the active subscriptions pay for server upkeep and the maintenance team, it’ll probably be online for another decade. Going free-to-play would kill this game.
I played too for a good 6-7 years. But it was getting harder and harder to get stuff done in the game. You couldn’t find anyone to help you out anymore as the game isn’t soloable. It became a turnoff after waiting around a location all day and not getting any help. They at least need to rework the game into being able to solo it. Forget about being in top Linkshells. You’ll never get anything good you need for your character as all the top drops is already decided on who gets what and you have to sacrifice your life and soul just to get recognized.