Final Fantasy XIV Box Art
For the people in the world enjoying the free to play (after buying a copy) monthly rate Final Fantasy XIV is currently going for, the need will arise soon for setting up a monthly payment plan. With the announcement of the upcoming release of Final Fantasy XIV 2.0, a massive content overhaul of the original game, monthly subscriptions plans will begin on January 6th, 2012.
As far back as 2005, Square Enix had been working on this RPG, set to be their next venture into the territory of MMORPG. In June 2009, Final Fantasy XIV was officially announced for the PlayStation 3 console and the PC. After finally being released in late September of 2010, the game was met with less than stellar responses. With such reviews as PC Gamer’s 30% rating, and such comments from reviewers as “the only nice thing that can be said about this game is that it has a cool intro movie”, or Gametrailers giving the game the “most disappointing game of the year” award for 2010, it was hard to see anyone but the most hardcore fanboys saying anything good about this game. Even Square Enix has made apologies, extending the free trial periods for people playing the game not once, but twice. They have gone so far as to say “The Final Fantasy brand has been greatly damaged” as a result of this game’s shortcomings.
In attempts to rectify the damage they have done, on top of making the game’s free trial period extended, Patches have been being released, bringing much needed content updates to Final Fantasy XIV. On October 14th, 2011, Square Enix announced their intention to relaunch the game as Final Fantasy XIV 2.0. Many changes are to be included at and shortly after the reboot, most notably a “fundamental reworking of in-game maps”, “the implementation of a new graphics engine”, “release of additional gender options”, “a fully renewed user interface”, a “worldless content finder”, a new server system, 1v1 and large scale PvP.
In the months leading up to Final Fantasy XIV 2.0, the existing game world will be undergoing many changes in an in-game event called the “Seventh Umbral Era”, which will provide players with a storyline, quests, and achievements that will not be able to be accessed again once Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 is released, giving a little something back to those who are currently playing the game. The long-delayed PlayStation 3 version of the game will finally be released shortly after the launch of Final Fantasy XIV 2.0 for PC.
With this announcement being made, Square Enix feels the time of Final Fantasy XIV being free to play has gone on long enough, and have announced subscription plans. As of January 6th 2012, players will be paying 9.99 a month ($6.99 for basic content and $3.00 for a character). This is discounted from the release date subscription price of $12.99 monhly. There will also be 90 and 180 day billing options available, going for 8.99 and 7.99 a month respectively.
