Samurai Weapon: Nodachi or basic katana

[Shippuu]

A better example would be to use FFV, FFVI, FFT, FFXI, FFTA version of Samurai where they get mostly attack abilities but potentially a few defensive here and there (like any other melee class; like you wouldn't call a Dragoon a healer just because they get Healing Breath in FFXI or FFDimensions, therefore don't say Samurai was a tank class because they get Blade Grasp in FF5 and FFT or Third Eye in FFXI).

You wanna know which classic Final Fantasy job that had virtually zero defensive capabilities across every iteration and had a bigger focus on offense than Samurai has ever had? Dark Knight. Yet here we are with a big bad Dark Knight tank.

Samurai at least has history with skills that are defensive and supportive, giving it more merit to be used as a potential tank role than Dark Knight ever did. There is no "tank" role in traditional Fantasy games, everyone was some form of dps or support. And hey guess what, tanks in FFXIV do damage as well, who woulda thunk it?

[CaptainLagbeard]

Dark Knight in FF has been kind of the opposite of a tank, as their thing has been using up their HP to deal damage... Still somewhat makes me wonder why they chose it as a tank class...

[Laerune]

Dark Knight in FF has been kind of the opposite of a tank, as their thing has been using up their HP to deal damage... Still somewhat makes me wonder why they chose it as a tank class...

They made Dark Knight a tank, because it was a class that alot of players were asking for. Dark Knight is a fan favourite, just like Samurai, Blue and Red Mage. Yoshida also wanted to introduce the tanking role to non-tankers, because this role is least played among the FFXIV community. So he decided to make a popular class into a tank. The plan was to introduce Samurai as a tank, but since Dark Knight fits Ishgard (and Yoshida wanted Samurai to be a dps) more and they had already added the Ninja, Yoshida decided that it would be best to avoid adding a another class with Japanese roots so soon after Ninja.

[Alacran]

A better example would be to use FFV, FFVI, FFT, FFXI, FFTA version of Samurai where they get mostly attack abilities but potentially a few defensive here and there (like any other melee class; like you wouldn't call a Dragoon a healer just because they get Healing Breath in FFXI or FFDimensions, therefore don't say Samurai was a tank class because they get Blade Grasp in FF5 and FFT or Third Eye in FFXI).

Lets take a trip down memory lane to see how each listed iteration of Samurai was represented.


FFV Samurai (please note this is of the rerelease version of the game)


General Cyan Garamonde Samurai of Doma.


FFT Samurai


FFXI Samurai


FF TA(2?) Parivir is Sanskrit for "bodyguard". Its Japanese name is Yojimbo (用心棒) means "bodyguard" in Japanese. The job is called Ronin in the French version. Their itinerant status is probably the reason why the Parivir cannot equip the Genji Armor.

[Ultimatecalibur]

In FFXII Samurai has a high crit rate yes, but also is a high evasion off-tank.

FFXII's Katana's might have fairly high Evasion but the only way you are getting Counters is through the Genji equipment or Accessories. The Samurai License board focused more on boosting damage (because Katanas did damage based on both Strength and Magic) by increasing Magic with Mystic Armors.

Even if you want to consider some of the main series part of the "job" like cyan from FFVI or Sauron from X as a "samurai". They are broken OP as characters by their own writing, as a class, the only instances worth to check are:

Your list also leaves out the Samurai Dresssphere from FFX-2 which has 2 Instant kill attacks (one single, one all target) and no counters and the Parivir/Yojimbo from FFTA2 which also has 2 instant kill attacks one counter. For some reason added a class from Tactics Ogre, a series only tangentially related to Final Fantasy, to try and support your Counter obsession.

