Some big changes are coming to Square Enix’s Final Fantasy MMORPG, and probably not the one you’re thinking of. Yes, Final Fantasy XIV is still adding new content at a regular pace, but Final Fantasy XI is due for some updates inspired by its successor, despite reports that it was once heading for its end in 2024.
Final Fantasy XI launched more than 20 years ago, as the series’ first foray into the massively multiplayer online space. May 16 marked the game’s 23rd anniversary, and Square Enix announced some new features coming to Final Fantasy XI in a post from producer and director Yoji Fujito.
More than two decades from launch, Final Fantasy XI isn’t exactly the hottest MMO around, and much of its player base consists of long-time players who’ve been with the game for years. Still, Square Enix is trying to make it more welcoming for new players and the uninitiated.
Final Fantasy XIV features a mechanic called the Trust system, which lets solo players bring AI-powered versions of some of the most important NPCs into dungeons, rather than needing to find a group of fellow players to explore with. Final Fantasy XI has long had a similar feature, allowing players to summon NPCs called Alter Egos, and new updates are aimed at enhancing them. As Fujito notes in the anniversary post, a sizable portion of the Final Fantasy XI audience plays solo, despite the game’s once-strict focus on multiplayer parties, so plans are underway to both add more ways to obtain Alter Egos in the game and to make it more clear to new players how to use the Trust magic used to summon them.
Fujito outlines the need to continue adding “new adventures” for existing players, who may have already reached the end of the game’s content and upgraded their characters to their liking. New end-game battles are being added, and the large-scale battles of the Besieged system are being reworked, with more options to support the NPC allies that fight beside players. The late-game Limbus dungeon system will be reworked, adding new monsters and ways to upgrade gear to higher levels.
Of everything that’s being added, one of the most exciting might just be a cosmetic change that Final Fantasy XIV players have had access to for quite a while now. This year, Final Fantasy XI will finally allow players to change their character’s race, gender, and appearance, much like Final Fantasy XIV does through Fantasia potions and the in-game Aesthetician. Given how common this feature is in modern MMORPGs, it’s a bit surprising that it’s taken this long to be implemented in Final Fantasy XI, but it will no doubt be a welcome change for players who want to try something new nonetheless.
Final Fantasy XI isn’t the only MMORPG that’s been running for decades — World of Warcraft launched around the same time after all — but the fact that it’s getting regular updates even when it’s been all but replaced by Final Fantasy XIV for many players is still remarkable. Its continued existence is even more surprising knowing that it was once close to stopping updates entirely.
“There was a real possibility that 2024 would be the year updates would come to an end, with the game shifting into a so-called maintenance mode, where only system upkeep would be performed,” Fujito told the Japanese publication Dengeki Online, according to Automaton.
In 2020, Final Fantasy XI started a series of new missions collectively titled Voracious Resurgence, and Fujito says the plan was to stop adding content after that point. But as the game approached its 20th anniversary, a new wave of support from players wanting the game to continue convinced Square Enix to keep it running. Since then, Final Fantasy XI has been going strong, even getting a crossover with its younger sibling Final Fantasy XIV in Dawntrail expansion’s new raid series. With its extremely old-school sensibilities, Final Fantasy XI will always be a niche MMO, but players can rest easy knowing that Square Enix is still trying to help it thrive two decades after launch. As someone who played around launch and even made a brief return to the game last year, I’m happy to see the one-of-a-kind RPG still growing after all these years.
