The free trial of Final Fantasy XIV is superb and lives up to the game’s reputation. Memes based on Final Fantasy XIV are funny. You’ve certainly heard it by now: Final Fantasy XIV is a free-to-play MMORPG that has received widespread acclaim for its gameplay and visuals. The game also features a generous trial period, the recently released Heavensward expansion, and no time limits. The FFXIV meme went viral for the same reason that other memes do: it’s funny. And that’s because Final Fantasy XIV is excellent.
Tom’s Guide has already covered how to sign up for the free trial of Final Fantasy XIV, but we haven’t yet gotten into why you should spend your time with this massive game. My on-again, off-again relationship with FFXIV is currently on again, and this time it might stay that way for a while. (It goes without saying that it’s worth your money, as you don’t have to pay anything for the first few dozen hours.)
#FFXIV Patch 6.21 is now available!
Read the patch notes for more details on several battle-related changes as well as a number of resolved issues. 📜 https://t.co/G5lSmmQfGL pic.twitter.com/BcTFVHErS8
— FINAL FANTASY XIV (@FF_XIV_EN) September 13, 2022
The Rebirth Of An Empire
To begin, a brief overview of the game: Final Fantasy XIV is a Japanese massively multiplayer online role-playing game set in the fantastical realm of Eorzea. To play, you make a hero and go on epic quests, either solo or with other players. All the standard features of the genre are there, including real-time combat, questing, crafting, etc.
As you progress from level 1 to level 60 (and beyond, if you pay up), you’ll get access to new abilities, hone your play style, explore cooperative dungeons, and become friends with a cast of likable NPCs. It’s a bit more story-focused than standard MMOs, but veterans of World of Warcraft and Star Wars: The Old Republic will feel right at home here.
One of the most played and adored massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) is Final Fantasy XIV. What makes this game intriguing, though, is that it seemed doomed to failure from the time it was released. When Final Fantasy XIV first came out in 2010, critics and players alike panned it for its clunky controls, lackluster content, and flawed execution.
The game was doomed unless Square Enix completely reworked it, so that’s what they did. A new version of Final Fantasy XIV called “A Realm Reborn” was developed and launched by the business. Players have been loyal for four expansions because of how much they enjoyed the experience this time around.
When the COVID-19 epidemic first broke out, I had just begun playing Final Fantasy XIV. I yearned for a way to continue socializing with people despite the fact that I was no longer able to do it in person due to restrictions placed on my schedule. Many of them suggested we give FFXIV a shot because it was free to play and we were all familiar with the Final Fantasy franchise in some capacity.
I planned to play for an hour every night, treating it like a live conversation with friends. The plot was captivating, and the gameplay was deep enough that I found me spending hours every night honing my abilities and collecting new stuff. The primary story of A Realm Reborn was over before I knew it.
For the time being, Final Fantasy XIV had worn me out, but I didn’t quit the game totally. I kept playing the game casually, spending an hour or two at a time with it while I tried out different controllers, joysticks, keyboards, and headsets. It wasn’t until later, though, that I started playing again really – and ran into a challenging choice.
Costs In Both
I should have known from the start that Square Enix wasn’t handing FFXIV’s free trial out of the kindness of its digital heart, as the old adage goes: “if a thing is free, then you are the product.” The developers figured I’d get hooked on the game and pay to advance the plot. The odds of the bet paying off are looking good right now.
The extremely complex chain of quests between A Realm Reborn and the first major expansion, Heavensward, was the impetus for my return to Final Fantasy XIV. I discovered that my gear was insufficiently powerful after reading online about the game’s difficulty increase, so I set out to run several dungeons and acquire some late-game cash to make up for it. Dungeon running has helped me sharpen my skills and acquire much-needed gear. And it has brought me dangerously near the level cap for the trial version.
When I reach the maximum level, I’ll have to decide whether to pay $60 for the game plus $13 each month for the subscription or quit the game and go on to something else. I’ve received my FFXIV money’s worth (if you will) in terms of actual time spent playing the game. However, after carefully crafting my avatar, I am once again fully immersed in the game’s mechanics and the epic fantasy storyline that serves as a backdrop.
But the community is the primary reason I play Final Fantasy XIV. I’ve dabbled in a lot of massively multiplayer online games, and I can honestly say that I’ve never encountered a community quite like Final Fantasy XIV’s.
Run dungeons with other players to advance the main story in Final Fantasy XIV. Contrary to the World of Warcraft community, though, those players are not looking for a flawless experience. Because our healer lost contact, the entire party perished in the dungeon.
Our tank, now dying on the dungeon floor, muttered, “It happens.” I’ve been defeated by more than a few superiors. The reactions have varied from widespread hilarity to offers of guidance for the next run to declarations that things could have been much worse. The worst reaction I’ve received has been slight irritation. Simply put, Eorzea is a considerably more relaxed environment than Azeroth or any other MMORPG world I’ve ever visited.
It isn’t simply what I think, either. Endwalker, the most recent FFXIV expansion, was so well received that it caused Square Enix to temporarily halt the game’s public release. There were too many people trying to access the game at once for the servers to cope. That’s a nice dilemma to have.
I’m still on the fence about whether or not to commit to a Final Fantasy XIV subscription. But if I’ve learned nothing else, it’s that the meme is onto something. It’s not a bad idea to try out the service for free.