Final Fantasy XI celebrates 24th anniversary with unlimited free trial, new content, major discount sale

Final Fantasy XI celebrates its 24th anniversary by making it easier than ever for new players to try it out.

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Square Enix's original Final Fantasy XI MMO launched on the PS2 way back in 2002 in Japan, making it the first such game to launch on the PlayStation 2, and the first-ever cross-play MMORPG.

Now the publisher is marking the 24-year anniversary with a major promotion that extends FFXI's free trial in perpetuity. With the free trial, users can play the base game for free up until level 75.

There's some caveats with the free trial, and paid subscribers will get lots of bonuses that aren't available to free users, such as helpful XP boosts. The free version also does not include the expansions.

Luckily, Square Enix is offering a big discount on Final Fantasy XI's expansions, with the bundle dropping to just $10 on Steam. The publisher outlined other discounts here, including reductions in world transfer fees.

Other promotions include one called Return Home to Vana'diel that welcomes anyone who played Final Fantasy XI in the past, including those who used to play on PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 years ago.

Gamers who want to subscribe should expect to pay a total of $12.95 per month for Final Fantasy XI, and that's only for one character. The rate is $11.95 for the base service fee and then $1.00 per character.

There's also apparently a lot of new content coming to Final Fantasy XI, despite it being out for nearly a quarter of a century.

In a recent announcement post, FFXI producer and director Yoji Fujito outline what's next for the game and confirmed a bunch of celebratory in-game events coming to the world over the next few weeks, including some that are gifts as well as those that offer rewards for completing quests.

Fujito also says that Square Enix is laying out enough content to ensure 6 more years of Final Fantasy XI:

"The game's success has forced us to update our long-term goals for the project yet again, so please rest assured that the entire FFXI team will be hard at work to further solidify the game's foundation and help it reach its 30th anniversary."