Samurai

[Shurrikhan]

Could we possibly be looking at a hybrid class? Swordsman base class, with ability to split into either DPS or Tank based on soul.

Could always have a bit more of a F/SN type Assassin, paired against Samurai and based off of Ronin, but I also don't see why the job needs to be wholly limited to one or the other even if Samurai was that only choice. There are plenty of ways to limit simultaneous role usage without having to give purely defensive CDs, forcing the job into a tank role, and then inflate certain potencies to rebalance its dps potential (Fell Cleave, Royal Authority, Salted Earth...), for instance like what you mentioned below, though without each necessarily having to be multi-role, or even being limited to personal dps and personal survivability.

I've always imagined Samurai as, for a lack of a better role term, a Strike Leader, some blend between a Commander (having a toolset that helps to direct the flow of battle, sturdiness to stay in the thick of it) and a Commando (having a toolset that synergies well with offensive focused pack strategies and allied cover, personal survival 'tricks', and agility enough to stay at the head of the offensive). That partly means "tank", I suppose, and also partly "dps".

If you could imagine a Dragoon as being able to interrupt enemy attacks with the majority of its attacks and capable of more charges per minute, and able to actually tank lesser adds efficiently (between its defensive CD coverage and swapping out via Elusive Jump), that would probably be its closest niche. A Deliverance-happy Warrior (who still knows how to tank damn well while in Deliverance and is just barely willing to swap into Defiance as necessary) would be the second closest.

Durable and highly skill-based, with a lot of thinking required to have the right defenses up at the right time. A tiny bit less dps than Ninja, and more than Bard/Machinist. Not a "tank" (as it lacks any pure defensive CDs, many being dual purpose, such as crit/accuracy and parry/evasion being wrapped into one CD, e.g. Third Eye) in title, but can definitely tank when there aren't too many tank busters present. (Though very high knowledge of the fight could make up for even that.) Perhaps able to equip tank armor at cost of attack speed, cooldown speed, or the like, though only really necessary when trying to be a real tank.

Consider the trouble they had with ACN branching into dps/heal, I doubt they would do that again.

They're always free to redesign the class to job relationship. More importantly, they don't necessarily need it to be consistent.

[DestinovaTrueblade]

Consider the trouble they had with ACN branching into dps/heal, I doubt they would do that again.

[Odett]

I would love SAM to be a tank, but I doubt the devs would add another 2H sword tank, considering there is still no sword-wielding DPS.

[Noira]

Didn't Yoshi himself say that if they added SAM it would be a dps class ?

[Jhett_Magnum]

Yeah, still don't know why this is for debate.

[Miggiwoo]

Because it's a forum which by definition: a meeting or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged.

AKA A place to debate.

[Shippuu]

They could but they probably won't and here's why. Dark Knight is an abstract idea. There isn't a historical class of warrior that you can really put behind it. Paladin and Dark knight are based on the classical western knight. As such there is no basis as to what their weapon should be, and as such they have wielded a huge variety of weapons of their history in the final fantasy series.

Samurai, however, is a bit different. We are talking about a very japanese historical concept being put into a game that is coded in its homeland. Classical samurai wielded katana with 2 hands and rarely drew their wakizashi for battle. The niten-ryu style that Miyamoto Musashi made so famous was the exception and only because he was such a skilled combatant. Now, I think that if they wanted to do Samurai sword styles, thats very possible. Meshing stances based on actual styles would be really neat. I kinda did a quick synopsis in a previous post.

Dual wielding Samurai would be a huge departure from the classical Samurai class in the FF series and as such might upset alot of fans. I don't see them changing that formula.

See, this would be an argument for such a thing if past FF games had stuck anywhere close to historical Samurai, but they don't, not by a long shot. Samurai in Final Fantasy has been more abstract in implementation than even Dark Knight who has a lot of consistency between games. Samurai does not. Not within FF that is. And if you go for historical accuracy then as others have stated, they wouldn't even use their swords.

