Final Fantasy Grandmasters’ Announced For Mobile Devices Along With ‘Final Fantasy XI'

Square Enix's Exhibit At E3 — People play games at the Square ENIX, Inc. exhibit at E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, in Los Angeles, California, June 11, 2013. Reuters/David McNee

Back in 2002, game developer Square Enix released “Final Fantasy XI,” the first ever “Final Fantasy” game that was a massive multiplayer online roleplaying game, or MMORPG. The game originally came out for the PlayStation 2, PC and Xbox 360 before it was succeeded by “Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.” Now Square Enix is planning to re-introduce gamers to the world of Vana’diel with a new spin-off title called “Final Fantasy: Grandmasters” as well as a mobile re-release of “Final Fantasy XI.”

Both games will be online games, though “FF: Grandmasters” will incorporate a different visual style compared with its predecessor and will be a bit more mobile friendly since it is an original title. According to Siliconera, players will be able to choose from various character classes for their avatar and fight monsters in battlefields that were also from “Final Fantasy XI.” Players will also be able to chat with friends and use emotes; if a player would rather play solo, it will reportedly be fine as well.

Game developer Nexon which has had previous success with the MMORPG genre before, thanks to the company’s incredibly popular title “MapleStory,” will develop the “Final Fantasy XI” mobile version. Touch Arcade reports that changes to the game will be made to make the title more mobile friendly, with the high possibility of it being a free-to-play game.

In other news, Polygon reports that Square Enix will stop supporting “Final Fantasy XI” for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 on March 2016, though it will remain active on Windows PC. The game had a fairly impressive 13-year run, even more impressive considering that it originally came out on the PS2, so Square Enix plans on giving the game a grand finale with a final campaign called Rhapsodies of Vana’diel.

"We plan for this to be a grand conclusion to the Final Fantasy series' first MMORPG," Square Enix said to Polygon.

Both the mobile version of “Final Fantasy XI” and its spin-off “Final Fantasy: Grandmasters” are expected to come out sometime next year. An open beta for “FF: Grandmasters” will launch in Japan sometime next month.

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