Did you know that the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV has a free trial, and includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn AND the award-winning Shadowbringers expansion up to level 80 with no restrictions on playtime? Sign up, and enjoy Eorzea today!
Previous free trial offer post.
(New free expansion added today, some might say the best one)
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/amp/topics/detail/c…
Great time to join with Aussie servers now too!
Yes migrating to Sophia server saw my pingtime drop 200 ms
also you get the local flavour of FC's like "Bunnings Warehouse" and "Jims" so thats nice too ^_^
Theres Aussie Servers now? One of the reasons why i didnt continue my original trial was it was just tooooo laggy
Yep, they're a little quiet so you have to put up manual party searches for stuff you can't (or don't want to) run with NPCs.
But otherwise they're really nice, and have a close-knit community vibe compared to the other regions.
Bonus is the low population has afforded us a permanent exp buff for all new characters created on the Aussie servers for 5 years now!
And we're the only region that all other regions can travel to, so it's a hot spot for events.
Servers are in Sydney, I get 50-60ms ping from north Brisbane.
If you can just deal with the first 30 hours - it’s not bad but the story is very slow - then you will experience one of the best stories in gaming.
The gameplay is entertaining too as you level up and get more skills - but this is a very full MMO with no pressure to keep up with all the various activities.
IIRC they shortened arr by a lot
They did - that’s why I said 30 hours not 70 😂
so much shorter we dont even get the "how very glib" line anymore 0.o
I played 10 hours of it a few years ago. The story had no voice acting and all I was doing was going from one area of the map to another and I was thinking when does the story get good haha
Nowhere near enough
Does the story involve a street kid who is destined to save the world
Haha no unfortunately - you’re just a mercenary and one of many many “destined” players.
When I played we only had Heavensward for free! Each expansion is like 50 hours of main story, insane value.
Shadowbringers was an awesome story, even if you play it without really knowing the other stories before it (I skipped ahead to Shadowbringers when WoW: Shadowlands sucked)
the great shadowlands exodus was real. my wow guild uplifted and moved over at that time too. we never went back.
Do they have the same if u get it from Steam?
yep
On steam it's listed as the ff14 free trial. It's a separate game page.
Ah I tought the free trial is only 30 days on steam
Ye shows as 30 day trial for me too
@Believ3r: I found the version thats free until lvl 80:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/312060/FINAL_FANTASY_XIV_…
Yes, but Steam trial locks you to Steam and you pay 30% more for the game on there so wouldn't recommend. It also often has issues the main game has if Steam servers have issues.
Tho if you really like Steam and don't mind paying the premium, it does let you pay for the sub with your Steam wallet which is nice.
I want to get into it! im a big FF Fan. But just seems so overwheming with the amount of content.
You don't have to do everything. In fact, I can't see how anyone would get through 13 years of updates while holding down a job.
Do Main Scenario + whatever catches your eye. You don't have to rush through the story, either. You might find the side content is more enjoyable if you do it when it unlocks.
I just hang out in the casino (or did when only Heavensward was free). Have they added any free content to that area with the new free expansions?
Gold Saucer (the casino) is open to all regardless of expansions, but they have added new content to it in the past few months!
There's been some new maps for parkour and the shooting minigame, and the Fall Guys collab runs every few months which is really fun. New rewards too.
@StunGlow: That's good to know, I used to just play a lot of triple triad and the parkour games, which were particularly fun on the US servers. Be worth re-installing just to try that on Aussie ping (I'm assuming the installer is still straight out of 1999 like it used to be?)
@railspider: It's been so long since I've used the installer that I don't really remember haha.
Think it's a typical exe install, then the launcher itself once you get passed that is nice
Can this be played and enjoyed solo? or is it like WoW you need some friends to get the most out of it?
you play the main game solo. traditionally when a plot point got to a dungeon you could queue to join with other players, but you can also do those with NPC's as well.. post first main game (A realm reborn) you DO have to run 3 dungeons ONCE. but the group finding system is solid, and once that story is cleared you are back to a free and easy life.
