As we near the 10-year anniversary of Final Fantasy XIV’s transformative A Realm Reborn reboot, there’s perhaps never been a better time to hop into the only blockbuster MMORPG to rival World of Warcraft’s popularity and resilience. And it’s never been cheaper to do so thanks to a whopping 50 percent discount on PC as part of the current Steam summer sale.
Running now until July 13, you can get Final Fantasy XIV Complete Edition, which includes every expansion the game has received since launch, for just $30. That’s hundreds of hours of grinding, crafting, and peak Final Fantasy storytelling to carry you through the mini-release deadzone this summer. And if you’ve never played before, the deal comes with a free 30-day subscription so you can see what the world of Hydaelyn has to offer before deciding whether or not to re-up for another $15 a month after that.
Read More: Here Are The Best 2023 Steam Summer Sale Deals
Final Fantasy XIV currently has four major expansions; Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers, and Endwalker. Because the MMO is so heavily story-based, new players will go through each one individually. Fortunately, Heavensward is quite good, and Shadowbringers is arguably the best, while Endwalker brings the 10-year arc to a satisfying conclusion, meaning the game actually picks up momentum as you move through it.
One thing that makes now an especially interesting time to dive into the MMO is the launch of Final Fantasy XVI. That game’s producer, Naoki Yoshida, was the Square Enix director charged with overseeing Final Fantasy XIV’s successful relaunch a decade ago, and the two games share a lot of similarities and thematic overlap in their medieval world building and geopolitical crisis-driven storytelling.
And fortunately, Final Fantasy XIV’s minimum PC specs aren’t too demanding at this point. You can get away with just 4GB RAM, a 2.4GHz Core i5, and anything over a Geforce GTX750 or AMD Radeon 260X graphics card. The only drawback is that even on the Steam version you still have to navigate Square Enix’s ancient user account system, the true final boss of Final Fantasy XIV.\