Final Fantasy XIV Still Free As Big Changes Coming

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Following the earthquake in Japan, video game publisher Square Enix turned off the game servers for their two MMO games – Final Fantasy XI and XIV in an attempt to conserve power in the disaster-struck country. They announced that they wouldn’t charge the game’s monthly fee for the months of March and April. The games are back online now, but Square Enix still won’t continue to charge for Final Fantasy XIV as they try to work out quality issues with that game.

Final Fantasy XIV, which was released late last year, has actually been free to play since it came out as Square Enix has been attempted to address issues with the game. Square Enix reshuffled the game’s development staff once in December of last year. Now, they’re still working on overhauling the game and new lead producer Naoki Yoshida said to Gamasutra that a possible end date on the game’s free trial is “still out in the open”. Yoshida says that in the game’s current state, he “wouldn’t feel good about asking the player to pay money” and added that the indefinite free trial is “one of the ways that we can show players that we are serious and we are taking it seriously.”

As you can probably imagine, Final Fantasy XIV has received pretty negative reception from the gaming press and users. On Metacritic, it carries a dreadful “49” rating from critics and an even worse “3.8” rating from consumers. Of course, review scores on MMOGs are hard to judge because they constantly are receiving updates and changes to gameplay. Or in Star Wars: Galaxies’ case – completely blown up and given a complete reconstruction every year.

Are there any FFXIV gamers out there? What do you think about the fact that Square Enix keeps extending the free trial? Do you think this game will ever be fixed? Give us your take in the comments section.