Vana'diel Bestiary: Taisaijin  

Nyzul Isle NM information:

'''Regular Nyzul Isle NM

''' Regular NMs inside Nyzul Isle need to be defeated in order to complete the objective 'Defeat all enemies' but will never be a 'Specified Enemy/Enemies'.

'''NM Drop Appraisals

''' Drops a crate containing a ??? item which may appraise into Spelunker's Hat. Woot! ''' Appears on Floors:

''' 21 - 100 (?)

Normal NM information:

Grants the title: Bye-bye Taisai

Respawns every 72 hours and then every 24 hours thereafter. In order for him to appear no Taisai can be disturbed durring the respawn period.

Engaging even one Taisai will cause the respawn timer to reset. This includes charming or aggroing.

Background:

Taisaijin is widely believed to be a joke-NM based on an in-joke that isn't commonly known among English-speaking players. The Red Mage magic spell Refresh was introduced to Final Fantasy XI in the February 5, 2003 update.

At the time Refresh was introduced, the methods and locations for obtaining the scroll were still largely unknown. As the story goes, before the whereabouts of Refresh became known, one Japanese Red Mage claimed that he had gotten a Refresh scroll as a drop from a Taisai in Ranguemont Pass. The rumor eventually spread, and for a period of time, Taisai were being farmed constantly for the scroll. The truth is, that Red Mage lied. Refresh is not, nor has it ever been, a drop from Taisai. That Red Mage had discovered one of the actual methods for obtaining Refresh and proceeded to monopolize that source, profiting from the advantage since there was no competition for it and everyone was deceived into farming Taisais.

This incident would give rise to an in-joke among Japanese players. When another player asked where to find a newly introduced item that no one yet knew how to obtain, a common phrase became: "I found it on a Taisai".

Taisaijin drops a Scroll of Refresh and Spelunker's Hat, a piece of equipment called the "Anti-Optical Hat" due to it having completely opposite stats to the Optical Hat, which also drops from a Hecteyes mob. Square-Enix added the Refresh drop as irony, where, if players do not kill Taisai for a long enough time, Taisaijin, a mob which does actually drop the scroll, will appear. Spelunker's Hat was likely added as a nod to the fact that people were farming Taisai, which had no useful item, meaning Taisaijin has nothing a player would want (besides as a trophy item, though the title itself, Bye-Bye, Taisai, can be considered a trophy).