At Final Fantasy XIV’s Fan Festival in London, Dawntrail’s 24-person Alliance Raid was revealed to be a crossover with the OG Final Fantasy MMO, Final Fantasy XI. With this revelation, FFXIV fans have become more curious about the world of Vana’diel, the realm in which FFXI takes place.
As a result, a number of resources have sprouted up aimed at getting FFXIV players into FFXI ahead of Dawntrail’s launch. On Nov. 9, Twitter/X user Em Unsundered posted a thread detailing how new players in NA could experience Final Fantasy XI. The thread helpfully explained how to join the game from the perspective of someone who was a new player, with a Square Enix account and a Steam account (a description that should fit a large position of FFXIV’s western fanbase).
It turns out it’s not as simple as just making an account and installing the game (although anyone who remembers navigating how to sign up for FFXIV might not find this too surprising). The thread spans to 28 posts, and navigates the game’s archaic sign-up system, including the PlayOnline interface. There’s a lot to learn here, including the fact that on top of a $12.95 subscription, FFXI has you pay $1 for each character, including your initial character, something many players will be surprised to find.
If you’re not quite ready to brave FFXI PlayOnline Sign-up (Savage), then Reddit user u/gunshymartyr has provided a few alternative options in a thread titled “Interested in the FFXI story ahead of Dawntrail? CatsEyeXI is worth a look!” In it, gunshymartyr introduces the three main ways to experience FFXI: The Retail release, or through either the CatsEyeXI or HorizonXI private servers.
However, multiple replies to the thread warned players away from the private server experience, not over security or similar concerns, but due to the philosophy of the servers. “HorizonXI if you’ll forgive me for being snarky, is essentially a bunch of FF11 boomers went “I preferred the game at this specific patch so we’re gonna make the entire game that specific patch” explained u/---TheFierceDeity---.
Still, regardless of the potential quality of private servers, interest in FFXI has skyrocketed in the wake of the announcement of the Dawntrail raid series. Google searches for the game spiked on Oct. 21, when the raid series was announced and activity on the previously relatively dormant subreddit has steadily increased. The world of Vana’diel may be old (FFXI celebrated its 21st anniversary this year), but it clearly still has a lot of appeal.
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