This is not FFXI

[Garlyle]

About ninja tank, i used ninja as tank in ffv before ffxi existed, so i don't think its just a ffxi thing, ninja has been a good tank in almost every ff, it had shadows or high evasion.

I can think of far better defensive options than Ninjas - either from natural stats, abilities (Knight with !Guard literally nullifying some bosses from ever doing anything; !White let you apply images, Protect, Shell, AND Reflect to anyone you wanted, etc.), or simply classes with better equipment choices (Aegis Shield, or mini + Genji shield leaving a character permanently physical immune due to 100% evade). There's also very few things in the game that relied on only physical attacks or were even threatening because of that... but yes, there were times where it could do some silly stuff (which is every class in V).

V Ninjas were far, far more notable as a (mostly) physical damage output class due to dual-wielding and certain oddities or synergies specific to !Throw. !Image was a lesser perk, as opposed to XI, where the equivalent ability happened to become basically a defining feature of the class that completely changed what it meant to 'tank' in XI.