While Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki Yoshida may just be a fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the TMNT: Mutant Mayhem shirt he was wearing during the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest keynote has led fans to believe he is teasing something more.
Much like Xbox boss Phil Spencer does, Yoshida (who is affectionately known as Yoshi-P) actually has a history of wearing shirts to tease upcoming content in Final Fantasy XIV. For example, he wore a Batman shirt before the Dark Knight class was revealed and a Bugs Bunny shirt before the Viera race was announced.
This latest tease has obviously caused fans to start guessing what it all means, especially after Yoshi-P revealed Final Fantasy 14’s fifth major expansion, Dawntrail, and said two DPS jobs would be arriving alongside it. While Yoshi-P wasn’t ready to share what these new jobs were or if they were related to the turtles, he did unveil it as he was talking about them.
So, if the shirt is a tease of a new class or two, what could they be? Final Fantasy 14 already has a Ninja class, a Samurai class, and a Monk class that uses Kung-Fu, so could there be an upcoming DPS class with a staff like Donatello? Could this actually also be a tease for a turtle race like the Kojin? Or could it be some kind of weapon swapper class where you will be able to switch between multiple weapons that may or may not be related to the turtle’s iconic weapons?
Speaking of the Ninja, some think the team may add a new scouting class because the Ninja is the only one, and that class could possibly specialize in nunchaku or sais like Michelangelo or Raphael, respectively. Lastly, is there a chance it could be a word play like when Yoshi-P wore a Spider-Man shirt to announce the Samurai class, which sounds a lot like director Sam Raimi? There really are so many possibilities.
Either way, we have some time to wait until we get to play these new classes as Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail won’t be released until Summer 2024. As for what Dawntrail is, it is meant to be the “very best summer vacation a hero could possible have” and will signify the first step into a “new story” for the game after the events of Endwalker.
In addition to all this news, Yoshi-P welcomed Phil Spencer himself on stage to help announce that Final Fantasy 14 would finally be cooming to Xbox consoles in the future.
If all this turtle talk has got you in a TMNT mood, be sure to check out our Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem review ahead of its theatrical release on August 2, 2023.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.