Final Fantasy 14's third and final Fan Festival of the Endwalker expansion just took place in Tokyo over the weekend. While there was a surprise lack of release date for upcoming expansion Dawntrail, we did get to see tons of neat stuff: female hrothgar, artsy class Pictomancer, and a bizarro cyberpunk world that has me wondering just what the hell the Warrior of Light is getting up to on his summer vacation.
Yet amongst all of the news, that somehow wasn't the biggest surprise of the weekend. No, it was something far more strange, more sinister. By far one of the most talked about things was director and producer Naoki Yoshida turning up to the festival's PvP tournament finals in a suit. Shirt, blazer, tie, the whole shebang.
It sounds like nothing—and really, it is—but it was a mighty uncharacteristic appearance for Yoshida, more commonly known as Yoshi-P by the community. After all, the man turned up to Dawntrail's expansion reveal in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt, which turned out to be a hint for the Pictomancer class. At October's Fan Festival he donned a cosplay for the Viper, the expansion's first class to be revealed. He's more often than not seen in designer hoodies, t-shirts, jeans and an absolute metric ton of jewellery. Seeing Yoshi-P dressed up as a salaryman is certifiable fashion whiplash.
I suppose if we were going to see Yoshi-P dress smartly for anything, it'd be PvP. His love for the mode is well documented at this point—he's been spotted frequently playing the mode in Japanese servers, and some eyebrow-raising buffs for his main class were heavily memed on until he pulled the changes and apologised. He was also spotted sitting on the floor to check out the PvP tournament that took place at North America's Fan Festival, going as far as asking people not to bother him while he watched.
Formal Yoshida is still quite the jumpscare, one that the fanbase has been unable to ignore on Twitter. One user tweeted "are they in the middle of a skit ive never seen this man in a suit my entire life," before following up with "oh its pvp it all makes sense now". The whole thing seems to have convinced people that Superman was onto something with his incognito specs, with one user saying "Everyone says Clark Kent putting on some glasses a suit and combing his hair would never work until it happens in real life," while another tweeted "Ok maybe Clark Kent is a legit disguise."
It's certainly a new look for Yoshida—even his hair has been noticeably different from his usual spiky boyband do this weekend—and suited-up Naoki Yoshida will no doubt haunt my dreams for the foreseeable future.