In Final Fantasy games, sometimes Samurai are heavy armored brawlers, sometimes they have a collection of supporting abilities, sometimes they're lightly armored quick attackers. In fact, the only thing they really have in common is the name samurai, and that they can equip weapons labeled as "Katana", but even then there's examples that stretch this, such as Auron who while his weapons are classified as Katana, they are almost all Broadswords or Greatswords in appearance. Dual wielding Katana are still using Katana and the argument for Samurai dual wielding is pretty much for the sole purpose to counter the argument of there being a supposed overlap with Dark Knight's Greatswords which is a pointless reason to not implement Samurai as potential Tanks.

Didn't Yoshi himself say that if they added SAM it would be a dps class ?

Yeah, still don't know why this is for debate.

If you'd actually read some of these discussions regarding Samurai, you'd know that Yoshi has said no such thing. Nothing as definitive as "Samurai will only be a DPS." Only that in his mind, because of the image he sees when he thinks about a samurai, lends itself more to a DPS (Since it's not the armor wearing variety of samurai). Every time he's mentioned Samurai and DPS together, there's been mention of it being a Tank as well.

I would love SAM to be a tank, but I doubt the devs would add another 2H sword tank, considering there is still no sword-wielding DPS.

There's nothing that says there ever has to be a sword wielding DPS job. No dev has ever said "We need a sword wielding DPS job." If they don't want sword users being DPS jobs it won't happen. There's nothing stating there has to be one. Besides, we know Red Mage is likely in the pipeline, you don't think that's not going to be a sword wielding DPS job? Every time people say "We need a sword wielding DPS" they seem to ignore that Red Mage is a very likely thing coming.

[LucentLagombi]

It'll likely be a dps class. We still don't have a proper sword class as a dps and we don't have any dps that carry the same armor classifications that dragoons do. For the sake of inventory space I seriously hope they consolidate to slightly more concise gear categories as more jobs are added and if that's the case we need a job to fit next to dragoon. But more than anything else I really just want a sword based dps class finally.

[Noira]

Maybe if we all learn to read we wouldn't jump down other's throats so quickly.

Read my sentence again and notice the symbol at the end.

[karateorangutang]

See, this would be an argument for such a thing if past FF games had stuck anywhere close to historical Samurai, but they don't, not by a long shot. Samurai in Final Fantasy has been more abstract in implementation than even Dark Knight who has a lot of consistency between games. Samurai does not. Not within FF that is. And if you go for historical accuracy then as others have stated, they wouldn't even use their swords.

Yes, they have strayed from the formula but a Samurai in FF has always wielded a 2 handed weapon. I'm just stating that is unlikely to change.

In Final Fantasy games, sometimes Samurai are heavy armored brawlers, sometimes they have a collection of supporting abilities, sometimes they're lightly armored quick attackers. In fact, the only thing they really have in common is the name samurai, and that they can equip weapons labeled as "Katana", but even then there's examples that stretch this, such as Auron who while his weapons are classified as Katana, they are almost all Broadswords or Greatswords in appearance. Dual wielding Katana are still using Katana and the argument for Samurai dual wielding is pretty much for the sole purpose to counter the argument of there being a supposed overlap with Dark Knight's Greatswords which is a pointless reason to not implement Samurai as potential Tanks.

At least samurai aren't running around casting magic spells at things. Auron was a vast exception due to the nature of the setting. You find me a single character outside of Yuna and Lulu that even slightly resemble some kind of medieval ideal. We have to take into account the world settings that they are in and timelines, as well as levels of technology and sciencentific knowledge. For all we know the alloy that Auron's sword was made out of an alloy with a weight similar to that of a classical katana. I have no delusion that FF Samurai are even close to the historical fact ( this is true of every single job in a fantasy game), but at least there is a historical knowledge to pull from. Samurai once existed, the knight who pulled dark power out of his soul to shape it and use it against his enemy did not.