Final Fantasy XI Ages, Dies, Continues, is Reborn

Posted on Thursday 19th March 2015 at 19:33 by Rangers51

Did you know Final Fantasy XI was still a thing? I don't think I'd thought about it since the last time I posted news about it, back in 2012. That's unfair, though, because the game is well over a decade old but still has a core of diehard players; it's just that none of us are included in that list!

Anyway, Square Enix had a Final Fantasy XI event today, in which the very definition of what Final Fantasy XI is changed somewhat. Most importantly, the final additional scenario to the game was announced; called "Rhapsodies of Vana'diel," the scenario will come in three parts and are intended to incorporate aspects of the game's history into new battles and loot in an effort to create a feeling of closure to the adventure. These three pieces will be free to all players.

The three pieces of "Rhapsodies" will be released in May, August, and November 2015. In March 2016, the game will be shut down for Playstation 2 and Xbox 360 players, which seems like it might be well due. This will leave only the PC version as an active platform. Sometime before the March shutoff, as well, the game managers are planning a final gameplay event called "The Goddess' Gala," which promises fun content for both active and lapsed players.

While the ancient platforms are being eliminated, though, a new platform is being announced; Final Fantasy XI mobile is in the works now for smartphones and tablets worldwide. The game will carry the XI name, and has optimizations intended to make the game more playable via touch; however, it is not yet clear if it will interact with the existing platform or will exist solely on its own servers and will be multiplayer only with other mobile players.

Also announced today, for release in Japan later this year, is a mobile game set in the universe and leveraging the characters of Final Fantasy XI. The game is called Final Fantasy Grandmasters, and while it will have ad hoc multiplayer, it's not to MMO scale and the gameplay based on screenshots looks like a hybrid between MMO combat and more standard Final Fantasy line-up-and-sword-them fighting. It's aiming for beta sometime in April, but again, there's no release planned outside of Japan.

Source: Gematsu

Posted in: Square-Enix News, News from Japan, News from Europe, North America

Written by	Rangers51
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	Member Since: 1997-07-31
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Comments

AltheaValara	Comment 1: 2015-03-20 19:54
	I stayed up for the conference (it was at 2am my time). I was on my PSP so I couldn't watch the stream, but I followed the reactions on FFXIAH.com. First, I don't think Rhapsodies is a true expansion. They're calling it a "scenario". I doubt there will be new zones that you'd get with a true expansion. Everyone on FFXIAH is pretty depressed. They're treating this like the end of the game, since no new content will happen after November. There's posts such as "Where will you log out for the final time?", "What's your favorite memory of the game", "The end of an era, share your deep feelings", etc. Some people still have hope that if the mobile platform becomes a hit, that we might see future content updates. I'm doubtful. Personally, I'm feeling a bit sad. FFXI was a huge part of my life for several years. I had to quit two years ago due to lack of money. I was always comforted by the fact that I could return to the game, though. Now it feels like that is being taken away from me. I could still return before the end, but doing so would require drastic changes in my life that I'm not prepared to make at this time. I will continue to enjoy the game vicariously through posts on FFXIAH as long as possible.
vividesu	Comment 2: 2015-03-22 18:36
	I only played FFXI for about two years starting in 2012, long after it's prime, but it left a huge impact on me. I became very invested in the world of Vana'diel during that period of time, and created a lot of great memories. I don't know how I feel about them cutting off content updates for the game this November, but I'm glad that they won't be shutting down the service entirely. In fact, I plan to return to the game with a couple of friends for the final scenario later this year. With that said, it was pretty clear that the game was dying after the release of FFXIV: A Realm Reborn, and from what I understand, player population remains low. Perhaps after 13 long years, FFXI's time has finally come.
Rangers51	Comment 3: 2015-03-25 14:13
	Quote (AltheaValara @ 20th March 2015 15:54) I stayed up for the conference (it was at 2am my time). I was on my PSP so I couldn't watch the stream, but I followed the reactions on FFXIAH.com. First, I don't think Rhapsodies is a true expansion. They're calling it a "scenario". I doubt there will be new zones that you'd get with a true expansion. Yeah, you're quite right - it is in fact a scenario. That's my mistake for using the terms interchangeably because I did in fact realize the difference and still did it wrong. Updated the post to reflect that.
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