pandemonium-warden
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The Mog Log: Hours of entertainment from just one boss
Every so often, column topics fall into my lap. Like when someone mentioned in the comments the other day that they were dreading the 18-hour boss fight from Final Fantasy XI would return in Final Fantasy XIV. For those of you who don't know what in the world that was referencing... well, it's time to take a look back at Pandemonium Warden, and the now legendary story of what it took for one linkshell to bring him down. Although by "bring him down," we really mean "fight him for nearly a full day and finally give up." That's the image that Final Fantasy XI's boss fights have in a lot of people's heads. It's a great and evocative image, and it's also riddled with inaccuracies. That having been said, the nigh-on insanity of some boss fights in the game merits discussion as we get closer and closer to Final Fantasy XIV's release. Whether you're wondering about the warden's odds of return or just still believe that the boss fight properly went on for nearly a day, jump on past the break. There's a lot to go over.
Crafting Final Fantasy XI's global community
A recent piece on Gamasutra discussed one of the more prominent and yet understated issues facing Final Fantasy XI -- the challenge of creating, bolstering, and supporting a global community. It's easy to forget at times that the game is sold and played in four different languages across three continents on the same set of servers, with a Japanese development team and customer service representatives across several countries. Robert Allen Peeler, the assistant community manager for the game, went into details about several of the issues, hurdles, and pitfalls the game has gone through over its near six-year multi-lingual run.Peeler discusses the challenges associated in communicating the wishes of the fans to developers, who speak only Japanese and don't necessarily have a clear grasp of what the rest of the world's players want out of the game. He also mentions the now-infamous Pandemonium Warden boss encounter and explains that the issue was largely focused in North America, but due to the communication issues it began to be seen worldwide before the developers could adequately address the issues.The piece also goes into some detail regarding the plans for how these same issues will be addressed when Final Fantasy XIV is released, which will most likely share the same multi-lingual support and servers. If you're interested in taking a look inside some of the problems of a global game -- or if you're a Final Fantasy XI player looking for more of an answer about why the developers don't respond to issues -- you should take a look at the article.
Pandemonium Warden finally tastes defeat
Seven long months ago, players of Final Fantasy XI came across a threat worse than the notorious Absolute Virtue. It was he who resided at the end of the Zeni Notorious Monster system, he who waited for adventurers who could climb the ranks and defeat 12 other notorious monsters. It was the Pandemonium Warden.And the Warden gave FFXI a boost of publicity when the linkshell Beyond the Limitation couldn't take him down after 18 hours of straight battle. This caused the outcry of over-punishing boss battles, and the FFXI team actually dropped their monsters down a notch from all of the heat. A new rule was placed in with the Warden however -- he would despawn after 2 hours if not defeated within that time frame. Sure, he was easier, but the time limit still made him extremely hard.But now, seven months after his introduction, the linkshell Shard of Apathy of the Remora server has put the Warden down for the count. They successfully tanked through all 10 of his forms, plus his pets, with reportedly 5 minutes left before he was to be despawned. Congratulations Apathy! So when are you running him again?
Final Fantasy XI update to eliminate 18+ hour boss takedowns
The players of Final Fantasy XI have voiced their anguished concerns over a certain Notorious Monster (NM), and Square Enix seems to have listened. We recently reported on the extreme levels of commitment needed to take down the NM Pandemonium Warden in Final Fantasy XI. A linkshell (guild) ironically called Beyond the Limitation attempted to take the boss on over a solid 18 hour period, and still weren't able to succeed. Consensus from FFXI's players who've been vocal on the matter is that Pandemonium Warden isn't just beyond this particular linkshell's limits, they're beyond anyone's limits. In response, Square Enix stated, "Discussion has spread significantly throughout forums, and it has become apparent that this is indeed an issue of major unrest in the community." The company implied that the methods players have employed may have been sub-optimal, as Square Enix didn't anticipate that NM encounters would be as protracted as they've proven to be. To remedy this, they will alter the difficulty of defeating Pandemonium Warden, Absolute Virtue, and Jailer of Love. "The aim of these changes is to create battles where a decisive outcome may be reached within a shorter period of time," they said. The changes will go into effect with the next version update, which is scheduled for early September. [Via 1up]
It's Pandemonium in Final Fantasy XI
News has spread of a grueling new enemy encounter in Final Fantasy XI. The Notorious Monster (NM) Pandemonium Warden is one of the strongest opponents players can face in the game. But it seems Square-Enix may have raised the bar too high, given the extremes to which players must go to defeat Pandemonium Warden. A linkshell (guild) called Beyond the Limitation recently faced off against Pandemonium Warden over an 18 hour period, but the NM was still going strong. The NM shapeshifts into multiple forms, making it even more of a challenge to defeat; Beyond the Limitations fought Pandemonium Warden through twenty of his possible forms, some of which took hours to kill. Pet Food Alpha, a Final Fantasy XI community site, quotes a member of Beyond the Limitation stating: "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."
