A few months ago, 1upran a storydetailing a Square Enix-produced strategy forFinal Fantasy XI‘s toughest boss, the ridiculously-titled Absolute Virtue. More recently, at the Premier Site Summit event in late July, Sage Sundi, the Global Online Producer and Lead Game Master forFinal Fantasy XI, claimed that the Absolute Virtue battle takes about 18 hours.
Yeah, you read that right. There’s a boss inFinal Fantasy XIthattakes 18 hours. This raises a few questions, the least of which is WTF. Secondly, why would anyone spend 18 hours on one boss? There’s a reason I will never understand MMOs, and this is it. Nevertheless, the linkshell (like a guild or clan)Beyond the Limitationhas since beaten Absolute Virtue.
A recent update to the game, however, has brought an entirely new set of megabosses along with it. The toughest of these has an equally grandiose moniker: Pandemonium Warden. Never ones to back down from a challenge, Beyond the Limitation took it on, buthad to quit after a grueling 18 hours.
Says player Sylphet of BtL:
People were passing out and getting physically ill. We decided to end it before we risked turning into a horrible new story about how video games ruin people’s lives.
Sylphet also mentions that several members of the linkshell actually vomited over the course of the battle.
With this in mind, Square-Enix’ reminder that players shouldn’t letFinal Fantasy XIinterfere with their school, work, families, or physical health — shown at the beginning of every play session — seems ironic at best and hypocritical at worst. Square Enix’ critics are quick to accuse that these types of time-consuming challenges are simply an attempt to keep players interested and to stem the loss of players thatFinal Fantasy XIservers have been experiencing recently.
[ViaPetFoodAlpha]
