Yosuke Saito Reminisced About FFXI King Behemoth, Guivre, and Ifrit’s Cauldron

As part of its We Are Vana’Diel site celebrating the longevity of Final Fantasy XI, Square Enix’s shared multiple interviews. Now, its second Yosuke Saito FFXI interview part is online. This time, the focus is on things experiences in and thoughts about the MMORPG. In particular, Saito spent a lot of time talking about harrowing and intimidating FFXI experiences with creatures like King Behemoth and Guivre or in places like Ifrit’s Cauldron.

It all started when Saito began reminiscing about High-level Notorious Monsters (HNM). He mentioned he avoided them “out of fear that my work life would be over” and because “I also felt that it was something I personally wouldn’t be able to do.” He then went on to talk about how intimidating some of these sorts of encounters could be. It’s then that he talked about watching King Behemoth fights in FFXI, even though its Meteor attack would eventually affect him too.

When I happened to be at Qufim Island when people mentioned King Behemoth was spawning soon, I would go to spectate, and the whole area would be littered with bodies… Seeing that spectacle was fun too. 

After that, he mentioned how Ifrit’s Cauldron in FFXI “was a very scary place.” He alluded to how harrowing it could be to try and survive there. Specifically, he said, “Bombs would fly at you from nowhere as soon as you used magic, so casting Invisible or Sneak was a matter of life-and-death.”

Finally, Saito talked about Guivre in the FFXI Kuftal Tunnel and how he’d take advantage of other players’ actions to survive.

I remember those moments in Kuftal Tunnel where I’d be looking for a place to farm, and I’d hear these heavy footsteps. I either fearfully clung to the wall and prayed it didn’t come near, or if someone else was getting attacked, I took that opportunity to run past them.

Final Fantasy XI is available for PCs. It was also at one time playable on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360. The first part of the Yosuke Saito FFXI interview talked about how he wanted to be a producer for the game.