Want to try out Final Fantasy XIV but spend too much time enjoying the scenery instead of making progress? In the past, the game’s free trial would punish you as it limited prospective subscribers to only 14 days of play time. That changes on Tuesday as a new update will now grant all free trial players unlimited playtime up to level 35.
“Players will be able to continue exploring the realm of Eorzea for as long as they like, or try out different playable races, classes, and jobs,” Square Enix said in a press release.
The free trial functions much like the entry-level subscription, with players able to create eight total characters, and here’s the kicker: Your time doesn’t stop once you have leveled one character up to level 35. You’re free to move onto a different class, as well as try out the first 10 levels of the game’s Deep Dungeon — essentially an always-changing dungeon where all players are placed on an even playing field. You can even try out Chocobo racing, assuming you haven’t gotten your fill of chickens from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Final Fantasy XIV has improved tremendously since its original release in 2010. The massively multiplayer online game was met with derision from critics and scored substantially lower than Square Enix’ previous online effort, Final Fantasy XI. In 2014, the game re-launched as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn to critical acclaim and it received consistent updates in the following years. The game’s next major narrative expansion Stormblood arrives on June 20 and a massive $200 collector’s edition is available on the game’s website. It features a seven-inch Zenos yae Galvus figure, art book, sticker cling, cloth map, and several digital bonuses.
Final Fantasy XIV is available now on PlayStation 4 and PC. A standard 30-day subscription will set you back $15 and gives you access to a maximum of 40 characters.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.