Final Fantasy 11 devs pay tribute to 91-year-old grandma who played the MMO for almost 20 years before passing away: "Thank you for journeying through Vana'diel"

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Her grandson's posts attracted developer attention

Final Fantasy 11
(Image credit: Square Enix)

A 91-year-old Japanese woman who played Final Fantasy 11 for the better part of 20 years has passed away, and the MMO's devs have been paying tribute.

Her grandson announced her passing on February 4. "On Tuesday, February 3, my beloved grandmother passed away at the age of 91," he said in a post on Twitter, as translated by Automaton. "Up until her health declined, she was a veteran player of FF11 for nearly 20 years. She watched me play since the beta version. I bet she's adventuring through the world of Vana'diel with Mimi (her dog) right now."

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Another of the developers, game designer Kensuke Shimoda, simply said they were thankful for the woman's dedication. You don't often hear this sort of thing about Final Fantasy 11, not least since Final Fantasy 14 became the primo MMORPG of the series.

First launched back in 2002 on PlayStation 2, a PC version came out the same year, followed by an Xbox 360 port in 2006. 11 was a pioneering game for online services, as it was the first MMO to offer cross-platform play between PS2 and PC. Console support ended in 2016, relegating it to being PC-only.

It's a bit of a black sheep as a result, due to both only being on one platform and feeling a touch retrograde mechanically. Nonetheless, there's a community who love it, including this grandmother. Her grandson added she loved the music, especially the Gustaberg theme, and if you've never listened to the Final Fantasy 11 soundtrack, this would be a fine day to do so.

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Anthony McGlynn
Anthony McGlynn
Contributing Writer

Anthony is an Irish entertainment and games journalist, now based in Glasgow. He previously served as Senior Anime Writer at Dexerto and News Editor at The Digital Fix, on top of providing work for Variety, IGN, Den of Geek, PC Gamer, and many more. Besides Studio Ghibli, horror movies, and The Muppets, he enjoys action-RPGs, heavy metal, and pro-wrestling. He interviewed Animal once, not that he won’t stop going on about it or anything.

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