Honestly though the game is absolutely designed for solo play 99% of the time.
Yeah I think you still have to do some of the older 8 man trials with others as they don't have NPC support yet last I remember. But otherwise the main story is entirely solo-able.
Yeah, would like to know this also. Played wow back in the day but don't have that sort of time to "LFG" these days.
Both. It is an MMO, but almost the entire game can be played solo (dungeons with NPC party members). There is also Duty Finder, which randomly matches you with people for that dungeon, and Party Finder, which lets someone post a party "ad" and people can join.
If you want something more long-term, guilds are called Free Companies and are the main in-game social hub. It is perfectly possible to be a "lone wolf" and not join an FC.
EDIT: The only thing you really need a regular group for is if you want to do the hardest content. Savage Raids (or higher) are highly recommended to do with a static group. I think less than half of the playerbase does these.
The main story is very much like an old school JRPG that is best enjoyed solo (it is very good and would probably be a top 10 story in jrpgs), if you do eventually get to the endgame multiplayer usually hops in with high difficulty content
100% can do solo and have a great time. Do it!
I wish I could convert my account to a trial account but since I bought the game the only way to play it is to buy subscription time. I've only played through ARR and stopped when I got to the first expansion.
Do you think I should create a new account and buy the ARR skip?
I don't think you can do both things because I'm pretty sure the requirement to even use the story skip is to have an active sub:
You must have registered a product key for FINAL FANTASY XIV to your service account.
Honestly, since your original account is still only at the beginning of Heavensward I would just start over on a new free trial account and make use of the 'unlimited' free play time. Content up until Shadowbringers will last you a VERY long time (even if you don't do any side content, but especially if you do).
Yeah I'd start over and skip through ARR. If you're on PC, there's plugins that let you skip through stuff fast as hell, you can get through ARR pretty quick. I do it on alts a lot.
Arr is so fing long. I wouldn't.
Anyone able to post links to PS and XSX version?
Steam looks to be a 30 day trial whereas through the FF14 website looks to be until you reach a certain level?
Nope. The steam free trial is exactly the same. Unlimited till level 80/ up to shadow ringers expac.
Some other restrictions with gold and stuff apply.
Heres the Steam version thats free up to lvl 80: https://store.steampowered.com/app/312060/FINAL_FANTASY_XIV_…
Thanks. When searching in the desktop app I just went to the one that cost money and it said it was a 30 day trial. Didn't think to search further.
Be aware that Steam trial locks you to Steam which costs 30% more than non-Steam version
I wish my old character can be played in trial. I was an ARR player. Don't want to go through that slog again.
It's way better. ARR has been shortened.
So that cuts a 60 hours msq to 40 hours msq…
That's still pretty bad lol.
Tried this with a friend recently, although I didn't mind it . One thing that sucks is you can't create parties on the free trial, so we could never join up with each other unless we managed to find a paid player to facilitate.
Need PS plus or can play without ?
dont need PS plus ! one of the few playstation games that dont require it for multiplayer.
The best trial in gaming and its not ever going to be close. Literally hundreds of hours of the game for free. Its crazy..
I am a lifetime FF fan and played all the main line FF except for 13 but never got into 11 or 14
How much is it a month? Feel like that’s important info?
The trial has hundreds of hrs of content, no limit on playtime.
Once you do wanna buy the game, the minimum sub is about $17-18 AUD a month (varies based on EUR > AUD conversion rate). You can buy in bulk too.
It's not a game that demands you play constantly tho, you can very easily cancel your sub and just play when major patches come out
Edit: Just adding to this, the trial adds one expansion every 2 years or so when the next expansion comes out, so you could theoretically just never pay for the game and continue getting new content, you'd just be lagging 2 expansions behind.
if you do end up playing and buying a house though, if you dont log in for a couple of months they remove your house :(
![[PC, PS4, PS5, XSX] Free Trial: Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn & Heavensward & Stormblood & Shadowbringers @ FF XIV](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/36/957236.jpg?h=e47cee46)
with SHB included you could realistically play for a year and not spend a cent.
great story too ♥