FFV: Heavy Armor, High attack damage from Katanas, Zeninage, Shiradori granted Evasion chance, all target Instant kill
FFVI: Heavy Armor, High attack damage from charged abilities, one prepped Counter, one all target Instant Kill.
FFT: Heavy Armor, 7 short ranged AoE attacks, 1 short ranged AoE heal, 2 short ranged AoE buff abilities that apply 2 buffs at the same time, one Counter triggered by being knocked to critical HP, one anti-melee (glitched was triggered by all physical attacks) evasion skill.
FFX: Auron's theme was Samurai but his grid section was mostly Knight abilities (i.e. Covers/Guards and Breaks a la FFT Knight)
FFXI: Evasion through 3rd Eye and Countered attack through Seigan. Other abilities focused on two handed Weapon skills and triggering elemental skill chains.
FFX-2: Starts with Zeninage, Zantetsu (single target instant kill), and Mirror of Equity (a Minus Strike). higher evasion than most dress spheres. Could get Shin-Zantetsu (all target instant kill) and Hayate which boosted Evasion and applied Haste.
FFXII-IJS: Could only use Katanas (High combo rate, Good evasion) mostly limited to Mystic armor. Could only counter attack when equipped with Genji helm or Battle harness. Zeninage was one of its few abilities.
FFTA2: Parivir/Yojimbo use Elemental Attacks that inflicted various status effects and a Critical hit based instant kill attack. Had a crit rate boosting support and reaction ability that countered standard attacks.
Bravely Default/Second: Swordmaster has 4 prepped counter attacks and a high normal counter rate.

[Shippuu]

(and Yoshida wanted Samurai to be a dps)

This is untrue. Yoshida has never made a claim that he personally wants it to be a dps. He has made a statement that in his mind when he thinks of a samurai it is of a kinagashi wearing iaido user, and that that image lends itself to more of a dps role. He later re-stated that it makes sense as a dps because once again, he's not seeing the kind of Samurai that is traditionally portrayed in Final Fantasy games. He has never on record made any kind of claim that he wants it to be a dps. This kind of spreading of misinformation is why so many people think he's said such a thing when he hasn't.

[Centershock]

This is untrue. Yoshida has never made a claim that he personally wants it to be a dps. He has made a statement that in his mind when he thinks of a samurai it is of a kinagashi wearing iaido user, and that that image lends itself to more of a dps role. He later re-stated that it makes sense as a dps because once again, he's not seeing the kind of Samurai that is traditionally portrayed in Final Fantasy games. He has never on record made any kind of claim that he wants it to be a dps. This kind of spreading of misinformation is why so many people think he's said such a thing when he hasn't.

Yeah, I don't believe Yoshi-P has ever made this claim. If he indeed has, please quote us, link us, source us.

While I am on the train for SAM to be a tank, I would play it all the same if it is introduced as DPS come FanFest 2016.

[ADVSS]

Yeah, I don't believe Yoshi-P has ever made this claim. If he indeed has, please quote us, link us, source us.

While I am on the train for SAM to be a tank, I would play it all the same if it is introduced as DPS come FanFest 2016.

pretty sure someone quoted his statements in here like a few pages back, even. It was more like... he would want to see what the fans want out of a samurai job, and go back and see if they cant make it happen.

[Alacran]

Oh. Well it does make sense from a gearing up standpoint. Although if they reall wanted they could still sell it in a set. Like naming them: Pair of samurai swords or pair of samurai weapons. So still technically one main hand weapons but two distinct ones visually.

I actually agree with this. My hope is it will have a set of paired swords, however only the Katana would be used for primary attacks the Wakizashi could be used for Draw-out skills (FFT) in conjunction or alternatively to the primary Katana.

[Shippuu]

pretty sure someone quoted his statements in here like a few pages back, even. It was more like... he would want to see what the fans want out of a samurai job, and go back and see if they cant make it happen.

The quoted statement is usually always the same one, from cgmagonline, however it lacks context that was provided in an earlier japanese interview from GameWatch. In this article, Yoshi P talks about how Samurai and Dark Knight were considered for the Heavensward tank until the very last minute. Then he goes to talk about samurai and how in his mind when he thinks of a samurai he sees a man in a kinagashi lowering his sword into his belt in an iaido fashion and how that image is more of one of a DPS.

The context this provides for the later CGM interview when he says "It seems to make more sense as a DPS" you have to remember that earlier it's because he's already stated the mental image of the kind of samurai that pops into his head.