Final Fantasy XI Celebrates 11 Years With Free Abyssea Content

It’s hard to believe, but Final Fantasy XI is officially celebrating its 11th birthday and, to celebrate, three of the game’s major battle area add-ons are being offer for a limited time, free of charge.

Launching back in the days of the PlayStation 2 and continuing over into the current gen on consoles and PC, Final Fantasy XI is the first MMORPG set in the epic fantasy universe featuring all of the black mages, chokobos, moogles and air ships you could ever hope for. The game has been going strong for more than a decade now, so Square Enix has decided to enjoy “11 years of 11” with a trio of add-ons taking place in the realm of Abyssea.

On offer from Square Enix are Vision of Abyssea, Scars of Abyssea and Heroes of Abyssea. If you want to download all of this goodness for free, you simply need to have registered for the game, installed the Rise of the Zilart and Wings of the Goddess expansion packs and reached level 30 with at least one of your character jobs. In case that was too vague, you can find a full synopsis of the process, as well as bone up on the Abyssea content and lore, by checking out the promotion’s official announcement.

These Abyssea packs include all new areas for you to explore, monsters to kill, loot to swipe and dungeons to dive into. There’s new chunks of story to uncover, as well as side quests and the opportunity to take part in additional epic battles in the war-torn realm of Abyssea.

As an added bonus, Square Enix will be offering a “starter pack of in-game goodies” to prepare you for the long journey into Abyssea, including enhancements to strengthen your character, a lunar Abyssite (or a boatload of in-game money for those who already have one), 100,000 to spend on additional gear and items in the area, and an increase to the Traverser Stone stock that allows you to travel about the realm. I’m sure a lot of that was basically gibberish to those unfamiliar with the game, but it sure sounds like a nice little package of freebies.

And in case this has you chopping at the bit for more Final Fantasy MMO action, don’t forget that Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is just over the horizon and, after a disastrous initial launch and months upon months of rebuilding, early reports are pegging this return to the virtual world as a big success. Look for that on PC and PS3 on Aug. 27. Who knows; if you wait another 14 years to celebrate its 14th birthday, you might get another batch of free content.