So, a friend of mine decided he'd try playing FFXI. Having not played in ages, I figured I'd give it another go. It took me a bit, but I managed to retrieve my old account info, thanks to the chat support.

But now, I found myself with nowhere to get the actual game. After a great deal of searching, I managed to see a 14 day trial for FFXI, which I figured must come with a client. I'm downloading that right now.

But then I saw a post on these forums about how there was nowhere to get the client for free, a post made by a SE rep. Is the client I'm downloading right now not going to work with my old account? Is it going to evaporate after 14 days? Whats the issue here?

I'd really like to not have to buy a game I already own just so that I can install a game that requires me to already be paying a subscription fee to get past the title screen.