Yoshida FFIX references!! nice work... now try it with Chrono Trigger

[Welsper59]

If anything it was a reference to ffiv, in which there was a secret dev office similar to the 18th floor.

In reality, it's both. Such things were sort of a running theme for many outlets, occasionally. Before we had the internet, creators left little easter eggs or secrets that revealed the behind-the-scenes sort of magic to show their hard work and appreciation for the players, since there wasn't much of a way to do it otherwise. It's sort of like when comics/manga creators either preface or end their work with little factoids during the time of that issue/volume. XIV's use was essentially an homage to that process, albeit one that also tied itself to Yoshi-P's in-game NPC.