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Published Jul 21, 2026, 11:59 AM EDT
Shantotto's introduction goes incredibly hard
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When Absolute Virtue was first introduced in the MMORPG Final Fantasy 11, fights with the boss could last nearly 30 hours. For three years, the boss was deemed undefeatable, until Square Enix had to give tips to players and eventually nerf the fight completely. In Final Fantasy 14's Echoes of Vana'diel raid series, Absolute Virtue appears very briefly before getting destroyed by another enemy entirely.
The striking moment opens Windurst: The Third Walk, the final part of the Final Fantasy 11-inspired Echoes of Vana'diel alliance raids. In an interview with Famitsu (as translated by GamesRadar), battle content designer Masayoshi Ishikawa revealed that it was conceived as a way to show off the strength of The Third Walk's first major boss: Shantotto.
"As she's the first boss, there are limits on how strong we can make her," Ishikawa said. "In the distance, Meteor rains down in the middle of the fight exploding in chaos, and as she casts a large number of mage actions, Final Fantasy 14 players can easily tell 'this is a powerful black mage.'" He then called the opening cutscene that shows Absolute Virtue's demise "the cherry on top."
Introducing Shantotto by showing her absolutely wreck the most infamously aggravating boss in perhaps all of Final Fantasy 11's two-decade history is an incredible choice. It is also just one more loving nod to the original Final Fantasy MMO that the Final Fantasy 14 team weaved throughout the Echoes of Vana'diel alliance raids. Absolute Virtue's appearance is so brief it's easy to miss, likely going over the heads of players who have never played Final Fantasy 11.
While those who have had the bad luck of facing Absolute Virtue before may breathe a sigh of relief when it becomes clear the monster isn't a boss this time around, things could have been different. When asked if Absolute Virtue could have been The Third Walk's first boss if not for the opening cutscene, Ishikawa replied, "Could've been."
However, the development team might have passed on an Absolute Virtue boss fight for this raid series because the monster actually already exists within Final Fantasy 14. The Stormblood expansion made Absolute Virtue a boss in the open dungeon The Baldesion Arsenal within The Forbidden Land, Eureka. The region itself is something of a homage to Final Fantasy11, and Absolute Virtue fits right in. The fight does not, however, take 30 hours.
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